Monday Buzz: Weekend sporting highlights, lowlights
The NRL young gun to remember, Sonny Bill Williams’ big-name boxing opponent and heartwarming moment at Suncorp Stadium — check out the talking points from another big weekend.
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Check out the highlights, lowlights and talking points from another memorable weekend in sport.
HIGHLIGHT
The wonderful major event and party atmosphere in Brisbane over the weekend for Magic Round. This was bigger than eight games of football. A hugely successful tourism and commercial occasion that will attract future interest from all capital cities.
HIGHLIGHT II
My favourite story from Magic Round was this young fella Angus Hopkins, who was born with Cerebral Palsy.
Storm forward Christian Welch and Fox Sports personality Yvonne Sampson read about his story in the The Courier-Mail.
They organised access into the Storm and Broncos sheds. The smile on his face was just beautiful.
HIGHLIGHT III
Ryan Papenhuyzen — remember the name. He is a Wests Tigers reject who switched to Melbourne Storm.
He runs like Billy Slater and Josh Addo-Carr. He is 20 and weighs only 80 kilos. He is extra special.
HIGHLIGHT IV
The Perth Glory-Adelaide United A-League thriller on Friday night. Liam Reddy saved four penalties and scored one of his own at 37 years of age. His father, league legend Rod ‘Rocket’ Reddy, would have been beside himself.
LOWLIGHT I
Jack Bird’s ACL injury that sidelines him for the remainder of the season. He has been the Broncos’ best player this year and was a certainty to play for the NSW Blues in Origin.
LOWLIGHT II
Sydney’s western suburbs is supposed to be rugby league heartland. The performances from Parramatta and Penrith over Magic Round would suggest otherwise.
SHOOSH I
Which former NRL coach gave the death stare to three journalists on the opening night of Magic Round at Suncorp Stadium on Thursday night.
SHOOSH II
There is growing speculation the great Sonny Bill Williams will step into the ring to fight retiring Cronulla Sharks warhorse Paul Gallen in October.
MOUNTAIN OF TROUBLE
We rang former Panthers coach Anthony Griffin on Saturday morning to get a comment on the debacle that is now the Penrith Panthers. He politely declined to comment. Griffin’s sacking last year will go down as one of the greatest blunders in Penrith’s history.
NOT COOL FOR CATS
You can’t blame the Penrith coaching staff for having their debrief on Friday night over a quiet beer. Ivan Cleary, Cameron Ciraldo and Peter Wallace walked into a bar that was full of journalists. Not surprisingly they immediately u-turned to find somewhere more private.
BRANDY’S PANTHERS ROAST SPOT ON
Panthers legend and vice-chairman Greg Alexander is as cool-headed and calm as they come.
He’s not into big, bold headlines and it’s not in his nature to heavily criticise unless it is absolutely warranted.
So when the Fox Sports commentator starts questioning the pride and desire of Penrith Panthers players, you stop and listen.
In a savage review of the abysmal Friday night performance against the Wests Tigers, Alexander didn’t hold back.
“I thought after last week against Canberra, if there’s any resolve in these blokes and a bit of pride, they’d bounce back,” he said.
“It’s all about effort. Sometimes these players forget how important winning is. You don’t just turn up and do your job. It’s more than that. You’ve got to love what you’re doing and want to win.
“Sometimes I think that point gets lost. Looking at our blokes at the moment, I’m wondering who actually loves playing the game.
“That drives the emotion. If you’re emotional about something, you want it more.
“That’s lacking at the moment. We’ve got a lot of blokes that didn’t even look close to the players they were in the last couple of seasons.”
Alexander’s assessment was spot on. For two weeks in a row their energy levels and enthusiasm haven’t matched the Wests Tigers or the Canberra Raiders. They have conceded 60 points.
This is unacceptable from a side that was, on paper, a top-four candidate in March.
“They’ve been very ordinary,” Alexander said. “Very disappointing.
“You can’t have that. The comp is so even and Ivan’s got to sort it out.
“If you want to win desperately enough, everything else falls into place.
“If you’re willing to do everything you possibly can on a football field to win a game, all the other stuff takes care of itself.
“It comes back to their desire.”
FEATHERED FRIENDS SHOW TRICOLOURS
Meet the most fanatical family in rugby league. The Andersons from Brisbane are Sydney Roosters tragics. Their children are named Fitzy, Bondi and Hastings. True story.
They turned up to watch the Roosters train in Brisbane on Saturday morning and met chairman Nick Politis, who invited the family to Suncorp next weekend to watch the game against the Broncos.