Copa

Some gameplay footage here: https://youtu.be/y3SRzgHm16M?si=F5QFxZhfaWx8wSkf The commentary is a bit annoying but the game looks like fun.

Is there a fixture list published online somewhere?

Dunno

I also used to subscribe to Rugby League Review quite a few years ago.

Canberra stadium has a Laurie Daley and a Mal Meninga statue.

My fitness is improving significantly. I’ve started doing a 17km slow trail run with 600m of elevation change on the weekend in addition to parkrun. I also do one or two shorter runs during the week.

I only watch ch9 4 times a year.. 3xSOO & 1 NRLGF. Their commentary is so bad. So so bad. I’m used to watching NRL on Kayo (Foxtel) where the commentators are generally far superior. I can’t believe that for one of the biggest TV events of the year ch9 uses this commentary team.

Andrew Johns really can make anything sound boring.

It’s a bit of a mix really. Canberra has a lot of internal migrants and they bring their allegiances and hand them down through their families.

If you want a good laugh, this is something Foxtel has done in the past when a major sporting event is on: https://www.bigfooty.com/forum/threads/50-000-people-watch-wrong-grand-final.274900/

The brumbies are named after the environmentally destructive feral horses that destroy national parks to the south of Canberra. The feral horses are called brumbies. Every now and then the government shoots huge numbers to keep numbers down. The horses are heavily romanticised in some parts of society but most think they are a pest.

Double headers for Australian rules football could mean a fan of both matches is in the stadium for over 6 hours. That’s crazy.

Unfortunately Jed Stuart was quite a liability during the match. It was like he simply didn’t exist to his opposite player at times.

His wife may have issues getting a visa as she was convicted very recently in a local Canberra court of running onto a rugby league field and assaulting people, including a 17 year old girl. She’s on a 15 month good behaviour order.

His 4th child arrived yesterday so it will be a lot of them coming over..

I’ve probably watched from in the stadium nearly every home game he’s played in the NRL. While he’s clearly no longer in his prime he still has something to offer at the top level. If he’s paid a sensible wage, and he brings a good mindset, he’ll definitely have something to offer a SL club. A 1 to 2 year contract with a sensible wage would be appropriate.

I have a completely untested theory that if a club actively and publicly promoted itself as an equal playing time club, parents and kids would love it. One of my children had a coach that embraced equal playing time and even took off the best player at critical moments when enforcing it. All the kids understood the rules and so did the parents. Those kids stayed together for years and built great friendships. Everyone also had ample time on field to build their skills. The kids just wanted to have fun and the parents wanted the kids to be involved in the community in a healthy way. Nobody was going to be an NRL star. When kids left the team it wasn’t because of frustration or bitterness with rugby league, they left because their interests changed.

While kids do drop out of junior sports because their interests change I’ve found nasty parents and unequal playing time are the two other significant factors that result in kids drop out of junior sport. These last two factors are also correctable.

When I was a child we went off track exploring and walked many kilometres through untouched wilderness. We came across a rocky overhang and inside against the wall were a few indigenous handprints created by spitting ochre (or ochre type material) at a hand held against a rock. I have no idea how old it was. Since then I’ve always enjoyed looking for indigenous engravings and artworks. My favourite is a huge whale near the beach where I grew up. It’s around 30m off the bush path to the beach and I suspect almost nobody who visits the beach knows about it.

Some parents are crazy..

It was cold out there today. Lots of people not taking their seats and gathering undercover around the stadiums food outlets to avoid the icy rain. The most interesting non match thing was the chief of the Royal Australian Navy’s car out the front of the stadium with a chauffeur standing alert next to the car. I’ve never seen anything like that before at a Raider’s match.

No kickers for NSW tonight!

That ch9 footage of Sam Thaiday speaking live to the studio from Caxton street while a kneeling drunk person pretended to do something to Thaiday was some of the weirdest television I’ve ever seen… the interview just kept going and they pretended the drunk guy wasn’t there..

Well that was really awkward footage of the drunk guy on his knees next to Sam Thaiday!!

After a month off because of injury i returned to parkrun. I’ve started on a different parkrun with roughly 100m in elevation change. The hills are all short, steep and hard to run up… they are fun to run down though.