Whisper it, but the Panthers can pull off the sports story of the year

I knew it would happen, and it didn’t. After my rant last week about the immoral insanity of the Roosters continuing to put Victor Radley out there given his history of concussions – with several particularly troubling ones lately – I knew that the club would come back all guns blazing, insisting they had taken immaculate care of the fiery forward. I knew they would say it was like anyone’s damn hide, and particularly mine, to infer otherwise.

Instead, not a peep – other than announcing this week that Radley has been stood down for a month before they reassess. Bravo. But I do invite them to think of the consequences of putting him back out there again in late July, only for him to go down once more to concussion, if that happens.

It is the very nature of successive concussion and sub-concussive impacts that it takes progressively fewer impacts to do ever more damage. It ain’t like healing from a broken bone or a bruise, where you start again virtually as good as new. It’s brain damage. That’s it. And each new concussion is simply more brain damage.

Campo, please put a sock in it … again

I gather David Campese isn’t talking to me for some reason, so can someone pass this on, gently, please?

Campo, mate, any chance you can put a sock in it? I refer to your latest rant on the Wallabies, published in The Oz, on this, the very week that the British and Irish Lions landed in Australia.

“In Australian rugby we haven’t got any culture,” you said. “No-one cares, no-one knows who we are. If you haven’t got culture and history, you haven’t got anything. Unfortunately, that’s where we are in Australia. We’ve got Joe Schmidt, who still doesn’t know about our culture and history.

“He wants to play Joe Schmidt rugby. Now he’s got Les Kiss involved, who’s a rugby league guy who went out and played and coached in Ireland.”

Blah. Blah. Blah.

Campo, haven’t we heard it all before from you? And many times at that?

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We get it. Since the day you retired, nothing good has ever happened in Australian rugby, and no-one of remotely your worth has ever worn the jersey. You just don’t get respect round here – HEY, YOU KIDS, GET OFF MY LAWN! – and you’re jack of it.

Campo, in a quarter of a century, none of us can recall a single positive thing you’ve said, while at least being amused that your last major rant was just before the Wallabies exploded into action to beat England at Twickenham last November. I think I mentioned that?

Your stuff is so repetitive, I think we can all just assume from this point on that it was better in your day, and everything’s rooted now. Let us know if that changes. That would be genuine news. This stuff is just tedious more-of-the same Campo-carping, and, indeed, nobody does care.

Just trying to help, mate.

Blue Sunday

There was a lovely bit of commentary as North Melbourne were giving Carlton a whupping last Sunday. With the Blues ahead by 46 points, the camera panned to a young Carlton supporter bawling his eyes out.

“That is a summation of what’s happened to the Blues for that poor young fella,” Fox Footy commentator Mark Howard intoned. “Mum and dad have brought him to the footy today full of hope.”

At this point, his co-commentator Jonathan Brown lightly observed: “It’s bad parenting.”

What They Said

Manly coach Anthony Seibold: “What is pressure about? Let’s put perspective on it. What’s going on over in Israel and Ukraine, that’s pressure. The reality is, guys, if you think about life, every single one of us is going to die. Every. Single One. Of. Us. Right? And so if you work back from that point, it’s not to be morbid, but you really work out what’s important in life. I’m really passionate about coaching, but I’m also passionate about other things as well.” Shades of WWII fighter pilot and cricketing great Keith Miller’s famous line about the “pressure” of cricket: “Pressure is a Messerschmitt up your arse, playing cricket is not”.

Usman Khawaja’s words on the Gaza catastrophe were recalled this week, as he declined to be interviewed by SEN in protest at them standing down cricket commentator Peter Lalor for his own comments on Gaza: “Standing up for the people of Gaza is not antisemitic nor does it have anything to do with my Jewish brothers and sisters in Australia, but everything to do with the Israeli government and their deplorable actions. It has everything to do with justice and human rights.” Precisely.

Nick Kyrgios on Wimbledon: “I don’t always feel so comfortable there either because I don’t act like the normal tennis player. Wimbledon takes note of that a lot. I definitely feel like a snowman in the desert there but I enjoy it.”

Kyrgios on if he could have won the Wimbledon final against Novak Djokovic: “Definitely. It was only a couple of points here and there where, if I’d acted a bit differently, I would have had a Wimbledon title. But there’s no shame in losing to the greatest of all time. Do I think about it often? Yes. Do I think about what I could have changed? Yes. Could I have prepared better? No. I prepared amazingly.”

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Ezra Mam on bouncing back from his atrocities last year: “For me now it’s about getting back to who the real Ezra is.” Sounds like a plan.

LA Ram Kobie Turner on playing a regular season NFL game in Australia: “We get the opportunity to put our brand on the line, the Rams, the NFL brand on the line.” Dunno. Wouldn’t it be easier to do it as a curtain-raiser to the NRL’s Las Vegas game, and get the 100 million viewers some were optimistically hoping for – three times the number of viewers the Super Bowl gets outside the USA!

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander on winning the NBA title and finals MVP: “It doesn’t feel real. So many hours. So many moments. So many emotions. So many nights of disbelief. So many nights of belief. It’s crazy to know that we’re all here, but this group worked for it. This group put in the hours, and we deserve this.”

Minjee Lee on winning the Women’s PGA Championship: “I knew exactly where I was in terms of like the scores. But I just want to be clear. Like I definitely was nervous starting the day. I wasn’t really sure if it was the heat that was making my heart beat more . . . I looked calm, but not as calm as everybody thinks.”

OKC Thunder’s Isaiah Hartenstein after they won the NBA title and didn’t know how to pop the corks and were going onto YouTube to find out: “None of us knew how to do it.”

Usman Khawaja: “I still feel like I’m playing really well. I bat at the top of the order, so there’s going to be times where I don’t score runs, there’s going to be times where I do score runs. Stats don’t lie.”

Tennis player Taylor Fritz considers the possibility of never winning a grand slam title: “I’d probably think about it forever if I don’t do it.”

Team of the Week

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Alex Ducas. The Australian player with the OKC Thunder is now an NBA champion.

Canterbury Crusaders. Won their 13th Super Rugby title. Everyone else collectively has just 15. It’s getting to the point where an annual Crusaders vs Best of the Rest match would be interesting – and balanced.

Nicola Olyslagers. The Australian high jumper won her second straight Diamond League event.

British & Irish Lions. Take on the Force on Saturday night in Perth.

Collingwood. They’ve been so dominant, the AFL premiership is now theirs to lose.

Minjee Lee. Became just the fourth Australian golfer – after Karrie Webb, Jan Stephenson and Peter Thomson – to win at least three majors.