SPORT: Sack the Coach!

"You've got to understand the business that we're in. We play sport and there are losers. Someone has to win and someone has to lose and Australia - regardless of whatever sport they're in - are not going to stay at the top of everything for the rest of our lives. So you better get used to it."

So said Wayne Bennett, coach of the mighty Kangaroos (Australian Rugby League team). For those of you who have not been on planet earth (well the down under part of it), the sporting equivalent of a solar eclipse occurred in the weekend when the New Zealand rugby league team beat Australia, in Australia for the first time in a looooong while. It was the Kiwi's first win in Sydney since 1959. This catastrophic event ranks right up there with losing the Ashes, kissing your sister, or Greg Flynn beating you in an orienteering race. For a nation of sporting winners, this sucks, big time.

And of course the natural reaction is ... sack the coach.

Never mind that under Bennett's coaching, the Kangaroos have a 10-1 win/loss record (the loss being of course last weekend). Never mind that it is possible normal service will resume on Friday in the return match at Auckland (although I'll be putting money on the Kiwis again). After any sporting calamity, someone must be held accountable and first in line is always the coach.

I'm always amazed at the knee-jerk reaction that follows an unexpected sporting loss. As fellow New Zealanders know, any All Black loss (unexpected, and/or in a World Cup) is followed by a few days of national mourning followed by calls for the coach's head to be delivered to the grieving public on a silver platter. Possibly because we have experienced many such moments over the last 10-15 years, we're getting better at coping with such loss. The Australian sporting public has yet to go through such a process (although they are getting some practice in 2005 - cricket, rugby union, netball, now rugby league ... let us pray the list keeps growing!)

But what intrigues me about Bennett's comments is the implied acceptance of losing. I suspect the comments have more to do with his (strained) relationship with the media, but it does surprise me that a coach of a dominant team in world sport can be so blase about losing. Surely if you are the supreme force, your reaction (publicly at least) should be somewhat different? Could you imagine for example Steve Waugh saying to the Australian public "get used to losing, it's going to happen at times" if he happened to be the captain of a losing Australian cricket team?

One other thing I picked up on after the league last weekend. At the press conference, Bennett was asked if it was possible the Kangaroos had taken the Kiwis lightly. His answer was along the lines of: "well I didn't, but I don't know about the players" while giving a murderous side glance to his team captain on his left. Meooooow.

As I will keep banging on ad-nauseum, top-level sport is about the top 6 inches. Sometimes you learn more about people in moments of adversity. As a passionate Kiwi sporting fan, I like what I'm seeing. Bennett shouldn't be sacked for losing one league game, but he should possibly be sacked for his reaction afterwards. Normally I'm terrified of a wounded Australian sporting team, but the signs are the Aussies are not a happy camp and while I expect them to improve on their performance (they can hardly play worse), should the Kiwis get enough ball and another early lead, I'm expecting the same result. If you've got a spare $10, put it on the Kiwis, it's worth the price.

Footnote: For some reason, before last weekend's test I had a "gut" feeling the Kiwis would do well, maybe even win the game. Certainly at $1.10, the Kangaroos were too short and I didn't mind having a little flutter at such odds. I try and work out reasons for why I may be feeling such a way, but have come to the conclusion it is my subconscious trying to tell me something that the conscious can't work out. The answer hit me today when reading the following quote from All Black coach Graham Henry:

"If guys have 4-5 weeks off, it takes a game or two to come back. That's natural," he said.

Ahhh, the penny dropped. Earlier this year, I was convinced the All Blacks would lose the first tri-nations game against South Africa because (a) it was in South Africa and (b) most of the All Blacks had had a month off. They would be rusty, and so it proved. It was the same last weekend; if you go through the team lists it was the Kiwis who had more players involved in the final stages of the NRL season and if anyone was going to put in a sub-par performance due to lack of game time, it would be the Kangaroos. A lesson I won't forget in a hurry - be very wary of sporting teams who may be short of game time; there is a greater chance of their performance not being up to scratch, and that sometimes can be the difference between winning and losing.