Dr Worm's World of Stuff

The Swans have handed the West Coast Eagles their third-straight defeat with an emphatic 16.11 (107) to 5.15 (45) drubbing at ANZ Stadium on Saturday night.

Spurred on by a partisan crowd of 44, 235, the Swans had victory well in hand at the long break with a 39-point advantage after a dominant first-half display.

The undermanned Eagles simply had no answer for the in-form Swans who continued to employ a more direct approach with good effect on their way to a 62-point victory.

New recruit Martin Mattner continued his impressive start to the season with 25 touches but he was not alone - Ted Richards (23), Tadhg Kennelly (21), and Michael O'Loughlin (four goals) among the pick of an impressive bunch.

A New Zealand man who claimed to have been left speaking Australian after being raped by a wombat has been sentenced to 75 hours community service.

Arthur Ross Cradock, a 48-year-old orchard worker, admitted in the Nelson District Court yesterday to the charge of using a phone for a fictitious purpose, after calling police with the message, "I've been raped by a wombat".

Police prosecutor Sergeant Chris Stringer told the court that on the afternoon of February 11 Cradock called the police communications centre, threatening to "smash the filth" if they arrived at his home that night.

When asked if he had an emergency, he replied "yes", Mr Stringer said.

Sony is dropping its money-losing rear-projection TV business worldwide to focus on two flat panel technologies - liquid crystal display and organic light-emitting diode.

Sales of rear-projection TVs had been declining recently as LCD TVs gain in popularity and get bigger, Sony spokesman Shinji Obana said.

In October, Sony lowered its global sales forecast for rear-projection TVs - which uses a projector to create images on large screens - to 400,000 from 700,000, which is down from 1.1 million the previous fiscal year.

By contrast, Sony expects to sell 10 million LCD TVs this fiscal year through March, up from 6.3 million the previous year.

Ricky Ponting won the toss and decided to bat in the first Test against India after a week in which the MCG pitch remained a mystery, as did the make-up of both sides. The questions were answered on the opening morning as Australia left out Shaun Tait and India confirmed that Rahul Dravid would move up to open, leaving space for Yuvraj Singh at No. 6.

Two teenagers have been left with serious injuries after the ute they were travelling in left the road and hit a tree in Sydney's north early today.

A 17-year-old P-plater was driving the Nissan Navara on Oxley Drive at Mt Colah at about 12.10am, when the vehicle crossed to the wrong side of the road, mounted a kerb and hit a tree.