BBQ, beer, SMS rule Aussie Christmas
Darren Osborne in Sydney | December 21, 2007
TELCOS are preparing for an avalanche of phone calls and mobile text messages this holiday season.
Optus consumer managing director, Warren Hardy, said text messaging continued to be a popular way for Australians to send seasons greetings to loved ones both nationally and internationally.
"On Christmas Day last year Optus mobile customers sent 26.3 million text messages, a 27.4 per cent increase on 2005," Mr Hardy said.
"This year, we expect to achieve a record result for the number of mobile text messages sent in one day by reaching 33 million messages sent on Christmas Day."
According to Optus, the three most popular destinations are likely to be the UK, New Zealand and the Philippines.
Telstra is also expecting more than 30 million text messages, along with 8.5 million mobile phone calls and 250,000 video calls.
"Hundreds of Telstra staff will be working through Christmas to keep our networks running smoothly over the busy holiday period to meet the surge in Christmas calling," Telstra spokesman Brent Hooley said.
A growing trend in 2007 is the use of picture messaging, also known as multimedia messaging service (MMS).
"Sending a quick snapshot to a friend or a loved one on Christmas Day is simple and easy, and we know that many people are using picture messaging to send virtual Christmas cards," he said.
But the combination of end of year festivities and a mobile phone could lead to embarrassment.
Etiquette expert Patsy Rowe believes most people should devise a plan to ensure they don't drink and text, and end up with more than a hangover the next morning.
"Very rarely do people send an inflammatory text when they're sober. It's usually the alcohol that gives people the courage to tell their ex-mother-in-law or ex-wife what they really think," Ms Rowe said.
"Put some self-control techniques into play. Promise yourself that you won't text anybody after your third drink."
She added that another technique is to have a ``buddy" who can keep an eye on who you're texting when you've had a few drinks.
Some mobile phone carriers, such as Virgin Mobile, also offer a blocking service, which prevents the user from texting predefined numbers until 6am the next day.
If part of your New Year's resolution is to tell your friends and work colleagues what you really think of them, it may be best to leave the phone out the equation altogether, even if you're sober.
"It's easier to abuse someone with a text than it is face-to-face, so avoid colourful or emotive language," Ms Rowe said.
And finally, don't expect everyone in the family to understand your Christmas or New Year greeting if you type it in text shorthand.
"If you are going to text people, take a few extra minutes writing it properly," she said.
Copyright 2008 News Limited. All times AEDT (GMT +11).
Smith claims Aussie teams will have early advantage with rule changes
05 December 2007 - 8:58AM
John-Paul Moloney
ACT Brumbies flanker George Smith believes Australian teams will have the jump on their Super 14 rivals after the approval yesterday of rule changes for next season.
The competition's governing body SANZAR approved the introduction of new Experimental Law Variations, which were trialled in this year's Australian Rugby Championships.
The intention of the rules is to speed up the game and make it more spectator friendly.
Smith said the four Australian provinces would take an advantage early into the season because many of their players had been involved in the ARC. South Africa and New Zealand had only trialled the laws in lower divisions this year.
"The Australians having played under the rules, it will give us an advantage I think, even if a few of us Wallabies guys haven't played under them yet," Smith said. "But the New Zealand and South African teams will learn pretty quick and peg us back."
Smith backed SANZAR'S decision to adopt some rules, while discarding the more contentious ones including allowing hands in the ruck, pulling down of mauls and unlimited numbers in lineouts.
ARU deputy chief executive Matt Carroll said the new rules would "super-charge" next year's competition.
"We're introducing the new laws to Super 14 to super-charge Super rugby. The SANZAR nations have always been at the forefront of the game and yet again SANZAR is to lead the world," Carroll said.
No decision has yet been made on whether the changes will also be trialled in SANZAR's Tri-Nations Test series between the three countries. Smith hoped the new laws would help kill off concerns that rugby had become an overly negative, a criticism made particularly at the recent World Cup.
"I saw a couple of ARC games, and it looked like a pretty fast game and very spectator friendly in terms of the ball in play," Smith said.
"It can get frustrating when you play teams that play negative rugby and you want to see a free-flowing game. Some of the rules may offset that and hopefully have a bit more ball in play."
NSW Waratahs coach Ewen McKenzie and captain Phil Waugh also endorsed the changes.
"We've been calling for this for a long time so it's great to see it locked in stone," McKenzie said.
"It's a big win for attacking rugby. We saw the benefits of the ELVs in the Australian Rugby Championship with more tries being scored and the ball in play for longer.
"That's now going to be translated into the Super 14 which can only be a good thing both for the players and for those watching the game."
Waugh said "positive, attacking play has been the result in every competition that has trialled the ELVs so far".
"People want to see action and that's what they'll get as a result of the introduction of the variations in the Super 14," he said.
The Waratahs and Queensland will first trial the Super 14 law changed when they meet in a pre-season trial on Australia Day. with AAP
Copyright (c) 2007. Fairfax Digital
Port willing to take 30-year-old Cousins
Port Adelaide coach Mark Williams says numerous AFL clubs, including his own, would be willing to take on Ben Cousins in 2009 if the fallen Eagle committed to a year of rehab in 2008.
Williams believes that Cousins, 29, is one of a select few footballers capable of returning after spending a year out of the game, provided he definitively addressed his ongoing off-field problems.
"We all in the football world would love to think that Ben could play again," Williams said.
"I'd be thinking he needs a year off to look after himself and a year for everyone to give him best wishes and any assistance he can get, and after that we'll assess him again.
"His fitness, his physique, his mindset of getting to where he wants to get, would say he can play at his age in a year's time.
"Not too many people could but I wouldn't think it is all over and out for him."
Cousins' stocks have risen somewhat since Perth police dropped the two charges against him that led to his sacking by West Coast last month.
A subsequent ill-fated visit to the United States, where he finished up in hospital following an apparent cocaine binge, indicated Cousins is still a long way from recovery.
But the player has maintained hope he will play football again.
Another making motions to return to the game is left-footer Stuart Dew, 28, who retired from Port in 2006 due to a loss of desire but has nominated for the forthcoming national draft.
He is widely expected to be picked up by Hawthorn, where he will be among numerous friends.
Though not ruling it out if Dew were to approach him, Williams said it would be difficult to imagine the 2004 premiership player wearing a Power jumper again.
"Dewy hasn't come to me and said he wanted to play, if he wanted to play for us he would've told us," he said.
"I've got a couple of days to talk to him to see if he wants to, but I think it's pretty slim."
Williams said Dew's career-long battle to keep his weight down would be the most significant hurdle to his return.
"From the minute he stepped in the door (fitness) has been difficult for him and as much as anyone that's played on our list," he said.
"But that's one side, the other is he's a very astute player, as smart as any I'd know and his skills are silky, so he brings a lot that a lot of players playing now don't have."
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Fitness the key for Bombers
Essendon coach Matthew Knights has laid down the law to his playing group, stressing that only the fittest players will represent the football club from week to week next season.
Knights said his players were prepared for a tough pre-season and that fitness and skill levels would be the team's focus during the Bombers' preparation for the 2008 campaign.
"Having a midfield background as a player, I'm really big on fitness and maximum fitness levels," said Knights.
"I've spoken to the players very honestly, if you don't reach your maximum fitness levels, you won't be putting your name up for selection and I think that's pretty easy to understand."
Knights' men completed a 3.2km time trial around Princes Park on Thursday morning which was won by recently-promoted rookie Heath Hocking with Bachar Houli and Brent Stanton finishing second and third respectively.
"I thought they were decent, I think Heath Hocking came in at about 10 minutes 48 seconds which is really pleasing for Heath," Knights said.
"I think Leroy (Jetta) bettered his (personal best) time by a minute and it was good to see (Jason) Laycock and (David) Hille around that sort of 11:20, 11:25 area for six-foot-five, six-foot-seven guys."
Essendon missed out on finals action for the third year in a row this season, something it hasn't done since 1978, but Knights likes to think he is in the process of reinventing the team list as opposed to rebuilding it.
"Our list is in a demographic where we do have a lot of players between that 18-to-22, 23 age bracket ... and then we've got four or five experienced guys at the top end that are very mature," Knights explained.
"Those (younger) players have to really lift because we can't rely on the four guys that play up our spine to get the job done every week."
Knights also confirmed that finals would be an aim for the side next year, but he stressed it won't be the sole focus.
"What I won't be doing is (plugging) holes to stop the leaky boat from dripping a little bit, I'm gonna put all the young blokes in right from the start," Knights said.
"I'm going to inject them, I'm going to put them in. Yes, at times they're going to be exhilarating and at times they're going to be frustrating, but that's a part of coaching and that's a part of development."
Copyright 2007 Yahoo! Australia & NZ Pty Limited. All rights reserved.
Geelong boss wants more for Cats
They won the AFL grand final by a record margin and had the most All Australians in history, but Geelong boss Brian Cook and captain Tom Harley believe the club is far from achieving greatness.
Launching the Cats' new logo and "club values" on Thursday, chief executive Cook said there was a lot Geelong needed to do both on and off the field over an extended period to achieve their aim of being known as an AFL powerhouse.
"We're a fair way off," Cook said.
"At this stage we're not big enough to be a great club and we probably haven't won enough to be a great club to be honest.
"I think we could best describe ourselves at the moment as a good club moving towards being great.
"But we need to consistently meet all of our key performance areas, about winning on-field performances, winning premierships, making profits, keeping customers satisfied, having a bigger stadium, getting greater television audiences, greater radio audience coverage, etc, etc."
He said the fact the club only averaged crowds of 21,000 at their Skilled Stadium home ground meant a planned redevelopment of the venue was vital to their growth.
"We need to get bigger than that to become a great club," he said.
Harley also said consistent on-field success was needed to be known as a great side, comparing the current Geelong side with Brisbane's triple-premiership era from 2001-03.
"We've only won one premiership and we only played in one grand final, they played in four in a row and won three of them, so we're a far cry from that," he said.
"But we've given ourselves as a club the opportunity to have some really successful years, so time will tell whether we'll be a great side."
He said the current crop of players were unlikely to ever have another record-breaking year like this one.
"It just doesn't happen every year, it happens once every 100 years," he said.
"But we're confident that we have set a benchmark for the AFL in how to play the game and I guess we'll take confidence that we play it better than everyone else at the moment."
The six club values announced at Thursday's launch came under the headings respect, precision, adventurous, conviction, unity and commercial.
Cook said they had been working on them for two years, with input from players, brand consultants, club management, sponsors and members.
Copyright 2007 Yahoo! Australia & NZ Pty Limited. All rights reserved.
Tigers de-list Andrew Krakouer
Andrew Krakouer has finally run out of chances to turn undoubted potential into consistent performance, with Richmond delisting the small forward after seven AFL seasons.
Krakouer, who played 102 games for the Tigers after debuting in 2001, has been delisted along with utilities Patrick Bowden and Brent Hartigan.
The Tigers have promoted rookies Jake King and Angus Graham to the senior list.
They will now have only the minimum three selections at next month's national draft, with picks two, 18 and 51.
Richmond could also delist another player by November 30 if a suitable player became available in the pre-season draft, where they have the No.1 pick.
Krakouer, 24, the son of former North Melbourne champion Jimmy Krakouer, was taken by Richmond as a raw teenager with selection No.41 in the 2000 draft.
He made his senior debut the following year, going on to average a goal a game in 102 matches as a tough-tackling small forward,.
But the 176cm Krakouer was never able to develop enough to become a regular part of the Tigers' midfield rotation.
"Andrew's first half of the year was good," said Richmond football director Greg Miller.
"He fell away in the second half of the year and he'd be the first to admit that his season wasn't as good as other years and we had to make that decision with young players coming through."
Also on Monday, Krakouer learned that he would have to plead to a serious assault charge in Perth next year.
His brother Tyrone Krakouer, 21, and Elwyn Roger Colbung, 19, were charged last year with assault causing grievous bodily harm over an alleged bashing.
In July, the charges were upgraded to assault intending to cause bodily harm, which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years jail.
At the time, Krakouer's lawyer said he intended to plead not guilty.
The case was adjourned until February 5, when the three accused will be required to enter a plea.
But Miller said the timing of Krakouer's delisting had nothing to do with his court mention.
"I had a talk to Andrew on Friday and kept in contact with him all weekend," said Miller.
"Today was only a mention date in court so there was no relevance to any of that.
"We have to get our list done, (coach) Terry Wallace is back from holidays so that was the reason we announced it today."
King, 23, was rewarded for an outstanding 19-game debut season with promotion to the Richmond senior list.
The 200cm Graham was elevated after showing some promise late in the year at a club with a paucity of ruck options, a problem exacerbated by the retirement of Trent Knobel and tall defender Ray Hall.
Copyright 2007 Yahoo! Australia & NZ Pty Limited. All rights reserved.
AFL players set to end Seven boycott
AAP - Wednesday September 5, 12:50 PM
AFL players are set to end their boycott of the Seven Network after its backdown over a controversial drug story.
The AFL Player's Association has welcomed Seven's expression of regret for broadcasting the medical records of two players on August 24.
The AFLPA has also welcomed Seven's assurance it would not challenge a Victorian Supreme Court injunction which prohibits media outlets publishing details about the players and the clubs at the centre of the controversy.
The network announced its backdown and expressed regret on Tuesday.
AFLPA chief executive Brendon Gale said he regarded Seven's expression of regret as an apology.
Gale said he hoped AFL players would resume cooperating with Seven, which will televise two of the four finals played this weekend.
"Channel Seven's decision to withdraw its opposition to a permanent court injunction, combined with the statement of regret, has been accepted by the AFLPA executive as an admission of an error of judgment by Channel Seven," Gale said.
"The executive has recommended that all AFL players similarly accept the station's regret and that we all move on to focus on the exciting finals series ahead."
Gale could not rule out any future boycott of media outlets by playerS over issues they felt strongly about.
But he said Seven's decision to site the player's medical record was a "very serious" incident and one the AFLPA membership felt strongly about.
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