Category: Sports

A Set small text size A Set the default text size A Set large text size It must be hard to be a trail blazer. To be the brave person willing to step foot onto unchartered lands, not knowing what consequences your expedition will have. In 1997 Michell Timms was that trail blazer. She dared to go where no Australian woman had. In 1997 Timms became the first Australian to play in the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA). She would play five seasons over there and begin the rise of Australian women venturing to the American frontier. Timms may not ... Read more

A Set small text size A Set the default text size A Set large text size A Western Australian NRL team is nearing finalisation, after the ARL Commission has accepted a revised offer from the WA government for a Perth-based 18th league franchise. The deal could mark the return of the Bears to top-flight rugby league for the first time since being culled in 1997. Reports that negotiations between the two parties had stalled earlier this month, plus the announcement of a new Papua New Guinean franchise in 2028, appeared to have put paid to a WA team. But the ... Read more

Days after Wallaroos coach Jo Yapp tried to allay fears of an internal rift between players on the eve of the World Cup, former dual-international Mat Rogers has slammed Rugby Australia for its handling of the integration of Australia’s women’s sevens stars to the XVs team. In addition, Rogers, who represents superstar sevens star Maddison Levi, said that if his client were to be called into the Wallaroos that the 22-year-old tryscoring machine would be “set up to fail”. “I don’t think she can (make the World Cup),” Rogers said on Stan Sport’s Inside Line program on Wednesday night. “She’s ... Read more

A Set small text size A Set the default text size A Set large text size The Brisbane Lions have been issued a gentle reminder from Chris Fagan after the coach noticed a “trend” that’s punched a hole in their usually water-tight AFL defence. The premiers travel to Marvel Stadium to face St Kilda on Saturday with a 5-1 record and, on the surface, in terrific shape. But Fagan wasn’t impressed with what he saw at the Gabba last Thursday in a blowout loss to Collingwood. They conceded 105 points after letting in 97 and 90 in victories in the ... Read more

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