00:02
This is an ABC podcast.
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Standby. Roy and HG.
00:14
Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, jet ski loons looking for a picnic to splash and fat tyre e-bike rodeo clowns creating untold mayhem on footpaths across the nation.
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Our great code stands on the precipice of international sporting greatness!
00:38
So, with soul in the shorts, feeling in the feet, and joy in the jumper, it's time to bump, it's time to thump, it's time to sink the slipper! Let's pull the cord on the Evan Rood two-stroke and set off for the far horizon. It's another blast of bludgeoning on the blindside with the master of midfield mayhem, rampaging Roy Slavin, and the man with a fistful of bait and burly, Captain Flathead HG Nelson.
01:13
Yes, TF Much, TF Much. Cedric has been sumped AO, a.k.a. The Drain, torching the blindside blue paper for another week. Yes, it's the familiar sound of the old sumpster camped in the ABC Spot soundproof booth right here on ABC Local Radio, where Friday night is dog night. Now, before I go on, it's always been a dream of mine, as many blokes listeners will know, to have a one-day test. A one-day test where Australia obviously opens the bowling, knocks over their visitors and then gets themselves in and bats to say T and then puts the visitors in again and knocks them over by stumps.
01:49
That could be underway as we speak with this magnificent effort from the Australian bowlings who obviously were embarrassed in Darwin. They've now moved to Harrop Park in Mackay and they're just putting the... acid right on the touring subcontinental heroes bangladesh uh it's i think must be a drinks break that we're up to now but i think five wickets are down so it can't be far away before the australia is batting six wickets so six wickets are down It'll be long before Australia's batting and then hang on to your hats for a one-day test.
02:21
It's never been achieved before, even though I've recommended it to many nations in certain stages of their evolvement and evolution to have a go at it. Hello Australia, H.C. Nelson lifting the lid on another magnificent week of consenting concussion magic. What a week! What an incredible week and the weekend's just begun. A week when too much sport is barely enough. It's a super Saturday here on ABC Radio Sport and ABC Local Radio. And from Aussies from starts to stumps, it's beyond awesome and it's begun in spectacular fashion on its way to be, wait for it, another fully sick weekend.
02:57
A TLT in big letters, a trip of a lifetime. The nation, my very good friends, is teetering on the very brink of joyful chaos as it licks its lips and in anticipation of the AFL wildcard round, which is now looming. The wildcard round, you get the idea that it's going to bring a lot of excitement and interest to the game, which has been lacking over the current home-of-the-way season. The wildcard Houdinati is designed to maintain interest in the final home-of-the-way round, sadly given the week's results.
03:28
We have a collection of basically dead rubbers to see out the slog. Before we get stuck into the scores of substance, the Logies last Sunday night. I mean, did you get an eyeful? It was just incredible. TV's night of nights. The glamour, the celebrities, the talent. And our stars again showed just how great they are. And as I always say, they're the best in the world.
03:48
The awards dished out on the biggest television occasion in 2026 and certainly a palpable tennis vibe. Toddy Woodbridge...
03:56
His Tipping Points show won the best entertainment program, and rightly so. It's head and shoulders above the rest. Sadly, whispers reaching to me today to suggest that the host, Todd, a.k.a. Toddy, a.k.a. the Toddster, a.k.a. Todman, a.k.a. the Woody, who has made this cash-collect confection compulsive viewing, wants to move on. I don't know why. He looks right at home. His hand movements and his encouragement of people to go for broke is just great. It looks easy, but it must be demanding both mentally and physically the taping of the show.
04:27
And after a hard day at the coalface, he must be rubble. And you can see why he might want to move on. Now, in the sports categories of the Logies, tennis scooped the pool with the Australian Open on nine, snaring the best sports gong with Jelena Dokic. landing the McEvaney for 2026 as best presenter. Very sad note. The top seed in the McEvaney vote was none other than the old pal Bruce McEvaney, who did such a great job in Glasgow recently. I think he called a golden record in a few days and he may not have been anywhere near the Scottish capital when he did it.
04:58
I can't speak on his behalf, but it was just gold, gold, gold from Bruce. Disappointing for Bruce was that there were a number of events that we're pretty good in that weren't on the card, for instance, diving.
05:10
which I consider is a Commie Games gold medal standard for Australia. No representation, no competition. Bruce, again, sadly overlooked for the McEvaney this year. I think he might be the current holder of the McEvaney. It's a rare Logie that goes to the organiser of the trophy to give it to himself, but that's just the way the Logies work. In other categories, tennis got a big look. The Graham Kennedy for the best newcomer, Leela Maguire, landed a gong for her role in the Yvonne Gulagong Corley biopic, Gulagong. Speaking of being overlooked, nothing for the main man, Hayne.
05:44
I thought Hayne would get something in the personality of the year. I don't think he was even nominated. I mean, his take it through it work is just great. And I see a bloke who turns up every, I think it might be after the front bar on Wednesday night with somebody else to talk to, somebody else to probe. And he just says, you know, virtually take us through it. I mean, what does a bloke have to do? He doesn't... you know, no big tickets on himself, no joining the Carpenters for a knife out or anything like that. No, he just does his gear and goes home. Sadly, and I won't bag the Logies because I won't, there was no, well, next to no mention of Rugby League.
06:17
I thought this was a glaring omission. I mean, it's a $5 billion entertainment wheeze with great presenters like Danica, Bray, Freddie, Big Gordy, Lockie and Gus and top shows like Agenda Setters, but nothing, no nod, no intro, no wink, no you'll be next time sort of tip from the Logies, just nothing. And now to the incredible round last weekend, Roosters and Panthers fought out a intense, low-scoring, full-on defence special. Fouls 12, Mountain Men 6.
06:42
That's a top-of-the-table clash, really. And then the surprise packet of 20-26, the Finns, club of the FOS machine, 22-0. 22-0. That's right, 22-0.
06:54
Well, every week we ask, what's happened? A Fosball experiment. It was going so great. Might have been even four wins on the trot. And now then, no answers. No answers. Just asking the questions. And the Finns franked that form against Parramatta last night. And so they're really in the mix as we head into the final couple of months of the competition. 22 again was the score with the Rabbits. They ran in against the Dogs, leaving the car honkers stranded on a six. Honk, honk.
07:24
But the dogs are still alive in the comp after the Eels' exciting triumph over North Queensland, full stop, 32 to 30. At Mould Central, the men of Horn went home on the bus to the nation's capital with 24, leaving the sharks wallowing in the shallows on 20. And the House of Rubble, I think it might have been last night or it was tonight, in the ACT, this week has been renamed Papa's House in honour of Josh Papalili. who's playing his last match before heading to retirement.
07:54
What a servant of the code he's been. We might get a couple of hours later today to talk about what he's meant to us as a rugby league front runner. And the Broncos, what is going on with the Broncos? Blown away by the big wah, 40 to six.
08:09
They're the premiers. Can I remind people? They're the premiers, 40 to 6. Wow, now a big, well, a big chance in the big dance for glory in 2026. Incidentally, the Clibbity Cop's title defence has been described as, wait for it, the worst in 118 years.
08:24
Now, the game started in 108, so you get an idea that there are a few years there where they didn't keep many records, but 15 losses in one season. Read it and weep, my very good friends. Read it and weep. I don't know what can be done here because I just think maybe it's time to rack the queue and say, oh, yeah, okay, you got us, Pete. We might go back to the drawing board and have another look over the next couple of weeks. We'll see you in the start. We'll see you in Vegas in 2027. And nukes stay in the 2026 egg hunt with a fat 36 while the Titans managed a very slimline 26.
09:01
And what about the joint venture of the St. George Miracle? I mean, it just continues forever. In an old-fashioned bowl-off curtain raiser at Combank, the Tigers found 22. Again, there's that weird number, 22. That's three times I mentioned it in these scores. But the Miracle Men from Coggera Jubilee brought it home with 24. So they won by two points. It was in front of a record crowd for a rugby league, 9,700.
09:24
It's wonderful, the support that the Dragons now have from the public of New South Wales and beyond. It's a saga that still pulls this. Look, can I just say this match, Tigers v Saints, it's a saga as old as time itself. I mean, I'm sure they only began the game in 1908, but imagine that before 1908, there was some sort of competition that involved Tigers and Saints. Bound to be. If I look at the records, I'll find it. Now, the crowd was the thing that I couldn't get over the size of the crowd. But Dean Young has turned the big red V right around, and he must be now in running for Dally M. Wait for it.
09:59
Coach of the Year.
10:00
Dean Young, Coach of the Year. Worth the $5 each way? Probably. Now, the Rugby League World is – well, should I say the Rugby League World Cup is looming?
10:12
The cup, no one's talking about it. I'm not quite sure why, but there's absolutely no mention anywhere except on this program about the World Cup. It starts on October the 15th and runs to November the 15th. I think the first match is Australia v New Zealand. I could be wrong about that, but no, Australia's involved. I'm just not sure who the opponent is. Might be St George. That'd be a scare. Now, it features 26 teams in the World Cup, no one's talking about, taking part in three divisions. Ten of them are in the men's divisions. Eight women's teams and eight wheelchair teams begin the competition on October the 15th, and the tickets start at $19.
10:50
Not a bad price, really. The Cup is spread across three mad rugby league nations, Australia, Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Powerhouse and home of the NRL Pirates, Papua New Guinea. And in kangaroo news, with the World Cup, let's face it, just over the horizon, Kevies quit.
11:09
I don't know whether this throws the Cup preparations into disarray, but the Kevies have packed their bags and head to St. Helens after the Cup that no one's talking about. So...
11:20
Don't know where we go to from here with Australian coaches. Obviously, plenty of people putting their hand up. Maybe you could do it over the phone.
11:26
Speaking of coaches, the Queensland search for a maroon coach is going full steam ahead. Billy Slater, the current coach, emerged from the rooms endorsing Cameron Smith as next in line to take the front seat in the box, while at the same time not completely ruling himself out as a return to the top job. And then, late in the day, Darius Boyd. suggested he would not look out of place in the front seat gripping the wheel of the bus. Stay tuned, maroon heads. Darius Boyd, you know, I can see him doing a really good job.
11:57
In wonderful news and a bright spot of legal news in a week of doom on the legal front, the Sharks enforcer Toby Rudolph avoided conviction this week. He was up on a charge, a rare charge. For a rugby league player, and let's face it, you know, this program has charted many legal implications of events happening both on and off the field. Anyway, this one was extremely rare and it caught my eye. It was a charge of mooning a park ranger.
12:26
Let that sink in for a minute.
12:28
They're so creative, rugby league players. They have so much time in their hands, they can think up of new things. But mooning a park ranger, why would you do it? Well, there's a story. He left the court vowing to keep his pants up, apologising to the Sharks, the people of Grinnell, his teammates, his jumper, his extended family and fans of rugby league and the dogs who were, well, they didn't need to see that. He was walking his dogs, one on the lead, one off the lead. Understandably, the park ranger says, hey, buddy, I think I recognize you. You're a shark, aren't you? Well, now, why have you got one dog on the lead and one dog off the lead?
13:00
You know, let's say it's a $500 fine in that area. I'll call it a $500 fine. He said, get lost, have a look at this, and dropped him. I mean, what would you mean? Ask yourself, what would you do in that situation?
13:13
Sure, you can fly off at the handle and do some damage, but you don't want to. You just want to just make your point. Now, so he...
13:23
He said he blamed the incident on his footy shorts, which he was wearing at the time.
13:28
They were his playing shorts that featured a much looser fit that enabled him to score tries with his pants around the ankles, revealing the much admired buns of steel, as he called them. He promised the court these Dax will not feature any streetwear ensemble from now on. World game update. And Socceroos Lucas Harrington has moved from MLS side Colorado Rapids to Hull City in the Premier League, a move that has made someone at least $33 million. Uh, I think I'm right in saying that Hull are playing Man United later today, around about 9.30pm Australian time.
14:03
That might be Australian Eastern time. I hope it is. And I'm just asking myself as I say this, is Lucas the only Aussie in the Premier League? I know the listeners will know this and I don't. So just send us a text if that's a thumbs up, thumbs down. Now, and speaking of things on the move, racing and the cocks. Is it already cocks time? I mean, it's hard to imagine. The year's almost gone, but the Cox is not far away. And the W.S. Cox Plate, synonymous with springtime at Moonee Valley... where it's been run for, wait for it, 104 years.
14:35
104 years has been moved to Flemmtown for the 105th running on Saturday, the 24th of October. Australians, can you please note this change of venue? It's only, as I understand it, for one year. It'll be back at the Moonee Valley. I mean, the Cox is the valley as far as I'm concerned. Rugby, and what about those Buttercup boys? Sure, you can pretend it's an evolution, but eight tries on the, you know, against the Japanese smacks of a Les Kiss revolution. And the old gold fruit and nut are making Aussies proud once again in their yellow. Speaking of coaches, Michael Checker and rugby coaches, Michael Checker is back with the Waratahs and New South Wales is grinning once again.
15:13
I mean, I can think big things of the Waratahs in the coming season. Finally, our Shoot Shield action this weekend features semifinals. The line-up Easts at Eastwood versus Eastwood at Willara, today at 3.10. Gordon versus Sydney at Chatswood Oval, 3.15. That might be Sydney Uni.
15:32
And then Warringah versus Ramwick at Pitwater Rugby Park tomorrow at 3.05. Remember the grand final? Saturday, September 5th, 4.45pm at Leichhardt in front of those heritage listed interests of toilets. Wait for it for the final time. You can get out and see, you know, history making in the shoot shield and get a glimpse of those. Wonderful. I wonder if there'll be anything left by September the 15th. Sorry, September the 5th. I certainly hope so. All matches shown on stand when it comes to finals time. And heads up, on a diary date for November...
16:04
Zigzag Cheese will be celebrating 20 years of production and there's a gala day at the Lithgow Cheese Factory. Special guest, the cheese, Brandon Smith. There'll be a jumping castle, show bags, rides, making gorgonzola demonstrations, afternoon tea, an all-cheese chocolate wheel, plus fireworks, plus a very special appearance by Healthy Harold because you know how good cheese is for you. Healthy Harold's right up behind it. And for the first time in many months, apparently Sixin is going to be there as well.
16:31
Bludge listeners will know that Sick has been poorly for some time and this could be his only appearance for the year. Blindsiders, stand well back and let the hounds of hustle see the lure as we welcome to ABC Smart and ABC Local Radio, a man who's passionate about Australian small business, including cheese, before letting him off the leash and savage a bowl of Aussie dog cuisine, reminded that the Bludge is fully committed to telling Australian stories. The can't wait man is standing by to take us through them. Obviously, great Aussie, contributes today on the complete, well, condition, should I say, of complete anonymity.
17:05
Rampaging Roy Slavin, can I get the bludging bunny in motion for another week by simply asking, what highlights caught your wrist to say? 4K HD, large language model machine learning, AI encrypted, bubble jabber!
17:16
Yes, thank you very, very much, HG Nelson. Of course, happy rugby league, HG, to you and your family.
17:24
And happy rugby league to all Aussies who have clear goals and ambitions tempered with an overarching sense of fairness, balance, grace and decency.
17:36
Now, the Nikita the Butcher Zoo Marnie fight coming up. I think it might be next Wednesday night, but if we find out exactly when it's on, while the program's on, we'll let you know. But I think it's Wednesday night in Brisbane.
17:50
Wednesday night, I'm pretty sure.
17:52
Well, we'll see him. Should he overcome, Marnie, and I'm pretty confident he will, we'll see him fight in Vegas this December. This is very exciting news.
18:03
And this will be an eliminator.
18:06
I know we love Eliminators on this program.
18:08
The Eliminator is my favourite.
18:10
I know it is.
18:10
Sure, you can get a bell.
18:11
Yep. But it's the Eliminator, isn't it, that everyone looks at? Well, this Eliminator will be in December in Las Vegas, starring The Butcher. We don't know who the head in the bag is yet, but we'll know, and once we know, you'll know.
18:26
Now, this will be the Eliminator for a world title shot.
18:30
That's incredible.
18:31
That's incredible. World title shot. Thank you very much.
18:34
And in the super lightweight, that's what I think. Yeah. Who's the champ at the moment?
18:38
Don't know. Don't know. It may not be decided yet. It may not be decided yet. It may be a vacant belt. You're the thing you hate most. I know. I know. I've got a feeling it might be vacant. Now, the butcher has caught the eye of top Vegas promoter and great friend of the program, Eddie Hearn.
18:57
Eddie Hearn, for those who are unfamiliar with his work, he's sort of the George Rose of Vegas. Right.
19:05
The No Limit Man. The No Limit Man, yeah. Yeah, sort of Bill Morty type. That's for people with a sense of history and boxing in Australia. I mean, Bill Morty, couldn't he promote them?
19:16
I mean, they broke the mould, didn't they? They did. Once Bill left us.
19:20
But George Rose has picked up the baton very, very well and is promoting, I think, magnificently. And he certainly made the Gold Coast one of the... Premier venue. For boxing in the world. For world boxing. Yeah. Let's face it. Anyway, to see this kitty, the zoo kitty, the butcher, make his way to Vegas, he'll go with every Aussie in his corner. Can I say that?
19:44
Lovely.
19:46
Now, Carlos Alcaraz has indicated that he'll be back on the ATP tour starting with the US Open. This is very good news. We're most concerned about the now former world number one, Al Correa, is because of his wrist injuries. Now, these wrist injuries take a hell of a long time to... Have you had a look at the wrist? I haven't had a look at the wrist. And honestly, there's been a veil of secrecy thrown over the wrist.
20:14
I know a couple of doctors have looked at it, but they've signed... NDAs? Yep. They're not allowed to talk about it. And because of that, we're not really allowed to talk about it either. My understanding is the wrist was broken.
20:28
But now it's on the mend, so much so that the US Open is looking at a possibility for this fellow.
20:34
On the other hand, it looks like Sinner, He's out with knee injuries. Now, this is no good at all.
20:43
So it robs, I think, the US opener as a spectacle. I think people were expecting to see Alcaraz and Sinner up against each other again. That's what everyone wants to see. Instead, it could be the demon.
20:56
I don't want to speak too early, but the demon's looking pretty good.
21:00
Pretty good at the moment.
21:01
How do you rate the US Open?
21:03
I love the US Open.
21:04
On a par with the Aussie Open? Oh, not quite.
21:07
I would put Wimbledon number one, the Australian Open number two, the French number three, the US Open number four.
21:16
That's the way I'd put it. But, you know, others may disagree. Yeah, no, no. And I don't mind. It's a talking point. I'm not going to resign from my position. I don't expect... People listening who have their own views, I don't expect them to resign either. And I respect them for the fact that they're not resigning. But for me... You've done it.
21:34
You've said it. I've said it.
21:37
Now, Novak Djokovic has crashed out of the Cincinnati Open.
21:43
Citing a mysterious health issue...
21:45
He said he's got health issues. Now, he's kept this very quiet for a long time as the former world number one. Now, the issue, it seems, makes it difficult for him to play when it's extremely hot and humid. Ah. Now, that can really affect you as a player. That's the future, though, isn't it? It is, isn't it? I mean, looking at climate change, I mean, players are going to have to be playing in the heat, at least. I don't know about the humidity, but certainly the heat.
22:10
Tell you what will become interesting, your Icelandic Open.
22:14
Yes. Well, it'll come into its own. There'll be Wimbledon, Icelandic Open, Australian Open, US Open, French, something like that, because the French will be unplayable.
22:24
Yeah.
22:25
Unless they create a biosphere, which is possible.
22:28
On the top.
22:29
Yep.
22:30
Nick Kyrgios, well, he's walked through the kitchen.
22:35
These things happen.
22:38
The only thing I would say in Nick's defence, not that he needs defending, is that he walked through the kitchen by himself.
22:45
He didn't take members of the public, and I think there's a lesson there.
22:49
to any sports people of any denomination.
22:52
If you're going to go into the kitchen, go alone.
22:55
And hands up when you come out.
22:56
Yes. You know. Yep, yep, yep, yep, yep, yep, yep. Simple as that. Anyway, I think Nick's out for a month or so. Some are saying they're writing him off, saying this is the end of Nick Kyrgios. You know, we'll never see him again, blah, blah, blah. Too soon. Far too soon. I think there's still a bit of tennis left in Nick. And let's face it, people are still calling out for that Bernard Tomek v Nick Kyrgios. And if Channel 9 get behind this, and I've had a quiet meeting with one or two executives at Channel 9 suggesting this as a special, and there is, I think, interest from Channel 9 on this, if we can get...
23:35
You know, Nick and Bernard on the same court at the same time.
23:39
At either end. At either end with cameras.
23:45
Now, talk of Ben Simmons making a comeback. Now, you'll recall that Ben Simmons...
23:52
Aussie, was in the NBA, had a couple of fantastic seasons and then became his own worst enemy anymore. I don't think he spent any time in the kitchen, no evidence at least. But he's what I'd call a troubled fellow.
24:06
Mm-hmm.
24:07
A little bit troubled. He had trouble with his own self-esteem, self-worth, and this expressed itself in his inability to get any three-pointers or layups.
24:19
Everything was going. He was double-dribbling. He was traveling, all that sort of stuff.
24:24
It wasn't working for him. And you may recall some time ago, a couple of years ago I think it was, that Paddy Mills reached out to him and to become a boomer. And he said, yeah, I'd like to play with the boomers. That'd be great. Didn't. Didn't turn up. Didn't join the team. Had nothing to do with the boomers. Was left stuck in his own room looking at himself, wondering who he is, what he's doing, et cetera, et cetera. Troubled fellow. Anyway...
24:51
It looks as if he's joined the Boomers in training in Melbourne. Now, this is great news.
24:58
Wow.
24:59
He's been in Melbourne for the last fortnight training with the Boomers. Now, this is very good news, and I think he's expressed an interest in rejoining the NBA, possibly at Philadelphia, although that hasn't been confirmed yet, but this would be very exciting news indeed.
25:14
A renaissance.
25:15
Yeah.
25:15
And a resurrection. A resurrection.
25:17
Yep, yep, yep, yep. Great, great, great news. And as HG's pointed out, the Leskis evolution, isn't that great? I mean, it's evolution without revolution, isn't it? And it appears to be working. Honestly, I thought the Wallabies looked almost top tier, didn't they? They did. They looked top tier. And they made the Japanese look a little bit ordinary. You know, the brave blossoms. I mean, we love the brave blossoms work, but they've never been a world power, nor would you expect them to be.
25:44
And I think the Wallabies made them look like they weren't a world power.
25:47
And you were telling me off air that, in fact, Eddie Jones has to communicate with the team in images. Well, he can't speak Japanese. No.
25:57
And I think he's shown them images of the way geese move through the air, HG. I don't know if you've ever seen geese migrating. Fantastic. It's a wonderful thing to look. They form a V formation. Very impressive. And one takes over and then gets burnt out a little bit and then he goes up the back or he or she and then the next one takes over. A bit like a peloton, I expect. So he's shown them images. It's the bright blossom of geese in action and in dump show asked them to reproduce this on the field. Of course it didn't work.
26:29
Yeah.
26:30
But it's a step in a direction. I'm not saying it's the right direction, a wrong direction. It's a direction.
26:36
Was it a mistake expecting the Brave Blossoms to fly? Was that the problem?
26:40
I think the Brave Blossoms spent a fair bit of time trying to fly. And, you know, when you're trying to fly during a test match against the Wallabies, you just look stupid and you get beaten. Right.
26:52
And Tupu, the prop, got two tries and they had to go back to...
26:57
When's that ever happened before?
26:58
Well, only twice, apparently. Only twice, right. Yeah, but that's hundreds of years ago.
27:02
Hundreds of years ago, yes. Yes, involving players we've never heard of. Exactly. Or not interested. Or can't remember. Or aren't particularly interested about. Yeah, but it's of interest to the families involved. Oh, yeah, obviously. Never forget that. Never forget that. No. I always say to people, you know, for every player there's a family. Yeah.
27:20
Wonderful week for the greatest game of all.
27:24
Boyd Cordner and Jake Friend to replace Matt King and Michael Checker at Easts.
27:31
I like the sound of this.
27:33
I've always thought Boyd Cordner to be a fantastic rugby league name.
27:38
So to have Cordner and Friend, there is your backup there at Easts. What position did Friend play? Was he the hooker?
27:47
Jake Friend. I think he was a hooker, yes, yes. One of those clever, smart-alecky sort of players, you know what I mean? Get up your nose, that sort of stuff.
27:54
Played for a long time.
27:55
Played for a long time, yeah, yeah. No, terrific bloke, good player, and I think the players listen to him.
28:00
You know, when he says, I want you to, you know, fly like geese, they do their best. Yes.
28:07
They'll do their best. Anyway, we wish them all the best. And as HG's pointed out, Michael Chek has moved on to Waratah commitments. But he'll come with a rugby league mind.
28:15
Oh, he certainly will. He'll be ferocious.
28:19
Yes.
28:20
And it seems to me that the Tigers, they've got a skills crisis. The Tigers have forgotten how to throw the ball, how to make a pass.
28:30
So many passes now coming from all of the players, including Dewey, are landing at the players' feet. Yeah, I know. The players they're passing the ball to. It's just not good enough. They don't look professional. You know, it's as if they've been asked to play like geese, and they are. Yeah.
28:48
And I think questions have got to be asked. Make of that what you will.
28:52
Bludging on the Blind Side would like to thank our sponsors.
28:56
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28:59
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29:05
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29:07
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29:32
And if you want to get involved with the Bludge, there's two ways you can do it. A text line, and you might have updates on various things that you'd like to flick onto us, 0467 920 222, 0467 920 222, or for your theses, you know, your PhDs and so on, try your roynhg at abc.net.au. That's roynhg, abc.net.au. And so we come to the road to glory.
29:57
Ah, where to start? Raiders 30, Broncos 34. That can't be right, can it?
30:02
They went to sleep, the Raiders, apparently last night.
30:05
In Papa's last game.
30:07
Yeah, in Papa's house.
30:09
In Papa's house.
30:10
Yeah.
30:11
Yeah, how embarrassing is that?
30:12
Did Ricky Stewart say it wasn't us out there in the post?
30:15
I think he was speechless and disappointed and ropeable.
30:20
I didn't realise that. This is the first time I'm encountering this news.
30:24
34 to 30. Yes. I think they were up 22-0 or something at one stage, the Raiders. They were doing it for Papa.
30:34
And then they forgot what they were doing out there.
30:35
What are we doing? I don't know. Can't remember.
30:39
Wow. Yeah. Okay. It's a funny old game, isn't it?
30:42
Isn't it a funny old game?
30:43
I could stop there and be completely happy with the weekend. Now, other numbers. Storm 14, Panthers 22. That's more or less is what you'd expect. Yes. Then the Dolphins and the Eels. Well, the Eels had a chance to do something, but they didn't. So they got 16. Dolphins 30.
30:59
Yeah. Well, the Dolphins started slowly, but gathered momentum. And once they had momentum, that was it.
31:05
Hard to stop.
31:06
Yep.
31:06
And I'm not sure the implications for the, you know, Panthers look pretty certain there, the Dolphins.
31:12
Well, I think the Dolphins are pretty close to having cemented their spot in the top four. Isn't that great? It's very good news, isn't it?
31:22
So we've got today, and can I just go back to Super Sad Day as the concept? I mean, it is just incredible. Knights versus Sea Eagles. That'll be great. That's your mouth-watering.
31:31
It is, isn't it?
31:33
Opener. That's at the, obviously, in Nukes.
31:35
Well, they'll be doing it for Foss, won't they?
31:38
They will. They will. They'll be helping Foss out. Yeah. So that starts at 3 o'clock with Andrew Moore and the crew. Right here on local radio on ABC Radio Spot. Now, then we move on having put the Knights and Seagulls to bed. We've got the Rabbitohs versus the Wah, 5.30. That must be somewhere around about Moorpark. Right. Allianz.
32:00
Well, that'll be a good hit out for both teams. Both teams. Yeah, Wahs are in very, very good form. The Souths have been in good form.
32:06
The Souths have been winning. Yeah, they have. They have, yes. And I think the Wahs are solid in second.
32:12
Hmm.
32:13
They are. Yeah. Yeah. Then we've got the form team in the competition, the Dragons, taking on the Bulldogs. This is a tricky game. It is, isn't it? The Bulldogs still have a chance to make it.
32:22
Yeah.
32:22
But they need to win this one big if they're thinking about it.
32:25
But the Dragons are still… Well, the Dogs are going to have to be very mindful. Dogs, they might get the yips, you know.
32:32
Dogs have been known to get the yips. You know, some days they're up and about, and the other days they're at the hips.
32:37
They're flat as a pancake. They're not yapping, they're yipping. Yeah, they're flat on the mat.
32:40
Yeah.
32:41
Now, then we go to tomorrow, Titans versus Sharks.
32:47
Sharks had a bad loss last week, I reckon.
32:49
They did.
32:50
Sharks look brittle, don't they? They do. They look as if they've spent too much time around mould.
32:57
I know, I know. It does affect you. It does. I don't want to get you down.
33:01
Yeah, long-term effect of mould. They're lucky.
33:03
Yeah. They might be buoyed by the Toby Rudolph decision, though.
33:07
Yes, maybe.
33:09
No fine for dropping the shorts.
33:10
For dropping the shorts, yeah.
33:11
Anyway, Titan Sharks. And then the last one, which is, I think, the match of the round, the Roosters versus West Tigers. I mean, as you point out, there's a lot of problems there at West Tigers.
33:18
There are, aren't there? They've got to go back to basics.
33:21
Catch and pass. Yeah, catch and pass. Thank you.
33:24
They've forgotten to do that. Catch and pass.
33:27
Catch and pass. Yeah. I mean, that's what rugby league's about, isn't it? I mean, sure, it's a lot of other things, you know, defense. Kicks. Yeah. 40-20s. Move like geese, et cetera. But catch and pass.
33:38
Now, out of this, do we think that the top three, which I'm counting the top three as the Warriors, the Roosters and Panthers, any- No, I think that's right. Any challenges this week to that?
33:50
I don't think so. I don't think so. I think they've pretty well cemented their position, haven't they? With the Finns at four. With the Finns at four.
33:56
Hmm.
33:58
This is a shout out to all Aussies who love fun.
34:04
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34:30
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34:32
simply go to the Heritage-listed Toilets of Interest website and follow the links. Terms and conditions apply. This is Bludging on the Blind Side.
34:44
Look, the rugby league's in a... Tell you what, just on the text, a lot of excitement about the Kyrgios-Tomic match.
34:54
Oh!
34:54
A lot of interest. Doesn't surprise me. That's what I put the executives at nine last week.
34:59
I said, there's a lot of interest in this.
35:01
And they said what? And they said what? I said, you know, Kyrgios, Tommy.
35:06
When I brought them up to speed, they could see, you know, how exciting the prospect was.
35:10
This is a standalone tennis event.
35:11
Standalone tennis event, yeah. A special.
35:14
You know when Billie Jean took on Bobby Riggs almost years ago, about 50 years ago? Yeah, that sort of thing.
35:19
That sort of thing, yeah.
35:21
Standalone? Standalone, yeah. I tell you what, they're building.
35:24
Wednesday night. Wednesday night? Yep. Part of the Wednesday wow package? Yep.
35:29
Now, there's a series of tennis courts being built in the eastern suburbs. I'm wondering if that match could open it.
35:36
Oh, is it camera compliant? You've got to get cameras. They're modern courts. Oh, okay. Well, they might be. They're modern courts.
35:42
But, of course, I'm not sure when they'll be ready to play on it.
35:44
Okay.
35:45
No, well, I'll mention that tonight. See what I think.
35:48
Now, the Rugby League. Hmm.
35:52
Rugby League's supremo Feathers Volandis is open to the idea of dangling weight for a $500,000 salary cap discount to clubs who win any post-season competitions the NRL stages around grand final week.
36:05
Now, what happens here is that this is a bit hard to explain, but the NRL in its wisdom thinks that the clubs who don't make the finals should be putting in content for the television coverage of NRL generally.
36:18
Okay.
36:19
So you might play, this is off the top of my head, 27 or 26 weeks of home and away. Then you get your four weeks of finals. And crammed into that other part is a new competition featuring those who don't make the final month.
36:32
Okay.
36:33
So you've got quite a lot of time.
36:34
Would this go at the same time as the final series, HG? So I would say on the Monday night you'd have, you know,
36:40
Say, at the moment, Dragons V Tigers. Dragons V Tigers. That's your round one. Yeah. I've done some work here and I'll come to it in a minute, my work. But anyway, so when any post-season competition, NRL stages around grand final week. The broad idea of cap relief came from guess who? Gus Gould. Aha. Who mentioned it in conversation with you and Feathers. When the prospect of extra content for the NRL was raised, they're desperate for more content to make the – $5 billion that they've got more valuable.
37:11
No, I get that. I get that. Thus, love at first flush. I know.
37:17
That's a great program, you know. That's a great program. Or, you know, fullback wants a wife, something like that. That's a new idea. What a great idea. I know.
37:28
Fullback wants a wife. Yeah.
37:31
Okay. It's simple. I know.
37:35
I feel as if I've seen it already. Yeah. Can I say- And I want to watch it again. What we do is we complicate things. You know, fullback wants- Put impediments in the way, you mean. And I'm- Correct. And do you know what? I'm- going to be all codiced about it, meaning there's fullbacks in the AFL, fullbacks in rugby union, and fullbacks in rugby league, and I'm going to include the goalkeepers from the world game. Although they would call fullbacks.
37:58
That's it as well. And if that works, you could move on to, say, Winger wants a wife.
38:03
Well, that's the dream, of course.
38:05
Isn't it?
38:07
Okay, Feathers is eager to give fans and broadcasters more rugby league during the grand final week and has last week raised the prospect of a third-place playoff for teams who crash out of the preliminary finals.
38:20
Oh, dear.
38:21
Lord, is that going too far?
38:22
I hope not. I don't want to see that. It's unedifying.
38:25
Thanks. Unedifying. That's the word I was looking for. These teams in the top flight, their finals, they really give it a go. It's not as though they save a bit for the third place competition. They really put in and really whack into each other. And some of them are great matches and exhausting matches.
38:42
And also, the players need a little me time. Indeed, a me time.
38:47
A little down time.
38:48
That's right.
38:50
You know, many of them haven't been in the kitchen for weeks. Or seen their families for weeks. Yeah. And, of course, just imagine you're playing, let's say, Roosters play Penrith in a semi-final, plenary final.
39:02
Yep.
39:03
Then they're asking the Rooster, one of those sides.
39:05
To turn around next week. I know.
39:07
It's the biggest belief.
39:08
So the $500,000 cap discount is something Volandis can live with. It could be used to give upgrades to players in the following year's cap or assist with buying a quality player. Well, hang on a minute.
39:20
Hmm.
39:21
All of a sudden we've got this whole mosaic of things going on, which I don't like. No. We've got the discount for the bears. Yeah. So there's something like a 20% cap increase for your Premier Bear, your Papa Bear-style player.
39:36
Yeah.
39:36
Then you've got your weird thing going on with your Bunnings Island.
39:39
Yeah, your tax relief. Tax relief.
39:41
And now there's a dispensation if you can win one of these – Feathers confections at the end of the season and you get cap relief. Well, surely there's, you know, all sorts of legal implications are here. It's far too complicated. The five-figure match payments could also be made to players who take part in one-off games, such as minor placing playoff. Goode was talking to paper writers about the idea for a knockout competition involving teams that missed the finals and would be good incentive would be the discount of the salary cap. Now.
40:12
My idea here is a knockout competition.
40:16
Let's call it like based on a round robin. So let's call it the Pigger Riddell Cup, for want of a better name, which is a great name.
40:24
Now, at the moment, you get obviously teams, this is guessing, say, St George, Parramatta, Tigers, et cetera, from the NRL. From the...
40:32
English Premier League, you get people like, let's say, Wigan, Hull. London Broncos. London Broncos, the busted-ass teams. They make it up as well. And then you might be able to throw in some new international teams.
40:47
The Tomahawks. Tomahawks, Taiwanese oysters. I've got a team coming out of Bangkok now, you know, the firebacks there and the Biak Pythons. So all of a sudden, Wednesday night, you get the International Rugby League at its best.
41:01
Yeah. Yep. And I don't care what – I'm sure most of those players – The Copperheads, you know, just a great mishmash of – Bougainville Copperheads. Yeah, very interesting teams.
41:12
Exactly.
41:13
Yeah, personality teams.
41:16
So then Wednesday, wow, becomes a great beginning of the week where they're desperate for matches on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, blah-de-blah.
41:23
Great idea. Great idea. And you could really build it up. I mean, they could appear on breakfast television on Channel 9, you know, the captains of each team.
41:32
You know, who are you? You know, where we're here from.
41:35
What's it like there, the weather at this time of year? Yep, yep. You know, have you got younger players coming through? Yep. Anybody playing for some of the name teams in the NRL competition?
41:44
Yep, yep.
41:45
And you see, what I like is that some of the newer ideas that they're trying to tease into rugby league, like try scorer decides whether they want to receive or they want to kick off. You got that right? Sure. Kick off or receive. Yep.
42:02
Then what happens is forward pass, where we introduce the forward pass into this competition.
42:07
Oh, you can experiment with tinkering with the rules.
42:09
Yeah, why not? In what we're calling the Piggy Riddell Cup.
42:13
Yes.
42:14
Named after a great player and played for a number of clubs, St George, Parramatta.
42:20
And maybe you're allowed one professional indiscretion per half or something like that. You can get away with it.
42:25
I don't know. I'm just thinking outside the box. No, no, no. I'm open to all offers. Anything that makes it more exciting and marks it out as not being same old, same old, boring, home and away. Yes. And some teams, like the Tigers, might have a terrible year. Well, they are having a terrible year. But once they get to the Piggy Riddell Cup, they might win it.
42:41
They might.
42:41
And they get... What do you think about the $500,000?
42:44
I don't mind the $500,000. I think that's great. Yeah. It's not quite enough, though, is it? Seems a little limp.
42:52
Well, the trouble is with...
42:54
All this money available, players are going for at least a million a year now. Two million a year is going to become the norm. $500,000 does seem a little bit on the cheap side because let's face it, if you were after four players, you're down to basically $125,000 per player if I've done the maths right. Sure, sure.
43:11
Yep, yep, yep, yep.
43:13
It's not enough.
43:13
It's not enough. It's not enough. But I agree with you. I agree with Feathers and the basic principle that we want to get more programming out of the players. And I think the players would be quite happy about that.
43:28
I don't know. I mean, who feeds the players?
43:32
I mean, what feeds the players?
43:35
Well, who does the work feeding them at the centres of excellence, et cetera, et cetera? What goes on behind the scenes? I mean, there's a show there.
43:43
Food in, say, the Balmain Centre of Excellence. Yes, at Concord. The book.
43:48
Who's the chef there? Who's head chef at the Concord Centre?
43:50
I don't know. That's a program. Rugby League Diets. Rugby League Diets. Yeah. And how do they do it? Yeah.
43:56
Week in, week out. Yes. How do they get the food into them? That's right. How much can they eat? A recipe book based on that. Yes. A whole television show. I cook for the front row.
44:07
There you are. There you are. I mean, there may be specific chefs for, you know, for wingers, for, you know, centre three quarters, halfbacks, et cetera, et cetera. I mean, you can't tell me Dally Cherry Evans would have the same diet as, say, Boyd Cordner. Or Matty Tapao. No. Well, he wouldn't. Or Josh Tapao. Yeah. Yeah. You know, what's Josh been eating this week?
44:28
I mean, there's a great show, isn't it?
44:31
And personal stories. I want to be 120. Yeah. No, 140 kilogram. Yeah, kilo.
44:35
I was 80 kilos and I want to be 120 by March. How do I do it? Well, you know what I mean? Now.
44:47
The NRL is exploring the idea of turning grand final week into a festival of football. This is another idea.
44:52
Forget all that. I love that idea. I mean, festival of football, I'm there. You got me in.
44:57
Even if nothing happens, I still like the idea of it.
45:01
Exactly.
45:02
Exactly. Excuse me.
45:04
Now, Festival of Football with additional three matches, including third place playoff. We've talked about this already. Pitting the losers of preliminary finals against each other. Under the audacious plan, the club chief executives come up with three options for matches on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Three options. Hang on a minute. It's got to be a separate competition. Three options won't get you anywhere. I mean, just imagine just one match. Yeah.
45:29
It's hardly a festival. Thanks. I'm talking festival. I'm thinking at least 10 matches. Thank you. Each day. Even if half a dozen would flag. I don't care.
45:40
So what I liked here was the concept inspired by the recent World Cup. That's Football World Cup, English Premier League style football, which featured the thrilling third place player for Thrilling. Thrilling. This was a...
45:53
No one cared about it. 6-4 was the score. I know. 6-4. I mean, the players didn't care. Nobody cared. No. You can't ask the public then. No.
46:03
Oh. What?
46:05
He's worried about the time. Oh, okay. Right. Yeah. Right.
46:08
We'll have to come back to that after talkback topics. After talkback topics. Oh, okay.
46:13
Now, two weeks ago, actually, before we had our fight break, we asked, should the new NRL plane be called A, Rugby League One, B, feathers, or C, NRL won, which I think was your suggestion. Yeah. Well, your suggestion has won. Oh, wow. NRL won. Yeah. 30% went with Rugby League won, 30% went with feathers, and 40% NRL won.
46:40
Isn't that great? So? Popular topic for people to think about.
46:44
Oh, yeah. A lot of people got involved. I mean, I think we put on extra staff, didn't we, Dave? Yeah, we did.
46:50
Just to answer the calls.
46:51
Right. And the plane, what's the status of the plane? Is it coming or is it still a bit up in the air, to coin a phrase?
47:00
Yeah. Right.
47:01
Look, I haven't seen the plane. I assume it would be fitted out and have its new decals and livery and all of that.
47:07
Yeah, that sort of stuff, yeah.
47:08
It would have to be made rugby league compliant.
47:10
And a lot of screens in it. A lot of screens. Maybe betting terminals as well.
47:13
Areas for privacy and poker machines or whatever. I don't know.
47:16
Yeah, I think it would be mainly hoping to do something with the TAB. Yes. Or, you know, one of those league.
47:21
Sure. And then I'm sure there would be somewhere up the back where you could buy some scratchies. Oh, good. That sort of stuff.
47:26
With a rugby league theme.
47:27
With a rugby league theme. Of course. Yeah, good. Of course. And I think Queen of the Nile and Each Way Nudger are available.
47:35
At where you sit? Yeah. That's great. So what are you thinking about this week?
47:39
This week, HG, look – I'm asking or we're asking, is it time to thank Marnus for his magnificent service?
47:49
Right.
47:49
This is Marnus Loversham. Yeah. He really hasn't done much. I think it's been several years since he's scored three figures.
48:00
I think you've got to go back to the year before last since that's happened.
48:06
No one can remember is what you said.
48:07
And I know every team needs what I'd call a live wire. Yeah. And I think Manus has been a live wire in this Australian team, you know, very active up and about, you know, full of jokes, full of, you know. Look over there. Yeah, all of that. He's a sort of Jonty Rhodes type, isn't he? Jonty Rhodes, I hadn't thought of that. Or Derek Randall type.
48:26
Ah, yeah, more Derek Randall, yeah.
48:27
Yeah, players, you know, teams, they thrive when they have someone who's a bit of a lightning rod.
48:33
Somebody outgoing. Thank you. Because that's the trouble with cricket. They're too inward looking up.
48:37
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So it's always refreshing to have someone. And I'm sure that's why they've kept you in the team.
48:44
Just someone who can provide a bit of banter and buck things up.
48:47
Banter, that's the word.
48:48
Banter, yes. Can you imagine sitting down with Marnus, say, for half an hour? It'd just be a riot.
48:54
Yeah. Or if you were stuck in South Africa and wanted to do something, he'd be the one with the sandpaper. He would. I'm not saying he... Yeah, yeah, he would. Did? He would. No, he would.
49:05
So, but I think the time has come. And I'm just putting it out there. Is it time to thank him for his magnificent purpose?
49:12
Have you got somebody in your mind to step up in that position?
49:15
No, I haven't. This is the problem. I mean, nobody looks at Sheffield Shield anymore. Who knows what's happening in Sheffield Shield? Who cares? Yeah. You know, back in the day, you and I used to often go to the Sheffield Shield just to keep an eye out. The talent.
49:29
Yeah.
49:31
But we don't do that anymore. And I don't think the selectors do. I don't think the selectors know who's in the Sheffield Shield teams anymore.
49:37
No.
49:38
Nobody knows who were the selectors anyway.
49:41
Well, I don't know. I don't know. Have we got selectors anymore?
49:44
Or is it just, you know, Smithy and Postman Pat? That's it. I'd say Smudge and Postman Pat. Smudge and Postman Pat, that's it. Well, Smudge and Postman Pat, I've got to look outside the dressing room for more players, haven't they?
49:57
I mean, I don't know. Well, I thought there was a good call-out put out. I know we've got to worry about the messages from the sponsors, but call. If anybody's got a bat and anybody's got a ball, for God's sake, take your mobile phone with you because you're likely to get called up. Yes. That was a plea, an all-points bulletin to the whole of Australia.
50:16
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
50:17
So I think we are keen on... Yeah.
50:19
Well, we've got to find someone who's going to bat a three, you know. Well, we've got a head there at the moment, but head doesn't know if he's going to stay at three or if he's going to be bumped up the order to go open the batting. If Renshaw falls over, you know what I mean?
50:32
I do. Well, it's eight for 38. It won't be long before we have to answer these questions.
50:35
No, well, it's going to be Renshaw out there in about ten minutes' time.
50:41
Anyway, people know how to get involved. You know, the staff will be here. Are we putting on more staff today, David? Yeah, good. So the staff will be here. Just you know the number. Give it a call. The drill. And if nobody answers, we'll get it anyway.
50:53
Footyheads, the Madcap Monkey and the Big Doe Dingo are back, giving you even bigger bites of the cherry. Stay tuned for the Hooter of Hope on the Rugby League's top cash outlet, Plutching on the Blind Side.
51:13
Yes, welcome back to Bludging on the Blind Side on ABC Local Radio and ABC Spot, the home of cricket. And we're not talking about grandstand, and for God's sake, don't get me started. Now, if you want to be part of the show, text line is 0467 920 222, 0467 920 222, or the old-style way, roynhg at abc.net.au. And the following people have. Roy.
51:38
On the tech stage, Steve from Hornsby is suggesting that George Rose, if he was to promote the Bernie versus Nick tennis match, it would happen. And he's right.
51:51
I mean, George does have a terrific track record, doesn't he? Of getting... Of getting things happening. Yeah, well, he... Well, he's turned the Gold Coast around into arguably the most important venue now for world boxing.
52:03
He does, and he's not shy about going down as far as Quokka. No. That's what I like. No. He can see the wisdom in bringing people up through your Quokka, into Pelican, into Donkey, into the Eliminator world title bout, et cetera.
52:15
Yep, yep, yep, yep, yep, yep, yep.
52:19
Now, this comes from Pietro.
52:25
He says, with the upcoming Victorian state election in November, is it time for all political parties to declare their position on building a national hammer centre of excellence? Could it start a state-by-state bidding war for the most important piece of sporting infrastructure that is clearly lacking at the moment? Sorry, this has come from Peter from Penrith.
52:46
It's not a bad idea.
52:48
I don't know where people.
52:48
What have you got in mind? I mean, look, I think you and I are at the forefront of encouraging Hammer.
52:54
Hammer, yeah.
52:55
In previous shows.
52:56
Well, we've been talking about Hammer for how long? 30 years?
52:59
Yeah. And the other week you were demonstrating that you could get a couple of house bricks together, put an hockey strap around them, tie a bit of rope to that or a bit of wire. Then get swinging. And start hurling wherever you went. And a lot of bowling clubs don't have bowling on them anymore and you thought it was an ideal venue to practice your hammer. And I agree. So I think that turning a disused bowling club, which has often got facilities like a bar and a kitchen and all that sort of stuff already set up into a venue of hammer throwing, maybe you've got to put some nets up to keep the hammers off the road.
53:30
Apart from that, the infrastructure build is not big.
53:33
No.
53:33
And they're centrally located. I know a lot of people are thinking, well, there's a bowling club there. Why aren't they building houses on it? Wrong. Hammer centre.
53:42
I agree.
53:42
Well, this is Germaine, HG. This comes from Max. He says, after watching the excitement of the men's and women's hammer throwing during the Commonwealth Games, it made me wonder how one would go about buying a hammer, buying a hammer throw, which I could use on a weekend at a sparsely crowded reserve. Yeah.
54:02
for a bit of stress relief. Having had a brief time as a high school teacher, I can never recall ever seeing a hammer throw in the PE storeroom or the PE teachers ever mentioning the subject of hammer throwing, which made me think there may be some sort of secret society of hammer throwers out there.
54:19
As for the purchase of a hammer throw, I thought I would start at Rebel Sport. Well, that's not bad. Which has the most sporting items that anyone could ever want or need. Sadly, however, I was met by a smug teenage assistant at the counter who seemed to be shocked at my request for a hammer throw and said in a sarcastic manner that maybe I should try Bunnings. Oh, well. Undaunted, I went to Bunnings.
54:44
thinking that I might at least be able to buy parts to build my own hammer throw from scratch. Sadly, there were plenty of chains and handles, but no large steel balls I could tie to the end. My next step would be to buy one online. Sure enough, you could buy a five kilogram hammer throw for US $91.50 from Buffalo Sports.
55:07
However, the postage for the 5K heavy steel ball was a bit daunting.
55:12
It would be.
55:13
See, this is an opening, you know, we can do in this country. We are. And plenty of people are looking for start-ups. Well, why not a start-up that builds hammers?
55:21
Yeah. Probably, this program alone, we might be able to sell 100,000.
55:25
We've got that Tomago Aluminium Works. Could they bung out a couple of balls?
55:31
Well, they're meant to be in trouble, aren't they?
55:34
Well, they use a lot of power. They use about 50% of the electricity in the country.
55:40
Yes, they're very big on power consumption. But the government, I think, had to bail them out the other day, don't they?
55:44
Well, I have. Only $2 billion.
55:46
Oh, is that all? Oh, fair enough. Okay, but I think that what would be good... We're prepared to give you the $2 billion if you could make 100,000 hammers. Sure, I'm not expecting now 100,000 hammers to be sold every six months.
55:59
Well, I don't know if they can do that at Tomago because they deal in aluminium. It'd have to be steel, wouldn't it? We don't have BHP anymore. No. Who's going to build? I mean, where can we get someone to build a hammer in Australia?
56:11
I mean, has it come to that? Has it come to this? Surely there are people. Surely there are people at home that can make a mould out of clay or something. Or sand. Or sand or build it killed in the backyard. Exactly.
56:25
That's the start-up I'm thinking of. Get an old custom-lined V8 motor and melt it down and pour it into the.
56:31
Yes.
56:33
Is that what we need to do? V8 hammers.
56:36
You've got your branding already on it.
56:39
Anyway, he goes on to say, all my hammer throw research made me wonder how you become a hammer thrower. Is it handed down from father to son, mother to daughter like a medieval dark art?
56:49
Do you have to be a member of a group like the Freemasons and communicate with knocks and winks and nods? Well, I don't know. Yeah, maybe you do. Is there a hammer society in Australia?
56:59
We see athletics organisations you would think would have hammers.
57:05
Well, you'd hope so. Well, I'd get in touch with Athletics Australia. Yeah. I don't know who the CEO is there at the moment.
57:14
And asked to be put through to the hammer department.
57:15
Hammer department.
57:18
Yeah.
57:18
I'm fit. I'm ready to give it a go. I want to swing.
57:21
I've got all the hand signals and gestures and the nods and winks.
57:26
Andrew of GYDY has been in touch. Oh, yeah. He says, last week you highlighted that Hopper could be our next gold medalist in the hammer throw.
57:38
Yeah. I think we did. Yeah, we did. I'm not resiling. No, I'm not going to resign from that either. I think he'd be great. He's got the build.
57:45
He has. He's got the attitude. He's got the attitude. It's all Judy. Yeah. Judy. As a long-suffering Manly fan, I'd like to welcome seeing Hopper do his hammer throw training at Fosball Park. What a highlight this would be at Halftime Entertainment at future Manly Games.
58:01
That is excellent.
58:02
Manly, many years ago in my youth, we used to have a boomerang-throwing gentleman showcasing his skills at half-time. Hopper could fill this void in modern times.
58:11
What an excellent idea. That is a great idea. And then you've got your promotion, you've got Tigers v Fozball Freaks, you know, Manly, and at half-time, Hopper with his hammer. Yes. I mean, kids would love that. They would.
58:23
And then kids and Hopper might be able to develop an act. Come on, actually come, give it a go.
58:28
Get a couple of kids swinging. Exactly.
58:31
Ambulances nearby in case it flies off at the wrong angle.
58:34
Well, you'd probably have to put up some temporary netting. Yeah. I mean, it wouldn't take long, 10 minutes or less.
58:41
Less. That's a great idea.
58:43
That's a great idea. And we could trace Hopper's development from virtually not a very good thrower to Olympic standard.
58:51
Yes. You see how far Hopper can get this week.
58:54
Yeah. And the great thing is he wouldn't be.
58:55
You know, 20 metres last week, 22 metres this week. Ladies and gentlemen, Hopper, 27 metres. We're not on that.
59:07
And remember, of course, is that we're not encouraging Hopper to drive anywhere. That's the big thing. No, no, no. Picked up.
59:14
Yeah, dropped off.
59:15
A mate would pick him up. Yeah. Someone who's interested in hammer. Yeah. Or maybe someone in Athletics Australia.
59:21
Oh, that's great. And what would be lovely if they had a golf cart which got dispensation from the cops to drive around the streets.
59:27
Yes. That'd be good. With the hammers in the back. Yeah, yeah. Or maybe the police could pick him up.
59:33
Just drop him off.
59:35
What are you doing today? Throwing the hammer. Okay, mate, out you're good.
59:42
I suppose...
59:44
Anyway.
59:46
Now, this comes from Martin. He says, good afternoon, gentlemen.
59:51
Marty here, who happens to live in Lake Macquarie.
59:54
Lake Macquarie, yeah.
59:55
Beautiful part of the world. Terrific.
59:57
Terrific.
59:58
I just want to give a shout-out to the incomparable Liam Martin.
60:02
Oh, yes, Liam Martin, yeah.
60:04
When he smells maroon or anything that comes from Queensland, he's a bit like a wild dog. He is. He is. He is. He just goes crazy. And this is what we love about him. In fact, having watched him over the years, it's not that he turns up to have a game of football. He turns up to have a fight. And in between fighting, he'll play some rugby league.
60:25
If you need someone to receive a pass, he's there. When someone needs to get niggled, he's there. When someone north of the border needs to be put in their place with a dose of reality, Liam is there to do the job.
60:38
It's a great summing up of the handiwork of the Penrith back rower.
60:44
Yeah, look.
60:47
Yeah, Liam...
60:50
Hmm.
60:52
Liam, look, every team needs someone who's happy to throw the hammer, I've always said.
60:58
Are you tapping? Liam Martin, certainly in the Penrith team, he's the bloke to throw the hammer, isn't he?
61:04
He is. He is. He is. And what I'd like to think of was – Look, I know there's big attractive offers out there. You can go and play on Bunnings Island and get tax-free and go to become a Bear and he would get a premium to go to play the Bears. Yeah. But somebody who would stay and throw the hammer at halftime at the new Penrith Stadium.
61:28
Stadium.
61:30
Is worth something to the club.
61:31
Yeah.
61:32
Because we're taking this all the way to the Olympics in 2028. Now, that's a big call.
61:37
It is.
61:37
Because that's about 18 months away or two years away. It'll be all over.
61:41
Well, see, if this works with Hopper at Manly, there's no reason why other clubs couldn't take it on and have someone in the team go out and throw the hammer at halftime.
61:51
See, what we need to do is make it glamorous to throw the hammer. Well, it's glamorous already, isn't it? It does have a sort of... I mean, we, Geordie, you saw the film, I saw the film, we loved it. We're in tears, full of glamour.
62:04
I would say Liam Martin, his focus is to be admired.
62:10
isn't it?
62:10
Yes, it is. He's very focused. Yes. There are some players that aren't focused that daydream a bit, you know, but Liam's not one of them. He's very focused off the field on other things too, apparently. Is he? Yeah, very good.
62:23
Very disciplined.
62:24
So if you didn't mention the hammer to him, he'd probably take it on.
62:27
I think he'd be an ideal member. I think each team has to nominate a player who's coming to the end of their career to become the hammer.
62:35
Who's happy to swivel him.
62:39
This comes from Steve from Hornsby.
62:42
I'd like to share a very special moment between myself and my 13-year-old daughter recently.
62:47
Oh, yeah?
62:48
Home of thrower?
62:50
After watching the final match of NRL on Saturday night with my daughter, I proceeded to flick through the channels on the TV and ended up in the racing channel.
62:58
That'd be 78, is it?
63:01
Not bad. Something like that. 76, 78 maybe?
63:03
78, something like that. People can find it. Just scroll through and I'll get it. I then decided to fill in time and have a punt on the Greyhounds at Wentworth Park.
63:13
And back number eight, Babyface Bandit.
63:16
Yeah.
63:17
Beautiful dog. Yeah. And in doing so, I got the attention of my daughter. My daughter's interest peaked when I jumped up for joy when Babyface Bandit came in first. Yeah, good. My daughter asked if she could have a go and have a bet.
63:33
I allowed my daughter to have a $5 budget per race and in total she gambled on six races. Yeah, good. Yeah. I know where this is going. It's great. Yeah.
63:42
In the six greyhound races she gambled on, she managed to back two winners, one second place and one third place, and two last place finishers. In summary, my daughter's first gambling experience resulted in a total outlay of $30, with a total net winnings of $94, which equates to a 300% return on investment.
64:01
To say I was a proud father given her winning ratio is an understatement, but what made me the proudest was when my daughter said to me, Dad, that was so much fun, we should have a dog night together.
64:13
Oh, isn't that incredible?
64:16
I highly recommend all bludge parents to set aside some time and have a dog night together with their kids.
64:21
Or a trod night.
64:22
Because the experience I had was very rewarding.
64:25
Or a trot night. I guess. It's very hard to get races at night.
64:28
People try trot nights, yeah. Dogs and trot nights. Well, dogs is a much simpler thing for younger people to understand. No, that's true.
64:35
You know what I mean? That's true. There's no mystery.
64:38
No.
64:39
What I was going to say was that just as a word.
64:41
See, with trots you can have handicaps and all sorts of stuff. It gets complicated. That's true.
64:45
Yeah. They're all in those boxes. Off they go. Yeah.
64:48
Yeah.
64:48
Look, the only thing I would counsel is watch out for big wins with your early bets. Yeah. It becomes very.
64:55
Sort of Kieran Foran phenomenon, you know, a few wins early on and then.
65:01
Nothing. Yeah, which you have to wear.
65:03
Yeah.
65:04
Yeah. There are ups and downs.
65:05
Yeah. Kieran Foran.
65:08
Is that what it's called in the trade? I suppose it is. Now, this comes from Stephen from Tasmania, Sandfly in Tasmania. Mm-hmm.
65:20
My wife and I recently cleaned out the kitchen cupboards and found this World of Ian plate from your Club Buggery days. Oh, yes. See a attached photo. Could you name the actors, please? Yeah, off you go. I think it was Greg Matthews. Greg Matthews. Warren Boland. Warren Boland. Lisa Forrest. Lisa Forrest. Who I bumped into recently. Sends her regards, HG. She looks very well. Paul Syronin. Oh, Syro. And Cole Joy. Cole Joy. It was an excellent cast. Yeah.
65:49
It was one of those shows where not much happened, but there was a lot going on.
65:56
Wasn't it?
65:57
Yeah, The World of Ian.
65:58
The World of Ian. Yeah.
66:00
Now, this comes from Andrew in Wagga Wagga.
66:07
Listening last week, Gus from Armidale commented regarding his father's greatest regret of missing the great starling cull in Narromine during the 80s.
66:17
whereby local farmers were considered in assisting shooting the vermin from the main drag, you recall. Yes. I can confirm through family sources that a minor consortium gathered and indeed utilised a baiting programme rather than a shooting regime with magnificent success. Yes.
66:34
One evening, the starlings were happily chirping and defecating at will. The next morning, no more starlings. Problem solved. Being proud and grandiose of my family connection with the mass cull, I replayed last week's episode, this was a couple of weeks ago, via the ABC app to a medical colleague, and he started researching the baiting products that could have achieved this feat. Indeed, he found bait-specific information and products, but I was just happy that I could share some of my family's legacy with pride in the town of Champions.
67:11
Isn't that great?
67:12
Isn't that great? He mentions Glenn McGrath, Melinda Gainsford-Smith and David Gillespie. I suppose you could add Slats and Tubby to that team. And Turvey Mortimer. Yeah, yeah.
67:23
Well, it's just Paul Kelly, I think, from the Swans. Yeah.
67:29
A lot of plays. A lot of plays. Nothing much else to do. No, I suppose.
67:33
And terrific facilities. Facilities, that's the thing. They saw it happening and so built for it. Yes. And you've got to remember, well represented with that Maguire fellow.
67:41
Oh, yeah. So much stuff. That's right, your Shotgun Museum.
67:44
Your Shotgun Museum. I mean, world-class music facilities. Yeah, it's just great.
67:49
A combination of music and shooting. You don't often see it, but it's there.
67:53
And the whole vibe of the joint picked up with his wonderful work with immigration. Immigration, yeah.
67:59
And the medical facilities there now, HG.
68:03
I mean, you go to Wagga now, you want to get an injury or something or come down with a condition just to make use of the facilities. Incredible.
68:10
And I tell you what, if that town got behind Hammer, what could happen?
68:15
What could happen?
68:17
The sky's the limit, honestly.
68:21
This comes from Marcello.
68:24
My punters club had a particularly good run this year and our current balance is just shy of $5,000, which a projected windfall at the end of the year of some $6,000, including a Commonwealth Games $2 coin that I got back in change. Ha!
68:38
Our interest was peaked a couple of weeks ago when you talked about a private equity group wanting to buy the Melbourne Storm for $200 million.
68:46
Yep.
68:47
And we're now considering buying West Tigers with our winnings. Are you able to update us on the current value of said organisation, whether any prospective sale would include the heritage-listed toilets?
68:58
Well, I don't think the toilets are owned by the club, are they? No, I think they're owned by the Inner West Council, I think.
69:07
And they're leased by whoever wants to lease them. In this instance, I think we're seeing the Shoot Shield Grand Final.
69:15
We are. We are. On the 5th of September, I think.
69:18
Look, I think the West Tigers is owned by, I want to say, the Holman Barnes Group.
69:23
Yes, there seems to be a consortium of legal minds.
69:27
Yeah, yeah.
69:28
And I'm sure that if you approach them in the right manner, you could become co-owners. I don't know whether they'd sell that thing, although it doesn't work that much at the moment.
69:37
I think the Holman Barnes Group, that might be based on, I want to say, Keith Barnes. Yeah. Oh, I didn't know that. Yeah. And Keith Holman, I want to say. Was it Keith Holman?
69:51
The player for Wests.
69:53
Oh, okay.
69:54
I didn't realise it had prominence. Yeah, yeah. I think that's the name. I think that consortium owns Wests Leagues Club, which appears to generate most of the income for the consortium. I think it's 90% owned by Wests Leagues Club and 10% by Balmain, I think.
70:15
Right.
70:17
Just an update on the Melbourne problem. Remember a while ago I was worried that Chinese interests might get involved?
70:22
Yeah.
70:23
Well, they seem to have seen off the Chinese interest, although I've got to be honest, in international finance, who knows where the money comes from? I've got to be honest there. So Melbourne Chairman Matt Tripp says the storm had primed to become Australia's sporting powerhouse after completing, I'll wait for it, an $80 million sell-off to Swedish giant worth $34 billion.
70:45
Holy dooly.
70:47
Not Saab.
70:49
No, no, no. This is, okay, I'll give it to you. As first revealed by the newspapers, the sale of the storm is now complete with Sweden-based private equity juggernaut EQT. EQT? Buying the majority of the share in the NRL club. The global investment firm has paid an estimated $80 million for a controlling stake in the storm, valuing the club, most consistently over the past two decades, around $150 million. Right.
71:16
This represents a landmark transaction for the rugby league and is compelling evidence of the increasing power of the NRL's brand following the $5 billion blah-de-blah-de-blah. The storm we're exploring potential buyer for most of the past year and filled with more than 50 expressions of interest, including overtures from global corporations in the United States, United Kingdom and China. So that gives you an idea of what these things are worth now.
71:36
Isn't that a combination?
71:37
Even a busted-arse operation like the Tigers would be worth a fortune, wouldn't it?
71:40
Would be.
71:41
Because it's got the potential.
71:43
Yes.
71:43
The potential.
71:44
Yes, they've just got to turn it around, haven't they? Get those skills happening, you know, passing skills and what have you.
71:49
Yeah, well, they don't realise that that's a key to success. No, no, no. Pass so it doesn't hit the feet.
71:56
But I don't know how I feel about Swedish influence upon rugby league.
72:02
Well, the thing that surprises me is that we do – over the years collect a lot of information about Swedish Rugby League via the email system. Oh, that's true. And updates from especially Copenhagen Rugby League, Swedish Rugby League, Norwegian Rugby League are more than welcome. And there is a competition, a national competition. I'm sure there is.
72:23
At this level. I'm sure there is, yeah. I suppose the upside is to see that – rugby league, the interest in rugby league is alive and well in Sweden.
72:35
And can I just point out, if you're not looking at something that necessarily wins, you're looking at an increase in the volume of money going through the thing. Yes, yes. It's got nothing to do with the losses. No, no, no.
72:46
It's got nothing to do with love of the game. It's love of money, isn't it? But love of money and love of rugby league are not mutually exclusive. No, they're not. They often dance together, don't they?
72:58
They do. Rumba.
73:00
Rumba, I'll say.
73:01
Now, what happens, of course, is they see the $5 billion coming in for the rights to the television. They were worth less than that last time. This must be something we should have a piece of. And so off they go.
73:10
That's right. That's right. Just finally, HG, this comes from Bill from Belfield.
73:17
He says, I have a proposal for the NRL to consider implementing for the 2028 season...
73:21
The general structure of the game has been fairly static during the modern era, save for some rule changes to speed up the game and the introduction of additional teams. Players these days turn up on game day, do their best, collect their pay packet regardless of the score and on it goes. My proposal is one of relegation based on motivation and incentive. Step one, at the end of each season, the bottom one or two teams will be relegated to reserve grade.
73:46
What?
73:47
Whilst in reserve grade, the players and coach team have a good look at themselves and take a pay cut.
73:54
What do you think of that?
73:55
What happens, though, if there's a team with your name on it in reserve grade?
73:58
Yes. I know. Because there would be heels. Yeah. What if it's Melbourne Storm? What are the people in Sweden going to think?
74:04
How's that going to work? They won't like it. They won't like it at all. No.
74:07
Imagine dumping.
74:08
Yeah.
74:09
What's it worth? $150 million? Yeah. Is that what it is?
74:12
$150 million. Yeah.
74:13
Into reserve grade.
74:15
That's not going to happen.
74:17
Thank goodness for that.
74:18
I mean, I can understand the idea of incentive...
74:23
You know, if you want to avoid relegation for teams like Balmain Tigers to work on their skills, you know, we want to avoid – it would add motivation for Benji. Come on, boys. We don't want to be relegated. Oh, okay. We better start passing, Benji. That sort of thing.
74:38
Don't put it at my feet. Now, what I was going to say was, you see, that's where the Piggy Riddell Cup comes into its own. It does. I can understand a team being asked to play in the Riddell. Yes.
74:47
Yes.
74:48
For this year, playing against, obviously, the Taiwanese Oysters, the Biak Pythons, et cetera, round and round it goes. And then the senior teams or the successful teams in your Piggy Riddell, their bait is going back into the main game, as I'd call it, and that's playing with the rest of the – That's right. So eventually you might find that you had four or five international teams in the main comp. That's right. But I'm fully for that.
75:11
Yeah, I don't mind that.
75:12
Yeah. I don't mind that.
75:14
Anything that advances rugby league, I'm for.
75:17
And I thank all correspondents this week.
75:21
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75:53
Incidentally, it has been used for decades by form analysts at Bludging on the Blind Side.
76:02
You're listening to Bludging on the Blind Side on ABC Local Radio and ABC Spot. And the big news is, of course, they're hanging on. The tail's wagging in Mackay.
76:11
It is. Someone's got 14 runs.
76:16
What? I know. They're up to, what, 60-odd now? 64.
76:20
Stark's gone completely off the boil with his five for 12.
76:24
Yeah.
76:24
I mean, that's just...
76:25
It was five for six. At one point. At one point.
76:28
And they've given the final wicket out, all out for 64. Good. That's a terrific score, though. It is. On that pitch. On that pitch. Australia would be lucky to make that.
76:37
Well, the pressure now is on our openers, isn't it? It certainly is.
76:41
Now, have you got another email there?
76:42
Oh, no, it's just an error that was largely mine, HG. Andrew from Wagga Wagga, he was talking about being originally from Narromine. That's why he mentioned the Narromine champions, McGrath.
76:54
Gainsford Smith and David Gillespie. And then we started talking about Wagga champions. We talked about Wagga. That was my fault or our fault, so I apologise about that.
77:04
That can happen. That can happen. They're great towns, though. Wonderful towns.
77:07
Wagga, just brilliant.
77:09
Now, here, this is just apropos. Remember I gave you those figures about what the Melbourne Storms were worth and what they sold it to?
77:15
Yeah, between $150 million and $200 million.
77:17
Now... The NRL has made a $57 million offer to purchase 50% of a stake in Super League. Now, that's the English Super League, you know, Hull, Kingston, Rovers, Wingans, Warrington, all those sort of – London Broncos. Yeah, St. Helens.
77:36
Yeah, sorry. The team everybody forgets.
77:39
Yeah. Now, this is take a 50% stake in Super League in England in an attempt to revive the cash-strapped sport in England. This is just a story of stupidity, really. The Australian Rugby League Commission offered to the Rugby League commercial, RLC, is worth £6 million per year.
78:00
Over five years, that's an amount to provide distributions to Super League clubs, many of which are in the red over and above the funds they currently receive. Again, they've noticed something going on with Australian television and so they think it's a good bet. But just imagine the Rugby League earning all that money in Australia and spending it or having to spend it in England.
78:23
Mm-hmm.
78:24
Yeah.
78:24
So the NRL wants to turn around the fortunes.
78:27
It's interesting, isn't it? I mean, if we were financial advisors and we're not and we don't give out financial advice, we're not allowed. It's not our limit. But you'd have to question the wisdom. I mean, if you've got, what was it, $67 million to invest.
78:46
Yeah, indeed. Why would you bother with the English?
78:48
Why would you look at the English Rugby League? Wouldn't you be more inclined to following the punting tips?
78:53
Of the person who had the success with the dogs recently. Yes.
78:57
As reported here. Yeah, or look at what the Swedish have done. Well, of course. Go to the source. Go to the source. Yeah. You know? I mean, you look at West Tigers, actually, and we were talking about them a little bit earlier.
79:10
Just the Leagues Club itself, at West Leagues Club, they take $87 million a year in revenue.
79:19
No, that's quite a bit. It is. Isn't it?
79:21
It is. It is. You'd be well ahead on your investment.
79:25
Yes. If the 87 million a year kept going. And you can't tell me the Swedes aren't looking at that.
79:32
Somebody in Sweden is. Yes. I mean, they're not stupid in Sweden. They're going to be looking at that and thinking, oh, well.
79:38
We could do something here.
79:40
And I always look at what's happening in Sweden. I mean, has any Swedish money gone into the super league? No. No.
79:47
No, yeah.
79:48
Why not, I wonder? Well, they'll be there with their saddlebags groaning.
79:55
Look, I was going to say there's been speculation for several years that the NRL was poised to take ownership of the game in England, but Thursday's offer is the first and most important step in getting the deal done. Several NRL clubs have expressed a willingness to forge more strategic ties with clubs based in England should the deal go through. Okay. So, you know, you might have... the West Tigers forging a deal with all the Broncos.
80:17
So Castleford or something like that.
80:19
Castleford or, you know, the London Broncos.
80:21
London Broncos and the Brisbane Broncos.
80:23
It's got a ring, hasn't it? It has. The NRL wants to turn.
80:26
That means, you know, players could go swing from one to the other.
80:29
But is that allowable? It's not at the moment. No. It certainly would become part of it.
80:33
But they could share centres of excellence, you know, when the boys are overseas on holidays. What a great idea.
80:39
Excuse me, I'll just duck down to the London Broncos Centre of Excellence and keep fit.
80:44
Now, the owner wants to turn around the fortunes of the league in which most clubs are losing money. This is in England. I find that impossible to imagine. Most clubs in England lose money. Some reports in England.
80:56
Have they got pokies in their clubs in England?
80:57
I don't. They might have. They have those weird fruit machines sort of things that are baffling and, you know.
81:03
Why can't we get in? I mean, can we take some poker machines over to England?
81:08
We could show them what we're doing with poker machines. I think they'd be stunned. What?
81:12
Sure, that would be.
81:13
I mean, if West Tigers, what was your number? $87 million. $87 million. Yeah. Basically based on poker machine turnout.
81:19
Well, I suppose a fair bit of it would be poker machine. You'd have to imagine.
81:22
Yeah. So if they could get that happening in their clubs. Yes.
81:27
What a great return on investment it would be. Yes. Because those clubs all exist.
81:31
I wonder why that hasn't been considered before.
81:33
You know, some smart Australian entrepreneur go over to the English rugby league clubs and say, listen, I've got some poker machines here. We build them in Tasmania. Right?
81:45
How many do you want? Indeed.
81:48
How many do you want?
81:49
And just get a bit of a handling fee on the way through.
81:53
Every time you come in to collect the money. Yeah. Now, some reports in England describe the NRL's proposal as a first offer. First offer. Okay. Okay. But sources said it was likely to be a final one. I'm not quite sure why they've changed their tune in that sentence. While the English clubs will have time to process the terms of the deal, it's like a deadline will be placed on them before it will be withdrawn. Super League clubs have been informed this morning, or that was during the week, Details of the offer remain confidential. Well, they're not quite, but there were reports in the UK that the NRL's offer was going to be as high as £60 million.
82:29
However, that was never going to be the case and has likely raised unrealistic expectations amongst the clubs. Right.
82:39
Anyway, the NRL has used vehicles such as the World Club Challenge and its Las Vegas venture to help raise the profile of Super League. Not very much, though. No. Of course, the majority of people who seem to go to Vegas these days are English rugby league fans, especially if their clubs are playing.
82:55
Yeah, yeah. And they go there because they like the poker machines.
82:59
Oh, they love the poker machines. They're mad for it.
83:01
They're mad for it. You can't blame them. I mean, that might be the solution for rugby league in the UK. Yeah. I don't know.
83:08
Well, especially off what they should do is somehow invent a poker machine that can go, say, out the front of schools but tag it to rugby league. Your money will not be lost to this school. It will go to rugby league in this area.
83:22
Yeah, yeah. Okay, yeah. I mean, let me just make that up a minute. Sure, sure.
83:26
Now, the story of the week, though, is without doubt the – Success of Toby Rudolph in escaping penalties for his mooning of the park ranger. Now, what a great story this is for rugby league. Yeah. Because it does make you think that, you know, that he was picked out for being a rugby league player and penalised by the park rangers who hate rugby league.
83:51
Yeah.
83:52
A bit like the bunker.
83:54
They're bunker people.
83:55
Bunker people, yeah. They understand the bunker and how it does. He's understood Rudolph was long looked after rescue dogs, which these two were, taking care of the dogs in January for someone else. Yeah. Oh, no. One of the dogs was a Border Collie Staffie named Lewis, was rescued from a homeless person who could no longer care for it. The other was an 18-month-old Tallulah is a German Shepherd.
84:22
German Shepherd, Shar Pichauer mix. Never heard of that particular. No, nor have I. It sounds fascinating. But what I'm thinking is that sort of...
84:32
You know, it gives the dogs a bit of a personality. Yeah, it does.
84:35
It humanises the story, even though we're talking about dogs. Indeed, humanises the story. But actually, why did he head off with only one lead in his pocket, not two? Yeah, I know, that's the mystery. You'd think if he's so dog compliant, he'd have half a dozen leads in the boot.
84:50
Yeah, exactly. That's where it breaks down.
84:52
That's where the story does break down. So more likely, he was provoking.
84:58
He wanted to flash the bum.
85:03
At the ranger and so provoke the ranger by leaving one lead in the car. Is that it?
85:09
Not bad, not bad. Look, I understand how devious the criminal mind can be, but I'm not going to...
85:19
I mean, I can see him sitting in the car thinking, oh, there he is, there's that ranger. I'm only going to take one lead.
85:24
He hates dogs, that bloke. Yeah. He's a park ranger, but he hates dogs. You can see it, can't you? Don't you reckon dogs? In the back. Okay, let's go.
85:37
Mr Rudolph, we want you to appear in court. Now, look, that's as may be.
85:41
There was no fine, though, was there, HG? No, no. He was just given a talking to by the beak, I assume, or the magistrate. Yeah. Who would have said, I don't want to see you again. Get out of here.
85:50
Yeah, exactly, exactly. And keep the shorts up.
85:52
Keep the shorts up and keep a couple of leads in the car.
85:56
And the apology on the courthouse steps was just great. You know, I apologise to the people at Granola. Yeah. The Sharks in particular, my teammates, my jumper.
86:04
Yeah.
86:04
Family, friends, schoolmates, et cetera.
86:06
He said the right things.
86:10
Yes, that's right. Now, this opened up a whole interesting area in the area of – I hope the ranger was satisfied –
86:19
I mean, the Rangers are the forgotten person here, isn't it? I mean.
86:24
Yeah, no, I get that.
86:25
You know, maybe the Ranger hasn't seen much of rugby league and, you know, for those of us who watch a lot of rugby league, it's no surprise to see the shorts come down. I mean, it's just part of the game.
86:36
Yeah, the game are part of the game.
86:38
But if you're unaware of that aspect of the game, it can be a bit of a shock.
86:44
Suddenly you're walking around and you see a bloke with a dog. Next thing you know, you're being moved.
86:48
Yeah.
86:49
You know.
86:50
Yeah.
86:52
I get that. But the difficulty that I find with the story is that shouldn't, you know, I don't want to see things that we love about rugby league being dragged into what are called civilian society or the broader society.
87:07
There's a time and place to remove the shorts. It's during the game.
87:16
This is a call-out to all budding musicians, actors and performers. Bulldog boom wonderkind Lachlan Galvin is forming a band.
87:26
Visit the Canterbury Leagues Club website for audition details.
87:29
This is Bludging on the Blind Side on ABC Radio.
87:42
Punters, if you like things that go bang, you will love the international shotgun competition when it lands at Suncorp this November. It is shooting like you have never seen it before. Plus 12 nights of insane experiments with electricity.
88:02
Just part of the ethical obligation commitment to the Olympic City of Brisbane and bludging on the blindside.
88:11
Yes, a quick update from Mackay Park on bludging on the blind side here on ABC local radio. The dream is alive. Head's batting and he's just got the first four of the Australian innings. And, of course, obviously Bangladesh all out for that incredible score. It might have been 64.
88:29
64, yeah. Ron from Narrowboon's been in touch. He says he thinks there's a foundry in Mayfield in Newcastle. that could fire up and get a few hammers made.
88:40
That's excellent. That is good news, isn't it? That is good. The one thing is that I think...
88:46
We need to be able to somehow – see, I was shocked when we didn't have a competitor in one of those events. It might have been the Men's Hammer.
88:54
Yeah, I think you're right.
88:55
And so I think that we need an open day for Hammer and to see if we can get some interest in it and then maybe send the specs that we need to up to this Mayfield Foundry and see what they can do.
89:08
Well, maybe we could link up with the discus community too, actually. There's got to be a relationship between the discus community and hammer throwing community. The principles are exactly the same, aren't they? Yeah, that's right. You spin around in a circle and let it go.
89:21
Yeah, yeah. And there would be, because the hammer is the, sorry, the discus is the glamour event.
89:28
Yes.
89:29
You know, it's got the twirl and the hurl. That's true. You know, the big names. Yes.
89:35
It hasn't got the chain getting in the way, has it?
89:44
It's a bit, you know, unsightly when you're dragging.
89:47
You've got to drag the bloody thing. Yeah, it looks unsightly, yeah. It does. I think you've got to carry on.
89:51
It looks unathletic. Unathletic. Good on you. That's it. Whereas you can walk with a bit of a squagger with a discus.
89:57
And where do you sit on the shot put? Should the shot put be included as well?
90:01
I suppose.
90:02
Yeah, but you don't swing around with the shot put, do you? No. You can. You can. Are you allowed?
90:07
I forget what the rules are. Right. You can't go out of the circle, obviously.
90:11
No, obviously, yeah.
90:12
You can certainly go, throw it. Now, as we know, Australia is under siege from a wave of feral pests, tearing through farms, bushland and suburbs, with experts warning the damage is mounting and some infestations could change daily life forever. Now, I know you've been very aware of the fire ant problem. Mm-hmm. Uh, so we've got, uh, rabbits, um, deer, cane toads, uh, you know, fire ants. There's a warg on and we don't notice.
90:43
Now, rabbit-o-star Luttrell Mitchell has been documenting his exploits, uh, with the feral, uh, community online under the Instagram handle Blackfulla Adventures. Oh, okay.
90:55
Yeah.
90:56
So he's been out there. And former footy star Josh Duggan is shooting wild deer in far north Queensland where he runs a fishing guide business, Six Again Sports Fishing.
91:07
Six Again. Isn't that a great idea? Good name. This is Josh Duggan. Josh Duggan. Isn't that great to see?
91:14
So I've got to come back here and suggest that – Dugan shared a photo of an Instagrammer slain pig with a caption, a couple of pests put down over the weekend.
91:24
Good.
91:24
For me, hunting isn't about end result. It's being back on country and soaking in everything, the noises of the bush, the animals doing their thing, experience in general and memories made with good people. That's good. Of course, Trelly.
91:37
Well, hang on. It's six again. It's not just fishing there. It's shooting as well by the sounds of things.
91:42
I was going to say maybe six again is where the money is.
91:45
Right.
91:45
Now, these obviously baiting, there's no mention of baiting, which I think is your forgotten art here.
91:51
It is.
91:51
And there's no mention of the Olympics in 32. No. Which has got some big plans for the program of, you know, obviously feral animals.
92:02
Yeah.
92:03
Now, can I just point out that this ground that they're playing on, I think it's called Harrop Park, is now the 12th venue for Australian test cricket in Australia. Isn't that great?
92:15
This is in Mackay. Yeah, Mackay. It's now test compliant.
92:20
Test, yeah. They've sent the people around. They say, yeah, you can play tests on it.
92:23
Isn't that great?
92:24
Now, the other thing is, the one thing, other thing is, is test cricket. I didn't realise this, this suggestion that test cricket could be part of the Olympics. Sorry, I've said that wrong. Cricket would be part of the Olympics. I'm not sure which version of it. I assume it would be a T20 game.
92:38
Yeah.
92:39
Otherwise we've got to be there forever. We'd have to start now, wouldn't we?
92:44
Well, it's very exciting. I mean, I'm all for, you know, I loved it when golf became part of the Olympics. You know, people said, oh, no, it's not going to work.
92:53
Of course it does. Yeah. People love it. Yeah. So coming back to the problem of the pests in this area, Moorabil Landcare Network Facilitator, he said feral goats were a threat to biodiversity and even ate the bark off trees.
93:11
Bark off trees. How low will they go? Yeah. These pests. They eat grasses. They eat shrubs. They eat everything. They do.
93:19
And then, of course, the rabbits are running riot in Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania. The two viruses. You know, I thought we had that solved with the Khaleesi, but it wears out.
93:28
It doesn't work.
93:28
It wears out. So they had two myxomatosis and Khaleesi. Yeah. They've stopped working, according to this, leaving regions exposed to explosions in numbers.
93:38
Yeah.
93:39
I don't like the sound of that.
93:40
No.
93:41
Exposed.
93:41
Yeah. Yeah.
93:43
And then we've got the Rabbit Free Australia boss saying, in absence of any other broad-scale sort of control, we should expect rabbit numbers to increase. Maybe we have to, one thing I'd like to think of is maybe a blitz on rabbits, say, let's pick a month, February blitz on rabbits. Yeah, that's not bad.
94:04
Because it's very easy to get overwhelmed, isn't it?
94:07
The task just seems so gigantic if you roll in the pig's with the rabbits and the deer and the fire ants and the goats and the camels.
94:17
There's half a million camels out there.
94:19
And the horses, of course, in the high country.
94:21
The horses in the country, yeah.
94:22
I mean, it just seems overwhelming. But if we can just pull it down, you're right, HG, just have a focus each month on a particular feral and work on that. It would seem gettable. Well, you see, that's right. February is, you know... Whatever. Rabbit shooting month. Rabbit month.
94:41
Now, look. Let's get out and get the rabbits. Come on, everyone.
94:43
You know, a lot of enthusiasm.
94:45
Shanghai's can get a few slug guns from a front line and push across parts of Australia.
94:52
Sure. Now, in Queensland, Cedar Sports Grove sports events are cancelled as people and horses are being bitten by fire ants. Yeah. Locals have to check their backyard for infestations after rainstorms to protect themselves against the pests which have a painful and toxic bite. Yes. Now, remember, of course, we found a rugby league club, might have been northern New South Wales, who had cleared an area of fire ants of 500...
95:20
That's right. Circular 500 metres.
95:22
That's right.
95:22
Great work. Great work. But you see, it can be done.
95:25
Yes, it can be done.
95:26
If we don't get too overwhelmed down in the dumps.
95:28
That's right. But you've got to stay on it. You can't be – I worry about complacency when it comes to the ferals. You think, oh, well, we've got that diameter 500 area.
95:39
We can stop.
95:40
We can stop now. Put the feet up. No, no, you can't.
95:42
No.
95:43
Because it'll rain sooner or later and they'll be back. They'll be building their boats and travelling everywhere.
95:47
We know they do that. One thing, this article, I haven't really dealt with it very well, but the fact there's no mention of baiting, that disturbs me.
95:57
Yes.
95:57
Baiting is the forgotten art. It is. It's as if people are a bit of ashamed of being baiters.
96:05
I mean, baiters have got to stand up in the communities. I mean, they're very hard to find. You go into any community, you know, you go to Wagga Wagga or Narrowmine, two towns mentioned earlier in this program, and you try to find the baiters, They're not going to put their hand up. You've got to go, you know, it's like a secret society. You go to the nearest pub and say, oh, listen, mate, I'm looking for someone. Oh, you want to go. But don't say I sent you.
96:31
Yeah. Or don't mention that you've come about the way.
96:33
Yes.
96:34
Yes. Mention something else. Love the car.
96:37
What is it? I'm here for the second-hand Fiat.
96:41
That could be the code in that particular community. Yeah. Yeah. But...
96:47
Well, you see that centre of baiting out in Ivanhoe. Oh, yeah.
96:50
Well, it's world class. World class.
96:54
In fact, I've got to be honest here, it's the only centre of baiting I know. Yeah, I know. The National Centre of Baiting.
96:59
They do wonderful work there. I mean, you have a look around that area, you won't find any ferals.
97:07
That's right. That's right. You've got to drive to see them. Yes. Yes.
97:11
And here's the thing, we've got to wind up because the news is coming on soon. But NRL and Telstra will celebrate 25-year anniversary of their partnership this week by having murals commissioned at home grounds and bases of their clubs.
97:24
Isn't that a great idea, a great initiative?
97:27
Wow.
97:28
Some of the most famous moments in rugby league's recent history are set to feature Andrew Fafita's match-winning try for the Sharks in the 2016 grand final.
97:37
That's going to be realised as an artwork, is it?
97:40
Isn't that wonderful? Imagine that. Imagine that. That would be great for all kids on their way to school to pass and say, I wasn't there, but I remember it. Yeah. Then John Sutton lifting the Premiership Trophy for Souths. The Eels talisman Mitchell Moses scoring a try, the first try at Convague Stadium and so on. So they're detailed by five.
98:00
And where are these paintings going to be? They're going to be at the grounds. Oh, at the grounds, yeah. And Telstra are commissioning these, are there? Telstra are. Are there artists putting their hands up, like the portrait artists on the ABC or those sorts of people?
98:12
Oh, I hadn't thought of that, but that would be a good source. Yes. That would be a good source.
98:16
See, that would be a great idea where you get a number of artists together and make a competition. You've all got to do John Sutton.
98:23
And so you pick the best and that one gets put, you know what I mean?
98:26
Or you've all got to do a rugby league theme and then pick the best. Yeah. Get players and art critics and all that sort of stuff. Sure. I know Gina Reinhart's very good with the art. She is. So she could come in and judge as well. Yes.
98:37
Not bad.
98:39
Look, that is a – and something – you said fog. Sure, they can go to the toilets of interest, but they can go to the artworks of interest as well in the bus.
98:46
Yes, yes.
98:48
And there's no reason why each club couldn't decide which are the iconic moments of their club. So with the big red V, Billy Smith left us this week. So they might think, well, wouldn't it be lovely to have a painting of Billy in action? Yes. And Billy was there, you know, Billy with Johnny Raper and Chang and Puff the Magic Dragon. You know, great. It would be great to see all that.
99:12
Now, the other thing is, should that be online and a vote from club members or the rugby league community, the larger rugby league community? Do you know what I mean?
99:22
Yeah, I do know what you mean. Well, I think club members should be able to make suggestions. You know, club members at St George, say at the Taj Mahal, Sunday morning, 10 o'clock meeting...
99:33
Now, meeting is called, who do we want our painting of? Billy Smith. No, we don't want Billy. We want Chuck Graber. No, we don't want... We want Reg. Yeah, you know what I mean. Well, it's going to go to a vote. Hands up, don't you see what I mean.
99:47
Yeah, I got you. Yeah.
99:49
Well, every club could do that.
99:50
Wouldn't it be great? Because that would give the fans some real engagement.
99:53
Yes.
99:54
And they'd go along and think, oh, there's, let's say, they put up Puff the Magic Dragon.
99:58
Yes.
99:59
So they said, I helped that. I helped that. They didn't want it, but I stood up for Puff.
100:02
And the other thing is, it drags people into the club Sunday mornings, 10 o'clock, very early for the meeting. What are you going to do when you finish the meeting?
100:12
You're going to stay at the club. Have a few beers. Have a few beers. Watch the eight hours of rugby league.
100:18
Play the pokies. Yeah.
100:20
Gold.
100:21
Gold. And with that all ahead of you tomorrow, we say farewell from bludgeoning on the blind side for another week. Join us next week when there'll be an equal barrel of rubbish. We'll be out right here on ABC Local Radio and ABC Local Sport. Good luck this afternoon, Andrew, with that eight hours of rugby league. See you later, folks. Bye now.
100:46
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