Cheree Kinnear gives the highs and lows of the weekend's sport all in 90 seconds. Video / Sky Sport / Photosport
OPINION:
Chris Rattue runs through the winners and losers from the sporting weekend.
LOSER: The Kiwis
The New Zealand Rugby League should take on the NRL and fight like crazy to have one rule for all over test eligibility.
The issue has come to light again because powerhouse Cronulla Sharkscentre Siosifa Talakai can play for tier two Tonga and also New South Wales in the State of Origin.
But if he plays for the Kiwis, he is ruled out of Origin.
Siosifa Talakai of the Sharks fends off Jarome Luai of the Panthers. Photo / Getty Images
It means that Australia, in effect, has the power to chip away at the Kiwis' playing resources.
While the basis of the rule has good intentions, to foster league in smaller Pacific nations, it is totally unacceptable to consider Tonga as a tier two nation at New Zealand's expense.
WINNERS: Penrith and Melbourne
The latest round of the NRL suggests that any result is possible, unless the Panthers and Storm are involved.
They are a cut above the rest, two stunning league sides whose clash on May 14 will be a sporting highlight of the year.
And to think, the Storm are full of Kiwis, while the Panthers are coached by Ivan Cleary who could have been in charge of the Warriors.
Meanwhile, the Warriors are scratching around in the middle of the table as they always do, although the NRL nomads came up with a golden point win over struggling Canberra to offer their fans yet more false hope.
WINNER: Steven Alker
Steven Alker holds the trophy for winning the Insperity Invitational. Photo / Photosport
How about a 50-plus golfer being in contention for Kiwi Sportsperson of the Year?
The way Alker is going, the Arizona-based Hamiltonian may be hard to ignore.
The man who had a couple of unsuccessful seasons on the PGA tour, and mainly played (and won four times) on the tour below, is the best senior golfer in the world.
He's not only on top of the rankings, but is playing way better than many very famous golfers who are on the Champions tour.
The five senior majors are coming up and he's got to be a great shot to score a victory, given how well he is playing.
Do the oldies get a look in when it comes to our sports gongs? We may find out this year, if Alker keeps this going.
LOSERS: Crusaders
All good things come to an end, although even a below par Crusaders outfit can be a dangerous rugby animal. Still, losing to the Waratahs - no one saw that coming.
WINNERS: Waratahs
Congratulations to the Waratahs, who have gone from whipping boys to beating the once-mighty Crusaders in the latest round of Not So Super Rugby.
Remember, the born-again Waratahs lost all 13 of their Aussie and transtasman games last year.
New Waratahs coach Darren Coleman is getting a lot of credit, and he is an example of the passé idea that you don't have to be a famous player to make a top coach.
Waratahs coach Darren Coleman. Photo / Photosport
Coleman was a Sydney club first-five who went on to coach in his homeland, Canada, Italy, Japan and - last year - the US.
It's great to see the Aussie sides put some credibility into a struggling competition, one which must hang on for now and hope for better days ahead.
WINNERS: Black Ferns
Yuck ... don't you hate those modern box-ticking job titles, like 'manager of culture and leadership', which is former Sevens coach Allan Bunting's newly created role with the Black Ferns in this World Cup year.
But New Zealand Rugby is on the right track in appointing Bunting, because the review of the Black Ferns left the distinct impression that at least some players may have become sidetracked by internal issues.
One of the All Blacks' great strengths has been overcoming obstacles - rather than being overwhelmed by them - in the name of the bigger goal, which is representing the country, or fans, or family, or whatever else you want to use.
That connection with a purpose is important, as top coaches realise.
An example ... when Scott Robertson began his coaching rise with Sumner he videoed the suburb to help his little club team find their identity.
LOSER: Boris Becker
The German tennis legend has been jailed in England for hiding money and assets after being declared bankrupt.
The judge said Becker had shown no remorse, which is hardly a surprise on a few counts.
Becker has never come across as the overly thoughtful type. He has exhibited a machine-like persona since becoming an overnight superstar by winning Wimbledon at the age of 17 in the 1980s.
And great sportspeople can be self-obsessed characters, further shaped by adulation and fawning admirers.
But Becker's financial behaviour epitomises how many of the rich and famous believe they can operate, everywhere.
Boris Becker. Photo / Photosport
They have great lawyers and accountants who make a very nice living helping their clients keep their contributions to society to a minimum.
Or to put it another way, do you really think that the richest people in this country pay every last cent of tax that the system intends for them to contribute?
Okay, so the methods they can afford to employ may be deemed legal. But that doesn't make it right. It's called a sense of entitlement.
LOSER: Roman Abramovich
Speaking of which, the bidding war to own the Chelsea football club continues (at the time of writing) with America's Cup chaser Jim Ratcliffe among the suitors.
Roman Abramovich has been forced to sell the club, done in by the appalling Ukraine invasion which has seen Russian oligarchs hunted down and officially turned into the pariahs they should always have been.
Extreme wealth enabled men like Abramovich to ingratiate themselves into the greedy upper echelons of free world societies, and sport played its part in that disgrace.
And they've got a little army of well paid underlings making it all possible, as books such as 'The Enablers' by Frank Vogl detail.
Lawyers for Abramovich even contacted NZME wanting to defend his honour after I wrote that the English Premier League lost its moral compass the day it allowed Abramovich to own Chelsea.
Then along came Putin's war ... don't think we'll hear from those lawyers again.
