Good evening!

My moment of the weekend: the on-field tribute from AFL player Matt Guelfi, who gave the cameras some razzle-dazzle with his painted fingernails after scoring each of his three goals for his side, the Essendon Bombers, in their 20-point win over the GWS Giants on Saturday night.

Earlier last week, Guelfi and a few of his team-mates visited Melbourne’s Royal Children’s Hospital, where a young patient, Alexis, painted his nails. Guelfi told Alexis he would show her the nails via the broadcast if he scored a goal (“I believe in you” was the parting message from Alexis as the players left the ward).

Sure enough, Guelfi kept his promise after every goal - and Alexis was watching. How good.

I’ve got 10 seconds

Quote of the day

“We are history makers for Manchester United“
Manchester United’s women's team manager Mark Skinner, speaking to the media following the club’s historic finals win at England’s annual tournament, the FA Cup. Manchester United defeated the Tottenham Hotspurs to win the club’s first major trophy in the women’s comp.

Stat of the day

15,281

The record number of fans in attendance for an inaugural PGA Tour event at the new Myrtle Beach Classic competition in South Carolina. The PGA Tour is the world’s pre-eminent golf-league, where golfers compete in a series of 36 events between January and August.

Random fact of the day

The longest recorded professional point in tennis took 29 minutes. The rally occurred in 1984 during a women’s match between U.S. players Vicki Nelson-Dunbar and Jean Hepner. On the 643rd shot, Nelson-Dunbar hit the winner. 

I’ve got 1 minute

Nathan Cleary and Tom Trbojevic - two of the biggest stars in the NRL and almost certain selections on NSW’s side for the upcoming State of Origin series - sustained serious hamstring injuries over the weekend. 

Manly Sea Eagles player Trbojevic has been ruled out for seven weeks after tearing his hamstring during his side’s loss to the Dolphins on Thursday night. Then, 24 hours later, Panthers co-captain Cleary suffered exactly the same injury and will be sidelined for eight weeks. 

Some context

It’s part of a larger trend of NRL players acquiring soft-tissue injuries in 2024 faster than in previous seasons. According to The Daily Telegraph’s Phil Rothfield, there have been an average of 23 hamstring injuries per year in the last six seasons. Only a third of the way through this season, there have already been 20 hamstring injuries. 

Experts are now speculating as to why there is a spike. Some, like Rothfield, say the intense rain that hit Sydney over the past few weeks has caused softer playing surfaces, while ex-players like Paul Gallen and Billy Slater have said more intense pre-seasons and tougher playing schedules make fatigued players more susceptible to injuries. 

The NRL’s Head of Football, Graham Annesley, said the competition is actively monitoring the trend.

I’ve got 2 minutes

Over the weekend, a controversial scoreboard error caused two teams in Australia’s professional netball league, the Suncorp Super Netball (SSN), to return to play on the court almost an hour after the final siren. 

Context

The Sunshine Coast Lightning and Giants Netball teams played head-to-head on Saturday. The final scoreboard showed that Lightning had won by a goal, 71-70.

During the match's final seconds, the Lightning - who thought they were protecting a one-goal lead - continued defensively passing the ball around until the full-time siren sounded to end regulation time, signalling the end to the match’s four quarters.

Both teams’ players and coaches shook hands, and fans began to exit the venue. The Giants players chose to remain on the court, adamant there had been a technical error. Meanwhile, the Lightning players and match umpires headed to their change rooms. 

Soon after the match's ‘end', Champion Data (a sports analytics body) raised a score discrepancy, declaring that the teams had actually tied at 71-71. 

Super Netball rules require teams to go into extra time in case of a tie at the end of regulation time. 

What happens in extra time?

In netball, extra time consists of two five-minute halves, with a half-time break interval of 90 seconds. 

At the end of extra time, the team leading with more points is declared the winner.

Because both Lightning players and match officials had departed the court, there was a 50-minute delay between the end of regulation time and the start of extra time.

Giants claim the win in extra time

After nearly an hour-long delay, both teams returned to the court to commence extra time. 

At the conclusion of extra time, the Giants led 81-72, winning the match. 

The Lightning’s reaction:

Lightning captain Steph Fretwell said her side “would have played our last 30 seconds (of regular time) differently,” had they known the correct scores.

In a post-match interview, the team’s coach Belinda Reynolds described the “weird” scenario as challenging for the club, and did not rule out requesting an official review. 

Super Netball response:

In an update, the league confirmed two mistakes led to both a score error and a communication failure at the end of regular time.

The score was incorrectly adjusted to 70-71 by the venue's bench official, while the broadcast score remained correct at 71-71.

Then, the league did not formally notify match officials and both teams that a score review was occurring. 

Netball Australia, the league’s governing body, also apologised to fans and both teams and said steps have been taken to ensure the situation “does not happen again.” 

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