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Northern Stars

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 January 19, 2025

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.

January 19, 2025 0 comment

Other Sports

2024 ANZ Premiership R14/15: Northern Stars hold off the Southern Steel after a successful late tussle with the one goal win

by Sports Benches July 15, 2024

It’s been oh so close between the 5th v 6th/bottom two teams in the Northern Stars & Southern Steel to finish off Round 14 of the 2024 ANZ Premiership Season in Dunedin with one last regular season round remaining this weekend. Steel always off to a great start but it was the Stars who held them up throughout the first half where they were one goal up at half-time, 27-28.

Although Steel again rebounded as if the start repeated itself with some really good improvements that gave them a two-goal advantage at three quarter time (41-39), but just couldn’t hold on a bit longer towards the end there unfortunately. At the end of the day, it was Stars with the win once again by just a solitary goal to close the second last round of the 2024 season, 53-54.

First of all, skipper Maia Wilson had an amazing night as the main Northern Stars shooter. She netted a near perfect accuracy towards goal of 97%, having missed only one shot out of 39 attempts throughout the night v Steel. Yes, Stars may be low on possession but gotta credit her team’s defense on exposing the Steel’s isolated attack before Maia was able to get the job done with the net right in front of her off the back of a brilliant counter-attack feed through the channels. It led to a good few points lead at the half-time break followed by an excellent end with the win as although things may not be the same this year when it comes to the Top 3 down in 5th, but Maia is always going places including at International level for the Silver Ferns.

Here’s another standout Stars player this time in the back three tonight in Kate Burley at goal keeper who is flexible amongst multiple defensive roles along with her excellent physicality and athleticism to deflect one away from the net at her own danger zone. She had really great start actually that made the Steel front three so hesitant under pressure before Kate was able to throw onto the other side where goals coming her way for the most part including that crucial final few minutes with three rebounds of her own including three intercepts for the best of the Stars. When she came off, the Steel were a couple of goals ahead where the Stars began to slip away at one stage. However, glad she saved the day when she can back on to help steer victory once again for the Stars with unfinished business ahead in the hope of returning to its former glory in 2025.

Now it might not have taken that long to settle in for Serina Daunakamakama in the south when she was at the Northern Mystics as a training partner earlier this season but she had another great game though that reflects her progress within the senior level at Wing Attack. She picked up as many balls as possible with the most feeds of 36 in order to find her front two thanks to her team’s good start on top of a good defense as usual alongside skipper Kate Heffernan in the mid-court. That way, Georgia Heffernan and Grace Namama can help finish things off within the circle where the Steel were so close of winning this one again off the back of an improved 3rd quarter. But then the Stars’s scrambled defense proved so difficult for them in the end where mistakes were being made made under pressure before the Stars stole the show even if it’s by a small margin, particularly in the last few mins on what has been another difficult year to end up 6th & last once again for the Steel.

And lastly, wishing Reigna Bloxam all the best ahead of her last game as the Steel head coach this weekend v the Magic after giving back for so long before she heads off overseas while a new era awaits in the hope the Steel can rejuvenate next season.

July 15, 2024 0 comment

Other Sports

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 May 27, 2024

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.

May 27, 2024 0 comment