WA Formula One driver Daniel Ricciardo has reportedly been told he won’t be driving for McLaren next season, with countryman Oscar Piastri set to replace him.
Ricciardo’s initial three-year deal with McLaren does not end until the end of next season, but it is being reported he’s been told he will not be in the seat next year.
He would have to receive a significant payout, with Piastri set to take his place after initially signing on as a reserve driver for next season.
It ends months of speculation surrounding Ricciardo, who sits 12th in the drivers’ championship and has had underwhelming results since crossing from Renault at the end of the 2020 season.
The 33-year-old is 57 points behind teammate Lando Norris and has just one win for McLaren since crossing from Renault, now Alpine.
Piastri has already been in the headlines this week after emphatically denying he had signed with Alpine, with a seat vacated by Fernando Alonso.
He was publicly promoted by Alpine to a main seat, but hit back at the claims on social media not long later.
It only fueled speculation that Piastri’s manager, former Australian Formula One star Mark Webber, was hunting Ricciardo’s seat at McLaren for his young driver.
McLaren boss Zak Brown has repeatedly said Ricciardo would see out his contract.
“We love working with him. He loves the team. We’ve seen when we give him a car that he’s capable of winning, he can win in it, ”Brown said last month.
“We’ve just got to figure out how to unlock it, give him a car that he’s more comfortable with. We’ve got a great relationship.”
Ricciardo was emphatic that he would see out his contract at McLaren when questioned on his future after the shock retirement of Sebastian Vettel.
Daniel Ricciardo has struggled to beat teammate Lando Norris in his nearly two seasons at McLaren. Credit: François Nell/Getty Images
“I am committed to McLaren until the end of next year and am not walking away from the sport,” Ricciardo wrote on Twitter.
“I’m working my a.. off with the team to make improvements and get the car right and back to the front where it belongs. I still want this more than ever.”
Candice Warner has ventured into the murky waters of the Commonwealth Games’ swimming “love triangle”, offering up some blunt criticism for Kyle Chalmers.
She revealed her surprise about how badly he handled the headlines after a “media frenzy” over his relationship with ex and Commonwealth Games golden girl Emma McKeon and her new boyfriend, pop star-turned fellow swimmer Cody Simpson.
Acknowledging “alpha male” Chalmers’ ego “would be burnt a little bit” by McKeon’s new relationship, Warner said she expected someone who had dealt with media scrutiny since 2016 — when he won the gold medal for the 100m freestyle at the Rio Olympics — to manage his interactions with the media far better.
“He knows how to deal with the pressure. Why is he allowing the media to make these comments?” the former ironwoman and wife of Australian cricketer David Warner asked on Fox Sports program The Back Page.
“Why hasn’t he put a self-imposed media ban (on himself) until the Games are over? I’m just really a little bit confused by the situation and why he’s engaging with the media.
Candice Warner had some strong opinions about how Kyle Chalmers handled the media at the Commonwealth Games. Credit: Richard Dobson
“He’s not in the wrong, but he also has the power and ability to stop it and also just to focus on his swim events.
“Should I know how to deal with this pressure? Should I know how to deal with this completely?”
Rumors of a supposed rift between Chalmers and Simpson dominated media coverage of the Australian swim team’s success at the Commonwealth Games, leading Chalmers to admit that he was considering quitting the Games and the sport entirely over the mental anguish it had caused.
Cody Simpson picked up a gold medal in the men’s 4x100m freestyle relay. Credit: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images
The swim star accused the media of using him for “clickbait” by publishing stories about his relationships with Emma McKeon and Cody Simpson.
“It’s all just false news that is actually just crap, it’s honestly just a load of sh*t that is not true,” Chalmers told reporters.
After winning the 100m freestyle gold medal in Birmingham on Monday night, Chalmers climbed on the lane rope and signaled silence in a message to media about his ordeal.
Emma McKeon hasn’t let the “love triangle” rumors get the better of her performance in the pool, bringing home a big haul of gold medals. Credit: Shaun Botterill/Getty Images
After the race he said his last two days had “been hell.”
“I just hope no-one has to go through what I have had to go through over the last 48 hours,” the 24-year-old said.
Fremantle ruckman Sean Darcy has lifted the lid on veteran teammate David Mundy’s typically selfless retirement speech, which he says went for “no longer than 40 seconds”.
The Dockers games-record holder told the playing group and coaching staff on Monday of his decision to call time at season’s end, but quickly changed to focus away from himself and towards the crunch clash against Western Bulldogs on Marvel Stadium on Saturday.
“In front of the boys, it was honestly I don’t think longer than 40 seconds,” Darcy told the Back Chat podcast.
“I’ve sat through a couple and they go for 10-15 minutes and have the works, tears and he was in and out. He goes ‘we’ve got bigger fish to fry’ and just sat down.
“He said ‘thanks to the physios and all the support staff, you mean so much to me, and to the boys, this is my last season’ and then a little bit more.
“Then he said ‘I don’t want to make it about me, we’ve got bigger fish to fry’ and sat down. He hates talking about himself.
“Even during the presser after, reporters were asking him what he wanted to be remembered as and he said ‘an honest battler’.”
Darcy said he regarded the 37-year-old, who’s played 371 games and counting during his 19-season career, as “right up there” in the best ever Docker conversation, highlighting his remarkable longevity.
“He’d have to be up there,” Darcy said.
“His sustainability… he had his best year in the Brownlow last year. That’s just unheard of, absurd.
David Mundy has played 371 games and counting during his 19-season career. Credit: Daniel Carson/AFL Pictures
“Even when you get to that age, surely you pull the 300/350 (game) card but he’s still doing the time trial with us during the pre-season.”
Fremantle coach Justin Longmuir urged his players to use Mundy’s retirement as motivation to bounce back from a three-game winless run heading into the business end of the season, starting with the Bulldogs on Saturday.
The Dockers have slipped from inside the top-four to sixth after losses to Sydney and Melbourne in between a thrilling draw with Richmond.
“It’s got to be front of mind for our players,” Longmuir said.
“He is close to the end, and we need to make sure we put all of our own personal issues and indifferences to one side and see if we can help him achieve what he wants to achieve in his last handful of games.
“Hopefully our players have reflected on that and understand the significance of his decision and can glean some motivation out of it.
“We need to make sure we send him out the right way.”
Controversial former Port Adelaide player Kane Cornes has blasted West Coast and Adam Simpson for letting professional standards at the club slip and says they should introduce disciplinary punishments for “overweight” players.
In his exclusive column for The West Australian, Cornes said the Eagles must take a hard line on professional standards as part of their coming rebuild.
“(Adam) Simpson has let professional standards slip at West Coast. He is not hard enough on his players, such as (Elliot) Yeo. Too many have taken liberties,” he said.
Cornes criticized star midfielder Yeo after the Eagles’ round six defeat against his former side at Adelaide Oval, where he was also concussed, claiming he was visibly unfit.
And he did not hold back in this week’s column, saying his weight issues and lack of training are why he has spent much of the year on the sidelines.
“The midfielder has had yet another season ruined by persistent soft-tissue issues that are the result of poor preparation and a lack of training,” he said.
“There is no excuse for a full-time, highly paid professional athlete to present in an unfit state. It is now critical for clubs to have the power to sanction players for failing to meet professional standards.”
He also said superstar Nic Naitanui, who has struggled with persistent knee injuries over the last five seasons, looked heavier than at any other point of his career and noted Jeremy McGovern had struggled to meet body fat and weight requirements in the past.
Nic Naitanui has also been blasted for appearing overweight. Credit: Will Russell/AFL Pictures
“It is time for the clubs to claw back the balance of power in contract negotiations,” he said.
“The balance of power in negotiating player contracts has shifted tellingly in favor of the players since the AFL introduced free agency at the end of the 2012 season.”
In America’s hugely successful NBA, the New Orleans Pelicans have done just that with their injury-prone star Zion Williamson.
Williamson recently signed a maximum five-year contract extension valued at $193 million, but the club added a “professional standards” clause that demands he regularly weigh in.
Zion Williamson has a professional standards clause in his new contract. Credit: Steve Dykes/Getty Images
If his body fat and overall weight fall out of a specific range, the Pelicans will have the power to slash the 22-year-old’s salary.
The clause was brought in with Williamson managing just 85 games in his first three 72-match seasons due to injury, including all of the 2021-22 season with a broken foot.
Essendon also enacted a similar clause in Jake Stringer’s latest contract after he admitted carrying an extra eight kilograms derailed his 2020 campaign.
Australian race walker and reigning Commonwealth Games champion Jemima Montag says she’s embracing the pressure of defending her crown just days away from competing at the Birmingham Games.
The Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games gold medalist is shaping to be the walker to beat at the event, aiming to become the first woman since Jane Saville in 2006 to successfully defend a gold medal in walking.
The event distance has been shortened from a 20km road race and will now be contested as a 10km track race inside Alexander Stadium.
“I’m keen for it to be half the distance,” Montag said.
Jemima Montag is aiming to defend her 2018 Commonwealth Games gold medal at this years’s 10km Race Walk Final in Birmingham.(Getty Images: Michael Dodge)
“I really feed off the crowd’s energy and excitement. I remember back to 2018 Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast and there were so many Australians … just giving us their energy for that entire hour and a half.”
In February, Montag broke Saville’s long-standing 18-year 20km Australian and Oceania record by 13 seconds. It’s a moment in which she reflects on, after her ‘turning point’ when pulling on the green and gold four years ago at Gold Coast.
“Representing Australia means embodying the Australian values of mateship and a fair go and giving our all to something. I think that’s what the Australian audience really want to see us doing,” she said.
“Crossing the line and hitting the tape at the 2018 Commonwealth Games was the first moment I believed in myself as capable of competing on the world stage and representing my country well.
“I tried to enjoy the final couple of laps and interact with the crowd and grab the flag, and crossing that line, hitting the tape, and then having Nathan Deakes pop the medal around my neck.
“It felt like a real rite of passage and a sense of belonging after years of struggling with self-belief.
“I feel pressure and expectation to bring some medals home (at Birmingham), but I remind myself that all the Aussies and my family just want to see us going out and being leaders, setting a good example for the younger generation and embodying those values .”
In February, Montag broke Jane Saville’s 18-year record for the Australian 20km race walk event.(Athletics Australia / Steve Christo)
Change in mentality for national record
Montag said the Australian and Oceania record — at a time of 1:27:27 — came about from a motivational shift in mental techniques. The change lifted the weight of her off her shoulders, going on to reset goals for the remainder of the year.
“We got to the finish line about 30 seconds quicker than the national record,” Montag said.
“I’ve done a lot of reflecting since then about the power of values-based motivation as opposed to fear-based motivation.
“It was a very special day, I think that it was bigger than winning the Commonwealth Games or making it to the Olympic Games or anything.
“Being the fastest woman in the country to cover that distance is pretty cool.”
It was only a matter of minutes after the race that an exhausted Montag received a call from her idol, Saville, who celebrated the achievement with her.
“It was amazing. I was in the tent half-dead on the physio table, and she was there on the phone, so supportive,” she said.
“I think that’s a true sign of an excellent sportswoman when they just want to see their sport moving forward … and she had the record for a couple of decades or whatever it was and she was she was so happy.”
The importance of role models
Despite the accolades on the track, winning doesn’t appear to be everything for Montag. The near misses are cause for just as much celebration, after coming fourth at the World Athletics Championships by just 19 seconds in July.
“Humans have just decided that 1-2-3 get medals and fourth is one spot away from that. I think that fourth rocks, it doesn’t suck,” Montag said after the meet in Eugene, Oregon.
Being successful off the track and showing there’s a human behind every athlete is just as important as Montag inspires the next generation of athletes.
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Australian racewalker Jemima Montag talks about the impact her Nana has had on her
A medicine student who loves to cook and spend time with family, the 24-year-old also talks about superstitions; like the lucky number three, her her lucky pajamas, and a lucky golden bracelet she wears from her late grandmother.
“I lost my nana about a year ago, just before the Olympic Games, and it’s only in the months that have followed that we’ve really been able to unpack her story as a Holocaust survivor,” Montag said.
“It’s something that understandably she didn’t want to talk about much, and there was a lot of pain and trauma there.”
A golden necklace became a keepsake for Montag and her two sisters, who split it into three bracelets to continue her nana’s legacy.
“I wear my nana’s bracelet as a lucky charm now. And it reminds me of that strength and resilience,” she said.
“It’s just a really tangible reminder of what she sacrificed for dad and then me to even be alive. Sometimes, you know, sport is hard and it comes with its challenges.
“(But) it’s a reminder that I choose to be out there day in, day out at these competitions doing what I do. And it’s hard, but it should be fun.”
Jemima Montag became the first Australian track and field athlete to be nominated for the Commonwealth Games for the UK campaign.(Athletics Australia / Steve Christo)
Walking is ‘much bigger’ than just a sport
Montag is using walking as the ‘vehicle’ to create positive messages as a role model.
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“Race walking to me is much bigger than the physical sport. It’s somewhere I belong and it’s a vehicle through which I can explore my values of the pursuit of mastery, of challenging myself, of inspiring the next generation of boys and girls, and just exploring my mental and physical limits,” Montag said.
The Australian champion was chosen as one just 25 athletes across the globe — the sole representative from Oceania — in the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Young Leaders Program from 2021-2024.
“We’re choosing a pressing local issue that we’re passionate about that connects to the sustainable development goals, and we’re building a sport-based solution,” Montag said.
“I’ve chosen to focus on the decline of young women and girls in sport and physical activity, which is something I’m passionate about because I’ve seen how much sport and physical activity has brought to me.
“I’ve also seen friends that I’ve made through sport gradually face barriers and drop out and how challenging it’s been for them and how I was almost driven out of the sport.
“I was able to get to the bottom of: what are the unique barriers to women and girls in sport, what’s driving them out at twice the rate of boys?
“Then the tricky part was what do we do about it? Because if we had all the answers, then I’m sure they’d be being enacted already.”
Through Montag’s program ‘Play On’, a vision of creating enabling environments through education and training for young women is changing perceptions.
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Racewalker Jemima Montag on navigating adolescence and puberty as a female athlete
“So often I found that girls and women are blamed for being lazy or just not committed enough for choosing to drop out of sport,” she said.
“And we’re not really questioning whether the environments are made for them or welcoming them or attuned to their needs.
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“I built a team of 14 women experts who are very diverse — some Paralympians and Olympians, some are community leaders, some are doctors, some in the political space.”
With four topics to address positivity — female athlete health, mental health, nutrition, and inclusivity — Montag is aiming for a stronger connection between schools and parents, who often rely on one another to address responsibility gap issues of retaining women in sport.
“We challenge the idea that there has to be a cookie cutter image of what a female athlete looks like that’s tall, blonde, thin, able-bodied, neurotypical of a certain race,” Montag said.
“I’m hoping that by listening to the experts in those four areas, 15-year-old girls have what I wish I had at their age, and that they’re armed with the tools to navigate any challenge that might come up for them and to help themselves.
“Having the opportunity to be a role model for the younger girls and women coming through has added a whole new layer of meaning and enjoyment to my sport.
“No longer is it a lonely individual pursuit, it’s something that I can really leverage and use to make a difference to other people’s lives, which feels amazing.”
That pursuit this weekend at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games is something Montag is hoping to use as inspiration for future walkers who will be watching her race.
“It’s something that’s a really important biological marker of health that we should celebrate and just learn how to navigate on the track and in life,” she said.
“I’m really careful with the legacy that I’m leaving to the next generation and the words I choose and what I say to them.
“It really doesn’t matter what any of us do, it’s really about ‘why’ behind it.
“And so that ‘why’ is belonging to a community and being a good leader and inspiring younger women and girls to take up whatever physical activity it is that feels good for them to look after their physical and mental health.”
Montag will compete in the women’s 10,000m Race Walk Final on Saturday at 7:30pm AEST.
There was no way Micky Yule was leaving Birmingham without a medal.
The Scottish heavyweight para powerlifter came to the Commonwealth Games with the greatest drive and purpose of all, fueled by having his daughter, Tilly, in the crowd.
As the six-year-old held a homemade sign reading “DAD”, it was all the inspiration he needed.
“I could see her in the crowd and I looked for her. I needed to see her and [think]’Listen, your daughter’s here tonight, you’re not gonna leave without a medal when she’s here’,” he explained.
Micky Yule says his daughter is his biggest inspiration.(Getty Images: Al Bello)
The 43-year-old was bursting with magnetic passion and emotion reflecting on his performance, tightly gripping Tilly’s hand while speaking to reporters.
“Maybe in other competitions I have missed [lifts]. But I wasn’t going to do it today. I was looking her straight in the eye, and I was bringing that emotion.
“I couldn’t just drift through this competition. I needed to be emotional. I needed it to mean more than ever. I needed to lift like it was my last-ever lift and that’s what I’ve done.”
End of a chapter
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In 2010, Yule was serving in Afghanistan with the Royal Engineers when he stepped on an improvised explosive device (IED).
He immediately lost his left leg, and his right leg also had to be amputated, while he was left with other significant injuries.
Afterwards, he was flown to Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, still in a coma, and spent eight weeks there undergoing multiple surgeries.
In the lead-up to the Games he described his return to the city as a full-circle moment. Perhaps now, leaving with the bronze, it’s something else.
“Maybe it’s a chapter closed and maybe it’s the next one to be opened,” he said.
“The people of Birmingham have been here for me before, when I came back from Afghanistan cut in half, in a coma, and now, hopefully, they’ll witness that and [the medal is] for everyone.
“It’s for Scotland, Birmingham, the whole country.”
Spurred on by crowd and fellow Scot, Eilish McColgan
Yule didn’t just lean on his daughter to get him through the competition. He also urged the crowd to cheer him on for each of his three lifts from him.
He’d had the disappointment of missing out on a medal at his home Games in Glasgow in 2014 and thought he might never get to experience that crowd again.
But the Brummies embraced Yule as their own, and he re-paid them.
“I wanted to whip the crowd up. I wanted to get the Birmingham crowd behind me,” he said.
After each lift, Micky Yule turned to the crowd to try to amp them up.(Getty Images: Al Bello)
He admits he also felt some responsibility to perform, having carried the Scottish flag at the opening ceremony, alongside badminton player Kirsty Gilmour.
“You don’t just be the flag-bearer [who] comes in and competes and, maybe, same old excuses for Micky,” he said.
“You compete and you win a medal and you make sure that not only the flag-bearer is a memory but the medal’s a memory as well.”
Yule also looked to fellow Scot Eilish McColgan, who produced one of the highlights of the Games the previous night, sprinting to the line to win the women’s 10,000m to join her mum, and coach Liz, as a Commonwealth champion in the event.
“I must have watched that 20 times,” Yule said.
“She fought back, and she fought back when everybody thought she was going to quit and she didn’t quit.
“Seeing her run to her mum [when she won], I said: ‘Right, that run to her mum is my daughter. Don’t you dare quit on yourself’.”
It has been an extraordinary para sport journey for Yule, one that started in Birmingham in one of his lowest moments, and now — as he suggests he’ll likely retire — he’s finished with one of his highest.
“[Sport] gave me a drive from having surgeries and learning how to walk and being in pretty dark place. It took my mind off it,” he said.
“Elite sport will give you highs and it’ll give you lows as well, and I’ve had them [both]certainly, but this is a high end and it feels like a pretty good time to go out.”
Watson soaks up her coming of age in para sport
Australia’s Hani Watson was another athlete ecstatic to be on the medal dais, after winning bronze in the women’s heavyweight division.
“I was about to lose my banana peel up there and start crying,” she said.
Watson says it has been a tough year, juggling back-to-back competitions, while working full-time, but the bronze is the perfect pay-off.
Hani Watson of Australia also captured a bronze medal in the women’s for powerlifting.(Getty Images: Al Bello)
“It can be exhausting, but it’s also very thrilling and very exciting at the same time,” she said.
“I feel old sometimes. I’m 39, about to turn 40, and this is epic. This is a great 40th birthday present to myself. It’s just nuts.”
Watson had been targeting a top-five finish and, after failing her second attempt at 125kg, she went all out on her last effort and lifted 127kg.
It was the “cherry on top” of her first Commonwealth Games experience, which has galvanized her in so many ways.
“As a kid growing up and wanting to be an elite athlete, I couldn’t do that because I had a disability and it wasn’t introduced into the right areas,” she said.
“But then it sunk in when I was at the opening ceremony to come out and to see everyone cheer you on: their energy, it was overwhelming for me.
“I’m not just a potato at home bench-pressing. This is real. This is epic.”
And Watson has a warning for the world: she’s only just getting started.
“I told you Australia was coming. And now we’re coming in 2024, we’re gonna get gold for Paris [2024 Paralympics].
Meanwhile, Australia’s Ben Wright was fourth in the men’s heavyweight division.
Five days ago, Madison de Rozario won one of the toughest marathons of her career.
It left her completely exhausted — usually the marathon is the final event in for track and field.
However, she wasn’t going to let that stop her from adding to her growing legacy as one of Australia’s finest athletes.
So, the defending champion hit the track for the 1,500-meter race and, in the process, won her fourth Commonwealth Games gold, the most of any Australian para athlete.
Madison de Rozario will be one of the biggest names competing for the Australian team. (Getty Images: Alex Davidson)
De Rozario had hoped to sit back in the race and watch the field fight it out in front of her before making her charge.
However, it was a slow start, and she knew that, if she was going to win, she was going to have to change her tactics and go for broke.
“I realized I was going to be out front from one lap in. When you commit to taking the lead, you have to just back yourself,” she said.
While she looked comfortable for most of the race, the final stretch was tense.
De Rozario looked to be tiring, as Scotland’s Samantha Kinghorn started to push up.
The Australian — who is coached by retired legendary para athlete Louise Sauvage — managed to find just enough to pull ahead once again, while compatriot Angie Ballard produced a barnstorming final few meters to pip Kinghorn for silver.
“I definitely lost it for a little bit there. Angie came home so strong and Sam’s last 300 [metres] was unbelievable. [I’m] so happy I just managed to hold on to win,” Rozario said.
It was extra special to share the podium with her teammate, too.
“She has been in my corner since day one. We’ve been to four Paralympic Games together and to get to do this is its amazing,” she said.
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It was even more impressive considering the physical toll the marathon took on her — she described it as one of the most challenging courses she had ever tackled.
And, even though the 28-year-old thought she had recovered, she quickly realized that wasn’t the case.
“About maybe 600 meters into my warm-up, I was like, ‘Oh no, I’m definitely still feeling those 42kms in the arms today’. So, definitely brought that with me out there.”
De Rozario’s racing wheelchair was damaged in transit to Birmingham, and she had to rely on a cable-tie quick fix to hold it together for the marathon.
It’s been a hectic few days since then to get it ready for the track.
“This chair’s been driven all over the UK to try [to] get it fixed and, and I’ve had so many people come together [to help],” she said.
“Finishing touches this morning on it, so it’s something in the last-minute, kind of pulled together.”
De Rozario collected two Commonwealth Games gold medals on the Gold Coast in 2018, in the 1,500m T54 race and the T54 marathon.
It’s difficult to ask athletes to reflect on their achievements while they’re still in the thick of competing, so Rozario is simply enjoying this one before moving on to the next.
“Each race really does exist on its own, and so each one means as much as the last one.
“It’s incredible to look back on a career and be proud of it as a whole, but you remember each race and how it felt at the moment.”
Young Aussie boxer Alex Winwood has lost his boxing quarter-final at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham after bizarrely being ruled to have been knocked out at the start of the second round.
The 25-year-old had held his own in the first round of his Flyweight bout against Zambia’s Patrick Chinyemba.
See the blow that prompted the ref to call off the fight in the video player above
Stream Seven’s coverage of the Commonwealth Games 2022 for free on 7plus >>
Four of the five judges had scored the first round to have been in the Aussie’s favor after landing two massive right handers on his opponent.
But barely seconds into the second round, Chinyemba floored the Aussie with a one-two.
Young Aussie boxer Alex Winwood has lost his boxing quarter-final at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham after bizarrely being ruled to have been knocked out at the start of the second round.
Credit: SevenChinyemba didn’t even look to have considered it a match-winning blow, walking over to his corner of the ring in preparation of the restart of the bout.
Credit: Seven
The force of the right hander fell Winwood, who hit the canvas.
As Winwood picked himself off the canvas, he was clearly stunned to see that the referee had waved off the match.
“The referee says ‘that’s that’,” said the commentator.
“It’s all over. Don’t count, nothing. Chinyemba has turned the tables spectacularly.
“I’m very surprised at the stoppage.”
Chinyemba didn’t even look to have considered it a match-winning blow, walking over to his corner of the ring in preparation of the restart of the bout.
As Winwood picked himself off the canvas, he was clearly stunned to see that the referee had waved off the match.
Credit: Seven
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The second commentator wasn’t convinced the fight should have been called off either.
“It looks worse than what it probably is,” he said.
“He’s got up, he’s clear, and he’s fine, and I think he should have been allowed to continue.”
Chinyemba is now guaranteed of a medal after the knockout win sent him to the semi-final.
Winwood told Seven after his fight how he disagreed with the referee’s decision, but respected it nonetheless.
“I think it was a pretty fast call,” he said.
“I won the first round, and I felt like I won it quite clearly. And I wasn’t hurt previously, nor was I punched significantly.
“I really wanted to have a shot and prove myself. I know what I’m made of – I wanted to show Australia, and the world, what Australians are made of.”
Winwood then got emotional as he laid out a special message to his country.
“Thank you, Australia,” he said with tears beginning to well in his eyes.
“You mean so much to me, from the bottom of my heart.
“As an Indigenous Australian, I love you all, up the Aussies!”
See the emotional moment in the video player below
Alex Winwood’s emotional message to Australia
Alex Winwood’s emotional message to Australia
Was the ruling the right call?
Our 2018 Commonwealth Games gold medalist, Harry Garside, doesn’t believe it was a fair ruling.
“You’ve got to wait until the opponent gets up and then you’ve got to give him eight seconds, and you’ve got to look into his eyes and see where his legs are,” he told Seven after the fight.
“She waves it off way to prematurely.”
Harry Garside has weighed into the controversial call against Alex Winwood. Credit: 7Sport
Although Garside sympathized with the referee after Winwood turned his back on her as he started to get back to his feet, Garside said it was the wrong call to make so quickly.
“She should have given Winwood eight seconds to recover,” he said.
“You’ve got to look into the fighter’s eyes – that’s where you’ll see if he’s dazed or if he’s rocked, it’s always in the eyes.
“And she didn’t even get a chance to do that. She called it off way too quickly.”
Just like Tokyo 2020 on Seven, there will be one destination to watch every epic feat, every medal moment, every record attempt and every inspiring turn from the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.
7plus is the only place to watch up to 30 live and replay channels of sport, see what’s on when, keep up to date with the medal tally, create a watchlist to follow your favorite events and catch up on highlights.
Between them, West Coast’s Josh Kennedy and Fremantle’s David Mundy have played 663 games of the AFL and kicked 874 goals for their clubs.
It’s difficult to imagine WA footy without them.
When Mundy made his debut for the Dockers in 2005, several of his current teammates were still in nappies.
Josh Kennedy was traded to the West Coast at the end of the 2007 season for dual-Brownlow medalist Chris Judd. Despite Judd’s star power, the Eagles would comfortably say today they go the better end of the deal.
Because as well as being outstanding athletes, both Kennedy and Mundy are outstanding blokes.
Playing just one more season could see Mundy admitted into the exclusive 400-game club.
But in announcing his retirement, Mundy said he wasn’t tempted to chase individual glory.
“They’re very individual goals. I’m the kind of character where they’re very much secondary,” he said.
“I take a lot of pride in the fact that I’m walking out with a little bit left in the tank. I’d feel really guilty if I’d hung around and walked out a crippled, broken old man.”
When asked what he wanted his legacy at the club to be, the 37-year-old responded with characteristic humility which has made him a fan favorite for the best part of two decades.
“I don’t need to be remembered. I just came in, played my part and did my role,” he said.
Humility and decency are traits he shares with Kennedy, who will bow out as the Eagles’ greatest goalkicker with at least 704 to his name to go with 11 he kicked at Carlton prior to the 2007 trade which brought him home to WA.
In his 15 years at the club, he was part of a team that played in eight finals series, two grand finals and won the 2018 premiership.
Looking beyond retirement from the AFL, the Northampton product said he planned to give back to the community by establishing a JK Foundation.
“It will help to facilitate programs to find what they want to aspire to and then build an environment around them where they feel supported,” Kennedy said.
“I think the resources in the metro area compared to regional — obviously regional miss out a far bit in those resources.
“So if I can bridge that gap between city and country kids that’s kind of what I want to do.”
Even in his playing days, Kennedy has made time to help through the community through his ambassadorial role at MSWA and fundraising for his stricken hometown after it was left devastated by Cyclone Seroja last year.
Kennedy will play his final AFL game in front of a home crowd at Optus Stadium on Sunday when the Eagles take on Adelaide.
One lucky reader of The West Australian will take home a piece of club history by winning Kennedy’s match-worn jumper.
To enter the competition to win Kennedy’s match-worn guernsey, look for the unique code on today’s front page and enter it online at thewest.com.au/jk by noon on Monday.
And Freo fans don’t fret — we’re planning something big to mark Mundy’s retirement soon.
Responsibility for the editorial comment is taken by WAN Editor-in-Chief Anthony De Ceglie
Australian squash player Donna Lobban says she has already started a campaign of “mental warfare” against her Scottish husband, who will meet in the mixed doubles quarter-final at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games.
Key points:
Donna Lobban, who competes for Australia with her cousin Cameron Pilley, will face husband Greg and his partner Lisa Aitken in the quarter-final of the mixed doubles
Australia’s flag-bearer Rachael Grinham and her mixed doubles parter Zac Alexander also qualified for the quarters after defeating England
In the women’s doubles, Lobban and Grinham defeated India to win through to the next round
Lobban, playing with her cousin Cameron Pilley, will face off against her husband Greg Lobban and his partner Lisa Aitken tonight.
“I have already started the mental warfare,” Lobban said.
“I’ve started to wind him up already. I was telling him we were fist-pumping when we got that draw.”
Donna Lobban and Pilley are defending Commonwealth mixed doubles champions.
The pair downed India’s Joshana Chinappa and Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu in straight sets, 11-8 11-9, in the round of 16 on Thursday.
Hours later, Greg Lobban and Aitken won their clash for Scotland.
Pilley said other pairs would be increasingly wary of the Australians on the road to the medals.
“Every single team is a potential speed bump,” Pilley said.
“We’re not even seeded in the top four so probably the seeds … if they see us along their road, they are probably more worried about us, being defending champs.
“When you go to the Comm Games… you’re not going in hoping for a medal, you’re going for gold.
“Having done that once, for us it was the best thing ever. So we’re going after it again.”
Donna and Greg will compete against each other in the quarter-final of the squash mixed doubles.(Getty Images: Luke Walker/Alex Pantling)
Australia’s flag-bearer Rachael Grinham and her mixed doubles partner Zac Alexander also won their round-of-16 encounter on Thursday, defeating England’s Georgina Kennedy and Patrick Rooney 11-8 11-6.
Alexander and his men’s doubles partner Ryan Cuskelly breezed past Cayman Islands duo Jake Kelly and Jace Jervis, winning 11-2 11-1.
In the women’s doubles, Australia’s Alex Haydon and Jess Turnbull lost their round-of-16 match with England’s Georgina Kennedy and Lucy Turmel, who triumphed 11-4 11-7.
But the Aussie women’s doubles team of Lobban and Grinham march on after defeating India’s Sunayna Sara Kuruvilla and Anahat Singh 11-4 11-4.
