Locker Room: Canberra United's waiting game is soccer's bizarre kryptonite

We've all been there. Stuck in the passport line wondering if you'll get the little blue book back in time to make your flight.

And we all know Canberra is a public service town, where emails are preferred to phone calls and a 30 minute wait can blow out to spending a week in oblivion.

But we bet you didn't know the public service mentality and the passport office delays have now become the kryptonite to women's soccer in Australia. Yes, you heard that right. Public service waiting times have infiltrated Canberra United despite the wave of momentum after the Matildas' record-breaking World Cup.

The football department is enforcing a 48-hour notice period for any player interview requests from all media.

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"Thank you for your interest in Canberra United. We have received your request and will get back to you," the reply comes.

The wait generally goes on .. and on .. and on. Sometimes the days turn into weeks or months. On one recent occasion, the football department took eight days to respond to a request. When they did, they said it would take 23 days to organise.

We're probably being unfair to the passport office by linking them to this. You can guarantee the arrival of your passport within 48 hours if you pay an extra fee.

Canberra United can at least take solace knowing they're quicker than Australia Post. Sending a letter from Civic to Belconnen will arrive some time between two and four days. Let's hope we don't get to that stage.

Zac Woolford's back pocket could be a little lighter, but at least his off-season travel diary might make for good reading.

The Canberra Raiders hooker has touched down in New York City for an off-season holiday - but his bags were nowhere to be found.

"Qantas is absolutely cooked. Flew to NYC from Sydney only to find our bags didn't make it. Was then told they could take 1-2 weeks to locate and be sent to us," Woolford wrote on social media platform X.

To the shopping mall he goes.

Plenty can change in 12 months. Today, Canberra still doesn't have a financial backer to secure a men's A-League licence in the capital. This time next year, they'll be a week out from round one.

That's if they can actually find a backer. Some are growing sceptical of Canberra's hopes to finally land an ALM team given bid directors have gone quiet and league bosses continue to extend deadlines.

Let's say the dream is alive in one year. Who is to say Tom Rogic couldn't be lured out of retirement for a Canberra comeback?

The Rogic family's fertility battle and the impending arrival of twins were the reason for his sudden retirement, but given Rogic is only 30, could he be tempted once to lace on the boots once his young family is settled? Plenty can change in 12 months.

Capital Football's chief executive is walking out because of the decision to axe the Canberra United Academy, slashing a clear pathway to the A-League in a move rising star Sasha Grove says "makes the future a little more dim for women in football".

But club officials seemed to think that's the perfect time to unveil a new youth soccer program called Canberra United Cubs, aimed at players aged four to 11.

Nobody can knock a program for kids - but you've got to wonder if the timing was right given the uproar that followed a call to axe a program built for players in their teenage years.

Jo Clay is throwing shots at Canberra racing like she's Cassius Clay with a world title on the line. It's time to give the industry some clear air.

With an election coming next year, Canberra racing officials are understandably nervous about the Greens getting more power and what that would mean for their future. The Greens' spokeswoman on animal welfare, Clay has embarked on a social media campaign questioning the ACT government's pledge of $41 million over five years.

She has blasted Canberra Racing for recording a loss for the second year in a row while their assets have dropped, saying "this is what a dying industry looks like".

Canberra Racing chief executive Darren Pearce can have a free hit in response.

He attributes the loss to building a new synthetic Polytrack - which cost about $5 million and will help the club cope with the impact of wet weather - a series of washouts and "re-engineering" the budget to return to a profit this financial year. Pearce has no major concerns about the club's solvency thanks to new deals with TAB and Sky Racing.

A 10-minute YouTube clip, ageing newspaper clippings and a few photos of Merv Hughes and a young Brad Haddin are about all that remain of the Canberra Comets' stint in the top flight.

But Cricket ACT hope the tide can start to turn as the ACT Comets prepare to return to the national second XI fold as a standalone entity next month, ending the partnership that saw Cricket NSW all but hijack the territory's representative cricket team.

The Comets will head to the WACA Ground to face Western Australia on November 6-9, before hosting South Australia [from November 20] and Tasmania [from January 22] at Phillip Oval. The ACT will then finish their campaign on the road against NSW in February.

Cricket ACT officials have a desire for an ACT team to be admitted into the Sheffield Shield and one-day competition, while ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr wants a Big Bash team playing out of Manuka Oval.

Can it all happen? Former Australian wicketkeeper Haddin has had his say.

"I can't see it coming into the Twenty20. What I could see, and this is a bit left field, I could see the Thunder taking more games there," Haddin said on the Willow Talk podcast in August.

"It makes sense. You get a good following there in Canberra, you're close to the Riverina and the South Coast. The Thunder's crowd hasn't been enthusiastic about the Thunder for some time, so I see an opportunity that maybe the Thunder could move down to Canberra.

"The only way I see them getting back in, and I think this makes more sense than anything, is in four-day cricket. It would be a great opportunity. You've got all the facilities there now, you've got a great wicket at Manuka Oval that's hosted international cricket.

"The in for Canberra is not through the Twenty20 format of the game, it's more through Shield cricket."

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