'It was awesome' – Greene stuns in 250th
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Daily Telegraph
34 minutes ago
- Daily Telegraph
Wallabies vs British and Irish Lions: Third Test live stream, preview, how to watch
Don't miss out on the headlines from Rugby. Followed categories will be added to My News. This Lions tour was said to be the first step of Rugby Australia turning a $36.8 million deficit into a profit. That may still be the case, with tens of thousands of touring fans pouring through the turnstiles for all three Tests. But where will a series whitewash leave the game as a whole in Australia? FOLLOW THE BUILD-UP AND THIRD TEST IN OUR BLOG BELOW Aussies love a winner, but the Wallabies haven't been doing much of that recently. The U8s running around suburban grounds in Sydney and Brisbane don't care about RA's bank balance. They want to see their heroes winning games and lifting trophies. That's the only way to ensure the next generation grows up throwing a Gilbert around rather than a Steeden or a Sherrin. JOSEPH-AUKUSO SUAALII'S BEST POSITION Suaalii has played well enough on attack – his break to set up Tom Wright's try in Melbourne last weekend was a perfect example. But he has repeatedly been caught out defensively. At times, so has his midfield partner Len Ikitau, who has been moved to inside centre rather than his preferred spot at outside to accommodate Suaalii. Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii is brought to a halt during the second Test. Despite growing calls for Suaalii to be switched to the wing so the Wallabies can select a proven centre pairing of Hunter Paisami and Len Ikitau, head coach Joe Schmidt is sticking with his same midfield combo for game three but he can expect some criticism if it doesn't work out. THE BENCH Harry Potter's injury was a hiccup – and the Lions have much more depth that Australia – but Andy Farrell's supporters will argue that he also out-coached Joe Schmidt at the Melbourne Cricket Ground last weekend. Owen Farrell came on in the final quarter and provided an instant impact, off the ball as much as on it. Meanwhile, Ben Donaldson – who has several years more experience at Test level than Tom Lynagh - was left stranded on the bench as Australia desperately tried to hang on but couldn't, raising questions about Schmidt's tactics. Question marks were asked after Ben Donaldson watched on from the bench in Melbourne. Strangely, Schmidt picked a 6-2 forwards-backs split for Melbourne in the belief that it would rain, but when there wasn't a drop in the sky, it gave the Lions the advantage because they went with a traditional 5-3 split. But this week, with heavy showers forecast for Accor Stadium, the Lions have added an extra forward as a precaution for the weather while the Wallabies have returned to the 5-3 split they abandoned last week. THE WHISTLEBLOWERS Georgian referee Nika Amashukeli and his assistants will be under intense scrutiny this week after the controversial ending to the second Test when the match officials opted against penalising the Lions' backrower Jac Morgan for his clean-out on Carlo Tizzano. Schmidt launched a blistering attack over the ruling, saying it went against the game's pledge to player safety, which drew a sharp rebuke from World Rugby, which is trying to protect referees from the vile abuse they sometimes cop on social media. Nika Amashukeli shows Owen Farrell a yellow card. Regardless, with matches regularly stopped while Television Match Officials pore over replays of contentious incidents, the whistleblowers will be under more pressure than usual this weekend. TACKLE, TACKLE, TACKLE All the complaining in the world won't change the result from the first two matches but there is one area that might make a difference if they fix things up. When the Wallabies were the best team in the world, the cornerstone of their success was their outstanding defence. When they last won the World Cup, in 1999, they famously conceded just one try in six matches in the entire tournament. But in the two Tests against the Lions so far, they have given up eight tries, three in Brisbane then five in Melbourne, while also repeatedly falling off tackles. In Brisbane, the Wallabies missed 29 tackles in an eight point loss then missed 23 tackles in their three point loss in Melbourne. If they can plug those holes, they won't need to worry about blaming officials because they might just win. Originally published as Wallabies vs British and Irish Lions: Third Test preview, how to watch
Daily Telegraph
34 minutes ago
- Daily Telegraph
AFLW: Chloe Molloy, Kate Hore and Ally Anderson open up about league's future ahead of 2025 season
Don't miss out on the headlines from Stellar. Followed categories will be added to My News. Posing on set for Stellar's shoot in Sydney's eastern suburbs is worlds away from the footy field, yet Chloe Molloy – co-captain of Sydney Swans' AFLW team – embraces being out of her comfort zone. 'I can respect what models do,' Molloy tells Stellar with a laugh. 'I get so awkward – I'm not camera shy but then … I am slightly camera shy.' Molloy, who grew up in the Victorian town of Whittlesea, made her AFLW debut in 2017 – and won the AFLW Rising Star Award, was named All-Australian three times, and nabbed a Best and Fairest at her former club Collingwood, before signing with the Swans in 2023. Ahead of the start of the 2025 AFLW season – marking the league's tenth overall (two seasons were played in 2022) – Molloy and her cohorts, Brisbane Lions dual premiership player Ally Anderson and Melbourne captain Kate Hore – reflect on how the league has changed since its inception in 2017. Ally Anderson, Chloe Molloy and Kate Hore on Stellar's set. Picture: Steven Chee for Stellar 'The game has evolved a lot,' Molloy says. As for what she would like to see in its future? 'I'd love for there to be more analysis [of matches]. I'd love more camera angles [during broadcasts]. I think you can get caught up with what we don't have … and forget how far we have come.' The trio is hopeful that, like them, more AFLW players will be able to earn a full-time salary from playing in the coming years – an ambition shared by the AFL. '[The AFL] is committed to us being full-time,' Molloy notes. 'When that is, hopefully sooner rather than later. There's growth in the game that's happening and still needs to happen. Salaries not only for the players but salaries around [for support staff]. Hopefully in the next few years [there will be] full time wages not just for the players, but for everyone around us.' Molloy, 26, is on track to make her return to the Swans after an Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) injury ruled her out of last season. 'It was very hard to process that I had even done it,' Molloy says. 'And you just know straight away that you are on the sidelines for so long. I didn't realise how mentally taxing it would be: 10, 11 months. One that I wouldn't wish upon anybody. It is a rehab beast – at times, it definitely defeated me. Now, I look ahead and everything that I have been through. It kind of makes me think, I just want to play football. I don't have a return date set. Fingers crossed [for a round one return].' The trio discuss the future of the AFLW ahead of its milestone tenth season in a Stellar exclusive. Picture: Steven Chee for Stellar Brisbane Lions midfielder Anderson, who played in two premierships with the club and is a three-time AFLW All-Australian, is firmly focused on avenging the Lions crushing Grand Final loss to North Melbourne last season. 'It was super devastating and a bit emotional,' Brisbane-born Anderson – a proud Gangulu / Wakka Wakka woman – tells Stellar. 'And it wasn't the first Grand Final that we'd lost,' the 31-year-old adds. 'I have been on both sides and it never gets any easier. You sort of have a really big break in the off-season away from footy. 'As a team, we have worked together. The position we have put ourselves in throughout the whole pre-season to … get back to what we were and do one better. 'We all want to redeem ourselves.' Swans co-captain Chloe Molloy, right, takes on the Pies at North Sydney Oval last season. Picture: Phil Hillyard Molloy, left, with teammate Sofia Hurley (centre). Picture: Phil Hillyard 'It never gets any easier.' Ally Anderson of the Brisbane Lions on THAT Grand Final loss. Picture: Getty Images Picture: Getty Images Like Molloy, Anderson made her AFLW debut in 2017 and she adds: 'I've played every game since'. The winner of the 2022 AFL Women's best and fairest award, Anderson notes: 'I'm one of the lucky ones – for the past 3-4 years, I've been able to dedicate myself to footy. I've been able to work on my fitness and I have had a lot of improvement over the past few years. I never thought I'd be a full-time professional athlete.' Ahead of the new season, Hore says she is more aware than ever about being a role model to the next generation 'It definitely took me a bit of time for it to sink in,' the 30-year-old says. 'My idols in footy growing up were all male, so for young girls to now have AFLW athletes to look up to is pretty cool. 'The saying 'you can't be what you can't see' resonates with me.' Kate Hore is the captain of Melbourne's AFLW team. Picture: Getty Images 'A big part of our lives!' Kate Hore, right, in action during Melbourne's clash against GWS last season. Picture: Getty Images Hore, a three-time All-Australian player, Best & Fairest winner, and the league's leading goalkicker in 2023, is in a relationship with Corey Maynard, a former footballer who now works in player development at North Melbourne – and the couple share their Melbourne home with a Golden Retriever puppy, Benny. 'Footy is obviously a big part of our lives but we love getting out of the footy bubble whenever we can,' Hore says. 'We are both very competitive, so when either of our teams lose we're probably not much fun to be around. He's incredibly supportive of my footy career.' The 2025 NAB AFLW Premiership season starts on Thursday, August 14. See Read the full interviews with Chloe Molloy, Ally Anderson and Kate Hore and see the shoot inside Sunday's Stellar, via The Sunday Telegraph (NSW), Sunday Herald Sun (Victoria), The Sunday Mail (Queensland) and Sunday Mail (SA). For more from Stellar, click here.
7NEWS
an hour ago
- 7NEWS
Former Sydney Swans player Brandon Jack unloads on AFL industry in debut novel, Pissants
Far from the roar of the SCG, former AFL player Brandon Jack has found peace leaving selfies with young footy fans behind. Instead, the son of rugby league great Garry Jack and brother of ex-Sydney Swans star Kieren has been visiting bookstores around Australia, signing copies of his debut novel Pissants. 'I've had moments where I've felt like, 'yeah, this is more enjoyable to me than football ever was,'' Jack tells AAP. Looking back, his five-year, 28-game AFL career was not so much the realisation of a childhood dream as a period of intense anxiety. 'I had five years kind of being on the fringe; of being in the team, out of the team, of resenting the team for not being in it,' he says. 'Post-footy and seeing a psychologist for a long time, I realised there's this fear of, 'am I good enough?' 'I was continually just told, 'no, no, no.' That did something to me that I don't think I reconciled or realised until years later.' Those feelings of rejection are at the heart of Pissants, which details the misadventures of a crew of rowdy AFL players who can't find what it takes to win the approval of coaches, teammates and fans. With stardom painfully close but never within reach, the group self-medicate with drugs, alcohol and a shared twisted sense of humour. While Pissants is a work of fiction, the inspiration is obvious. 'The book is almost like different versions of me at different points in my life communicating with each other,' Jack says. Those voices will be familiar to those who read Jack's memoir 28, in which he detailed his attempts to numb the pain of an unsuccessful and unsatisfying footy career with alcohol. But the adage 'comedy equals tragedy plus time' rings true in the case of Pissants, where the absurdity of life in the AFL system is a source of humour above all else. In a series of uncomfortable interactions, players find themselves telling journalists, coaches and club psychologists what they want to hear, while thinking and feeling something completely different. The authenticity will appeal to footy fans sick of hearing about players 'taking things one week at a time'. 'I hate the whole media training thing that happened in footy - I really do,' Jack says. 'I think it deprived us of so many opportunities to have interesting characters.' Jack admits there was nothing interesting about the front he presented during his playing days. 'The way we were at the Swans was club-first: you are not to stand out. So I didn't really have a personality externally. 'I did a lot of writing but I would never share it. I was always very secretive with my stuff.' There were fears of standing out and concerns he'd be seen as uncommitted. 'As a football player, your primary purpose is to play football and to win games for your team. 'In my third year, when I was worried about my contract, I stopped going to uni part-time because I didn't want anything to be a distraction, or for people to think I was distracted.' Like the characters in Pissants, Jack floundered in footy purgatory, unable to win respect in the game but feeling forbidden from finding an identity outside it. Much has changed for him since leaving the Swans in 2017 and the 31-year-old is pleased to see footy is moving forward too. The likes of Bailey Smith and Jack Ginnivan lead a new breed of AFL players praised by fans, media pundits and sponsors for showing their personalities. But one thing remains the same. 'It's a lot easier to be who you are if you're a successful player,' Jack says. Those not performing well rarely speak publicly - and if they do, it's typically to play the clown. 'One of my least favourite things is when a footy player who didn't have a very successful career comes out and just takes the absolute piss out of himself and that becomes their kind of schtick,' Jack says. 'I've been there and it's f***ing tough. It hurts you deeply.' He suspects some players still face the struggles depicted in Pissants. 'At every club, there are five or six guys who are in this spot and I can just so clearly picture them in someone's garage drinking beers while the senior game is on because they just don't want to watch it.' Having explored the complexity of his feelings about football across two books, Jack is ready to move on. He is working on a series of short stories that have nothing to do with sport and is excited to see where writing takes him. 'It'll be interesting to see when the switch sort of flicks from 'football player turned writer' to just 'writer'. That would be nice,' Jack says. 'But I'm not going to crucify myself waiting for it to happen. It'll happen eventually.'
