Deans gets ARU backing before crucial year

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Defence ... ARU chairman Michael Hawker has backed Robbie Deans ahead of a make-or-break year. Source:AAP

Australian Rugby Union chairman Michael Hawker has made a passionate defence of the Wallabies' season ahead of a make-or-break year for coach Robbie Deans.

Deans may struggle to push beyond his contract, which finishes in 2013, following a season in which the Wallabies dropped from second to third in the world rankings and played a brand of rugby which delivered just 15 tries in 15 games.

Hawker admitted 2013 shaped as a significant year for Deans and the Wallabies, with the three-Test British and Irish Lions' tour of Australia the biggest indicator of success in the coming 12 months.

"I think for coaches every year is make or break,'' Hawker said on Tuesday. "That's the nature of coaching. I don't think Robbie takes anything for granted.

"For us, I think everyone in the Australian public is pretty keen to win all the games. So is Robbie, and he'll do the best he can to do that. In the board's view we've got every chance of defeating the Lions next year ... Next year is a huge year.

"(The Lions tour) always creates a huge wave of anticipation in this country, seeing the best of the northern hemisphere come here. We're pretty keen to try and thump them.''

Despite the Wallabies' dour playing style, it hasn't hampered participation rates across the country, with the ARU announcing on Tuesday a fourth consecutive year of growth - with player numbers totalling 323,115 in 2012.

Hawker said it was unfair to criticise the Wallabies simply on their record of nine wins, five losses and a draw - pointing to the unprecedented number of injuries which rocked the national team this year.

Playmakers Will Genia, Quade Cooper, James O'Connor and Kurtley Beale all missed significant portions of 2012, as did skipper James Horwill and world-class flanker David Pocock.

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"From the Australian Rugby Union, we're happy with where the Australian team is. We'd like to have less injuries and I think if we didn't have as many injuries we'd have been right up the top,'' Hawker said.

"You've got to put the Wallabies performance in context with how many injuries we've had. We've had 55 people play for the Wallabies this year, which is a pretty broad number of players, and so we've had an unusual level of injury rate.

"You look at some of the international teams (and) if you took Carter and Richie McCaw out in New Zealand you have a different proposition.''

So severe was the injury crisis Hawker revealed it had prompted an internal investigation, the result of which was a new process to handle injured players.

"We've actually just approved a better player management process between the Australian Rugby Union and the Super Rugby franchises to make sure that a player's welfare is managed right collectively across those two levels of the game,'' he said.

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Warne refuses to rule out Test return

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I could still do it ... Warne believes his form would hold up in Test cricket. Source:News Limited

Legendary spinner Shane Warne is adamant he's good enough to make a Test comeback, claiming he's bowling as well as he was when he retired in 2007.

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And although the 43-year-old says any talk of him returning in time for next year's Ashes is just hypothetical, he feels it could benefit Australia's next wave of spinners if it did happen.

The odds of Warne making a Test comeback remain slim.

But the 145-Test veteran hasn't closed the door completely on the prospect, saying he will give it some thought once the KFC T20 Big Bash League season has finished.

"I've been bowling as good as I have since I retired from international cricket, which was five or six years ago," Warne said in Perth on Tuesday ahead of Melbourne Stars' clash with Perth Scorchers.

"And if it gets to the serious stage about that stuff, there's obviously a process - grade cricket, state cricket, and then you've got to get selected, too.

"So there's a lot of things to happen before that even gets to a serious stage.

"At the moment I'm being asked, 'could I do it?'

"And I'm saying, 'Yeah, I have absolutely no doubt that I could because of the way I'm bowling'.

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"But whether it's going to happen or not is a completely hypothetical situation and a different chat.

"At the moment I'm just worried about the Stars and getting us on the winning ledger."

Scorchers spinner Brad Hogg, who at 41 years of age made a shock return to international T20 ranks earlier this year, felt the longer form of the game would be a bridge too far for older players.

"I'm 41, Warney's 43. You might get through the first day. But if you had to come back a second day and bowl for a session and a half, that's where the older blokes would struggle," Hogg said.

Although some people would view a Warne return as a backward step for Australian cricket, the leg-spinner said it could also have some crucial benefits.

"It might be a short-term thing where you work with a few of the younger spinners and take them with you and work with them all and see how it goes," Warne said.

Warne made a disastrous start to this summer's T20 competition, returning figures of 0-41 from just two overs in the Stars' eight-wicket loss to Melbourne Renegades.

Although he was disappointed with his return, Warne said the hit-and-miss nature of T20 cricket meant it was inevitable for bowlers to have a bad day out every now and then.

The Stars welcome back all-rounder Glenn Maxwell into their line-up, while Scorchers batsman Marcus North will replace the injured Shaun Marsh (hamstring).

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Stoner edges closer to V8s

Switch ... Stoner impressed at a track day in a Holden Commodore. Source: Edge / Supplied

Former MotoGP world champion Casey Stoner has moved another step closer to a career in V8 Supercars, impressing during a test day at Queensland Raceway today.

The two-time MotoGP world champion, who retired from the sport at the end of this year's campaign, drove Jamie Whincup's Holden Commodore at the test day with Triple Eight Race Engineering.

With Whincup's veteran teammate Craig Lowndes offering advice, Stoner did well during the hit-out.

Speculation continues to build the 27-year-old will race with the team in the minor-category Dunlop Series next year.

"He's doing a great job at the moment and has acquitted himself well,'' team manager Adrian Burgess told motorsport website Speedcafe.com.

"We're going through a range of spring changes, bar adjustments and letting him feel what a real V8 Supercar is like with a proper engine.''

Burgess said Stoner was down to a lap time of one minute and 11 seconds by the end of his third run on the 3.12km track, around two seconds behind the fastest times in qualifying for this year's V8 Supercars race in Ipswich.

It's the second time Stoner has driven a V8 Supercar but Burgess said no decision on Stoner's future has been made.

"Prior to today, he's only driven our ride car," Burgess said.

"This is the opportunity to drive the race car.

"Once today is over, he can go home and make a balanced, educated assessment of where he's at and if he wants to do a deal."

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Gibbo farewells The Back Page

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Over and out ... Gibson (R) hosted The Back Page with aplomb for 16 years. Source:News Limited

Veteran sports journalist Mike Gibson has called time on his stint as host of The Back Page after 16 years and 720 episodes.

The multi-award winning journalist, television and radio personality began hosting The Back Page on Fox Sports in 1997 when the program premiered, and has missed just one episode in 16 years.

Throughout his years as host Gibson has delivered his keen knowledge of sport with the home-spun philosophy of a fan who loves the game and wants to share his passion with other fans, forging an enduring rapport with his regular sidekick, "The Twelfth Man" Billy Birmingham.

"I've only ever missed one show and it was because of a crook back. I couldn't straighten up and would have had to host the show from the floor," Gibson said after his final show on Tuesday night.

"What I love about the show is that it is one of the few sports shows in the country that covers all sports. People have come up to me in restaurants and coffee shops and told me The Back Page is part of their life, part of their weekly routine, which is a great compliment."

Whilst admitting it was too difficult to pinpoint his favourite interview or moment over his 16 years on the show, Gibson said he relished the opportunity to work alongside Birmingham.

"Billy is an absolute genius," he said.

"I will always remember some of the legendary exchanges between Peter Fitzsimons and the late Peter Frilingos in the early years, it was very funny stuff.

"Aussies treat sport seriously, but you've got to remember it's not World War III. We've looked at sport as a whole lot of fun.

"For a little show that I thought might last a couple of years, I've got to say, it's been a heck of a ride."

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Evans lights up at record attempt

Record ... Cadel Evans has attempted a record by helping to light a Christmas tree with bikes. Source: Tracey Nearmy / AAP

Cadel Evans began the day with drug testers knocking on his door at 6am, continued on to a three-and-a-half hour 110km bike ride and ended with a world record attempt to generate human-powered renewable energy to light up a Christmas tree.

The 2011 Tour de France winner reckons he has just about shaken off an illness that's been bugging him all year and is getting stronger for his attempt to win a second Tour in 2013.

"So far I'm feeling nearly normal again after feeling absolutely exhausted for the best part of the last 10 months,'' he said.

Evans was speaking up for renewable energy on Tuesday for the attempt at Federation Square, which featured 120 specially-prepared bikes fitted with generators. He said anyone who knows cycling knows he had an average year in 2012 due to health issues.

That's when he finished seventh in the Tour, with only two Australians before him having managed a top 10 place.

When asked how he planned to win another Tour, Evans replied: "It's pretty simple. Just be a little bit faster than everyone else.''

Evans said he will start racing again in February or March as he regains his fitness. He said in next year's Tour there will be more uphill finishes, that will suit him, with less distances to cover in the time trials.

"It will be much more interesting with lots of tricky and narrow roads in Corsica - we like those,'' Evans said.

He believes this year's winning team, Sky, led by Tour de France winner Bradley Wiggins, will have stiff competition in 2013.

"They made the team for the course and it was like the course was made for the team,'' Evans said. "They prepared very carefully and got the results they deserved.

"But there will be a few more people in the mix, myself included, who will unsettle a few things.''

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More arrests over linesman's death

Horror ... Dutch club SC Buitenboys fly the flag half mast following the death of a linesman. Source: Robin van Lonkhijsen / AFP

Dutch police have arrested three more teenagers and a man in connection with the shock death of a linesman last week who was assaulted after a football match, bringing the total number of suspects to eight.

"Police early this morning arrested four more suspects in Amsterdam in connection with the death of Richard Nieuwenhuizen," spokesman Thomas Aling told AFP.

"Public prosecutors are to release a statement later today (Tuesday) on when they will first appear before a judge," he said.

Two 16-year-olds, a 17-year-old and a man aged 50 were arrested, Aling added.

All four are connected to, or are members of the Nieuw Sloten football club, who played against Nieuwenhuizen's Buitenboys Club in Almere, just west of Amsterdam when the December 2 beating happened.

Nieuwenhuizen, 41, officiated as linesman in the match in which his own son played and was attacked shortly after the final whistle by members of the Nieuw Sloten club.

He was allegedly kicked several times in the head but got up and went home.

He became ill a few hours later and died the following day in hospital with his family at his side.

Before Tuesday's arrests, four players were detained last week in connection with the assault that has shocked the football-mad Netherlands, where some 1.2 million people out of a population of 16.5 million are members of national football federation KNVB.

On Sunday, thousands of people turned out for a silent march in Almere to pay their final tributes to Nieuwenhuizen, who was cremated at another solemn service on Monday.

The teens, who are being held at an undisclosed youth detention centre face manslaughter, assault and public violence charges.

Twenty detectives are investigating the case and more arrests could be made, Dutch police said on its website.

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