Fri Fix: "who would be a coach?" the footy rollercoaster takes shape

0:00ABC Listen, podcasts, radio, news, music and more. Who would be a coach, eh? Who wants to do this? Seriously, you've got to be a man. Carlson Coach, Michael Voss, with the quiet part out loud after the Navy Blues clung on to beat lowly Richmond. Who'd be a coach? This was disaster aversion, plain and simple. We're hitting that story in just a moment as well as the best of the round ahead. In the NRL Brisbane's forecast, dynasty is off to a slow start. The Bronx slump to zero. Too paramatta. Their fans are delirious. History awaits for Alex Johnson as his bunnies prepare for an especially spicy grudge match with the Chooks. Nick Campton pulls it all apart and Patrick Stactus is ABC Sport Daily. Corbin Minimass calls AFL for ABC Sport. He's also part of the ABC AFL Daily podcast. Corb after beating Richmond, Carlton Coach, Michael Voss, talked about his club being targeted during the week. When the Navy Blues didn't kick a goal for 54 minutes against the Tigers,

1:00as their opposition whittled away their lead. Just how intense was the scrutiny looking for the week ahead at that point? It feels like so early in the season that that would be overstating. And yet it's not with the backdrop of the previous seven days that Carlton experienced. I mean, they had played one game of 40 and yet it was as hot as it was at any other club last week. 18s hadn't even started. Their 2026 campaign and already the pressure was on Michael Voss, it was on Graeme Wright, on the Blues as to what this year is going to amount to. And it's such an unusual situation for Carlton, where they've essentially gone, you know, felt narrowly short of making the finals a couple of years ago, following yearmaker run to a prelim, year after that regression out in the elimination final. And then last year clearly underwhelming, not qualifying for the finals at all. And so in the off season, they get rid of a number of senior players. They clearly get some kids in, many reset button. And yet the backdrop of it, which is unavoidable, is the fact that Michael Voss is off contract at season's end. So he is coaching for wins and losses right now. And if you have a bad second half fade out on opening night,

2:01which, you know, really they experienced a whole lot in 2025. And then it repeats on you on opening night and repeats again in your second game of the season. This time, the Tigers' cheer squad bounce to their feet and the game is still live. Carlton lead by four points. And all of a sudden there's a whole lot of pressure that comes with that. The amazing sort of small margins of sport that in the end, they got the four points they needed. They held on to win by four points. They had their nose in front all night. And in the end, that's going to make the world of difference between, you know, what the next 16 days is going to look like. They've got a bike coming up in round two. And it just keeps the walls from the door a little bit longer for Carlton and Michael Voss. Friday night for the Hawthorne Essner. This has kind of been framed by two things. Zach Merritt's failed defection. And the random drug paraphernalia slash boozy night out for Hawkes, Connor McDonald and Dylan Moore. I just wonder, is any of it going to matter when we get going on Friday night? I think in a in a weird way, Zach Merritt will be a little bit relieved that all of a sudden there's a least a spotlight being shown in a different direction,

3:02because otherwise all eyes would be on him. You know, he will have the line share of the attention when the game starts tonight for obvious reasons. I know there's been a lot of talk about how he's going to be received. I actually think it could be the most sort of bipartisan support that we see for a player at the MCJ. I mean, the beauty of watching games at the G is you've often got great representation in a 100,000 seat stadium of, you know, two powerful Melbourne clubs. I can't understand why Hawthorne would go in. I mean, he wanted to play for them. So I could see the Hawkes fan sort of ironically cheering him tonight. And like I was from an excellent point of view, I feel like they'll rally around him. He's one of their own in a six time best and fairest winner and so on and so forth. So I don't think you'll get a gig. I think you've anything that there's going to be an enormous cheer for him when he gets the 40. And in terms of the Hawthorne matter, I just think this is a classic case of, you know, that the cover-ups worse than the crime. They wanted to hope that they could, you know, sweep it under the rug and no one would notice. It was inevitably always going to get out. And instead of dealing with this in the middle of summer when people had their attention focused elsewhere, whether it's on the tennis or the test matches or so on. And instead, here we are, you know, between games for the Hawkes

4:02having lost their first up in Canada, trying to clean up their mess from from last October November. There are juicy games all Saturday. Giants, V Bulldogs, free amount of age, a long, reigning Premier's Brisbane heading to Sydney. I'm drawn to Colin Wood hosting Adelaide at the MCG Saturday night. The Isaac Rankin, Isaac Quayna, a homophobic slur story has kind of barely been mentioned this week. It was probably the biggest story of the entire 2025 season. Is any of that going to inform what we see on Saturday night between these two massive clubs? Well, I think the Adelaide supporters had a pretty big role to play in that, which was a pretty ugly episode last September. So the fact that this game's at the MCG, I hope we say less of it. The other thing is in terms of the fact that this got dragged into you sort of sporting, you know, pantomime heroes and villains for something that is quite a serious issue in the community. And particularly in the Australian football fraternity that has had an issue historically with with homophobia. I think it will help significantly.

5:02The fact that, you know, Rankin's not playing. He's still suspended. It's in front of the Colin Wood crowd. And so they're going to clearly cheer Isaac Quayna, who was somehow, you know, dragged into this whole scenario or someone who was really just the victim of a homophobic slur and really not the offended party in the same way that other sections of the community were. So, yeah, hopefully that story sort of stays in the past. I mean, the other thing is these games have been tremendous games at the 40 in recent times. As much as it's been a series of close run things. Colin Wood more often than not have come out on top. So Adelaide need to get their game up in these fixtures. I think they've only beaten them once in something like their last 10 or 11 encounters. And September is sweeping season. The rate of Adelaide complete. The home pre-limbs secured for the September club. The pies are in the bottle there. And particularly here at the MCG, where they've been close on a number of occasions, but haven't been able to get it down. And they won't be held by the fact not just Rankin's absence. You know, Keynes hurt in the preseason. Curtin's hurting the preseason.

6:02So I think a lot of people had Adelaide as a preseason slider. The other team that people had as a preseason slider was the magpies. And they were able to take care of business last week against the Saints. So you got one team trying to keep the ball rolling. And the Crow is obviously trying to prove a few of the preseason pundits wrong. Corp, thanks for your time. I appreciate it. Anytime. Thanks, Second. The ABC's lead NRL writer Nick Campton is here to talk all about rugby league. It's a big, big result overnight in the Broncos eels clash, Campo. And I want to know, is it bigger for Brisbane because they slide to Zip Tsu? Or is it more significant for para fans because they just beat the reigning premieres in Brisbane? My gut feels tacky is that it's a little bit bigger for Brisbane kind of because of what's to come. I don't think anyone is surprised to see Brisbane have periods in matches where they make mistakes or where they may be a little bit off the boil. That happened in all three of their great finals wins last year. That's just kind of a part of the experience of this Brisbane side. But all of a sudden, you know,

7:02the start of the season, Owen 2, next week they're going down to play Melbourne in Melbourne, which has never been a happy hunting ground for them. So Owen 3 is a distinct possibility and with how tight the competition is this year, it doesn't take much more than that for things to start getting really scary, really quickly. And the other reason I think it's a bit of a bigger thing for Brisbane is because Brisbane had this game, saying they had it by the scruff of the neck is not enough. You know, it felt like in the first 20 minutes they could do absolutely whatever they wanted. 28 metres out, played to pace, given right for Carrigan. He puts half through a hole and big pain, strolls into the in-goal area at the southern end. The 1-2 punch like you've never seen it. And then they just weren't able to sustain that through the match. Now, some of that is through paramatter, sort of sharpening up in place, and really good attacking footies themselves. But some of the defensive signs of Brisbane I thought were really poor. The Broncos are defending at the Milton Road end. The Silver Sweeps, the Pass left,

8:03Pizzett, Dummies, or Kicks looking for Ado Carr. It's into the in-goal area, and almost over the touch, a little bit rustle, picks it up and plants it on the line. I think that's a try for paramatter. Some of the guys who played so well for them last year felt as like, Gahemashir is saki in particular. They just looked really, really vulnerable. So there's two schools of thought, like, you know, maybe Brisbane just can't quite get that lightning in a bottle stuff that they found at the back end of last year. Maybe it's just a sluggish start to the season because they had so many blocks play rep-footies so they were slower getting back into pre-season training. I'm not sure. You know, after last year, I don't know if we can ever write Brisbane off completely, but certainly a very disappointing start through two weeks. Rooster's Bunnies Friday night. I'm loving the new layers to a old rivalry here. Potential pitch invasion to celebrate Alex Johnson, breaking the all-time tri-scoring record. Angus Criton in game 200, Rooster Billy Smith crashing his e-bike and missing the game for a concussion. What? Bunnie David for feeder, facing the team he knocked back when he was at the Titans.

9:05Which of all of those interests you most? I think it's got to be the Alex Johnson all-time tri-scoring chase because we can have great games between the Roosters and the Ravados every single year. It's always going to be one of the most compelling rivalries in the sport. Johnson breaking the tri-scoring record. I'm not sure if fans have really grasped the historic stakes of this occasion. The tri-scoring record was last broken in 1969 by North Sydney legend Ken Irvine, in a game that is as close to the sinking of the Titanic as it is to today. Wayne Bennett, who is 75 years old, was still a teenager. The last time the tri-scoring record was set. It's only been set twice in the last 102 years. This is a real where-where-you-what-where-you-doing-type moment. I understand why the NRL and the Bunnies have to come out and say they're against the pitch invasion. I think anyone who remembers the scenes and the emotion around the Lance Franklin pitch invasion when he kicked his thousandth goal a couple of years ago, that is an indicator of how special a moment like this can be.

10:07Johnson doesn't have the profile of a Buddy Franklin and maybe that's why casual fans aren't quite as invested in the record, but it's a momentous moment in the history of the sport in this country. I just really hope that gets some culture. I really hope that that lands. It takes a lot to drown out the noise of a Rooster's Ravado's game, but Johnson going for the all-time tri-scoring record is one of those rare occasions where I think it should happen. Every year we hope it might be a bit different for West's Tigers and to see Benji Marshall's impassioned takedown of his players or address to his players in recent weeks. In order for us to win this year, we need the blokes in this room and their **** in this. It kind of underlined the everlasting hope that maybe this year will be different for this particular set of supporters. They take on the cowboys in their season opener. It's 2026 going to be different campfire. God bless the Tigers fans in your life. You know, because they've had a very, very rough time.

11:07You can see the charisma that made him the New Zealand test capping. He sort of said the time for talking is done, and I think he's right. I need you to address, to help drive all the things with your teams tomorrow, that I don't have to step in and say, so tell you we're trying our hardest as coaches and staff. I'm not to step in and correct what you're doing. The start of a new season, hope springs eternal. Tigers fans, they're a resilient lot. They always come back for more. How many times have we been here and then things fell flat or they have a bad start to the year and they can't quite get it back in that long final straight out continues? I agree with Benji Marshall and that the time for talk is done. This is a quite a well-rounded West Tigers squad. I really like what they got going on on the left side with Samuel Affiner, Jerome Luai and the young Prince Hamassi Makacini. They're playing a cowboy side who are always dangerous because they can always score points. They're going to get the light cut boost. The game was sold out by Wednesday or Thursday. You're not going to get many better chances for a good start.

12:09Cracking games all weekend. Live commercial free coverage on ABC Listen. A quick note on podcast apps because they're always evolving. So to make sure that our new episodes keep showing up in your feet, make sure you add us to your playlist. And you can do that by tapping the little follow or plus sign button. You'll see on the show in most platforms. Hey, you don't want to miss an app do you? Time for sound bites. Team Italy has made it out of the group stages of the World Baseball Classic with a win over Mexico. In doing that, they helped Team USA through as well. And a very, very caffeinated Italian captain, Vinnie Pasquantino. Made sure they knew all about it in his post game interview. That was unbelievable, huh? You're welcome, USA. We were thinking of you guys over at your hotel. We were thinking of you guys. So I'm glad you guys could join us in the party. The Matilda's will be without Hayley Raso and Steph Catley and their quarter final matchup with North Korea. Don't worry, Joe Montemoreau, the coach. He has a not so secret plan.

13:11It's San Kurt playing a lift back tomorrow. He's coming up. I'll go and tell you. And another polvo world record to Mondo de planters. He once again broke his own world record by one sentiment. Here he goes, de planters. Can he do it? And he does it. He sets a new world record. Amazing stuff from de planters in front of his home crowd. A new world record in the polvo. The record now stands at 6.31. Who knows how high he can go. But I suspect he's going to be doing it a centimeter at a time. I'm Patrick Stack. This is ABC Sport Daily Produced by Poppy Penny. Thanks to draft sports, Fox Sports US, and Eurovision's sport for the extra audio used in this episode.