Sydney Swans champion Josh Kennedy has called time on his illustrious AFL career, days after suffering another hamstring injury.
Key points:
Josh Kennedy injured his hamstring again on the weekend playing for the Swans reserves in the VFL
He has not played in the AFL since round 10, and will finish his career having played 290 games
Kennedy was a three-time All Australian and played in Sydney’s 2012 premiership team
The 34-year-old midfielder will call it quits at the end of the season, and will give an update on his injury when he fronts the media on Tuesday.
Kennedy played in the Swans’ VFL game against North Melbourne on Sunday as he eyed a return to the senior team but walked off the Arden St oval in pain.
Swans coach John Longmire said after the club’s AFL win over the Kangaroos that Kennedy would have scans on his hamstring to determine any damage.
“It was on the other side (the left), it’s not the [right] hamstring he did early in the season,” Longmire said.
The former co-captain tore his hamstring in the Swans’ round 10 game against Carlton and was sidelined for eight weeks.
Kennedy was an unused sub in the thumping Sydney derby win over GWS in round 20.
The veteran, who has played 290 games, will fall just short of reaching the 300-game milestone.
Josh Kennedy parades the 2012 premiership cup.(Getty Images: Mark Metcalfe)
He has played 13 games for Hawthorn, the club his father and grandfather were icons at, but moved to the Swans in 2010 to seek greater opportunities.
The three-time All-Australian has played 277 games for the Swans, including the club’s 2012 grand final win over the Hawks.
It comes after West Coast legend Josh Kennedy played the last of his 292 games on Sunday, kicking eight goals in his farewell match against Adelaide.
Nick Kyrgios’ career-best run of form has prompted an inevitable debate around one big question — is he a legitimate contender to win the US Open?
The 27-year-old Australian made history by winning both the singles and doubles titles at the ATP event in Washington, a month after he reached his first grand slam final at Wimbledon.
Kyrgios’ ranking has jumped to 37 and a strong performance at next week’s Montreal Masters could clinch him an all-important seeding at the year’s final grand slam in New York, starting later this month.
The enigmatic Aussie caught many by surprise with his run at the All England Club and how he’s since backed up that performance has prompted discussion about whether Kyrgios may now be emerging as the grand slam force many have always thought he could become.
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Kyrgios wins hearts with gift for fan | 00:37
Former world No.1 Andy Roddick is among those who believe the hype is real when it comes to Kyrgios’ prospects at Flushing Meadows, where Wimbledon champion Nick Kyrgios and injury-riddle Rafael Nadal may be absent.
“It’s a big, big deal to me that he goes into Washington, which is a pretty big event in the lead-up to the US Open,” Roddick told Steve Weissman of Tennis Channel on The Rich Eisen Show.
“Brutal conditions….To go through singles and doubles and not to tap out mentally or physically is a big, big sign.
“I think it puts him into the top two, maybe three, favorites for the US Open.”
Stuart Fraser, writing for The Times, said many of Kyrgios’ rivals will be relieved he is on course to be seeded at the US Open — removing him as a nightmare early round potential opponent — and agreed Kyrgios was up as a legitimate force in the singles.
“Whether Kyrgios is seeded or not at the US Open, he will be considered a contender after showing at Wimbledon that he has what it takes to come through several consecutive matches in the extended best-of-five-set format,” Fraser said.
“A potential second-round meeting with Medvedev in Montreal this week would help to determine where exactly he will sit on the bookmakers’ list.”
Kokk downs veteran Verdasco in Mexico | 00:26
Tennis Podcast co-host Matt Roberts said Kyrgios’ Washington performance showed he was likely to build on his success at Wimbledon, rather than it being a flash in the pan.
“I know it’s the first time he’s won a title this season but he has been playing very well whenever he’s played and I do think, I go back a lot to that quote he gave, kind of jokingly, straight after Wimbledon but it was serious at the same time, where he said that if he’d won Wimbledon he might have lost his motivation,” Roberts said.
“I actually think that losing that final, in a way, is probably the best thing in terms of prolonging his career. I think he’s got a little bit of a taste for it now in terms of wanting to see what happens when he properly dedicates himself and really does put his mind to it.
“I think he wants to find out how good he can get. A week like this, he played players that were kind of comfortable for him I think. He’s still only beaten Tsitisapas as a top 10 player in this run. We haven’t really seen him play those absolute top players I suppose.
“I’m interested to see next week when he plays potentially Daniil Medvedev in potentially his second match in Canada.
“That would be a fantastic test for both of them. it’s kind of tough to judge just exactly where Kyrgios’ level is but — an unmotivated Kyrgios is a dangerous player. A motivated Kyrgios is a different thing altogether.”
Co-host David Law warned, however, that history was not on Kyrgios’ side when it came to going all the way at slams.
“I think he is playing the most professional, consistent tennis of his career. Whether that means anything we’ll have to wait and see,” Law said.
“… I still think, best of five sets where you don’t have the help of the surface, he is going to malfunction.
“He is going to get in his own way. Somebody is going to hang on in a match, players peak at grand slams. He’s going to play against players who are playing their best stuff at that tournament and he is going to come apart at the seams, most likely, because that is the history.
RAGE aplenty as Kyrgios wins tie-break | 02:07
James Gray, writing for iSport, agreed despite acknolwedging the Kyrgios hype train “might never have had such a head of steam up as it currently does”.
“Entertainment has never been Kyrgios’s problem: attainment has,” Gray wrote.
“Have you finally got over that hump? There are certainly results in his 2022 record to suggest he might have done, beating Stefanos Tsitsipas (twice), Casper Ruud and Andrey Rublev, but his record against the top 20 in 2022 remains six wins and seven losses. For that kind of form to equal victory in New York, Kyrgios will need some help from the draw.
“He is likely to get some as well, since his world ranking will now almost certainly earn him a seeded spot, protecting him from the world’s top 30 players in the opening two rounds. And circumstance – injury to Alexander Zverev and the unvaccinated status of Novak Djokovic – will protect him from two of the top 10 for the duration of the tournament.”
Coleman Medalist Harry McKay believes Carlton’s 2022 has been a successful campaign – even if it ultimately misses finals after being in the top eight since Round 1.
The Blues have been one of the stories of the AFL season, placing inside the top eight at the end of every round so far. After eight consecutive bottom-eight finishes, Michael Voss’ team now needs one more win to cement a finals berth for the first time since 2013.
But the Blues are now clinging to seventh spot on the ladder after a 33-point loss to Brisbane on Sunday – their fourth loss from their past six games.
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With two tough games against top-four sides Melbourne and Collingwood to finish their home and away season, the Blues are now in danger of missing finals, with St Kilda and, particularly, Richmond and the Western Bulldogs well placed to squeeze into the top eight .
The last team to be in finals places every round except the last was Carlton in 1977.
Asked on Fox Footy’s On The Couch if the Blues would still consider the 2022 season a success, even if they missed finals, McKay said: “Short answer yes.
“I think I judge success in terms of our environment that we’ve created. The last couple of years we’ve probably struggled in that space in terms of culture, environment, building a really solid gameplan.
“Whatever happens for the rest of the year, I guess that’s outcome-based. But for me as a player that’s been there seven or eight years, this 12 months have been a success. Whether that comes with finals or whatever it is, I think we’ve taken a really big step in the right direction.
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“’Vossy’ talked about the other day ‘hopefully it’s a long book and this is just Chapter 1’. We want to finish off the chapter really well, but it’s definitely still a success I reckon.”
While many Blues fans would struggle to comprehend missing the finals after so many victories in 2022, triple premiership Bomber Tim Watson said Carlton’s “trajectory is going in the right direction”.
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“Success can be measured in a whole different lot of ways, but they are still improving and their graph is going in the right direction,” Watson told SEN Breakfast after hearing McKay’s comments.
“They built up a level of expectation, based on their performances earlier in the season, and I remember seeing them and thinking ‘yeah, they’re capable of actually winning the flag’.
“They’ve got some problems at the moment though – and partly to do with injury.”
McKay claimed last year’s Coleman Medal with a haul of 58 goals, but said he’d enjoyed this year more considering the team’s success to date.
“This year has been very enjoyable and a different place,” he said.
Carlton needs one more win to qualify for finals. Picture: Russell FreemanSource: Getty Images
“Although we did a lot right over the last couple of years, this year it’s just started to click. Some key changes to some key personnel have been really refreshing and really nice.
“The last few weeks have been challenging after a pretty solid first 16 to 18 rounds. It’s been a little bit disappointing we haven’t been able to play our best football, but we’re still in a really good and exciting position. Two big games at the MCG to finish the year and a chance to do something we haven’t been able to do in 10 or so years.
“Even post-game (Sunday afternoon), there was initial disappointment and frustration and we touched on a few things that didn’t go right. But before we walked out the door it was ‘what an amazing opportunity we’ve got’.
McKay said the Blues needed to improve their contested ball work, which had been “a little bit off” in the past fortnight, while they wanted to move the footy with more “dare”.
Essendon has made preliminary inquiries around unsigned North Melbourne forward Cam Zurhaar.
Zurhaar has been sitting on a Kangaroos contract for two months and has understandably held off committing given the ongoing uncertainty around who will take over as senior coach.
While the Bombers have some interest in the 24-year-old goalkicker, there is also a belief he re-signs at Arden Street once a coach is named.
Further, Essendon have other holes they want to fill, particularly the addition of a big-bodied midfielder.
Josh Dunkley requested a trade to the Dons in 2020, but the Western Bulldogs held the onballer to his contract. Angus Brayshaw was an Essendon target earlier this year before signing back on at Melbourne.
The Bombers feel a bigger midfielder would complement an existing engine room which includes Zach Merrett (179cm), Darcy Parish (180cm), Dylan Shiel (182cm), Jye Caldwell (183cm) and youngster Ben Hobbs (183cm).
Dunkley’s contract expires this year and while the Dogs have presented him with a long-term offer, negotiations have progressed slowly.
The Dunkley camp hasn’t rejected the offer, but haven’t presented a counter-offer, either.
Dunkley is said to be happy and engaged at Whitten Oval, but while the Dogs expect him to stay it’s not moving quickly.
The Brooklyn Nets absolutely deserve this no-ring circus, and every absurd sideshow that defines it.
They deserve to be universally mocked after Kevin Durant followed up his trade demand with a vicious put-back dunk — one call for the firing of the general manager who hired him, and another for the head coach he got hired.
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In May, Sean Marks and Steve Nash announced in a news conference that it was time to dump their culture of superstar appeasement in favor of the old one, under deposed coach Kenny Atkinson, of player development and organic team-centric growth.
Over the weekend, The Athletic reported, Durant announced in a London meeting with Nets owner Joe Tsai that it was time to dump Marks and Nash in favor of replacements capable of driving a championship-level roster to a more desirable postseason location than a first- round sweep.
Durant has reportedly made these terminations the terms of his re-engagement, his only road back to Brooklyn, and on a certain level Tsai might feel tempted — despite tweeting out his support for the front office and coaching staff — to give him what he wants .
Kevin Durant looks headed for a messy exit from the Brooklyn Nets. Al Bello/Getty Images/AFPSource: AFP
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After all, KD is better at his job than Marks and Nash are at theirs, and in a cold, cold business, a question needs to be asked: Who gives you a better chance to finally win a championship, Durant with a new head coach and GM, or Marks/Nash with whatever assets the Nets acquire in a KD deal?
They call the NBA a players league for a reason.
Basketball has fewer players in the arena than football, baseball, and hockey, adding more value to the individual juggernaut who can control the ball on nearly every possession.
Durant will go down among the top dozen or so all-time NBA greats, and even with his injury history at an opening-night age of 34, there really is no replacing him.
On the other hand, Durant has proven to be a less effective GM than Marks and one who shouldn’t be making personnel decisions.
As we’ve written before, KD executed one of the worst trades in league history when he exchanged Steph Curry and Golden State’s winning DNA for Kyrie Irving and a whole lot of problems to be named later.
Things haven’t gone to plan in Brooklyn for Durant. Michelle Farsi/Getty Images/AFPSource: AFP
Had Durant stayed with Curry and the Warriors, he ultimately would’ve won more rings than LeBron James’ four and climbed another step or three on the legacy ladder.
But Durant wanted to prove he could build his own winner, with Irving by his side, and what a colossal miscalculation it’s been.
Nobody blames the Nets for doing what they had to do to beat the Knicks and others in the free-agent race for Durant and Irving in the summer of 2019.
Smart people do blame them for taking on DeAndre Jordan at $40 million, for axing Atkinson, and for shipping out nearly their entire development system for 13 high-maintenance months of James Harden as part of the price of doing business with KD and Kyrie.
“The Nets should be fined by the league if they ever use the word ‘culture’ again,” said one prominent NBA source.
Of course, the Nets had already exposed their soulless core when they caved in on their initial COVID stance with the unvaccinated Irving, all in pursuit of on-court victories that wouldn’t come.
Tsai and Marks have found out the hard way that once you turn over your business to the talent, there’s no getting it back.
Durant hadn’t even started playing on his four-year extension worth nearly $200 million before he told the Nets he wanted to be somewhere else.
Right after Irving opted in, Durant opted out.
Durant reportedly wants Steve Nash gone as head coach. (Photo by Eric Espada/Getty Images) (Photo by Eric Espada/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images
Though he pushed for his buddy Nash, a man with no coaching experience, to get the Nets job two years ago, KD now believes Nash has little idea what he’s doing. Beautiful.
After the Celtics swept his team in April, Durant was asked if he believed Nash was still “the right guy to lead this group.”
With a dose of incredulity he responded, “I mean, come on man. Like, yeah, Steve has been dealt a crazy hand the last two years, when he’s had to deal with so much stuff as a head coach, a first-time coach. He trades, injuries, COVID, just a lot of stuff he had to deal with, and I’m proud of how he just focused on his passion for us. And we’ll all continue to keep developing over the summer and see what happens.”
We all know what happened since that response.
The Warriors won another championship, beating the same team in the Finals that had embarrassed the Nets, and Durant decided to lash out.
He realized that Brooklyn was a million miles away from legitimate title contention — in large part because of deals and hires he notarized — and he wanted to get to a team that could cut off Golden State’s advance on more rings.
No, I needed to get to a team that could cut off Golden State’s advance on more rings.
Durant eventually realized the Nets’ asking price in a trade is so high, any team that lands him will be too depleted to win it all.
So in a brutally hot summer, he turned up the heat on Tsai by telling him he’d return if the owner makes Marks and Nash disappear. Durant is trying to will a trade into existence.
In the process, he has left the Nets looking like the kind of league-wide joke they often were in the bad ol’ days in Jersey.
This article originally appeared on the New York Post and has been reposted with permission
The US PGA Tour filed a motion in federal court on Monday asking three LIV Golf players not to be allowed to compete in this week’s FedEx Cup playoff opener, while delivering a blistering attack on the morality of the tournament.
Arguing LIV Golf players knew there would be consequences for leaving the PGA for the Saudi-backed upstart series, the PGA said in US District Court for Northern California that they can not “have their cake and eat it too.”
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Australian Matt Jones and Americans Talor Gooch and Hudson Swafford will have a hearing on Tuesday afternoon in San Jose on their request for a temporary restraining order forcing them to be allowed to compete at this week’s St. Jude Championship at Memphis.
The PGA Tour called the players’ motion “legally baseless” in its filing and added their decision to wait two months after leaving to file the motion was “fabricating an ’emergency’ they now maintain requires immediate action.”
The PGA said players knew their actions would bring suspensions and noted other LIV players who could have playoff spots based on top 125 point finishers in the PGA season have opted not to ask for such spots.
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“The players’ purported harm is entirely self-induced,” the PGA filing said. The three players were among 11 who filed an anti-trust lawsuit against the PGA Tour last week, the first legal blow in a fight over the future of elite-level golf that could take years to settle.
The court also heard that LIV Golf was “prepared to lose billions of dollars” for the sport by sportswashing for “deplorable” Saudi Arabia – the financial backers of the tournament.
“Liv is not a rational economic actor, competing fairly to start a golf tour,” the court heard.
“It’s prepared to lose billions of dollars to leverage plaintiffs and the sport of golf to ‘sportswash’ the Saudi government’s deplorable reputation for human rights abuses.”
A court has heard the PGA believes LIV Golf is sportswashing. Photo: Getty ImagesSource: Getty Images
LIV Golf offered record $25 million purses and lured away several of the sport’s top names from the US PGA Tour, prompting the PGA to make major prize money boosts for many events next season.
Phil Mickelson, Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka, Patrick Reed, Bubba Watson, Dustin Johnson, Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood, Sergio Garcia, Henrik Stenson, Louis Oosthuizen and Martin Kaymer are among those who have cast their lot with LIV Golf.
The next LIV Golf event will not be contested until after the PGA playoffs, with this week’s top 70 in points advancing to next week’s BMW Championship and the top 30 making it to the Tour Championship in Atlanta.
Gooch was 20th in FedEx Cup points with Jones 65th and Swafford 67th but they have been suspended since teeing off in their first LIV Golf event.
There are currently only 122 players in the field at Memphis as three of those who made the lineup have dropped out.
England’s Tommy Fleetwood cited personal reasons while American Daniel Berger has not played since the US Open due to a back injury and American Lanto Griffin said in July he was likely done for the season after back surgery.
The football world has been split on whether Cripps deserves to be suspended. Should his appeal fail, it will be a major hit to the Blues’ finals hopes. They are clinging to seventh spot and are already missing injured on ballers George Hewett and Matt Kennedy.
Co-vice-captain Sam Walsh said the Blues were embracing the added pressure heading into Saturday night’s clash against Melbourne at the MCG.
“We have to embrace it as an awesome opportunity,” the prolific midfielder said at Ikon Park on Tuesday.
“I’ve been at the club now four years, and this is the opportunity we’ve been asking for to be able to play in these big games in front of big crowds. I’m going to see it as time for us to really stand up and we’re going to take a step forward in the right direction this week.
Harry McKay says the Blues will have had a successful year even if they fail to make the finals.Credit:Getty Images
“We would have killed to be in this position in past years, so we just have to have some optimism in the way we want to go about it.”
The Blues started the year 9-3 and were in the top-four hunt a fortnight ago, before back-to-back losses to Adelaide and Brisbane left them vulnerable to miss the post-season.
They have slipped in several statistical areas, including a marked difference in scores from turnover differential, uncontested marks and overall pressure rating in defeat when compared to victory.
Should they lose their final two games to the Demons and Collingwood, they face the real risk any two of Richmond, St Kilda and the Western Bulldogs jumping them into the eight.
They have won only four of their past 10 matches but reigning Coleman medalist Harry McKay insisted they would still consider their 2022 campaign a success even if they failed to make the finals.
“I judge success in terms of our environment that we’ve created,” McKay told Fox Sports.
“The last couple of years, we’ve probably struggled in terms of culture, environment, putting in a really solid game plan.
“Whatever happens for the rest of the year, that’s outcome-based, but for me as a player that’s been there seven, eight years, this 12 months has been a success and whether that comes [to] finals or whatever it is, we’ve taken a really big step into the right direction.
“[Coach Michael Voss] talked about it, hopefully it’s a long book and this is just chapter one, we want to finish off the chapter really well, but it’s definitely a success.”
While admitting the consecutive losses had shaken the team’s confidence, McKay stressed the importance of quickly regaining composure before two crunch games at the MCG.
The Blues haven’t played in the finals since 2013, with only Ed Curnow from that semi-final among currently listed players.
“The last few weeks have been challenging and after a pretty solid first 16 to 18 rounds, it’s been a little bit disappointing we haven’t been able to play our best football,” McKay said.
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Coleman Medalist Scott Cummings has ranked all 16 current AFL coaches by their job security as we approach the end of the 2022 home-and-away season.
Two coaches have already been sacked this season, with the landscape unlikely to shift further in the off-season, barring further developments.
Obviously, GWS caretaker coach Mark McVeigh and North Melbourne’s Leigh Adams have been excluded from the list.
From most to least safe, here’s Cummings’ list from SEN WA Breakfast.
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1. Chris Scott (Geelong)
“He’s on top of the ladder, signed until 2024.”
2. Craig McRae (Collingwood)
“He’s also signed until 2024.”
3. Simon Goodwin (Melbourne)
“He won a flag last year, signed until 2024 and I think he’s got the right people around him and Melbourne is still a good side.”
4. John Longmire (Sydney)
“They love him. The president loves him, the board loves him, the CEO loves him, the players love him, he’s safe. He will decide when he’s done.”
5. Justin Longmuir (Fremantle)
“Signed until the end of next year.”
6. Adam Simpson (West Coast)
“I don’t think he is going anywhere else and I don’t think the Eagles want him to. He’s had as many reasons as a coach has ever had for a poor year and he’s signed until 2024 so I reckon he’s absolutely safe.”
7. Damien Hardwick (Richmond)
“Again, signed until 2024.”
8.Stuart Dew (Gold Coast)
“Just re-signed until 2024.”
9. Sam Mitchell (Hawthorn)
10. Chris Fagan (Brisbane)
“He’s only signed until the end of next year. I remember that’s high. I reckon he could be a bit further down the list. They want a big finals campaign.”
11. Michael Voss (Carlton)
“You know why he’s at 11? Because it’s Carlton and they go through them and they put all these expectations on themselves and if they don’t match them, they sack someone.”
12. Ken Hinkley (Port Adelaide)
“You know why he’s at 12? You know why he’s not at 18 after David Koch’s comments on the weekend? Because Kochie is the barber’s cat. He is full of p–s and wind. He says it every year. Everyone’s safe. He doesn’t make any decisions. Hinkley probably should be sitting at 15 or 16, I’ve got him at 12 because I don’t think Koch has the pills to make a tough decision.”
13. Luke Beveridge (Western Bulldogs)
“He’s signed until the end of next year.”
14. Matthew Nicks (Adelaide)
“I think he’s doing a good job and he’s got some good young players coming through, but I don’t think he’s rock solid. I don’t think his future is set in stone.
Parramatta backrower Isaiah Papali’i said he will likely wait until the off-season to confirm whether or not he will join the Wests Tigers for 2023, in the latest example of the NRL’s farcical transfer situation.
The 23-year-old signed with the Tigers late last year, with his future seemingly settled well in advance of Parramatta’s 2022 campaign – instead, the situation has lingered on for months.
Papali’i himself said that the sacking of Michael Maguire had given him cold feet on the deal, which will lock him in at Concord until the end of 2025.
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“It was the coaching axing that went on. When I did sign it was talking to Madge, and he’s an awesome coach,” Papali’i told Nine News.
“It kind of rattled the cage a bit… I guess that was a massive factor for me.”
Papali’i is one of two massive signings – along with Penrith’s Api Koroisau – that could be absolutely transformative for the Tigers.
Both are among the best players in the world in their respective positions and although the Penrith hooker is now in his thirties, Papali’i will likely have close to a decade of footy ahead of him.
Isaiah Papali’i’s future has been a major talking point for the Eels. (Getty)
But while Tigers fans should be pumping their fists every time the young forward does something good – which is often – they will now have to wait and see whether he comes at all.
Papali’i said that he would make a call on the deal “somewhere in the off-season” – which begs the question, why even have contracts?
It would be utterly bizarre to see players in other sports remain at a club for 12 to 18 months after signing elsewhere, and yet it’s commonplace in the NRL – and much like the Matt Burton soap opera last year, this is a tiresome story that won ‘t go away, with the man himself acknowledging the “massive run” ahead of the Eels to try and make the top four, and possibly win a premiership.
“We have a massive opportunity and I don’t want to leave any stone unturned this year,” he said.
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Who can blame him for having second thoughts? The Tigers, even by their standards, have had a disastrous season, while other Eels players will no doubt be in Papali’i’s ear every day, begging him to stay.
Given the contract laws were changed a couple of years ago, the player has very little leverage – unless there was a contract clause relating to Maguire being part of the club in 2023.
But just like with Burton, fans of his current club are expecting the new club to acquiesce, and void the deal.
“People ask me about it, just even on the street – or family and friends are hitting me up – but that’s kind of for my manager to look after,” Papali’i said.
“Even if I don’t stay here, or I do go next year, I want to make sure that this year has no regrets.”
Presumably, there’s one way that Papali’i could ensure that the saga doesn’t remain “a distraction”, which to many is the worst thing an athlete can do in a team sport – and that’s to say he’ll honor the deal he signed.
Which, if you look at other quotes from Monday – he apparently did – telling The Sydney Morning Herald that he was “looking forward to working” with his new club.
Given both of those quotes came directly from the player, it’s hard to work out what the real story is – but the only thing that’s certain is that this will keep happening until a new contract system is put forward.
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Uniform controversies that have rocked sport around the world
Alan Jones started 116 Formula 1 races between 1975-1986, winning 12 times. He was the 1980 world champion.
I’ve said so many times that one of the things I love about Formula 1 is the fact there’s often more intrigue and action off the track than on it, and the last week has certainly proved that to be the case, and we’ve got Aussies right in the thick of it.
There’s still no official confirmation about who drives where in 2023, but one thing’s certain: Daniel Ricciardo won’t be at McLaren. There’s no way in the wide world that’s going to happen.
Every now and again a driver comes along who wins everything he puts his backside into, and that’s Oscar Piastri.
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McLaren are taking a bit of a risk with him, given he’s never driven an F1 race, but he’s done a heap of time in the simulator, and also in last year’s Alpine car. He’s even driven McLaren’s simulator, because he’s one of their reserve drivers for this year, so McLaren have some idea what they’re getting. They’re not fools.
That said, Oscar’s taking a bit of a risk, there’s no doubt about that. Lando Norris is a bloody good driver, so Piastri is going to have to bring his A Game pretty much from day one to match him. And because of the controversy and the way it’s played out, Oscar is going to have to be on the pace straight away.
Daniel Ricciardo is facing the possibility of his F1 career coming to an end. (Eddie Jim/The Age)
If he’s half a second slower than Lando, you can bet your life all the couch cowboys will be ready to jump on him and criticize him. It’s going to make for fascinating viewing.
It’s a big ask for Oscar, but you look at what happened when George Russell filled in for one race at Mercedes when Lewis Hamilton had COVID-19 in 2020. Russell had the race lead, and it was only a botched pitstop and bad luck that denied him a podium or possibly a win.
If you’ve got it, you’ve got it, and that’s what everyone is saying about Oscar. I just hope he’s not reading too much of his press from him, because it can go to your head.
The way it’s unfolded is something completely new, they’re having a major fight over somebody they’re hoping will turn into a great Formula 1 driver. All the signs point to the fact he will be, but until you’ve actually started a race there’s a little bit of a question mark.
Oscar Piastri (left) along with Esteban Ocon, Alpine boss Laurent Rossi and Fernando Alonso at the launch of the 2022 car. (Twitter/Alpine)
At least when Jordan and Benetton were fighting over Michael Schumacher all those years ago he’d done one race. Interestingly, Flavio Briatore was behind that move, and I reckon his fingerprints from him are all over this as well. Do not forget he still manages Fernando Alonso, and he looked after Oscar’s manager Mark Webber during his career.
Oscar’s statement saying he wouldn’t be racing for Alpine showed he’s got no shortage of confidence. For a rookie to so publicly turn down the team, it makes me pretty confident he’s already done a deal at McLaren.
You wouldn’t come out and say what he did if you didn’t have somewhere to go, it would be suicide otherwise. It 100 per cent confirms to me that he’s going to be in a McLaren next year.
Which leaves Daniel.
With all due to respect to him, and I like Daniel very much and rate him highly as a racing driver, someone who can fight wheel-to-wheel and make passes, there comes a time when saying you’re having difficulty adapting to the car washes a bit thin.
Daniel Ricciardo (right) with McLaren teammate Lando Norris. (Getty)
At the end of the day, if you’re a good racing driver you have to adapt to the car you’ve got. All cars are a little bit different and good drivers adapt to them.
In Formula 1 the first person you have to beat is your teammate, and the biggest problem for Daniel is Lando. There’s no point pulling into the pits and telling your engineer that the car is a piece of shit, and he responds by telling you your teammate is a second quicker.
That really takes the wind out of your sails a little bit.
Where he ends up is anyone’s guess. I hope he doesn’t consider Williams for 2023, that would just be a complete disaster, I couldn’t see a future there at all.
Going back to Alpine would be OK, because they’re improving all the time and there’s a completely different management structure to what was there when Daniel drove for the team in 2019-2020, so he wouldn’t be walking back into a hostile situation . It would be a new environment.
Daniel Ricciardo has struggled since joining McLaren. (Getty)
He could even leave Formula 1 altogether. He’s got a house in Los Angeles, he loves America, so IndyCar is definitely an option for him. The money’s good, not as good as Formula 1, but certainly good, and the racing is competitive.
All the cars are pretty much identical except for the engines, and even the different engines have roughly the same horsepower. It’s a good category where driver talent means a lot.
What the whole thing shows is the driver contracts mean very little in Formula 1. They never have. Drivers have walked out or been fired when they’ve got a contract, it’s been going on forever. In 1977 I signed a contract to race for Ferrari, then they went out and signed Gilles Villeneuve. I may as well have used the contract to wipe my ass, it was worthless.
Daniel’s situation means McLaren are probably saying to Piastri that we can whack you in the car, but we can’t pay you an enormous amount of money next year, because we’re going to have to pay Daniel’s contract out.
If they have to pay Daniel $15-$20 million, they might just tell Piastri that he’ll be getting peanuts in 2023, but they can upgrade that in future years.
Oscar Piastri after winning at Monza during his F2 championship year in 2021. (Getty)
It’s a shame that it’s two Australians fighting over the same seat, but Mark and Oscar aren’t knifing Daniel or anything like that. It’s not personal. Mark and Oscar are just doing what’s best for Oscar. Formula 1 is the absolute elite of motor racing, and you do what you have to do. You take no prisoners.
That said, I’m sure there’ll be some fans getting stuck into Oscar in Melbourne next year for taking Daniel’s spot. There’s always going to be that element, the poor petals hiding in their mother’s basement who’ve never done anything except criticize from behind their keyboards.
At the end of the day if Oscar goes well, they’ll be the first to come out and say, ‘Good move, I always thought that was the right thing to do.’
The genuine fans know that Mark and Oscar have done nothing that any other driver wouldn’t have done, nationality has nothing to do with it.
One thing’s for sure, it’s going to make for a fascinating second half of the season.
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