Mark, we fancy you as the Messiah. Don’t be a naughty boy

Mark Nawaqanitawase? Bring it in tight. It’s about your carry-on, about whether you will or won’t – and you do or don’t – want to play for the Wallabies.

Mate, you’re about as good a winger as we’ve seen. You do things we’ve never witnessed done on the football field. If you don’t play for the Wallabies next year, you’ll be missed.

But when the news came through that you were coming back to rugby, it never occurred to any of us that you wouldn’t be desperate to turn out for Australia? (#FFS!)

And that is why, like most, I dismissed out of hand the notion that you might turn out for Italy or Fiji instead, as had been floated. I wrote as much to you last week in this column. I said, love, I said pet, I said, look: “If you don’t turn up, Mark Nawaqanitawase, well, don’t get us started. We choose to believe this malarkey about you playing for another country next year is managerial manoeuvring. If so, stop him. He’s embarrassing you.”

But now the news this week.

It wasn’t the manager, and you dinkum are prevaricating.

“I still have more to prove. I don’t know where that’s going to be, but wherever I go, I feel like I have a lot to give the team,” you said on The Good, The Bad & The Rugby podcast. “Whoever it’s for, I want to go and win it. I don’t know who it will be for, but time will tell.”

Yes, mate. Because Gawd knows, you are a much better chance of winning the World Cup with Fiji or Italy than you are with the Wallabies, for whom you’ve already played – as well as having already had the honour of representing Australia at the Paris Olympic Games in Sevens rugby. You’ve also had the honour of representing the Kangaroos in rugby league.

But now you’re not even sure you want to turn out for Australia? Hang on, aren’t you the same bloke who, since playing so superbly for the Roosters, has made it clear that you feel tremendous loyalty to them and will likely make your way back to Moore Park? Great. But can’t Australia itself get some of that loyalty? You know, the country where you were born and raised? The country where you learned and then polished your fabulous skills?

Has the NRL and all the adulation – all of it deserved, I not only concede, but have contributed to – turned your head? What happened to the humble hard worker who was so delighted to be in the green and gold of the Wallabies you could hardly raise spit? That’s the way they remember you. Where’s that bloke?

You think it’s OK to publicly muse on just which of the many nations who want your services you might deign to turn out for?

It’s not.

We fancy you as the Messiah. It will be deeply disappointing if you turn out just to be a naughty boy. But at least the Wallabies do not lack for great wingers who’d crawl across cut glass to wear the jersey.

All Blacks emotional tribute for Wallaby

The scene was set in the Wallabies dressing room after the Bledisloe Cup Test last Saturday.

Among the honoured guests allowed in is Nathan Charles, the Wallaby hooker from a decade ago who had overcome cystic fibrosis to wear the national colours, only to be recently diagnosed with the even more grave Motor Neuron Disease – the same condition afflicting Jai Arrow.

But what now?

Suddenly, the door opens, unbidden, and black jerseys are sighted. A lot of them. It is the victorious All Blacks, with one thing on their minds. They are warriors wanting to honour a fellow warrior, one whom their forebears have fought, but who is facing the fight of his life.

They form around All Blacks captain Codie Taylor, facing Charles – who had no idea that this was coming – and the skipper speaks movingly about how much respect they have for him, for the courage and dignity he has displayed in the face of it all, and how much they wish him strength.

And now he pauses.

And crouches.

Around him, all the All Blacks do the same. Codie cries out.

Ka mate! Ka mate!
Ka ora! Ka ora!

All the others join in. Fists fly forward, thighs are pounded, chests are beaten, the cry in perfect unison goes on. A full-blown Haka is under way, in honour of one man. Nathan Charles.

Ka mate! Ka mate!
Ka ora! Ka ora!

Nathan stands and receives, humbled by the honour being done him.

Tēnei te tangata pūhuruhuru Nāna nei i tiki mai whakawhiti te rā!

When it is over, the All Blacks line up and file forward to embrace him. How did it all make you feel, Nathan?

“It was the most emotionally charged thing that I’ve been a part of,” he tells me softly. “I could see, particularly in Codie Taylor, the emotions that were coming through, and the show of respect was just incredible. How it made me feel is hard to put into words, but if I’m doing my best, it actually made me feel loved. It’s just very surreal. I’m still taking it all in.”

Bravo All Blacks, and on behalf of the Australian rugby community, thank you.

Olympians rowing down memory lane

As if you didn’t know. It’s been a ripper year for Australian Rowing Team. The ‘Rowsellas’ – geddit? – are rebounding from the Paris 2024 Olympics, where they only managed a bronze in the women’s pair.

This year the team has won medals on every front: from their senior, Para Rowing and ‘Australia A’ teams at the worlds cups and world championships, to their under 19 and 23 world title teams. LA 2028, here they come. Meantime though, the sport is also looking back 50 years.

Next Sunday, the Sydney Rowing Club at Abbotsford will hold a reunion featuring its 1976 Olympics Australian rowing team. Champions such as Islay Lee, Ian Clubb, Gary Ubergang, Rob Paver, Chris Shinners and Ted Hale, will attend, as will Olympic luminary John Coates who was their manager.

The day starts at 9am when the 1976 Olympians get back into their boats and row down memory lane, along with Olympians from the succeeding generations who followed in their illustrious wake. Noice.

What they said

Wallaby great Matt Giteau on Mark Nawaqanitawase’s prevarications about who he’ll play for in next year’s World Cup: “I want the people that want to play for the Wallabies to play for the Wallabies. If you don’t, then go somewhere else.” Precisely.

Former Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag on Cristiano Ronaldo being lazy and undermining his authority: “He let the team down, and he let me down, because we planned with him.” You know what, Erik? I reckon he let HIMSELF down.

Brad Fittler on Paul Gallen, jocularly, on Nine’s Today show: “He’s the Prince Harry of rugby league. He’ll do anything to get on TV.”

Greens MP Kobi Shetty on Wentworth Park dogs closing down: “We are here to say good riddance to greyhound racing in the city. We want to see greyhound racing shut down for good, so this is a step in the right direction.”

Caulfield Cup stewards after Ohope Wins was put down: “The mare was immediately attended to by the veterinary team, however, she was unable to be saved due to the nature of the injury sustained.” A shot in the dark? Nuh. In the daylight, behind a curtain, and just another day in horse-racing.

Paul George is dismissive despite scoring the most points on debut by a Boston Celtic – 38 – because the team still lost: “I’m not a moral victory guy. It means nothing.”

Former British Open champion Louis Oosthuizen is set to become the latest player to leave LIV Golf: “I loved LIV and the team aspect, but it’s time to move on.” Dinkum, are you surprised there’s anything still standing left to leave? I am.

Ukrainian tennis star Elina Svitolina has announced the end of her marriage with former French tennis player Gaël Monfils: “What I have rarely spoken about is what the Ukraine war has done to me inside. With time, I came to understand that I need to find my way back to myself and that I cannot do that within our marriage … Gaël listened. He has respected what I need with a strength and grace I will never forget.”

Ben Simmons after injuring his Achilles: “I’ve faced challenges before that tested me mentally, physically, and emotionally, and I’ve found a way through every single one of them. This injury is another chapter in my journey, not the end of my story.” Fair enough, but it’d be a brave NBA club that would commit a dollar to him now.

Paris Saint-Germain manager Luis Enrique on the riots in the French capital: “I’m not the right person to speak about this topic. I’m here to speak about football. For sure we don’t like this violence but that is how it is in society. So we just need to stay focused on the football match.”

Wallaroos captain Palu Sekona on beating Scotland 56-12: “We don’t want to only be the better versions of ourselves. We want to be the best in the world.”

Wallabies skipper Harry Wilson on another loss to the All Blacks: “I’m gutted. When you give a team like the All Blacks a head start, it’s tough and it’s not good enough in this group. We’ve got to be a lot better.”

Dave Rennie looking back on his time with the Wallabies: “It’s an area I’ve been really good at wherever I’ve been. But I found it really difficult here. And so that probably led to the situation at the end. But, again, that’s a little bit to do with the lack of alignment, too. We didn’t necessarily share the same values.”

PNG Chiefs coach Willie Peters: “I don’t want to sit here and say we’ll win the competition in the first year, but are we going to strive to do that? Absolutely.”

Team of the week

All Blacks. The Bledisloe Cup drought for the Wallabies is at 24 years and counting, after the Kiwis swept the series 2-0.

Milwaukee Brewers and Tampa Bay Rays. First World Series since 1980 where both teams are looking for their first title.

Ohope Wins. The racehorse was euthanised after its fall in the Caulfield Cup. Brutal.

Marnus Labuschagne. He was great at his best, but after another batting failure in South Africa, his time is probably up.

Emily Chancellor, Cecilia Smith, Eva Karpani. The first two are retiring from the Wallaroos after Saturday’s third Test against Scotland, bringing to a close wonderful representative rugby careers. The third earns her 50th Test cap, only the second ever Wallaroo to do so.

Rugby League “World Cup”. There are unconfirmed reports that it is going on as we speak, but I am not sure. Will follow up.

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