Swans won't give up despite "impossible" finals dream
The tenth-placed Swans had to beat cross-city rivals GWS to keep their slim post-season hopes alive and looked primed to do so when they built a 35-point lead before the main break.
But the Giants stormed away with a sensational third-quarter performance to set up a 44-point win.
The visitors had slotted six straight goals in the opening half despite losing key forward Hayden McLean (concussion) early.
In the second, they kicked just one through Justin McInerney and notched a total of eight points.
Sydney's usual stars struggled to fire against the relentless pressure of the Orange Tsunami.
After a best-on-ground performance against North Melbourne, Sydney superstar Isaac Heeney was kept to just 22 disposals and two clearances.
While Errol Gulden had 32 touches, Chad Warner had just 19.
Swans livewire Tom Papley, on return from a hamstring injury, kicked just one goal in the opening half and was kept to three touches in the second.
"We played the footy we did in the first half with the same team (as in the second half)," Cox said.
"The disappointing part was the second half and the way we played, but we need to make sure we fight this year out as well as we possibly can.
"We understand that it's probably mathematically impossible to make the finals, but we're going to have a throw at the stumps as long as we possibly can."
Sydney sit tenth (9-10) ahead of the weekend's clashes, eight points behind Gold Coast (11-6).
The Western Bulldogs (11-8) are also on 44 points but sit eighth on percentage, while Fremantle are seventh on 48 points.
With just four rounds left, Sydney will need a miracle to make finals.
Sydney play a struggling Essendon (SCG) outfit first, before Brisbane (Gabba), Geelong (SCG) and West Coast (Optus Stadium).
Cox also expects Joel Hamling to miss out on game time after the defender suffered a hamstring injury in the third quarter.
"One thing we need to do is to make sure that we can build as much as we possibly can towards the back end for pre-season and for next year," Cox said.
"And every time I say to a player, every time you represent this football club in that jumper, you have to fight as hard as you possibly can to win games of footy."
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ABC News
28 minutes ago
- ABC News
How Alick Wickham helped introduce freestyle swimming to the world
On an autumn morning in 1901, a 14-year-old boy named Alick Wickham dived into a Sydney pool and swam a race that would change the course of sporting history. Bronte Baths, a picturesque ocean pool hacked into sandstone cliffs, was hosting the Eastern Suburbs Swimming Carnival and Wickham was there competing in a 66-yard event. But, unlike today, many swimming races were a case of any stroke goes. "There were all kinds of what we would now see as wacky, eccentric things going on in the pool," Gary Osmond, a sports historian at the University of Queensland, tells ABC Radio National's No One Saw It Coming. "Let's say there were eight swimmers in a race. Chances are you would have eight different strokes or certainly eight distinctive strokes." There could have been breaststroke, mixed with a sidestroke, mixed with the stroke du jour, the trudgen stroke (which also had variations). Yet one stroke was conspicuously absent. No one was swimming the front crawl that we now call freestyle — the stroke that's arguably the most prestigious and quickest in the world of competitive swimming. "As common as it is today, it did not exist in competition prior to 1901," Dr Osmond says. But on that day at Bronte Baths, Wickham dived in and swam the stroke that became known as freestyle. Wickham was born in the Solomon Islands in 1886 and grew up around an area called the Roviana Lagoon. He was the son of Pinge Naru and Englishman Frank Wickham, who had been shipwrecked in the region and decided to settle there. "[The Roviana Lagoon] is a very beautiful place. It has a lot of little islands and white, sandy beaches," says Dorothy Wickham, a relative of the swimmer and the editor of the Melanesian News Network. A young person's life there "is always about the sea", she says. "If [children] weren't in school, then they would be spending most of their time in the sea." During his childhood, Wickham learned a swimming style called the tapatapala, a crawling stroke which is like today's freestyle. "We swim in the open ocean. So there are currents. And if you really have to swim against currents, the best way to swim … is what you call the freestyle now," Dorothy Wickham says. As a boy, Wickham was sent from the Solomon Islands to Sydney, where his older brother was living. And in this new, unfamiliar home, he sought out the familiar pastime of swimming. He would swim at Bronte Baths and decided to compete in the 1901 carnival there. For that 66-yard event, Wickham swam his version of freestyle and won, easily. As one newspaper put it: "A South Sea Island boy named Wickham romped away with the race, winning by fully a dozen yards." According to Dr Osmond, this was the first recorded time that what we now recognise as the freestyle swimming stroke was used across the full length of a race. He says some Australian competitive swimmers had been experimenting with a crawl-like stroke at this time. This included one of the country's most prominent swimmers of the era, Dick Cavill, who had used it, along with other strokes, to finish a race. "But Wickham came along and showed the potential of the stroke. Both the speed and his naturally refined style," Dr Osmond says. "Other swimmers realised this is what they'd been looking for in their quest for speed." Wickham started to gain attention, both because of his swimming and also because of the colour of his skin. "Some of the terms used to describe Wickham in the press in the first couple of years were shocking," Dr Osmond says. This was when the newly federated Australia was a deeply racist place, with Wickham's rise to fame coinciding with the introduction of the White Australia Policy. The 1901 Immigration Restriction Act aimed at keeping Australia for white people only. And the 1901 Pacific Island Labourers Act meant that the majority of the Pacific Islanders living in Australia faced deportation. "He did suffer racism in Australia, I think it must have been worse for him because he was mixed race … It wouldn't have been an easy life," Dorothy Wickham says. But as the young star achieved bigger and bigger sporting success, the racial language about him in the media dramatically changed. "[Wickham] goes from being the n-word … to being 'copper pelted' [and] 'bronzed'," Dr Osmond explains. "He goes from being at the front end of negative racial stereotypes to being praised as a Pacific Islander." In other words, success in the world of sport shielded Wickham from some of the racism that was commonplace at the time. Wickham went on to set a number of NSW and Australian swimming records. In 1903, he won a 50-yard world record (although Dr Osmond says "it's an unofficial world record" and didn't end up in the history books). "So teammates at his club, including prominent swimmers, Olympic swimmers … started using his stroke," Dr Osmond explains. Around this time, Australian swimmer Dick Cavill went to England and swam the crawling stroke, introducing it to the UK. The technique became known as the Australian crawl and soon gained attention worldwide. Before long, it was almost universally used in freestyle swimming competitions — where swimmers can use any stroke — so it's used metonymically. However, while Wickham played a key role in popularising the stroke, there are even earlier reports of it being shown to people in the West. "There's quite a notable report from the 1840s, when two First Nations men from upper Canada travelled to England as part of a delegation … And they swam what we now know as the freestyle or crawl stroke," Dr Osmond says. "The press ridiculed it. They called it an ugly stroke, an octopus stroke … Because it wasn't 'elegant'. Breaststroke was seen as the model of elegance." Wickham kept swimming for years and also became a prominent diver. In 1918, he made a dive into Melbourne's Yarra River in front of 70,000 onlookers from a height of 62 metres — achieving a world record. It was quite the plunge, with Wickham losing consciousness and having to be pulled out of the water. He told a newspaper he was confined to bed for days after the jump. Wickham returned to the Solomon Islands in later life and passed away there in 1967, aged 81. Today, his achievements are recognised in the Sport Australia Hall of Fame and the International Swimming Hall of Fame, which is based in the US. But he's far from a household name in Australia or around the world. As his relative, Dorothy Wickham feels an immense sense of pride. "He has contributed a huge, huge part [to the sport] by bringing the freestyle swimming technique to the outside world and enabling people to have the joy of using this technique," she says. Each year, at the Roviana Lagoon Festival, the signature event is the Alick Wickham Swim, where participants swim from the mainland to the spot where he grew up. For Dr Osmond, it all goes back to that 1901 Bronte Baths race. "[The race] turned the heads of Australian swimmers in the direction of the potential of this new stroke. It really did change swimming," he says. But he stresses that the race itself is not the full story. "One of the issues, though, is that [the race] gets simplified," Dr Osmond says. "It overlooks the much more complicated story that involves paying tribute to people throughout the Pacific, and indeed throughout the world, who were doing this stroke with no recognition."
Daily Telegraph
7 hours ago
- Daily Telegraph
Ticketing programme launched for Rugby World Cup 2027
Don't miss out on the headlines from Rugby. Followed categories will be added to My News. It's time to get planning rugby fans. The 2027 Rugby World Cup is on its way Down Under and now fans can start booking everything in. The launch of the ticketing programme officially launched in Sydney on Tuesday with over 2.5 million tickets on offer to fans across the globe. It makes it the biggest and most accessible tournament in history with fans able to get their hands on tickets for just $40. Tickets are set to be released in phases starting with a presale in February 2026 for fans who register before the end of January 2026, with further tickets sold via an application phase in May 2026. For the real diehard fans who want to go a notch above, a superfan pass is up for grabs which gives the individual the ability to purchase up to four tickets per match and includes the World Cup opener and final. Chris Stanley, Managing Director of Rugby World Cup 2027 speaks during the launch. (Photo by Mark Metcalfe - World Rugby/World Rugby via Getty Images) 'In total, over 2.5 million tickets will be made available for this expanded edition, more than any previous Men's Rugby World Cup, reflecting the ambition to deliver a tournament that is truly for everyone,' a statement read. 'Making the tournament as accessible as possible for everyone has been a key focus, with ticket prices for adults starting from just $40 for pool matches, and $65 to watch the Wallabies in their home tournament. 'Families have also been a core priority, with children's tickets starting at $20 available for all matches except the semi-finals and the final. The aim is to encourage families to enjoy world- class rugby in an unforgettable setting, creating lifelong memories. Children under two can attend RWC matches for free.' Michael Hooper speaks on stage during the Rugby World Cup 2027 Australia Ticketing Program and Hospitality Launch. (Photo by Mark Metcalfe - World Rugby/World Rugby via Getty Images) The announcement comes on the heels of rugby booming in Australia off the back of the Wallabies taking on the British and Irish Lions tour. The Wallabies were denied an upset win in heartbreaking and controversial fashion after the visitors scored a last-gasp try to claim a thrilling 29-26 victory. Hugo Keenan went over for the Lions in the 79th minute to win it, only for Australia to desperately appeal the try, claiming Jac Morgan had made contact with the head of Carlo Tizzano at the breakdown in the lead-up. Referee Andrea Piardi, however, deemed there to be no foul play in the lead-up, much to the frustration of fans watching on. Despite the back-to-back defeats, interest in the Wallabies has risen and will only keep thriving as the World Cup draws closer. Head to and sign up before 31 January 2026 to access the presale tickets for the World Cup. Originally published as Ticketing programme launched for Rugby World Cup 2027
The Australian
10 hours ago
- The Australian
James McDonald clinches ninth Sydney jockeys' premiership to move closer to George Moore's record
Sydney storms put a dampener on champion hoop James McDonald's racing return on Wednesday – but nothing could stop the star rider celebrating a seventh consecutive Sydney jockeys' title. McDonald went without a win on his first day back riding in Sydney in more than a month at Warwick Farm but didn't need one to officially move within touching distance of George Moore's all-time Sydney premiership record. • PUNT LIKE A PRO: Become a Racenet iQ member and get expert tips – with fully transparent return on investment statistics – from Racenet's team of professional punters at our Pro Tips section. SUBSCRIBE NOW! His latest title success, his 9th in total, has been a fait accompli for several months. McDonald finished the 2024/25 campaign with 83 city winners to sit comfortably clear of Jason Collett (74 winners) and Zac Lloyd (67 winners). Next season McDonald is the hot favourite to add a 10th premiership and equal Moore's long held record in Sydney racing. He can also equal Moore's amazing feat of eight straight Sydney titles, which was achieved on a historic run from 1961-62 to 1968-69. McDonald's latest haul is the least victories he's had in a premiership-winning season since winning his first in 2013-14 with 72 winners. • Angela Jones seals historic Brisbane jockeys' premiership But the coveted crown has come with a sensational winning strike rate in town of just over 25 per cent while juggling international commitments in Hong Kong and the Middle East as well as several interstate raids. His partnership with soon-to-be horse of the year Via Sistina helped propel him to a career best season of 21 Group 1 victories with a personal record of more than $59m in prizemoney earned for connections. Via Sistina was McDonald's headline horse in Australia. Picture: Getty Images McDonald can kick the new season off on a high note with seven rides at Saturday's Rosehill Gardens meeting. It will also see the metropolitan return of leading apprentice Braith Nock, who added his name to one of Sydney racing's most coveted honour rolls. Nock has spent the final two weeks of the campaign on the sidelines through suspension but did more than enough to celebrate his maiden apprentices' title with 40 winners for the campaign. • Much-loved hoop retires to pursue training partnership Chris Waller (142 winners) continued his remarkable reign at the top of the tree of the Sydney training ranks which has now stretched for 15 seasons. Premiership winners will be celebrated at Saturday's Rosehill Gardens card, which coincides with the Australian Turf Club's Jockey Celebration Day. Australian Turf Club head of racing and wagering Nevesh Ramdhani paid tribute to the premiership winners. 'Sydney has world-class jockeys and trainers who help to make our racing the equal of any centre 52 weeks a year,'' Ramdhani said. 'It is fitting we celebrate the premiership winners whilst hosting a large number of retired jockeys who have created their own history and memories on Sydney tracks.' More rain throughout the remainder of the week has the industry of weather watch heading into the weekend.
