The Blues were seconds away from securing a finals berth but there is little time to dwell on the club’s latest episode of anguishFootball, the historian Manning Clark once said, is “an emotional bath of agony and ecstasy”. For Carlton, this week’s bath was run on Thursday night, with a two-hour soliloquy from a crack QC. It bubbled over 48 hours later, at the City Road end of the MCG, with the son of a stand-up comedian sinking them at the death. The Blues had it in the bag. They were a dozen seconds away from finals. “Did you see that?!” Luke Darcy kept squawking in the commentary box. We’ve been seeing it for a quarter of a century, the...
A nine-goal win averts disaster for Australia, but their gold medal rival Jamaica represent a wider threat to the Diamonds’ long-held supremacyBruised, battered and wounded – not in body, but in pride – the Diamonds hobbled into Saturday’s Commonwealth Games semi final against the host nation England. The historic loss to Jamaica cast its shadow over the upcoming match. A loss was not necessarily a concern in itself – in 2015 the Diamonds lost a pool match to New Zealand and went on to win the gold medal match against the same opposition.But a loss to Jamaica was emblematic of a new world order. It was the first time Australia had lost to Jamaica at a major tournament. No longer...
It was a big weekend for two players who marked their 300th and 350th AFL games respectivelyTwo champions of the sport, two men taken in the same draft but with completely different career trajectories, celebrated major milestones over the weekend.Shane Edwards was hoisted up and carried off following an astonishing comeback win over Brisbane. Edwards was nearly a Brisbane player himself. The Lions’ chief recruiter was desperate to get him, but was outvoted by senior figures at the club. They settled on Albert Proud, who ended up in jail. Continue reading...
Australia’s quiet achiever needs one more Commonwealth Games gold to surpass Susie O’Neill, Leisel Jones and Ian ThorpeWith the benefit of hindsight, it may seem that Australian swimmer Emma McKeon was always destined for greatness. The 28-year-old was born into swimming royalty: her father, Ron McKeon, is a former Olympian and four-time Commonwealth Games champion in middle-distance freestyle, while mum Susie McKeon and uncle Rob Woodhouse also swam for Australia. For decades the McKeon family have operated a swimming school in the Illawarra, and McKeon junior was in the water before she could walk.But McKeon’s glittering career – three days into the 2022 Commonwealth Games she is on the brink of all-time greatness – was almost over before it began....
After hardships and disappointments – and two bright sparks – focus turns to the Vuelta and a home world championshipsIt’s the hope that gets you. In an ordinary year, two remarkable stage wins at the Tour de France would be considered a successful campaign from the peloton’s Australian contingent. But given the buzz that surrounded general classification prospects, particularly after Jai Hindley became the first Australian in history to win the Giro d’Italia in May, the absence of an Australian in the top 20 as the Tour concluded on Sunday left lingering disappointment.The buzz had focused on Ben O’Connor and Jack Haig, who both arrived in Copenhagen for the grand depart anointed as race leaders for their respective teams. O’Connor...