With three rounds to go and two finals spots yet to be claimed, the race for the AFL finals is well and truly on. From the group of seven contenders, all of who can mathematically make or miss the finals, eight premiership points (two wins) is all that separates them from the top six or the bottom five teams on the ladder. Let’s dive into what it’ll take for each of them to stay in the mix come September. The favourite West Coast Eagles West Coast has the best chance by far

American MMA fighter Nick Diaz has been slated to make his official return to competition, the UFC announced via its Twitter account . The return bout is set for the UFC 266 fight card in September against American Robbie Lawler. Diaz and Lawler fought for the first time 17 years ago at UFC 47, with Diaz coming away with a knockout victory in the second round. Now, nearly two decades later, the two are running it back in Las Vegas. Embed from Getty Images It will be Diaz’s

Australian UFC fighter Tai “Bam Bam” Tuivasa scored a big knockout over ex-NFL star Greg Hardy just 67 seconds in to their fight on Sunday (AEST). Las Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena was back to full capacity for the fight, delivering a stacked fight card to a star-studded crowd. Tuivasa’s knockout blow came in the first round of the heavyweight bout on the UFC 264 main card, headlined by Conor McGregor and Dustin Poirier. Hardy connected with a stiff right hand that seemed to have Tui

The round of 16 of the Euro2020 has wrapped up, with an uneventful group stage giving way to fireworks in the first elimination round. This year’s tournament has surprised at every turn, with the favourites France unceremoniously dumped out by minnows Switzerland. Elsewhere, an English team playing lacklustre football throughout the group stages put in a polished performance to beat historic rivals Germany. Part-month long festival, part-geopolitical circus, the Euros are

Local football teams are experiencing a dramatic rise in serious injuries after losing last year’s season to Covid-19 and lockdowns, a paramedic and sports trainer says. Aquinas Old Collegians Football Club trainer Katelyn Redfern said there were many more injuries than usual this season. “I would say the injury rate among the men’s teams are double what they would normally be at this halfway point of the season,” she said. Not only have I seen an increase in the frequency o

Local sporting teams may have returned to the fields in 2021 after grassroots sporting competitions were cancelled last year, but leagues are now struggling to find umpires. Southern Football Netball League (SFNL) umpire Michael Moore said umpire shortages were a growing problem. “Whether it’s the endless abuse, or older umpires simply retiring so that they can spend the weekend with their families instead, there’s less of us sticking around and less young umpires coming thr

Residents have every right to protest over the council’s plans for a substantial new netball centre, Bayside’s mayor says. Mayor Laurence Evans said the council was listening to objections and trying to resolve residents’ concerns, while also attempting to create a balance in sporting facilities. “The netballers deserve to have an appropriate place to play,” Cr Evans said.   After endless years of gender inequity, it is enlightening to be spending money on female sporting fac

After a long 537 days without a footy crowd, the MCG was last weekend finally allowed to host half its capacity – 50,000 diehard Australian Rules football fans.  On Thursday night for the first game of the first round of the new season, supporters donned their traditional colours – the yellow and black of the Tiger army, and the navy blue of Carlton – after the longest break from football in Victorian history.   Supporter Luke, 21, was happy just to be there. “I don’t even go

“I never had any intention of [playing AFLW], I guess I just loved the game.” Andrea Gilmore started playing women’s football “just to keep the body ticking over” between Super Netball seasons. She started a pre-season with Claremont and “fell in love playing it then and there”. Now 32, Gilmore was among the older women in the recent AFLW Draft and one of a number coming from other elite sporting backgrounds. In the same draft, Richmond picked up Australian representative bas

“I was just at the point where I was unhappy. I’d come home and just burst into tears in front of my wife saying this isn’t how it’s meant to be.” Brett Deledio was an AFL champion. As a Richmond Tiger, he won the AFL’s rising star award in his first year, then two Jack Dyer Medals as Richmond’s best and fairest and two All-Australian blazers. But years of missing out on finals and a disappointing season took a heavy toll on him. “Year after year of missing out on finals –

“The big moment … was when Colin O’Riordan left Tipperary to go play at the Sydney Swans when he was 18.” Aisling McCarthy, a native of County Tipperary and a star of Gaelic Football, says her interest in Aussie Rules began in that moment. “When I got to see some of the clubs and play a bit of the game, that’s when I thought, you know what, if the opportunity comes up to play, I really do want to.” Currently back home in Ireland following the abrupt end of the 2020 AFL Women

How did you become interested in journalism? I was interested in newspapers and writing for as long as I can explicitly remember. There was a day when the Southern Aurora train between Melbourne and Sydney crashed. I was only nine and I remember hearing about it and then reading about it on the front of The Age the next day, and being fascinated by how this calamitous event that had happened one particular day could be on the front of the paper the next day with pictures, i