#046 - Australian - Soccer World Cup and a bit of everything else

This week on Sports Biz, John and Martin dive into the electric atmosphere surrounding State of Origin Game III in Brisbane, breaking down the biggest talking points from rugby league's biggest stage.

The conversation doesn't stop there as they tackle the latest from the FIFA Club World Cup, hockey, the NRL and AFL, with plenty of opinions, analysis and a few laughs along the way.

The boys go hunting for the elusive Clickarus, hit the open crack, and celebrate the incredible legacy of Australian sporting icon Ron Clarke.

Plus, with the netball finals heating up, they wrap up all the key action before finishing with another classic Fat-titude segment.

It's another jam-packed episode full of sport, stories and banter you won't want to miss!

Download, listen and share with friends and family. Click the link and listen on your favourite platform.

https://lnk.bio/sports.biz58

Transcript

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Good evening, Sports Biz family, and welcome to episode number 46 with more frivolity, fun and pheromones with Mr. Martin Minnow, aka the dog. Evening to everyone! And myself, John Briggs, or Briggsy, as some of you prefer to call me. This is the only podcast you will need in your life because we hit all the open cracks all the time. Because sport is life. And life is sport. Beautiful. What's happening? Martin. Well, John, I reckon it's easier to say what's not happening at the moment. If it's not actually happening in the world of sport, it's coming up. What a week. It's just been insane. What a week in sport. I feel like that's somebody else's catch for us. Is it? Well, from the 80s. Okay. Yeah, what a week in sport we've had. Maybe. We've had some state of origin. Yeah. We've had some NRL, some AFL, some cricket. Yes. A little bit of cricket. Yeah, but that's not the Australian podcast, Mark. Oh, but it's it's all part, isn't it? It's all part of it. Because England and Australia are eternally linked. Well, according to the English, we are. You and my little brother. Yes, yes. You can there's always a time when little brother outdoes Big Brother. Well, you've done that a bit lately. Yes. Incredible. World Cup Australia, just on the verge of bringing it home. In the World Cup final for software. On the verge. You sound like England now. You're gonna bring it home. Oh yeah, but at least we know we're full of crap. You guys still actually think you're going to. How many times have you been past the semi-finals in the last eight World Cups? No, we haven't. No, no. You've only been to the semi-finals. Germany are out. So. You can't lose to them on penalties. That's good. Well, yeah, at least you can't. Indeed. Well they get through the list. Netball, hockey. There's uh there's all sorts of stuff going on. A bit of a wacky sport. Oh, good. It's probably some attitude. Yep. Definitely some legends. Yes. I did have a rant, but the rant has rolled over. In two? The rant has rolled over into international standards. Oh. Yep. So you've moved on an Aussie rant. It's an international rant this week. All right. Yeah, because something's got my goat. And not the greatest of all time. Indeed. Mohammed Ali, that would be. Only in one facet. I beg to differ, as you know. Yes. But you have every right to be different. John, what have you got? Did you find anything of interest this week? Well, before we talk about the clickerus, I have a joke. I do. Okay. I have a joke. Hit me with your rhythm sticks. Okay. Cleopatra. There's Cleopatra. Cleopatra. Modern day version lives in a cul-de-sac.

unknown 3:20

Right?

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Caldee sac. Yes, a cul-de-sac. Okay. Whatever you want to call it. Modern day version of Cleopatra lives in a cul-de-sac. Correct. Okay. And Cleopatra, she looks like Cleopatra, obviously, and sort of her form is of said Cleopatra. Egyptian queen. Yes. Of course. Anyway, so one day, because she looks like Cleopatra, she decides that she's going to bathe in milk. So she phones at the Milkman. Okay. She's a bit sort of posh, you know. A bit posh. Yeah, she thinks she is. She's got a British posh accent by chance. How'd you go? This is the only one you can do. Actually, we're going to change it. Funny you should say that. So she she uh she phones at the milkman and says, Yes, hello, darling. Um, I just want to have uh at least a hundred litres of milk. And he goes, Andrew is a milk, darling, so yeah, I can do different accents and knock her off. And uh it's a and it's a different brutish accent. Well it is, that's right. And what are you gonna do with that? She goes, Well, she says, Well, everybody calls me Cleopatra, so I'm going to bathe in it. And he goes, Well, when do you want it? She goes, uh, what half an hour? He goes, or I'm on my way. So he's all happy because he's got a big sail. So he turns up, knocks on the door. Can't believe it. I know. Anyway, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Anyway, he knocks on the door and Cleopatra ignored her regalia with her rather voluptuousness. Hanging out behind the towel. Of course. Well, she's Cleopatra. Indeed. So she says, um, Arnie, okay, it's the bathroom up on the right, and just you know, um, just take the milk in there if that's okay. And he goes, Okay, I've just got to get it from the van. So he gets it from the van, she runs up, takes the towel off, jumps in the bath. Right. He walks in and he goes, Oh, oh, I'm really sorry, I'm terri terribly sorry, darling. And and she goes, that's okay, darling. It's any bit of nudity. Pour away. He goes, he looks at the bottle, he goes, past your eyes. And she goes, No, just up to my tips will be fine, thank you. Oh, it's an oldie. Are we drinking? It's a goodie. Oh we what should we drink to, John? With our Black Hops Pale Ale of the Week. Fine Gold Coast Brewing Company. We should drink to. What should we drink to? Oh my god. Football? Cheers. End of an era? The rap. Cricket. AFL. What are we gonna cheers in the cricket, John? There's loads of things, Mark. Shall we cheers New Zealand? Shall we cheers New Zealand on a great victory? A series wheel. Why not? Well played. Why not, Zealand? Screw you, England. Well, anyway, guess what? We're doing the clickerus. This week's Oh, you found one. Clickbaiting Australian port. As always, Martin, as you know, I got a bit of trouble finding it. Yep. Can't quite put my finger on it, but it's on the tip of my tongue. Right. So and what would it be this week? Oh, Martin. Well, you I'm hoping that you can develop this one for me. You want me to expand on your behalf? Please do. I will do my best. You bloody dodgy Aussies. Uh-oh. Last week it was Mr. Klein accepting all kinds of dodgy stuff. Okay. Yeah. With casino and things like that. When you get a girl's name for a bloke, referees go wrong. You know. This week. Yes. What have we done? AFL referee. Michael Pell. Well, it's an umpire. Umpire, same thing. They run up and down a pitch and make a decision on whether it's a foul or ground. So not a pitch. Oh god. We're precious, aren't we? So. Let's go. What have we got? Who have we got? Pell. Pell. Oh yes. Oh, is he is he's not Catholic, is he? Well, isn't it? I was gonna mention that as well. A couple of Australians. What was his surname? There's a couple of Australians. There's a couple of dodgy Pells in the world. Are they related? Question on notice. Yes. Question on notice. What is what is um not Archbishop? Michael Pell. Michael Pell, what is AFL umpire in the Brown Lowe scandal? So betting scheme. Three thousand. Oh yes, oh this is a bit uh Does it matter? Yes, I'm with you. Uh okay, so this fella, he he made an error, didn't he? He did. As an umpire, he uh possibly, well, the now that the voting for the uh Brownlow has been changed. Right. Which so it needed to be. It was entirely up to the umpires. The umpires on the field to cast the votes. Okay. And people betted large amounts of money. Let's just throw it game. On the Brown Lowe. And since it was only up to a handful of blokes, game in, game out, yeah. That leads itself to the possibility that one of those blokes might get paid some old Colton style money. So those brown paper bags under the top. Put a brown it, isn't there? Brown low, brown wing. The brown wing metal. Brown brown wing metal. Sorry, brown low metal. Well, it's all low, isn't it? Yeah, so he's dodgy both. Maybe. And I'll only say maybe. Yeah. Maybe got a I don't know. Car? House, maybe. Okay. Bit of renovations. Yeah. To the, yeah, to the tune of a certain amount of money. Yes, a little bit of back door. That may have uh may have corrupted the odd Brownlow voting along the journey. They should should they have voting on this Brownlow medal thing? Well, how else do you award such a medal? Do they have voting on other voting award things? Yeah, the Dali M and the Do they have voting? Do they have betting on the Oscars and things as well? Yeah, you can bet on anything. Yeah, of course you can. Yeah. What can't you bet on? Do they have betting on whether the sticky tape on the dresses of the wags is going to actually hold their dresses together or not? Well, that's a question I'm not so sure of. That's more of the news in these days. Should I well it is. Yes. And this is because footballers, when they're not playing football, resoundingly boring individuals. Uh-huh. So then you need wives, and all of a sudden the award shows have become all about the red carpets. And it's all on the news. Nothing. Well, yes. Yeah. Well, not the news news, the morning news. Okay. So the morning. It's not real news. Larry Emden. Good old laser. What's he doing with himself these days? On the morning shows. I thought he was on the ABC by now. No, no, he hasn't been demoted that much. We'll come to that later. But yes, another dodgy pel. Another dodgy pel. We've had a couple. In your sport, your favourite sport, your AFL Martin. Yes. Unbelievable. Anyway, that's this week's clickerus. I I feel I feel we need to uh do an external clickerus. Right. And that means bring the clickoris away from you. Uh-huh. Have you got one? Well, no, not this week. Oh, next week. But I'm going to look next week just to see if I can find any form of clickorous information on anything remotely dodgy in the world of sport that maybe England might have been a part of. Well, you'd have to go into interesting. I'm not going to have to look very far. And I won't even have to include the other countries to make a Great Britain. I reckon I can stick to the one and I will have pages of your dodgy. You Australians love Britain so much that it's on your flag. In fact, actually, no, your stars are on our flag. The Brami Army wrote a song about it. Get get get your shit and stars, get your shit and stars. Let's get what's next us off our flag. Is that all you can say? No, no, that's our stars have got nothing to do with you. Do we have any? Where have you gone with this? No, because you stole them off America. Don't think so. I think we stole them out of the sky. Oh, and it's a southern cross, my friend. Well, that's right. What do you think it was? Have you never looked up? See? You're getting all angry with me, Martin. So anyway. Is this the place of anger? Is that an ovary action? That's an egg. Same thing. That's an ovary action. So I'm not sure. Pretty sure the egg comes out of the ovary action. Oh, you know what I mean? That's okay. Martin, we're all on the same page. So, what do we got, John? Martin, we've uh we did have some rugby leave to talk about. It doesn't until next week, is it? We we we do because officially, let me just grab what I've uh pulled up here for us to go through. Yep. Is state of origin. That's what I mean. Now we know state of origin. It's one all. Yes. Decider in in Suncorp next week. So this week the the the teams have been named. The teams to decide the series. Uh-huh. The changes in and out. So remember, we would believe that Queensland probably played pretty well in the last game. Oh, certainly did. So they've made three changes. Now you might think that's a lot in a team of not many. Yeah. Total of 20. Only 19 of them are even in the mix. 13 on the field, six on the bench, only four on the bench can be used. So that's not many, three changes. Pat Carrigan comes back in. Well, he only missed the last game because he was injured. Yeah. Jeremiah Nanay comes back in. Well, he essentially wasn't 100% either. So that's why he's in. Yep. And Corey Horsbridge, don't know why he's been brought back in, but he's the 20th man, so he's a reserve. Nice. Lindsay Collins, concussion. Fina Fu Fire. Come on, Mother, spin it out. Fina Fuyaki has been dropped to the interchange. Yep. And Luki has been dropped to the extended bench. Okay. So that's three changes. That's big. Yeah. Unless you go to New South Wales. Okay, then we've got what have we got, man? Two, four, six changes. That's basically panicking. So what have they done? Catoni Staggs, two really, really good games just dropped. Didn't like him anymore. Happy Corusc, brought back in to be the saviour in ground in game two. Well, that didn't work. So now he's dropped off. Yep. Dylan Lucas, one game in, one game out. Brian, Brian Toto. Brian Toto on the wing. Has not missed a state of origin game since 2021. Can I just interrupt? It sounds like you tried to talk with the cop me accent though. Toto. No, I mean mate, Gaza. Nah, he's more Pacific. Yes, I realise. I'm just gonna be. Yes, it's got an apostrophe in it. Yes. So hasn't missed an origin game in six seasons. Yeah, he's gone. So and Cooler, who I reckon was one of our best. Yep, back to the interchange bench. So Jack Bostock for an origin debut. But he has been playing very well. Stephen Crichton back from injury.

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Yep.

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Uh Bradman Best back from injury. Liam Martin should never ever have not played. Well, a name like Bradman Best is bound to be. Well, it's a great game. It's a great name. If your surname's best, what do you call your son? Bradman. I mean, that is just gold, isn't it? A little bit corny. Liam Martin in, uh, great player, great state of origin player, great Penruth player. Don't know why he was ever out. Blake Brayley back from a busted arm. And Ola Kawatu, who should never have been dropped, is now back in. Uh, massive changes for New South Wales. We need to do a prediction. Is Laurie Daly panicking? Yes. Yeah, there's a big one. I don't know if it's news on him. I don't know if it's panic, but I feel like almost he's done the. I'm not gonna make the obvious changes that I feel like they need to be made. I'm gonna make other changes and just prove to everybody that I'm right. Okay. I'm not sure it's gonna work. Well, they've got a week to sort it out. And if I was gonna make a prediction, not quite sure what New South Wales are gonna do. Yeah. I've got a sneaking suspicion. Queensland, on the other hand, are gonna look at their 44 points and say, hold my beer, we can go past 50. Here we go. Actually, this is a problem. There's my prediction. Uh no. 3422 to Queensland. No. Not gonna happen. Well, you think Queensland are gonna be. There's no way Queensland are only gonna score 34 points. My my reasoning is that New South Wales will just be tighter in defence. I hope so. Um, but every part of me wants New York to the water. Decent. I every part of me wants New South Wales to win. I'm the fan. I want them to win it. I can't see Queensland scoring less than 50. Okay. Yeah, I don't think they'll do the same as last time, you know. But anyway. Yeah. Okay. Martin, what else have you got? Well, we've got the the general overviews for NRL and AFL. Um if I was to say could you mind going AFL? Yeah, I can go AFL. One. Yeah, very easily. Splendid. Yeah, yeah. It was a pretty uneventful round, to be honest. Okay. Um, most of it went to plan. Right. Not all of it. Uh-huh. Uh what about your Adelaide? Well, we'll get to those. Right. So the bigger story outside of Adelaide forgetting how to play. Right. Which is essentially what they did. Everything else was according to plan. Uh Collingwood got up as we expected over Richmond. Carlton got up against the Eagles. Yeah, the big one was uh Brisbane Sydney. Yeah. Now that was touted to be, that's a great game, is Sydney are flying. Are they second? Yes. Yeah. Yeah. And Brisbane, Brisbane said, Yeah, we're still here. Yes. Holy. And they're getting it together now, aren't they? Uh they played probably the best game of the year. Yeah. And all of a sudden everyone else is going, uh-oh. So would they be around fifth at the moment then? Uh yes. Okay, yeah, fifth. Yes. Mainly because Adelaide couldn't put it together against the- You're Adelaide Martin. Yes, I am. Let's just talk about that. You have you have a glass in front of you. I do. Wonderful, because I thought that we would. We're not fifth. What the hell is that? It's what is it, Martin? You tell me. Oh God, it's a gentleman's tawny. Tawny what, Martin? Uh Tawny fortified wine from Linda Martin. And what is the name of this fortified mic or something? It's called Gentleman's Collection, John. In other words, Martin. It's port. It's port. Ha ha ha! And so are you wanting me to drink this simply because it's port? Do you know I will? And I apologize for anyone who may view this or listen to this, but I will drink this port for one reason only. And it's because I will eventually get to urinate it out. So Martin. That makes it okay. Who did the Crows lose to your brother? Mate, we played, we played our 60th showdown against Port Adelaide. Port. This is the ugliest, most hate-filled rivalry in the AFL. Indeed. Due to very good reasons. Nothing to do with football. And the Crows forgot that you've got to turn up and play properly. Yeah. And that was shit. Would I I would argue we were terrible. Oh my god, we were awful. Mind you, we only lost by 26, which is a bit of a surprise. I thought we were gonna lose by 26. Well, this chairs port. No. Absolutely not. Never. Never. It's only where this goes that makes this acceptable. That not that, eh? Yeah, no. Average, like port. Yeah, yeah, it was uh it was horrible. Uh mate, I I I struggled with the game. It was a it was a brutal experience. I know. I'll start with the story. I've spoken to some Crows fans since then. Yes. Who went. Yep. Brutal experience. Uh-huh. It's the exact game that Port wins. They're like Queensland. When there's no chance of them beating Adelaide because they're so bad compared to Adelaide. It's the one that they win. And to their credit, they did. They they played us so, so well, dominated us where they needed to, and bloody did the job. But Collingwood won as well, and we're going to the match this weekend, are we not? Yes. Yes. Golk. Up here, Golkas. Yes. Come on. Love that. Come on, the pies. Love that. Yeah, for Collingwood, yeah. Well, they had a tough game. They actually managed to, for three quarters, look like they weren't going to win it. Against Richmond, who, you know, to be fair, if Estendon didn't exist, Richmond would be the worst team in the competition. But they got the job done. That's all they needed to do. We know Collingwood aren't great. At the moment, ninth, maybe. Nah. Nah, it's getting out of reach now. No, I don't know. It kind of is. It's got it's a little bit. They're struggling now. They're holding on to tenth. Yes. But the teams behind them that are only half a game behind you. Are Gold Coast and Carlton. Yeah. Who are both legitimately better teams than Collingwood. Well, Carlton are playing much better at the moment, aren't they? So I think Collingwood are going to struggle. Yeah, look. We will see. However, they deserve it. So NRL. Oh, yes. Um, well, not much happened again in the NRL. It was a very standard round. Uh again, it was full of buys uh with state of origin. Yeah. Rabidos got up. Titans went down again after their miraculous win. Uh Penrith went down again. No way. Two in a row, yes. Oh wow. Yes, they went down to North Queensland. Gosh. They were playing pretty well though. North Queensland, I think. Yeah, the club club champion played his 300th game. Um Tomal Tamilolu. With an apostrophe? No, no apostrophe. It's just a bloody long name with lots of owners in it. Uh I tell you, the big game was Dolphins versus New Zealand. So third versus second. Dolphins got up. 26-24. Yeah. So, but the big game. This is where we can cheers. Go on then. And this is just because I'm a beat of a bastard. For God's sake. No, no, no. Roosters? Ah. All over the Broncos again at home. Okay, well the Broncos. Broncos at the Suncorp again. 20 24-18. Good night. No, it's George lost to Canberra. Oh, okay. So you're pretending to toast for a team that you think you like because the team that you do like lost. No, no, I was toasting the loss of Brisbane. Not the loss of Brisbane, my good man. Fair enough. Nothing to do with who beat him. Don't care. Shall we quickly roll on to the round ball game, Martin? The round ball game. The round ball game. And here it is. Anyway, so I've actually got uh there's uh both men's and women's hockey going on at the moment. Is that what we're talking about? No, we're talking about the football. Oh, not the round ball game. The real football game. Soccer. Soccer. The FIFA World Cup, Martin. The World Cup. In the World Game. What would we like to talk about? Beautiful. Well, Australia, ranked 28th in the world, doing okay. Qualified Popovich. Boom! Beating his chest. Yes. With a nil-nil draw. And look, hey, to be fair, I think we now know a nil-all draw against Paraguay is pretty good. No. I was waiting for that. We did what we needed to do. And that is get out of the group and roll into the into the knockout. Round of 32, I believe we play Egypt. You do. Both teams, I think, believe that's a winnable game. Well, I think it is. I think it's it is winnable for both. Do you know are they driving up there? Are they driving up there? Yes. Is this a pyramid joke? Well, I was wondering if they. I was just wondering. Where are we heading to? I was wondering if they do they have to toot and come in. And if they lose, what would they cry to be full? Will they be crying for their mummy? To be fair, folks, and I say folks, named after a uh fairly handy New Zealand bowler from the test cricket. But no, that's not the folks. The wicked game. No, nope. But there is a bowler. I apologise. But folks, that joke those two jokes combined together. I have it on good authority from John's wife that he only got three hours' sleep last night because he stayed up so late coming up with those two jokes. And I'm not sure they were worth it. Oh. They were only average. But let's get back to the world game, because we're talking Australian-oriented games. Napped. Are you rapped? It's not Christmas. Yeah, but I'm not. If I was a mummy, I'd be raped. Oh, have you gone back to that? Look, not accepting those jokes. There's no joking in world soccer. Okay. There's only the seriousness of Australia. Because Martin, it's not fair. Ro. So let's move on. So my brain, I can feel it coming out of my ears. This hurts so much. Yeah, so Australia through. Yeah. We got the draw, we powered on. And uh yeah, so now we've got Egypt. Uh Saturday morning, Saturday morning. Do you know earlier? Um K Salah Salah is playing or not? Uh Mo, I believe he is. Is he? Yes, I believe Moe. So Egypt have got a player. Yeah. Uh mind you, I think the issue we're gonna have with Egypt is they've got a bunch of players that are no good. Yeah. But they're still pretty good. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, they've got a bunch of no-name players that mean nothing on the world stage. Yeah. But they're actually really quite good. Yeah, they're a bit like Morocco. Yeah, well, not they don't cheat as much. No. They don't they don't beat up the opposition officials on the sidelines and chase them up the race. Yeah, yeah. Hey, look, they've got a really good note, in all seriousness, this World Cup has come down, it's been a very defensive World Cup. Yes. And look, football, the round ball game of football for you Australian businesses, is is really a defensive game. It's it's make you make it difficult to score. That's the whole point. It isn't always very pretty to watch, but that's the object of the game to stop your opponent from scoring, and then you score. So counterattacks, which is what Australia did in the first match against tuk-t-k-takia. I can't do the Takia. You've got to roll the R. Turkia. I was expecting another pharaoh joke. Turrkiya. Turkey. So anyway, so they played Eren Cunner out of position in the last match, which was weird. So I don't understand why Popovich did that, to be honest with you. So he he needs to be on the receiving end of a through ball from the midfield. So that's where he uses his pace. Using him as a winger is how he scored his goal. Yes, exactly. That's why that's my whole point. So at the end of the day, did we really want to beat Paraguay? Did we want to draw? And are we now set for where we want to go and put players back where they should be? We all know the group stages are not about dominating every game and playing your best players all game long in their best positions. That's not what group stages do. Uh-huh. So let's just see where we go from here. But what I did notice was just as a bit of an overview of the World Cup, because I've had in the back of my mind in these podcasts, is the World Cup reflective of world soccer? So we know we've got that you've got to have a certain number of players from this area, from that area, from this area, from that area. Is it really just the best teams competing? Are you about to run it? No. Oh. No, I just looked into this thinking now we're in the knockout stage, where have we landed with this? Well, I don't think it is. I think it's a little bit of a sort of a form of socialism going on in there. Yes, exactly. And you voiced this. So I looked at it and I just looked at the top 20 ranked teams before the World Cup. 19 of them are in the World Cup final. Okay. The only team to miss is Italy. Italy. Right. Don't know how that happens. Okay. Now, then you take the next stage. Out of the group stage, of those 19 teams out of the top 20, 18 of them have made it into the knockout stage. Oh, there you go. Well, they've got it right there. And the only team that didn't was Uruguay. Yeah. And let's face it, that's no one's fault but Uruguay, because they just screwed up three out of three games when they shouldn't have. Absolutely. Yes. Did you see what happened to them? I know their coach is the old United coach, Bielsa. And then he. Did you see what the government, the Uruguayan government did to them? Come on. They cancelled their private jet to get the. Oh, that's a bit rough. So they had to fly commercial back to Uruguay with all the fans. That's not fair. That's a bit rough, isn't it? Yeah, that's nasty. I reckon. As funny as that is, that is a bit rough. Look, I hope Australia win. Yes. Lived here for 31 years now. That's fair. You know, most things, just for the people who don't think I do like in support Australia, I do in most things apart from cricket. And rugby union. He's got his issues. So he's got his issues. I hope they win. Right. And then I hope they lose the next one. So, yes. Nice. Nice. All right. What else have we got? We've got some hockey. Oh, cool. So we've got some hockey coming up. We need to talk hockey. Yeah. If we go back to Nikki Hudson's interview that we did. Yes, looping back. So we've got uh the the cooker boroughs first, and then we'll move into the women's because the women's hockey, we've got a World Cup coming up later this year. So they're gonna have to stay across how they're performing. August. August, August. But if we look at the men's, I've got to tell you that our cooker boroughs, mate, they are currently ranked fourth in the world. But you wouldn't pick it. Why? Based on some of our results. They've always been good though. We've always been good, but not as good as we used to be. Yeah, it's true. So in June, we're in the in the pro league at the moment for men and women preparing for World Cups. So our last few games, let's go Cooker Burroughs. We'll find one. Yeah. We drew with India earlier this year, won all. We then had to play England and we lost 3-4. Wow. So we had a big gap. This is all in June now. Dropped again. This is the men's 3-4. Yes. Dropped Argentina 1-2. Then beat Argentina 3-2. Yeah. Dropped another one to England, 1-3. Smashed the Netherlands 2-0. They are a good team as well, though. How'd you go against Pakistan? Well, they're not in it. Aren't they? Beat Belgium 2-1. Then we played Netherlands again and lost 6-3. So don't know what's going there. Then we played Belgium again and lost 5-4. Wow. So yeah, the blokes are having a few, they're ups and downs. And I'd love to say, leading into the um into the Hockey Ruse World Cup, that the Hockey Roos are not up and down. They are as well. Oh, they're up and down. Yeah, so they're ranked eighth right now. Yeah. And here's a bit of a mess. We'll go for June. Nikki, if you're watching and listening. Sort 'em out. Come on, Nikki. Come on. Sort them out, Nikki. Get in their ear. So uh back in the middle of June, Germany, 2-0. Yeah. Then 5-1 to Germany. In a return match. Was it on penalties? Oh no, no, no, no, no. 5-1. So we we balls that up. Then we played England. Yeah. Yay, 3-0. Okay. Smacked England. Fair enough. Then we played England a second time. Two all. And then we won 4-3 on shot on penalties. No. So baha. Then we won all against Belgium and we lost 4-2 on penalties. Yeah. Then Netherlands. What is it with Netherlands? 6-0. I just think the Netherlands have got we got a problem with the bloody Netherlands. They're a good one. And then we lost 2-1 to Belgium. Yeah. And then Drew 1-0 with the Netherlands. So again, our hockeys are up and down, up and down, up and down in this play. Netherlands have always been a good hockey nation. Yeah, very much so. Dower. Down clone. Dower, they both played hockey. Yes. And were they uh decent club players? Decent club players, awesome. So hockey, hockey is among us now. Hockey is the next big world championship sport. It's a great game. Yes. You know, I've already thought it. It should get more exposure. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, for example, if you compare it to, let's say, basketball, I mean, there are similar sort of, you know, lower tier as in popularity sports. It is. But, well, actually, basketball isn't. Basketball's a higher popularity sport. But when you think about it, there's not a lot of difference between the two sort of games, really. Okay, you're playing with a stick in the ball and you're sticking the goal. But it's it's I can think of some tangible differences. Of course. But it's end-to-end, it's passing. Yes. And yet one of them is super sponsored and promoted, and the other one doesn't get anything. Yeah, very true. So anyway. Anyway, and uh I'm gonna cover, just finish that. Just to do the one, the one game for the weekend. Uh Netball. Yeah. Netball Super League finals. We had the Melbourne Vixens versus the Western Fever. Right. So to see who would play Adelaide in the final. Yep. Vixens dig the job 61 to 50. Wow. So fairly easy. Yeah. So, and this is not a rant. It's not a rant, ladies and gentlemen. But somehow the Vixens lose to Adelaide, uh-huh. Win against Western Fever. Yeah. And then get a home final. Ah. In Melbourne. Next weekend or this weekend coming out. How they get a home final after being shite and losing. And last week losing to Adelaide. Yeah. And losing to Adelaide during the season. Poor Adelaide. Mate, the world conspires against the capital of all things sport in the world. And this is why we're up against it, but we're there, Thunder. Can I ask you a question? You can. Was Ron Clark from Adelaide? No. Ron Clark. Who is Ron Clark? He is a great Aussie legend in sport. An actual fact both you and I. Kiarana? Ron Clark. We met him. We went to see him, did we not? More than once. Yes. Yes. Top bloke. When he was mayor of the Gold Coast. Mayor of the Gold Coast. Yes. Anyway, but apart from that, let's go dive back into history a bit here. The guy set 17 world records in middle distance running. The 5,000 meters four times and the 10,000 meters twice. And they're the two, two of the blue-ribbon events. The guy was unbelievable. He had some skill. He was the first to go under 13 minutes for three miles as well. Which, Martin, you're the more way more of a runner than me, so you love your times and you love your splits. Yep. So that's essentially your 5k. For those of you who want to live in the metric world. Miles. So go such an irrelevant thing. Split the times. Well, 13. Well, as we said last week, Kai Robinson was the first Australian under 13 minutes since Craig Montrum 25 years ago. Yeah. And Ron Clark was doing it when? 1950s. 1960s, 1950s. Yeah. Yeah. Yes. So the pace. Well, let's think 15 minutes would be three minute Ks. So that's pretty quick. That's 20K an hour. Yeah. So your average treadmill won't do that. Right. No. Not in a commercial sense. 20 kilometers an hour. Yes, the average. The average treadmill goes to about 18 kilometers an hour. Yeah. And only the high grade ones go up to 20. Sure. Yeah. And that's that's for a 15 minute. Yes. So uh 13 minutes. I believe it's about 245. Yeah. Quicker. Maybe 240 per K. That's so anyone who wants to try that, I just don't even bother. The guy was a phenomenal. It's just you're not even going to go close. The the travesty about Ron Clark is that he never won a gold medal in a major event at all. That the two majors then were the Commonwealth Games, because they were. Com games and and Olympics. Yeah. Yep. And something always happened. I mean, it wasn't it wasn't that he choked. There was weird things that went on. And the guy just he was just a bit unlucky. Yeah. And in fact, probably, I don't know if you'd agree with me here, Martin, or not, but I think that Emil Zatpec is the greatest runner of all time of anything length. Oh yeah. In the in the arguments. Yeah, yeah, I think. Yep. The guy won, what, a marathon in the Olympics 10,005, I think. Yes, in the same Olympics fix. Yes. My God. Now, obviously Good effort. Yeah. Stunning effort. He he said that Ron Clark was the greatest middle distance runner in the world at that time. Now, coming from Zatabek. That's a pretty strong Yeah. Yeah. And anyway, there's a little bit nice little story here that years later, Ron went to visit Zattepek. Yeah. Uh in his home in Czechoslovakia. Yeah. And he gave him a gift. And he said, Don't open it until when you get on the plane on the way home, don't open it until you're halfway. Okay. So he got halfway. And he was an amazing athlete. And in fact, in two Olympics and three Commonwealth games, he unfortunately didn't get that Olympic gold. But like I said, Emil Zatapek gave him this gift halfway through his pain journey. He opened it. Yes. And it was a gold medal that Zatopek had earned himself. Wow. I know, it's pretty cool, isn't it? And he and he said to Ron, This is yours because you deserve it. Now, another weird fact about Ron, just quickly before we go, he almost died in the Mexico Olympics. I don't know if you know this. Did he really? Yeah. No, did not know this. He he finished sixth. It was in the 10,000 metres. Yeah. Uh when he was favourite to win. Yes. Being world record holder. That's one of those unfortunate moments that happened too. Horrible altitude issues. You can't breathe and all the rest of it. Yes. In fact, years later, Steve Ovid had a similar issue in the 1500 in Los Angeles. Okay. In the smog. Oh yes. Yeah. Yep. Anyway, uh, yeah, so his heart stopped. It's actually true. Ron Clark's heart, he actually died for a few seconds. And years later, he found out the damage that was done to his heart in that race. Wow. Yeah, I know. Okay, well, incredible. So the legend of the sport. Oh, a huge legend. He's uh from an Australian middle distance running point of view, Herb Elliott, John Landy, and Ron Clark. Absolutely. All three names sit together. Yeah, they do actually. Yeah. In in the Australian running history. Yeah, for sure. And then Craig Motram just below. Yeah. And I reckon probably Kai Robinson chasing pretty hard. Let's hope so. So anyway, uh is that all we've got time for? That's it for Australia. That is all we have time for this week, folks. So in the in the immortal words of those two Ronnies, in fact, seeing that we've been talking about Ronnie, Ron Clark, that makes three Ronnies. Three Ronnies tonight. That's goodbye from good night from me. And it's good night from him. Good night. Good night.