Face it, we're all to blame for Lodge's exit
Elsewhere, The Bounce goes grassroots and pines for the days of the spiral punt.
Oh, for heaven’s sake, now it’s Nathan Brown’s fault that Matt Lodge, or Lodgey, has moved on from the club with one of the world’s least-deserved golden handshakes.
“When you recruit a player and it doesn’t work out as in Lodgey’s case it’s no one’s fault but the head coach’s,” Brown told a post-match presser.
Obviously there are some holes in the logic here but it’s an admirable attempt at deflection from the “colourful” owner. Or it would have been if said owner Mark Robinson hadn’t come out with this interview over the weekend, which I’m still trying to process; not in a “what was he thinking?” way, but in a “what the hell is he actually trying to say?” way.
Take this extended and uninterrupted quote, for example:
“Something I really want to achieve in the game is help New Zealand win an NRL trophy one day,” Robinson said.
“Because of the way the club has been since I got involved five years ago and owned outright three years ago, it’s something we’ve had to dismantle and rebuild.
“My passion for the club is that I want it to keep improving, whether that’s with our staff, players or whatever. We’re not going to get anywhere unless we get better.
“OK, maybe I am different, I’m more passionate and I do say what I want to say when I say it, without thinking about it.
“I’m not necessarily always right, but I’m not always wrong either.
“All I can go off is my culture, how I run my business and why it’s successful,” he added.
“That’s all about protecting and looking after the people that invest in you and what you’re trying to do.
“There have been a lot of people at Autex that have come and gone, then come back for another try and left again.
“I haven’t fallen out with any of them, it just doesn’t work, because it’s a different way of doing things, the way I like to do things and sometimes it does rark up a few people.
“Maybe I’ve done that with the fans, but I’m doing it for them, I’m not doing it for myself.”
That’s close to 250 words of freestylin’ and it’s… mostly meaningless piffle.
It’s reached the point now where I’m prepared to put my hand up and say: “Sorry, it’s The Bounce’s fault that Lodgey has left the club, nobody else’s.”
Anything to make these people shut up.
All the club had to do to tap into the enormous reservoir of goodwill it had earned from the public both here and in Australia since 2019 was keep their heads above water and not do anything ridiculous.
There needs to be a rule in place from here until July 3 when they finally run onto Mt Smart Stadium - the only people with a licence to talk publicly are the players, and the only thing they are to talk about is how they’re going to get better.
Oh yeah, almost forgot. They lost to Newcastle 16-24. They were not good.
On Friday I mentioned I was having a bye week for professional rugby given the high proportion of dead or dying rubbers.
This, I’m led to believe, was a very good decision. We’ll dig into the playoffs later in the week but I just can’t let this go.
Check out your two fine teams vying for the final playoff spot. Between them they have as many wins as the next highest team and if you’re thinking the Force were a little unlucky to miss out, check out that horrific points differential.
Instead of suffering through the anticlimactic final round I took up the invitation to check out a fierce local club rugby rivalry that also happened to be a top of the table clash between unbeaten Takapuna and North Shore, the plutocrats of Harbour rugby.
The first thing that struck me was the crowd, which might have looked bigger than it was in the picturesque confines of Devonport but nevertheless there was a better atmosphere there than any Harbour game I’ve attended recently.
The game itself wasn’t great. Takapuna, who won 31-17, got a stranglehold early and despite being pinned in their own 22m for long periods of the second half, never looked like relinquishing the win.
But there was one moment in the first half I wish I recorded and saved to my cloud (I don’t actually know what that means but I’ve heard other people say it), pulling it back down again to screen on special occasions, public holidays and every third Tuesday.
I was gassing to my mate at the time so missed the buildup but out of nowhere someone in the Shore backline attempted a spiral punt wipers kick.
My body was instantly flooded with the sort of nostalgia men of my age can only get from remembering your first taste of Rheineck, playing air guitar to Sweet Child O’ Mine, or reading the Elle Macpherson Bendon catalogue for the articles.
Man I miss everything about the spiral punt: the almost gentle “thwock” sound when struck well, how it drew right to left then straightened out again, how it skipped forward on greasy turf to roll into touch.
Damn you Mick Byrne and your insistence on the consistency and control of the drop punt.
My other takeaway from the domain was how a well-run, engaged club can retain its place in the heart of the community. Admittedly, North Shore has got certain demographic advantages in terms of the benefactors it can draw upon, but they have invested massively in their junior programme, especially girls rugby, so they’re changing the club from the ground up.
There was an old boys’ lunch before the game so the clubrooms were a bit of a “sausage sizzle” at the end, but on normal game times I’m reliably informed the vibe is extremely family friendly, with mums and dads having a drink inside while the kids play outside.
The reports of club rugby’s demise are not necessarily exaggerated, but if you do it right there is still hope - much like the spiral punt.
GOLF CHAT
It was a wild weekend of golf for New Zealanders, none more so than for Ryan Fox who needed only bogey on the final hole, a par five, to win the Dutch Open, but flubbed his way to a seven and then lost to some outrageous long putting from France’s Victor Perez in the four-hole playoff. Still, his second represents the continuation of a very fine year as he prepares for the US Open in a fortnight and the Open Championship later in the northern summer.
If his final few holes were wild, then trying walking in Danny Lee’s spikes. At the Charles Schwab Classic in Fort Worth on the PGA Tour, Lee shot 73, 64, 77 and 65. When he’s good, he’s very good, when he’s bad he’s rotten. When he’s both good and bad he ends up in a tie for 23rd and a cheque for close to US$80,000.
The best news of the weekend came when Hamilton’s Steve Alker won the Senior PGA Championship at Harbor Shores with a stunning final round eight-under 63 to win by three strokes. Alker pocketed close to a cool million for his deeds. It has been mentioned to me more than once that the senior tour is not what it once was, but that doesn’t detract from what Alker has just done. If you look at that top 20, he’s beaten many guys whose deeds on the regular tours dwarfed his: Bernhard Langer, KJ Choi, Miguel Angel Jimenez, Mike Weir, Colin Montgomerie, Darren Clarke, Ernie Els and Padraig Harrington to name a few.
SPORTS SHORTS
Scott Dixon blew a win in arguably the world’s biggest motor race by speeding in the pit lane. And it hurt like hell.
Ferrari, the team not the drivers, absolutely butchered the Monaco GP with some scarcely believable strategic errors. And it hurt like hell.
Liverpool dominated most of the Champions League final but couldn’t find a way past the inspired Thibaut Courtois. Few would be silly enough to call it a failed season with two domestic cups, yet ask any Liverpool fan and they’d probably tell you they’d rather have performed appallingly in three competitions if they could be guaranteed winning one of the Premier League or Champions League. So yeah, it no doubt hurts like hell.
Gujarat Titans won the IPL at their first time of asking and while I could care less about that, Lockie Ferguson bowled a ball at 157.3km/h! Shame he won’t be hitting those peaks in England over the next month.
Speaking of which, New Zealand had a really, really, really bad final hit out against a scratch First-Class Counties XI in Chelmsford. The Black Caps slumped to 19-6 in their second innings and that was lowlighted by ducks to Will Young, Tom Blundell and, most worrying given his shocking IPL, Kane Williamson.
NZ v ENGLAND SPECIALS
A reminder that I’ll be sending out While-You-Were-Sleeping type reports during the test series against England that starts at Lord’s on Thursday. Unless they’re part of the usual Monday and Friday free newsletters, these reports will be for paying subscribers only, which seems a good time to mention once more that The Bounce is offering a midwinter special!
Mate how was Perez’s putting….I mean that was something else. Foxy desperately unlucky I thought.