Australia 26-29 British & Irish Lions PLAYER RATINGS: Who was a 'colossal inspiration'? Which star appeared 'flustered'? And who suffered 'a collapse' by his own standards?
After suffering a defeat in last weekend's first Test, Australia wasted little time in seizing the initiative against Andy Farrell's side in Saturday's clash.
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Daily Mail
3 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
West Coast Eagles sent SOS to AFLW star Daisy Pearce to resurrect shocking men's team
West Coast Eagles coach Andrew McQualter has revealed he will pick the brain of AFLW great Daisy Pearce in order to help the men's program rebound from the lowest ebb in the club's history. The Eagles (1-18) have won just 11 games since the start of 2022, and will collect their second wooden spoon in the space of three years. Given how dire the past four years have been, West Coast will formally ask the AFL for a priority pick. That impending request has already attracted a wave of criticism from fans and experts, given West Coast won the flag in 2018 and reached the finals as recently as 2020. McQualter has endured a tough debut year in the hot seat, and is desperate to fast-track the team's rebuild. The 39-year-old revealed on Thursday that part of his plan is to tap into the knowledge of AFLW trailblazer Pearce, who is West Coast's women's coach. Pearce led the Eagles to a 4-7 record in her first year as coach - the best return for the club in its six-season AFLW history. The 37-year-old previously served as a development coach with Geelong before landing the top role with the Eagles. 'Daisy has finished her first year, added a second pre-season, and I will really look to use Daisy as a resource as to what she learned over that period,' McQualter said. 'Just with where we're at as a team and a club - we have to get better really quickly. 'So if there's something I can learn from Daisy coming into her second season as coach, I'll look to learn it and implement it, because it's going to be a really critical period for our club over the next six to 12 months.' Pearce, who captained Melbourne to the 2022 AFLW flag during her glittering 55-game career, is eager to learn more from West Coast's men's program. 'I'm really excited to work with 'Mini' over the next few years ... so that I can develop myself, help out however I can, and just keep bringing our programs closer and closer together,' Pearce said. McQualter defended West Coast's plea for a priority pick. Pearce won an AFLW premiership with the Melbourne Demons, cementing her place in football history 'We're just looking at it from the performances of the last four years and the history of what priority picks get given for,' McQualter said. 'We think we qualify, so we've applied for it. 'We're in a rush to get better, and if it's a way that we can get better, we're willing to apply for it.' Even if they get knocked back, West Coast are still likely to have the first two picks in the national draft. Pick No.1 will be for finishing last, while if restricted free agent Oscar Allen heads to Brisbane as expected, the Eagles will almost certainly be handed pick No.2 as compensation. West Coast will be without Harley Reid (ankle) for the rest of the season, leaving them even more vulnerable for Saturday's clash with Melbourne at Marvel Stadium.
The Independent
32 minutes ago
- The Independent
Former Wales wing Louis Rees-Zammit announces return to rugby after leaving NFL
Former Wales winger Louis Rees-Zammit has announced that he plans to return to rugby after spending 18 months in the NFL. Rees-Zammit signed an active roster deal with the Jacksonville Jaguars for the 2025 season after being part of their practice squad for the 2024 season and travelled to London for the games against the Chicago Bears and New England Patriots in October. The 24-year-old made 32 appearances for Wales before announcing in January 2024 that he would retire from rugby union in order to pursue his dream of playing in the NFL via its International Player Pathway Program. Rees-Zammit said in a post on Instagram: 'I've got an exciting announcement to make! I've decided to leave the NFL and return to rugby! 'It's been a great experience, but it's time to come home. I've decided that this is the best time to make this decision to give myself time to get everything in place for next season. 'There's only one thing that's on my mind, that's coming back to rugby and doing what I do best. I can't explain how excited I am!! 'There'll be more news to come soon but for now, see you soon rugby fans.' The news is likely to come as a welcome boost to recently-appointed Wales head coach Steve Tandy, who takes over a side that only ended an 18-match losing streak that lasted almost two years with a hard-fought win over Japan last month.
The Guardian
33 minutes ago
- The Guardian
People love to say ‘sexuality doesn't matter' and shouldn't come up in AFL – so why do players hurl homophobic slurs?
Writing this article was like being knocked unconscious and magically transported back 15 years. Julia Gillard is prime minister, everyone is playing Angry Birds on the new iPad, and I am here writing about homophobia in sport. You know, 2010! Unfortunately, however, I'm not in some Rebel Wilson-type Netflix head-injury time-travel comedy, I am still in 2025 Australia. Despite this fact, in the last year or so there have been six separate incidents where an AFL player or coach has used a homophobic slur against an opposition player – including two in the last few weeks. The AFL has suspended each player, and in the most recent case, Riak Andrew has been banned for a lengthy five matches. This has happened after all AFL players this year had to complete an LGBTQ+ education model. The AFL has taken such steps to try to stem the tide of homophobia in the game, but the tactics don't seem to be working. Players are still being homophobic on the field, and many fans and supporters take this as license to be homophobic off the field. This is a culture issue, a player issue, and a fan issue – it is inbuilt and insidious. And it is harmful. Sign up for a weekly email featuring our best reads I get the sense, reading the players' apologies, that while they may be remorseful, they don't understand that this is not just about one hurtful moment. When they shout out a slur, it is not just a fleeting thing that everyone can move on from in the same way. These casually thrown out slurs do not just offend – they silence. I know this from personal experience. I grew up in regional Queensland, in a time and place where I knew I was different from other 11-year-olds. I didn't think I could ever come out of the closet. This was pre-'wokeness', so I suffered every day trying to change or hide who I was. After years and years of this torture, at 17 years old I finally decided to come out to someone. I went to stay with family members in Brisbane, a young couple that I had convinced myself wouldn't hate me, and would accept me. I will never forget sitting out on the back step while they were in the kitchen, my body fighting with itself as I gathered the courage to tell someone about this secret that was consuming my life. I was almost there, I was going to do it. And then I overheard one of them say 'faggot' in a conversation about the Red Hot Chili Peppers. It sounds absurd now, but it was one of the more crushing moments of my life. My stomach dropped to hell, I felt so stupid for thinking I could ever come out to anyone, that I could ever trust anyone enough to know it would be OK. That one moment, that one word from someone I loved, stopped me trying to come out again for three entire years. If players, after all that education and disciplining, still find themselves hurling a slur at an opposition player because it's just there below the surface, imagine what is said off the field. Imagine the training sessions, the locker rooms, the bus, the pub. Imagine you are a young gay player who hears his colleagues, his heroes, the people he looks up to using that kind of language. Imagine you're a young kid, an AFL fan, hearing it. Regardless if you are out and proud or hiding away, if you hear someone like a family member, a friend, a football hero use what you are as the worst insult they can think of – of course it immediately suggests that they despise you, and everyone like you. When Jack Graham from the West Coast Eagles was suspended, his captain Liam Duggan described his use of the slur as a 'slip of the tongue'. If that's true, if it's just in the heat of the moment – too bad. It does not matter. You have made your impact, you have done the damage. Words famously are the things we use to communicate, and homophobic slurs very clearly communicate your disdain for us, more effectively than disdain for your opponent. The other thing people love to say on this issue is that 'sexuality doesn't matter' and that it shouldn't come up in footy. Look at the comments on the Sydney Swans' Instagram post of the jersey they will wear for their (one) Pride game this year. More than 400 comments from the football community, from the fans, with a huge proportion of those insulting and homophobic, and a great many complaining that sexuality should not be forced in their faces. If you take one message from this article please let it be this – you people are the reason we are talking about sexuality. The pride game exists because it is a reaction to the homophobic culture of the sport. This article exists because of straight players who brought up sexuality on the field. We want these grown men being paid a lot of money to do their fucking jobs without bringing us into it. I am sick of people claiming that we are forcing this on to you, when you are forcing us to do this. Sign up to Five Great Reads Each week our editors select five of the most interesting, entertaining and thoughtful reads published by Guardian Australia and our international colleagues. Sign up to receive it in your inbox every Saturday morning after newsletter promotion We have of course made a lot of progress for LGBTQ+ rights generally in society. But there are still many, many people around this country who are not able to be themselves in their environments. Sometimes that environment is the footy. There are young people at AFL games trying to figure out who they are, and listening to everything coming out of everyone's mouths. Kids who might have the course of their life changed by something said by their family, by the fans, or by the players they love. The AFL has to do more than making players click through some module, or suspending them from a few games when their homophobia slips out. There needs to be a culture shift somehow, and I think that can only happen if players take the impact of their words seriously. Players need to be doing more themselves to combat what is being said on the field, and off. I'm sick of being in 2010, the homophobia is rife and the outfits are ugly. Rebecca Shaw is a writer based in Sydney
