I know it, you know it. In the world of sport, suddenly things are quiet … maybe a little, too quiet.
It has been whole days since any fresh news has come of the latest rugby league atrocity and more than a week since anyone in the AFL has disgraced themselves. The Wallabies are yet to take off, and the A-League has never taken off at all. The cricketers are still no more than warming up.
Actual news?
Well, there’s the America’s Cup, of course, but the fact that the Kiwis beat the Brits somewhere or other, is like a pebble thrown into the far side of a country dam. You can see the ripples if you concentrate, but why would you?
The bashing of the boxer Tim Tszyu has, admittedly, generated quite a few headlines since the weekend, but once you understand that boxing is a contest between two people trying to inflict brain damage on the other to the point the other loses consciousness, it’s hard to get beyond the headlines, on principle, let alone contribute to the writing of new ones. You heard me.
Horse racing? Please.
The Commonwealth Game, singular? What is there really to say? After the Victorians called it off for lack of interest, they have somehow resuscitated a miniscule version of it in Glasgow for next year, but if they were holding it on our back-yard, most of us would pull the curtains.
All up it, leaves your humble columnist in this interregnum before the sporting stuff of summer truly begins, with the option I always choose at this time of year – my annual buy/sell for the Australian sporting share register.
Matildas. Sell. What a very ordinary year they have had. After the glories of 2023, they were nothing less than disappointing.
LIV. Sell, for whatever you can get. Worthless schlock-stock. All the money has gone into seducing the players to signing up, but the worth of the comp itself is not much north of zero. Honestly, has there ever been a bigger fizzer? Billions of dollars spent to sport-wash Saudi blood away, and apart from a flurry of interest when it arrives in Adelaide, you really wouldn’t know it is on. As a generator of ratings oomph, you’d get more out of a AA battery from a torch left on overnight.
Greg Norman. Sell. As above. As CEO of LIV, charged with selling the whole idea to the mob he has not only completely failed, but actively pissed off just about everybody along the way.
Olympic star Jessica Fox is in for a big year.Credit: Getty Images
Kangaroos. Sell. Great team. The best. But the strongest form of rugby league, in intensity – Origin III! – and interest – Origin III! – really is the Origin series and all the rest of representative football is a pale afterthought. And they can punish Kalyn Ponga all they like for going “Mmmmeh, I really couldn’t be bothered,” but that response was emblematic of the overall view.
Penrith. Hold. Now with four-on-the-floor, the obvious question is whether they can start to move into St George territory and Jive-with-Five. The system will be against them. The NRL itself will be wanting someone else to win. And they will be starting next year without such stars as Jarome Luai. But with Ivan Cleary still at coach, Nathan Cleary still at half – and a production line of stars still surging through their juniors program, you’d be crazy to sell.
Wallabies. Hold. Yes, they had a pretty ordinary year. But against last year’s performance at the World Cup, they were brilliant! The fact that they were even competitive against the All Blacks was a sign that Eddie Jones reign in pain falling mainly on the slain was truly over, and Joe Schmidt’s rebuild with a mix of Eddie’s discards and newer talent was achieving its first modest results. We will know more after this Spring tour. But with the Lions coming next year, you know that heavy resources will be flowing into that team to bring them to a peak.
Jessica Fox. Buy. Has to be 2024 breakout star, yes? Now has more Olympic gold medals than you could poke a stick at, and she now occupies the space that Sam Kerr briefly held last year – the nation’s favourite sportsperson. Fox will hold the spot for much longer, however, and her fame and likeability is so transcendent it no longer needs to live off actual sporting results to keep going.
Sam Konstas. Buy. Yes, early days. But the 19-year-old batsman’s dual centuries to begin the Sheffield Shield season for NSW has caused a huge buzz. Long has cricket laboured, but it just might have produced what it most needs right now – a New Face!
Sevens rugby. Long-term buy. True, the final results for Australia at the Olympics were disappointing, as both men’s and women’s teams fell at the final hurdle, but it changed not the revelation to much of the world on just what a spectacular sport it is. And the fact that it relies much more on evasion than collision, gives it benefits beyond just the spectacular nature of that. It will continue to grow in popularity, particularly in North America, where it has exploded, and I think will be the form of football most worth backing for the future, globally.
