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Former employee accuses Hawthorn of discrimination after mental health episode

Former employee accuses Hawthorn of discrimination after mental health episode

A young woman is taking legal action against the AFL club she used to work for, claiming she was discriminated against after being hospitalized with a mental illness.

Sophia Salmon-Abbott, 24, suffered anxiety and depression when she was an account manager for Hawthorn, according to documents filed with the human rights division of the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal.

In May last year, she spent a month in hospital after suffering a severe mental health episode and was unfit to work, according to a statement of claim.

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She further claims that in July she was advised by her psychologist she could return to work gradually, starting with one full day a week, but Hawthorn did not permit this.

Sophia Salmon-Abbott is taking legal action against Hawthorn Football Club. Picture: @sophiaabbottsalmon / InstagramSource: Supplied

Ms Salmon-Abbott was removed from a group WhatsApp chat of about 12 to 15 other employees and told she could return to work only in a part-time reception role after lockdown, according to the document.

It claims Hawthorn misled Ms Salmon-Abbott about her prospects of returning to her role as commercial partnerships account executive on a gradual basis.

Evidence cited in the claim includes an email from a Hawthorn executive which was circulated among staff but not Ms Salmon-Abbott.

It is said to have instructed that Ms Salmon-Abbott would be allowed to return to the partnerships accounts team only when she could work five days.

Ms Salmon-Abbott claims she has still not been permitted to return to Hawthorn and is now working for a new employer.

She is seeking an apology and compensation for economic and non-economic loss.

Hawthorn is a high-profile partner of mental health organization Beyond Blue, which was founded by former Victorian premier and Hawthorn president Jeff Kennett.

Hawthorn president Jeff Kennett founded Beyond Blue and was chair until former prime minister Julia Gillard took over the role in 2017. It has a close relationship with the club. Picture: Stuart McEvoySource: News Corp Australia

Ms Salmon-Abbott said she never expected to be treated the way she was by an employer connected to the advocacy organisation.

“I really thought they would understand what I was going through and have effective support mechanisms in place. They did n’t, ”she said in a statement through her lawyer de ella.

“It kept me from recovering, and made me feel helpless. It also made me feel like a burden.”

Hawthorn Football Club said it “categorically rejects the allegations” and that it will defend itself in any proceedings.

“We regard the physical and mental health and safety of all our employees as our number one priority,” a statement said.

“This has been paramount in our dealings with Ms Salmon-Abbott, with the club repeatedly offering support and assistance to accommodate her circumstances.

“As the matter will be filed with VCAT, the club will not make any further comments.”

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Why young men support Andrew Tate’s ideologies

Why young men support Andrew Tate's ideologies

According to Sydney student Ben Smith, Andrew Tate is exactly the role model his generation needs.

The 19-year-old started following the self-proclaimed “self-help guru” – whose violent and misogynistic videos have amassed more than 11.6 billion views on TikTok – for his takes on relationships and success.

“He just says it like it is. It’s like, he doesn’t worry about what people think about him,” Smith told The Oz.

“He just says what he wants to say.”

Comments under news.com.au’s own coverage of the former big brother contestant and kickboxer’s rise to infamy have echoed a similar sentiment.

“Tate is KING!!! He’s exposing the corrupt, the matrix styled control system and pathetic elite ruling class,” declared one, while another called for “Andrew Tate for PM”.

“Pushing back against all the crazy feminists,” said a third.

“Love him or hate him, he is making bank on leftist outrage. For that he deserves a salute. Not that I would want my son watching or emulating him.”

It seems incomprehensible that the views espoused by Tate – that rape victims “must bear some responsibility” for their attacks; or that women should be choked by their male partners and stopped from going out – could be perceived as anything but vile.

Yet men around the world – especially young ones in western nations – are not just resonating with the content creator, but making TikTok accounts using Tate’s picture and name to further perpetuate his message.

“It’s in the interests of men to return [Tate’s] views, because they serve the status quo power, and reinforces the idea that women are there to serve men,” FullStop Australia CEO Hayley Foster told The Oz.

“Perpetuating these views results in them having more access to power and using women for their own purposes.”

Teachers from an all-boys secondary school shared with New Zealand’s Shit You Should Care About podcast last week that Tate “is becoming an almost poisonous addiction” of their students.

“The majority of our students, especially the juniors, are OBSESSED with him and the outlandish views he portrays,” they wrote.

“What’s more terrifying is they actually see him as a role model. They’re starting to genuinely believe being successful is synonymous with abusing women.”

The school’s 13- to 15-year-old students “are doing speeches at the moment and they all want to do speeches on how inspiring he is”, the teachers added.

While in the playground, and around the classroom, they’d overheard boys parroting Tate’s points of view – that “women who are sexually assaulted are ‘asking for it’ due to ‘what they wear’”, that “some women ‘dress like hookers’”, and that “if a woman has had abortions already she loses the right to use the statement ‘her body her choice’”.

“[We] just wanted to fill you all in on the genuine terror that your young female teachers are most likely facing at the moment. Especially if a school refuses to acknowledge it as a community issue,” they said.

“We know we cannot control what our boys watch but we do want to educate them on moral decisions and viewpoints due to the poignant age they are at.”

Off the back of a segment about Tate on The Project on Sunday night, radio host and former reality TV star Abbie Chatfield said she’d “absolutely” seen evidence of the British-American’s influence in her own experiences online of late.

“I’m getting DMs from what appear to be early-teen boys saying, ‘I hope Andrew Tate destroys you’, or things along that line,” the 27-year-old said.

“I also get comments calling me ‘Abbie Tate’, and comments on TikTok especially. That’s where it’s really, really rife.”

Fellow co-host Rachel Corbett called out the social media platform for failing to remove Tate’s “dangerous” content.

“When kids look at Instagram and TikTok, and the idea of ​​11.6 billion views as a success, that then says, ‘Well those views must be good, because they look at how famous he is. So I want to emulate that.’ It’s just really dangerous,” she said.

As National Director of White Ribbon Australia, Allan Ball, explained to news.com.au, “the use of gaming, extreme bravado and music [in the videos of Tate] overlays his deplorable actions with a filter of normalcy”.

“Impressionable young minds are drawn in by money, power and unwavering confidence, to become part of a tribe,” he said.

Behavioral scientist Juliette Tobias-Webb agreed, telling The Oz that figures like Tate attract younger audiences specifically because they’re prone to risky behaviour, and are less likely to understand the consequences of their actions.

“It’s a stage when you haven’t had serious relationships or you probably haven’t been held accountable for really poor behaviour,” Dr Tobias-Webb said.

“They haven’t developed the empathy skills and that inhibition to sort of curb some of these urges.”

Mr Ball said that “we need to reframe Tate’s commentary and ask the hard questions to better understand what young men believe are the benefits and drawbacks of having these beliefs”.

“We need to be sharing messages of equality, respect and the ways we can work together to stop violence – hate and abuse don’t have a monopoly on what constitutes viral content,” he added.

“If Tate’s body of hateful, demeaning and misogynistic musings are not sufficient for TikTok to act, then we must work together as a community to provide young men with an alternate lens of respect, compassion and equality.”

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‘Unprecedented’ demand for AFLW tickets prompts change to 53,000-capacity venue | AFLW

The inaugural AFLW match between Essendon and Hawthorn has been shifted to the 53,000-capacity Marvel Stadium after tickets for the original venue sold out within 24 hours – and more games this season could be moved to bigger stadiums if interest levels remain high.

The AFL said “unprecedented ticketing demands” for the first AFLW clash between the two expansion clubs resulted in the move from Port Melbourne’s ETU Stadium – which can hold 12,000 – across the Yarra River to the far larger Docklands venue.

The women’s competition will grow to a full compliment of 18 clubs this season, with the Bombers and Hawks to join Port Adelaide and Sydney in making their AFLW debuts.

The round one clash between the traditional rivals on 27 August attracted particular interest and a campaign to “Move it to Marvel” – led by the clubs – put pressure on the league to green light a switch.

That pressure paid off after the initial allocation of tickets were quickly snapped up – reportedly inside just two hours of going on sale – and the AFL confirmed the venue change on Sunday. “The Essendon faithful have spoken,” a Bombers tweet read.

The AFL said it had no choice but to make the move given the demand for tickets.

“Quite simply the fans of both clubs, and supporters of women’s footy in general, showed why we needed to move to a bigger venue by selling out the game so quickly,” AFL administrator Travis Auld said.

The venue change is reflective of the growing interest in the expanding women’s competition, which is heading into its seventh campaign and has seen record membership numbers and attendance rates off the back of last season.

“We know the appetite for AFLW is huge, but the strength of sales across all nine round one matches and having an inaugural game sell out in a day is amazing,” the AFL’s general manager of women’s football Nicole Livingstone said.

“To see two teams – and traditionally arch rivals, no less – debut to a packed Marvel Stadium is the stuff dreams are made of.”

The AFL said it will monitor future ticket sales for games at ETU Stadium, with the league open to further venue changes if ticket sales warranted a bigger stadium.

“We’re continuing to work with ETU or Port Melbourne Oval. It’s a great oval and facility, obviously it has broadcast lights as well there, but we want to make sure we’re doing the right thing for AFLW,” Livingstone told the AFLW website.

“We do have matches scheduled there between rounds two and four, so there are more matches there. We’d like to be able to utilize North Port Oval as well, but we’ll continue to monitor ticket sales. We want to make the most of AFLW, it’s a new time for us.”

The game will follow the season curtain-raiser between Collingwood and Carlton at Ikon Park on Thursday 25 August, and the grand final rematch between Adelaide and Melbourne a day later.

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South Sydney Rabbitohs, Dylan Edwards on Latrell Mitchell’s form, are Rabbitohs contenders, Matty Johns

South Sydney Rabbitohs, Dylan Edwards on Latrell Mitchell's form, are Rabbitohs contenders, Matty Johns

Panthers fullback Dylan Edwards admits that Latrell Mitchell looks like he’s going to have an impact “every time” he gets the ball, ahead of their crunch clash on Thursday.

Mitchell has been in sensational form for South Sydney since returning from an almost three month injury lay-off against the Eels in early July.

The 25-year-old has been as his rampaging best with 42 tackle busts in just seven games, as well as 10 try assists, and four tries of his own.

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But his best performance of the year may have come against the Eels on Friday night, where he ran for an incredible season-high of 211 meters.

Rival fullback Edwards, who is a chance to return against Mitchell’s Rabbitohs on Thursday, was full of praise for the former Origin star.

“It looks like something’s going to happen every time he touches the ball,” Edwards said on Sunday Night with Matty Johns.

“(He’s) Pretty hard to tackle at the moment.”

South Sydney have made the most of Mitchell’s stellar form, winning six of their last seven to rise up the NRL ladder.

That one loss came in a golden point thriller against Cronulla, with Mitchell missing multiple field goal attempts that would’ve handed his side a key two-points.

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But Matty Johns still wasn’t convinced by the emerging premiership contenders, comparing them to a “nice Sunday drive” on his SEN radio show last week.

Johns believed that the Rabbitohs needed to maintain a higher level of intensity for 80 minutes, but his wish became a reality on Friday night.

“I’ve been waiting for this for South Sydney, an 80 minute effort and they certainly did it,” Johns said.

Crucially Cody Walker found his best football. The crucial thing for Cody is watching how he played his football game, is that Cody had more of a focus on the middle of the field if that makes sense.

“Linking with (Damien) Cook when Cook took off, rather than just trying to create numbers for his outside men.

“It was a performance where Cody just focused on Cody, and I thought that brought his best football out.”

Five-eighth Cody Walker scored two tries and forced two dropouts during what was one of his best games in Rabbitohs colors in recent memory.

Walker scored the opening points of the night after a clever link-up play with hooker Damien Cook caught Parramatta napping.

South Sydney Rabbitohs press conference | 06:28

Later on, the 32-year-old was in the right place at the right time as the ball fell to him, and allowed him to double his try scoring tally for the night.

Eels great Nathan Hindmarsh thought that Walker’s brilliance along, with Mitchell’s dominance, helped spur Souths on to a win over a “lethargic” Eels.

“Latrell playing back at his best, and then he can dominate the edges like he did on the weekend, so that leaves Cody with the opportunity to do what he does around the ruck,” Hindmarsh said.

“They just had tried. They had more intent than the Eels did, the Eels looked lethargic at times, well most of the time to be honest with you.

“Souths had this in them. They did it to the Eels earlier on in the season, they’re a dangerous side South Sydney.

“For me the disappointing thing for the Eels (was) not to score any points.”

While Souths would need an incredible win, and for the Storm to lose, to move into the top four, a win on Thursday will have a crucial say on how the ladder shapes up at the end of the season.

While Melbourne currently occupy fourth spot, they have three tough games to play against finals hopefuls Brisbane, the Roosters, and then the Eels.

However, it doesn’t get much easier for the Rabbitohs who have their own dates with destiny against the Cowboys and Roosters to finish the regular season.

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Ben Rutten remains Essendon coach, president Paul Brasher replaced by David Barham, Alastair Clarkson future

By Simon Brunsdon, Damien McCartney and Chris De Silva

UPDATE: Ben Rutten remains the senior coach of Essendon despite earlier reports suggesting he was set to be axed ahead of the club’s final match of the season.

Essendon powerbrokers spent the majority of Monday locked in a lengthy meeting to discuss the club’s future following a horrendous 84-point loss at the hands of Port Adelaide less than 24 hours earlier.

Monday’s meeting was the Essendon board’s second in as many days as the club looks to chart out of the undesirable position it finds itself in.

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Club president Paul Brasher has stepped down from his role with immediate effect, with former Channel 10 sports boss David Barham confirmed as Essendon’s new president.

Brasher’s departure has led to major doubts on Rutten’s future, given the now ex-president was a vocal supporter of the 39-year-old, but club CEO Xavier Campbell told reporters late on Monday that the senior coach had not yet been sacked despite contrary reports.

“Ben is our coach of the footy club,” he said.

“As you guys are aware there are ongoing discussions at the board level, they’ll continue this week.”

Despite Campbell’s comments, Essendon is understood to have an interest in legendary former Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson, who still remains unsigned.

Clarkson has been engaged in conversations with both North Melbourne and the GWS Giants, with the former tabling a long-term deal of at least five years late last week.

Essendon confirmed in a statement late on Monday afternoon that the club would embark on an external review following the internal review of the football department conducted earlier this season.

The statement made no mention of Rutten or any other members of the Essendon coaching department.

“The decision to extend the substantial work already done in examining our football program to add additional external aspects into the review will set the tone for our club in the years ahead,” Brasher said in the statement.

“Under the constitution, my term as a board member must end next year. Rather than wait until the middle of 2023, I believe it is most important that the person who will act as president in the years ahead should be the person who oversees the review.

“Therefore, I have decided it makes sense for me to step down now from the position of president. I love this club and will do whatever I can to assist it over the remainder of my term. Dave (Barham) will have my full support .”

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Barham, who has been on the club’s board since 2015, said the club needed a “laser-like focus on our football performance above everything else”.

“The view of the board is that we cannot continue to only review ourselves and hope that things will change. Whilst the review was thorough and well done, the board has determined that our club needs further external aspects added into our analysis,” the new president said in the club statement.

“We need to accept where we are, look hard at what best practice in AFL football is, reset, and then begin our fight back to winning premierships.

“No one is underestimating the task at hand, but it must start some time and today is the day.

“We are confident we can do this. The broader club is in excellent shape, has outstanding facilities and a hardworking and valued administration.

“To all Bomber fans, this is a line in the sand moment.

“We will need your continued support and help to do this, but I know we can count on you, as you have never let us down, ever.

“There are plenty of reasons to be optimistic about our future. This work will mean we the board can be in the best position to make what are very important decisions about our future.”

Rutten took full control of the Bombers last year after spending 2020 in a transitional role with former coach John Worsfold.

He took a young team to the finals in his debut year in charge, and Essendon was bundled out by the Bulldogs in week one. The club has not won a finals game since 2004.

Many pundits had high hopes for the team this season with one of the younger rosters in the AFL and bucketloads of natural talent.

Instead the Bombers have gone backwards badly, winning only seven games, leading to doubts surrounding Rutten’s future.

They went on a three-game winning streak last month, which was only broken by Collingwood kicking a goal after the siren in round 19.

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Ginnivan treatment “despicable” as Magpie slams booing “grubs”

Ginnivan treatment “despicable” as Magpie slams booing “grubs”

Collingwood vice-captain Taylor Adams has slammed Sydney fans for booing injured teammate Jack Ginnivan.

Adams labeled sections of the SCG crowd “grubs” for booing Ginnivan when he appeared on the screen whilst sitting on the bench.

The young Magpies forward injured his hamstring during Sunday’s 27-point loss to the Swans, which ended the Magpies’ 11-game winning streak.

Ginnivan was substituted out of the game at half-time after experiencing hamstring tightness in the second quarter.

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“Imagine booing an injured player. Grubs,” Adams tweeted.

SEN host Gerard Whateley slammed the “despicable” treatment Ginnivan has had to endure.

“We’ve allowed a young player in Jack Ginnivan to be demonized – and I think that’s just awful,” Whateley said on SEN’s Whateley.

“We all have played a role in that, all of us.”

Whateley said further: “Collectively all of us have demonized this young man and it’s awful – it’s actually despicable what we’re doing to him.

“He’s told us the affect that it’s having, and it seems to have no impact in our footy community.”

Collingwood coach Craig McRae provided an injury update on Ginnivan after the game.

“He played the last 10 minutes of the second quarter with a tight hamstring, and even kicked a goal with it,” McRae told reporters.

“We’ll work through that during the week and see what it is, but it’s pretty unlikely that he’ll play next week.”

Fifth-placed Collingwood lock horns with eighth-placed Carlton in a crucial Round 23 clash at the MCG on Sunday.





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Supercar news | Melbourne Storm co-owners buy iconic racing team

Dick Johnson Racing, the oldest team on the Repco Supercars Championship grid, has been sold.

Rumors have been running rife in recent months that the team was actively seeking new owners.

Now that’s been confirmed, with the team announcing the Ralph family behind Jet Couriers and a slew of Melbourne sporting teams has acquired the iconic Supercars squad.

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As of January 2023, the family will be majority shareholders in the team.

Their interest will be held through the Melbourne Aces Baseball Club complementing their expansive sporting portfolio.

The Ralph family also has shareholdings in the Melbourne Storm NRL club and the Sunshine Coast Lightning Super Netball club.

Brett Ralph is the director of the Sunshine Coast Lightning, Melbourne United Basketball Club, the Australian Baseball League, and chairs the Melbourne Aces Baseball Club.

The Ralph family has had a previous interest in Dick Johnson Racing by way of sponsoring one of its star drivers, Anton De Pasquale.

“On behalf of the Ralph family, we are honored to join Dick Johnson Racing as a majority shareholder,” said newly announced team owner Brett Ralph.

“We are very excited to be part of Australia’s most iconic race team who has won in its culture, just like all of our other business ventures and partnerships.”

The eponymous team was founded in 1980 by Dick Johnson, who was an owner-driver until 1999.

The team is also one of the most successful in the category’s history with 10 drivers’ championship wins, three teams’ championship titles, and four Bathurst 1000 victories.

Johnson and team chairman Ryan Story will continue to hold a significant share in the business and maintain their day-to-day positions, overseeing operations.

“I am excited to announce today the Team’s partnership with the Ralph family,” said managing director and chairman Story.

“Brett and the Ralph family are strategic investors at DJR, with the current management structure we have in place continuing to run the business day-to-day as they have been.

“Brett and the Ralph family are fantastic people, and we couldn’t imagine partnering with anyone else.

“They are extremely experienced business people with a passion for sport that is undeniable.

“From the moment I first spoke with Brett he and I just clicked, and I knew we would have a fantastic working relationship.”

Dick Johnson added, “Jillie [Johnson] and I are excited to welcome the Ralph family into Dick Johnson Racing.

“We are immensely proud of the family culture we have created at DJR and to be working with a family who have the same values ​​and views is extremely exciting and confidence-instilling.”

De Pasquale leads the team’s efforts in the Repco Supercars Championship, sitting third and one place ahead of teammate Will Davison.

The season continues on August 19-21 with the Penrite Oil Sandown SuperSprint.

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POLL: Do you want a Supercars retro round return?

POLL: Do you want a Supercars retro round return?

The retro liveries of 2019

In this week’s Pirtek Poll, we want to know whether you would like to see the Supercars retro round revived.

The championship launched its Sandown retro round concept in 2016, encouraging teams to celebrate the category’s history by recreating classic liveries and attire from the period.

However, the fan favorite throwback theme has had a run of absence, last seen in 2019.

Speedcafe.com understands Supercars management is keen to re-introduce the concept in the future.

While its absenteeism during the seasons impacted by COVID-19 is understandable, retro round has again fallen by the wayside this year.

A factor in that is Sandown’s place on the calendar was only secured in June after uncertainty lingered over the event amid talk of reducing the calendar to 12 rounds.

Furthermore, the championship had already committed to a themed event in its inaugural indigenous round at Darwin’s Hidden Valley Raceway.

Held in June, the Merlin Darwin Triple Crown put a greater emphasis on indigenous culture with theme-specific liveries made mandatory.

Retro round has typically been well supported by Supercars teams, giving the event a point of difference that links in with the circuit’s history.

Teams have changed up the color scheme on their cars, with some also producing one-off merchandise to match the livery.

At its most recent incarnation in 2019, almost the entire grid fielded a recognizable ‘retro’ livery; Tickford Racing celebrated Allan Moffat’s 1969 Mustang (with the car appropriately co-driven by James Moffat), and Tekno switched to the white, green, and blue of Bob Morris’ Torana from 1979.

At Team 18 there was a retro NASCAR-themed design, while Brad Jones Racing recreated its OzEmail Racing look from the early 2000s.

According to Speedcafe.com’s readers at the time, the pick of the bunch however was Walkinshaw Andretti United’s recreation of the 1999 Holden Racing Team look, which picked up almost 40 percent of a Pirtek Poll for the best retro design that year.

Supercars, and the Australian Touring Car Championship, have a long and decorated history and it was somehow appropriate that, once a year it was celebrated in a practical and visible sense.

Running retro liveries is not a simple process and requires the support of team sponsors, which can dictate if a project goes ahead.

The cost of a one-off livery is thought to range between $10,000 and $30,000 depending on the circumstance, but have resulted in some iconic looks gracing one of our most historic venues once again.

Ironically, history has also proven that the concept is a huge hit with fans and so with that, Speedcafe.com wants to know if you would like to see the Supercars retro round revived.

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AFL: Showdown win in Adelaide last thing for Crows and Port to play for

AFL: Showdown win in Adelaide last thing for Crows and Port to play for

With Port Adelaide’s prison bar guernsey out of bounds, skipper Tom Jonas has declared he’ll be happy to beat Adelaide in whichever guernsey he’s given on Saturday night.

Club chairman David Koch has been fighting a losing battle to gain permission from Collingwood for Port’s players to don the fabled prison bars in their home Showdown at Adelaide Oval.

But winning, not his wardrobe, is on Jonas’s mind in a natch that matters no matter when it’s played in a two-team town, more so given the Crows won the first stoush in 2022.

“It would be nice to wear the prison bars, but that’s a decision that is well beyond me,” Jonas said on Monday.

“I’ll run out there and beat the Crows in whatever they want me to wear.

“Certainly, we were on the wrong end of it last time and we want to make amends for that, for sure.

“I don’t think there’s any such thing as a dead rubber when it comes to a Showdown. There’s a huge amount of pride on the line.

“Essentially, there’s bragging rights around the state and you can walk around with your chest puffed out.”

The clash of cross-town rivals could be Robbie Gray’s farewell match, with the five-time Showdown Medal winner mulling retirement.

The four-time All-Australian, who was rested for the 84-point thumping of Essendon, has played 15 games this season to take his career tally to 270 but has been hampered by persistent knee problems.

Jonas remains unsure which way the 34-year-old is leaning as he considers his future.

“Robbie is a very private person,” he said.

“He’ll make the decision that’s right for him at the right time.

“I’m sure that he’s consulting all of the people that are important in his life.

“As far as I’m concerned, he’s an absolute champion of our club … he’ll do what’s right for him and the club at the right time.”

The Power bounced back into form in emphatic fashion against the Bombers, with the lopsided victory at Marvel Stadium snapping a four-game losing streak that dashed finals hopes.

While pleased with the performance, many fans will be left asking why Port was unable to perform at the same high standard more consistently in a season that started with premiership aspirations.

“There’s a lot of factors that go into that,” Jonas said.

“We’ve played some really quality sides in the last four to six weeks and Essendon are probably at a similar point in their season where you’ve got to find motivation and I think we had a great purpose and that made a huge difference.

“We got a good run on and played some exciting footy.

“Why we haven’t been able to do that consistently is the question we’ll be asking ourselves over the pre-season.”

The 52nd meeting of Adelaide’s AFL rivals will bring both clubs’ seasons to a close, but there is no shortage of motivation for each side despite the lack of a finals angle.

The Crows, who will take the momentum of a three-game winning run into the clash, famously claimed Showdown bragging rights earlier this season when Jordan Dawson kicked the winner after the siren.

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A-League: Joe Lolley joins Sydney FC

A-League: Joe Lolley joins Sydney FC

Sydney FC has added further English Premier League experience to its squad with the signing of attacker Joe Lolley.

Lolley, 29, made six appearances for Huddersfield Town in the 2017-18 Premier League season.

Since then he has spent the past five seasons in the second-tier English Championship with Nottingham Forest, helping then gain promotion the Premier League for the 2022-23 campaign which started this month.

However, having been deemed surplus to requirements at Forest, he grabbed the chance to move to Sydney FC, where he will team with another ex-Premier League player in former Everton, Manchester City and Sunderland midfielder Jack Rodwell, who joined the Sky Blues last week after a season with Western Sydney Wanderers.

“I’m extremely excited to be joining Sydney FC,” said Lolley, who has signed a two-year deal with his new club.

“I know there’s a lot of expectation to win every season, which is a great challenge,

and they’ve got a fantastic plan in place to do that, which really attracted me to

make the move.

“I really appreciate the intent shown by the club in bringing me to Sydney.

“The club expects to win and I’m looking forward to getting on the pitch with the lads

ahead of the season starting in around eight weeks.”

Sydney FC coach Steve Corica said Lolly had “proven quality at a high level in England”.

“He is the type of player we were targeting and we had to be patient to secure him,” Corica said.

“He brings a goal threat with his ability to cut inside and can also pick a pass.

“He’s got great energy, an amazing ability to carry the ball and works hard for the

team.

“Fans love him because he gives his all and I know he was hugely popular at

Nottingham Forest, so I’m sure he will be here.”

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