Chapter 1: What recent sporting headlines are discussed in the episode?
Now, back to Waitley. Munster for the try line. Shut the gate. Billy will pick him. Forget about all the missed tackles. Forget about the missed kicks. Forget about the intercepts. Try under the post. And the Tigers are being blown away. Oh, look at Harry. Harry's left them standing. Back to Jerome Hughes. There was a yawning gap. How did that happen? Hughes under the post again.
This is magnificent. Melbourne 18-0 over the West Tigers in 12 and a half minutes. Hughes went out the back to Munster! Straight through Cameron Munster. In fact, it looked so easy.
It feels better than the last seven weeks or six weeks we've ever spent. So it was nice to do it at home as well, you know. I thought, you know, what we basically planned to do and how we planned to do it, we stuck at it for most of the 80 minutes. And, yeah, it was a good win for us in the end, yeah.
Back on the winner's list, Melbourne Storm, 44-16 over West Tigers yesterday at Amy Park. It's been a tumultuous time, as Justin Rodsky in the studio last week gave you a real picture of the uncertainty that has surrounded Melbourne Storm with the health issues that the coach is now confronting, Craig Bellamy. The wisdom and experience of Robert Craddock here. Hello to you, Crash.
Hello, Gerard. Up to the start of what's going to be a very busy week up here with Magic Round, and it was a tumultuous weekend in sport. Plenty happening, mate.
There is indeed. It showed a bit of character from the storm to straighten things up yesterday.
Yeah, long overdue, wasn't it? Seven losses in a row. You just can't think of putting that sentence with the words Melbourne Storm. But they're back. They look good. It was a weakened West Tigers team. Cam Munster played well, which should assure he's the Queensland State of Origin captain. I don't think there was too many doubts about it. But, yeah, Bellamy's future is interesting, Gerard.
Before the game, he gave a press conference and he spoke about it. briefly and sort of vaguely. But what he didn't commit to was, you know, the absolute certainty that he would coach on in the future beyond this season. And he has a neurodegenerative condition. No one is quite sure what it is. The specifics have not been released. But the only certainty is that it won't get better.
And it was funny, just less than an hour ago, I was down the coffee shop with a man with Parkinson's disease.
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Chapter 2: How did the Melbourne Storm perform in their recent match?
That's a, you know, a similar sort of condition. And he said to me, he's the same age as Bellamy, 66. And he said, look, he said, he is a marvel to be continuing to coach. And he said, that's the hard, he said, I'm resting up, I'm retired. And he said, but he said the stress of a rugby league coach, man, oh man, that is unbelievable.
And knowing that next year, you cannot be better than you are this year. He said, that would be a supreme challenge.
Chapter 3: What challenges is Craig Bellamy facing as Melbourne Storm's coach?
It would, it would. So the whole comp heading your way, we're in gather round in Adelaide. We've sort of gathered momentum year on year. Yours is a more mature concept than ours. How's it maintaining steam?
It's going well, but I tell you what, there's been a couple of stories written up here, and they are very poignant and timely, that Gather Round makes twice as much as what Magic Round does because, you know, it's shopped around to different venues and different parts of Adelaide and outside Adelaide, Whereas Brisbane's is just restricted to one ground, Suncorp Stadium.
Now, I love the feel of that. It's a beautiful thing watching one match end and another start. For me, it's just about the height of the weekend. I love watching the spectators rush out of the ground, others rush in, and suddenly, oh, it's a fresh game. But it does cost you money. Like, if you took it up the coast and down the coast or to Toowoomba, you would make much more. But as we sit here...
Gather Round, which makes more than $120 million, that's twice as much as what Magic Round makes. So which concept do you prefer, Gerard? Do you like to sort of shop it around or do you think it works better like it is in Brisbane at one stadium?
I haven't been to Magic Round, but we unashamedly stole the idea because The concept of having the supporters of every jersey walking the streets and intermingled together, it's beautiful, and it works so well for the AFL. So I presume it works the same way. Because the AFL games are longer, it requires more than one venue, and there is definitely a charm to it. heading out to the Barossa.
I really like the Norwood games as it has that suburban feel, which AFL doesn't still have, but I wouldn't quibble with what you're saying is having people duck in and out of the stadium and watch neutral games. I'm sure that works really well also.
Yeah. Absolutely. And I think that, I tell you what the concept's not doing, it's not getting any weaker. It's a very, very, people look forward to it. You know, the hotel booking, the city's booked out. It's just getting a little bit bigger every year.
Let's talk cricket, Crash, because today's squads that are announced have some tremendous stories and right at the forefront is teenager Ollie Peake.
Yes, well, Olly Peake's been chosen for his international debut. Australia has just announced its white ball squads for tours which they leave later this month for Bangladesh, Pakistan, then Bangladesh. And Olly Peake has been chosen and he will likely be Australia's youngest ever ODI player. Incredible at just 19. Yeah, this is... I see what they're doing.
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Chapter 4: What is the significance of the Gather Round in Australian sports?
How can guys like Luke Wood and Mohammad Rizwan get paid $420,000 a year to be imports and we get $100,000 less? So they're frustrated. But, Gerard, here's the thing. Here's the thing. This is a very complex issue to solve because the warring parties ā believe the same argument. Like the players are saying, you should privatise the Big Bash and get more money and you'd solve this.
And Cricket Australia says, I know, that's what we're trying to do, but we can't do it because New South Wales and Queensland don't agree. So it's a very, very difficult one to solve because the two warring parties... are on the same side of the argument.
Yes, yes. And that the federated model has played out at length. So there's sort of a couple of flashpoints that will make this real. If you did have Australian players who rejected... their national contract at the end and did something that would be regarded as radical and took the big money elsewhere, excused themselves from Australian duty and went on the circuit.
And the second would be if a critical mass of key Big Bash players took the contracts in South Africa and the UAE and left the Australian product. Those two things would make it very tangible. Some of the debate, I think, feels esoteric to people. That... one of those two things would make it very tangible.
Oh, yes. And look, don't write it off at all. I mean, already, you know, Marcus Stoinis and Tim David have shown that they they've rejected Australian contracts at points, you know, because they they don't suit their year-long demands because they're T20 journeymen, and that's fine. But higher up the scale, it could easily happen, Gerard. And Pat Cummins has warned that it will happen.
He said, and the flashpoint will be in a couple of months' time, when Australia is playing Bangladesh in Darwin and Mackay at the same time as the hundreds going on in England. And to play in that tournament, some Australian players will sacrifice $600,000. And, you know... And Gerard, the old, the cricketers have changed in that they're businessmen now, as well as being sportsmen.
And the old days, the 80s, when players were, you know, you got a few bucks for playing it and you did your best and then the pay went up and you became, you're a half professional. But these days, I mean, that is a watershed moment, that little series against Bangladesh in Northern Australia, when players are having to say no to real big bucks. So...
And the Big Bash one, we've just felt that seeping through for seasons when, you know, the premium players for overseas. Mohamed Rizwan from Pakistan could barely hit the ball off the square in the Big Bash and he's on around 400,000. So you can understand the frustration of the guys further down the ladder there. And T20, let's face it, is all about money.
You know, so, yes, you just feel that...
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Chapter 5: Who is Ollie Peake and why is he important for Australian cricket?
That's really something.
Oh, Gerard, like, you know, 60 ā that was watched by 12 million people. Like, that's their viewing audience. One in every three Americans watches a 60 Minutes episode each year, and that was ā he got ā it was a 13-minute segment. And you think of the hundreds of American sportsmen that are cramming for publicity and cow-cow just swans in for 13 minutes.
The two lines from Dice Shepard that I enjoyed, Gerard ā One was of relevance to his future. She said, I can't push him that hard because I don't want to break him. He is physically developing. And she basically hinted he will be a lot better than he is now because he is a slimline sprinter, a very rare one.
And the other one was when the interviewer said, so what's going to happen if he gets a girlfriend to Di Shepard? And I thought, now this is officially interesting. Yes. And she said, what if you don't like her? And she said, oh, no, that's fine. I just would go up to his mum and dad and I'd just say simply this, she's got to go. So I just, they are a very compelling couple.
As you say, the Dye Shepherd, you know, limping around and the, you know, the elderly coach and the young kid, there's a thousand reasons why they shouldn't gel, but they just do. It's one of the most beautiful stories in sport. And I'll leave you with this statement, Gerard, and we've said it before, but let's say it one last time.
If Gout Gout wins a gold medal in the sprinting at the Brisbane Olympics, it is officially the biggest sports story in Australian history, bar none. Beautiful, Crash.
Thanks a lot. See you next week. The wisdom and experience of Robert Craddock. We'll tidy up, set you up for midday madness next.
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