Good evening!

Is it too early to ask people if they have any end-of-year holiday plans?

According to my family, it is. I was made fun of over the weekend because it was my second question (after ‘how are you?’) in a small-talk encounter.

I should have just asked my small talk companion if they were going to watch the match that day, or if they caught the game last night. Any game would have worked — sport is the best for small talk.

I’ve got 10 seconds

Stat of the day

3
How many games England’s netball team has ever won against Australia on Australian soil. The Roses clinched their third-ever victory over the Diamond this weekend, 61-59. The teams are now 1-1 in a three-match Test series, with the final game set for Wednesday night.

Quote of the day

“Couldn’t have dreamt for a better year! Thank you, everyone, for the belief and support. It's been a special journey to this moment.”
Australian cyclist Grace Brown in a post to Instagram after winning a career-first world championship time trial at the 2024 UCI Road World Championships in Switzerland. Brown, who won gold in the time trial at the Paris Olympics, plans to retire at the end of the season.

Random fact of the day

U.S. baseball team the Chicago White Sox have lost 120 games this season, matching a record held since 1962 by the New York Mets. The Sox will need to win their six remaining in-season games to avoid breaking the record.  

I’ve got 30 seconds

In case you missed it…

🏉 The Welsh women’s rugby union team scored a try after the siren to beat the Wallaroos 31-24 in Newport, Wales on Saturday. Wales’ Molly Reardon starred for the hosts with two tries and flanker Kate Williams scored the winner. The Wallaroos will have a chance at redemption next week when they play Wales again in their opening WXV 2 match.

🏉 The Wallabies fell three points short of the All Blacks in the first match of the Bledisloe Cup, losing 31-28 at Accor Stadium in Sydney. The All Blacks raced away to an early 28-7 lead in the opening 25 minutes and were able to hang on as the Wallabies clawed their way back into the match, retaining the Cup for another year. Both teams will now prepare for each other’s final match of the 2024 Rugby Championship in Wellington next weekend.

🏉 In the NRLW, the Brisbane Broncos won their fifth minor premiership. The Sydney Roosters needed to beat the Parramatta Eels by 20 points on Sunday to finish the season on top of the table but fell short by six points in their 32-18 win. Next weekend, the Broncos (1st) will play the Sharks (4th), and the Roosters (2nd) will play defending champions the Knights (3rd) for a place in the grand final on Sunday 6 October.

🏅 The AFL’s most prestigious award, the Brownlow Medal, will be presented tonight. The award is voted on by umpires, who determine the three best players on the ground in every game of the regular season. Favourites to win include Patrick Cripps (Carlton) and Nick Daicos (Collingwood). The ceremony will begin at 8pm and can be watched on Channel 7.

⚽️ Tony Popovic has been appointed coach of the Socceroos, days after Graham Arnold resigned. Popovic, a former Socceroo with 58 caps, most recently coached the Melbourne Victory, who he led to an Australia Cup in 2022. Football Australia CEO James Johnson said Popovic is an “ideal choice to lead our national team moving forward”. Popovic’s new job comes at a crucial time for the Socceroos, who face a difficult path to 2016 World Cup qualification.

⚽️ Matildas star Hayley Raso scored a stunning goal on debut for the Tottenham Hotspurs in the English Women’s Super League. Raso’s goal was one of four in the side’s 4-0 victory over Crystal Palace. She was named player of the match.

I’ve got 1 minute

Norris scores 3rd season win at Singapore GP

Lando Norris has claimed his third win this Formula One season with a dominant victory at the Singapore Grand Prix.

Race wrap-up

Norris started in pole position and held his lead over Max Verstappen for the entire race. The McLaren driver had a couple of close calls with the barriers but was never seriously challenged by his opponents, finishing 20.9 seconds ahead of Verstappen. The result means Norris is seven points closer to Verstappen in the Driver Standings but still trails the Red Bull driver by 52 points with six races left in the season.

As for the Australians in the race, McLaren’s Oscar Piastri started in fifth and overtook Mercedes’ George Russell and Lewis Hamilton to finish the race in third. It is Piastri’s eighth top-three result this season. Daniel Ricciardo had the fastest lap and was voted Driver of the Day, but ultimately finished in 18th. With reports that New Zealand’s Liam Lawson may replace Ricciardo on the Red Bull-owned RB team, the Aussie fan favourite may have raced for the last time in Formula One.

The next race is the U.S. Grand Prix in Texas in four weeks. 

What they said

Norris said: "It was an amazing race. A few too many close calls — I had a couple of little moments in the middle, but it was well controlled I think, otherwise. The car was mega, I could push and we were flying the whole race. It was a nice race. Still tough, I'm a bit out of breath, but [a] very fun one."

Ricciardo said: "Let's say maybe the fairytale ending didn't happen but I also have to look back on what it's been, 13 or so years, and I'm proud."

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I’ve got 2 minutes

AFL grand final match-up set, with no Victorian teams

The first grand final not to feature a Victorian AFL team since 2006 will be played at the MCG next week, after the Sydney Swans beat the Port Adelaide Power on Friday night, and the Brisbane Lions came from behind to beat the Geelong Cats in a thriller on Saturday night.

Swans v Port Adelaide

The Swans beat Port 95-59 to qualify for their fifth grand final in 14 years under coach John Longmire. It was also the Swans’ first victory against Port Adelaide since 2016, breaking an eight-game losing streak against the South Australian side.

The Power were on the scoreboard first with the opening goal, but the Swans came back to lead by the end of the first quarter. After that, they never looked back. Isaac Heeney celebrated his 200th game for the club in style with two goals and 24 disposals, while key forwards Tom Papley and Joel Amartey both starred with three goals each. Logan McDonald is in doubt for the grand final after he came off the field with an injured ankle, and was not present at the Swans training session on Sunday.

Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley is under fire, having led his side to their fourth Preliminary Final loss in his 12-year tenure.

Lions v Geelong

The Brisbane Lions are headed to the grand final for the second consecutive year after a 95-85 triumph over the Geelong Cats at the MCG on Saturday afternoon. The game started slowly, with no scoring for the first 19 minutes, and finished with a flurry of goals. With just over two minutes remaining in the final quarter, the Lions snatched the lead with a stunning goal from Callum Ah Chee. One minute later, Cam Rayner slotted another goal to seal the Lions’ place in the grand final with a minute to go.

Lions ruckman Oscar McInerney will not play in the grand final after he dislocated his shoulder late in the first quarter and popped it back in. He played on, clearly in pain, but was subbed off after re-dislocating it in the third quarter.

Grand final

The Grand Final will be played at the MCG next Saturday 28 September. The Lions and the Swans have met once this season, in an encounter that saw the Lions win at the SCG by two points. Both teams are desperate for a grand final win, after the Lions lost by four points to Collingwood in 2023, and the Swans slumped to an 81-point loss to Geelong in 2022.

The last time the Swans and Lions played each other in a grand final was in 1899. Back then, the Swans were based in South Melbourne and the Lions were the Fitzroy Football Club. Fitzroy won 27-26.

A message from our sponsor

How AI can be used to manage athlete performance

Dr Dan Dwyer, a Senior Lecturer in Applied Exercise And Sports Science at Deakin University, recently wrote an article that outlines a technology developed by Deakin University researchers called the Coach Decision Assistant (CoDA).

The CoDA is a tool powered by artificial intelligence that has the capability to provide real-time insights and decision-making suggestions based on thousands of AFL data points. The technology would allow AFL coaches to make more informed decisions or validate their thinking during a game. It would also enable coaches to simulate potential tweaks and assess the probable outcomes of their decisions before they make them.

Dwyer asserts that similar technology is already in use in sports such as the NBA (basketball) and NFL (American Football). PhD student Mitch Aarons, who has worked extensively on the project, predicted this sort of technology will soon be in use across the AFL and AFLW as well as other sporting codes in Australia.

Ultimately, CoDA has the potential to remove the guesswork from a coach’s decision-making process in situations where there are countless variables at play.

Think Beyond The Field. Study sport at Deakin.

Looking back…

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