What is Wrong with Australia?

Never has Australian sport seen such times like this - a lack of success by its athletes on the global sport stage.

Its individual athletes like Sam Stosur, Bernard Tomic, Mark Webber, etc. are struggling against the best of the rest while its domestic competitions are embroiled in drugs controversy, i.e. Manly, Cronulla, Essendon.

But what is most galling for this sports mad country is that two of its proudest national sides are in the middle of their worst runs in their history.

The once unbeatable Australian cricket team have not won a test outside Australia in the 2013 calendar year, annihilated by India and England on their home turf. In particular, the Ashes series result this year must make for ghastly reading for Australian cricket fans - 3-0 to England with Australia going down 2-0 in the first two tests and the destination of the Ashes settled by the 3rd test.

Then there's the once formidable Australian rugby team. While that formidable tag disappeared some years ago, it is still a surprise to see the Wallabies in such an uncompetitive and hopeless state.

What is particularly galling for Australian rugby is that there doesn't appear to be much hope in the horizon other than to persevere with the players they have and hope for some improvement.

After the disastrous series loss to the British & Irish Lions, there was plenty of change in the national side with Robbie Deans shafted out and Ewen McKenzie brought in with high hopes to revive the proud green and gold. Quade Cooper was brought back on the basis that his exclusion from the Lions would motivate him to show the form he showed 2 years ago in the Wallabies jumper.

Alas, McKenzie and Cooper have failed to deliver so far. While it was always going to be hard a first up win against the world champion All Blacks, a first win was realistic against the Springboks in Brisbane where the visitors had such an appalling record.

McKenzie and his Queensland charges

Furthermore, Suncorp Stadium was a ground familiar to Ewen McKenzie, Quade Cooper, James Horwill and the Queensland contingent in the Wallabies, so surely this was going to be Australian rugby's turnaround time.

Well, right from the word go, the Boks were determined to end that poor record in Brisbane and despite trying to throw the game away so many times with ill-discipline, they triumphed after wearing down the Wallabies and then having their backs slaughter them in the 2nd half. 38-12 flattered the hosts somewhat as the Wallabies again showed to be abject and dangerous runners like Israel Folau denied any chance of making a meaningful attempt on the Boks.

The Brisbane curse has been broken!

So where now for the Wallabies? Los Pumas are next in Perth and really if Ewen McKenzie cannot get a win against them at home, there is definitely no hope for Australian rugby. I expect them to win but really it would hardly mask a year that has been failed to reach the expectations of the rugby following public.

But why has Australian sport become so uncompetitive? Has the lucky country stopped producing competitive world class athletes? Perhaps, the over-success of the previous generation has somewhat spoiled the new generation who have almost come to expect the same success as their predecessors but without the coaching and competitive drive and with the added pressure of the public.

Australian sport today lacks the McGrath, Warne, Eales characters that made their sides so successful

Furthermore, with Australia now the side to beat, opponents lift their game against them, meaning it is much harder for their own countrymen to get a result. Plus the quality of athletes they have isn't quite as good as it was before - this is evident with the Australian cricket team who just don't quite have the quality that the likes of Hayden, Ponting, Waugh, Gilchrist, Warne and McGrath had.

Oh well, could Tony Abbott be the man to fix Australian sport? Probably not, but given how much the Aussies hate losing, expect a revival in the next 5 years or so.