Malcolm Speed is always walking a political tightrope. More
Ross Fitzgerald NEW standards are needed to ensure punters have a fair dinkum chance with betting exchanges.
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England hit by dose of reality
COMMENT: Simon Barnes IT seemed as if the summer holidays would never end and then, overnight, without a moment to prepare, you are back at school and your fa...
Making Jonny queen for a day
Peter Wilson, Europe correspondent English cricket and rugby can roar into the centre of attention by actually winning something
McKenzie stands his ground in dogfight
Bret Harris EWEN McKENZIE was the hot favourite for the vacant Wallabies coaching job two years ago but surprisingly withdrew from the race at the l...
Will someone pick up the ball and run with it?
Mark Ella I WATCHED England lose to the Springboks 36-0 in Paris in what seems like an eternity ago. It wasn't pretty.
England's unbelievable run
Simon Barnes FOR a start, it doesn't make sense that I'm here in Paris. From my window I can see the Eiffel Tower, the ugliest city icon in the world...
Jonny's second coming is the real miracle
COMMENT: Simon Barnes WE are attracted to sport by such things as glory and beauty, usually refracted through the fantastic lens of partisanship. But the thin...
Hard to lie back and think 'England'
COMMENT: Tim Horan WHEN South Africa beat England 36-0 in their pool match four weeks ago, few people would have predicted the same two teams would meet ag...
Corica fine more double standards
COMMENT: Ray Gatt AFTER a week of turmoil and controversy, it is obvious Football Federation Australian needs a reality check.
Wallabies cull must start with coaches
SCOTT JOHNSON, Michael Foley and John Muggleton should be sacked immediately.
Support-role failure real reason Wallabies are not in Paris
ANALYSIS: Bret Harris CONTRARY to popular opinion, Australia did not lose its World Cup quarter-final to England because of the scrum.
Wallabies committed sport's oldest crime
Simon Barnes WHO forces the unforced errors? That is the question at the heart of Saturday's seismic World Cup quarter-final between England and Aust...
Wallabies played England's game
Tim Horan SITTING in the stands at Stade Velodrome watching the Wallabies get pushed all over the park by the England pack, memories of our 1995 q...
Time for Tredrea to take a bow
Patrick Smith TO understand Saturday is to make sense of the Friday once removed. Geelong coach Mark Thompson looked both utterly frightened and utter...
England depression we had to have
Wayne Smith IF England did not exist, Australia would have had to invent her.
Healthy dose of sense on drug row
Peter Lalor PSSST! Come down this lane for a minute. There's something we need to talk about and we don't want to be seen.
St Kilda excels at eating its own
Patrick Smith THIS is going to be one hard sell.
Rushed to awards at 160km/h
Ricky Ponting IT has been a crazy couple of days racing to the ICC awards and then flying to Cape Town to prepare for the Twenty20 World Cup.
This sporting strife
John Mendoza The simplistic policy of zero tolerance of drug use by our sportspeople ignores work already done internationally
Kirwan will struggle to blossom
Mark Ella THE most challenging coaching job at the World Cup is not the Wallabies, hot favourite All Blacks or even France with all the pressure h...
Finals road is long
Michael Hagan COMING into the finals my Parramatta side was facing the possibility of playing in Auckland last night,
How Pavarotti gave voice to sport
Simon Barnes VANISH, oh night! Set, stars! Set, stars! At dawn I will win! I will win! I will win! If you ask me, Nessun Dorma always has been a kind...
The numbers stack up for Melbourne
Wayne Bennett PLAYING in September is what we look forward to and work towards all season long.
It's wrong to reveal medical records
Margaret Simons The recent drama surrounding Channel 7 and the AFL is a reminder why forms of media make ethics in reporting more important than ever
Enhanced skills the test issue
Saul Fridman Are recreational drug users sporting cheats
Geelong holds out a flicker of hope
Norman Abjorensen A battling sports team is finally getting its chance to shine in the big league
My wild ride with a flawed genius
Michael Hagan ANDREW JOHNS' frank admission about his depression and drug-taking is a remarkably sad story and his interview with Phil Gould on The Fo...
Our finals claims on line
Michael Hagan I CANNOT remember the final weekend of a regular season having so much intrigue.
It was the worst kept secret
Wayne Bennett I LOVED his honesty. It's the hardest thing in life, being honest with yourself. I talk to my players about it all the time and hope the...
Best way the Blues can win is lose
Graeme Leech What has sport come to when diehard fans barrack for a team to fail
It's difficult to outrun a murky past
Simon Barnes HOW fast do you have to go if you want to outrun your past?
Choc treatment jump-starts Jana
Jenny McAsey, Osaka JANA RAWLINSON sat in the Geneva airport, about to rip open the wrapping on a chocolate bar, when her mobile phone beeped with a text me...
Clarke, Hussey partners in prime
NOTHING is to be gained bemoaning the impotence of this Sri Lanka pace attack when batting is so joyful.
'New media' stumps old scribes
Mike Coward FOR a journo who cut his teeth on the keyboards of leviathan telex machines, the talk of "new media" is very confronting.
Judge will lay down law on drugs
THE AFL, record crowds and high TV ratings in a year of turmoil, might be indestructible, but it is not insensitive to criticism.
Planning makes winning no fluke
Patrick Smith THERE does seem something distinctly odd about an owner with two very live chances in the Melbourne Cup opting not to go to Flemington.
Doggies provide welcome distraction
Ricky Ponting I KNOW there will be plenty of people going to the first Test at the Gabba tomorrow who tipped the winner of the Melbourne Cup.
Johnson proves his credentials
Ricky Ponting THERE is no question the recent tour of India has not done Mitchell Johnson's Test chances any harm at all.
I can't believe jolly Chris is dead
Mick Malthouse LIKE practically everyone who knew Chris Mainwaring, I just can't believe he's dead.
Duo represents King-sized challenge
THERE are always dreadful hard-luck stories going into an AFL grand final.
Blurred colours of rainbow nation
Wayne Smith, rugby union editor TWELVE years ago, the enduring image of the World Cup was of Nelson Mandela, wearing a green jersey with No6 on his back.
Another crisis Wallabies just did not need
RIGHT to the end, this World Cup has caused Australian rugby nothing but grief and heartache.