England will need the action hero to bowl those fiery spells, especially now Australia have a big-hitter of their ownBefore the unbeaten 135, Ben Stokes’s Headingley rescue-act in 2019 began with the ball. It remains the somewhat forgotten preamble, the EP of promise before the first album that went platinum.Stokes was skilful in his 24.2-over spell in Australia’s second innings, but it was his ferocity that stood out, his unwillingness to step aside as an already significant lead grew into what should have been a match-winning one. The final figures were three for 56, tidy but hardly reflective of what he had produced. Marnus Labuschagne, who took the brunt of it, said later that it was one of the best...
The Gold Coast Suns also showed substance in victory over Adelaide while the GWS-Richmond clash put other prime-time match-ups in the shadeMany moons have waxed and waned since the Gold Coast Suns were a talking point following a round of football that did not question their very existence. For years the expansion club have been hard to take seriously, a team slightly less threatening than a Carlton forward’s set shot. But on Saturday night, they radiated energy like sweat on a humid Darwin night, kicking nine unanswered goals either side of half-time to defeat Adelaide by six goals.For so much of their history, the Gold Coast has been a broken team with the soul of a Docklands’ ATM, wrecked by...
New South Wales have an almighty task on their hands to stay in the series after losing a game they should have wonNew South Wales coach Brad Fittler admitted he gambled prior to the Origin series opener in selecting Tevita Pangai Junior. He lost with that selection. He lost with other selection calls. He lost with the use of the interchange bench. And he lost the game.The Blues have started favourites in every one of Fittler’s games since he took over in 2018, yet the coach is 8-8 over that time with two series losses. He has been strongly criticised for some questionable selections decisions – Josh Addo-Carr’s omission in 2022 was widely disparaged – and admitted prior to this...
NSW Blues and Queensland Maroons hard to separate ahead of upgraded Origin which sets the scene for expanded NRLWThursday night kicks off a big year for women’s rugby league. For the first time, women’s State of Origin becomes more than a standalone game, before an expanded NRLW featuring 10 teams takes flight next month.While the upgrade from one Origin game to two is an improvement on previous years, it has left plenty of players and onlookers unsatisfied. New South Wales prop Millie Boyle has been particularly outspoken about the decision, saying a two-game series “seems ridiculous” and “doesn’t really feel fair”.Follow the 2023 Women’s State of Origin series opener in Parramatta with Guardian Australia’s minute-by-minute live blog. Kick-off on Thursday...
Queensland’s 3-0 series win over NSW in 2010 is the only sweep since 2000 and this year’s series is again too close to call Most Australian rules fans have forgotten (or chosen to forget) that they owned the State of Origin concept for a century before the big boppers in the north caught on. Since the VFL/AFL abandoned their interstate carnivals in 1993 and ceased all state-based clashes in 1999, rugby league’s State of Origin has become “Australian sport’s greatest rivalry” – the purest expression of mate v mate and state v state. It started as an experiment – Australia’s then-captain Bob Fulton predicted “the non-event of the century” – but 43 years on Origin has become the very essence...