Slip last thing Kurtley Beale needed

THE look on the face of Kurtley Beale after he slipped over trying to kick the winning goal would have broken the heart of anyone.

Kurtley Beale

THE look on the face of Kurtley Beale after he slipped over trying to kick the winning goal in Saturday night's Test would have broken the heart of anyone with an ounce of compassion.

There was a lot more than a game at stake. In three months before Saturday night's pressure-cooker, Beale had played two matches, including a club game. He had also been suspended twice by the ARU, had an assault charge dismissed after mediation and spent time in rehab for alcohol and emotional issues.

I'm no medical expert, but to even have him in the squad, let alone throw him the ball and tell him to win the biggest Test of his career not once, but twice, seems cruel.

Coach Robbie Deans, desperately trying to win the series and hang on to his job, says Beale has "never been stronger". But he would say that.

ISRAEL Folau didn't win too many Brownlow votes during his short sojourn in the AFL, but he did pick up some new skills for his already overflowing bag of tricks.

Folau's seemingly effortless pick-up at speed of a skewed Will Genia grubber kick, leading to his first try on Saturday night, was straight out of the Kevin Sheedy textbook. It's not the sort of half-volley that rugby players get to do too often, but it's bread and butter in the AFL, and Folau would have practised the move a couple of hundred times at GWS training.

Rugby league administrators and supporters would have been spitting chips seeing the one that got away in such sensational form against the British and Irish Lions, but I'd venture there was one AFL player taking an interest as well. If I was a betting man I'd have a few bob on Karmichael Hunt having a crack at Test rugby before he hangs up his boots.

WHAT'S with Daniel Mortimer? The sensation of 2009 finally got a chance to show what he could do in Friday night's Roosters-Bulldogs clash, and had a blinder. If the match hadn't been shown on SBW9 he would have won man of the match, but when Mitchell Pearce and James Maloney return from Origin duty it will be straight back to the bench for him. If Mortimer doesn't rate a start in first grade at some NRL club, this must be a stronger competition than I thought.

So why would he sign a two-year extension to his current contract knowing he's No.4 on the list? Looks like a bad case of lack of confidence after failing to win over former coaches Steve Kearney and Brian Smith. He gets on well with Roosters coach Trent Robinson, but there isn't a spot for him there.

PSSST, did you hear the secret? Australian boxer Sakio Bika won a world title in the US on Sunday, but you wouldn't have known if you tuned in to local TV.

None of the major free-to-air networks or Sky News could find room for so much as a mention of Bika's accomplishment, even though his win over previously unbeaten Mexican Marco Antonio Periban earned him the WBC super-middleweight belt. Still, you can't blame Channel 10 Sport, they didn't have much time left after their report on the Stanley Cup ice hockey finals between the Boston Bruins and Chicago Blackhawks.

THERE were plenty of heroes in the Brisbane Lions' miraculous win over the Geelong Cats on Sunday - Ash McGrath, Simon Black, Brent Moloney, Daniel Rich and Dayne Zorko amongst them.

But few had the influence of No.22, Stuart Wenn. No, don't go looking on the scoresheet; Stuart Wenn didn't kick a goal or take any marks. He is the ground umpire who couldn't get his foot out of the way of a low-trajectory kick from Geelong's Steven Johnson in the fourth quarter.

With Geelong leading by 90-50 at the time, the ball ricocheted off Wenn into the hands of Rich, who gave it on to Zorko who kicked the goal.

Their confidence boosted, the Lions went on to kick 53 points to the Cats' 8. Don't be surprised if the Lions retire Wenn's luminous yellow jersey at the end of the season.