- Perhaps the game of the round was the Melbourne Roosters clash in Adelaide. The Roosters won 25-24 against an understrength Melbourne (who lead most of the night)
- The Warriors won again at home, which means they're still in touch with the bottom of the eight. I still maintain they are most likely to finish ninth.
- On Origin. Impressive win from Queensland, especially with Thurston playing with basically one shoulder. That and the comeback from 6-16 says it all really. To me, Thurston is the next immortal and one of the greatest to ever play the game. Sad to see him out for the rest of the season.
- Does it surprise anyone else that you get points for the bye rounds? I'd love to see a change to the points system... 2 points for a win, 1 point for a golden point loss and bonus points for a loss by 6 or less and scoring more than 4 tries and of course remove the points for the bye.
AFL
- Still don't know how the Swans won on Friday. They made almost all the right choices in the last two minutes, and also had a little bit of luck. It was great to see Longmire's face at the siren, which almost said How did we do that? It was impressive to hear him mention that luck played a role in the outcome. The Swans are now 6-7 and now one game outside the eight. Needless to say all of their games from here are pretty big. They've got tough games against Melbourne, the Giants, Hawthorn, Geelong and Adelaide to come. If they keep winning they might just sneak into the eight.
- We had some great finishes this week - Swans and Western Bulldogs won by a point, Geelong by two, Melbourne by three, certainly one of the better rounds with some great quality football played.
- Hats of to Melbourne, first time they have beaten West Coast in Perth since 2004, and coming from 16 points down in the final quarter.
- The Giants are sitting a game clear on the top of the leader.
Rugby
- At the beginning of the weekend, the game the matter most to me was the All Blacks - Lions test. It didn't disappoint. Thought the All Blacks were good but there's room for improvement. They certainly have a stronger bench than the Lions. Sean O'Brien's try was impressive. Hoping the injuries are not too serious. Needless to say, I'm looking forward to seeing the game live next weekend.
- Wallabies had another uneven performance against Italy. The 40-27 scoreline may have flattered a little. I'm not reading too much into it in terms of how they will go in the Bledisloe Cup later this year.
Other
- Confederation Cup: Not surprisingly NZ left the Confederation Cup without winning a game, Their first half against Mexico was impressive but not much else to celebrate, Australia was slightly better, aside from the first half against Germany they played reasonably well. They were impressive last night against Chile, but didn't make the most of their opportunities. The semi finalists are Mexico, Portugal, Germany and Chile.
- Cricket: Stoked that Afghanistan and Ireland now have test status. Here's a video on Afghanistan's journey from an Associate to Test Playing nation.
- Tennis: Hats of to Ash Barty, she played in two three set finals at the Birmingham International. She won the doubles with Casey Dellaqua, and lost to Petra Kvitova in the Singles. Kvitova winning is a great story too, its only 187 days since her hand was sliced in an attack.
- I admire Ange Postecoglou and Michael Cheika, they're great coaches who have a great sense of their place in their sports and have a philosophy of how the game should be played.
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