Dejected Warriors player Tom Ale after his side's loss to the Roosters. Photo / Photosport
Dejected Warriors player Tom Ale after his side's loss to the Roosters. Photo / Photosport
OPINION:
Chris Rattue runs through his winners and losers from the past week in sport.
LOSER: The Mt Smart NRL ground announcer
I’m prepared to make some excuses for a woeful Warriors performance against the glamour Roosters — the Auckland side is missing too many good playersto cope with the best teams.
The biggest loss is Tohu Harris, whose ball playing at the line is at the heart of the Warriors’ shape under Andrew Webster.
Shaun Johnson is there to kick and provide spots of attacking magic, but as the zero-points Warriors performance against the Roosters showed he struggles to drive a side in the traditional halfback sense.
The Warriors are also without Mitch Barnett, Jazz Tevaga, the outstanding Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad, Luke Metcalf and Te Maire Martin. Wayde Egan didn’t quite look like his old self either, after two bad head knocks. The current squad isn’t good enough to survive that.
The Roosters game was a tough watch in the wild weather, and made worse by the ground announcer’s futile and embarrassing attempts to lead a ‘dee-fence’ chant from the crowd to lift the home side.
I’m old-fashioned in this regard — ground announcers should be impartial.
And his timing and delivery were all wrong anyway.
It’s up to the crowd to create the atmosphere, not a bloke with a microphone.
The crowd wasn’t buying his stuff — they voted with their lack of response. Unfortunately, he didn’t get the hint.
LOSER: All Blacks coaching appointment
The head still needs scratching over the decision to keep Ian Foster for this year’s World Cup.
Herald columnist Gregor Paul wrote recently that the pre-emptive appointment of Scott Robertson for 2024 and beyond has created destabilising confusion.
But NZR simply HAD to appoint Robertson now — they couldn’t risk being stuck with Foster after the 2023 World Cup.
The easy and obvious thing to do was install Robertson and his new coaching team immediately.
But Super Rugby is already completely disrupted by All Black considerations. The failed competition’s only remaining meaningful purpose is to supply the test side, and World Cup campaigns.
And Robertson would have given the All Blacks a much better chance of winning the Webb Ellis Cup this year.
WINNER: Mea Motu
Mea Motu celebrates after winning the IBO super bantamweight title. Photo / Photosport
Nothing has made me happier in sport for a long time than super bantamweight boxer Mea Motu’s world title victory.
Her story, including surviving horrific domestic violence, is revealing and she articulates it superbly.
Importantly, Motu is now a public figure who can pinpoint holes in the system when it deals with domestic abuse. People in powerful places could do a lot worse than talking with Motu about that. Her world title status might help in that regard.
Beyond that, Motu is simply a wonderful person to meet, and clearly an exceptional boxer. She looks ready to claim even greater boxing prizes around the world.
WINNER: Zoe Hobbs
Hobbs’ record-breaking runs will see her lineup in an elite Diamond League 100m field in Doha this week.
It has been a landmark year for the trailblazing Kiwi sprinter who has always bounced back from selection heartaches.
I don’t know the specifics of Hobbs’ motivation techniques. But she epitomises a ‘growth mindset’ when faced with setbacks, an attitude explored with interesting revelations by an American professor named Carol Dweck.
Hobbs’ persistence may have made it a little easier for future sprinters to get recognition and greater support in high places.
WINNER: Erling Haaland
Manchester City’s ‘Striking Viking’ has exceeded the high expectations for him, becoming the first top-flight footballer from an English club to net 50 goals since the 1930s.
He could do the nigh-on-impossible and break the even older single-season record of 63 goals. With a maximum of 10 games available, the sports world will be on the edge of its seat.
Staggering. To think, that some people question if he makes Manchester City a better side.
Manchester City's Erling Haaland celebrates after scoring the opening goal from the penalty spot against Fulham. Photo / AP
WINNER: Fortuna Dusseldorf
Who?
The German second-tier club announced it is moving towards making all home games free to attend.
This won’t catch on at the highest levels, but elsewhere the innovation is food for thought.
There are too many sporting occasions — notably rugby union — pretty much ruined by exceedingly poor crowds in this country.
Thus, it was a relief to see a vibrant, packed house in Hamilton to watch the high-flying Chiefs score another win over the Crusaders.
Sport is always best in full stadiums. For starters, it draws the best out of players.
LOSER: The endless cricket season
It turns the game into a meaningless blur.
WINNER: Liverpool v Tottenham Hotspur
Spoiler alert (if you’ve got it recorded) — Liverpool remain fascinating, even during a relatively poor season. A game you have to watch to the very end.
