Latest news with #Roos


The Citizen
4 days ago
- Business
- The Citizen
Bolhuis issues warning over Gerlu Roos
A prominent name in Mpumalanga agricultural circles, Gert Lukas 'Gerlu' Roos, is being accused by his own family of fraud, for alleged purchases under the accounts of family-owned businesses, which have not been paid. Roos is already facing one fraud charge, which was made against him in Belfast, and according to Mike Bolhuis from Specialised Security Services, more charges will be made against Roos in due course. The fraud charge stems from incidents in which Roos allegedly made purchases in the accounts of family-owned businesses, without making payments to the accounts. The purchases are largely agriculturally related. According to Bolhuis' allegations, Roos has previously made himself guilty of similar fraudulent acts, and these cases will be added to the existing fraud charge once those cases have been opened with the police. The pending charge was reported in Belfast, but Bolhuis warns that Roos allegedly has been making similar purchases in Middelburg, Delmas, and Mbombela, and that these purchases are made on the accounts of Roos Boerdery or B&R Bio Produkte. A court date for his first formal appearance has not yet been set for the fraud charge. Attempts to get hold of Roos for comment on the allegations being made against him have been unsuccessful by the time of publication. An automated message on WhatsApp in answer to the Middelburg Observer's enquiry read that he is busy with continued government, agricultural and entrepreneurial-related responsibilities. Roos has not responded personally. All calls have also been answered with an automated answering system that first enquires the caller to identify themselves and give a reason for their call before the call gets put through. All calls also remained unanswered before the time of publication. Bolhuis warned agricultural businesses not to agree to any good-natured transactions between themselves and Roos, and to confirm any account-related purchases with the company names he provides. At Caxton, we employ humans to generate daily fresh news, not AI intervention. Happy reading!


West Australian
25-06-2025
- Entertainment
- West Australian
Channel Seven's Shaking Down The Thunder documentary reveals untold stories of Sydney Swans' 2005 AFL flag win
'Here it is' is one of the most famous phrases uttered after a AFL grand final, and two decades after the Swans broke a 72-year title drought, a new documentary relives all the key moments of that rollercoaster season with the players and coach who made it happen. Shaking Down The Thunder is a four-part series premiering tonight exclusively on Channel Seven and 7plus, and features Sydney legends Adam Goodes, Michael O'Loughlin and Barry Hall, among a cast of former players — and of course, the man who held the cup aloft and delivered those famous words to the long-suffering Swans fans, Paul Roos. The documentary charts the team's rise under coach Roos, the cementing of the Bloods culture as well as touching on the Swans' troubled history before moving from South Melbourne in 1982. WATCH THE TRAILER BELOW Born in 1874, down-and-out, removed from South Melbourne into rugby league-mad Sydney, the battle through the 1980s, the near-miss in in the 1996 grand final and the constant fight for relevance instead of 'an AFL afterthought'. 'No one wanted to play for 'em, myself included,' O'Loughlin says. There's the players' disdain, late in Rodney Eade's reign as coach and the near-miss at securing Roos to take over. The piece of butcher paper still surviving from a pre-season camp in 2003, spelling out the reborn meaning of 'Bloods Culture' … and Jude Bolton's word-for-word recital of it to this day. The great revelation here, that only insiders knew before, comes from Goodes and his teammates' rejection in the original vote for Roos' revolutionary leadership group. A furious Goodes confronted his coach and took advice that changed footy — and Australian history. 'Leaders need to use their voice to challenge and support others,' he says. Goodes won the Brownlow that year. Australian of the Year came later. The 2005 grand final was the first of two epic deciders fought out between the great rivals of the era, Sydney and West Coast, with Barry Hall acquitted at the tribunal days before the match. It was a moment nearly as memorable for Swans fans as the grand final win itself. Hall, to this day, admits he probably should not have played after the Swans cited a unique loophole in the rulebook to get him off a striking charge. The 2005 season nearly went off the rails after Sydney were thrashed by the Eagles – headlined by Chris Judd, Ben Cousins and Daniel Kerr - in Round Six and found themselves 10th on the ladder. They had been fancied as flag contenders after making the finals the two years previous. To make matters worse, they were criticised in the lead-up to that game by then-AFL CEO Andrew Demetriou for playing ugly footy — a charge Roos was at first blindsided by, but later said helped galvanise the team as they made their run to the finals to finish third. 'There's a brand of football being played on the other side of the border, which is not particularly attractive, and unless the Swans change that style of play, they won't win many football matches,' Demetriou said. 'I, like others, would like the Sydney Swans to win more games because it's a very important market for us, but I don't like at all the way they are playing football.' When a stunned Roos was first asked about the comments, he ended up providing an almost comical answer, mentioning the word 'comment' six times. 'I haven't heard the comments, so I can't comment on a comment that I haven't commented on. I will probably comment after I hear the comments,' he said at the time. In the documentary, Roos said the criticism was a turning point. 'I knew I couldn't run the AFL, and I knew he couldn't coach the Sydney Swans,' he said. 'The CEO of the AFL thinks I can't coach and we can't play, but those comments have to wash over you as quickly as they possibly can. 'Because you can't carry them — and it was up to the players to decide for the next 10 to 12 weeks, do we want to play for each other? I am prepared to sacrifice my game so we can win?' After the 49-point loss to the Eagles, Roos thought their season might be over. 'The margin was so great. The West Coast game in Round Six was really significant. After that game, I realised they'd stopped playing for each other,' he tells the documentary. 'They were selfish. So I said, 'look, I think I'm wasting my time. We just want to play as individuals. We really don't want to play as a team. 'If that's the case, then just tell me, because I'm not here to waste my time. I'm not here to waste the club's time, but I'm not here to waste your time. 'So we needed to have some frank discussions around: do we want to just be a group of talented players who play for ourselves? If that's the case, we don't have enough talent to do what we want to do — and that's win a premiership.'' The Swans lost only three more games as they stormed into the top four. They lost a controversial qualifying final to the Eagles before rallying from 17 points down at three-quarter time to beat Geelong — on the back of four final-quarter goals to Nick Davis — to make the preliminary final in the dying seconds of the semifinal. Hall was then cited for punching Saints defender Matt Maguire in their preliminary final win. One of several rotating captains that year, Hall's short jab looked set to end his grand final hopes. 'To say I wasn't nervous about it, I'd be lying. It was a fairly tense week,' he tells the documentary. 'We got cited and the club was worried about the attention in Melbourne, so luckily our No.1 ticket holder hired us a private jet. 'We had a limo waiting for us that goes to the back of the tribunal, went in the back door, and felt like a bit of a rock star to be honest.' The Swans successfully argued that the incident occurred while the play was close enough for it to be judged in-play. The tribunal agreed, and the rest is history — with Hall kicking two goals and taking 10 marks in the four-point flag win, punctuated by Leo Barry's famous defensive mark to stop West Coast stealing the flag. 'I am not sure how it was in play, as a St Kilda player was running the other way and the ball was 150 metres away,' Hall jokes. 'We had a very good QC— he did his job and earned his money, well done. 'To get off the charge, come back, eat caviar on a private jet — I'm like, 'I should get reported every week, this is awesome.' I was relieved.' Former Swan and 7AFL commentator Botlon summed up how the team and Swans fans felt after Hall was cleared. 'It's incredible that he got off and we were so thankful.' Watch every episode of Shaking Down The Thunder on 7plus Sport from Wednesday 6pm AEST Watch episode one on Channel 7 from 10pm AEST after The Front Bar (8.30pm) and Unfiltered (9.30pm)


Perth Now
25-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Perth Now
Inside the year the Swans defied the AFL to win it all
'Here it is' is one of the most famous phrases uttered after a AFL grand final, and two decades after the Swans broke a 72-year title drought, a new documentary relives all the key moments of that rollercoaster season with the players and coach who made it happen. Shaking Down The Thunder is a four-part series premiering tonight exclusively on Channel Seven and 7plus, and features Sydney legends Adam Goodes, Michael O'Loughlin and Barry Hall, among a cast of former players — and of course, the man who held the cup aloft and delivered those famous words to the long-suffering Swans fans, Paul Roos. The documentary charts the team's rise under coach Roos, the cementing of the Bloods culture as well as touching on the Swans' troubled history before moving from South Melbourne in 1982. WATCH THE TRAILER BELOW Born in 1874, down-and-out, removed from South Melbourne into rugby league-mad Sydney, the battle through the 1980s, the near-miss in in the 1996 grand final and the constant fight for relevance instead of 'an AFL afterthought'. 'No one wanted to play for 'em, myself included,' O'Loughlin says. There's the players' disdain, late in Rodney Eade's reign as coach and the near-miss at securing Roos to take over. The piece of butcher paper still surviving from a pre-season camp in 2003, spelling out the reborn meaning of 'Bloods Culture' … and Jude Bolton's word-for-word recital of it to this day. The great revelation here, that only insiders knew before, comes from Goodes and his teammates' rejection in the original vote for Roos' revolutionary leadership group. A furious Goodes confronted his coach and took advice that changed footy — and Australian history. 'Leaders need to use their voice to challenge and support others,' he says. Goodes won the Brownlow that year. Australian of the Year came later. The 2005 grand final was the first of two epic deciders fought out between the great rivals of the era, Sydney and West Coast, with Barry Hall acquitted at the tribunal days before the match. It was a moment nearly as memorable for Swans fans as the grand final win itself. Hall, to this day, admits he probably should not have played after the Swans cited a unique loophole in the rulebook to get him off a striking charge. The 2005 season nearly went off the rails after Sydney were thrashed by the Eagles – headlined by Chris Judd, Ben Cousins and Daniel Kerr - in Round Six and found themselves 10th on the ladder. Adam Goodes in Shaking Down The Thunder. Credit: Channel 7 They had been fancied as flag contenders after making the finals the two years previous. To make matters worse, they were criticised in the lead-up to that game by then-AFL CEO Andrew Demetriou for playing ugly footy — a charge Roos was at first blindsided by, but later said helped galvanise the team as they made their run to the finals to finish third. 'There's a brand of football being played on the other side of the border, which is not particularly attractive, and unless the Swans change that style of play, they won't win many football matches,' Demetriou said. 'I, like others, would like the Sydney Swans to win more games because it's a very important market for us, but I don't like at all the way they are playing football.' When a stunned Roos was first asked about the comments, he ended up providing an almost comical answer, mentioning the word 'comment' six times. 'I haven't heard the comments, so I can't comment on a comment that I haven't commented on. I will probably comment after I hear the comments,' he said at the time. In the documentary, Roos said the criticism was a turning point. 'I knew I couldn't run the AFL, and I knew he couldn't coach the Sydney Swans,' he said. 'The CEO of the AFL thinks I can't coach and we can't play, but those comments have to wash over you as quickly as they possibly can. 'Because you can't carry them — and it was up to the players to decide for the next 10 to 12 weeks, do we want to play for each other? I am prepared to sacrifice my game so we can win?' Jason Ball Paul Roos celebrate victory after the 2005 AFL grand final. Credit: Ryan Pierse / Getty Images After the 49-point loss to the Eagles, Roos thought their season might be over. 'The margin was so great. The West Coast game in Round Six was really significant. After that game, I realised they'd stopped playing for each other,' he tells the documentary. 'They were selfish. So I said, 'look, I think I'm wasting my time. We just want to play as individuals. We really don't want to play as a team. 'If that's the case, then just tell me, because I'm not here to waste my time. I'm not here to waste the club's time, but I'm not here to waste your time. 'So we needed to have some frank discussions around: do we want to just be a group of talented players who play for ourselves? If that's the case, we don't have enough talent to do what we want to do — and that's win a premiership.'' The Swans lost only three more games as they stormed into the top four. They lost a controversial qualifying final to the Eagles before rallying from 17 points down at three-quarter time to beat Geelong — on the back of four final-quarter goals to Nick Davis — to make the preliminary final in the dying seconds of the semifinal. Hall was then cited for punching Saints defender Matt Maguire in their preliminary final win. One of several rotating captains that year, Hall's short jab looked set to end his grand final hopes. 'To say I wasn't nervous about it, I'd be lying. It was a fairly tense week,' he tells the documentary. 'We got cited and the club was worried about the attention in Melbourne, so luckily our No.1 ticket holder hired us a private jet. 'We had a limo waiting for us that goes to the back of the tribunal, went in the back door, and felt like a bit of a rock star to be honest.' The Swans successfully argued that the incident occurred while the play was close enough for it to be judged in-play. Paul Roos and Swans captain Barry Hall hold the trophy aloft. Credit: Adam Pretty / Getty Images The tribunal agreed, and the rest is history — with Hall kicking two goals and taking 10 marks in the four-point flag win, punctuated by Leo Barry's famous defensive mark to stop West Coast stealing the flag. 'I am not sure how it was in play, as a St Kilda player was running the other way and the ball was 150 metres away,' Hall jokes. 'We had a very good QC— he did his job and earned his money, well done. 'To get off the charge, come back, eat caviar on a private jet — I'm like, 'I should get reported every week, this is awesome.' I was relieved.' Former Swan and 7AFL commentator Botlon summed up how the team and Swans fans felt after Hall was cleared. 'It's incredible that he got off and we were so thankful.' Watch every episode of Shaking Down The Thunder on 7plus Sport from Wednesday 6pm AEST Watch episode one on Channel 7 from 10pm AEST after The Front Bar (8.30pm) and Unfiltered (9.30pm)

Herald Sun
24-06-2025
- Sport
- Herald Sun
Round 15 AFL Rising Star nomination Finn O'Sullivan on his draft class, midfield future
Rising Star Roo Finn O'Sullivan is already 'getting a bit toey' thinking about the stacked midfield stocks at North Melbourne as he sees the club's rebuild as ready to take off. O'Sullivan earned the round 15 AFL Rising Star nomination for his polished 18 disposal effort in Saturday's win over Carlton, a reward for a strong debut season in which he has played 12 out of 13 games. That debut season has largely been spent on at half-back or the wing, with the No.2 pick happy to learn another position as the Roos balance an already deep midfield rotation. This year, Luke Davies-Uniacke, Luke Parker, Tom Powell, George Wardlaw, Jy Simpkin and Harry Sheezel have averaged the most centre bounce attendances for the Roos alongside ruck Tristan Xerri, leaving the likes of Colby McKercher and O'Sullivan looking for a way in. Like most youngsters, O'Sullivan sees himself as a midfielder when he matures, but it might not be easy to crack the rotation in coming years. 'To be honest I get pretty toey when I hear all the blokes who aren't playing midfield already that will turn into midfielders,' he said. 'We have already got one of the best midfields in the comp I reckon and then you add in blokes playing in different positions, obviously Colby is playing as a half-backer. 'When you hear the names in there and the names that will be in there in the next few years you get very excited and then for me, playing off the half-back and a bit on the wing has been awesome to see what it is like in those positions. 'Hopefully that will give me a bit more understanding of the game when I play midfield.' O'Sullivan has become the frontman of a four-man North Melbourne 2025 draft class that includes pick 27 Matt Whitlock, No.57 selection Luke Urquhart and father-son River Stevens. Whitlock has already drawn headlines after the Roos gambled by trading their 2025 first-round pick to Richmond in November to select him, and he has played one game, while the other youngsters continue to develop. O'Sullivan, from Koroit, west of Warrnambool, has run his eye over his draft class in his laid-back style, and the budding star defender nobody is talking about. FINN'S DRAFT CLASS TAKES Matt Whitlock Pick 27, 1 AFL game, 8 VFL games The swingman made his AFL debut in round 4 against Sydney and has played largely as a defender in the VFL, with some solid outings. O'Sullivan says: 'You have big Matty Whitlock who is about 29kg lighter than some of the boys he is playing against who are more like 28 years old. 'I think for any of the boys he plays on (at training) like big Souva (Nick Larkey) or even sometimes when he is up forward and on big Corry (Aidan Corr), he is hard to play on. He is pretty switched on, very skilful, composed. He will be no worries.' Luke Urquhart Pick 57, 8 VFL games A tough midfielder, Urquhart has shown some strong signs – including a 23 disposal, seven mark VFL game against Collingwood – but has recently been battling a hip flexor injury. O'Sullivan says: 'With Urq, obviously he is a big body frame and you can already see that he is putting it to the older midfielders like LDU (Luke Davies-Uniacke) and Jyser (Jy Simpkin) and the explosiveness and power is definitely a strength of his. That is something he will keep working with.' River Stevens Pick 67, 11 VFL games The son of former skipper Anthony, young Stevens has been playing as a small forward in the VFL side. O'Sullivan says: 'With Riv, he is one of the most skilful players at the club. So dangerous around goals, got obviously great goal sense, so can't wait to see how he keeps developing.' UNDER THE RADAR GEM When asked to nominate a young Roo who's development has gone unnoticed externally, O'Sullivan quickly named half-back flanker Riley Hardeman. Hardeman has only missed one game since round 4 and the No.23 pick from the 2023 draft has found plenty of ball in defence. O'Sullivan says: 'I think he is already well known now but he is an absolute gun. The way he has been playing has been exceptional and definitely been a key for us winning. He will definitely be one to keep improving and he will definitely be on the radar I am sure in the next couple of years.' Originally published as Round 15 AFL Rising Star nomination Finn O'Sullivan on his draft class and future at North Melbourne


7NEWS
20-06-2025
- Sport
- 7NEWS
Carlton coach Michael Voss shares insight into Tom De Koning negotiations
Carlton's in-demand ruckman Tom de Koning won't be pressured to deciding his future by Blues coach Michael Voss. De Koning is weighing an offer from St Kilda understood to be millions of dollars above the Blues' deal. The 25-year-old's decision has massive ramifications for the list planning at both clubs but Voss said he won't be rushing his ruck. 'He will make that decision whenever that is, in due course,' Voss told reporters on Friday. 'Look at what he's providing us, the investment he has in our team and how much he loves his teammates. 'He has grown up at this football club. This is his team and he sees himself as that. 'When we have these conversations, that's what we talk about - the team, how he's going to get better and what that looks like in the future.' De Koning is in midst of an eye-catching seventh season with the Blues, averaging career-best disposals, hit outs and clearances. And his duel with North Melbourne's Tristan Xerri, rated among the best big men in the business, will be pivotal to Saturday's MCG clash. The Roos enter the fixture with bad memories of their last-start against Carlton: an 82-point capitulation on Good Friday. But coach Alastair Clarkson now rates the defeat to the Blues as a turning point - since the April 18 loss, the Kangaroos have produced arguably their strongest stretch under him. There's been two wins, a draw against reigning premiers Brisbane, and the Roos have been in every game. 'That was the moment in the season where we recognised we just couldn't stop leaking goals,' Clarkson told reporters on Friday. 'It was a big stage for us, a big game for our club and the competition really, Good Friday is a marquee game. 'We had to make some changes.' Clarkson set about bolstering an all-ground defensive approach and the 20-year coach witnessed instant improvement. 'We have shown that we're on the right track,' he said. 'Just making sure we have got really strong synergy with the way we defend the oval. 'If we defend that oval well enough, it will give us opportunities for turnovers higher up the ground and allow us to perhaps be able to score better.' The Roos (three wins, one draw, nine losses) enter Saturday afternoon's MCG fixture knowing the importance of the result for Carlton's finals hopes. The Blues (six wins, seven losses) are within two victories of the top eight but without top talents Sam Walsh (foot) and Harry McKay (knee) for another month. Dual Coleman medallist Charlie Curnow has been named by Carlton despite carrying a calf complaint. 'We expect he'll play,' Voss said before a light match-eve training. 'The indication is as long as he pulls up well today, he's playing - fit and available.'