Lip Service

"Make it bigger."
- Melbourne Storm captain Cameron Smith had a simple response when asked what should be done to improve the NRL salary cap.

"I think 95 per cent of the time when you put 191 runs on the board you are going to win the game. Somehow Duckworth/Lewis seems to bring that equation down a fair bit. I don't know what equation you should have but you shouldn't have that one."
- England captain Paul Collingwood doesn't think much of Duckworth or Lewis after losing to the West Indies at the World Twenty20.

"I came over to Cambridge with 500 quid in my pocket and I had to borrow a waistcoat off another Australian player. I couldn't afford to buy one, but I can probably buy a few more now I guess."
- Australia's Neil Robertson hits the big time after winning the Snooker World Championship in Sheffield, England.

"If this doesn't do anything (for the sport), I don't know, I probably won't call myself Australian anymore."
- Robertson hopes the profile of snooker will get a boost in his home country.

"I know personally that two days after a game I'm a lot worse than the next day. I feel like a grandpa on the second day so hopefully I'll still be feeling young that first day after the Test."
- 26-year-old Anthony Watmough comments on having to play a Test match against the Kiwis on Friday night before backing up for club side Manly against the Dragons on Saturday night.

"We just want to get out there and have a crack. It's our attitude that is our problem at the moment. Personnel comes into it a little bit but it's mainly the attitude of the blokes who are playing."
- Hawthorn vice-captain Luke Hodge tries to explain what's behind his side's five losses in a row.

"It was an ugly game for us. I wish I knew what happened."
- Atlanta Hawks coach Mike Woodson after his team lost 114-71 to Orlando Magic in Game 1 of the second round of the NBA Eastern Conference playoffs. It was Atlanta's worst playoff loss in history.

"He's a very versatile player. He's got the power, he can play all the shots but he's also got a good mind and that's what you need in the middle order."
- England Twenty20 captain Paul Collingwood praises former Ireland batsman Eoin Morgan, who scored 45 for England against Ireland at the World Twenty20.

"I play hard but I don't play dirty and anyone who says that I am a liability doesn't know what they are talking about."
- North Queensland enforcer Luke O'Donnell slams suggestions his aggressive style is too much of a liability to play State of Origin for NSW.

"We didn't enjoy it, it was very embarrassing but it certainly was not us. We were shocked. We're far from sure that we're the only club involved."
- News Corporation chairman and chief executive Rupert Murdoch comments on the massive salary cap breaches by News-owned club Melbourne Storm.

"They already say I'm too old, so I can only imagine what they would say in August."
- 36-year-old Italy captain Fabio Cannavaro plans to retire after the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

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