IT’S embarressing for Cricket Australia to suggest that pre-season AFL rates higher on television and in total crowds than Australian cricket in what is cricket season.

Well that is just the predicament that cricket is in at the moment.

One Day Internationals have become mundane to even the biggest cricket enthusiast.

Sporting fans are pleading for more 20-20 cricket matches. But then again, how long will that last for.

People want faster and more vibrant games such as football. With pure speed and skill rather than watching a four being hit every 20 or so balls.

Cricket is in strife in Australia.

Although the money is in the Indian Premier League, it could drop off in domestic cricket once the popularity disappears in 20-20 cricket.

20-20 cricket is keeping the game alive. But how long for?

Will fans be after 10-10 cricket in another five years.

Cricket at an international scale must re-develop a way on how to make the game more attractive to the viewer.

Sporting fans are much more impatient now than what they were 20 or 50 years ago.

They want action and they want it all the time.

Hence why the remote control is pushed to channel seven and ten rather than nine.

NAB Cup football is exciting but not as exciting as the main season.

But footy fans want to see the top players. The new ones running around.

That’s a hell of a lot more attractive than a boring ODI.

KY Hurst, what a champion!

You talk of some of the great Australian ironman legends – Ky Hurst would be at the top if not one of the most impeccable over time.

At 28, he has amazing surf skills and showed his best on Sunday on the Sunshine Coast to come from last in the semi final of round three of the Nutri Grain Ironman contest to finish first.

Again in the final, he came and conquered and was well behind after falling off the ski. He was last again.

He needed a big swim and there he was – albeit with the luck of a giant wave that sucked in most of the competitors ahead of him – Hurst fell to the lead in what was one of his biggest performances yet.

He has won four Australian Ironman titles and is currently in second place on the road to another.

AUSTRALIA won’t have too long until its new tennis star blossoms.

Bernard Tomic, one of the sports’ rising stars, put up a brilliant performance in the second round against Croatia’s Maran Cilic, who made it all the way through to the semi-finals in the Open.

Tomic took Cilic to five sets and looked in control half way through the third set.

By his own admission, he didn’t like playing until 2am. As a 17 year old, that’s a fair statement.

It’s not an excuse, but it’s a statement that needs to be thought about by Open organisers next year.

Despite, Sam Stosur and Casey Dellacqua getting through an extra couple of rounds, Tomic was the real for star for me as far as the Aussies go.

It was sad that there was no Australians remaining on Australia Day with Lleyton Hewitt and Sam Stosur out on Australia Day eve.

Hewitt, perhaps his last ditch effort on home soil, was mediocre at best compared to Roger Federer in his fourth round match.

It was like a boy playing against a master. Federer was too good, too strong and too poised.

Tomic made his mark in Melbourne this January.

He is Australia’s greatest hope in the next few years.

Of course, Jelena Dokic, Stosur and Dellacqua will be there for the women. But the men have only lauded Hewitt in recent times in Australian ranks.

Thank god for Tomic.

AUSTRALIA needs a new tennis hero.

And it just could be Bernard T0mic after he defeated Novak Djokovic at Kooyong yesterday.

The breakthrough win has lifted expectations on the youngest Australian tennis sensation.

But he appears to have the maturity to keep it within himself.

This is the year that he must show Australians that he is ready to take the mantle of Lleyton Hewitt; finally after a decade of Hewitt dominating the male Australian ranks of tennis.

Now Hewitt, the veteran, has some competition.

And the rivalry between the two is simmering.

You can almost say it is intense.

The biggest obstacle Tomic may face however is his father who of course just late in 2008 was fined by Tennis Australia for his attack on an umpire.

Bernard must make his own decisions or it could turn out to be another Jelena Dokic affair.

Dokic made a statement last year at the Open and will be hoping to impress again.

Does she have the guts to do what she did last year again this year?

Jelena is a mystery bet. Another Aussie Sam Stosur is climbing up the ranks rapidly and will be one of the favourites for the Aussies. You’d expect Sam to get through to a quarter final in the Open given her experience and maturity has risen.

ISN’T it great to see tennis back on our television screens!

Remember those hot summer nights watching the tennis till the early hours of the morning; watching every hard hitting ace and every ‘c’mon’ that Lleyton Hewitt would yell; riding every bump with Jelena Dokic or hoping a young Bernard Tomic or a more experienced Alicia Molik surprise.

There’s so much Aussies love about tennis.

While cricket is our national savior – as we crush the majority of the opposition – tennis we are up against it.

There are only a couple of Aussies that are capable of taking out the Australian Open but the interest is still widely significant in the race to the finals.

We look in awe at the men such as Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer and can’t believe the power of the Williams sisters – Serena and Venus.

Going to the tennis is a great experience also rather than just watching it on the box.

Sitting in Rod Laver Arena is a unique experience; as is sitting on the outside courts in the sun. There’s the tension involved with the players, the colour of the crowd and the voices of different cultures surrounding you.

Head to Melbourne Park from January 18 for a massive two weeks of tennis.

IT’S become almost a farce in the AFL media industry.

Communication managers on a power trip, attempting to control what goes in the daily media and what doesn’t.

Surely, it’s frustrating for many football journalists and organisations that these communication managers are taking a stranglehold of the media, knocking back continuous media opportunities and countless opportunities for stories.

It’s their job; for some it’s their dream job. It’s their job to hound clubs and build relationships.

For every player and every story idea, you have to go through the club or else…

Expect a phone call from the media manager on Monday morning. Most AFL players will knock back interviews anyway after being preached to by the club that stories must go through these media managers.

Some are controlling, some are manipulative and some treat some journalists as if they haven’t had an education.

Hawthorn and Geelong are the toughest to crack. Maybe that’s why they have won the last three premierships but I seriously doubt it.

St Kilda has also been problematic for journalists.

Of course the directors of these clubs would love it.

There was an instance when a story went to press on the Hawks last year, speculating that two of their players may not get back in 2010.

The journalist attempted to contact all sources; some denied to comment, others were unavailable.

It was a purely speculative article but this journalist has now been banned from contacting the Hawks.

There have been other instances at the club with this journalist submitting story ideas and then continuously being knocked back.

He has asked why and it was suggested if he or she were a Caroline Wilson or more experienced journalist, then he or she would have been granted these interviews.

It should not be based on reputation or experience for these media managers to decline or grant interviews.

Speaking of Wilson, she copped a media ban from Collingwood at the start of 2009 for her attack on Eddie McGuire in a column for The Age.

Surely clubs are professional enough to cop criticism; just as these journalists do when they make mistakes or approach a story angle incorrectly.

But it’s come to the point now where the newspaper coverage is full of press releases with only the brave journalists prepared to cross the line.

There are very few of them around.

Some are too intent on keeping their jobs; scared that their bosses will come down on them.

Others go for the easy and positive angle on the club rather than attacking the issue with brutal honesty.

This is the way the communication managers like it.

This is the way they’ve tried to make it.

Fortunately, there are still a few sports journalists around that toe the line for their audiences.

There are other clubs such as Melbourne and North Melbourne who crave the publicity and aren’t as subjective. But the majority make life tough for the media.

SHANE Watson has proved to be the shining gem in Australia’s cricket line up.

From that raw blond haired bowler that made his name a few years back to that hard-hitting match-winner that he is today.

He has surely transformed his game since the Ashes to make his mark as an opening batsmen.

But it does prove that cricket is now a game of all-rounders.

You need to have a load of good batsmen and a few elite bowlers in the team to have a match-winning line-up.

Watson has really risen to a rare talent in the team where he has taken tests by the scruff of the neck, although going out in the 90s by confusion on Boxing Day was a little mistake that most will forget.

The fact is Watson two years ago would have dreamt of consistently making high scores.

Now he is; and Australians have a new blond haired hero.

FINALLY clubs take action against their players and their alcoholic antics.

Sydney Roosters, in the National Rugby League, sacked hooker Jake Friend after his third alcoholic related indiscretion this year.

A lot of clubs will trade players or ban them from playing matches but don’t go all the way in sacking them.

Hopefully more clubs – professional and amateur – take a leaf out of the book of the Roosters.

Now Friend should learn a lesson as he is off to find a regular job to replace his one that was earning him $500,000 a season.

His manager Steve Gillis said:

“There’s no intention at the moment to look that far down the track, we just want to get him all the help and support that he needs and get him going again,” Gillis told AAP.

“The gap’s not that big a gap for him to jump. I’m very confident that he can get back on track much sooner rather than later.

“Fingers crossed we see him again (next) year but there’s no guarantees, it’s all up to him.”

WHAT an interesting week it has been on the sporting front.

Of course the Tiger Woods stories dominated and will continue to be the final theme for 2009.

But it was the fact that Australia have the opportunity to host the World Cup in 13 years time that was the floating talking point in Australia; and the fact that the AFL could lose more than half a season and the possibility that two or three clubs could be forced to fold.

It was interesting to see AFL chief Andrew Demetriou take the lead and be pleasantly backed up by the NRL; in the mean time the NRL chose to have Melbourne Storm fixtured to play on Good Friday, getting one up on their AFL rivals.

The fact that the NRL chose this was a very clever idea considering the AFL had been touting the idea in recent years that it would fixture a Good Friday clash.

The NRL, perhaps can take the points; very shrewdly.

But both feuding codes did team up to take on their one threat – soccer.

The AFL wouldn’t budge on the suggestion that Etihad Stadium will be needed if Australia wins the World Cup bid.

The NRL, similarly, have taken a similar view in Sydney; perhaps the only two places in Australia in where the World Cup could be played.

FIFA has said that they would need two boutique stadiums in which would hold 60,000 people or more.

The stance is a very solid one from both codes but surely they don’t want to cost Australians of a chance of watching history on their home soil.

This would be disastrous for all.

Hopefully a resolution will be made!

SICK of cricket – and more cricket?

Loads of Australians love it and there are also loads that hate it. Surely there is another sport that can make its mark during the summer months in Aussie land.

A-League soccer has made an early impression but will take time to blossom into a dominant country sport.

While the NBL basketball has fallen away in interest and maybe should have spent the season on the sidelines to research its biggest marketing tools and sell it to the country the year after.

The Australian Open tennis begins in January but for a little over two weeks only.

It will be A-League soccer that will provide the real competition to cricket over the coming years, particularly if the West Indies don’t provide a competitive performance against the Aussies - which is expected to happen this summer.

A-League has the potential to push its competition further and enhance its prospects further in the country with a potential home for the World Cup.

NBL needs to find its rhythm again that steered it to the brink of summer popularity during the 90s.

A rejuvenation of the league can be obtained by copying the path of what soccer has done from the National Soccer League to the A-League.

Same game; new league.