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Tennis x Sports Crossover at the 2025 Australian Open: Super Rugby, All Blacks & Wallabies preview along with Netball in New Zealand and Jack Doohan under pressure for only the first six races in Formula 1 at Alpine-Renault

by Sports Benches

And last but not least, how about we give a shoutout to two Wallabies stars Harry Wilson (Queensland Reds) and Max Jorgensen (NSW Waratahs), who were both in attendance at Melbourne Park this weekend to cheer on Alex De Minaur.

Yet, the Demon did win after all to play in the 4th round for the 4th straight year of his AO men’s singles career.

It was also nice seeing Harry and Max lend over that Wallabies green and gold jersey to Alex and look at him go! – How good! 

Rugby Union

We first have a jam-pack year of Rugby ahead of us with the 11-team Super Rugby competition set to start in a month’s time before the British and Irish Lions arrive at our own backyard during winter. Plus, there’s Club Rugby at the same, the Rugby Championship & Bledisloe Cup in August-September, and we finish off the year in Europe v the North’s best sides on earth.

First of all, it’s been a bitter blow not seeing Melbourne field a Rugby team anymore in the Rebels when they are a big sporting city due to financial problems. But with lots of people playing AFL (Aussie Rules) and even NRL (Rugby League), it seems there’s no room for Rugby to succeed in that place unfortunately.

Now we are down to four teams with the Western Force still around & as we all know the ACT Brumbies would love to finally play in a Grand Final. However, we would need the Tahs, Reds or even Force to be playing in the semis either way in order for the Wallabies to succeed & that includes the Brumbies. It’s never been a better time to try taking that advantage now, especially with Joseph Suaalii onboard from the Sydney Roosters (NRL) to the Waratahs. 

Other than that, the NZ teams will still be dominating for the most part along with a new-look Crusaders, even though the All Blacks had their bad times last season when it comes to the Springboks and France.

Netball

If Rugby isn’t big enough for NZ, why not Netball when they also have a huge year ahead? 

The Silver Ferns will be stopping by in Sydney soon to spend nine days there as part of their training camp including a Practice Match v the NSW Swifts featuring the Ferns former star shooter (for now) Grace Nweke on Sunday, February 2.

They will also have a slightly different ANZ Premiership season amongst half of the six teams having brand new coaches (Mainland Tactix, Southern Steel and Northern Stars) between May-July including Finals with a two-round home-and-away format across 10-12 weeks rather than playing three times last year.

Yes, the Ferns haven’t organised any matches lined-up yet for the second half season but we are still expected to see the Taini Jamison Trophy series back regardless of opponent. Although England have won it last year but the good news is that they will be able to defend the Constellation Cup v the Aussie Diamonds following their 3-1 series win back in late October.

And shoutout to former Silver Fern and current GWS Giants (Western Sydney) player Gina Crampton who plays at Wing Attack and was also in attendance from the stands for Alex De Minaur’s game yesterday – sure she still has plenty to offer at age 33, especially playing against the best in Super Netball.

Formula 1

What else? Rugby & Netball isn’t the only sport who mix and matches well with Tennis.

I also wish Alpine-Renault’s Jack Doohan from Formula 1 was there to see Alex also because they do look like each other with both of them having a smiley face personality. Surely, Jack can get some tips on defying those odds from Alex when there’s a bunch of reverse drivers waiting in his wings under pressure including Franco Colapinto. Alex did beat another Argentine actually yesterday too in Francisco Cerundolo; hopefully, this will cheer Jack up in a bid to keep his seat over the first six odd races of the season.

Although I can understand Jack is more aligned with Ayrna Sabalenka because she visited his team’s garage in his unexpected F1 debut last month at Abu Dhabi & Jack came back in return for Ayrna when she played a match a few weeks ago at the Brisbane International.

Post-Notes

Can’t believe there’s a whole lot of other athletes watching for fun there rather than looking to go toe-to-toe with the pro Tennis players & see who’s better? 

Time will tell.

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Netball News: The 2024 ANZ Premiership Final is all set for next Sunday with Central Pulse v Northern Mystics after the Mystics four-goal win yesterday v Mainland Tactix

by Sports Benches

Oh so close on what has been a cracking elimination final decider yesterday afternoon between the Mainland Tactix & Northern Mystics at Wolfbrook Arena in Christchurch. There can only be one winner who will go on to meet the Minor Premiers Central Pulse for next Sunday’s Final at TSB Arena in Wellington while the losing side will have to bow out outside the Top 2. In the end, it was the defending champs Mystics who got away over the Tactix with the four-goal win 64-68. 

Now it’s going to be a brilliant finish to the 2024 ANZ Premiership season with one match to go before we look at the Silver Ferns International season starting with England at home (3 x game series) in September.

How good was Katie Te Ao off the bench when she came on to turn the Elimination Final around that puts the Mystics into the Grand Final once again, especially in the last few minutes in the middle of the park for Tayla Earle. She’s really quick alongside her decent height and can also drop down a bit at wing defense too but what’s really good about Te Ao is the way she bridged these ball through the attacking third that gave Grace Nweke (goal shooter) & Filda Vui (goal attack) the run of her money. Keep an eye for her going into next week’s Final whether it’s in the starting seven or as an impact sub.

Then we’ve got the experienced Mystics defender Phoenix Karaka who worked so hard to stop the Tactix from conceding goals whether if she’s at goal keeper or goal defender. Although she was much better though at goal defender where not only she worked well alongside her team-mate Catherine Hall, Karaka also got the best out of her defensive abilities including five intercepts every time the Tactix unable to find their own like Ellie Bird to shoot through the circle. The work isn’t done yet as Karaka hopes to bring home another Grand Final win for the Mystics despite finishing 3rd in the regular season.

And great to see Ellie Bird given the nod as goal shooter after being frozen out during the last regular season game v Pulse. She too knows how to get going thanks to her experience and tall physical frame that puts the Tactix on the front foot. It’s a shame that a couple of attacking handling errors & incomplete passes unfortunately gave the ball away, especially in the last few minutes before it was too little, too late. Bird came out of retirement this season, so interesting to see if she will stick around or just help out soon enough.

It’s been a good season though for the most part by the Tactix thanks to their experienced defense as wish Marianne Delaney-Hoshek the best of luck with a new coach set to take over going into the 2025 season.

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ANZ Premiership: Central Pulse go straight into the Grand Final alongside the Minor Cup after a 14-goal win over the Mainland Tactix 

by Sports Benches

The regular phase of the 2024 ANZ Premiership Netball season is now over after 15 weeks across 45 games as we turn our attention to the last two Playoff games that will set up a brilliant finish for the Grand Final where there can only be one winner to take home the major championship come Sunday 4th August.

This last regular-season match belongs to the Pulse fair and square where they’ve started so well off the back of an unbeaten first-half run that puts them into a decent lead up front by nine goal at half-time, 31-22. Yes, the Tactix did win the 3rd quarter alone, having began to play catch-up as the game isn’t over yet with a six-point trail (42-36) going into the final quarter. 

But then that comeback was short lived off the back of the Tactix’s poor attacking play and tactics as Pulse went on to extend their lead as further as they can towards the end with a 14-goal win, 58-44. Not only the Pulse won the minor premiership, they too now go straight into the Grand Final with a two-week rest.  For now, it’s all eyes in the Elimination Final this weekend — it’s either going to be the Tactix again who had to finish 2nd on the ladder or defending champions Northern Mystics after they safeguarded 3rd over the Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic thanks to their final round win v Stars.

Tiana Meruarau has been unbelievable that kept the Pulse ticking tonight at goal attack as her side is now going straight into the grand final with the minor premiership. She’s blessed with the strong defense led by skipper Kelly Jackson off the back of the Tactix’s poor conversion play where Tiana knows where to find her shooter while she can shoot from a far whenever it’s convenient in order to get the job done into the net. She had 10 centre pass receives, 30 feeds, 6 goals and 21 goal assists that reflected her huge impact for the Pulse. The job is not done yet where a huge final win would give her the chance to translate her game for the Silver Ferns soon enough later this year. 

Gotta say Maddy Gordon kept the game going for the Pulse in the middle even though she didn’t start the game due to her recent return from injury, especially when her side got away unscathed towards the end with the win. She never stops running around that gave attackers the chance to get as many goals as she can every time Jackson and co. stopped the Tactix in its tracks. Out of the 43 minutes she played tonight, she had 12 goal assists & 21 feeds – which was good work being paid off. Yes, heard she came off sore; but surely that won’t affect her too much since she’s on managed minutes with a two-week rest time before the Final.

And Jane Watson did the best she can to stop the Pulse from scoring who stood her ground as always defensively behind the goal posts for the Tactix. She isn’t afraid to steal the ball from up high with a couple of intercepts/turnover being recorded that gave her team the chance to get things done at the other end including that improved 3rd quarter after half-time. It’s just a shame really that the Tactix’s attacking play is not good tonight where they were so far behind for the most part as getting Ellie Bird on until the last few minutes really cost them before it was even over. Tactix do have a 2nd chance though but need to win v Northern Mystics first in the Elimination Final this Saturday.

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Netball: Mainland Tactix relieved to see off the Northern Stars in the end with the one-point win as they now topped the Central Pulse on the 2024 ANZ Premiership Ladder

by Sports Benches

Gotta say that Round 7 of 15 in the 2024 ANZ Premiership Netball competition in New Zealand was full of surprises and unpredictability. We first saw the undefeated Central Pulse run being finally written off by the Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic two days ago while the 6th and last place Southern Steel got their first win of 2024 yesterday afternoon v the Northern Mystics.

Now the Mainland Tactix is your new leader ahead of the Pulse after they overcame a serious and attack-minded Northern Stars side by just one point as the final score was 58-57. The first half was shared by the two teams with the Stars off to an excellent start while the Tactix didn’t stop working to keep them in check ahead of half-time 29-29 apiece. Yes, Stars won the third quarter where they had a small few points advantage in the hope of finally securing their first win of 2024. However, they just couldn’t get it over the finish line unfortunately which was a shame as the Stars were right in it for the whole time. Instead, the Tactix managed to turn things around with a little tweaks where a resilient defense, cutting down the ill-discipline and giving Ellie Bird the keys to shoot over the net more often there was the key to their winning path tonight in Christchurch.

Gotta say Ellie Bird was so happy & relived to get her Tactix team over the line v the Northern Stars by just one point after her outstanding performance tonight on 47 of 49 goal attempts at 96% just close within the net (goal shooter). Yes, her numbers around her had a really hard time getting past the Stars on occasions when the opposition also had high standards. But she’s thankful that staying ahead including the last 15 minutes saw her working a little more harder in order to get to stop the Stars from slipping past them while being able to process her finishing more often that fits the way the Tactix wanted to finish it off under her watch. The next Tactix star who did well to stop the Stars in its tracks at the back is Karin Burger on Goal Defense where she can cover everything at the back. She never backs down having read the difficult opposition attack well on her own danger zone in order can take the risk & win the ball back, which paid off in to order bring the ball over through the other end of the court. It goes to show that she’s still got plenty to offer at 31 including the leadership to help stay ahead despite some flaws with the ill-discipline here & there, particularly during the 3rd quarter before she got them home by one point.

And Mila Reuelu-Buchanan really made the Tactix confuse themselves with her all-action energy in the mid court that includes her defensive skills to turn things around & protect her back three. That way, she can give her Northern Stars Shooters the best link-up supply they can get thanks to their good start of the night off the back of her work including an amazing 3rd quarter. They were oh so close to derailing the Tactix’s winning celebration plans in the hope of finishing off another upset like the other two weekend matches but just couldn’t do so unluckily towards the end there with yet another loss after Round 7.

May is about done now as we enter the new month of June for Round 8 this weekend with the Southern Steel v Central Pulse on Saturday, then Mystics v Tactix on Sunday and the Stars will be back next Monday night where they welcome the Magic.

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