Gerard Whateley

You'll have to forgive me if I'm a bit cynical about this one.

Yeah, I remain completely optimistic.

The US game was a loss.

All circumstances, you could have written that down.

So the first and the third game, we were going to declare Australia's fate.

It's just that because the Americans had been just so painful, that was the... Anyway, I'd set off the top crash.

It was like a world where John Bertrand didn't outsmart Dennis Connor and Ian Thorpe didn't swim over the top of...

of Gary Hall Jr.

And that world sucks, to be honest.

That sucks.

You can shamelessly ignore...

what you put in place to govern your team.

And you can do what you like.

You can pick whoever you like.

But if I had been involved in the coverage of this, having watched and read, I would feel like I'd been manipulated.

There was a clear manipulation that went on to go, hey, hey, you've got to be a bit careful here.

And then he's straight back ready for service.

I think this has been a pretty cynical exercise.

And the reason he'll be back as captain and playing is because they are hopeless without him.

And to pretend that it's something else, that's, I think, where sport gets itself into trouble.