Not to mention:
During the 2005-06 summer of cricket, One Day Internationals were played at Docklands Stadium because the MCG was unavailable due to the preparation for the 2006 Games. However, Boxing Day Test between Australia and South Africa was still held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground during the summer of 2005-06. It was notable that media tycoon, Kerry Packer died on 27 Dec 2005.
– Sheffield Shield matches involving Victoria also had to be shifted from the MCG to Junction Oval.
– A-League soccer games commenced in August 2005.

I heard that the Ballarat’s MARS Stadium will more likely use the track and field, while Geelong GMHBA Stadium will host the Opening and Closing Ceremonies. Basketball will be played in Geelong Arena, while Netball will be played in Ballarat.

Very sad to see his passing of John Raper.
Thoughts are with his family at this devastating time.

What a fantastic game last night. During the 2nd hour of the game I was quite worried that it will be the end of the match, but rafa clawed back during the match. In the end, the match went for about 5:20 hours. Another epic match, another great viewing on TV.

Well done Ashleigh Barty. She played an outstanding tennis match during the Aus Open.
I saw the Women’s Final and nearly had tears in my eyes.

I think Channel Nine need new voices for the T20 World Cup hosting coverage. A few years ago, they had Todd Woodbridge hosting the Cricket coverage. I don’t think Woodbridge is a credible host. THey need to have a host that has a strong passion in cricket rather than choosing some diffreent random presenters.

Last year, many Australians couldn’t get access to the T20 WC in UAE as it was shown behind a paywall. This was an absolute disgrace by Cricket AUstralia to not have Cricket games on Free to air. The sad thing is that the Grand Final between Australia and NZ wasn’t shown on FTA. Many AUstralian Cricket fans are annoyed about the cricket not shown on free TV. Instead, people have to pay to watch the T20 World Cup last year. I think that Cricket Australia is putting profits over people.
Think about others – people in nursing homes, retirement villages, hospitals – they don’t have Pay TV or internet access. Instead, their main source is FTA Television. And think about people who don’t have Internet access or live in areas with poor internet reception. Their main source is FTA TV.
Good that the Nine Network has the rights to the T20 World Cup down under this year. I think the majority of the matches involving Australia will be beamed either on Channel Nine or 9GEM in HD.

Russell Devonshire was another big loss in the NRL community. He was Eels player No 294 and made his debut at the Parramatta in 1972. He also represented in other teams in Illawarra, Newcastle and North QLD. He relocated to WA in the late 1970s and became a leading coach at both Club and State Level winning numerous premierships. He changed Rugby League in Western Australia and became an inductee in the WARL Hall of Fame.

I nticed that Channel 7’s test cricket coverage finished early after Australia smashed England by an innings and 14 runs within less than 90 mins of play on Day 3. This is an amazing performance the Aussies and a disaster for England Cricket Team. Scotty Boland was the star where he took 6 wickets for just 7 runs. This was similar to the Boxing Day Test in December 2006, where the match was wrapped up in 3 days.
With the early finish to the Test Cricket match, I think Cricket Australia and the Seven Network will suffer voluminous financial loss.

Another 6 years (including the 2023-27 Extended rights deal) of Gus Gould and Ray Warren. As Ray approaches into his 80s, it looks like Ray will call blockbuster games, including Origin, Finals and the GF. I know he’s called NrL for more than 50 years now but he made terrible mistakes and called wrong players over the past 10+ years. And Gus simply waffles on and on with his own agenda. It is hard for me to concentrate on the game. We want to watch the game, not put up with the same old lame jokes.
Hopefully, channel 9 need a complete overhaul in the commentary.

I think Rugby Australia needs to be careful about AFL and NRL during September 2027. Normally in September, AFL and NRL Finals are being played in this slot. If Australia wins the Rights to host the 2027 Rugby World Cup, then I think that the AFL and the NRL Season will have to start in late February and conclude in late August. This meant that the AFLW season might have to be truncated.
The Rugby World Cup Final will be a three way race between Stadium Australia, MCG and Optus Stadium. Stadium Australia can host up to 83 500 people in the stadium, the MCG can host up to 100 024 people, while the Optus Stadium can host up to 65 000. According to the Australian, the Melbourne Cricket Ground would like to host the 2027 Rugby World Cup Final if Australia secures the rights. MCG wasn’t used for the 2003 Rugby World Cup (mostly because of domestic cricket commitments). MCG haven’t hosted a Rugby Union match since 2007 (with Wallabies v All Blacks). It can help grow the sport more in Victoria.
According to the West Australian, the Optus Stadium would also like to host the 2027 Rugby World Cup Final. Former Wallabies Captain, Phil Kearns said that Perth provides a much better time zone for audiences in Europe and South Africa.

I’ve waited for about 15 years to see the T20 World Cup down under. Originally, the T20 Editon of the WOrld Cup was scheduled to be held in Oct 2020, but was delayed by 2 years due to COVID-19 pandemic.
I hope that Channel 9 might get the rights to screen the T20 World Cup in Australia. It would be good to see cricket back. (This year’s T20 World Cup was put behind a paywall in Australia).

I predict that this will be a very close match between these two sides – Penrith Panthers and the South Sydney Rabbitohs. I am backing the Penrith Panthers to break an 18-year premiership drought.

Also Robert Flower passed away in 2014. Robert Flower held for the record number of games for Melbourne until overtaken by David Neitz. Robert Flower was an important part for Melbourne. He started his first game against Geelong in 1973 and retired at the end of 1987 VFL Season. During 1987, was where Melbourne played finals footy for the first time since 1964.
During the past 10 years, we’ve seen a few teams break their own droughts. The Bulldogs ended a 62-year premiership drought back in 2016, the year after that, Tigers went on to end a 37-year drought and 4 years later, Melbourne did it. TMK, St Kilda is the only AFL team that have last won the Flag in the VFL Era. Hopefully, in the future, they can end the long premiership drought.

I cannot believe why 3 West COast Eagles and 3 Fremantle matches were shown on delayed telecast on Channel 7. To have the game shown on a replay takes a lot of viewers away. Unfortunately, the current Seven commentary team is stale and boring. Having to put up with BT in the commentary is unlistenable – he gets facts wrong and says the wrong player. To make matters worse, Brian Taylor wasnt aware of which players are on the field and yells for no reason. When I watched the AFL between the West COast v Melbourne this year his level of commentary was absolutely substandard. same for James Brayshaw – I cannot stand him and he has a boisterous shrieking voice. It was enough for me to turn the TV sound off. I would like to have a zero commentary option so that I won’t have to put up listening to these two.

Great article Danielle. I find it very hard to listen to the NRL commentary on Nine, especially to two commentators Ray Warren and Gus Gould. I know that Ray Warren is the Voice of NRL, however his calls have deteriorated over the past 10 years. He gets players names mixed up and couldn’t pronounce names properly. As well, he gets distracted by Gus Gould who interrupts over the top. Gus Gould annoys so much in the commentary. It is enough for me to turn my sound off. THis year, when I watched the State of Origin NRL matches, I had to use alternate feeds so I don’t need to put up with these two blokes waffling on nonsense. Having the alternate feeds means that I won’t have to listen to the two boys in the commentary and the promos for the shows.

Originally nrl scheduled the Storm preliminary match to be played on Saturday night. However NRL fans are very annoyed with the NrL going up against the big event, AFL Gf as well as the Rugby Union match, Australia v Argentina. I think the NRL management has been too arrogant and they don’t think about the fans. COVID-19 has had significant impacts on the NRL with NSW and VIC in lockdown. Therefore NRL is more likely to lose thousands of dollars due to the huge impacts of the pandemic.
The rescheduled NRL game will be scheduled to kick off at 4PM (AEST). The Victorian viewers are likely to have the Game being shown on Nine. It looks like there will be no post match talk on Channel Nine (as they will go straight to Nine News instead). On many occasions Victorian viewers don’t have the Post match talk on GEM.

1996 Preliminary Final between Sydney v Essendon must be up there as well. That was where Plugger kicked a point to win the match. It also ended a 51 year Grand Final drought.

Australia managed to win 21 Gold which isn’t too bad, but still in the top 10 rankings.
The ratings for the Tokyo Paralympic Games did well on the 7mate channel and clocking up good numbers on the multichannels. This was due to the timezone difference. Now that the TOkyo Paralympics are finished, it’s time to focus on the Beijing Paralympic games which will be held in 6 months time. There’s no telecaster for the Beijing Paralympic Games but I believe that Seven will more likely have the rights to the Games (becuase due to the fact that Seven secured the rights to the 2022 WInter Olympics in Beijing).
Paris 2024 is 3 years away and will be held on the 28 August 2024 through to the 8 Sep 2024.

Lachie Neale returning to the west after a 3-year stint at Brisbane would be good for Fremantle. We know that Adam Cerra is planning to depart Fremantle and head over to Victoria. THere are three clubs that Adam Cerra is going to join – Carlton, Hawthorn and Melbourne. Losing a forward could hurt for Freo, but Lachie Neale might be a good addition back in the purple colours.
On the other hand, there are reports from the West Australian newspaper saying that Fremantle are keen to lure young speedster Jordan Clark to the purple and white. Jordan Clark has missed a lot of games in 2021 for the Catters.

Since their 2011 Premiership, Geelong had a poor run of finals:
2012 – lost to Fremantle in the Elimination Final
2013 – Lost to Fremantle in the Qualifying Final, beat Port in the Semi Final, lost to Hawthorn in the Preliminary Final
2014 – went out in straight sets (Lost to Hawthorn in Qualifying Final, Lost to North Melbourne in the Semi Final)
2015 – Failed to play finals
2016 – Beat Hawthorn in the Qualifying Final, lost to Sydney Swans in Preliminary Final
2017 – Lost to Richmond in the Qualifying Final, Bet SYdney in Semi-Final, lost ot Adelaide in the Preliminary Final
2018 – Lost to Melbourne in the Elimination Final
2019 – Lost to Collingwood in the Qualifying Final, Beat West Coast in Semi Final, lost to Richmond in the preliminary final
2020 – Lost to Port Adelaide in Qualifying Final, beat Collingwood and Brisbane in semi and preliminary finals respectively, lost to Richmond in Grand Final
2021 – Lost to Port Adelaide in the qualifying final. Lose to GWS in SEmi Finals and pressure is mounting on Chris Scott, despite having a very good win/loss record in Home and away season. According to Footy Classified, Craig Hutchison says that early finals exit could spell the end of Chris Scott’s tenure at Geelong.

Panthers and storm both currently sit on 20 wins and 3 losses. The equation is like this:
If Storm win and Panthers lose, Storm will be confirmed as minor premiers.
If Storm lose and Panthers win, Panthers will go back to back minor premiers. This could be a repeat of last year with Panthers and Storm finishing 1st and 2nd respectively after home and away season.

The newcastle knights have secured a final. THe race between the 8 is for the Canberra Raiders, the Cronulla Sharks and the Gold Coast Titans.

Looks like 9Gem will screen the afternoon Bledisloe Cup in the eastern states. The reason why The rugby union is on 9Gem is because of NRL coverage on the primary channel in NSW, QLD, ACT. Also rugby union doesn’t rate high in AFL states.
However Channel 9 Perth will screen the Aus v NZ match on the primary channel in HD.

Go back to 2004 and after Round 18 Melbourne were on the top of the ladder before losing the final 4 home-and-away games. They would lose to bombers in the elimination final.
I think this could do the same for Western Bulldogs. Western Bulldogs were in the top 4 at Round 19 before losing the final 3 home and away games and having to see a home elimination final. Bombers are desperately wanting to win a final for the first time since 2004.

A very comprehensive analysis.
We all knew what happened in early 2004 when Peter Schwab said that the Hawks would win the premiership. Hawthorn won over Melbourne in Round 1. However, the wheels fell off during Round 2. However the wheels fell off during ROund 2 with more losses. This saw the writing on the wall for Peter Schwab. 2004 was a bad season for the Hawks with Shane Crawford stepping down as captain following his broken arm. This saw many AFL players leaving the club.
Alastair Clarkson took over as the Hawthorn Coach and they went through a full rebuild with Jarryd Roughead, Jordan Lewis and Buddy Franklin. They slightly improved in 2005 with 5 wins and 17 losses (to finish 14th). IN 2006, Hawthorn won its first 4 out of 5 matches, then losing the next 6 games. Hawks managed to record an upset win over Richmond in Round 12 in Launceston. However, Hawks would lose the next 6 games. Hawthorn managed to improve to win the next 4 games to finish 11th.
IN 2007, Hawthorn lost the opening match ot Brisbane, but they were able to win 13 matches to finish 5th. Hawks would win a final for the first time since 2001 with a come-from-behind victory over the Crows. However, the Hawks would bow out of the semi-final with a 33 point loss to the Kangaroos.
In 2008, Hawthorn got off to a good start, smashing Melbourne by 104 points at the MCG in ROund 1. Hawthorn won the first 9 matches of the AFL season. They were able to secure a top 2 for the first time since 1991. Hawks beat the Dogs in the Qualifying Final, smashed the Saints in the Preliminary Final and upset 2007 Premiers Geelong by 26 points at the MCG.
2009 – Hawks missed the finals after winning the premiership. Hawks would then finish 9th with 9 wins and 13 losses.
At the end of 2009, Josh Gibson and Shaun Burgoyne arrived. Josh GIbson previoiusly played for NOrth melbourne while Burgoyne previously played for the POrt Adelaide (which he was a premiership player in 2004). Hwaks got off to a good start, smashing the Melbourne FC by 56 points. However, the wheels fell off in Round 2. At the end of Round 7, there was pressure on Alastair Clarkson during that period. However, the Hawks would win the next 7 games before losing to Geelong in ROund 15. Hawks managed to recover with 12 wins 9 losses and a draw to secure 7th. Hawks would bow out of the elimination final to Fremantle at Subiaco Oval.
As of today, all of the 2008 Premiership players have retired or moved on. Lance Franklin moved to Sydney at the end of 2013 season and is still currently playing for the club