“It’s not something that I’m used to yet, being away for so long and trying to stay focused on swimming,” she said. “I have my moments where I’m not feeling the greatest and I’m just mentally out of it. But I always have somebody to pull me back in, the support I get is just incredible.”
It was another strong night for the Australians, with another teenager Elizabeth Dekkers breaking through for her maiden international title in the 200m butterfly. And Ariarne Titmus did what Ariarne Titmus does, crushing the Commonwealth record with a dominant 800m freestyle win in 8:13.59.
Elizabeth Dekkers en route to gold in the women’s 200m butterfly final.Credit:PA
Gold also went to Australia in the mixed medley relay, with the team of Kaylee McKeown, Zac Stubblety-Cook, Temple and McKeon far too good, while Col Pearse stood atop the podium after taking out the S10 100m fly final.
Chelsea Hodges grabbed bronze in the 100m breaststroke and Matt Temple dead-heated for silver with James Guy in the 100m butterfly behind Canada’s Josh Liendo Edwards, with a long glide to the wall costing him a fraction of a second.
That race also featured Cody Simpson, who finished fifth and spoke glowingly of his first experience swimming at a major international meet. He knows he must improve to be there in Paris but he feels more motivated than ever before.
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“I was talking with my coach and Mack Horton, who I’m rooming with, and he said ‘you’re just gathering intel right now’. So to come out in my first international final, I knew it would be tough to be in the running for a medal, I just tried to put my best swim together under that pressure and in that environment,” Simpson said.
“I try to learn something every time I race and I’m very analytical. I’ll probably watch this back 100 times in the next week. I’ll make sure I come back and fine-tune whatever I need to do for the next one.
“I’ve had one of the best weeks ever so far. I’m rooming with some amazing guys and I’m already gaining friends for life. Just inspiration to go back and train even harder.”
The meet finishes on Wednesday night in Birmingham with a showdown that has been on everyone’s lips from the first race. Titmus, who swam a grueling 800m, squares off with Canada’s boom teenager Summer McIntosh in the 400m freestyle, who will be fresh and ready to fire a warning shot towards the great Australian.
Get all the latest news from the Birmingham Commonwealth Gameshere. We’ll be live blogging the action from 4pm-10am daily.
Two Fox Footy pundits have urged North Melbourne to make a “Luke Hodge-style play” for outgoing Docker David Mundy to boost the bottom-placed club’s leadership prospects.
Mundy, Fremantle’s games record-holder, on Monday called time on his celebrated AFL career, three days after making his 371st appearance.
It places Mundy in the 10th spot on the all-time VFL/AFL games played table, with Scott Pendlebury (352), Joel Selwood (350) and Lance Franklin (335) the closest to him among active players.
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Speaking on Fox Footy’s On The Couch on Monday night, Mundy, 37, said he was pretty happy and content” with his decision after a pre-season ankle injury kickstarted retirement thoughts, but said there was “nothing set in concrete” for post-footy life.
Asked if he would’ve played on at Freo had his body allowed him to, Mundy told On The Couch: “No I don’t think so. I’m really proud to still be able to strongly contribute on gameday in the 22nd.
“I’ve been thinking for a long time that I’d feel really guilty if I hung on and battled my way through a year and ended as a broken, crippled old man. To go out on top I feel a great deal of pleasure in.”
But Herald Sun Journalist Jon Ralph reported Mundy “just wasn’t offered a new deal and he would’ve played on”.
“I asked his management … Two weeks ago, he said ‘I’ll keep playing at this club until they kick me out’ … He was hopeful with contract negotiations as recently as two weeks ago and it didn’t happen,” Ralph told On The Couch.
“That’s not a pot on Fremantle, they just decided to go another way and that’s fine.”
St Kilda champion Nick Riewoldt said it was a “surprising” call by Mundy, who was awarded AFL Coaches’ Association MVP votes for his 35-disposal, 15-contested possession and 10-clearance display against Melbourne last Friday night.
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It’s why Riewoldt encouraged the 18th-placed Kangaroos to target Mundy this off-season
“I understand his reasons because you want to go out maintaining that really strong level of performance, but he wasn’t showing any signs of slowing down,” Riewoldt told On The Couch.
“He sounded definitive then, but if you’re North Melbourne, would you say to him: ‘Dave, come play for two years, stick around and be an assistant because we need some leadership’ – would you make the phone call?”
Fellow Fox Footy panelist Garry Lyon added: “It’s not the silliest idea you’ve ever had.”
David Mundy of the Fremantle Dockers addressing the media after announcing he will be retiring. Picture: Paul Kane/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images
Herald Sun chief football writer Mark Robinson echoed Riewoldt’s thoughts minutes later, saying the Kangaroos should look at what Brisbane did in late 2017 when it traded in four-time premiership Hawk Luke Hodge as its young group moved into finals contention.
“I think North Melbourne should go after him and offer him a one-year deal to come over to Victoria and help the young kids at North Melbourne,” Robinson told Fox Footy’s AFL 360. “Like (Luke) Hodge, like the first-year Giants in James McDonald and a few others (in 2012).
“I think if he wants to continue playing, North Melbourne should look at a Luke Hodge-style play for David Mundy.
“He’s playing good enough. He’s not ‘at the end’, so if he’s a really good footy club person, give him a deal that (includes a) coaching role as well.”
The German international keeper Bernd Leno has completed his move to promoted Fulham from Arsenal after signing a three-year contract.
The Cottagers, who have the option of a further 12 months, have agreed to a deal reportedly worth up to £8m for the 30-year-old, for whom the Gunners paid around £20m when they signed him from Bayer Leverkusen in June 2018.
Leno, who lost his place to Aaron Ramsdale last season, told FFCtv: “It feels amazing to finally be here. I can’t wait to join the team, to train and play with the team. I’m relieved that everything is done. I’m just happy to be here. It took a little bit of time, but in the end we made it and that’s the most important thing.”
Leno, who had 304 games for Leverkusen under his belt by the time he arrived in north London, kept 37 clean sheets in his 125 appearances for Arsenal.
Fulham vice-chairman Tony Khan said: “Bernd Leno is the goalkeeper whom we have pursued steadfastly throughout this transfer window, and we’re very excited that we’ve reached a transfer agreement and he’s now fully committed to Fulham.
“He has played at the highest level, and he’ll bring this experience and his leadership to our team. He’ll be a great addition to [head coach] Frames [Silva] squad, who are all excited for the season ahead.”
The first edition of the frenetic, hyperactive game of 3×3 basketball at the Commonwealth Games came to an end on Tuesday evening as England defeated Australia 17-16 in the most dramatic circumstances. England triumphed with a game-winning two-pointer in overtime to secure the first men’s gold medal of the Games.
In the women’s gold medal match, Canada narrowly edged out England after another dramatic ending, winning 14-13 with a buzzer beater from Canada’s Sarah Te-Biasu to take the gold medal
Even though no participating country was able to qualify for the Olympics, 3×3 basketball has clearly made a positive impact on the Games, with handsome crowds since the early rounds at the Smithfield building site, a venue adjacent to the beach volleyball stadium.
The men’s and women’s wheelchair finals immediately preceded the non-disabled athletes, with full crowds present as Australia’s men edged past Canada 11-9, then Canada’s women beat Australia 14-5.
By the time the England men’s team entered the court, the atmosphere was searing. The players continually called for the crowd, which responded in turn, cheering for its team, booing Australia during their free throw attempts and making their presence known with an intensity not normally associated with Commonwealth Games sports.
The sport’s defining quality is its speed. Seemingly every aspect of it is cut down in size compared to traditional basketball in order to create an even more rapid spectacle. It is played out on half a basketball court with only one hoop to attack between the two teams of three, there are 12 seconds on the shot clock and matches won by the first team to reach 21 points, with the leading team winning if the game passes the 10‑minute mark.
Greg Hire of Australia (top) and Jaydon Kayne Henry-McCalla of England. Photograph: Darren England/AAP
The final that unfolded in Smithfield was physical and tough, with constant fouls and hustle alike. After six minutes the two teams had combined for 18 fouls, with Australia already over the 10‑foul limit, meaning every subsequent foul led to two shots and possession for England.
Between the furious, high-octane defense and the nerves that accompanied the occasion, both teams committed offensive errors and scoring was low. But then the game exploded.
First Jaydon Kayne Henry-McCalla buried a clutch two-pointer to give England a 15-14 lead with 20 seconds to go but Daniel Johnson drew Australia level for 15-15 with 10 seconds remaining, ushering the game into overtime where the winner was required to win two points in a row. Australia took the upper hand and pressed for victory, a layup from Jesse Wagstaff moving them to 16-15.
Johnson’s two-pointer swirled around the inside of the rim, Australia seemed to have done it. But the ball swirled back out, prompting Orlan Jackman to leap into the air for a rebound, swiping it behind him.
The ball found Myles Hesson, from Birmingham, who shuffled outside of the two‑point line, lined up his shot and buried the two-pointer to mark England as the first 3×3 men’s basketball Commonwealth champions.
IN a unique series for the lead-up to the 2022 AFL Women’s Season 7, Rookie Me Central will look at 10 players to watch this year who have played under 10 games. While it would be easy to pick those who finished high in last year’s Rising Star, or top picks this year, we have opted to look at players who have been around for at least two seasons – or in previous years – but have only managed to play nine games or less. Next up in the series is Gold Coast talent Annise Bradfield.
Bradfield is the first player in this series coming off an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury that derailed the start of her career before it got going. In just her second AFL Women’s match, Bradfield went down with the long-term knee injury back in 2021, and now just over 12 months later – and sitting out the 2022 season – Bradfield is back and ready to have an impact in Season 7.
The Gold Coast Suns Academy member played at her bottom-age championships in 2019 before COVID-19 put an end to any national carnivals in 2020. Taken with Pick 7 in the AFL Women’s Draft that year, Bradfield came in with plenty of hope for the season ahead, but went down with her knee injury so early in her career. She is a player who could predominantly play forward, but can role through the midfield which is where she played at junior level, standing at 172cm and providing a target. As a December birth, Bradfield only turns 20 later this year, so she is still a teenager for the upcoming season.
Highly rated by the club as shown by being the first player taken in the 2020 AFLW Draft, Bradfield is expected to slot into the team when fully fit. As a former hockey player prior to focusing on her Australian rules football career, Bradfield has plenty of experience when it comes to sport, and is someone who might not be thought of straight away when it comes to players to watch given she did just have the one touch prior to doing her knee. There is no denying her talent though, and Bradfield is a player who can have a real influence with ball-in-hand for the Suns now she is back and firing after that injury.
A member of the 17 Manly players who did support the Pride jersey against the Roosters has anonymously blasted the seven players who boycotted the game and put the team’s final hopes in danger.
WWOS’ The Mole reported the Manly player, who asked not to be identified, painted an ugly picture of a team still very divided over the jersey saga that engulfed the club.
“They (the seven) are still saying they weren’t consulted about the pride jersey and it went against the religious a cultural beliefs,” the player told WWOS.
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“We weren’t consulted when a betting sponsor was placed on our jersey – the guys wear that every week… I’m not sure what their god would say about that.
“No one asked us when our oval was renamed after a brewery (4 Pines Park) – I don’t think their god would have been crazy about that either.
“And I can tell you very few young blokes in our club live by the 10 commandments – nor most young blokes in Australia for that matter.
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The Manly Pride Jersey.Source: Getty Images
“Yet these guys take a stance over a good move by the club to make the gay community feel inclusive in our game.”
The player also believes the fact that Manly’s loss to the Roosters could cost them the final spot in the top eight, will make it very hard for the rift in the squad to be healed.
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Manly Sea Eagles press conference | 08:29
“They could have said they didn’t support the initiative but to refuse to play with their mates, it doesn’t sit well, and there is something of a rift in the group as a result,” the player said.
“If those two lost points – and we are confident we would have won (against the Roosters) – cost us a place in the finals, it will take a long time for us to get over it.”
The Alpine Formula One team have entered a very public dispute with Oscar Piastri, their prospective replacement for Fernando Alonso next season. The team announced on Tuesday afternoon that Piastri would replace Alonso, only for the Australian driver to then issue his own statement denying he would be driving for Alpine as the row now heads into the hands of the lawyers.
The two-time world champion Alonso caught Alpine entirely unawares when he made an unexpected announcement on Monday saying he was leaving to join Aston Martin, which the French team admitted had taken them completely by surprise. Right up until the Sunday of the Hungarian Grand Prix Alonso had assured them he was close to agreeing to a new deal.
After the Spaniard made his decision to join Aston Martin clear, Alpine acted swiftly to assert that they would exercise their contract with the 21-year-old Piastri who is a reserve driver for the team. On Tuesday they said he would join them in 2023.
The statement, however, notably did not include any comment from the Australian who is understood to have been in discussions to join McLaren. When Piastri, in Australia, woke up several hours later he promptly denied any attempt to race for Alpine, posting on twitter: “I understand that, without my agreement, Alpine F1 have put out a press release late this afternoon that I am driving for them next year. This is wrong and I have not signed a contract with Alpine for 2023. I will not be driving for Alpine next year.”
Alpine’s principal, Otmar Szafnauer, insisted Piastri had a commitment to his team. “I do know he does have contractual obligations to us and we do to him. We have been honoring those obligations all year,” he said. However I have conceded that communication between the team and Piastri had already broken down. “He’s Oscar and his camp are ‘considering their options’, whatever that means,” I added.
With Alonso having been expected to remain at Alpine next year it is understood Piastri and his manager, the former driver Mark Webber, had been working on a deal for him to replace Daniel Ricciardo at McLaren next year.
Piastri is an enormous talent and has been part of the Alpine driver academy since 2020. He won the F3 and F2 titles in 2020 and 2021 and this year has been reserve driver for both Alpine and McLaren. The latter have yet to make any comment on any deal with Piastri.
Rugby league boss Peter V’landys has accused the New South Wales Premier of using “human tragedy” to renege on a handshake agreement to revamp suburban stadiums.
Key points:
NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet says he must prioritize disaster funding over stadium grants
However, rugby league boss Peter V’landys has accused Mr Perrottet of making excuses for backing out their deal
Mr V’landys claims the deal included hundreds of millions of dollars to upgrade stadiums in Manly, Cronulla and Leichhardt
V’landys is threatening to move the NRL Grand Final from Sydney as a result, saying the sport had been “strung along” by the state government for three years.
He says Premier Dominic Perrottet this year promised to upgrade local grounds across the city as part of a deal to keep the game’s showpiece in the Harbor City until 2042.
“We shook hands. We looked each other in the eyes and we did a deal,” V’landys told Nine radio this morning.
“He said, ‘You don’t need to have it in the budget, I can do it outside the budget’. And he reneged.”
V’landys claims the deal included hundreds of millions of dollars to upgrade aging stadiums in Manly, Cronulla and Leichhardt.
Mr Perrottet says circumstances have changed and his top priority is supporting people impacted by the state’s recent flood crises.
“Sydney will always be the home of rugby league,” Mr Perrottet said, and it would be on V’landys to justify to supporters any plan to move the competition decider.
Peter V’landys and Dominic Perrotte met to discuss the policy in April.(abcnews)
“The NSW government remains committed to upgrading suburban stadiums, however, following recent natural disasters and the COVID-19 pandemic, it is appropriate that further investment in stadia is staged,” he said.
“The government has just received the Floods Inquiry Report, which will likely require a significant cost to the taxpayer, and I note right now there are still 1,366 people without a home in NSW due to flooding.
“It should come as no surprise that my top priority is, therefore, supporting those devastated by the major floods across NSW.”
Mr Perrottet said the government had spent and committed $1.8 billion on sporting infrastructure for rugby league clubs, including centers of excellence and three new stadiums.
“The new state of the art Allianz Stadium will open next month, Parramatta has a new, modern stadium and there is a commitment to build a new Penrith stadium so that the Western City has a world-class sporting venue,” he said.
“Sydney will always be the home of rugby league and, if Peter V’landys wants to take the Grand Final away from his home, then he can explain that to the fans.”
However V’landys hit back, accusing Mr Perrottet of making excuses for backing out of the deal.
“I used other excuses back then [in negotiations] to reduce the amount he was going to spend on these community assets,” he said.
“They’ve left it right until two weeks before we have to sell tickets to the grand finale.
“To use human tragedy to spin themselves out of it is unheralded in my eyes.”
The rugby league supreme says the sport’s administration could now seek to revive scrapped plans to redevelop Stadium Australia at Homebush for $800 million.
Those plans were shelved, with the money to be spent on the suburban grounds policy instead.
“It’s a legally binding agreement that we had with the state government,” V’landys said.
He said disagreed that the game should fund stadium upgrades, arguing suburban infrastructure was a “community asset” that could inspire kids to play the game.
V’landys said the proposals for Manly and Cronulla, “combined”, weren’t as much as the $300 million commitment to building a new stadium in Penrith.
Yesterday, the Sports Minister and Penrith MP, Stuart Ayres, said that building a new stadium in his electorate fit with the government’s three cities plan for Sydney.
Mr Ayres this morning resigned as a minister after weeks of pressure linked to former deputy premier John Barilaro’s appointment to a lucrative trade position based in New York.
West Tigers chair Lee Hagipantelis backed V’landys’ stance, saying the club would be “bitterly disappointed” if the agreement to revamp Leichhardt Oval was dumped.
“Leichhardt was supposed to get looked after and we’ve been putting together a compelling argument for a new stadium as well,” he said.
“The stadium policy from Peter V’Landys is absolutely the right one.”
Kate McDonald thought she’d just be making up the numbers in the women’s beam finale.
And injured Tyson Bull wasn’t even supposed to be competing in the men’s horizontal bar final.
But both have pulled off exceptional performances to win gold and silver medals respectively on the final day of artistic gymnastics competition in Birmingham.
McDonald usurps Godwin for gold
Australia’s Kate McDonald saved her best for last in the women’s balance beam final.(Reuters)
McDonald hadn’t performed as well as she’d hoped in her main event, the uneven bars.
So she had low expectations for her final event, the beam.
The 22-year-old was the penultimate competitor, with her teammate, Georgia Godwin in the gold medal position.
McDonald was flawless and when her score came up, 13,466, she was absolutely floored.
The final gymnast, Canada’s Emma Spence, couldn’t beat the score, so McDonald claimed gold, and Godwin silver.
“I definitely was not expecting a score like that. And then I looked at my score and I was shocked that I was in first place,” McDonald said.
Godwin, who’s the team captain in Birmingham, was ecstatic to see McDonald overtake her.
“It’s just amazing, she put up the performance of a lifetime when it counted so she deserves the gold,” Godwin said.
McDonald admitted she put herself under too much pressure in the uneven bars, where she finished seventh.
That helped her let loose on the beam.
“I just I had nothing to lose, I was like I’m just going to enjoy myself. And there’s ice cream at the end so there is a no-lose situation,” she said.
Four tubs of salted caramel ice cream are now waiting as her reward.
Godwin’s glorious Games
Georgia Godwin (left) and Kate McDonald (centre) enjoyed a successful Commonwealth Games campaign.(Reuters: Stoyan Nenov )
While Emma McKeon will leave Birmingham as Australia’s most successful Commonwealth Games athlete of all time, Godwin might be the breakout star.
With the silver on the beam, the 24-year-old has finished these Games with five medals, including two gold.
She now has eight Commonwealth medals, joining Allana Slater as Australia’s most decorated women’s artistic gymnast.
“I hope it shows that Australia can get on the podium,” Godwin said.
“For a little bit it was like Australia, we’re lagging behind. But no, we’re doing some good stuff, we’ve got some incredible athletes on the team who are very new to the senior scene.
“So give them a couple of years and they’re gonna shine, watch out.”
And after last year’s independent review into the sport which found the sport had enabled a culture of physical, emotional and sexual abuse, there’s optimism the sport is moving in the right direction.
“I think it’s the team culture, everyone wants it for the team,” Godwin added.
“And that’s really helped us boost as a country.”
Bull takes advantage of ‘selfless act’
Australia’s Tyson Bull was in pain after landing his horizontal bar routine.(AAP: Darren England)
There was no greater evidence of that than in the men’s horizontal bar final, as Bull won a silver medal, in the presence of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Princess Charlotte no less.
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Australia’s Jesse Moore was supposed to compete, but a shoulder injury saw him withdraw from the event.
His teammate, Clay Mason Stephens was the next best qualifier in line to join the final.
However, just as that famous moment when Craig Stevens stepped aside for Ian Thorpe ahead of the 2004 Athens Olympics, Mason Stephens sacrificed his own spot for Bull, who was Australia’s best chance of a medal in the event.
And the 29-year-old took advantage of his reprieve.
“I don’t know how to feel quite feel right now, up until last night my mind was completely off the final high bar,” he said.
“There was no wrong decision, if I decided to take that spot, there are no hard feelings.
Clay Stephens [has] the biggest heart in the world, just such a selfless act for him to forfeit that spot give me a chance on my pet event.”
Bull’s silver is even more extraordinary considering three weeks ago he seriously injured his ankle after a bad fall, and he couldn’t stick the landing in qualifying.
“It’s the first landing I’ve been able to do after a routine in maybe almost a month now,” he said.
“But coming into today there’s no chance I was making the same mistake twice and I was gonna put it on my feet no matter how much it hurt.”
Bull was on track to win gold, until the final competitor, Cyprus’ Ilias Georgiou snatched the win.
There were also two bronze medals for the Australian team, James Bacueti in the vault, and Emily Whitehead in the floor routine.
It was particularly satisfying for Whitehead, who says she’s had a difficult build up to the Games, which included the death of her grandfather.
“It’s been a pretty rough Games so just to even hit that routine was just pretty emotional for me,” she said.
“I tried to keep as positive as possible through these Games, but it’s gotten harder as each day’s gone on but to end up like that is pretty special.”
The Australian gymnastics team won nine medals overall.
Premier League chief executive Richard Masters said it would be “difficult” to claim the Roman Abramovich era at Chelsea was good for the brand of England’s top division following this summer’s takeover at Stamford Bridge, which saw the Russian oligarch sell the club to a group led by LA Dodgers co-owner Todd Boehly.
Following Abramovich’s arrival as Chelsea owner in 2003, the London club enjoyed unprecedented success, including five Premier League wins and two Champions League titles, and signed some of the world’s leading players due to the financial transformation overseen by the billionaire.
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But following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February, the UK government sanctioned Abramovich and froze his assets, including Chelsea, due to his connections to Russian president Vladimir Putin. And though Masters declined to say that Abramovich would fail to pass the Premier League’s owners’ and directors’ test had it been in place when he bought Chelsea 19 years ago, he said that only the club’s fans would suggest that the Abramovich era was good for the league.
“It’s difficult to say now, with hindsight, that it’s all been good, given what has transpired over the last six-and-a-half months,” Masters said in a media briefing at the Premier League London headquarters. “I think if you ask Chelsea fans, they would give you a different answer.
“I think the situation we ended with has given the sport some challenges we’ve got to meet. Ultimately, there wasn’t an owners’ and directors’ test when Abramovich took ownership of Chelsea, so I suppose the answer to the question is , had there been that in place what would have happened and what safeguards we need to build in for the future?
“[There is] a rolling test, yes. Prevention is better than cure, isn’t it? There wasn’t then, there is now, it’s going to change and part of that actually is probably going to be the strengthening of the annual test.”
The Boehly consortium completed its £4.25 billion takeover of Chelsea on May 30 — 24 hours before the UK government’s May 31 deadline for the club to be sold.
And while there was widespread skepticism that the government would close Chelsea down had Abramovich failed to dispose of the club by the May 31 deadline, Masters said that there were real concerns that a deal may not have happened before the cut-off date.
“You’re in unique circumstances, nothing like this has happened before,” Masters said. “There was obviously a genuine concern the sale wouldn’t take place in the timeframe that was available.
“That didn’t happen thankfully. A lot of people worked extremely hard on it at the club’s end, the government’s end and Premier League’s end to make sure things were running as smoothly as possible. All I can say is we’re very pleased that happened, obviously.”
