Of all the reasons tossed up for Australia’s self-immolation in the first Test against India, the dumbest must be that Justin Langer is no longer coach.
What, pray tell, could Langer have done? Gathered the troops in a huddle and barked at them for playing off their back foot well within their crease? Produced 11 tiny mirrors and told them to take a long, hard look at themselves? Shown videos from his glory days?
Presumably, it would be different to the rev-ups he gave during the two series losses to India in Australia on his watch. His cheerleaders have forgotten that stat. They forget many things.
Too many people, especially his former teammates, overstated Langer’s importance during his time as coach. Too many have overstated it since his departure.
While he was a critical addition to the Australian set-up following the Newlands ball-tampering scandal, his time was up and showed as much in an interview with Perth radio last year when speculation about his future had reached its peak.
“Imagine if a Wallabies coach won the Bledisloe Cup and then the World Cup in six months,” he told 6PR.
Former Australia coach Justin Langer in happier times.Credit:Getty
Talk about overstating one’s importance. Coaching the Australian cricket team has never been remotely like coaching the Wallabies. The captain is the figurehead, not the coach.
The team is now indisputably that of Pat Cummins so, with that in mind, he must wear much of the responsibility over what happened in Nagpur, along with the selectors.
You also wonder what’s going on in the mind of Langer’s replacement, Andrew McDonald, when he said this after the Nagpur defeat: “The benefit out of losing the game so quickly is we’ve got a little more think time to work through what scenarios are there for us and that starts today.”
Now that’s what I call finding silver lining.
Cummins said to me in an interview just before heading to the subcontinent that small things, like bringing a coffee machine and a golf simulator, would make a difference in this series.
Might take more than that. Like picking the right players.
The second Test in Delhi starts on Friday.
PNG’s NRL bid dependent on government help
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is pushing hard for Papua New Guinea to be granted the NRL’s 18th licence and the ARL Commission is keen to give it to our beloved neighbours — as long as the federal government chips in.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese wants a rugby league licence for Papua New Guinea.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
Albanese sees great value in rugby league being the driver of social change in the region and continued his pitch in an interview with Andrew Voss and Greg Alexander on SEN Radio on Monday.
“Papua New Guinea would do exceptionally well if they had a team, for the whole of Pasifika, but based with PNG, based perhaps in North Queensland, playing games in Port Moresby, and perhaps some around the region as well, a game in Fiji or Tonga or Samoa would just lift the whole region, and I think it would be a great thing if it can happen,” he said. “It’s ambitious, but it has the backing of [Papua New Guinea] Prime Minister Marape.”
The Papua New Guinea government has engaged former NRL official Andrew Hill to steer their bid. It is still uncertain what the bid will look like.
As for the ARLC, it isn’t giving much away on the issue, mostly because it expects bids from Perth, New Zealand and North Sydney and doesn’t want to be seen to play favourites.
A team from Papua New Guinea may be the next side in the NRL.Credit:NRL Photos
But there’s growing talk about a team being based in Cairns, or even Brisbane, that will fly in and out of Port Moresby for a handful of matches.
That, of course, will attract huge costs in transport, accommodation and security and the ARLC will want significant funding from the government if a PNG bid is successful.
V’landys latest stoush is a doozy
At last count, Peter V’landys has had heavyweight title fights with corporate bookmakers, the Pope, prime ministers, premiers, the Sydney Opera House, COVID-19, the AFL, the NSWRL, the RLPA and Eddie Jones.
But even by his combative standards, this fresh brouhaha with the rest of the country over an apparent clandestine plot to oust Racing NSW from Racing Australia has taken things to a new level.
In his role of Racing NSW chief executive, V’landys often refers to himself as a “disruptor”, especially after he created The Everest so he could “disrupt” Victoria’s stranglehold on spring racing.
He’ll do whatever he can – nay, wants – for Sydney racing and doesn’t care which toes he tramples on.
It’s well known in racing circles that his creation of multi-million-dollar Sydney races in spring has affected his relationship with powerful breeder John Messara, the former Racing NSW and Racing Australia chair. They once worked hand in glove.
Racing Australia has often been described as a “toothless tiger”, although I prefer the description this week from Racenet’s Bruce Clark, who called it a “lame duck body … without a chairman.”
Still, Racing Australia does perform some functions: like making calls on whip use rules, programming and, most significantly, which races are afforded “group status”.
V’landys is furious Racing Australia won’t make The Everest, which is worth $15 million in prizemoney and in its seventh year, a group 1 event.
Hynes again shows his class
Cronulla halfback Nicho Hynes is fast becoming the best thing rugby league has going for it.
There were genuine fears he would withdraw from the Indigenous All Stars team that played the Maori All Stars in Rotorua after his mother, Julie, was found guilty of supplying drugs after a family friend died of an overdose at her home on the NSW Central Coast.
Nicho Hynes bursts into a gap in Rotorua on Saturday.Credit:NRL Photos
But play he did, turning in a man-of-the-match performance. He was awarded the Preston Campbell Medal to go with his Dally M Medal from last year.
Nothing murky in Shepherd’s exit
Venues NSW chairman Tony Shepherd announced on Monday he was resigning, effective immediately.
Was he pushed?
“I wasn’t pushed!” Shepherd told me. “I’ve done my time and achieved what we needed to achieve. I leave the position in a better place than when I took it over.”
He most likely grew tired of dealing with government bureaucrats that seem to actively work against sport in this fine and premier state of NSW.
THE QUOTE
“If you go out to watch the performance, just keep walking because you’re not playing the rest of the game.” — Kansas City Chiefs coach Andy Reid told his players before Super Bowl if they stopped at halftime to watch Rihanna they’d be benched in the second half. The Chiefs beat the Philadelphia Eagles 38-35.
THUMBS UP
Whaaaaaat? First, Rugby Australia gets back Eddie Jones. Now comes news that officials have introduced rule changes to speed up play, including those mindless stoppages when the TMO and referee discuss everything from foul play to what they got for Christmas.
THUMBS DOWN
When Kalyn Ponga and Kurt Mann casually walked out of a Newcastle pub toilet cubicle last year holding their drinks, Ponga’s father, Andre, said it was because his son had drunk too much after buying a house earlier in the day. This week, Kalyn said he was sick from dodgy food. Pick a line and stick to it.
It’s a big weekend for … Celtic manager Ange Postecolgou, who goes into this Sunday’s match against Aberdeen amid growing speculation he’s about to be snapped up by a Premier League team.
It’s an even bigger weekend for … the Sydney Kings, who remain on track to defend their NBL title after beating Cairns Taipans in the opening match of their best-of-three semi-finals series. They play game two in Cairns on Friday night.
