WHAT THEY SAID

Ricky Stuart, after his Kangaroos lost the World Cup final at unbackable odds, to the assembled journalists: "I know some of you didn't believe me, but you only have to have one off game and you've lost. Show some journalistic skill and promote New Zealand, they were better than us tonight."

Stuart, allegedly, the morning after, to World Cup final referee Ashley Klein: "You're the c--- who cost us the World Cup." Surprisingly poor form for Stuart and, if true, not excusable.

Matthew Hayden on his favourite sledge: "I remember once batting just after I released a cookbook and being in a pretty dark mood after I got out. Someone yelled out, 'Hey, Hayden, you're overrated … and your chicken casserole tastes like s---'."

Stuart Appleby comes good with a sledge of his own on John Daly: "He's a walking train wreck and unfortunately, people turn their heads to watch a train wreck."

Respected cricket commentator Robert Craddock on the Andrew Symonds situation: "Why is it that Mark and Steve Waugh could spend about 35 years collectively on tour and not become involved in one bar-room incident, yet Symonds gets into trouble almost as a matter of course?"

Gary Ablett giving advice to Ben Cousins, which, as it happens, is also on the money for Symonds: "He will have to make adjustments off the ground in terms of the company he keeps. You become who you mix with. You have to avoid temptation, so a starting point is not going to places where you know that temptation exists."

The one and only Robert Allenby, who is not Stuart Appleby and don't you forget it, on his work with mental coach Peter Crone: "He's not a sports psychologist, he's a mind guru. He goes back to your childhood, the fears you had when you were a child. Some people haven't talked about that … things like whether they got picked on in school. That's where it stems from."

Arthur Morris, who opened with Bradman, on whether he'd watch the Twenty20 game last week: "Well I might, but not if it clashes with The Bold And The Beautiful …"

Nick Green, the new Australian Olympic team chef de mission, recalls carrying the Olympic flag into Sydney's Olympic stadium, packed with 120,000 people with another four billion watching on TV: "I remember thinking, 'How bloody good is this Olympic movement. This is bloody fantastic and I want to surround myself with this for the rest of my life'."

This bloke can't help himself. Matthew Hayden: "My commitment to the game hasn't changed, and more than anything if I can say what I'm proud of, that would be it - Matthew Hayden in 1991 worked as hard as he works in 2008." PLEASE!

Cadel Evans on his inspiration: "I first came across Tintin in my school library, and I got right into it … They're the best books for kids. Tintin is the best role model: he's brave, he's good, he helps the weak, he's perfect. There are so many countries I want to go to just because he went there." Fantastic.


the rest here....