ScoMo survives the Prime Ministerial sporting initiation ceremony

See Scott run (sort of). See Scott catch (more or less). It’s surely one of the most traditional leadership initiation ceremonies of all.

See Scott run (sort of). See Scott catch (more or less). See Australia’s latest sudden onset prime minister show the nation that between his love of sport and his ability to play it lies a potentially endearing but undeniably brutal gulf. It’s surely one of the most traditional leadership initiation ceremonies of all.

In Scott Morrison’s case it took place at Endeavour Sports High School in his southern Sydney electorate, where he took to the field for a spot of rugby league in a jersey golder than John Howard’s tracksuit, and sensible trousers the shade of a well-made cup of tea.

Hang on a minute … you want me to play? Wasn’t there a barbecue to cook somewhere? Photo: AAP

What followed was the spectacle of the well-nourished prime ministerial form being put through its paces, a vision that drew some admiring comparisons with the 2003 internet sensation that was the Star Wars Kid. But that’s where it peters out for us.

As will have become plain to Strewth readers over the years, your columnist understands so very little of footy it surely constitutes the knowledge version of antimatter. So we turned to this organ’s esteemed digital editor Daniel Sankey, who handed down this charge sheet: “ScoMo charged out of the line … but got sent back because he went too early. He turned playmaker, doing his best Matt Moylan impersonation — only to drop the ball, which luckily was cleaned up by a young teammate who left a gasping ScoMo trailing in his wake.”

Is there a leadership spill metaphor lurking in here? Or does it speak of the fumble-filled untidiness of Peter Dutton’s au pair situation?

What can be said for sure is that Morrison now has himself a slot in the Prime Ministerial Sporting Hall of Shame. Not on the top shelf alongside John Howard dodgily bowling that equally dodgy cricket ball in Pakistan.

Nor that more solid cricket ball making an exploding spectacle of Bob Hawke.

It probably belongs somewhere between Bill Shorten’s shifting AFL allegiance, and those times Paul Keating tried to pass himself off as a Collingwood fan.

The PM at least looked at home at the barbie, turning the eggs like a pro.

Out! Only ScoMo is allowed to hold the prime ministerial spatula. Photo: AAP