Well darn it, Lleyton Hewitt didn't win the Australian Open, but he sure did give it a good crack! Marat Safin simply played better, and he is a gracious drop-dead handsome winner! Congratulations to both of them on a fine tournament.

Justin Harrison has reportedly been offered a whopping $2m three year deal by Irish club Ulster. Noooooooo, don't go! Of course, that's entirely selfish of me to say, I've just always had a soft spot for the gigantic lock. He's been playing fine rugby and is an asset to Australia's forwards.

On another note, I am told that the QRU are no longer selling general admission tickets for kids, they have to be seated in a grandstand because the Hill areas are licensed and so children are not allowed in. That's one of those things that makes me go hmmmmmm.....

While I'm on the topic of tickets, one things really stuck in my craw last year during the world cup and when I was buying tickets for the Australia / England clash in Brisbane last June. You can only purchase up to 4 tickets in the one go. While I know that the logic behind the limit is sound, it poses a constant dilemma for families of more than four. You either leave one of the family out, unpopular choice, or get two lots of tickets and end up sitting nowhere near each other. Yeah that's fun... not! It's also kind of annoying when both parents are coaches and the kids play rugby - you like to sit with them to talk about different plays etc during a game, and you also like to sit with another coach for the same reasons.

Anyway, that's just an issue that I would like to see the ARU address.

Other Super 12 warm up news - the Stormers had an easy win over Boland in their pre-season friendly last Friday night winning 43-15

The Cats are having injury troubles before the season has even started - You can read more about that here.

Meanwhile over in the Shaky Isles, the Hurricanes have joined forces with the NZ Red Cross to help them out with fund raising and other benefit activities throughout the season. Nice going guys!

Signing off!