Ariarne Titmus’s slow time at the Australian championships adds a degree of mystery to the three-way match-up at this year’s worldsTwo years ago in Tokyo, the duel in the pool between Australian prodigy Ariarne Titmus and American legend Katie Ledecky was the most anticipated rivalry of the Olympics. Titmus narrowly came away with the upper hand: the Australian won the 200m and 400m freestyle gold medals, while Ledecky conquered the 800m freestyle (and the 1500m, which Titmus did not race). It was the rivalry that defined the Tokyo swim meet – and left fans salivating at the prospect of rematches on the road to the Paris 2024 Olympics.Except when the pair meet again at the world championships in July, in...
The returned coach has made great strides with his team unbeaten during the opening three rounds and top of the AFL ladder“Ross the Boss!”, they chanted on Saturday night, “Ross the Boss!”. As always, the Boss seemed a bit bewildered by all the fuss. It wasn’t supposed to be like this. It was supposed to be a slog. Ross Lyon had spent the best part of summer tempering expectations, and watching his best players go down, one by one. What the hell is going on? Half his list is on crutches or in a sling, yet here here is, undefeated, and in danger of becoming a cult figure.To understand what this means for St Kilda, the pre-match sesquicentennial is a...
Rugby Australia has bought a supremely marketable, freakishly talented player who will also be a powerful bargaining chipJoseph Suaalii will not begin playing for the Wallabies until 2025 but make no mistake: he started working for Rugby Australia the moment news broke of his signing.Suaalii will become the standard bearer for rugby’s new golden age, Australia’s poster boy for the 2027 Rugby World Cup, for leading the women’s game to professionalism and for restoring growth at the grassroots across the nation. Continue reading...
Were Fremantle robbed? Or would it have been grand larceny if the free kick was awarded and they had kicked the set shot?This week’s column was supposed to be about the Daicos brothers. It was supposed to be a look at how they compare to their dad, what a nightmare they are to clamp down on, and what a joy they are to watch. That all went up the spout on Saturday night, as North Melbourne held off Fremantle in the most unlikely and controversial circumstances imaginable. It’s hard to know where to begin, so I’ll start at the end. Were the Dockers robbed? Or would it have been grand larceny if the free kick had been awarded and they’d...
Man City’s Alex Robertson makes debut as Aiden O’Neill, Keanu Baccus and Garang Kuol also show strength of next generation in Ecuador winDespite him being barely 30 minutes into his senior international career, nobody can accuse newly minted Socceroo Alex Robertson of showing a lack of ambition for the future. Indeed, it would be difficult for him to be showing any more. “You’ve got to reach for the stars and win a World Cup,” he told reporters after Australia’s 3-1 win over Ecuador on Friday. “You never know what’s going to happen. You see what [Australia’s] just done at the last one and for the next few years, building up to [2026] I think we can do some really big...