With a free role, the No 10 has been the floating brain of his country’s side at this year’s World CupThe thing that made the goal was the touch; one of those touches where Lionel Messi doesn’t so much trap the ball or kill it but lets it come and nestle, falling asleep on his toe like a fond old cat.There were still six more touches to go before the ball would be left spinning, with a kind of purr, in the back of Mat Ryan’s net. But it was the touch that set the clock running, as the ball was looped back out to Messi on the touchline from his own free-kick. Continue reading...
Australia claimed two scalps and climbed the world rankings but most important of all it was a win for Generation NextThe Wallabies fell short in lots of ways on their spring tour. They tasted defeat in three Tests and were lucky not to lose a fourth. They finished the international season with only five victories and nine losses and never won back-to-back. The injury toll was horrendous: 40 Wallabies battered or broken. And they are still no closer to locking in a 9-10 playmaking dynamic to spark their erratic attack.And yet, this year they defeated England, South Africa, Argentina, Scotland and Wales and went within a whisker of vanquishing France, Ireland and New Zealand, the top three sides in the...
A premiership first highlighted the league’s seventh campaign but there remain issues for head office to better deal with going forwardMelbourne win first flag: Premierships always bring heart-warming stories. After losing last season’s grand final earlier this year and sitting there or thereabouts since the league’s inception, the Dees finally reached the pinnacle on Sunday. Their drive and determination has been clearly visible in captain Daisy Pearce for a long time. At 34, with her playing legacy now secured, she may decide to focus on commentary and an upcoming coaching opportunity at Geelong. Continue reading...
Wallabies ground out comeback win over Wales in a context-free match neither team needed but neither could afford to loseFive weeks ago, when Blair Kinghorn hoofed a ball high into the frosty Edinburgh air, five consecutive Tests in five different countries for Dave Rennie’s Wallabies seemed like a good idea. His team had blown hot and cold during the Rugby Championship and had shown glimpses of their potential in a 2-1 series loss to England. This end of year tour would complete the Six Nations set to go along with their regular bouts with the southern hemisphere giants. Less than a year out from the World Cup, all stones would be turned.Now, the best thing we can say about this...
Win Sunday’s grand final against Brisbane or not, Pearce’s position as a women’s football great is already secureFootball’s women, a correspondent wrote in The Age in the 1970s, “are mere appendages to the game, extras in an all-male saga, tolerated but not taken seriously”. For so long, that’s how it was in football. Women washed our socks. They drove us to training. Leigh Matthews did psychological profiles of his Brisbane players’ wives and girlfriends “to assist their playing partners to be better footballers”.When a young Darebin Falcons player was taken as the No 1 pick in the inaugural national women’s draft, things were changing. It was six months after Julia Gillard’s misogyny speech. In the next few years, a woman...