Category: Sports

A Set small text size A Set the default text size A Set large text size He might not have earned a Wallabies cap, but one of Australia’s most unheralded stars, Ryan Smith, will leave the Queensland Reds at season’s end. The 28-year-old, who has played 69 matches for the Reds a further six for Australia A, has officially been unveiled by Ospreys weeks after signing a two-year deal with the Welsh club. Smith wanted to stay in Australian rugby, but the Reds simply couldn’t afford to keep the hard-working lock without a national top-up. The Reds currently have Test ... Read more

Satirist Garrison Keillor began his show thus: “Welcome to Lake Wobegon, where all the women are strong, all the men are good looking, and all the children are above average.” Welcome to the 2025 version of Super Rugby Pacific, where all scrums are successful, all the highlights are viral, and all the Australian teams are above average. This competition is not fictitious, line breaks are being converted in multiples, and the rise of the remaining four Aussie states is welcome indeed. Yet the term exams loom as the 4-1-4 (-4 in points) Force weathered the five-loss Hurricanes (+22 in points ... Read more

A Set small text size A Set the default text size A Set large text size Australia’s teenage tennis star Maya Joint has eclipsed one of Ash Barty’s records as she achieved another significant landmark in her burgeoning career by earning her first WTA 1000 match triumph at the Madrid Open. On her tour-level clay-court main draw debut in the Spanish capital, the 19-year-old Queenslander outlasted local wildcard Carlota Martinez Cirez 6-2 2-6 6-4 for a third win in three days. Just five days after her 19th birthday, it meant Joint became the youngest Aussie ever to win a WTA ... Read more

A Set small text size A Set the default text size A Set large text size Wests Tigers CEO Shane Richardson has fired a broadside at the NRL over the competition’s player transfer system, labelling it “an absolute disgrace” that the league has never been able to institute a designated transfer window. Richardson is trying to sort out the Lachie Galvin situation at his club after the rising star’s agent raised grievances about the playmaker’s development under Benji Marshall which led to them declining a multi-year contract extension to leave at the end of next year. “I’ve been saying it ... Read more

A Set small text size A Set the default text size A Set large text size Surprise halves combination Jesse Southwell and Tiana Penitani Gray headline a host of inclusions as NSW’s Sky Blues plot to reclaim the State of Origin shield starting with the series opener. New Sky Blues coach John Strange on Wednesday picked eight fresh faces from outside the squad that lost the series to Queensland last year, including four that will make their debut. Rachael Pearson’s Origin future is in extreme doubt after being replaced by Southwell at halfback following a poor series last year, while ... Read more

After seven rounds of the NRL, at least there’s one team that’s been reliable with Canterbury unbeaten at the top of the NRL ladder and optimism building by the day that the club can celebrate its 90th birthday with a first premiership since 2004. Melbourne have gone off the boil a little in the past few weeks with a couple of upset losses and Parramatta can’t even be relied upon to lose every week after knocking off the Wests Tigers by 16 on Easter Monday. Round 8 kicks off with the Bulldogs traveling to Brisbane. The Broncos will be trying ... Read more

A Set small text size A Set the default text size A Set large text size Manchester United are a mess. They are one of the biggest football clubs in the world, but they are rapidly sliding into football obscurity. United have now gone nearly 15 years without winning the Premier League. And they frequently miss out on Champions League qualification. To make matters worse, during United’s recent barren years, their biggest rivals Liverpool and Manchester City have been filling up their trophy cabinets. United’s team features world-class international players, but their title drought isn’t going to end any time ... Read more

It is almost incomprehensible that a team that enjoys many advantages like the Brisbane Broncos has one of the longest premiership droughts in the NRL.  The Broncos over the past 18 years have been not only the biggest underachievers in the NRL, but arguably in the entire Australian professional sporting landscape.  Melbourne Stars, the Carlton Blues, Western Sydney Wanderers perhaps? Easily the NRL’s biggest club when it comes to annual turnover, the Broncos cantered to six premierships in the first half of their club history, but they have not won a title since 2006 despite going close on a couple ... Read more

Whilst the triumphant return of Mitchell Moses in the Eels Easter Monday win has grabbed the headlines, the enduring talking point has to be the state of officiating in one of the most head scratching and anger inducing clashes in recent memory. The Tigers-Eels clash was Monday madness for all the wrong reasons, and Liam Kennedy was the ‘star’ of the show. If he wants to be the star, then he needs to be willing to face the press. The tone was set early on for this game to spiral out of control. Terrell May was hit in the head ... Read more

A Set small text size A Set the default text size A Set large text size Nick Daicos will become Collingwood’s youngest captain in 57 years when he steps up in place of sidelined skipper Darcy Moore in the Anzac Day blockbuster. Moore will miss the Anzac Day match against Essendon as he battles vertigo symptoms related to an inner ear issue. Daicos was elevated to vice-captaincy alongside Brayden Maynard ahead of this season and the star midfielder, still just 22, was selected as stand-in skipper on Wednesday. At 22 years and 122 days, Daicos will become the Magpies’ fourth-youngest ... Read more