Latest news with #AustralianTeam
Washington Post
a day ago
- Sport
- Washington Post
Australia's champion pedigree faces South Africa's gritty ambition in cricket's WTC final
LONDON — When it comes to major cricket finals, Australia is in a league of its own. Only Australia has won all four men's global trophies. It is hard to beat in finals, having won 10 of 13 across the 50-over World Cup, 20-over World Cup, Champions Trophy, and World Test Championship. And let's not get started on the women's team, which is even more dominant.
The Guardian
5 days ago
- Sport
- The Guardian
NRL poised to unveil Mal Meninga as Perth Bears' inaugural coach
Mal Meninga has a mighty task to make the Perth Bears competitive from the outset as history paints a bleak picture of the NRL's expansion teams in their early years. The NRL is poised to unveil Meninga as the Bears' head coach this week, with the rugby league great expected to relinquish his post in charge of the Australian national team to take the helm in 2027. The nine-time State of Origin series-winning coach is understood to have beaten South Sydney great Sam Burgess and former Parramatta boss Brad Arthur to the role, his first in charge of a club since 2001. The appointment of household name Meninga is expected to help generate big interest in the AFL-mad city, which has not had a team since the Western Reds folded in 1997. But a tough task looms for Meninga amid the excitement of the Bears' return to the NRL, 25 years after their Northern Eagles merger with Manly collapsed. Some 14 expansion teams have joined the NRL and its predecessors since 1982, when the league first began to expand out of Sydney. Only two of those teams, the Brisbane Broncos and Melbourne Storm, played finals in their first two seasons. Even then, the Broncos only made it to a playoff game to reach the official post-season in 1989, losing that match to Cronulla. Among the 12 remaining teams, only one – the Auckland Warriors of 1995 – had a winning record in either of their first two seasons, while three picked up the wooden spoon in the same time-frame. Only six of the 12 remaining are still in the league in their current format, the vast majority of others folding in the aftermath of the 1997 Super League War. The last Perth expansion team, the Reds, did not play finals in any of their three seasons, the best of those an 11th-placed finish in 1995 that ended with a respectable 50% winning record. The statistics come after Wayne Bennett told AAP last month coaching an expansion team was one of rugby league's bigger challenges. Sign up to Australia Sport Get a daily roundup of the latest sports news, features and comment from our Australian sports desk after newsletter promotion NRL HQ considers the Dolphins expansion project a big success for its nationwide fan community and ability to challenge the Broncos for airtime in rugby league heartland Brisbane. But even then, Bennett did not lead the team to finals in their first two years, and the team sits outside the top eight at the halfway mark of their third campaign. '[Coaching an expansion team] sounds like a lot of fun but it can be a journey to nowhere,' South Sydney coach Bennett said. 'It's an extremely tough gig and it's not something I would recommend for anyone to take up.'
ABC News
31-05-2025
- Business
- ABC News
Australians carve global success at World Butchers' Challenge in Paris
In a packed Paris stadium filled with patriotic fervour and flags from 16 nations, a baying crowd joins the countdown to begin the competition. At the bell, each man in a team of six unsheathes his knife and seizes a carcass of beef, pork, chicken or lamb. It is "the Olympics of butchery", also known as the World Butchers' Challenge. "The atmosphere was electric this year, especially with the addition of the Belgian team," Australian competitor Tom Bouchier said. "They brought air raid sirens with them, the French had hundreds of apprentices there with horns blowing. "It was just exactly like a European soccer match." The contest unfolded over almost four unrelenting, sweat-inducing hours, during which meat was transformed into the finest of culinary creations. It was a slightly incongruous sight with brawny butchers producing exquisitely delicate, artistic meat dishes. She was one of the vocal supporters cheering the Australian senior and junior teams at the challenge in April. "The teams have three and a half hours to create as many beautiful, value-added, retail-ready products as they can, so it's quite incredible to see what the other nations come up with," Ms Bouchier said. Teams provided their own seasonings, spices, marinades and garnishes to finish products which had to be eye-catching, easily cooked, and suitable for retail. Melbourne gourmet butcher Troy Wheeler said his role in the team was to add value. "So I get given some different proteins, whether it be chicken, pork, beef, and lamb," he said. "And I turn those into a product that is appealing in a retail butchers' shop setting and cookable and relatable to what the consumer would be looking for." Independent judges scored each team based on technique, skill, workmanship, product innovation and the overall finish and presentation. Master butcher Peter Bouchier was in Paris to cheer on his son Tom. He said the competition was full-on. The latest World Butchers' Challenge was the biggest and best yet, a far cry from its humble beginnings in a paddock in 2011 when it was only between Australia and New Zealand. At the last world challenge held in the United States, the Australians were pipped into second by the German team, which was the favourite to win again this year. But it was the French home side that took the honours, with the Germans placed second and the Australians coming third. Third-generation butcher and challenge fan, Ashley Haynes, watched a live stream of the event from Finley in southern New South Wales, where he ran a retail butcher shop. "For our Aussie boys to go across there and finish third is just an amazing effort, to play away, an away game on their terms, using their equipment and their produce, yeah, just phenomenal," Mr Haynes said. "And what that does for the whole industry is reinvigorates all of us along the chain, I think it gives us all a little aspiration to maybe be a part of something like that and that should inspire everybody." Danielle Bouchier said it was an incredible event for the industry. "It's not really looked on to be a very glamorous industry, so anything that showcases the talent and the artistry that butchers put into their craft [is positive]," she said. The six butchers representing Australia hailed from various states, so practising as a team was not easy. On the eve of departure for Paris, final practice plans were blown away, quite literally by Tropical Cyclone Alfred. "It was going to be a bit of an open training session at a lamb expo that was up on the Gold Coast," Tom Bouchier said. The event was cancelled, robbing team members of a chance to put the final refinements on their routine. But their slicing skills and artistic flair did not suffer for it. Team member Brett Laws, a retail butcher from Miranda, a southern Sydney suburb, was named in the world all-star team. A similar honour was bestowed on Tom Bouchier. It was the sixth time Tom had represented his country in the competition. He hoped to be selected for a seventh. "Being able to wear the green and gold and carry the Australian flag brings a great deal of pride." Watch ABC TV's Landline at 12:30pm AEST on Sunday or stream anytime on ABC iview.
ABC News
10-05-2025
- Sport
- ABC News
Women's wheelchair basketball facing uphill battle
The countdown to Brisbane Paralympics is on and pressure is mounting on the Australian women's wheelchair basketball team.
Washington Post
09-05-2025
- Sport
- Washington Post
Australian field hockey player who tried to buy drugs at the Paris Olympics returns from ban
SYDNEY — Field hockey player Tom Craig was recalled to the Australian national team on Friday after serving a six-month suspension for trying to buy drugs at the Paris Olympics. The Australian player was stripped of his Olympic privileges when he was arrested in Paris following the side's Games quarterfinal exit last year. He spent the night in a Paris jail after attempting to buy drugs but escaped without a fine or conviction.
