If you needed an excuse to get back to the footy, this might be it.

This Saturday at 4:15pm, the GWS GIANTS and Hawthorn Hawks will meet in an Opening Round showdownat ENGIE Stadium, and there’s 30% off tickets for TDA Sport readers!

All you need to do is use the code GIANTS30 via this link. Tickets also include public transport to and from the match. Happy spectating!

$20,000
The amount Gina Rinehart will pay Australian swimmers for every gold medal won at this year’s Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, according to The Sydney Morning Herald. Silver earns $15,000, bronze $10,000, and a world record is worth $30,000. Relay gold medallists receive $5,000 each, with bonuses also available to para-athletes.

"This truly sucks for everyone involved. No one wants this outcome, ever. Mistakes happen and I am sure those who were leading us feel terrible about the outcome. I just hate that the athletes are ALWAYS the ones who pay the price (literally $$$)… time and time again."
U.S. distance runner Jess McClain in a post on social media after she was guided off course while leading the U.S. half-marathon championships over the weekend. With under three kilometres remaining in the race, McClain looked set for victory, but she and two other athletes followed a lead vehicle which took a wrong turn. The mistake saw McClain finish ninth and cost her the national title In a statement, USA Track and Field said that while it had denied a protest from the athletes, the governing body would “review the events from Atlanta carefully”. Selections for the world championships will be made in May. 

The most expensive piece of Olympic memorabilia ever sold is one of Jesse Owens’ gold medals from the 1936 Berlin Games, which fetched $US1,466,574 ($AU2,065,000) at auction in 2013. The American sprinter won four gold medals in front of Adolf Hitler, dealing a symbolic blow to Nazi racial ideology. Owens had gifted the medal to entertainer Bill ‘Bojangles’ Robinson before it eventually went under the hammer.

🏉 Hawthorn will challenge Jai Newcombe’s one-game suspension at the AFL Tribunal after the midfielder was cited for rough conduct in a tackle on Western Bulldogs player Ed Richards in a pre-season match. If unsuccessful, Newcombe will miss Hawthorn’s Opening Round clash against the GWS Giants this Saturday. Meanwhile, West Coast recruit Harry Schoenberg has accepted a one-match ban for striking Port Adelaide’s Logan Evans under the AFL’s tougher 2026 match review rules.

⚽️ South Korea beat Iran 3-0 in their opening AFC Women’s Asian Cup match on the Gold Coast last night. The world No.21 side now sit on top of Group A, ahead of the Matildas on goal difference. South Korea finished runners-up in the 2022 edition of the tournament and will be hoping to go one better this time around. Iran, ranked 68th, now turn their focus to Thursday’s clash with hosts Australia.

🏉 The Parramatta Eels and Melbourne Storm have settled their legal fight over Zac Lomax, with the Eels refusing to grant permission for the winger to join Melbourne without what they consider adequate compensation. Lomax had agreed not to sign with another NRL club when he was released to join the postponed R360 league. A Supreme Court order now prevents him from playing for any rival club without Parramatta’s written consent until 31 October 2027, with the Storm paying $250,000 in legal costs.

Canberra is calling

The Canberra Times Marathon Festival is back 11–12 April 2026 – and it’s bigger than ever. Australia’s oldest city marathon is entering a bold new two-day era, with 5K, 10K and Kids 2K races on Saturday, and the Half (21.1K) and full Marathon (42.2K) on Sunday. Expect closed roads past Parliament House and Lake Burley Griffin, plus a buzzing event village celebrating the best of Canberra.

Register now at canberramarathon.com and join @solemotive.

The Six Nations has withdrawn its trophy for the rest of the 2026 Championship, after it was damaged in a car accident in Ireland.

Here’s what to know.

The Six Nations confirmed the main championship trophy sustained significant fire damage after the vehicle carrying it was involved in an accident following Round Three.

In a statement, Six Nations rugby said: “Thankfully no passengers were injured… unfortunately [the trophy] cannot be restored to its full presentation standard.”

The current design has been in place since 2015. A new trophy will be commissioned for the 2027 Championship and will incorporate elements of the damaged version as a tribute to its history.

For the remainder of this year’s tournament, teams will lift an identical exhibition trophy that is normally used for promotional events.

Week Four sees several teams under pressure to keep their campaigns alive.

Ireland host Wales on Saturday at 7:10am AEDT, with Ireland in form after a big win over England and Wales still chasing their first win.

On Sunday, Scotland face France at 1:10am as Scotland manage injuries in their forward pack and France look to stay in the title race. The round closes with Italy against England at 3:40am, with England making changes in the halves after consecutive defeats and Italy pushing for a breakthrough performance.

Reporting by Pavitra Ravi.

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The conflict in the Middle East has triggered one of the biggest global disruptions since the pandemic, with airspace closures causing the cancellation of thousands of flights.

Here’s how it is affecting sport. 

Ahead of this weekend’s Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne, travel plans for nearly 1,000 Formula One staff have been reshuffled. Around 500 personnel are reportedly being flown on charter planes from Europe. 

Australian Grand Prix CEO Travis Auld said: “F1 are experts at moving people around the world. They’ve quickly rescheduled flights. I’m told everyone’s now locked in and arriving within the required timeframes."

F1 will be closely monitoring the situation with races scheduled to take place in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia next month.

Cricket has also been impacted. At the T20 World Cup in India, the West Indies and Zimbabwe remain stranded after being unable to transit through Dubai. 

With the tournament now at the semi-final stage, both teams have been knocked out and are trying to return home. The boards of both teams say players are safe while alternative travel is arranged.

Meanwhile, the England Lions, the country’s secondary men’s cricket team, has had its tour of the UAE cancelled, and England’s women have scrapped a planned training camp in Abu Dhabi. The ECB, the governing body for cricket in England, is working to get players home.

Several professional tennis players, including former world number one Daniil Medvedev, are stuck in the UAE trying to reach Indian Wells in the U.S. Medvedev recently won the Dubai Tennis Championships, marking his 23rd career ATP title. Fellow Russian Andrey Rublev is also stuck.

Indian Wells, held annually in California, is the first ATP Masters 1000 event of the season, and is sometimes referred to as the ‘fifth major’. Masters 1000 events offer the most ranking points for players outside of the four major tournaments. 

The ATP says affected players are being accommodated while new travel plans are explored.

Attention is also turning to upcoming major events. Iran’s men’s football team have qualified for this summer’s FIFA World Cup in the U.S, Canada, and Mexico. Mehdi Taj, the head of Iran’s football federation, told Iranian media it is "far from our expectations that we can look at the World Cup with hope". 

If Iran does withdraw, it will be the first team in a men’s World Cup draw to do so since France and India pulled out due to travel costs in 1950.

Meanwhile, travel disruption is also affecting arrivals ahead of the Winter Paralympics in Italy, including the family of Australia’s most decorated Winter Paralympian Michael Milton. The Milano Cortina Paralympics begin on 5 March.