HYBRID, SCHMYBRID!!

Anyone who contemplates a "hybrid" game has his head firmly in the sand, or up something.

It's always the Mungoes who raise the spectacle, because they have failed to realise that we are not two similar games.

We are chalk and bloody cheese, mate!

Here are the reasons that it will never happen, and the Mungoes will have no idea what I'm on about, because their environment is so small

and limited...

1. It's not always what the fans want.
2. There is no way that anything other than a full contest scrum will ever be entertained by the Rugby fraternity, because "our" scrum is

one of the many contests in the game, whereas "their" scrum is nothing more than a re-start, and a bloody insult at that! To even suggest

that the "hybrid" version might have uncontested scrums suggests that that's about where the conversation stops!

3. It's almost not worth mentioning the line out, because they will never see the worth of that - way too intellectual for them..

4. There are about 100+ countries playing Rugby and who have never heard of Rugby League, nor could care less. Why should we, one of the

world leaders of the game, alienate ourselves for the sake of a few hundred thousand east coast of Australia fans of a game that is going

nowhere and never will? Many of those 100+ countries will ever make it to the top tiers, but don't tell them that, otherwise they might

stop trying!

5. It is hard enough for Australian Rugby to be taken seriously by the majority of the rest of the world, and we are one of the top four

nations. Why should be prostitute ourselves, when we don't need to? The Northern Hemisphere people already think we're trying to bastardise

the game, when we're not!!

6. Ours is a game for all shapes and sizes and this is a fundamental tenet of Rugby - even the promoters of the ELV's recognised this.

Happily, so does Geoff Carr.

7. Ours is a game of contests. Mungoes think the tackle is the only contest that needs to exist. Wrong, wrong, wrong!!

7. Ours is a players game, not a spectators game. Those at the top of the ARU would do well to remember it.

8. What is Phil Franks trying to achieve? Nothing more than a social experiment where we already know the outcome and the fulfillment of

his dream to make a quick quid..it's been done, before mate, and no doubt will be tried again in another 10 or 20 years when the Mungoes

are having another down day, where the World Cup didn't go according to the script!

9. Any serious student of either game knows that the two are so far apart that there is no prospect of bringing them close enough to

satisfy the purists. It just can't happen....my advice to the Mungoes is:

a. remove the scrum from your game,
b. take the word "Rugby" out of your name,
c. call yourself something else like "Bashball",
d. stop trying to invent international teams and have artificial world cups,
e. be true to yourselves and your own game,
f. hang onto your own fans for grim death, and
g. forget about trying to be like us.. or to be blunt, ...... bugger off!!

WHY NOT GET SOME REAL DEPTH INTO A WORLD SERIES OF RUGBY

Recently, we've seen an idea that the IRB want to start a World Series of Rugby, but confined to the top ten teams!

Here's a great suggestion.....

Why not play it in three pools - A the top ten, B the second ten and C the third ten, with promotion and relegation. Play matches on the same day, even as double headers in some cases.

Based on World seedings - an absolute no-brainer, I would have thought, with at least the final of each pool, being played at the same place on the same day, or weekend. So you could have, for example Georgia v Namibia, Canada v Japan and Australia v New Zealand all played on the same day at whatever venue (Wembley, or Homebush).

If you played it over two days you could maybe have two doubleheaders, maybe a Barbarians type fixture or something or a Sevens final

THE HALF STORY – OR IS IT HALF THE STORY??

Why is everyone suddenly down on George Gregan?

Luke Burgess has come along and suddenly we’re all comparing them…..I thing there’s a bit of Brumbies-bashing going on……yet another Waratah conspiracy, no doubt.

Yes, I will agree that if Gregan and Burgess both started the same year, then Burgess may well have got the nod, but, hey, they are from two different eras.

Let’s not forget that George Gregan was the first Australian half of the professional era from 1995 until 2007 – 12 years!! If he was so ordinary, why was he always the first pick?

So what if he ran sideways? More often than not, he had a runner (such as Owen Finegan, or Joe Roff, or Graeme Bond, or Craig Wells, or Rod Kafer, or Clyde Rathbone, or Adam Ashley-Cooper, or Mark Bartholomeusz or….?? – you get my drift) coming on the angle.

He was a patient half who re-cycled the ball in an era when the Brumbies played multiple phases, and he got his runners away.

Those who never experienced the sheer joy of watching Gregan, Larkham, Roff, Kafer, Finegan, Mortlock etc etc combining in the mid-field on a Friday night at Canberra Stadium, should not have the temerity to make comments on such a fine Rugby player.

Here endeth the lesson. Welcome Luke Burgess, but let’s never forget George..he’s a bit of hero around these parts!

SEASON '08 - ABOUT TIME!!

Haven't blogged here on this site for a while. I just ran out of steam at World Cup time, but have been posting on that great website The Roar in recent times.

I can thoroughly recommend it, for great informed debate, with very well informed Rugby tragics just like me.

Season predictions??

Waratahs to be the great improvers. The Brumbies to be in the middle of the pack. The Reds probably still down at the bottom, based on their trial form, as they don't seem to be able to put consistent performances in and the Force will be strong, again, as long as they don't implode.

Deans will be a good coach and England will come fourth in the Six Nations.

USA will slowly start to go from strength to strength with their new relationship with the All Blacks. I am quite excited about that.

Is there any chance that Los Angeles will field a Super 16 team in the near future? Maybe, wouldn't discount anything where these guys are concerned. With the world wide chairman of Saatchi and Saatchi as their CEO there have to be some pretty good brainstorming sessions going on in the boardroom.

The ARC? Bugger!!, but I do have some strong thoughts on what should replace it and would like to push that line a bit further over the coming months.

The Queensland Rugby Academy and the Labour Party pulling the funds?...pack of bastards as far as I'm concerned. I didn't vote for them, and never will.

Anyway, I've joined a couple of tipping comps, entered my tips, got my Setanta subscription, and looking forward to getting set in front of Fox on Friday arvo for the first game of the season with my beloved Brumbies.

Go you good things!!

Come on down and post on the site.