Longmuir defends Pearce as ‘footy act'
AFL: Fremantle Dockers coach Justin Longmuir discusses captain Alex Pearce's tackle and explains why the club are set to challenge his suspension.
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Herald Sun
12 minutes ago
- Herald Sun
AFL: Brisbane Lions happy to be ‘underdogs' against Adelaide
Don't miss out on the headlines from AFL. Followed categories will be added to My News. They are the reigning AFL premiers and sitting pretty in second spot on the ladder, but the Lions will be the 'underdogs' in Friday night's battle with the Crows at Adelaide Oval. That's the verdict from Brisbane coach Chris Fagan, who said the in-form Adelaide would start as favourites. The Crows, who are six points adrift of Brisbane, have won four of their past five games and are coming off a 90-point thrashing of Sydney, last year's beaten grand finalists. 'Big crowd there, mostly South Australians barracking for the Crows, hostile environment, playing a team that's in great form … I think we'll go in as underdogs, which suits us down to the ground,' Fagan said. 'We're looking forward to the opportunity. We always like to test ourselves out, and they're probably the benchmark team in the competition at the moment, so we'll give it our best shot and see how we go.' Fagan said the Lions were still searching for ways to improve despite having lost only two of their 12 games this season. 'All you are trying to do in the home and away season is win enough games to qualify for finals, and then hopefully what you can do is be at your best when the finals arrive,' he said. That was the case for the Lions last year, who after an early struggle finished fifth on the ladder, leading to them needing four successive wins in the finals series to claim the premiership. 'There's some narrative around us that maybe we're not going so well as we were last year, but I think people have forgotten how hard last year was and they're just judging us on how we went in the grand final (a 60-point win over the Swans), which was reasonably exceptional, and doesn't happen too often,' Fagan said. 'We're happy to be where we are. We were a mile away from this at the same stage last year, so we've just got to keep going and keep trying to improve.' The Lions have made one change to the 23 that beat Essendon by 18 points last week, with 19-year-old forward Ty Gallop to make his AFL debut. Gallop will replace Darcy Gardiner, who will miss the match with knee soreness. First-choice ruckman Oscar McInerney will be given another week off as he manages a back injury and other ailments. It will be the fourth successive game McInerney has missed, but he has again been named among the emergencies. Premiership-winning ruckman Darcy Fort will again fill the void left by McInerney. 'Darcy Fort's been doing a great job for us,' Fagan said. Originally published as Brisbane Lions coach Chris Fagan says Adelaide is the AFL's 'benchmark' team
News.com.au
17 minutes ago
- News.com.au
‘Steroid Games' boss Aron D'Souza slams ‘bullying' after Aussies banned
The founder of the so-called 'Steroid Games' has launched a stunning attack on the governing body of world swimming. World Aquatics (WA) on Wednesday announced a blanket ban on any competitor or coach that has taken part in the Enhanced Games, the multi-sport event founded by Australian businessman Aron D'Souza. The highly controversial Games enable athletes to take performance enhancing drugs and compete in banned suits and is scheduled to make its debut in Las Vegas next year. Former Australian world champion James Magnussen has become the public face of the Games, while compatriot and ex-swimmer Brett Hawke recently became the head coach of its swimming team. Images of a massively bulked up Magnussen attempting to set a world leading time in the 50m freestyle, and claim a US$1 million prize, shocked the sporting world late last month. Magnussen, Hawke and anyone else associated with the doped up concept have now been banned from any future participation at the Olympics or world championships. D'Souza hasn't taken long to respond to the move, blasting World Aquatics and vowing to take on any legal fight from his athletes in a statement posted on the Enhanced Games website. 'We stand with athletes and their support teams. Always,' the statement reads. 'At the Enhanced Games, athletes have what traditional federations never gave them: choice, fairness and real money. 'We offer a medically supervised, safety-focused, science-driven arena – where performance is rewarded, not policed by outdated ideology. 'This ban isn't about protecting athletes. It's about protecting a monopoly. 'World Aquatics hasn't paid its athletes for decades. Now, faced with real competition and real momentum, they've fallen back on threats and bullying tactics. 'Let's be clear: the real danger to sport isn't science. It's stagnation. 'Enhanced is building a better future – one where athletes are empowered, enhancements are embraced responsibly, and excellence is properly compensated. 'Excellence should always be rewarded and these exceptional athletes deserve exceptional compensation. We'll continue to fight for all athletes to ensure they receive it. 'We will support any natural or enhanced athlete denied the option to make this choice – both by providing them an opportunity to compete and win – or by providing legal counsel against World Aquatics in the case of any challenge.' The concept of an official juiced up competition has captivated – and largely appalled – the sporting world since it became public in 2023. Australian Olympic gold medallists Ariarne Titmus and Cam McEvoy are among athletes that have slammed the idea. The first Enhanced Games are scheduled for May 21-24 next year at Resorts World Las Vegas featuring swimming, track and field and weightlifting. World Aquatics became the first governing body to move on the controversial proposal. 'Those who enable doped sport are not welcome at World Aquatics or our events,' World Aquatics president Husain al-Musallam said in a statement. 'This new bylaw ensures that we can continue to protect the integrity of our competitions, the health and safety of our athletes, and the credibility of the global aquatics community.' WA also encouraged member federations, such as Swimming Australia, to 'adopt similar policies at the national level'. Those that prepare for or take part in the Enhanced Games would also be ineligible to hold any position with the sport's governing body. Magnussen announced earlier this week he will tweak his doping and training regime for the Enhanced Games in a bid to win the revolutionary event after he was pipped in his quest to break the 50m freestyle world record. Magnussen, who has been retired for six years, has been taking a concoction of testosterone and peptides, among other substances banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), to try to break the 50m freestyle world record. But the 34-year-old nicknamed 'the Missile' watched his dream of winning the US$1 million prize money go up in smoke after another swimmer beat him to it. Greece's Kristian Gkolomeev – aided by undisclosed substances and a polyurethane suit not approved for Olympic use – broke the world record at an Enhanced Games competition pool in North Carolina in February. Gkolomeev swam a time of 20.89 seconds, 0.02sec fastest than the longstanding supersuit world record held by Brazil's Cesar Cielo since the 2009 world championships.
Daily Telegraph
25 minutes ago
- Daily Telegraph
Dubbo previews: Lundholm's Blue De Beers set for Silver Goblet glory
Don't miss out on the headlines from Horse Racing. Followed categories will be added to My News. Trainer Clint Lundholm is chasing his fourth Silver Goblet with a two-year-old that boasts Golden Slipper winner Pierro as a close family member. Lundholm's colt, Blue De Beers, is out of a mare named Arabian Diamond. A Lonhro herself like Pierro, both Arabian Diamond and the 2012 Two-Year-Old Triple Crown winner share the English stakes-winner Criquette as their second and third dam respectively. Pierro famously won the Breeders' Plate on debut, now it's up to Blue De Beers to show what he's got when he makes his own debut in one of the Central West's most coveted juvenile features, the Kings Hall Jewellers Showcase Silver Goblet 2YO Handicap (1100m). 'He's a very nice horse,' Lundholm said. The Form: Complete NSW Racing thoroughbred form, including video replays and all you need to know about every horse, jockey and trainer. Find a winner here! 'He's been set for this race a good while ago. He didn't qualify for the Inglis race at Scone so we ear-tagged this race to target with him. 'He has trialled very well and had another unofficial jumpout after his second trial just to keep him up to the mark and we are really happy with him going to the races. 'I am not too worried about the (outside) draw. 'Over 1100m here at Dubbo, you come around one corner for home anyway so it doesn't concern me too much. 'I don't think it is against him anyway.' Lundholm is represented by five horses across four races and while not enough to reach a certain milestone, a big day could edge him closer. The record shows that Lundholm's present tally of winners at his home circuit is 194. One of the trainer's string looking for their first Dubbo win is Willinga Karisma who aims to snap a sequence of two consecutive seconds when she tackles the Winter Country Classic Qualifier (1300m). 'She had a very tough run last start,' Lundholm explained. 'She got caught wide but was game and stuck on quite well. We've taken the claim this time around, she's got as soft draw, so she does look well-placed.' Willinga Karisma will be joined in her quest in this week's qualifier by the sturdy Stratum Star mare, Avalicous. 'At 1300m first-up, she is probably wanting the run but she has got a soft draw and she makes her own luck,' her trainer said. 'She'll run well but I think she will improve from the run.' Lundholm, meanwhile, aims to play a role in the hotly contested Showcase Benchmark 82 Handicap via the Widden Stud/Peter Frampton-owned and bred Starlink who resumes in the 1000m sprint. 'She was a little bit disappointing early in her preparation last time around and then she came out and pulled off a really impressive win at her last start,' Lundholm said. 'Then she had a little bit of an injury and went to the paddock. 'She's returned in great shape. She seems to be nice and sound.' Lundholm and Kody Nestor combine twice starting with Blue De Beers in the Silver Goblet, followed by Macchina Volante in the Benchmark 82 Handicap (1400m). This will be Nestor's first ride on the horse whose name translates into 'flying machine'. 'He finds conditions to suit,' said Lundholm. 'He will run a good race, he'll be honest. 'We're setting him for some for the county west cups coming over the winter.' ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ Local gelding Cumnock's days as a Highway participant will come to an end if he can topple his rivals, all of them with significantly higher benchmark ratings, in the hotly contested sprint. The Brett Thompson-trained, Bob Slack-Smith-bred five-year-old was saved a near 800km round trip this weekend when dealt with the almost impossible predicament of fifth emergency (and barrier 21) for Saturday's Highway at Randwick. Instead, Cumnock, the horse with a thoroughly misleading Benchmark Rating of 60, takes on a couple of 77 raters in the Fardells Showcase Benchmark 82 Handicap (1000m) at his home ground. 'I don't know why he is so low in the benchmarks because it's not like he has been an inconsistent horse,' Thompson said. 'Anyway, I'm not whinging. There's times when you want to be low in the benchmarks and times when you want to be higher.' Cumnock was successful in gaining a start in consecutive Highways in July last year, finishing fourth to Clear Thinking and Tanglewood in one and a fifth to Lonhro's Queen in the other. Cumnock will be ridden by champion country jockey Mathew Cahill who is also tasked with the quest of helping the tough and reliable filly Sorrento Palace snap a sequence of three straight second placings. 'She is going super,' Thompson reported. 'She's just been drawing terrible gates so we've been scratching, scratching, scratching trying to wait until she draws a gate and she's drawn a gate now so we've just to hope she can do the job for us which I think she can.' Thompson combines with inaugural Country Championships Final winning jockey Mitchell Bell in the Country Classic Qualifier for the boys where Hammering Away seeks to nail his third career win. The well-bred chestnut boasts some deep form having mixed and matched with some above-average types on the way through including Rothgate whom he stretched to a neck last spring. 'He is a horse that always tries,' Thompson said. 'I thought it was a pretty good to run there first-up at Parkes the other day. 'I think the extra ground will help him, we have got a good jockey on, he's a good each-way bet.'
