Look on the bright side: The All Blacks are going like busteds, too

Oh ye of little faith!

Yes, yes, yes, we are in a period where the Wallabies have by any measure been on the crest of a slump, and the loss to Argentina a fortnight ago (where they blew a seventeen-point lead to lose by 40-odd points) was dispiriting, to say the least.

But think of the week BEFORE that, when they beat the Argies in Buenos Aires – the same valiant Pumas team that had beaten the All Blacks in Wellington a few weeks earlier?

Do you follow me, tree people?

If my Auntie Rhonda was my Uncle Ronnie and they had met up the Windsor Road from Baulkham Hills and how’s your mother, instead of on the track winding back from Gundagai, well then – considering the wind blowing from the east, and you squint your eyes to see things just right – then it’s possible, just possible, that they might beat the All Blacks the sarvo at the Olympic Stadium. And this is particularly so when you consider that the All Blacks have lost three of their lost four Tests, which is in itself a post-war low for them.

Whatever the Wallabies enduring woes, they have at least shown signs of life under Joe Schmidt that we never saw under Eddie Jones in last year’s endless cluster-ruck, and the victorious Test against Argentina proved that they actually are capable of doing it right.

In sum?

In sum, believe, my chil’un! Lift your arms to the sky and wave them around a little. The trough of your suffering has been deep, but only so it can contain more joy when we get to the promised land. And it’s just up ahead, if only you BELIEVE.

A waste of space

Meantime? Meantime, you know how every now and then, you can get a blinding flash of understanding from out of nowhere, whereby while you can’t necessarily see the future, you at least know what it won’t include? (Like President JD Vance, but don’t get me started.)

I had one on Thursday night, funny you should mention it, passing by Glebe’s Wentworth Park where, if you can believe it, they are still racing greyhounds! The lights were on high beam, the crowd was in their dozens, and against all odds – and I mean that, as punters from the socio-economic group that can least afford it were presumably blowing their dollars on poor creatures cruelly primped to run as fast as they can until inevitably cast aside when they slow down – this abomination is still going in (checks calendar) 2024.

A Wentworth Park meeting in July this year.Credit: Louise Kennerley

Yes, yonks back, a dog track in Glebe must have made sense, just as a trots track must have made sense at Harold Park. The latter is now high-density housing in a city in desperate need of exactly that. Just what will happen to Wentworth Park in the future, I am not sure – green space or housing are the two most obvious – but one way or another it cannot be dogs.

Leaving aside the abysmal nature of a “sport” that should have been shut down long ago in any case, having a dog track that close to the city on such prime land that could be used for so many other things is simply absurd, and sooner rather than later the government must get to grips with that, just like they are with Rosehill racecourse which, ideally, will soon boast 25,000 residences.

Thank you. Fire at will. See if I care.

Thin blue line

The Sydney Marathon last Sunday? It was, not surprisingly a huge success with 25,000 runners going on large swathes of the old Olympics course, starting from North Sydney, heading across Harry Harbour Bridge and around Darling Harbour before looping Centennial Park and coming back for the big finish right in front of Ollie Opera House.

“It’s gone back to the past to launch a new future,” Sydney marathon race director Wayne Larden said afterwards. “It’s quite poetic. It’s great to recognise that link to our heritage and the Olympics. It is the only remaining legacy event of Sydney 2000.”

Indeed it is, and given what we have to sell – the most spectacular city on earth – you really can see the day where the Sydney Marathon will take its place with New York, Boston, London and Tokyo as one of the great marathons of the world. It seemed to me, watching the Paris Olympics marathon both on the streets and on the tube, that every shot seemed to have the Eiffel Tower in the backdrop, and for the final five kilometres they were running directly towards it. Ours can do much the same for the glorious harbour with sparkling scenery enough to put the Tour de France to shame.

But as for the heritage of the Sydney 2000 marathon, why not restore the blue line marking out that course, which for some reason everyone loved? There are still traces of it around the city that you can see if you know where to look – a little strip on Macquarie St opposite the Stamford Hotel, another on the approaches to Anzac Bridge.

Beyond everything else, it would give me the excuse to retell – one more time for the road they run – my favourite yarn from those days. See, back then, Herald reader Annelise Pearce wrote in to say that if they ever removed the Olympic blue line that goes all over the city, then she feared she might never see her parents again.

“Being country folk from Warialda, NSW, they find Sydney traffic bamboozles them easily, so they are quite happy to drive the very long route through and around many Sydney suburbs until they stumble across the blue line. They then follow it meticulously into the city to my Pyrmont home. They assure me it’s a very scenic journey!”

I love it. You love it. And we all loved the blue line – still do, for those little bits that remain. Bring it back, could you, Wayne Larden?

What they said

Jason RylesCredit: Edwina Pickles

Andre Agassi: “I promised my wife two things. One, that I wouldn’t be too busy, and two, I wouldn’t be too bored, because I’m dangerous in both scenarios.” Good work, Ms Steffi.

New Eels coach Jason Ryles on the mammoth job ahead of him: “How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.”

Embattled Shark Nicho Hynes on the criticism led by Greg Alexander that he just ain’t up to finals football: “I haven’t seen any of it because I’m off social media at the moment. It’s not a worry of mine. I don’t watch much TV, I don’t buy newspapers. If I’m going to watch TV, it’s Netflix. I’m watching Yellowstone and I’m really enjoying it.”

Roosters captain James Tedesco on questions about the side’s competitiveness given their injury list: “Honestly, [I] get sick and tired of hearing that from you guys. That’s all you talk about … Just every time I do media you talk about it …”

Australian tennis player Olivia Gadecki, 22, on making the WTA final in Mexico and seeing her ranking shoot up from 152 to 88: “This week’s been a special one, and to be top 100 is pretty amazing, and something I’ve strived for, for my whole career. It hasn’t really sunk in yet, but it’s crazy – I can’t quite believe it.”

Olivia Gadecki on her way to a career-high ranking.

New York Jets tight end Tyler Conklin on teammate Aaron Rodgers: “Aaron did some Aaron stuff out there.” You could ask him to see if he could do some Tom stuff? I would.

Golfer Rory McIlroy after another close miss on the 18th cost him a tournament: “Unfortunately I’m getting used to it this year. Hopefully the tide is going to turn pretty soon, and I can turn all these close calls into victories.” Meantime, is LIV still going, does anyone know? Several billion dollars later, it seems to have completely disappeared?

Lleyton Hewitt unimpressed with the Davis Cup format: “To try and ask players to play the second day after a grand slam finishes, it’s not easy. In the old [weekend only] format, I used to have to do it, but you’d at least have until the Friday before you had to play. Now to play on Tuesday, it’s ridiculous.”

Manager Ange Postecoglou on Tottenham’s start to the season: “When I look at the four games in isolation this year, the football is probably more consistent and compelling than our first four games last year but obviously our results don’t reflect that.”

Jacksonville Jaguars coach Doug Pederson after starting the season with successive losses: “It’s not who we are.”

Dermott Brereton on Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinckley’s post-match antics after his team beat Hawthorn by three points: “I come from a school where I’ve learned from great men – John Kennedy snr, Allan Jeans, Ron Barassi – and you are gracious in winning. I just thought it was dreadful. And as I say he’s a fantastic bloke, but you cannot lead 40-something men if you behave like this.”

World Cup and Champions League winner Juan Mata on playing with the Western Sydney Wanderers in the coming A-League season, which I guess must be starting sometime soon: “I mean, I think all of you enjoy the Australian lifestyle, right? So I want to be one more of you.”

Juan Mata arrives in Sydney.Credit: Peter Rae

New Waratahs coach Dan McKellar: “We’re going to be a team that loves the dark arts, and we’re going to love defence. We’re going to be a team that wants to stick in the fight, in the 78th-79th minute, to defend your line, and to fight and compete for every scrap.”

GWS Giant Tom Green after they went out in straight sets: “We just didn’t execute well enough clearly. It’s going to burn over summer and it’s something that we’re going to have to work on because we know finals are close. If we’re going to look to win finals and win a premiership, we can’t keep serving that up.”

Team of the Week

The Flamin Gulars. Otherwise known as the Gulargambone women’s rugby team, they will be playing an exhibition match at half-time in the Bledisloe. Give them a cheer!

Davis Cup. Australia through to the finals in November. A real shame and travesty what’s happened to this former highlight of the sporting year.

Roosters and Sea Eagles. Play each other tonight.

GWS. Bad loss last week and the dream of an all-Sydney grand final is over.

IOC president. Seven people, of whom just one is a woman, are in the running to succeed Thomas Bach.

Glasgow. Is hosting the 2026 Commonwealth Games, which will pared back to 10 sports in four venues, as ever a glorified school carnival for alumni of the British Empire.

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