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2024 Billie Jean King Cup Finals recap for Australia: Outclassed by Slovakia despite some fightback by Kimberly Birrell 2-0 with no doubles match required

by Sports Benches

There was some Tennis after all to finish off the Sunday night and into the early hours of Monday from Malaga in Spain with the Billie Jean King Cup involving Australia. 

The good news is that they had the early round Finals bye to begin straight from the Quarter-Finals tie v Slovakia, but the bad news is that the Aussies were outclassed following a 2-0 series straight defeat. 

Yes, we saw some brilliant tennis at times from Kimberly Birrell including that 2nd set fight to open up the deciding set while it was good seeing Ajla Tomjlanovic back in action in a while after a long layoff from injury. 

It just wasn’t enough unfortunately to fight on another day even a 1-1 tie might have encouraged our doubles pair of Ellen Perez & Daria Saville to live on another day – at least on the Tennis court that could’ve seen them face Great Britain in the semis that will begin tomorrow night.

Alex De Minaur’s British girlfriend Katie Boulter is having an excellent impact so far for Team GB and so does her team-mate Emma Raducanu who won the US Open back in 2021. Who knows what could happen and they could do in the hope of going one step further towards Wednesday’s Final for that one prestigious trophy named after our female Tennis icon (Billie Jean King) against either Poland or Italy.

Want more of De Minaur? The Davis Cup Finals week will then begin this Thursday to Sunday starting with the USA & he too would love to go big and go home with the Davis Cup trophy for our Aussie team. 

Would’ve it been lovely if Katie won the BJK Cup and Alex won the Davis Cup for their won countries? That would be another couple goals success story of Tennis in 2024 after they won three other weekly tournaments all within the same time during that same weekend together.

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Thoughts on recent rumours with the National Hockey League odd weekend game originally scheduled twice for free-to-air on 9Go but now not going ahead in Australia

by Sports Benches

Thought we were all existed to see a bit of Ice Hockey with the National Hockey League for free-to-air also lately when 9Go planned to schedule at least one weekend game to start off Saturday this month that was supposed to be the Detroit Red Wings v Toronto’s Maple Leaf (home team) before they decided to push one back a week later than planned. 

But over the last day or two, they’ve now decided not to put the game on ahead of tomorrow which would be the 11am AEDT one between Pittsburgh Penguins v Columbus Blue Jackets (home team).

Yeah, it’s a shame this won’t be happening unfortunately when NHL came over to Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne last year to play some exhibition matches there with 9Go previously being their free-to-air broadcaster alongside ESPN. It could’ve been a great time to have another odd NHL game on 9Go during the middle of the day that would have great significance for our NHL fans considering Nine has a great relationship with ESPN Australia with Basketball and US Sports like the weekly WNBL basketball game during Sundays on 9Go as well most other games via 9Now. But at the end of the day though, it would be great if Nine did actually say about this via press release and promoting it before putting this on air rather than someone putting this out of nowhere & then nothing happens.

I know our NHL interest isn’t on the same level as the NFL that 7mate airs every Monday morning during the season including Playoffs and Super Bowl while SBS no longer airs NBA games for like two years now. Again, just didn’t know where that rumour came from as if Nine can be so serious about airing ice hockey again, then perhaps do it during the Stanley Cup Finals or when they come back down under next time.

It’s just a suggestion and then we maybe talking about this after all.

For now, there’s always Foxtel, Kayo Sports and NHL.tv if you do really want to watch the Pens v Columbus game tomorrow morning. Meanwhile on Nine, there’s always the Billie Jean Cup Tennis this Sunday on 9Gem at 8pm involving Australia, as well as a bit of boxing on Wednesday night at 10pm thanks to their own paid streaming partner at Stan, who will be covering the full program.

And yes, we wish we could also watch a bit of Spring Tour rugby (not all games though since most of them are held during the very early morning/overnight) also on free-to-air like it was in the past when there was no live Super Rugby at the time. 

It was great to see the Wallabies win over England last weekend at Twickenham including Joseph Suaalii’s outstanding debut straight out out of the Sydney Roosters in the NRL & Nine has been covering league for such a long time. 

With the possibility of a Rugby Australia launching third-tier comp involving four existing Australian Super Rugby teams – in the same way we currently see with our U16 and U19 Super Rugby teams – that would begin sometime next year, I do hope Nine can consider putting at least one Spring Tour match to round off the Wallabies calendar year on free-to-air. 

Ideally, I’d like to see the 6am AEDT final tour game on a Sunday morning against whichever European team live on 9Gem.

They’re they’re doing this right now with UEFA soccer when it comes to all three club competition Grand Finals plus selected Super W & Club Rugby games (mainly late season + Finals) throughout the year as well.

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A look back on 2024 Fast5 Netball from last weekend and a huge year from Silver Ferns and Netball New Zealand going into 2025

by Sports Benches

International Netball may be over for now in 2024 but at least we witnessed such a stunning and a bit controversial Fast5 Netball tournament from Christchurch last weekend with the Aussies being crowned champions yet again.

Yes, we had another Trans-Tasman rivalry this time at when both sides advanced into the Cup final beforehand knowing NZ have already beaten Australia several times recently when it comes to the standard version of the game in the Constellation Cup.

NZ were off to good start particularly for most of the first half ahead of the break by nine goals (14-23), but then they’ve lost their way unfortunately whilst leading in the latter stages that allowed Australia to play catch up before they stole the show towards the end by a close four goal gap (34-30) at full-time.

You just never know what could happen in this fast-paced netball format, especially when making the most out of these powerplay features just within that circle line every time it’s active minutes before the end of each quarter – congratulations to the Aussies with the Fast5 championship win for yet another year in 2024.

For now, I guess there won’t be January netball with the Nations Cup over in England. The hosts decided to do things differently right now with a four-match series against Jamaica starting this weekend where the first two games will be at home and the last two being away to the Caribbean much like our Constellation Cup Series with the Diamonds and Silver Ferns. 

Although there might still be a possibility of Ferns going to play in Fiji instead alongside the Diamonds, we’ll have to wait and see for that one. For now, it’s been a big year for NZ Netball in 2024 from the Northern Mystics retaining their ANZ Premiership title over their one-goal grand final win v Central Pulse to losing 2-1 v England and now recently won the Trans-Tasman battle including a historic Game 3 away win v Diamonds to reclaim the series trophy. 

2025 will be much different though when the Ferns won’t be able to use the services of their star goal shooter Grace Nweke who is now in Sydney to test herself in Super Netball for the NSW Swifts. Let’s hope this will last for at least one season if not two ahead of the 2027 World Cup & who knows if NZ will get their way into Aussie shores at some point once again when it comes to their Trans-Tasman opportunities at Domestic level. 

I’d personally like to see a bit more exposure for foreign players coming there (i.e. 2-3 players than 1) that will help improve the current and future Ferns players just like the Aussies have done to them recently by coming over for more game time. But again, we still don’t know what the long-term framework will look like for Netball NZ including their next TV deal from 2026.

And last but not least, it’s been also good looking at Netball once again after being in and out over the past few years – can’t wait to watch this all over again in 2025.

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2024 Melbourne Cup Carnival Day 4: James McDonald wraps up program with back-to-back wins + Stakes Day triumph for Chris Waller’s Via Sistina at Flemington Racecourse

by Sports Benches

So there you have it, the 2021 Melbourne Cup winning jockey for Verry Elleegant, James McDonald has been simply too good to pull off towards the winning post for Chris Waller’s Via Sistina as your 2024 Stakes Day winner at Flemington.

Yes, it was a close one when approaching the home front with 11 horses vying for that top spot before you just couldn’t see this coming where Via Sistina just wrapped up this race right on this spot ahead of everyone with 200m to go. 

Don’t forget he just managed to wrap up on a high during that next & final race of the Stakes Day & Melbourne Cup Carnival program thanks to his close win for Pisanello over Trapeze Warrior under James Cummings when there were some pre-gate drama with 1-2 other horses had to be scratched out before race start.

Not only it was a outstanding day for McDonald with a career best 11 wins now in this Melbourne Cup Carnival, but also a phenomenal Saturday afternoon for trainer Chris Waller, who saw another of his trained horses finish 2nd in today’s headline Stakes Day race, with Japan’s Atishu by jockey Jye McNeil.

Then you’ve got last year’s Melbourne Cup winning horse Without a Fight in 3rd by jockey Mark Zahra as well as the Freedman brothers duo of both Anthony and Sam (co-trainers), and finally you got Ciaron Maher’s Future History after Dylan Browne McMongale steered home in 4th.

So at the conclusion of Stakes Day Saturday, that’s all we’ve had time for in this year’s week-long Melbourne Cup Carnival for 2024. We still got to see some amazing moments both on and off the racecourse including the glitz and glamour as well as a change of hands by Nine Network as their new broadcaster for the first time in history. Sure the Victorian Racing Club will continue to produce such an iconic event that everyone can enjoy every year as no doubt we will be back to witness yet another edition of Melbourne Cup racing that stops the nation in 2025.

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2024 Melbourne Cup Carnival Thursday: Damian Lane pulls off Oaks Day win for Treasurethe Moment with trainer Matt Laurie

by Sports Benches

What a finish there to pull off towards the winning post by Jockey Damian Lane who just treasured that moment for trainer Matt Laurie with the Oaks Day win (2500 race) together (Treasurethe Moment) on Day 3 of the 2024 week-long Melbourne Cup Carnival at Flemington Racecourse.

He simply kept a good eye up front when running Top 5 all along before he struck the right moment at the right time where no one couldn’t catch him & the rest was winning made history – well done. 

While the final front stretch did change everything, there’s a few successful late race overtakes to tell like James Macdonald’s Powers of Opal under John Sargant who finished 2nd, Hurry Curry by Brazilian Joao Moreira for trainer Danny O’Brien in 3rd & Blake Shinn has steered Nathan Doyle’s Harlem’s Queen home for 4th. 

Yes, the weather may not look that good with pouring rain a few hours ago today much like over in Sydney. But still another great day of racing nonetheless with colours full of fashion, fun & on-track excitement as three days down, one to go.

If case you missed it so far, this goes from Jamie Kah’s whirlwind Saturday on Derby Day to Irishman Robbie Dolan’s sensational triumph for Knight’s Choice via photo finish over Warp Speed during Cup Day Tuesday that gifted Sheila Laxon her 2nd Melbourne Cup win as trainer since Ethereal back in 2001.

Now we can’t wait for Stakes Day Saturday to wrap up yet another great four days of Melbourne Cup action from Flemington.

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2024 Melbourne Cup: Knight’s Choice just held off Warp Speed for the ultimate prize via photo finish at Flemington with cheers of joy from Robbie Dolan & Symons Laxon Racing

by Sports Benches

This 2024 Melbourne Cup headline race was the moment we’ve been all waiting for at Flemington where it can be one winner on what has been a photo finish with Knight’s Choice who just edged out Warp Speed for the top prize in 1st. We congratulate the winning jockey Robbie Dolan from Ireland as well as the winning trainers’ Symons Laxon Racing from the Sunshine Coast in Queensland. 

You just never know what could possibly happen, especially going into the final home stretch where there were like 1-2 front runners doing the best they can including some lead changes there to try nail down that ultimate prize.

But boy, it was still a brilliant finish to the race nonetheless thanks to Knight’s Choice’ late winning move on Jamie Kah’s Okita Soushi for Ciaron Maher, who eventually finished not far behind in 3rd, before he just held off the best he possibly can towards the winning post and now he’s so relieved to lift that Melbourne Cup trophy alongside Symons and Laxon.

So close there from Kah for Okita Sushi who thought she got the double there off the back of her Derby Day win from Saturday for Goldrush Guru. Although it was so difficult for her to hold off under pressure but she too had a rollercoaster last few days as she will now have to serve that 10 race or event suspension starting tomorrow. The same goes to Warp Speed from its Japanese contingent of jockey Noboru Takagi & his trainer Akira Sugawara, it would’ve been a wonderful moment for Japan to steal the show – but then they had to settle for 2nd when it comes to that photo finish footage.

And gotta say we saw the best of 3200 miles with 23 competing riders where 1 winner can only settle this as it’s been a brilliant day to look back on yet another year of Melbourne Cup day Tuesday. 

There’s still a lot more to come when it comes to the glitz and glamour beyond the race field with fashion, live music, food and entertainment. Plus, there’s two more days left on the Melbourne Cup Carnival with Oaks Day Thursday & Stakes Day Saturday. If you’re near the area around Melbourne, come join in for the fun; If not then there’s always on Nine & 9Now.

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2024 Melbourne Cup Carnival Saturday: A rollercoaster day for Jamie Kah from being caught for carless riding to a nose injury to now Derby Day winner at Flemington

by Sports Benches

It’s been a tremendous day to kick off the week-long Melbourne Cup Carnival that began with Derby Day Saturday at Flemington Racecourse & what a day it was from jockey Jamie Kah who pulled off well clear ahead of everyone to hit the winning front for Goldrush Guru. 

Great to see Scary making a late charge for 2nd despite being quite out of reach behind Kah’s Goldrush Guru while there was a close battle for 3rd with China Sea having just edged out KingofWallsStreet. 

You just couldn’t believe or underestimate what it would take for Jamie to keep on going, even though she faced a couple of challenges earlier in the day – from being charged for careless riding to copping a bloody or broken nose at another race meet during the early afternoon. 

And yet, she is someone who just loves riding and racing with horses as Jamie went on to gift a couple more race wins here & there for her respective race trainers – one for Ciaron Maher’s Another Will in the Damien Oliver Race as that race win was for the late Colin McKenna who sadly passed away due to cancer a week ago and of course Goldrush Guru during the headline race for South Australia’s Andrew Gluyas. 

Now she just came out of the stewards room with a ten meeting suspension which was a huge blow when it comes to her daily/weekly race commitments. But the good news though is that she’s cleared to race for Cup day Tuesday as this would mean a lot to her & Maher if she can get this over the line in first place for their Okita Sushi race team.

Speaking of Melbourne Cup, we can’t wait to look forward for the race that stops the nation this Tuesday afternoon at around 3pm. Plus, there’s more than just racing at Flemington when you got Fashions on The Field and whole other stuff to do like music & drinking a sip of champagne around the racecourse.

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2024 Constellation Cup Netball Game 4: Aussie Diamonds finish off on a high in Melbourne 63-50 as Silver Ferns still get to collect the series trophy back home in NZ

by Sports Benches

The 2024 Constellation Cup series has just ended for another year at John Cain Arena in Melbourne with the Aussie Diamonds capping off a much better performance this time on a high note by 13 goals at home (63-50), but still a largely underwhelming run though as the Silver Ferns officially took home the series trophy back where it belongs in New Zealand for least the next 12 months with three straight wins (two at home in New Zealand) to one including that monumental 43-61 win the other day away (RAC Arena) in Perth.

It was a close 15 mins from the beginning by both teams with Ferns able to lead out a few times by a couple of goals. However, it was the Diamonds who began to turn the tide with a six goal lead (32-26) ahead of half-time while they kept their winning lead intact throughout the 2nd half. Yes, Ferns tried to play catch up that fast in the last 15 but Diamonds didn’t panic though by keeping their lead intact once more & never looked back since then – that’s all.

Great to see Courtney Bruce smiling with confidence, especially when her Diamonds team were winning while being the (goal) keeper of this back three. She’s been so good at nailing down by ripping the ball away off a different side of the Silver Ferns attack thanks to her brilliant running talent, even when Grace Nweke was there off the bench while the game went on who will be playing here more often for the NSW Swifts next year. Maybe she should be in the 100m dash (Athletics) but glad to hear that Bruce still has lots to offer though after all where playing v the world’s best will help her personally as a professional athlete & sure she’ll want to keep on going into 2025 beginning with the West Coast Fever in Super Netball.

Next up is fan favourite for the Melbourne Vixens is Kate Moloney who has been bossing the mid-court throughout the full hour tonight. She credits her Diamonds back three especially with Jamie-Lee Price being much better at Wing Defense, so she can do damage to link up her attackers towards the other end. They just keep on coming with goals under her watch as what could’ve happened if she did start from Game 1 of this series instead of Price or even Paige Hadley much like Sophie Dwyer for the Goal Attack role, although there’s still huge competition there off the back of Kiera Austin’s return to form tonight. For now, she’s flying high this year in a finalist Vixens outfit as more to come for 2025.

And Kate Heffernan rounds out the Top 3 once again. Yes, might not have heard much from her earlier on when the Silver Ferns would like to try out something different with their squad, having won the series already. But she is someone who always put on her A-game and she continues to do so consistently with a mix of good passes as well as marking/deflecting balls from up high. Also, there may be some complaints about Kate not being good at Centre where she done that before for the Southern Steel and she wasn’t that bad, particularly when trying to play catch up in the last 15. But surely if the Steel wants to be Top 3 again, then the safe option is for Kate to be at Wing Defense than at C. For now, she’s had an outstanding Trans-Tasman series – more to come from Kate Heffernan alongside her twin Georgia (in goal attack) for 2025.

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2024 Constellation Cup Netball Game 3: Silver Ferns has finally done it away from home with not just the huge win but also the series trophy at Perth’s RAC Arena

by Sports Benches

So there you have it, the Silver Ferns just won their third straight game in the 2024 Constellation Cup series v the Diamonds by a whopping 18 goals (43-61). Now they can take this Trans-Trophy back into New Zealand territory with nothing to lose going into the fourth & final match at John Cain Arena in Melbourne on Wednesday,

It was a close one between both teams from the start when the Diamonds were usually dominant likewise on home turf alongside the Ferns on their own home front like we saw over the last seven days. However it’s the Ferns who got away on the winning front this time in Australia from a two-goal buffet at half-time (26-28) to a massive full-time win while the Diamonds just couldn’t find a way to arrest them and shut the Ferns’ defense down in its tracks.

This is the second time Dame Nolene Taurua has done it as head coach since 2021 when that edition’s Constellation Cup series were all played in New Zealand due to COVID at the time. Before that, the Silver Ferns only won the won once a long time ago (2012) in between the Diamonds’ long-running dominance since its inception back in 2010.

Gotta say she used Game 3 of the Taini Jamison Trophy as a practice game when they’ve lost that series already to England with the win, and her starting 7 never stopped working hard since then only while winning & still winning not once, twice but three times in a row now. Great to see Noelene and her players celebrate with joy post-game on a moment they will never forget – mark that down on the NZ netball & also NZ sporting history books.

Let’s start by Southern Steel’s Kate Heffernan with no introduction following her outstanding Constellation Cup performance once again including Game 3 tonight for the Ferns at Wing Defense. Speaking of defense, the credit is there from her Ferns back two in Kelly Jackson and Karin Burger who has that high jump with these intercepts, deflection & high ball catches – must’ve been a great cricketer back then. Plus, she also worked well together with her Netty Notes business partner & international team-mate Maddy Gordon through the mid-court that got the best out of the Ferns’ starring goal scorers Ameliaranne Ekenasio & Grace Nweke up front — particularly when the Diamonds weren’t that good at the back & they scored well each time with both hands. Mind you she also deserves to take out the player of the series as well with Kate always on top at her A-game through each and every match at all levels, more to come both club and country going into 2025!!

Then there’s her new Southern Steel team-mate Kimiora Poi at the other wing attacking end of the Ferns court. As said, the poor Diamonds’ defense and their goal scoring struggles allowed Gordon and Heffernan to link up with Poi on what has been a dangerous Ferns mid-court where Ekenasio and Nweke just never stopped scoring – that’s all. She had a really good last few years from when she played a bit of Australian netball with the then Collingwood team to making a name for herself with the Mainland Tactix where her side only lost the Elimination Final this year & now there’s still unfinished business ahead, and that will be helping her new club go back into winning ways for the Steel with Steel legend Wendy Frew onboard as the new coach.

And GWS Giants goal attacker Sophie Dwyer did the best she can for the Diamonds tonight this time starting in Perth, having shot most of the goals like he did all along in this Constellation Cup series. She should’ve been starting there no doubt instead of Kiera Austin from Game 1 as can’t guarantee any success based on just picking the Diamonds’ best front two from one particular top club which is the Melbourne Vixens. But then there’s deeper issues than that like her team’s really poor selections particularly at the back & even their mid-court that made it even worse sadly. That’s all I can say as they need to know what the Diamonds are really doing and if their starting 7 does well v Ferns, then stick to it while they can with the lead.

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2024/25 EFL Championship Soccer: West Brom & Cardiff City settled for 0-0 draw after a frustrating afternoon at The Hawthorns

by Sports Benches

Both sides may have not been able to get away with it when it comes to scoring goals where shots were flying everywhere that could’ve been 1-0, 1-1 or even 2-1, especially when West Brom played on the home front  at The Hawthorns v Cardiff City. However, at least West Brom and Cardiff settled the score though without a goal following a frustrating and scrappy 0-0 draw at full-time. Cardiff is currently sitting just above the bottom three relegation zone in 20th while West Brom remains within the Top 6 Play-Off places at 5th in the English Championship with 12 weeks in out of a long 46 round season.

First of all, West Brom thought they could’ve done any better when a few shots on goal didn’t quite go towards the net while some have gone outside the crossbar – even though they had 2nd half possession. What could’ve possibly have been if it wasn’t for those three goalkeeper saves by Jak Alnwick from Cardiff? But again, despite yet another draw – West Brom need to re-start winning somewhere as still plenty of time, and their next match will be against Luton on Friday night UK/Saturday morning AEDT.

And as said for Cardiff, yes, they could’ve also done any better had they spent more time when it comes to those conversions within the final attacking third box. Despite not having much ball in the 2nd half, how good was these three saves by the keeper Jak Alnwick?  He was the man who at least frustrated the West Brom attack all afternoon that gave the interim coach Omer Riza something to be content about after recording his yet another undefeated match under his watch. Time will tell if Riza will get the permanent job but lots of first-time managers start there without huge success, so up to Cardiff if they want this to keep on going or hire someone else who may be young but with a bit more experience.

Elsewhere, Sunderland still on a roll currently five points clear in 1st place following a 2-0 win today v Oxford United while Burnley unable to get away with another win thanks to a 0-0 draw v Queens Park Rangers as a few other top teams are circling around them for that 2nd placed automatic Premier League spot – such as Sheffield United (3rd) who def. Stoke 2-0 and Leeds United (4th) who still have a few games in hand despite an also 0-0 draw yesterday v Bristol City.

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