DRADDYSPORT Report 27/05/10

Post State of Origin 1 Report -

My seat for origin 1 at ANZ stadium 26/5/2010

• The weather actually ended up helping Queensland - it rained for almost all of Wednesday, but stopped 20 minutes before kick-off. This suited Queensland, who have a team much more suited to dry conditions. They played fairly conservatively for the 1st 15 minutes, realised it wasn't that wet & played how they wanted. However, NSW didn't have that option as they had a team that was very powerful but not able to play with as much freedom as Qld was able to (until the last 12 minutes when the game was as good as over).
• Qld's playmakers (Lockyer, Thurston, Cronk, Slater) gave the maroons many more options in attack & also lead to better support play. NSW played a much more one-out style game-plan, which was not able to break the Qld defence. Kimmorley seemed to be running the team himself, which allowed Queensland the mark up accordingly.
• This loss for NSW, in what seemed like an ideal situation, asks a lot of the blues selectors. Do they move Gidley to 5/8 & Hayne to fullback to give Hayne the freedom to do what he wants? Do they keep the same bench that had 3 utility players, none of which made much of an impact? Do they bring back Gallen to add some much needed mongrel?
• In the end Queensland seem to be once again in complete control and NSW will need a minor miracle, to not lose series when game 2 is played in Brisbane in mid-June.

In other sporting news,

- Socceroos arrive in South Africa, after only just beating NZ on Monday in Melbourne. Not much should be taken out of the result, as both teams have been flogged in training in the lead-up, 6 certain starters where missing from the line-up. Also none of the teams we will play, play a style in any way resembling what NZ showed. In short, NZ wanted to attack even less than we did, thus made it hard for Australia to play on the counter. A much better test for the team will be the games against USA and Denmark in Joburg in the next week.

- The Super 14 final will be between the Joburg Bulls and the Cape Town Stormers in South Africa this weekend. The Bulls beat the Canterbury Crusaders and the Stormers beat the NSW Waratahs. The final should be a tough clash between teams who play very contrasting styles. My tip is the Bulls by 14 points.

Draddysport Report 20/05/10

Unpicking the seams of the week in sport

1. London Olympic mascots revealed

Wow, hasn't Doctor Who gone mainstream? Now one of aliens from the show has become the mascot to represent what London is like to the rest of the world.
It's no Fatso the Fat Arsed Wombat (thanks Roy and HG), BUT it is better than having David Beckham or Wayne Rooney as mascots.

2. NBA Finals
Both LA Lakers and Boston Celtics are 2-0 up in their respective series. This is great for fans of the storied franchises (who will potentially be playing in their eleventh final series against each other). Not so good however for casual fans, who will be missing out on seeing the following;

• LeBron James claiming his 1st NBA title (Cleveland lost to Boston in round 2 of the play-offs), and will now likely leave Cleveland to play in Chicago or New York.
• Orlando winning the title after finishing runner-up last year with Dwight Howard (athletic big-man) also no Tiger Woods TV coverage (he is a court-side season-seat holder with the Magic).
• Steve Nash playing in his 1st final series at age 36, carrying a really fun Phoenix team past their arch-nemesis Spurs team last round.
  

3. Wolves in sheep's clothing in the AFL
Are the Dockers, Swans, Saints and the Lions actually any good?
The Dockers looked ordinary against a good Collingwood team at home on Friday night, just as they were getting attention outside WA.
The Swans have been outclassed by Geelong and Western Bulldogs in the last two weeks, and are missing key players for this weeks game.
Saints have lost two games in a row and look a shell of the dominate side of last year, they will be hoping that Riewoldt is back to full-fitness for the business end of the season.
The twin towers experiment in Brisbane appears to folding as BrisVegas have lost 4 on the trot, against sides they may have to beat come finals time.
Things should become clearer this week as Swan & Dockers play each other in Sydney, the Lions travel to Adelaide to play the terrible Crows & the Saints travel to WA to play the Weagles.

4. Australia lose 20twenty final against England
Does this result mean anything for next summers ashes? Short answer, No.

5. Teams named for the 1st State Of Origin game in Sydney next Wednesday
New South Wales name four centers, and exclude the test lock (Paul Gallen), in attempt to potentially out-muscle Queensland. There will be Melbourne players (and coach) on both sides who will be actually playing for something for the 1st time in a month and Queensland will be looking to win an unprecedented 5h straight title.

6. Socceroos play All Whites on Monday in World Cup farewell match
The Socceroos will be keen to show the press that they can score goals. The all whites will want to show that that they can compete against sides made up of professional players, not the amateurs they played in qualifying.

Socceroos preliminary squad

The Socceroos preliminary squad for the 2010 World Cup was announced on Tuesday. The final 23 man squad will be announced on the 1st of June.

Michael Beachamp (Al-Jazira)

Marco Bresciano (Al-Nassr)

Tim Cahill (Everton)

Nick Carle (Crystal Palace)

David Carney (FC Twente)

Scott Chipperfield (FC Basel)

Jason Culina (Gold Coast Utd)

Brett Emerton (Blackburn)

Adam Federici (Reading)

Eugene Galekovic (Adelaide Utd) Reserve Goalkeeper

Richard Garcia (Hull City)

Vincenzo Grella (Blackburn)

James Holland (AZ Alkmaar)

Brett Holman (AZ Alkmaar)

Mile Jedinak (Antalyaspor)

Brad Jones (Middlesbrough)

Joshua Kennedy (Nagoya Grampus)

Harry Kewell (Galatasaray)

Shane Lowry (Leeds Utd)

Scott McDonald (Middlesbrough)

Mark Milligan (JEF Utd Ichihara Chiba)

Craig Moore (unsigned)

Lucas Neill (Galasaray)

Jade North (Tromso)

Thomas Oar (FC Utrecht)

Nikita Rukavytsya (KSV Roeselare)

Mark Schwarzer (Fulham)

Carl Valeri (Sassuolo)

Dario Vidosic (MSV Duisburg)

Luke Wilkshire (Dynamo Moscow)

Rhys Williams (Middlesbrough)

No real suprises, although the lack of players from the A-league does raise the point that to seen to be ready to play for the socceroos, you must be able to play in a foreign environment, in a more demanding environment than what is currently being displayed in the A-league, as Pim has said all along.