1. AFL Finals. They are a brutal beast! You lap other teams all year and then you have a shocker in an elimination final and you are gone only one week after everyone else. The late flight to Bali. Adelaide survive as minor premiers after Collingwood whack them. Hawthorn extinguish GWS in a fourth quarter fade but the Gold Coast Suns won a cliff hanger away from home and enter the last six teams... a great last gasp win by a point after a disallowed goal with nine seconds left.
It can be a brutal end result. Geelong looked the pick of the lot.
West Coast Eagles pick up yet another spoon, their third. A long way to reach St Kilda on 27 wooden spoons!
2. NRL Finals. The advantages the Broncos seem to get from the NRL at times, are incredible. TV appearances for the Broncos are some of the most important dollars for the NRL. A million home games last season...a few extra days to prepare for the finals clash v the Raiders.
A top four finish by the Broncos is incredible (why does Reece Walsh do stupid things every season at the September end?... cocaine arrest at Cavill Avenue, screaming at a Blues supporter, silly social media photos in a Bali hospital with Ezra Man and then a toilet drinking prank. Grow up and don't be a goose. Can't imagine Mushashi would be pleased as a key personal sponsor). Coach Maguire (and coach Barrett) have done well.
Canberra to beat the resurgent Broncos and then the Storm (no Paps, Hughes - and the reckless Asofa Solomona) to beat the Dogs (no Xerri, Montoya). The Dogs have stalled in attack. They lack speed in the halves. Lachlan Galvin's greatest value must be yet to come. He directs play, throws a great pass, has a reasonable kicking game but has no pace and too many defensive lapses at that level. He is very young it must be remembered, but talk about pressure.
The Panthers will get over the Warriors and the Roosters over the Sharks (who were super impressive v the Dogs on the weekend). In fact it was the best we have seen from the Sharks for many years. No Nicho will kill them now.
- The Tigers have been abysmal once again. Losing to the Gold Coast underlines how terrible they have been. The press have given them a good ride in 2025, but they were dreadful. Avoiding another wooden spoon seemed like their season goal. The great 'Zorba' Peters (who turned 80 the other day) picked it at the start of the season... they will be like Samoa...flashy, feel good, but essentially losing game after game.
- The Eels (26) ended the season on more points than the Tigers (24), four points behind Manly and Dolphins (30) - less all the media hype and drama that Benji brings.
- The Eels end in 11th position. A pretty promising start under coach Ryles who started the year terribly.
- The Dragons (15th) were horrible in the end too. Completely ill disciplined. They have not recruited well. Gutho is too slow and needs to head to England now. They lack speed and wanted to offload Sloan who has pace... They need a wide broom... Klemmer, Cook, Fataila-Mariner, Gutherson, Holmes... too many older players.
- Are Canberra cooked now they have given up 50 points (with 10 stars rested)?
- The Knights were dreadfully average all year. Ponga plays 10 games a year and good luck with Dylan Brown who has lost confidence, pace and skill - yet is one of the best outside back defenders in the game. A new coach cannot arrive soon enough. A deserved spoon winner! Des Hasler avoids another one.
- James Schiller...possibly the worst recruitment decision of the year. Left the Raiders to join the Knights this year. Oops.
4. EPL. Some big steps by a resurgent and humble Liverpool team. Winning v Arsenal last week was huge. Three games and 9 points. An awesome start after a tragic off season... the international break this weekend, so no play.
5. Rugby Championships. A 28-24 win over the Pumas was a remarkable end, but does anyone know why it was played in Townsville? Once the Argies were easy beats, but not any more. An attacking winning mentality is the best thing we have seen from the Wallabies in 2025.
A tough championship to win. Yet another All Blacks loss 18-12 to the Springboks under Scott Robertson. The knives will be sharpening and there is no break dancing practice in sight!
6. US Open Tennis. Alcaraz (5 Grand Slam wins) v Sinner (4 Grand Slam wins) in the men's final. We have heard this song before. No other player has contested a Grand Slam final in 2024 or 2025 apart from these two. One of either Sinner or Alcaraz have won nine of the last 10 Grand Slam finals. Both have one US Open win.
The great Novak Djokovic can only make semi finals these days (nothing wrong with that at 38 years of age). Alex de Minaur keeps true to form...top eight results and no more. Not that there is anything wrong with that either!
In the women's final, Aryna Sabalenka v Amanda Anisimova was an intriguing one. Anisimova beat Iva Swaitek in the quarter finals on her way through to the final. It was Swiatek who smashed her 6-0 and 6-0 in the Wimbledon final earlier this year. To bounce back from that and into a home final is pretty special.
Unfortunately for her, Sabalenka won their final. She has an impressive record now to have two Australian Opens and two US Open Grand Slam titles (and three Grand Slam losses). Impressive. Joins the likes of Hana Mandlikova, Kim Clijsters and Arantxa Sanches-Vicario on four Grand Slam wins.
7. ODI Cricket. The Tony Greig-Richie-Bill era of TV cricket commentary was just superb. Some old footage bring back amazing memories. 'It's all happening'...'hit it like a tracer bullet'... 'a swing and a miss'...'bails off in a flash'...'hard and fooorrrst'... 'marvellous'. Australia v NZ in three T20s are about coming soon.
8. Darren Weir. The footage of the disgraced trainer administering electric shocks to horses in training under his care is an absolute disgrace to the industry. He should be banned for life, despite the passage of time. Animal cruelty at its worse.
9. The Irish Golf Open. Can Rory roar and make up the difference to win it? Poised!
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