Innholdsfortegnelse for May 2018 i Inside Sport

IN MY reporting travels this month, a line from Gain Line Analytics’ Simon Strachan stuck with me. Strachan’s firm specialises in the connectedness of teams, so he has thought a lot about that sporting buzzword, “culture”. And like so many buzzwords, it has come to obscure more than illuminate. “Most of the time,” he says, “’They’ve got a really good culture’ is code for ‘I do not know what is happening’.” It was hard to keep this idea out of mind as Australian cricket’s ball-tampering scandal raged last month. In its particulars, it was a mere ham-fisted act of cheating in one of the game’s grey areas. But the way it came to dominate the national conversations spoke to something more – that being culture: of a team, a sport,…

A MATCH simulation is not much to go on, normally, but when Geelong conducted one in February, it was a small, vivid revelation. The moment Gary Ablett Jr got a ball in his hands – one of many – all those uncanny attributes that we cheapen when we call them “skills” were immediately mobilised. His easy facility with the ball was one thing. But his colleagues on the field were as iron filings on paper responding to the magnet beneath. His private visions for them were materialising before everyone’s eyes, and they were irresistible. Fans, too, were magnetised. Embodied in the person of Ablett the younger, a certain life-force returned to Geelong; a spirit that breathed life into the place. The son’s return was a profound event that caused an…

For a practical lesson in teamwork, consider rugby’s front row. You get to know your colleagues on a personal level, under highly visceral circumstances. Ben Darwin understands this in the way that practitioners do. He played more than two dozen Tests at prop for Australia, and double that number in Super Rugby for the Brumbies. “When I played at the Wallabies, I used to scrummage with Jeremy Paul,” says Darwin, who was also team-mates with Paul at the provincial level. “Then we switched to Brendan Cannon. I remember saying to [fellow prop] Al Baxter: ‘I can’t set up right with Canno, it’s just really uncomfortable, it doesn’t feel right.’ And he said, ‘I feel the exact same way about Jeremy Paul.’ “He couldn’t set up right with Jeremy, I couldn’t…

When you reach Brett Brown on his mobile phone, he’s on his way to Philadelphia’s international airport, where he will catch a flight to Milwaukee to coach his 76ers in a key game against the Bucks the next night. He has had to navigate his way precariously through destruction caused by the bombogenesis of Winter Storm Riley, a deadly beast that ravaged the American northeast, downing power lines, ripping off roofs and causing widespread flooding. He has just driven past two massive downed trees that he says were “just crippled” by 115km/h wind gusts. He’s not even sure that the Charlotte Hornets were able to escape Philly after their game the previous night. “It’s all good, though,” he says. He seems remarkably at peace. You know that because before you…

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1 Rather, one thing we absolutely could not miss last month: the notion that Australian sportsmen, handsomely well-paid, more than a little out of touch, and under supreme pressure could, yes, blatantly cheat. And no amount of sentimental talk about a green hat could prevent that. 2 The tour of South Africa had a half-dozen controversies (sledging, Rabada, Warner and de Kock, Faf’s non-declaration) that on their own could have sustained the narrative for an entire series. Truly, it should go alongside the Monkeygate scandal of 2007-08, the Clarke-Katich bust-up of ’09 and the homework saga of the 2013 Indian tour as a series that will launch a thousand cricket memoirs. 3 If nothing else, at least our cricketers didn’t bring a gun onto the field. In what we thought…

WHAT the Quidditch is Ultimate? Footy codes, water sports, cricket and the like are not the only games in town. Clubs of emerging sports were among more than 1100 entries making a bid for glory in the 2018 Sportscover Clubbies Awards. Turns out the magical game of quidditch, created by J. K. Rowling in the Harry Potter series, finds a real-world equivalent – minus the wizards, witches and flying broomsticks, of course. Described as a frenetic fusion of “rugby, dodgeball and tag”, it features two teams mounted on earth-bound brooms contesting inside a hockey rink-sized pitch. Ana Baricela of the Marauders – the Macquarie University Quidditch Club, which launched in 2012 – says the “team is positively thrilled” to be named a finalist in the Best Club category. Baricela, herself…

The irony of Corey Norman being described as “troubled” in the scores of media reports that chronicled his very rugby league tale of drugs and courts and extortion for a sex tape in 2016 is that the man himself was troubled only very little. Embarrassed, sure. Remorseful? One hundred percent – to his club, the game, his mates, his mum. And inconvenienced? Hell – there were so many paparazzi outside his house he couldn’t get out to get groceries. But “troubled”? That stuff ran off him like rain. Not to say he isn’t contrite. As he tells Inside Sport a few times, he didn’t really understand the impact of his actions, how many people it would affect. He’s keen that we know of his contrition, of the lessons he’s learned,…

There’s a lot to be said about community engagement when it comes to club sport at the elite level. Some teams preach it over and over, hoping that their fans will stay rusted-on to the cause should the followers merely hear that their club cares about them and needs them. This can get pretty old pretty fast though. (For evidence, see the various failings on the Gold Coast over recent decades.) It was never going to be like that for netball’s Sunshine Coast Lightning, not if its co-owners at the Melbourne Storm were to have anything to do with it. From the outset, the ultra-successful National Rugby League club pushed for involvement from – rather than mere “engagement” with – the Sunshine Coast community. The Storm knew, having already landed…

“PEOPLE TRAINING MUSCLES, OR PEOPLE TRAINING MOVEMENTS: THERE’S A MASSIVE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN WORKING OUT AND TRAINING.” HOW does Dustin Martin fend off opponents on the field? Natural talent, sure, and more than a little effort in the gym. The man who oversees that at Punt Road is Luke Meehan, who has served as the Tigers’ strength and conditioning coach for the last two years, and has worked in the AFL for more than a decade. Over that time, he’s seen the thinking in footballer muscle evolve, from pure power to the current vogue in functional strength. He chatted with Inside Sport about how that came about, how much time the players spend in the gym (you’ll be surprised) and whether they actually like it or not. PROPER FUNCTION I’ve been…

The spectacle is too good to ignore. Whether via YouTube, or in a park just off Sydney’s Darling Harbour, the sight of two dudes playing what looks like table tennis with their heads is irresistible to the eyeballs. The lunchtime crowd goes from strolling through to massing around the concrete-reinforced tables, ogling this suite of moves lifted from assorted penalty areas, rec rooms and keepyuppy sessions. The onlookers may think they’ve stumbled upon a novelty, but instead they’re being treated to a pair of the finest exponents of Headis – head tennis – in the world. More than that: they’re watching the inventor of the new sport, Rene Wegner, in action. He’s visiting Australia for the first time, hoping to parlay the Aussie willingness to play almost any sport into…

Anzac Wedneday Anzac Day matches are a landmark for every footy season, and the timing of the solemn day this year will bring us some midweek action. The ritual games: Colligwood vs Essendon (Apr 25) in the AFL, the Roosters vs St George-Illawarra (Apr 25) and Melbourne vs the NZ Warriors (Apr 25) in the NRL, will take place on Wednesday, and with the rounds before and after coming fast on the heels of those matches, we’ll get a glimpse of what the world would look like if there was footy every day. While the big codes have made a meaningful event out of the day of solemn remembrance, perhaps the best space has been carved out on Anzac Day eve, where the Richmond vs Melbourne (Apr 24) contest has…

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You once did a golfing lap of the country for a story. How did that go? It was four months, did 24,000km, played 62 rounds of golf in about 120 days. So it worked out to every second day, but I started out with 19 in a row. Obviously, the further between golf courses, the less you’re going to play. And what you realise about Australia is it’s just so bloody big ... But people are as nuts for golf in Darwin as they are on the Sandbelt. Garden-variety golf nuts will recognise each other, from Port Augusta to Augusta National. Golf is the rare sport that’s really invested in its own history, possibly because its stories are so often told. What are your thoughts on that? Human beings love…

During Australian rugby’s golden years throughout the late 1990s and early 2000s, there were a few common denominators: workaholic forwards, George Gregan’s voice and an unshakeable belief that success was never far away. But one man was central to it all – Stephen Larkham. The Canberra-born fly-half engineered some of Australia’s greatest performances during his career between 1996-2007, including the 1999 World Cup, Bledisloe and Tri Nations titles, plus two Super Rugby trophies with the ACT Brumbies. A tall, lithe playmaker whose trademark headgear was as recognisable as his ghosting runs, he also suffered debilitating knee injuries. Now the Wallabies’ attack coach, when Larkham reflects on his playing career, he would certainly change one thing ... “Probably just preparation for becoming a professional athlete. There was a fair bit of…