Where for art thou, Peter Siddle? Not on Bellerive, just yet
You may have read earlier in the week about poor old Pete Siddle holed up in a budget airport motel for two weeks as he serves out quarantine before joining his new teammates at Bellerive Oval. The former Victorian quick packed his car and came down on the ferry but is trapped in a tiny room with a bicycle on rollers and all the bananas he can eat for a bit more time yet.
Local WIN News sports journalist Brent Costelloe wasn’t prepared to wait until Sidds made his way out of quarantine so he grabbed a cameraman and headed down to the hotel to see if he could get the first word with Tasmania’s star recruit.
In what looked like a scene from Romeo and Juliet, Costelloe and cameraman conducted the interview from the street with Siddle answering from a first floor window.
The Tasmanians are enjoying a rare pre-season at home as a result of financial constraints. With no AFL in the state this year they’d even done a little bit of centre-wicket practice, but had to evacuate when the football code announced it was heading down for a few games. That was then cancelled at the last minute but we hear the grass has been left to grow and the wicket rendered off limits again.
Wallaby turns Trojan
The boys from the Wollongbar Pioneers were pretty pleased with themselves when they hung on for a one-point victory in their first game back in the Far North Coast rugby comp the other day — particularly when they clocked who was kicking goals for the other mob.
Wollongbar, six-time defending premier, snatched a 32-31 win over the Lennox Head Trojans, who boast none other than former Wallaby Berrick Barnes in their backline.
Barnes, who has spent the past seven years playing in Japan, retired earlier this year when his body started letting him down. “I had another year to run on my contract but I just pulled the pin,” he told the local TV station.
But at 34, he’s not ready to hang up his boots altogether, so he’s pulling them on for Lennox Head, the surf town he has decided to make his home.
“I’ve lived here seven or so years, so to come back and try and give a little bit back is something that’s always been on my radar,” he said. “It’s just whether my body has been able to hold up.”
Barnes, who grew up playing rugby league for the Kingaroy Red Ants, began his professional career with the Brisbane Broncos in 2005 before switching codes and signing with the Reds in 2006. He made a controversial move to the Waratahs in 2010 and played 51 Wallabies Tests before heading to Japan in 2014.
Back on home soil, he showed a little of the old razzle-dazzle in his first game with the Trojans, kicking a couple of goals and laying on tries for two teammates. But it just wasn’t enough to get on top of the mighty Pioneers.
Chappell out, stays in
The Queensland border blockade with NSW has made life a little difficult for Greg Chappell who had planned to join his brother Trevor and a host of sporting stars for the Sports Star Sleepout at the SCG on Monday night.
The SSO is an initiative of The Chappell Foundation which raises funds for homeless youth.
Greg will now miss the opportunity of a cold, possibly wet and definitely uncomfortable night’s sleep on the SCG grass with only a few sheets of cardboard and some plastic to keep dry.
He is, however, going to participate by sleeping on the couch in his Brisbane home and plans to stay in contact via social media.
“It’s disappointing,” he said. “But one of the things we know from the work we do is that many of the 40,000-odd homeless kids spend their nights couch-hopping when they can and sleeping rough when they can’t. My couch isn’t all that comfortable but I know for a fact tens of thousands do it a lot harder every night and not just for one night.”
While Greg may have played more international cricket than Trevor, his reputation appears to carry no weight when it comes to fundraising. At this stage the younger brother has almost $6000 in sponsorship while the former Australian captain has just $500.
There is a similar domestic competition in the fundraising stakes between Alyssa Healy and her husband Mitchell Starc. At the moment the hero of the T20 World Cup final is just ahead.
If you visit https://sportsstarssleepout.com/ you can contribute to this great cause.
Here and there
What’s in a name? Plenty if you share one with somebody famous or in the same vicinity. Most readers will have worked out by now that the Courtney Walsh who does such a great job writing Aussie rules and tennis for us is not the tall bloke from the Caribbean who used to terrorise batsmen.
Somebody should have told the cricket writer.
I’ve had my nose out of joint at times in recent years because Courtney Walsh the sports reporter would never return my text messages. Never. Ever. Ever.
It was only last week that I realised I’d been sending them to Courtney Walsh the cricketer and not the sports writer. Why the cricketer didn’t respond is a whole other issue, but I guess he just wasn’t that interested in staff gossip (I’m praying he never runs into the sports editor).
Anyway, colleague Courtney is now back in the good books.
The confusion reminds me of the time Alister Nicholson, the excellent ABC cricket commentator, arrived in town on the same day as Alistair Nicholson, who is the boss of the Australian Cricketers Association.
The town in question was Ranchi, the country India, the year was 2017 and the purpose was the third Test in that series.
Alister was a little miffed when the hotel car he had booked to pick him up from the local airport did not show. The ABC commentator got on the phone and rang said hotel to ask why they had not sent a car.
“There is no problem, sir. We have sent a car, sir, and you are already here, you arrived in the car one hour before and have already checked in,” the receptionist said.
It was the kind of conversation that left you doubting your sanity. Alister not Alistair insisted he was not already there, indeed he was here, which is the sort of thing that can happen when you are a yogi, but generally doesn’t occur when you are a Tasmanian-born sports caller.
Alister, not Alistair, gave up and got his own transport to the hotel where we assume he found Alistair waiting in his room.
To the best of our knowledge our Courtney Walsh has never found Courtney Walsh waiting in his room.
If I ever find a one-armed Irish rebel in mine I’ll let you know.
BC’s tip of the week
Brendan Cormick has turned his eye to the Valley this week where No 3 in race 5 on Saturday, Clean Machine, attracted his attention.
“Mustered pace to lead and was just run down in the shadows of the post at Caulfield on June 27,” Brendan says. “Drawn to lead again and will be hard to beat if she pings turning into the short straight.”
JPMorgan banker to lead Carlton
AFL club Carlton has announced that JPMorgan banker Robert Priestly will become club president, replacing Luke Sayers, who stepped aside following a lewd photograph scandal.
10 Dockers rated: Action Jackson poses selection headache
Fremantle has completed its final hitout before its clash with the Indigenous All Stars next week. ELIZA REILLY rates a host of Dockers and provides an injury update.