The Roar
The Roar

Advertisement

What to expect in sport in 2017

Melbourne Storm were runaway minor premiers, so where's their reward? (AAP Image/Julian Smith)
Roar Pro
2nd January, 2017
4

2016 will go down as a year of unexpected triumphs, so what does 2017 have instore for us?

NRL
After their maiden flag in 2016, the Cronulla Sharks will look to create further history by being the first side to win back-to-back titles but will fail to do so.

A top-four finish and a quarter final exit will be the extent of their title defence. The real winners of 2016 will be Cameron Smith and Cooper Cronk. 2016 minor premiers and eventual runners up Melbourne Storm will go one better this year, inspired by their legendary duo, aided by their dominant forward pack and unbeaten home record.

With the NSW Blues still undergoing a transition period the Queensland Maroons will win their third consecutive Origin title, paying fitting tribute to Johnathan Thurston, Matt Scott and Nate Myles all playing in their final series.

With Queensland unbeatable at Suncorp, and games one and three in the sunshine state it’s hard to look past a 2-1 series victory, with Cronk picking up the Wally Lewis medal. After already achieving a domestic double, Smith and Cronk will complete a rare season treble by taking out the 2017 World Cup.

The recent Four Nations tournament highlighted the gulf in class between Australia and the rest of the world and bar an embarrassing choke, Australia could and should win the competition unbeaten with Thurston saying farewell to the stage international with a man of the tournament display.

A-League
Currently it’s a battle for second best in the domestic competition with Sydney FC first and daylight second. The premiership race is all but signed, sealed and delivered to the unbeaten and largely unchallenged Sydney side.

sydney-fc-a-league-football-2016

Advertisement

The attention now turns to the next five and how the rest of the competition fills in the places. At the halfway point Melbourne Victory sit five points clear of Brisbane Roar, third, with a game in hand and will be hard to stop from there. Brisbane and Melbourne City will challenge for third and fourth with City edging the Roar.

Western Sydney Wanders will somewhat bounce back from their poor start the season and finish fifth, leaving Perth Glory to pip a surprisingly competitive Jets side. In the finals series Roar and Wanders will renew their finals rivalry with Roar this time coming away victors but to no avail as Sydney will follow the recent trend and make it four successive years the premiers have won the grand final, with a 3-1 win over the Victory.

Socceroos
Every remaining World Cup qualifier will be crucial for Australia after they dropped two points away to Thailand, leaving them third in their group, one point behind both Saudi Arabia and Japan. While they remain the only unbeaten team, they need six points from their two March fixtures against lowly Iraq and United Arab Emirates, equal on nine points, before two possibly do-or die matches against table toppers Saudi Arabia, home, and Japan, away, in June and August respectively.

In between their crunch World Cup Qualifiers is the CONFED Cup, which inevitably Australia jagged the ‘group of death’, with World Cup-winners Germany, Copa America champions Chile and the TBC winner of AFCON. While this a great chance to test ourselves against the best in the world, given the importance of qualifying for Russia 2018, and the difficulty of our opponents, it’s likely coach Ange Postecoglou will use this as a platform to give experience to our players rather then put in a serious challenge.

Come the end of 2017 expect the Socceroos to have booked their tickets to Russia, only dropping points to Japan away while finishing the CONFED Cup with no points and nobody too worried.

Australian cricket team
As is the way of modern cricket, there is no rest for the wicked, the wicked in this case being our boys in the baggy green. Having dramatically won the Pakistan series, attention is briefly turned to the white ball, with a three match ODI series kicking off in New Zealand in late January before Sri Lanka venture down under for three T20Is and at the same time the Test team fly to India.

National selectors will look to reward the Big Bash League players in both the short form series, while giving the Test stars a well-earned rest. New Zealand will be in form after series against Bangladesh and will reclaim the Chappell-Hadlee trophy against an inexperienced Aussie side. Sri Lanka will be looking to exploit the inexperienced Aussies in the shortest form of the game but will experience less success, with Australia clean sweeping the series.

Advertisement

Next up, the tour everyone is fearing, a four-Test series against Virat Kohli and his men in their subcontinent fortress. After embarrassing defeats to Pakistan and Sri Lanka in the spin capital of the world, many are expecting Australia to face similar struggles with the bat against the turning ball.

While there is no quick fix for the major struggles they faced only months ago, the new look side they now boast will arrive settled and will take confidence from their performances against both South Africa in the third Test and the Pakistan series, regardless of the result in the final Pakistan Test.

Peter Handscomb is a player known for his ability to handle the turning ball, and in his brief yet impressive career has shown he has the ticker for Test cricket. Matthew Wade’s only Test century came under trying conditions in a West Indian dirt bowl and although he is out of form with the bat it’s only a matter of time before a player of his quality clicks.

While batting is the key concern, Australia’s spinning stocks have also been under question this summer with Nathan Lyon, barring his MCG performance, largely failing to inspire.

Steve O’Keefe, Australia’s go to second spinner has been drafted into the Sydney Test side with Ashes hero Aston Agar also added to the squad in what’s likely to be an early insight to the selectors train of thoughts for the Indian series. The two real x-factors of the potential squad will be the inclusion, or lack thereof, of Glenn Maxwell and a young leg spinner, namely Mitchell Swepson.

Mitchell Swepson attempts a catch.

Despite his tendency to play an unnecessarily risky shot, there is no doubting Maxwell is potentially one of Australia’s finest batsman, especially against spin, throw in his handy of breaks and he’s the obvious choice for the number six spot, right?

Advertisement

Swepson, like SCG debutant is Hilton Cartwright, is a largely unknown quantity, but when the King of Spin himself calls for your inclusion you know there’s got to be something special about him. Despite an improved showing, led once again from the ever-brilliant Steve Smith, Australia won’t manage to buck their subcontinent hoodoo, but do expect them to battle it out a maybe even steal a draw pinch a win.

Come November we face the old enemy once again, but that’s a discussion for another time.

What are your thoughts about the predictions made? What are your predictions for 2017, leave them in the comment section below.

close