Montemurro to coach Matildas: former captain approves
If Joe Montemurro is finally named Matildas coach, then it's about time, says Australian football great and former captain Melissa Barbieri.
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Perth Now
an hour ago
- Perth Now
'Utterly committed': why Schmidt rates Jake Gordon
Joe Schmidt has detailed why Jake Gordon is Wallabies captaincy material, while conceding individual form will trump team performances when selectors sit down to pick a squad to topple the touring British and Irish Lions. Gordon's emergence as a frontrunner to lead the Wallabies in the showpiece three-Test series against the Lions this winter has raised eyebrows after the NSW skipper missed several games injured during his Waratahs' failure to make the Super Rugby Pacific finals for a second straight season. But coach Schmidt was glowing in his praise when asked about the halfback's captaincy credentials during a visit to the Western Force's training hub in Perth. "Jake, he's one of the leaders in the group," Schmidt told reporters. "So is Nic White, so there's a few halfbacks ... and Tate McDermott has been a former (Wallabies) captain, so of the nines we had last year, they're all leaders within the group. "Jake is a really good skill-set, mature player, (has a) very nice kicking game, one of the sharper passers around, and he is utterly committed when he's on the grass. "His ability to cover corners and make tackles, be involved in the physical stuff, he's a multi-purpose sort of player. "But the sharp edge of his game is really his pass-kick, which were very helpful to us last year." Schmidt will name a squad of up to 40 players before the Wallabies' first Test of the year against Fiji in Newcastle on July 6. But the Kiwi mentor said his squad wouldn't necessarily be dominated by the ACT Brumbies, Australia's last team standing in the Super Rugby Pacific competition. Schmidt promised he was looking at a raft of players from all four Australian franchises. "Results are fickle," he said of the topsy-turvy Super Rugby season. "The Wallabies will be judged on them, but there's a lot of work that goes on behind the scenes, and there's a lot of moments in games that decide results. "An individual can stack up plenty of good moments in a game where they've performed really well, and sometimes the team doesn't get the results. "So we're probably anchored to results. We're anchored more around performance and individual performance in a team context, definitely. "You know that you've got to be connected with your teammates because that's one of the beauties of the game. It's so interdependent. "You're reliant on the guys up front doing the job so you can get the space out the back. A guy like Mac Grealy or Harry Potter or Dylan Pietsch, they can't do a lot in space if the boys up front aren't doing their job." The Force will be the first Australian side to tackle the Lions, hosting the best of Britain and Ireland at Optus Stadium on June 28.
7NEWS
an hour ago
- 7NEWS
Teen schoolgirl Sienna Toohey awestruck after winning unexpected Australian title
An emotional 16-year-old schoolgirl is being hailed as the future of Australian swimming after earning world championship selection. Sienna Toohey left seasoned campaigners including Kaylee McKeown and Cate Campbell in awe with a stunning swim at Australia's selection trials in Adelaide on Tuesday night. The Albury teen, who only started swimming because she wanted to play water polo, triumphed in the women's 100m breaststroke. Toohey's victory, in a personal best time of one minute 6.55 seconds, secured her berth at the world titles in Singapore from July 27 to August 3. 'All of these people being my idols, now I get to be on the team with them,' Toohey said. 'These are people that I was watching two years ago, saying I want to be like them.' The daughter of the relieving principal at Albury High School, Toohey initially wanted to be a water polo player. 'My parents told me that I couldn't do water polo if I didn't swim, so I started swimming,' she said. 'And then my water polo progressed and my swimming was too at the same time. I got to the point where I had to choose swimming or water polo. Obviously, I chose swimming — it was the right choice.' Five-time Olympic gold medallist McKeown was among those impressed with Toohey's feat at the South Australian Aquatic Centre. 'I was 16 when I made my first team and it really taught me a lot being with the older guys,' McKeown said after winning the 100m backstroke final on Tuesday night. 'I'm excited to see young swimmers coming through the ranks. 'The more experience that they can get leading into LA (the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics), we have a really good chance of doing Australia proud.' McKeown, who has told of the mental toll during her decorated career, offered some advice to the precocious Toohey. 'Just to enjoy yourself,' McKeown said. 'The more you be serious, the more you're harsh on yourself, you keep just digging yourself in a bit of a hole and it's quite hard to get out of.' For Toohey, she now will revise plans which had centred on the goal of swimming at the 2032 Brisbane Olympics. 'The team I was first aiming to get on was definitely that one,' she said. 'Now that I've made this one, we'll have to push up the timeline a bit more.' Also on Tuesday night, Alex Perkins threatened the national women's 50m butterfly record by clocking 25.36 seconds, 0.05 shy of Holly Barratt's benchmark set six years ago. Injury-plagued Ed Sommerville, 20, made his first senior long-course national team by winning the men's 200m freestyle in 1:44.93 ahead of Sam Short (1:45.71). Joshua Edwards-Smith prevailed in the men's 100m backstroke in 54.28 and and Matt Temple took out the men's 100m butterfly in 51.00.
Perth Now
an hour ago
- Perth Now
Luck of the Irish
Rockingham Mandurah will have the luck of the Irish on their side when they chase Premier Cricket glory next summer. The Mariners have announced Irish-born batter Luke Horgan to bolster their line-up as they attempt to build further on last season's success, when they won a first round final and finished in the top four of WA's district cricket competition. Horgan, 22, this week told Mandurah Times he had always wanted to test his skills on Australian wickets and was looking forward to joining the Mariners at Lark Hill when the season starts in October. Your local paper, whenever you want it. 'A few of my mates have been over to Perth to play cricket and have some great stories and have said how much fun it is,' he said. 'Once I came over to the east coast for a few weeks for the Christmas and New Year period in 2016-17 on a family holiday, but I have never been to Perth. 'Everyone keeps saying how Perth has the best beaches in the world, so excited for that. 'I've heard the summers are hot, so I've been told to stack up on factor 50 and watch out for the heat.' The right-handed Horgan hopes to slot in anywhere in the top order for the Mariners, having opened for his university team and batted No.5 for his current club Dorridge in the Birmingham and District Premier League. He has just finished an economics degree in Nottingham and said it was a quick and easy decision to spend summer in Perth once Rockingham Mandurah had reached out. 'I have always wanted to come out for a season after finishing studies,' he said. 'I am looking forward to making new mates and playing cricket somewhere completely different to home will be a good challenge. 'Once my agent messaged about the interest from the Mariners, I was very keen to sign so it was a pretty smooth process.' Horgan was a relatively late starter in cricket, having grown up in Cork, Ireland, where Gaelic football is king. 'I only started playing when I was 12 when I joined secondary school,' he said. 'I played a lot of rugby, football and hockey growing up and played Gaelic football during the winters at university.' Being here at the same time as the England tour for what promises to be another compelling Ashes series of Test cricket is another bonus. 'Obviously being Irish I'm probably a bit more neutral than most of the English lads coming over, but I'll definitely be trying to watch as much of it as possible,' he said. 'I'm definitely going to go to the first test in Perth and will try get over to the last two in Melbourne and Sydney but the series could well be done by then.'
