The NRL is set to expand into Perth after the Australian Rugby League Commission agreed in principle to a revised proposal from the Western Australia government for an NRL team.
The ARLC has signed off on an increased offer from WA Premier Roger Cook, which has salvaged plans for the Perth Bears concept to enter the competition in 2027.
Continue reading...Australia’s teenage tennis sensation Maya Joint has eclipsed one of Ash Barty’s records by earning her first WTA 1000 match triumph at the Madrid Open.
On her tour-level clay-court main draw debut in the Spanish capital, the 19-year-old Queenslander outlasted local wildcard Carlota Martinez Cirez 6-2 2-6 6-4 for a third win in three days.
Continue reading...AFL star Noah Balta has walked free from court and instead been handed a night-time curfew and alcohol ban as part of his punishment for assaulting a man outside a regional venue.
Richmond defender Balta was sentenced at Albury Local Court on Tuesday after pleading guilty to repeatedly punching Thomas Washbrook, 27, outside the Mulwala Water Ski Club, in the NSW Riverina, on 30 December.
Continue reading...Alex de Minaur’s 50th tour-level quarter-final has ended in defeat, the Australian No 1 beaten 7-5 6-3 in 100 minutes by defending champion Carlos Alcaraz at the Barcelona Open.
De Minaur began well, breaking the top seed in the third game before taking a 3-1 lead, and breaking again in the seventh after Alcaraz had broken back. But the Spaniard took four of the last five games to claim the set.
Continue reading...Richmond premiership star Noah Balta returns to an AFL field against Gold Coast on Saturday, three days before fronting court on Tuesday after pleading guilty to assault outside a NSW Riverina club on 30 December last year.
Prison time – his charge in NSW carries a maximum five-year stretch – appears unlikely, but Balta’s return to football has become a political football.
Continue reading...The Olympian’s mother tells champion cyclist that his temper is his ‘downfall’ during victim statements in Adelaide court
Former world champion and Olympic cyclist, Rohan Dennis, has shown no remorse and “perceives himself as a victim” despite him accidentally killing his wife, her family has told a court in South Australia.
Melissa Hoskins, 32, also an acclaimed world and Olympic cyclist, died when she was struck by a car driven by her husband in December 2023.
Continue reading...Australian Oscar Piastri hailed an “incredible weekend” after earning another pole-to-flag Formula One triumph at the Bahrain Grand Prix. The McLaren driver made his 50th grand prix start on Sunday and moved into second place in the drivers’ standings with the victory, which left him breathing down the neck of his low-on-confidence teammate Lando Norris.
After he held off a challenge on the first corner from Mercedes’ George Russell at the floodlit Sakhir circuit, Piastri then utterly dominated, even after a mid-race restart under the safety car. The man from Melbourne, the first driver to win two grand prix this season after his Chinese GP victory, ended up outpacing Russell by 15-and-a-half seconds – the biggest margin of victory by any winner this year – with championship leader Norris third.
Continue reading...Alex de Minaur has humbled Bulgarian star Grigor Dimitrov 6-0 6-0 to feast on the first “double bagel” of his professional career while powering into the Monte Carlo Masters semi-final.
The Australian was in merciless mood against the out-of-sorts veteran, taking only 44 minutes to hand the world No 18 one of his most embarrassing defeats on the Monte Carlo Country Club’s main arena, Court Rainier III, on Friday.
Continue reading...Kazakhstan have placed Australia on the brink of Billie Jean King Cup elimination with a 2-1 victory in their qualifying tie in Brisbane.
Big-hitting former Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina out-gunned Kim Birrell to secure victory for Kazakhstan before the hosts picked up a precious point with success in the not-so-dead-rubber doubles.
Continue reading...Oscar Piastri has said he has no complaints about McLaren rejecting his request to shoot for glory at the Japanese Grand Prix.
The Australian finished third behind teammate Lando Norris and victor Max Verstappen on Sunday, but he believed he had possessed the pace to get past the Red Bull champion and possibly make it back-to-back F1 wins following his victory in China.
Continue reading...Tim Tszyu has restored his reputation and reignited his international career with a brutal beatdown of American Joey Spencer in Newcastle.
The referee stopped the fight two minutes and 18 seconds into the fourth round after Australia’s former WBO world champion battered Spencer with a stunning blitz to the head and body.
Continue reading...“And please welcome from Australia, Daria Kasatkina!” With those words from the MC introducing her on court at the Charleston Open on Wednesday, Australia’s latest tennis import admitted she was left feeling a bag of nerves about the advent of her new adventure.
She need not have worried. For just over an hour later, following her consummate first triumph as an Australian player, Kasatkina was soaking up the cheers of the US crowd amid the strains of “I come from a land Down Under”, while beaming a smile of relief mixed with joy.
Continue reading...Teenage sensation Sam Konstas has been rewarded with his first Cricket Australia contract but is no guarantee to win back his opening spot for the World Test Championship final. The NSW opener joins spinner Matt Kuhnemann and Tasmania allrounder Beau Webster as additions to the contract list for the 2025-26 season.
Kuhnemann starred across two Tests in Sri Lanka, before having to deal with clearing his name after being reported for a suspect action. Webster had already been upgraded last season, but has been retained following a stunning ascension to Test level for the Border-Gavaskar series decider in January.
Continue reading...Russian-born tennis player Daria Kasatkina is switching allegiances to Australia after her application for permanent residency was accepted by the government.
The world No 12 has been playing on the tour as a neutral athlete after Russian and Belarusian players were banned from competing under their own flags following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Continue reading...South Sydney’s mascot has apologised for pushing a child during an NRL match against the Cronulla Sharks. Charlie Gallico, while dressed as mascot Reggie Rabbit, was filmed shoving a nine-year-old boy while moving through the players’ tunnel at Sharks Stadium during their round three fixture.
Gallico, 81, issued an apology on Tuesday following an investigation by the club into a complaint made by the child’s mother Caroline Agius.
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