It’s been another weekend of sports news this week Australia from decisive or fight or flight finishes both Netball and NASCAR to more Premier League soccer, particularly looking at the bottom three teams right now.
Lots to unpack and how these teams, players or drivers involved can move forward onto the next match-up or race.
Sports Benches is the place to be for your weekly recaps that extends further drama & storylines beyond sport into GH here.
Sports Feature headline starting with the NASCAR Cup Series from Martinsville
It’s been a while since Ross Chastain ran well upfront with steady improvements all the way to 4th for Trackhouse at a track of great memories like Martinsville.
There’s more good Top 10 Ford Mustang moments starting with the ever consistent mid-pack team RFK cars by none other than Ryan Preece in 6th.
Same goes to the No.34 of Todd Gilliland from Front Row Motorsports for the second straight week in 9th following near breakthrough finish of 2nd last week at Talladega’s Fall race.
Not forgetting Josh Berry too in the famed Wood Brothers No.21 when qualifying would’ve been any better but a Top 10 run to round out 10th despite the odd spin?
How good in front of the team’s hometown track too.
With no Fords now up for next weekend’s Championship 4 Finale at Phoenix, maybe RFK should take home the “teams” championship if we had this in NASCAR instead of the individual owners’ championship system.
There will be two Hendrick Chevys of Kyle Larson and today’s Martinsville winner William Byron v two Gibbs Toyota Camrys of Chase Briscoe and Denny Hamlin.
The latest on the Toyota Camp
Sports: Despite another unlucky semi-final race today by Denny, good news is that he can use that Championship 4 title hunt as his best redemption race in the hope of finally winning one for the first time.
He was 2nd at times at least during the first half but then had problems along the way and couldn’t get back. Denny can’t afford to lose another race like this as he will need the No.11 team’s full support from staff and crew chief to supporters.
That way, not only he can be the best Gibbs driver ahead of team-mate Chase Briscoe but also the #1 in NASCAR.
Looking further into Toyota and the latest mid-pack driver of the day was Tyler Reddick just outside Top 10 in 11th for 23XI Racing.
He had an inconsistent afternoon with no fault of his own when these Camrys also didn’t have the best day except he only finished 9th in Stage 2.
Sometimes it’s all about survival or bust through 500 long laps but on a mile oval and flat surfaced short track layout as Tyler will be hoping for a fast Toyota day to sigh off the 2025 season on a high both for himself & his 23XI boss Denny.
Constellation Cup Netball: Game 3, Silver Ferns v Diamonds
Sports: It was a game for the Silver Ferns to remember today with that head coach uncertainty now out of the way and there’s still hope of retaining the Constellation Cup v Diamonds this Wednesday.
Aussies still lead the 2-1 series ahead of Game 4 as a win just enough to steal one back.
For Ferns, they will need more than the 60 min plus the extra time win to stage such a comeback script.
The final score was 62-51 from Globox Arena in Hamilton.
Silver Ferns
Karin Burger – the mainstay of that Ferns back three – snapped hands and fingers at the Aussies like crocodiles on what has been a huge defensive shift full 60.
She’s been leading the side for a while as no wonder Karin has this defensive first approach along with the added attacking risk.
That’s why she’s been playing both Goal Defense or Wing Defense as don’t know if Catherine Hall will get her first start soon following another good shift off the bench.
But remember Ferns still have hope of hiding that Constellation Cup trophy off Diamonds for another year.
In the meantime, maybe best to stick their starting 7 from today including Mila Reuleu-Buchanan aka MRB who also played not bad as starting WA too.
Meanwhile, Maddy Gordon was top speed at wing attack than centre by demonstrating clear transition and passing signals we’ve seen earlier this year with the Central Pulse.
Her height suits this perfectly in running up and mark down her opposition players on top special long bombs in order to find her circle shooters, even though she’s naturally experienced in the middle.
But seems like the Ferns want to have their own Paige Hadley now, who wouldn’t mind playing anywhere across the three mid-court positions, as long as she’s up for it so far this International season.
Aussie Diamonds
Sports: Good to hear Paige on the Fox Sports Australia broadcast panel with the two Caths in Cath Cox and Cat Tuivaiti.
The only reason she’s not playing right now is that she is expecting her first child early next year.
Jamie-Lee Price with her all-round game kept the Diamonds moving from WD then to C after a rest and later back to WD.
JLP not just strong in defense with a super read of the ball, she can provide fast and explosive transitions to feed these goal-scoring opportunities for her front two.
But then Diamonds didn’t come up with any ideas to break down that Silver Ferns defensive end & fell short by nine goals.
They were on the right track earlier on away from home with their own unchanged 7 from Game 2 in Sydney.
Diamonds just weren’t aware of New Zealand’s improved defensive intensity while changes off the bench didn’t quite work out with increasing turnovers.
Maybe 1-2 changes needed that could be tempting for Diamonds hopefully enough to win one away from home. But their tactics need to be on point for Ferns to hit and miss those feeds both on defense and mid-court areas too.
Premier League
There’s still a whole lot going on from the weekend replay on 9Go of Nottingham Forest’s 3-0 defeat v Chelsea where our Aussie Ange got sacked on the spot to West Ham’s deep disconnect with the owners following yet another loss the other day by 2-1 v Leeds United.
Leeds didn’t hesitate earlier on with two first half goals & didn’t have much drama of their own to throw their trolleys in the pram along the way.
Meanwhile, same old drab West Ham when it comes to their starting XI line-up and approach until wholesale changes came in with a goal to return somehow — unfortunately just too little, too late.
Lights out and the way we go!
A day later following West Ham’s continuous drab of watching themselves paint dry, didn’t know the voice of Sky Sports F1 David Croft – a passionate West Ham fan – took a bit of time to slate the board on-air while he was live on-site during Saturday’s Mexico City Grand Prix.
Like the vast majority of supporters, they all want David Sullivan and Karren Brady to sell up now following their poor & cheap off-field decisions over the last 15 years.
These problems have gone deeper as bad as Santa’s naughty list like the Olympic Stadium that isn’t really a Football layout to letting agents do the transfer work & also underestimated off other clubs paying prices, particularly when Sullivan signed over 50-55 strikers and only a few rarely worked.
Don’t forget the Rush Green Training Ground is far from world-class too despite continued minor updates and many more including undermining staff from free-agent managers to sports directors and also shockingly expensive priced players.
As said, not GSB in or GSB out in the mid-week weekly recap since running a sports team is part of business.
But the best thing the owners can do is to at least step aside from day-to-day operations suggested by Hammers News.
That way, someone like Pablo Longoria the Sports President from Marseille would handle the Football department, while Sullivan & Brady can still retain ownership of the club.
West Ham are not alone in this
If Tottenham Hotspur can do it, why can’t West Ham?
Sure Daniel Levy has his own mistakes too when he was the chairman of Tottenham for so long until recently but still he helped Spurs achieve a couple of things:
From numerous Top 4-6 PL finishes to silverware including the Europa League triumph with Ange earlier this year even though Ange was sacked weeks later owing to his poor 2024/25 PL season (17th).
Nothing can take away from this despite some off-field grievances.
As for West Ham, taking a back seat by letting proper football people in charge would be better than nothing.
Don’t forget Wolverhampton Wanderers also have their own ongoing problems down in 20th like Nottingham Forest who still sits 18th.
Wolves did find a way to get on hold of Burnley’s stunning 2-0 start by half 10/half 9 Zian Flemming with two goals of their own. But then lost their towel that spread so deadly between the fans and that head coach Vitor Pereira following Burnley’s last gasp win by 3-2.
Have this worse case feeling if Wolves end up going back to the Championship by May 2026, their whole working structure will be gone including their pulling power of South American and Spanish/Portuguese-speaking European talent too.
