Posts filed under 'Sport'
Two Canberra Raiders NRL players have been suspended pending a police investigation into a pursuit through Bruce last night.
According to AAP, Todd Carney and Steve Irwin are the suspended players.
ACT Police say a 20-year-old man handed himself into the City Police Station last night, and faces three charges including failing to stop when directed by police, negligent driving and driving whilst disqualified.
Whilst AAP, the Raiders, ACT Police and the NRL have failed to name the twenty year old, it is clear from the Raiders website that Todd Carney is twenty years old, and Steve Irwin is twenty-three.
As there is an ongoing police investigation here, comments will not be allowed on this post, and I remind you that the traffic offences are only alleged at this stage.
Thanks to 2GB’s Continuous Call Team via 2CC for the tip-off.
Update 3:52pm: Added link to public version of AAP article. End Update
Samuel
May 19th, 2007 at 02:53pm
Seeing as I tipped Richmond to defeat Geelong, I think it is quite fair for me to say that Richmond’s embarrassing loss was, in one word, terrible.
I’m not sure if it’s a record, but Geelong must be very happy with their thrashing of Richmond by 157 points, 35.12.(222) to 9.11.(65).
It must have been an incredibly boring game to watch, most of the quarters went for well over 30 minutes due to the number of goals scored, and whilst I congratulate the Cats, I’m glad I wasn’t watching as I wouldn’t have had any chance of sitting through it, instead I was more than happy to just watch the scores tick by on the MyTalk Live Scores website whilst doing other things.
Samuel
May 7th, 2007 at 01:55am
It’s a glorious day today, for the Brumbies are not in the Super 14 Rugby finals. Despite having lived in Canberra all my life, I do not support the local side, in fact I can’t stand them. I’m a Canterbury Crusaders fan (that’s a short but interesting story that I’ll get to in a minute), and despite not following the Super 14 all that closely, I can honestly say that I am very pleased with the way the premiership season has ended.
The Brumbies needed a few things to go their way to get in to the finals. They needed to defeat the Highlanders, which they did 29 points to 10, but they also needed a rather large victory by last placed Queensland Reds over the Bulls. The match got under way at around 3am Canberra time, and before long it was obvious that the Bulls were going to easily win the match and rub the Brumbies out of the finals. The Bulls did so in style, convincingly thrashing the Reds 92 points to three. A perfect way to end the Brumbies’ season from distant Pretoria, South Africa in my opinion.
Also interesting (and good for the team involved) is the news that the Sharks are the first ever South African team to finish on top of the ladder in the Super 14. Admittedly the Super 14 hasn’t been going for all that long, but it’s an important record which will be carried with pride by the Sharks.
The finals consist of the Sharks, Bulls, Crusaders and Blues, which means that no Australian team is in the finals.
Now, the story about why I follow the Crusaders…it dates back to when my age could still be expressed in single digits, I was about three or four at the time when Dad asked me who I wanted to follow in the AFL, after listening to a list of teams I picked out the Bulldogs (then Footscray, now Western), and subsequently chose the same team mascot in the Rugby League, effectively choosing the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs. Moving on to when I was about seven or eight years old, it was a Sunday night and National Nine News was on the television, and they were reporting on the Rugby Union results, they said that Canterbury had won, I latched on to the name thinking that it was the same area as the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs, and despite it not being the same area, and instead being across the Tasman Sea, the name stuck and I have followed them ever since.
This could be why I despise the Brumbies so much…they are the local team and the local media treat them with some bias, and it is something peculiar about Canberra that we have so few local teams that they all get treated with some favourable bias, but I think the Brumbies are a special case. In the NRL the Raiders get some favourable bias, but the media tend to accept that a lot of Canberrans don’t give two hoots about the Raiders and support other teams, however the Brumbies, being one of only two teams within hundreds of kilometres, get treated like they are the entire competition (RiotACT provide roughly the same amount of Brumbies bias as the rest of the local media, see the linked article for an example), they are an annoying waste of excess media time in this town, and I for one just can’t stand them. The news that a thrashing of another team many thousands of kilometres away has directly affected and destroyed their hopes of a finals berth has made my day, and possibly my week!
Samuel
May 6th, 2007 at 11:42am
Hooray! For some inexplicable reason Channel Ten are doing two fantastic things tonight. Firstly, they are broadcasting a Saturday night AFL match live rather than on delay, and secondly, they aren’t using their horrible commentary team.
For some reason they are rebroadcasting Fox Sport’s coverage of the Kangaroos V Swans instead of using their own commentary team. Fox do a much better job than Ten, their graphics are better, the camera work is better, and best of all the commentary team is better.
And as a bonus for the Canberra based AFL fans who enjoyed 3AW’s brilliant AFL coverage for the last two years before 2CA canned it, 3AW’s Clinton Grybas is the lead commentator for Fox on Saturday night.
For once I can actually sit down and enjoy a match being broadcast by Channel Ten…they should consider sub-contracting all of their coverage out to Fox Sport!
Samuel
May 5th, 2007 at 07:36pm
I mentioned it the other day, but just to make sure that the people who keep searching for it actually find what they’re looking…Canberra’s 1053 2CA are not covering the AFL this year. If you want to hear the AFL on the radio then you will have to make do with the ABC coverage which I don’t think is quite as much fun.
Alternatively, 3AW, who 2CA sourced the AFL from for the last two years, still broadcast it, and they have a webstream. See their website or the AFL website for details.
Samuel
March 31st, 2007 at 07:54pm
In just over an hour from now, defending WNBL Champions the Canberra Capitals will be taking on the Sydney University Flames in the WNBL Grand Final.
Last year the Capitals defeated the Dandenong Rangers 68-55, but that might not be enough this year as Sydney Uni (who are the minor premiers) have defeated the Capitals in three of their four encounters this season.
It will most likely be a closely fought match, with Canberra being the number one defensive side this season, and the Flames being the team to win the most regular season matches. I’ll have a half-time and a full-time update (Update 4:14pm: And a quarter time and three quarter time update End Update), but for those of you who want more, ABC TV are covering the match live from 4pm Canberra (and Sydney) time, Sportradio.com.au have live online coverage, and the WNBL website will have live scores and stats (apparently…no link yet though).
Quarter Time: Sydney 20 lead Canberra 19
Half Time: Sydney and Canberra 39 all
Three Quarter Time: Canberra 50 lead Sydney 45
Full Time: Canberra 73 defeated Sydney 59
Due to a Microsoft server error on the WNBL live stats page killing their live score service, I’m going to take over.
Live: Canberra 73-59 Sydney Full Time
(This concludes live scores…match details to follow)
Match details filed 6:18pm: There’s not much for me to say and I’ll leave the nitty gritty to another journalist (it’ll appear below), but the bottom line is that the match was, as expected, close. Sydney seemed to have the upper hand in the first half, but Canberra’s status as the number one defensive team of the season paid off, as they managed to practically shut down the Flames’ offence in the second half, especially the last quarter. Sydney played well, but Canberra were just too good. Congratulations Canberra! End Update
Match report courtesy wnbl.com.au:
Caps go back-to-back
The Canberra Capitals have won back-to-back defencejobs WNBL championships following their 73-59 win over the Sydney Uni Flames at the Penrith Sports Stadium today.
An unanswered 15-point run from the Capitals in the fourth quarter laid the foundation for Canberra’s fourth WNBL title and Coach Carrie Graf’s fifth championship ring.
163cm Canberra point guard Nat Hurst scored an equal game high 15 points while five other Canberra players – Abby Bishop, Kellie Abrams, Donna Loffhagen, Tracey Beatty and Tully Bevilaqua – contributed double figures.
For Sydney Uni, Nat Porter scored 15 points while retiring legend and former Opals captain Trish Fallon finished with 13 points.
202cm Canberra centre Tracey Beatty was named the Grand Final MVP courtesy of her 12 point, 12 rebound, 3 assist and 3 blocked shot double-double.
Graf, who was also was named Coach of the Year, attributed the win to her teams dedication and hard work.
“This goes out not only to this team but every player I have ever coached,” she said.
“The players make me the coach I am.”
While Sydney Uni coach Karen Dalton put the loss down to a misfiring offence.
“I think the better team won on the day,” she said. “They shot the ball better than us and that’s what it comes down to in these games.
“I don’t think we responded very well offensively. Our offensive execution in the second half wasn’t fantastic.
“I think we gave up to many offensive rebounds, missed alot of foul shots and we just didn’t execute offensively and get the ball into the right people’s hands enough.”
The opening tussle for the ball immediately after the jump ball signaled both teams’ intentions which continued through the first quarter with eight fouls being called during the first three minutes.
Flames key forward Nat Porter opened the game scoring with a free throw.
Retiring legend and former Opals captain Trish Fallon proved why she is regarded as one the Australia’s greatest female basketballers, netting nine points in the quarter with her trademark composure.
Flames coach Karen Dalton had to inject Georgia Woodyard in earlier than normal after Eva Afeaki tallied two quick fouls in those opening minutes.
From there, both sides traded baskets, with Porter was given the task of defending 202cm Canberra tall Tracey Beatty.
Tully Bevilaqua subbed off two minutes remaining and with scores level at 13-all, her replacement, energetic guard Nat Hurst drove to the basket, collected the foul, dropped the basket and finished of the free throw for the three-point play.
But it was Fallon, in her 251st and final WNBL game that kept the Flames in touch with Canberra, who held a 20-19 quarter time lead.
Alicia Poto started the second quarter with four straight points, while the rest of Sydney Uni’s offensive threats warmed up and the Flames took 28-26 lead forcing Capitals coach Carrie Graf to call a time out.
The Flames maintained their attacking play with Eva Afeaki driving the lane for four second quarter points and allowing Sydney Uni to establish a 33-28 lead with four minutes remaining.
However, Canberra responded with a Nat Hurst a 3-point basket, a Kellie Abrams steal and basket to reduce the score to 35-34 before Hurst went to the free throw line and regained the lead by calmly netting both attempts.
A Michelle Musselwhite 3-pointer leveled the scores at 38-all, before both Kristen Veal and Kellie Abrams sunk one free throw each to leave the halftime scored at 39-all.
By halftime, both Sydney Uni’s Nat Porter and Canberra’s Nat Hurst had scored 10 points each while Fallon had nine points and Bibby eight points.
3rd quarter
Beatty opened the scoring in the second half, netting a jumper before Nat Porter was fouled and duly sank her two free throws to level the score at 41-all.
The best defensive team in the league got to task and shut down the best offensive team in the league. The Capitals restricted the Flames to just six points for the term.
Interestingly, it was the third quarter during the major semi-final two weeks ago that Sydney Uni kept the Capitals to just six points.
Tracey Beatty nailed a four-foot jumper before a Jess Bibby free throw pushed the Capitals out to 45-43 lead.
Some outstanding hustle and movement from 18-year old Abby Bishop illustrated the Caps desperation, jumping on the ball and forcing a jump ball but Sydney Uni got the ball back as they had the possession arrow.
With three second remaining in the quarter, Tracey Beatty netted a jumper to give the Capitals a 50-45 three quarter time lead.
Nat Porter led all scorers with 13 points while Beatty had tallied 12 points and eight rebounds.
A Michelle Musselwhite free throw opened scoring on the final quarter before Sydney Uni turned to Mrs. Clutch Trish Fallon.
34-year old Fallon went on a six point scoring run to give the Flames a 52-50 lead with 7:01 remaining.
However, consecutive three point baskets from the inspirational Tully Bevilaqua and feisty Nat Hurst and another four points from captain Kellie Abrams gave the defending champions a healthy eight point, 60-52 lead with 4:17 remaining.
And the Caps didn’t stop there, scoring another five points through baskets to Abrams and Bevilaqua – for 15 straight points – to open up a championship winning 65-52 lead.
Musselwhite dropped two free throws to reduce the margin to 13 before Eva Afeaki registered her fifth personal foul and was out of the game.
Nat Porter dropped another two points to make the score 56-65 while another free throw from Musselwhite reduced the margin to 65-57.
An Alicia Poto foul sent Donna Loffhagen to the line, who re-established the 10-point margin.
A steal and assist from Tully Bevilaqua and two easy lay-ups from Donna Loffhagen pushed the score out to 72-57.
A final two free throws from Musselwhite moved the score to 59-72 before Nat Hurst sank a free throw of her own to give the Capitals a 73-59 victory.
The win gives Coach Carrie Graf her fifth WNBL championship and unfortunately for Fallon she retires one win short of going out a championship winner.
Canberra 73 (Hurst 15, Beatty 12, Bevilaqua 12) def.
Sydney Uni 59 (Porter 15, Fallon 13, Afeaki 8 ) at Penrith Sports Stadium
End Report
Samuel
February 17th, 2007 at 03:02pm
Recently I have been thinking about the potential Hawk-Eye, the technology used to decide contentious line calls in Tennis as well as used by Tennis and Cricket broadcasters, has in deciding difficult scoring decisions in the AFL. Hawk-Eye, with its ability to track the ball would be able to detect a player touching the ball, as its path would change, as well as follow the path of the ball in case it were to sail over the posts.
I was going to contact the AFL with these suggestions, but thought that I would contact the people responsible for Hawk-Eye, British company Hawk-Eye Innovations, first to see if they thought it would be possible. I was pleasantly surprised to receive a reply with half an hour, I was not pleased by what I read though.
We have spoken to the AFL and Channel 7. It is not something we are going to pursue at this stage.
This indicates to me that Hawk-Eye is capable of doing what I suggested, but for some stupid reason which the AFL and Channel Seven are aware of, will not be used. I can understand the AFL not wanting to take part just yet…they are always slow to adopt technology. I don’t want to see video replays introduced into decision making in AFL, and I’m glad they’ve kept that out, but ignoring the speedy, accurate Hawk-Eye astounds me. Unlike video replays it produces a result almost instantly.
As for Channel Seven, perhaps they don’t want to invest in extra gadgets for something they will only broadcast two matches of each week. Perhaps if the AFL hadn’t gone for the big bucks of the Nine/Ten/Fox consortium years ago, and still had Seven as their only broadcaster, we would be seeing innovations in broadcasting. Unfortunately the fragmented broadcasting landscape we currently have is not conducive to progress.
I suppose, at the very least, we know that when faced with a choice between money and progress, the AFL will chose money. Strange for a sport that has tried so hard to kill off the suburban nature of the game by moving all the Victorian clubs into a few grounds in an effort to make it look modern. I do have to wonder how the game will survive in the future if it continues this way, it’s a good game, but if it continues to make decisions which will do more harm than good, I can’t see the fan base expanding.
Samuel
February 14th, 2007 at 02:40pm
Congratulations to Serena Williams who defeated Maria Sharapova in straight sets, 6-1 6-2, to become the 2007 Womens Champion. I haven’t paid a huge amount of attention to the Australian Open, mainly because tennis isn’t one of my more favoured sports, and as such I really wasn’t in a position to tip a winner.
I can say, however, that I have seen enough of the mens competition to make a tip. As I said to John Kerr this morning at about 5:25, Fernando Gonzalez will defeat Roger Federer in the fourth set. It won’t be a whitewash, but I think Gonzalez will come out of the blocks a bit too fast for Federer. That being said, if the game gets to the fifth set, then Gonzalez will run out of steam, will become frustrated, and Federer will win.
Update 10:36pm: Wrong on both counts! Roger Federer defeated Fernando Gonzalez in straight sets 7-6 6-4 6-4, to take out his third Australian Open Title. John Kerr was right, my predictions were bold…Sir Humphrey Appleby would probably have called them “courageous”. End Update
Also, while I’m here, congratulations must go to Boys champion Brydan Klein, who defeated Jonathan Eysseric of France 6-2 4-6 6-1. He is the first Australian to win the title in thirteen years, and the first junior player to ever win tournament on Rod Laver Arena.
Congratulations also to girls champion Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (not surprisingly from Russia), who defeated Madison Brengle of the U.S. in straight sets, with tiebreakers in each set, 7-6 (6) 7-6 (3).
Samuel
January 28th, 2007 at 12:24pm
Ninth seed Australian Kelvin Kerkow has easily accounted for fourth seed fellow Australian David Gourlay to win the Scottish International Bowls Tournament in Perth, Scotland.
After winning the first set 11-5, Kerkow went on to win the second set 13-3
Kerkow was the more composed of the two, with Gourlay appearing consistently frustrated at Kerkow’s excellent bowling, and resorting to mostly unsuccessful drives. Whilst Gourlay had a small comeback late in the first set, it was one of the few times where he appeared to have any chance of winning.
In the second set, Kerkow kept Gourlay scoreless for five ends, getting out to an 8-0 lead, before Gourlay scored 2 points in the sixth end. It too little too late though, as Kerkow blitzed Gourlay from there on, getting out to a 13-2 lead at the end of the 8th end. Gourlay won the next end, but at 13-3 it was all over.
Kelvin Kerkow understandably told BBC Scotland that he is "over the moon".
Samuel Gordon-Stewart reporting for Samuel’s Blog and John Kerr
December 3rd, 2006 at 02:04am
Kelvin Kerkow has easily won the first set of the Scottish International Lawn Bowls grand final, 11-5, against fellow Australian David Gourlay.
Ninth seed Kelvin Kerkow started the set well, and seemed more composed than 4th seed david Gourlay whose only answer was driving the ball in the hope of hitting something, a tactic which failed more often than not. By the end of the 7th set (the equivalent of a game in tennis), Kerkow led 8-1.
Gourlay then staged a comeback, getting back within three points of Kerkow, who led 8-5 after 9 ends, but it was all Kerkow from there, as he scored another two points to win the set 11-5.
Today’s final is being run over two sets of 11 ends, in the event of a draw there will be a tiebreaker of three ends.
Samuel Gordon-Stewart reporting for Samuel’s Blog and John Kerr
December 3rd, 2006 at 01:17am
Australian lawn bowler David Gourlay will become the first player to contest three successive World Bowls Tour finals when he comes up against Kelvin Kerkow in an all Australian showdown at the grand final of the Scottish International Open Lawn Bowls tournament. In the semi-finals, Australian David Gourlay defeated Welshman Robert Weale 6-7, 10-2, 2-0 and ninth seed Australian Kelvin Kerkow upset 2nd seed Englishman Greg Harlow 6-4, 6-6.
The action gets underway at 12:45am Canberra time December 3 (1:45pm GMT December 2) and it would appear that 247.tv are offering a live webstream of the match…for a fee of £1.80 or approximately AUD$4.52.
Samuel
December 2nd, 2006 at 08:24pm
Yay, I got $14 for coming second in one of the sweeps at work…not bad for a $2 investment…covers some of my $23 investment ($16 TAB + $2 Work Sweep + $5 Dad’s Work Sweep) for the day. I still don’t know how I went with the sweep at Dad’s work, I’ll find out tonight.
I think this is my last Melbourne Cup post for now, full results of my activities tonight and some posts to catch up on tomorrow.
Gambling problems? Phone Lifeline Canberra on 13 11 14 or your local gambling support service.
Samuel
November 7th, 2006 at 04:23pm
Updated and rewritten for “correct weight” final dividends
1st: Polar Bear (Win: $3.00) (Place: $1.50)
2nd: Lancettier (Place: $6.40)
3rd: Dr. Nipandtuck (Place: $3.20)
Quinella: $35.80
Exacta: $53.50
Trifecta: $613.40
Running Double on the Melbourne Cup and Race Eight: $47.50
Unfortunately I took a quinella in this race and got first and third…oh well.
Correct weight, results now paying! Gambling problems? Contact your local gambling support service, in Canberra that’s Lifeline on 13 11 14
Samuel
November 7th, 2006 at 03:59pm
Here is the complete rundown of who came where in the Melbourne Cup
1st: DELTA BLUES
2nd: POP ROCK
3rd: MAYBE BETTER
4th: Zipping
5th: Land ‘n Stars
6th: Mahtoum
7th: Yeats
8th: Activation
9th: Mandela
10th: Glistening
11th: Kerry O’Reilly
12th: Railings
13th: Headturner
14th: Short Pause
15th: Dolphin Jo
16th: Art Success
17th: Dizelle
18th: Geordieland
19th: Tawqeet
20th: On A Jeune
21st: Demerger
22nd: Ice Chariot
23rd: Zabeat.
Scratched: Efficient
Samuel
November 7th, 2006 at 03:48pm
I hope you had a grain of salt handy, because my tips did nothing!
Update 3:24pm: Correct Weight! Results now paying! End Update
2: Delta Blue (Win: $17.50) (Place: $5.50)
12: Pop Rock (Place: $2.10)
23: Maybe Better (Place: $3.90)
Quinella: $41.30
Exacta: $91.80
Trifecta: $1100.40
Results are interim and are SuperTAB results (Victoria TAB, ACTTAB etc), NSW TAB and UNITAB results may vary.
If you have a gambling problem, contact your local gambling support service, which in the ACT is Lifeline on 13 11 14.
Samuel
November 7th, 2006 at 03:20pm
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