Who is Rugby League’s Best?

In the lead-up to Friday night’s Test between Australia and New Zealand much has been said about who will take over as the world’s best rugby league player, following the retirement of Andrew Johns. This is an interesting question. The question itself however is flawed.

Andrew Johns has been a great rugby league player, dominated the game for over a decade and will be a worthy immortal. It is however very unfair to suggest he has been the world’s best player for the last two or three seasons. That distinction currently belongs to Darren Lockyer who has dominated at five-eighth and captained every single side he played for, club or representative, to victory last year.

Interestingly the person most likely to challenge Lockyer for world’s best is his Australian halves partner, Jonathon Thurston. The Cowboys, Queensland and Australian playmaker has kicked on from a great season last year and started 2007 in stellar form. He finished last year on a high after his step put Lockyer through a gap to secure Australia Tri-Nations victory. The laid-back 23-year old has dominated the early rounds of NRL competition and has ensured the Cowboys sit in the top-four.

Yet there are other names that spring to mind when thinking of who could dominate rugby league in the coming years. Most notably Greg Inglis, the Melbourne Storm flyer has the ability to play in many different positions and can dominate from them all. Inglis has vision, as well as speed and strength. He stands at over six foot four and is a shade under 100 kilograms and certainly is the complete package. At just 20 years of age it is hard to argue against him stamping his authority on rugby league.

Another player tipped for great things in rugby league is Canberra Raider Todd Carney. Jason Smith who mentored Carney at the Raiders has come out this week singing the youngsters praises and believes the five-eighth has the potential to become one of the NRL’s elite players. Carney led Canberra to success over the Sydney Roosters last weekend and with more experience in the top grade will hope to challenge Lockyer, Thurston and Inglis for league’s best.

So while rugby league is always looking for another player to stand up and challenge for the world’s best mantle, the world’s best rugby league player did not just retire. Instead he will be leading out Australia on Friday night, looking to add another victory in the green and gold.

Australia in Brutal Form

An overview of the Australian cricket team's performance so far at the World Cup makes for impressive viewing. From the very first ball of cricket's most prestigious event Australia have been a dominant force. Matty Hayden has stamped his authority on almost every match, scoring the fastest century in World Cup history and helping Australia to success.

Together with his opening partner, Adam Gilchrist, the two have now churned out 25 one-day half-century stands, equalling the record held by Australian's David Boon and Geoff Marsh. They have done it in emphatic style, smashing bowling attacks from all over the world to all corners of the cricket ground.

Andrew Symond's timely 63 from 71 balls against Sri Lanka means every single Australian batsman has spent time in the middle and almost all are amongst the runs. Only Michael Hussey will be frustrated with his form, but a promotion up the order to opener ensured a not-out score and some valuable time at the crease against Ireland recently.

Hussey and Shane Watson are the only batsman in the team without a 50 to their names, while the latter has yet to get out in his four innings. Gilchrist is in solid form, with two 50’s so far and Ponting's World Cup campaign has been building beautifully, with a 100 and three 50’s. Clarke has looked in great touch averaging nearly 80 for the tournament and it took a sharp catch to rob him of another high score against Sri Lanka.

Australia's bowlers have combined to form a formidable attack. Evergreen Glenn McGrath continues to impress in his last one-day tournament, rapidly closing in on the record wickets for the World Cup. McGrath currently has 20 scalps and needs just four more to claim the record from Chaminda Vaas.

Nathan Bracken has been a revelation having claimed 14 wickets so far at an average of just 13 and an economy of just over three. Shaun Tait’s rapid pace has snared him 16 wickets at just over 22 per wicket. Although the erratic speedster’s economy is a little worrying at 5.66 an over. Brad Hogg has kept his opponents confused bagging 15 wickets at a shade over 17. Shane Watson remains underdone with less than 25 overs and just the one wicket early in the tournament.

It is hard to see Australia's dominance being challenged in the Carribbean. Shane Watson looks set to overcome his latest injury setback and reclaim his place in the team, providing Australia with added balance. Australia play their final Super Eight match against New Zealand this Friday and will be aiming to extend their World Cup winning streak to 27 matches and enter their semi-final encounter with South Africa on a high.

Losing: A Foreign Feeling

One man experienced a foreign feeling in England on Friday night. The feeling was losing and the man was Darren Lockyer.

After playing out one of rugby league's most successful individual seasons in 2006, captaining the Brisbane Broncos, Queensland Maroons and Australia to victory Lockyer failed to add the World Club Challenge to his trophy cabinet. Saint Helens ended that dream by recording an 18-14 victory over the Broncos in front of 23,203 lively fans in Bolton.

After the match Lockyer remained upbeat saying, "Obviously we came here to win, but we'll definitely take some positives out of it (the loss) as well. We looked good at times and showed positive signs. It was just our execution that needs to be better. At the end of the day we probably hadn't played enough football and were a little rough around the edges. But I don't want to sit here and make excuses, Saint Helens were the better team."

Looking ahead to the 2007 NRL season Lockyer is confident the Broncos can take their game to another level and improve as a team. "I think we can be a better team this year. We want to continue to improve as a team."

When pressed on his individual aspirations for the year ahead Lockyer provided little but did say, "Individually I want to improve, especially as a captain."Lockyer outlined the secret to the Broncos success. "You've got to start well to ease the pressure. You've also got to have a little luck with injuries. Each week is a challenge in itself. It's simple, work hard during the week to prepare for every game, 30 weeks a year."

Last year the Broncos began their season with a 58-10 loss to the Melbourne Storm in their final trial game. They followed that loss with an embarrassing 36-4 defeat at home to the North Queensland Cowboys. Fast forward a year and the defending premiers can feel optimistic about their title hopes following the narrow loss in England.

The Battle for Rugby League Supremacy

World Club Challenge: what World Club Challenge? That is the answer the average person in England would provide when asked if they had heard of the contest to decide world rugby league supremacy.

London’s newspapers generally dedicate at least the back six to eight sports pages to football, but of the round ball variety. All the other sports are forced to fight it out for the remaining one or two pages and rugby league finds itself at the wrong end of the pecking order.

Irrespective of England’s disappointing lack of media coverage, there is indeed a match to be played Friday night, at the Reebok Stadium in Bolton. The current NRL premiers, the Brisbane Broncos will battle St Helens, the current Super League champions for the right to be called the worlds best rugby league team.

The Brisbane Broncos have reversed the trend of past touring NRL premiers by arriving early, playing a warm-up match and most importantly showcasing their strongest side. The contest, played during the English season and Australian off-season has often been given little respect by Australian NRL premiers.

The majority of World Club Challenges have not been given a great deal of respect by Australian traveling teams. Many have rolled into England days before kick-off fielding a bit-and-pieces squad. This year is different. The date for the match was pushed back a month to allow the Broncos’ Test contingent a break to be fully fit following last year’s grueling season and Tri-Nations tournament.

Wayne Bennett, in his twentieth year as Broncos coach, has thrown his full support behind the World Club Challenge and will be hoping for a win on Friday to begin another lengthy season. Captain Darren Lockyer, who experienced some off-field success after proposing to girlfriend Loren Pollock prior to leaving Australia’s shores, will be striving to replicate the form that saw him guide the Broncos, Queensland Maroons and Australia to victory in 2006.

St Helens will enter the match low on confidence, having suffered successive surprise defeats to Harlequins and Wakefield. They also have a worrying list of walking wounded, with gun hooker Keiron Cunningham and captain Paul Sculthorpe struggling to be fit in time.

The Saints should still field at least five current internationals and in a one-off match, playing in front of a cheering home-crowd, in familiar conditions means a sudden return to form is always possible. The Broncos will be confident in the ability and will be keen to inflict some revenge for a heartbreaking 20-18 loss against the Saints in 2001.

In that match the Broncos surrendered an 18-6 lead in the second half and could not overcome the harsh conditions, including a second half snow-storm. Six years on and the battle will resume. If the match reaches extraordinary heights it may steal a page or two from the soccer pages, but perhaps that is wishful thinking.

The Progress of Andy Murray

Cast your minds back to 2004, a promising British youngster by the name of Andy Murray matched up against the experience of 45-year-old John McEnroe in a London exhibition match. In the contest Murray was overawed and outplayed in a set lasting just 17 minutes. Billed before the match as Britain’s next big hope, Murray wilted under the pressure of playing a tennis great.

An examination of Murray’s game at the time emphasises the astonishing progression he has made in a little over two years. Murray lacked a penetrating first serve and missed out on the free points that go together with a powerful serve. His court movement was too slow and his ground-strokes weren’t crisp or sure. His tennis brain was in the developing stages and he looked every bit the inexperienced junior.

Fast-forward to the early stages of 2007 and the determined 19-year-old has slid comfortably into the shoes of Britain’s best. An evaluation of his tennis game today makes for far better reading. He has a precise and more powerful first serve, crisp and penetrating ground-strokes, great anticipation, vastly improved court-speed and a fearsome return of serve.

This combines well with a rapidly developing tennis brain and the confidence that goes along with defeating numerous top-10 opponents and successfully defending his San Jose title with a come from behind win against towering Croat Ivo Karlovic.

Roger Federer and Andy Roddick belong to a fast-growing list of Murray casualties, it is difficult to believe Murray is still yet to leave his teens. Defending his ranking points last week he consolidated his 13 world ranking and after a lean patch during the corresponding tournaments last year seems set to burst into the top-10 in the coming weeks.

Under the experienced tutelage of American coach Brad Gilbert, Murray has excelled and as exchanges the hard-court shoes in favour for the clay court variety he will need to maintain his form, as he quickly become one of the men to beat on the men’s tour. Murray must now consider himself a genuine chance in every tournament he competes and his opponents can consider him a notable scalp.

Looking further ahead to Wimbledon and the inevitable period where the British tennis public pin their hopes on a local hope, it only remains to be seen whether Murray can maintain a level-head and continue to take each day as it comes.

Along with his growing stature in tennis comes the growing pressure to continue to perform. Hopefully Britain will allow Murray time to improve further, just think where he could be in another couple of years.

Fear Factor: Andrew Symonds

The Australian One-Day team won’t be as fearsome without its dread-locked star Andrew Symonds. On Sunday the classy all-rounder successfully underwent surgery to repair his torn right bicep he injured against England recently. The injury sustained after Symonds cleared his arms to play a typically powerful stroke through the offside has thrown Australia’s plans for a third successive World Cup into disarray.

The powerful all-rounder, who cemented his name in the Australian team during the last World Cup, will be doing his best to recover in time for the latter stages of the tournament. Arguably the world’s most valuable one-day player the Australian selectors should have no trouble in selecting him with the hope that he will recover in time to have an impact in the last two or three matches.

Ian Chappell believes Symonds’ ability is irreplaceable and his absence will serve to bring Australia back to the chasing pack of World Cup competitors. Chappell outlined the all-rounder’s ability to instil fear into the opposition through his match-turning batting, run-outs, blinding catches and flexible and tidy bowling.

It is hard to doubt Chappell’s thinking, as Symonds has matured into a much more complete player in recent seasons. His fielding is second to none and he has ability to field in the ring with a powerful and precise arm. In the outfield his flat arm puts doubt in the minds of batsmen and simply his presence in the vicinity of the ball turns two’s into singles and singles into dot balls. Then there is the brilliance of his hands which regularly snavel ‘classic’ with envious ease.

His bowling has improved greatly and he offers the variety of handy medium-pacers and off-spinners that he can flight or dart in depending on the situation. Coming in to bat at number five Symonds faces a variety of different situations. Often he strides to the crease with just few overs left to put the icing on the cake and bludgeon the ball over the ropes, to turn a big score into a score that cannot be chased. Other times he is called upon to dig Australia out of a hole, build an innings and set a target, or guide Australia to victory.

In every role Symonds has become a potential match-winner and even if there is only a slim chance he will prove his fitness, the Australian selectors would be foolish not to take the risk and pick him in the 15-man World Cup squad. After all, according to Ian Chappell just hearing his name is enough to create fear in the opposition.

Australia Just Too Good

Australia put to bed their 2005 Ashes demons cruising to a comfortable Third Test win at the WACA yesterday to regain the prized urn. Shane Warne spun the ball through Monty Panesar to claim his 699 Test victim and give Australia a comprehensive 209-run victory. Kevin Pietersen remained unbeaten on 60 and has been the hardest man for Australia to dismiss, averaging nearly 80 for the series.

Once a well-flighted dipping, spinning ball from Warne got through English captain Andrew Flintoff Australia quickly ran through the tail. England showed glimpses of good form in each Test match and were in a very strong position in Adelaide, but wilted in each Test to succumb to Australia’s relentless pressure.

After waiting well over a decade and working so hard to regain the Ashes it’s ironic that England managed to hold them for the shortest span in the contest’s history. Australia will look to demoralise the English further by winning the last two matches in Melbourne and Sydney.

Australia today named an unchanged team for the Boxing Day Test, providing all-rounder Andrew Symonds with another chance to cement his spot. England has been comprehensively out-play thus far and will be playing for pride when the contest resumes in Melbourne.

Andrew Symonds Back in Test Contention

DAMIEN Martyn's shock retirement may have paved the way for Queensland's dread-locked cult icon Andy Symonds to sneak back into the Test team.

The career of Shane Watson continues to be plagued by injury and the unlucky all-rounder has already been ruled out of the Perth Test starting next week.

Ready-made replacement Brad Hodge is also out injured and Phil Jaques is recognised only as an opening batsman.

Looking at the options Symonds looks to be a real possibility. Dropped after the South African series earlier this year, he has compiled a solid if not spectacular season for the Queensland Bulls and would dearly love to once again pull on the baggy green.

The bouncy Perth pitch would suit his handy medium-pacers and provide plenty of bite for his off-spinners.

With the bat Symonds is a rare package, able to bludgeon attacks and swing a match in minutes or dig in and grind out valuable innings' when his team is in trouble.

The in-form Michael Clarke could move up to the coveted number four spot and Symonds could slot in as the all-rounder at number six.

One of the world's most complete one-day players Symonds would relish a chance at Test redemption and will be hoping the selectors give him the nod.