When Burgess runs, tries follow

Hands up if you want to beat the Roosters: George Burgess at training on Tuesday. Photo: Anthony Johnson A Burgess hit-up closely followed by a Rabbitohs try: Souths v Brisbane (round 8)

It’s the statistic that will have opposition teams on red alert when George Burgess carries the ball in the finals series.

South Sydney have scored a staggering 20 per cent of their tries off the back of Burgess play-the-balls in the 21 games the Englishman has played this season.

The Rabbitohs have scored following a barnstorming Burgess run on 17 occasions this year, taking advantage of the damage the 120-kilogram prop inflicts on the defensive line. His giant frame and strength often attracts three or four defenders in a tackle, yet the 21-year-old still manages to get a quick play-the-ball.

But his impact goes beyond providing for his teammates, having crossed for seven tries of his own already this year.

Former Test star Petero Civoniceva, one of the greatest props of the modern era, believes Burgess is destined for greatness.

”That impact he’s able to have through the momentum he builds is incredible,” Civoniceva said.

”The great thing I love about him is when he busts through the line he’s carrying three or four defenders. Then the South Sydney halves are able to capitalise on that because he has sucked in so many defenders. The ferocity of his runs takes so many defenders at a time to stop the big fellow. No doubt there’d be some team structure in targeting where his runs are aimed at. That’s just very smart coaching. But George is very aware of how dangerous he is and how effective he is and Souths are certainly capitalising on it.

”It’s been awesome watching what he has been able to bring to that South Sydney pack – as if they weren’t dangerous enough – but you add him to the mix and you have a great pack. He’s certainly stamped his authority in that team, and even though it’s his first real season, he certainly hasn’t looked out of place.”

Burgess’s ability to attract a large number of defenders has isolated opposition players and given his side an overlap on several plays this year. However the player who has reaped the most benefit from having him in the side is Issac Luke, by far the best running hooker in the game.

”As soon as he spots a marker down or players late back in the defensive line, he’s always going to run,” Civoniceva said. ”That’s just one of his great attributes – his awareness to go at the defensive line when he does spot a weakness. I think playing on the back of big George certainly brings him into the game a bit more.”

Burgess has made a habit of crossing the white line this year, to the dismay of Civoniceva. ”We’re going to have to have a chat with the front-rowers union about deregistering him because front-rowers aren’t supposed to score like that,” Civoniceva said. ”He’s embarrassing us all.”

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Tigers, Blues miss All-Australian nod

Richmond’s Brandon Ellis Photo: Sebastian Costanzo Richmond’s Brett Deledio battles with Carlton’s Jarrad Waite. No Tigers have been chosen for the All-Australian squad. Photo: Sebastian Costanzo

All-Australian selector Cameron Ling says Richmond has every right to feel bemused after the club did not have a player picked in an extended 40-man squad.

Carlton and the Tigers will play in an elimination final on Sunday, but neither was declared worthy of having a selection in the blue-chip squad, which will be cut to 22 on September 16.

Tigers defender Alex Rance was considered the unluckiest non-selection by many, including former selector Gerard Healy, while Daniel Jackson, Brandon Ellis, Brett Deledio and Troy Chaplin also had claims.

Rance has had a strong season and has done particularly well curbing star forwards Jeremy Cameron and Lance Franklin.

Ling, the former Geelong premiership captain, said several Tigers had been discussed at length, while Western Bulldogs midfielder Tom Liberatore was also unlucky.

”Richmond fans have got every right to be a little bit bemused as to why they don’t have any players in there,” he said on 3AW.

”Again, we spoke a lot about a few Richmond players. Alex Rance, we spoke about him, but we felt, this is a credit to Richmond, they had a big group of players have really good, solid years without any of them being completely outstanding. They just didn’t rely on one or two having massive years. It probably cost them [selection in] the All-Australian team but it’s why they are sitting in the finals.”

Another All-Australian selector told Fairfax Media Rance had been a ”toss of the coin”, while Deledio had been ”half a chance”.

Kade Simpson, who has transformed himself into a reliable half-back, swingman Lachie Henderson and utility Andrew Walker had claims for the Blues.

But one selector questioned whether the Blues and Tigers had pushed the case of their players when given that opportunity by All-Australian secretary Scott Taylor. The squad was selected by Andrew Demetriou (chairman), Kevin Bartlett, Luke Darcy, Mark Evans, Danny Frawley, Glen Jakovich, Mark Ricciuto, Ling and Taylor.

While supporters will no doubt vent their frustration at the All-Australian selectors, the Blues and Tigers have bigger issues at stake.

Undaunted by its loss to Carlton just 18 days ago, Richmond is confident it has the formula to beat Mick Malthouse’s team and rejects suggestions the Blues are feared as a bogey team at Punt Road.

Richmond has lost 10 of its past 11 matches against the Blues, but Tigers coach Damien Hardwick says the significance has been overplayed, given four of the past five matches have been decided by 20 points or less (including a Tigers win in round one) and the relevance of any loss before that is questionable.

Not only is Hardwick unconcerned about the latest loss being so fresh in his players’ minds, he’s actually counting on it, for it was that defeat that acted as a timely ”kick up the backside” going into the club’s first final since 2001.

Hardwick said the coaches and players went through a searching review of their defensive attitude after the round-21 loss to Carlton.

Denied playing finals so many times by finishing ninth, the Tigers could be denied finals success by a team that, on merit, finished ninth.

But inside the club, Hardwick is dealing with what he can control, and that is ensuring his players bring the same mindset that has made Richmond the AFL’s third-best defensive unit – behind only Fremantle and Sydney this season. Just two years ago, Richmond was the third-worst defensive team.

”It was a good kick up the backside,” Hardwick said of the Carlton loss. ”Even though we kicked eight goals in that first quarter, defensively we were not to the standard we needed to be. It smoothed over a few cracks. Our record defensively has been pretty good since then.

”It’s an area we’ve improved enormously, not only in 12 months, but three to four years and we certainly look forward to taking that into an elimination final this week.”

ALL-AUSTRALIAN SQUAD

Patrick Dangerfield (Adelaide): All-Australian 2012.

Richard Douglas (Adelaide): Never previously selected.

Travis Cloke (Collingwood): All-Australian 2011.

Scott Pendlebury (Collingwood): All-Australian 2010, 2011, 2012.

Dane Swan (Collingwood): All-Australian 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012.

Jobe Watson (Essendon): All-Australian 2012.

Nathan Fyfe (Fremantle): Never previously selected.

Michael Johnson (Fremantle): Never previously selected.

Chris Mayne (Fremantle): Never previously selected.

David Mundy (Fremantle): Never previously selected.

Michael Walters (Fremantle): Never previously selected.

Corey Enright (Geelong): All-Australian 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011.

Andrew Mackie (Geelong): Never previously selected.

Steve Motlop (Geelong): Never previously selected.

Joel Selwood (Geelong): All-Australian 2009, 2010.

Harry Taylor (Geelong): All-Australian 2010.

Gary Ablett (Gold Coast): All-Australian 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 (vice-captain), 2011 (captain), 2012.

Jeremy Cameron (Greater Western Sydney): Never previously selected.

Lance Franklin (Hawthorn): All-Australian 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012.

Josh Gibson (Hawthorn): Never previously selected.

Luke Hodge (Hawthorn): All-Australian 2005, 2008, 2010 (captain).

Sam Mitchell (Hawthorn): All-Australian 2011.

Jarryd Roughead (Hawthorn): Never previously selected.

Todd Goldstein (North Melbourne): Never previously selected.

Lindsay Thomas (North Melbourne): Never previously selected.

Scott Thompson (North Melbourne): Never previously selected.

Daniel Wells (North Melbourne): Never previously selected.

Travis Boak (Port Adelaide): Never previously selected.

Chad Wingard (Port Adelaide): Never previously selected.

Nick Riewoldt (St Kilda): All-Australian 2004, 2006, 2008, 2009 (captain).

Jack Steven (St Kilda): Never previously selected.

Dan Hannebery (Sydney): Never previously selected.

Kieren Jack (Sydney): Never previously selected.

Josh Kennedy (Sydney): All-Australian 2012.

Jarrad McVeigh (Sydney): Never previously selected.

Nick Malceski (Sydney): Never previously selected.

Josh Kennedy (West Coast): Never previously selected.

Eric Mackenzie (West Coast): Never previously selected.

Ryan Griffen (Western Bulldogs): Never previously selected.

Will Minson (Western Bulldogs): Never previously selected.

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Environment court visits Camberwell

IN a Camberwell cemetery on Tuesday, with headstones as a backdrop, a Hunter woman told a Sydney court judge about coal and the death of towns.

Coal was ‘‘the thing we have loved, needed, prospered from, reviled and detested at times’’, former Singleton councillor Lyn MacBain told Land and Environment Justice Nicola Pain as the two women stood in the shade of a picnic shelter.

It was also the thing that has forced 40 families to leave Camberwell since 2004, leaving just four of the original families behind, Mrs MacBain said.

‘‘I have watched hardened men cry when they could no longer live with the impacts, and felt forced to leave land left to them by generations, and which they expected to pass on to the next,’’ she said.

Mrs MacBain was one of a number of residents who addressed Justice Pain in Camberwell on Tuesdayduring a Land and Environment Court appeal by the Hunter Environment Lobby against the Ashton Coal south-east open-cut mine proposal.

The appeal opened in Sydney on Monday, travelled to Camberwell on Tuesday, and will sit in Singleton court on Wednesday,where residents will be cross-examined by Ashton Coal about their objections to the mine extension.

In her 15-minute address in the grounds of St Clements Church and cemetery Mrs MacBain compared the destruction of Hunter mining towns to overseas examples of residents being forced to leave their homes.

‘‘Week after week we watch news reports showing governments forcing people from their homes. We empathise, we get angry, but right here we have family after family being forced from their homes by imposed circumstances,’’ she said.

‘‘It is the clearance of Scotland and Ireland without the physical brutality. Since 2004 more than 40 families just in the village area. Gone. And other villages. Ravensworth, gone. Warkworth, gone. And Camberwell, like Bulga and Jerrys Plains, is just hanging on.’’

Mrs MacBain described the Hunter Region as the ‘‘cash cow for the state’s coffers, whether it was sheep, cattle produce or coal’’.

‘‘Your Honour, I can give you all the names, dates and history. I can research and document any event and give it to you in hard copy. But what I can’t give you in hard copy or express adequately is the feelings of despair at the sense of loss of place this community, and parts of the wider community of Singleton, are feeling.

‘‘This place deserves better than it is getting from the state and federal governments and individual government departments.’’

Mrs MacBain told Justice Pain she was the wife of a miner and an asthmatic.

After the judge and lawyers for the Hunter Environment Lobby, Ashton Coal and Planning Minister Brad Hazzard left the cemetery to meet with Camberwell residents, Mrs MacBain spoke about the impact of extremely high dust levels on communities.

‘‘I’ve come out here and cried sometimes. Health-wise, I don’t know how long I’ll be able to continue. On some days when it’s really bad I can hardly breathe. On those days we’re told to shut all the windows and doors and stay inside.

‘‘That’s what people who don’t live here don’t realise. We’re constantly told about the importance of mining for the state, but we’re paying the cost for everybody else.’’

Mrs MacBain said she was looking forward to her husband’s retirement next year.

‘‘We’ve been talking about how difficult it is for me to live here, and how his retirement next year means we’re going to travel. That might give us a bit of a reprieve.’’

Mrs MacBain said she did not blame Ashton Coal and other mining companies for seeking mine approvals.

‘‘I don’t blame them. They’re only doing what the law says they can. I blame NSW governments, because they’re supposed to regulate the mines and care for communities. But there’s too much easy money at stake.’’

Scenes from Camberwell. The village, which has lost 40 families since 2004, is challenging Ashton Coal’s expansion plans in the Land and Environment Court. Picture Dean Osland.

Scenes from Camberwell. The village, which has lost 40 families since 2004, is challenging Ashton Coal’s expansion plans in the Land and Environment Court. Picture Dean Osland.

Scenes from Camberwell. The village, which has lost 40 families since 2004, is challenging Ashton Coal’s expansion plans in the Land and Environment Court. Picture Dean Osland.

Scenes from Camberwell. The village, which has lost 40 families since 2004, is challenging Ashton Coal’s expansion plans in the Land and Environment Court. Picture Dean Osland.

Scenes from Camberwell. The village, which has lost 40 families since 2004, is challenging Ashton Coal’s expansion plans in the Land and Environment Court. Picture Dean Osland.

Scenes from Camberwell. The village, which has lost 40 families since 2004, is challenging Ashton Coal’s expansion plans in the Land and Environment Court. Picture Dean Osland.

Scenes from Camberwell. The village, which has lost 40 families since 2004, is challenging Ashton Coal’s expansion plans in the Land and Environment Court. Picture Dean Osland.

Scenes from Camberwell. The village, which has lost 40 families since 2004, is challenging Ashton Coal’s expansion plans in the Land and Environment Court. Picture Dean Osland.

Scenes from Camberwell. The village, which has lost 40 families since 2004, is challenging Ashton Coal’s expansion plans in the Land and Environment Court. Picture Dean Osland.

Scenes from Camberwell. The village, which has lost 40 families since 2004, is challenging Ashton Coal’s expansion plans in the Land and Environment Court. Picture Dean Osland.

Scenes from Camberwell. The village, which has lost 40 families since 2004, is challenging Ashton Coal’s expansion plans in the Land and Environment Court. Picture Dean Osland.

Scenes from Camberwell. The village, which has lost 40 families since 2004, is challenging Ashton Coal’s expansion plans in the Land and Environment Court. Picture Dean Osland.

Scenes from Camberwell. The village, which has lost 40 families since 2004, is challenging Ashton Coal’s expansion plans in the Land and Environment Court. Picture Dean Osland.

Scenes from Camberwell. The village, which has lost 40 families since 2004, is challenging Ashton Coal’s expansion plans in the Land and Environment Court. Picture Dean Osland.

Scenes from Camberwell. The village, which has lost 40 families since 2004, is challenging Ashton Coal’s expansion plans in the Land and Environment Court. Picture Dean Osland.

Scenes from Camberwell. The village, which has lost 40 families since 2004, is challenging Ashton Coal’s expansion plans in the Land and Environment Court. Camberwell property owner Wendy Bowman. Picture Dean Osland.

Scenes from Camberwell. The village, which has lost 40 families since 2004, is challenging Ashton Coal’s expansion plans in the Land and Environment Court. Camberwell property owner Wendy Bowman. Picture Dean Osland.

Scenes from Camberwell. The village, which has lost 40 families since 2004, is challenging Ashton Coal’s expansion plans in the Land and Environment Court. Picture Dean Osland.

Scenes from Camberwell. The village, which has lost 40 families since 2004, is challenging Ashton Coal’s expansion plans in the Land and Environment Court. Camberwell property owner Wendy Bowman. Picture Dean Osland.

Scenes from Camberwell. The village, which has lost 40 families since 2004, is challenging Ashton Coal’s expansion plans in the Land and Environment Court. Picture Dean Osland.

Scenes from Camberwell. The village, which has lost 40 families since 2004, is challenging Ashton Coal’s expansion plans in the Land and Environment Court. Camberwell property owner Wendy Bowman. Picture Dean Osland.

Scenes from Camberwell. The village, which has lost 40 families since 2004, is challenging Ashton Coal’s expansion plans in the Land and Environment Court. Local Historian Lyn MacBain at St.Clement Anglican Church grounds at Camberwell Local Historian Lyn MacBain at St.Clement Anglican Church grounds at Camberwell. Picture Dean Osland.

Scenes from Camberwell. The village, which has lost 40 families since 2004, is challenging Ashton Coal’s expansion plans in the Land and Environment Court. Local Historian Lyn MacBain at St.Clement Anglican Church grounds at Camberwell. Picture Dean Osland.

Scenes from Camberwell. The village, which has lost 40 families since 2004, is challenging Ashton Coal’s expansion plans in the Land and Environment Court. Picture Dean Osland.

Scenes from Camberwell. The village, which has lost 40 families since 2004, is challenging Ashton Coal’s expansion plans in the Land and Environment Court. Local Historian Lyn MacBain at St.Clement Anglican Church grounds at Camberwell. Picture Dean Osland.

Scenes from Camberwell. The village, which has lost 40 families since 2004, is challenging Ashton Coal’s expansion plans in the Land and Environment Court. Local Historian Lyn MacBain at St.Clement Anglican Church grounds at Camberwell. Picture Dean Osland.

Scenes from Camberwell. The village, which has lost 40 families since 2004, is challenging Ashton Coal’s expansion plans in the Land and Environment Court. Local Historian Lyn MacBain at St.Clement Anglican Church grounds at Camberwell. Picture Dean Osland.

Scenes from Camberwell. The village, which has lost 40 families since 2004, is challenging Ashton Coal’s expansion plans in the Land and Environment Court. Local Historian Lyn MacBain at St.Clement Anglican Church grounds at Camberwell. Picture Dean Osland.

Scenes from Camberwell. The village, which has lost 40 families since 2004, is challenging Ashton Coal’s expansion plans in the Land and Environment Court. Local Historian Lyn MacBain at St.Clement Anglican Church grounds at Camberwell. Picture Dean Osland.

Stabbed shopkeeper lucky to be alive 

WITH blood gushing from stab wounds to his abdomen, back and left shoulder, Mark Hamilton staggered out of his Woodrising bottle shop on Monday night desperately searching for help.

Only a few minutes earlier, the popular 50-year-old shopkeeper had refused to hand over cash to an armed bandit who stormed his family’s business.

His defiance led to a struggle and as Mr Hamilton managed to unmask his assailant he was stabbed multiple times to the upper body with a large knife.

His father Don Hamilton said quick thinking from several shoppers who lay Mr Hamilton down, worked to stem the bleeding and alerted a doctor from the adjoining Woodrising Medical Centre may have saved his life.

‘He got injured trying to prevent the hold-up, he’s stable in hospital and hopes to be back on his feet in a week or so,’’ he said.

‘‘He was lucky a couple of customers helped him and got him straight to a doctor.’’

Mr Hamilton was taken to John Hunter Hospital and underwent exploratory surgery on Monday night.

A neighbouring shopkeeper, who declined to be named, told the Newcastle Herald she was shocked to see Mr Hamilton stumble past her store covered in blood.

‘‘I was packing up and I saw Mark walking away from me and thought he was chasing after a customer who forgot something,’’ she said.

‘‘Then when he turned around and walked back that’s when I saw the other side of his head and he had blood all over his face and was holding his stomach.’’

Gary Wonnocott said he was leaving the IGA supermarket about 7pm when he saw Mr Hamilton stumbling around the centre.

‘‘He had a fair bit of blood coming out his stomach,’’ he said. ‘‘I got him to sit down and put a bandage on his chest.

‘‘It was a shocking sight but the main thing was to get him to settle down.’’

More customers and friends came to Mr Hamilton’s aid while one raised the alarm at the adjoining medical centre.

Dr Peter McGeoch raced to help, starting basic first aid and working to stem the bleeding while an ambulance was on its way.

‘‘We tried to cut his shirt off to see where the stab wounds were and I put him on some oxygen and sat him down,’’ he said. ‘‘He was still awake and responsive and had no arterial bleeding.

‘‘He had three stab wounds, one abdominal, one in his back and one in his left shoulder.

‘‘He also had a cut on his face, there was blood everywhere and we were just looking for the worst wound.’’

Robert Wall from R & K Family Meats said safety at the shopping centre needed to be drastically improved.

‘‘The centre hasn’t got security staff, half of these cameras don’t even work,’’ he said.

Lake Macquarie detectives are investigating the incident.

Crime Stoppers 1800333000