Adam Pompey and Euan Aitken of the Warriors dejected after losing to the Titans. Photo / Photosport
Adam Pompey and Euan Aitken of the Warriors dejected after losing to the Titans. Photo / Photosport
OPINION:
Chris Rattue runs through the winners and losers of the past week of sport.
LOSERS - Warriors
The Warriors are as bad as ever. The Titans were dreadful, and yet the nomadic Auckland NRL side still lost to them.
Potentially very good forwards, shame about the backsis the state of play for now, which suggests coach Nathan Brown might consider returning Euan Aitken to the centres. Not that it's a move that would probably change too much.
Brown needs to find ways for his dynamic fullback Reece Walsh to have far more influence than he did against the Titans.
The Warriors are already wooden spoon favourites, alongside the Wests Tigers, after two rounds.
LOSER - the Olympics
Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping's little get together at the Winter Olympics in China should be viewed as just another death knell for the outdated sporting movement.
China's use of its Olympics hosting rights to meet with the evil Putin is now entwined with the Ukraine horrors. China is, through silence and maybe much more, underwriting Russia's vicious attack on its neighbours.
It can of course be argued the International Olympic Committee didn't actually organise the meeting between the two despots, but the link is inescapable.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin talk to each other during their meeting in Beijing in February. Photo / AP
We are left with yet another knock to the Olympics, run by an organisation with a very shady history that cannot extricate itself from the worst of human behaviour.
The roll of dishonour goes on and on to this day.
Allowing a Russian Olympic Committee team to replace the Real Russia drug cheats is just another form of cheating.
The IOC couldn't even make a proper stand against China's treatment of the tennis player Peng Shuai, instead colluding with the silencing of an alleged sexual abuse victim.
The Olympic movement might struggle to survive the Ukraine turmoil. A newly divided world of opposing superpowers could rip the Games apart.
But even if it does survive, it shouldn't dictate how we look at sport.
New Zealand spends massive amounts of money on its own form of Olympic propaganda, often by funding a handful of competitors in niche sports.
It's time for a total rethink, particularly as rising generations determine their own sporting interests via digital platforms rather than allowing themselves to be led around by the establishment.
Why put so much attention on canoeing, for instance, when all the kids are playing basketball, and the adults love things like motor racing?
WINNER - Scott McLaughlin
Josef Newgarden, left, won the race at the last turn over Scott McLaughlin, right. Photo / AP
The IndyCar newcomer must have had a brilliant off-season. He has had an amazing start to what is just his second full season in America, winning the IndyCar opener and being pipped on the last lap in Texas this morning.
The naysayers who found all sorts of ways to disparage his Australian Supercars superiority will be choking on their fumes.
The guy is simply a brilliant race car driver, from preparation to delivering on the track and everything in between.
LOSER - Moana Pasifika
Covid has turned Super Rugby into a disaster so far this season so it is not easy to judge the newcomers.
I was really looking forward to Moana Pasifika creating a vibrant cross-town rivalry with the Blues, while at the same time fearing for their prospects.
Unfortunately, the worst fears about this hastily prepared rugby outfit are coming true.
They are being hopelessly outclassed, the question being what will the game do about it?
New Zealand Rugby's priority is protecting the All Blacks, which means it has no real interest in allowing a foreign development team to truly prosper.
The only way to both properly develop Pacific Islands rugby while also lifting the game here was to allow more PI internationals to play for existing Super Rugby teams.
Moana Pasifika is a token gesture, built on a fanciful notion, and one which is doomed I'm afraid.
Moana Pasifika's Christian Leali'ifano in action against the Chiefs. Photo / Photosport
WINNER - Caitlyn Jenner
Caitlyn Jenner, who as Bruce Jenner won the 1976 Olympic decathlon gold medal, talks a lot of sense about transgender athletes.
"I don't think biological boys should compete in women's sports - we have to protect women's sports," she has said.
Which is how a lot of people look at this complicated issue.
My instincts say that Kiwi Laurel Hubbard should not compete in women's weightlifting, but it is a very difficult subject to form a firm opinion on. The technical arguments are unconvincing to me.
But Jenner is someone whose opinion deserves regard.
If you listen to interviews with Jenner, she is full of respect for transgender athletes.
She asks, quite reasonably, what is the motivation, or what satisfaction is derived, for someone like American Lia Thomas cleaning up in NCAA swimming. Jenner - who transitioned in 2015 - attacks the rules allowing it, not the competitor.
Of course, she is copping it from some sections of the LGBTQ community, whose attitudes are no doubt fuelled by years of oppression.
But claims such as the one that Jenner has launched "another disgraceful attack on trans athletes" are ridiculous.
Jenner is promoting a much-needed debate, rather than allowing herself to be shouted down.
Surely there are even some people within the LGBTQ community who can at least understand what she is getting at.
LOSERS - the All Whites
Their World Cup qualifying victory over Papua New Guinea was yet another lacklustre performance against poor opposition in a remote location. Football is apparently incapable of arranging big games for the national team at home. Why, for instance, do we never play Australia? Crazy.
New Zealand Football is bogged down, going nowhere apart from some individuals doing very well overseas. Fifa needs to take a long hard look at this region, the poor relation of the world game.
One big World Cup qualifying game in the middle of the year might be the sum total of eye-catching All Whites fixtures for the year.
