You know what, this week is NAIDOC week, and Bones Hillman just passed away, so I’ll start this week with a 1986 mash-up from Midnight Oil and the Warumpi Band in the heart of the Northern Territory, that had Blackfella/Whitefella segue into the Dead Heart.

2 fantastic Australian bands.

In America they sing ‘Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye’ when they vote out a politician

I can only imagine in Australia we’ll be having a couple of thousand people lining Pitt Street in Sydney belting out “Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again” if we ever voted out a PM.

The wild ride of Australian rugby

October 31: Get a historical Bledisloe pasting from the All Blacks

November 7th: Pull off a fantastic turnaround and actually get a maiden win against the All Blacks under Dave Rennie

November 9th: Announce a free to air & streaming TV deal with Channel Nine after 25 years on News, getting Australian Super Rugby clubs some long awaited FTA exposure

Lisa Alexander applying for the North Melbourne coaching job

Obviously it came across as a PR stunt with less traction than Joh For Canberra, but even if the Roos attempted to hire the former Diamonds coach, there was a good chance the AFL were going to quash it given she most likely hasn’t completed a Level Four coaching course which most AFL assistant coaches take before they even attempt to apply for a senior job.

Also, in the report by Anthony Colangelo on The Age website, there’s a quote by Alexander that I enjoyed:

“I don’t expect to get interviewed, but I will be disappointed if I am not, because I think it’s time people understood you don’t have to be a horse to ride a horse so to speak.”

That could very well be a nod to a quote by former AC Milan & Italian national team manager Arrigo Sacchi, a former shoe salesman who never played professional football, and when asked of his qualifications:

I never realised that to be a jockey you had to be a horse first.

Still, you have to remember that Cooper Cronk and Billy Slater are both rugby league legends who now assistants and GWS and St Kilda respectively, so surely a more sensible path to getting Alexander involved in the game would be as an assistant.

Collingwood’s well thought out strategy for dealing with Adam Treloar

2015: Trade their 2015 + 2016 1st Round picks to GWS to get Treloar and a 2nd Rounder before signing Treloar on a 6-year contract.

2020: Throw Treloar under the bus over Jordan de Goey because they’ve managed to completely root their salary cap with back-ended contracts, in another fantastic Collingwood PR exercise.

The Masters this weekend

It sums up 2020 that the great Sergio Garcia can miss a Major for the first time in 21 years…..

Because of a positive COVID-19 test.

With Sergio out, the new PGA leader for the longest active Major appearance streak is our own Adam Scott, who hasn’t missed a Major since the 2001 US Open, and like Sergio, he’s a former Masters champion who contracted the Coronavirus.

The obvious difference is Scotty contracted it last month and completed his isolation, whereas Sergio just happened to also suffer from a case of awful timing.

The TAB have said they’ll be doing something “Quite substantial for our customers over the coming days and weeks” after that 28 hour colossal failure

A $20 Bonus Bet, some useless run 2nd or 3rd money back offer, and a spitball to the eye is my guess.

I’m in a bind for the last 2 State Of Origin reports

The problem is I can’t watch Games II and III live (At least in the way I’d prefer), given that the coveted Manning Jack Attack competition restarts tomorrow, and I’ll most likely be practicing by no later than 5:30, by which time the games will well and truly be underway.

So as you can guess, I’ll absolutely be writing the Jack Attack summary, but the big question is can I smuggle in a detailed Origin review.

Make no mistake, I might be required to put on a display of mental gymnastics that both Nadia Comaneci and Simone Biles would admire.

We’re already halfway through the WBBL season and hardly anyone has noticed

I think the rain hasn’t helped the ladies at all, because as you can see on the ladder, every team bar the Strikers has had at least 2 games lost due to the Sydney downpours.

So that said, the Meg Lanning Stars are looking good for a finals spot, and may very well end up with more washouts than defeats, both the Sydney teams have started well…

The Scorchers are the question mark for me, after I talked them up pre-season given their recruiting of Sophie Devine and Beth Mooney, but so far they’ve been so-so, evidenced when the Stars beat them easily on Saturday, only to rock up 18 hours later and watch as Devine hit a ton against the Sixers and win easily.

Watch out, because if the Orange Army gets going, you’re all going to burn.

Another random Sheffield Shield record falls

New South Wales against Tasmania have smashed the record for the highest 2nd Innings score after scoring below 100 in the 1st Innings, a record that Bill Ponsford’s Victorians (With 518 after scoring 86) held for 93 years.

The Blues got bowled out for 64 by the Tigers on Day 1, Tassie scored 239 in response….

Only for New South Wales to declare 6 down for 522.

It was so wild that even Sean Abbott scored an unbeaten 102, and Peter Nevill declared with Mitchell Starc on 86 and looking good for that maiden ton, such was Tassie’s insipidness.

I’m led to believe Nevill was waiting for Abbott to score his ton to declare, given the Blues clearly wanted to have a crack at Tassie in the last 10 overs, which worked, because they ended up 2-26 at stumps.

Looking at Will Pucovski’s Shield season

Obviously young Wilbur is the first player in the 21st Century to score back-to-back Sheffield Shield double centuries (Dene Hillis was the last player to do so in 97-98), but I noticed something else that staggered me for a player who doesn’t turn 23 until February.

He’s now scored 5 centuries in his relatively young First Class career, with the amazing thing being that 3 of those 5 were double centuries, when you look back to his 243 against WA in Perth back in October 2018.

Virat Kohli having to fly back to India after the 1st Test ends (December 21) for his wife’s childbirth

I suppose Fox Cricket are going to change those ‘The King Is Coming’ ads to Ajinkya Rahane, given it appears King Kohli did exactly that about 8 months ago.

It’s a very simple decision for Virat to go on paternity leave, which will sadly mean we miss out on an Australia-India series with both teams at full strength for the second time in 3 years.

Once again, I think this shows the importance of implementing a team Bonk Ban (Haven’t they popped up in the last 24 hours) 9 months out from a major sporting event to avoid situations like this.

Many Lions players love telling the story that Leigh Matthews really cottoned on to this when Daniel Bradshaw missed a final for the Brisbane Lions in 2000 to be with his wife when she gave birth, which led to Lethal’s legendary “No unprotected sex in January” policy from 2001.

The Lions won the next 3 premierships, made 4 straight Grand Finals, and no player missed a final because of paternity leave.

IT WORKS.

The Penrith Panthers have seen my approach to sausage sizzles and applied it to their gameplan

No Sauce.

This could be last fortnight of Andrea Dovizioso as a full-time MotoGP rider

I don’t think my dear friend Mr Merv in Kalgoorlie will like that thought very much.

It seems like Dovi is set to announce he’ll reject a Yamaha Test rider offer, nor sign for Aprilia, and take a sabbatical in 2021, and with how quickly MotoGP moves, it’s a huge ask to see a rider who will turn 36 in 2022 getting a full-time ride.

In the meantime, I imagine Dovi will be keeping himself very busy in 2021…

The one-off return of the Turkish Formula 1 Grand Prix is on this weekend

And I’d like to think the good folk of the universe are itching to have one question answered…

Can these current cars take the epic Turn 8 sequence at Istanbul Park flat out, with the consensus being that they should get it easily, and I tend to agree.

In the 7 previous editions (2005-11) of the Turkish Grand Prix, the common myth was that there was only one car capable of taking the left hander flat – The 2010 Red Bull RB6, as you can notice here in Mark Webber’s pole lap 38 seconds in.

Adrian Newey claimed that RB6 had the most downforce of any car in F1 history, and considering Webber also took Turn 9 at Barcelona (An uphill fast right hander) flat out, I can’t doubt the godfather of aerodynamics.

Here’s something you only see once every 12 years

With the huge dump of rain in Perth, Ascot looks like being a Heavy 8 tomorrow.

In the middle of November.

What a strange year.