Pubcast Episode 20 - A Cove Edition

The Tinman, Johnnyjojoshabadoo & the F1 Adonis

Another beautiful day at the Coral Cove Resort and The Tinman, Johnnyjojoshabadoo & The Adonis enjoy a few beers in the bar to record the 20th installment of the Sporting Sport Opinions Pubcast. Every recording at this location will now be known as a Cove Edition.

It was a bi week in sport and there were plenty of headlines that warranted our input.

NRL was top of the list as we raised our thoughts on the accusations raised on the late John Mannah. The drugs issue just won't go away but was it all a smoke screen to protect Essendon from the headlines. While we were complaining the opportunity to talk about Warriors coach Matthew Elliott could not pass. We fade out the NRL section talking about how the Kiwis faded out as usual in the Test match.

Rugby is in the headlines for off-field reasons due to Digby Ioane and the reported unrest at the Reds. A wrap of the Reds v Brumbies game gets Johnnyjojo fired up.

From the Reds it is time for The Tinman to talk about his beloved Liverpool FC and the Suarez incident. Seems that the FA is not too popular in this segment.

The plan was to talk about the world of Formula One with the F1 Adnonis but in editing it was discovered that the recording had a long silent section. With 2 mics on a splitter, Johnnyjojo has now learnt that he cannot turn off one of the mics. The segment had to be cut but I can assure you it was pure gold.

The Grey Fox reports from the UAE where he is consulting for the Godolphin stables. All the big racing is in Sydney (Randwick) today and the hot tips are:

SR - Race 5 - Number 1 - Riocetto
SR - Race 6 - Number 4 - Kellini

Always gamble responsibly.

The Aussie Sandflies are a hot topic this week as the debate on how teams approach a social beach Volleyball competition at Beach 365 is raised. If you jump serve and spike children then maybe you are not the hero you think you are.

Cricket is the last sport of conversation and a chance to talk about the farce that is Australian Cricket and their love affair with Brad Haddin gets us fired up. With another bowler already breaking down, is this the worst Australian side ever?

And what is the late mail from Madmartymackay???

The wrap up is always awards time, and there are plenty of nominations this week.  Tune in to find out why rugby referees get a mention for the Bryce, what got the F1 Adonis so fired up over Phil Gould and his Marto nomination. And why did the Tinman get a SSO Fail?  It could no go past without 2 AFL players from Geelong getting a nomination as well as the fool, Patrice Evra, from Manchester United with this poor effort.

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The Bulldogs & The Silent Truth?

The Silent Truth?

Where there is smoke there is fire and this is exactly how it seems at the Canterbury Bulldogs Rugby League Club at the moment. The more the players and the club deny that there is an rift or player unrest at the club the more it seems that there is something much deeper and darker that they are covering up.

Let's go back to the start of the season though and look at what may be the problem before looking at the latest rumours that are gaining momentum.

The Bulldog's season did not start well when the club suspended Ben Barba indefinitely before the first round for off-field problems. It was reported that Barba had a drinking and gambling problem and needed time away from the game to rehabilitate. Was this truly the case though or was there more to it? This was always a lingering thought many had and still do.

Barba returned sooner than anyone thought in round four, so if he actually did need rehabilitation, it was done in very quick time. Especially considering the initial talk indicated he would need a long time to get his life sorted out. Since his return though, the spark and guile has not been there. The Bulldogs have only won one game so far and that was back in round two. With 4 losses on the trot and languishing at the bottom of the table, it seems that there are certainly other problems at the club.

Is this the real Tony Williams?

One only has to look at big signing, Tony "T-Rex Williams", to notice that not much is going right on the field for the club. For a player who had a reputation of power and strength he would struggle to outmatch Rex from Toy Story this season.

Also missing so far this season, due to a leg injury, is big Sam Kasiano, who to the bemusement of many Bulldog supporters always seems to be 2-3 weeks off playing. With little word coming out from the club as to what is actually wrong, maybe there is more to his injury then is being told.

Heading into round 7 and the club is spending it's whole time denying that there are problems at the club and discussing the announcement that club CEO Todd Greenberg was resigning to take up the role of Head of Football for the NRL. Although Greenberg is touted as the best man to run the game, is he jumping ship? Stranger still was that with the announcement that he will not be leaving immediately and won't actually start the role until August.

The question that remains is what rumours are the players and club denying? Eventually all the facts will come out and with constant talk of Ben Barba being linked to the Broncos, there is definitely more than smoke to the rumours that are circulating.

Sources have revealed that there is a rift between Ben Barba, Frank Pritchard & Sam Kasiano due to an alleged affair that came to light before the season started. With a dust up at a training session it seems this was the incident that had Des Hasler saying enough was enough and this is when Barba was suspended to sort out his problems.

With reports that Kasiano & Pritchard wanted Barba sacked gains more momentum with the Sam Kasiano injury. With Barba suspended by the club, it appears Pritchard was not happy with the speed in which Barba was brought back to the team and before the season started most expected Kasiano to be back playing by now too. Kasiono is apparently standing firm on his decision to not play until Barba is sacked.  Not happy with the disunity at the club it appears that Josh Morris has decided he wants out of the club as well and asked for a release.

Now things are at a breaking point, Des Halser has told Barba & Kasiano that their services are no longer required at the club and both can leave. Expect to see Barba at the Broncos within a few weeks  and Kasiano at the Dragons. With both of these players leaving Josh Morris will stay and although Pritchard stated he will go if Kasiano goes, he will stay for now too.

Although nothing official has been stated by the club or players, expect more to come to light within the next few weeks.

Good vs Evil: The Suarez Debate

In 90 minutes of football for Liverpool against Chelsea, Luis Suarez gave an all round performance that shows why he is a player that is either loved or hated. Unfortunately it is the glaringly poor decisions he makes that gets the media attention and this time it is not a good image for the club or the player.

Suarez showed why he is considered the best player in the competition with a precision touch to set up Sturridge and a great header to even the scores at the death. But throw in a foolish handball to gift a penalty kick for Chelsea to regain the lead and then the moment that is now the hot topic of conversation. What goes through a players head to make them lash out at an opposition player by biting them? A disgusting act that is normally associated with rugby union or league and it is not something you expect to see on a football field.

The first thoughts that came to mind watching, is what made him do it? Did something happen during the game for Suarez to have a brain explosion of this magnitude? Unless the opposition player had a good squirrel grip in action I can see no reason that a sane person could think of to take such action.

Unfortunately for Suarez it is not the first time he has bitten a player, in 2010 he was suspended for ten games when playing for Ajax after biting the shoulder of PSV Eindhoven's Otman Bakkal. This is where the club of Liverpool is in a tricky position. They have signed a player that they know had done this before. Whilst he does deserved to be suspended they need to carefully consider any greater punishment.

Myself, I have no time for any player that takes such action on the sporting field and would have no problems if they decided to offload Suarez in the off-season. No player is bigger than the club and some actions should never be tolerated. On saying that, if the club decides to let him go, they need to ensure they get the asking price on his abilities, not his reputation. This is why the club needs to take the next step carefully. There have been plenty of poor decisions made by players on the field and their club has stood by them. This may be one of those times.

Liverpool as a club has to ask how much evil it is prepared to put up with to see the good in Suarez's game.

Pubcast Episode 19

It was time to return to the Grand Hotel, Bundaberg, for the weekly installment of Sporting Sport Opinions with MD (aka The Tinman) & Johnnyjojoshabadoo with special comments from the F1 Adonis & special guest Cheech.

Firstly we would like to send our thoughts to those in Boston who are doing it tough after a long week in what can only be described as a heinous act. Stay strong Boston!!

The game that we always introduce as "Simply the Best" gets the ball rolling with the Anzac Test Match to be played. The result is already known but we throw our thoughts around. With more signings announced what thoughts did MD have on mid-season signings. Is a transfer window & fee system the answer?

The Grey Fox drops a line to give us some tips and it seems he has a vested interest in the first one. As always, Gamble Responsibly.

Randwick (Sydney)
Race 6  Number 9 - Maule's Creek
Race 8 Number 16 - Alma's Fury (good for an each way bet) Pierro is the deserved favourite

We then hand over to the F1 Adonis to give us the latest in the world of Formula 1 racing. Some interesting thoughts as expected.

With the Reds playing the Brumbies all the Rugby talk is about this game. With barbs being fired from the coaches it is going to be a good game.

Somewhere in the mix MD gives an update on the LFC game happening in July at the MCG and the talk of a  big name player who looks like not touring.

With a 4 man panel for the first time it was a good chance to talk about this weeks beach volleyball game at Beach 365 with all 4 of us in the same team. The word shambles gets thrown around a bit for some reason.

The awards wrap up with Tim Horan getting another nomination for the Marto & why does the ABC24 news get get a nomination. We go easy on the refs this week and give them a break with no Bryce nominations.  For the SSO Fail we have broken new ground with our volleyball team getting a nomination and why has MD given himself one?

With that we sign off on ACDC - Have a Drink On Me.

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Pubcast Ep 18

As we settled in at the Coral Cove Resort Bar & Restaurant after a long week, it was soon realised that we forgot to do an agenda of sorts. With only some casual notes jotted down by MD it was unchartered territory for this weeks pubcast. Seeing as we also had a new member in AD/Andreas, it was always going to be an interesting night.

First topic of conversation was in reference to the great new direction that Johnnyjojoshabadoo is taking his blog, Time For Rum? With the site being in hiatus for awhile, he has taken a new initiative with short format interviews - "Getting Offside". Check it out and you may see a familiar face in the first episode.

NRL was top of the sporting topics and with the Test team due to be announced, we weighed in with our thoughts. We cover the tipping competition between, MD, Johnnjojo & Madmartymackay. The Broncos v Cowboy game gets some coverage as well.

With a new member Andreas on board we talked Formula 1 and pretty much handed the mic over and let Andreas take control. The Vettel / Webber incident is pretty much the focus of the segment. Look for more F1 & racing content in the future.

Rugby is in the headlines with the Wallabies 30 man squad being announced. Folau gets picked along with 9 others from the Waratahs and with only 7 Reds being named it just shows there are problems in Rugby when you look at how the teams are going.

The Grey Fox was not able to give tips this week, but MD has a good one for those that like to dabble. Black Caviar is going for a record 25 straight wins but with Atomic Force in the race this is where MD is putting his money. If you get on early it has good odds for an each way bet.

The A-League semis are on this weekend and we talked up the Roar. Unfortunately they went down 0-2 last night to the Wanders. We couldn't let pass the mention of how MD went in getting tickets to the Liverpool FC v Melbourne Victory game in July.

The Awards always wrap it up.

Bryce - This week the collective group of referees in the NRL gets the nomination
Marto - Andrew Voss gets singled out this week.
SSO Fail - Seems both MD & Johnnyjojo fired up this week. It is a close call between Ticketek & ASADA

Big thanks to Andreas for joining in with his opinions and always remember you can get your opinions to us as well. Email is always a good way.

With that we sign off with Baby Animals new song - Email

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Pubcast Ep 17

Back for a Grand time, we returned to the Grand Hotel in Bundaberg. The last time we recorded here there were record floods a few days later. We were a bit hesitant with some stormy weather during the day, but the day cleared up and we showed that we were not the cause of the rain. We have also put aside plans to build an ark.

Lot's is happening but before we jumped back into it after a break, we made a few announcements. Johnnyjojoshabadoo has started a new blog and gives an insight into what he is doing.

Johnyjojo also made a special mention of the Bundaberg Sports Flood Appeal that MD established and the big night we had last night.

From there is was all sport though. We may use the Simply the Best intro for the NRL but with the way the referees are expecting to be shown respect but given little to show why, it is no surprise taht we went off at bit on that front. The judiciary had a few examples this week to show it is going to be another year where they get it wrong every week. With the opening 4 rounds out of the way we also look at the scheduling of Thursday to Sunday games and what we thought.

Cricket is still lingering on and Cricket Australia gets an ear bashing after there shambolic efforts with the new contracts. Seems Queensland is no longer part of Australia when it comes to cricket.

Football gets a quick wrap with the news that Liverpool will be playing the Melbourne Victory later in the year and Johnnyjojo has put a challenge out to MD.  The finals also kicked off this weekend and the Roar are there, even though no one thought they would be. You just can;t keep Queensland out of sporting finals.

Rugby Union, and the Reds are running rampant. A tough win in NZ and the Reds are showing they are back to their hard winning best. We look at Kurtley Beale and his effort that is far from the best. And what is with that mo?

The Grey Fox drops a line and give the tips for the weekend. (Gamble responsibly).

Saturday Races:
Sydney, Rosehill - Race 7 No. 4  (number 7 is worth a dabble too)
Brisbane, Doomben - Race 8, No 14
Moelbourne, Moonee Vallley - Race 7 No 11
Sydney, Rosehill - Race 9, No 5 (if you have a few wins this is a good one to finish with)

As always we wrap it up with the Awards.

Marto goes to the Sky Sports NZ Commentary team.
Bryce - ALthough MD wanted to give it to the NRL for their judiciary shambles, we have given it to Gavin Badger this week
SSO Fail - While Johnnyjojo gave it to the idiots that decided to put Jessie Ryder in hospital, we instead gave it to the Tampa Bay Rays mascot who showed poor taste and judgement.

We finish up with a great song by Carl Wockner. Check out his site and stay tuned for a new album later in the year.  www.carlwockner.com.au

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