Australian Associated Press – Page 8

April 29, 2025

Les Kiss confirmed as next Wallabies coach with Joe Schmidt to stay on until 2026

Kiss to see out Super Rugby Pacific contract with Queensland Reds
Schmidt to remain in charge for end-of-season European tour

Joe Schmidt will remain as Wallabies coach until next mid-2026 before Less Kiss takes over, Rugby Australia has confirmed.

Schmidt was to have finished up after this year’s Rugby Championship but RA was keen for “minimal disruption to the Australian rugby ecosystem” and for Kiss to complete his Super Rugby Pacific contract with the Queensland Reds in 2026.

April 29, 2025

Alex de Minaur turns on the power to reach last 16 of Madrid Open

Australian beats Denis Shapovalov after blackout delay
Straight sets win sets up clash with Lorenzo Musetti

Alex de Minaur has charged into the fourth round of the Madrid Open with a powerful performance as electricity returned to Spain.

The Australian No 1 took less than 90-minutes to defuse the big-serving Canadian Denis Shapovalov with a straight sets 6-3, 7-6 win on Court Arantxa Sanchez Vicario.

April 29, 2025

Australian doubles ace Max Purcell accepts 18-month ban for anti-doping breach

US Open doubles champion admits exceeding limit for an IV infusion
27-year-old says he has developed a nervous tic because of the case

Grand slam doubles champion Max Purcell has accepted an 18-month ban for breaching anti-doping rules, with the Australian saying he has developed a nervous tic and anxiety because of the case.

The 27-year-old entered a voluntary provisional suspension in December after admitting to breaching Article 2.2 of the Tennis Anti-Doping Program “relating to the use of a prohibited method”.

April 29, 2025

Rugby Australia set to announce Les Kiss as next Wallabies coach

Reds coach expected to confirmed as Joe Schmidt’s successor
Kiss will become fifth Wallabies coach in six years

The protracted process to secure Les Kiss as the next Wallabies coach has been finalised with the Queensland Reds mentor to be the fifth man to fill the seat in six years. Kiss is expected to front the media in Sydney on Wednesday before flying to Suva to join the Reds squad ahead of Saturday’s crucial Super Rugby Pacific encounter with Fiji.

He is contracted until the end of next year at the Reds, who sit fourth and are eyeing a title push this season. But it is understood the Queensland Rugby Union and Rugby Australia have negotiated a release for the former representative rugby league winger, who arrived at Ballymore last year after two decades in Europe.

April 28, 2025

Lachlan Galvin lifts lid on emotional toll of Tigers saga after ‘tough’ few weeks

Teenager stars in win over Cronulla on return to first grade
‘It’s been pretty difficult,’ says Wests playmaker of contract situation

Lachlan Galvin has described the last fortnight of his life as “difficult” and “tough” after the wantaway five-eighth made a triumphant return to Wests Tigers’ NRL side.

Galvin claimed he was undaunted by making his first grade comeback – after a six-day exile in NSW Cup – at a packed Leichhardt Oval as he starred in the Tigers’ 20-18 golden point win over Cronulla on Sunday.

April 27, 2025

Alex de Minaur sounds warning with ruthless victory at Madrid Open

Australian No 1 seals 6-2, 6-3 win Lorenzo Sonego
Djokovic suffers third straight loss in 6-3, 6-4 defeat

While Alex de Minaur looks more comfortable and impressive on the clay with every passing match, the great Novak Djokovic seems to be losing his magical powers on the red stuff.

For while Australia’s No 1 kicked off his Madrid Open quest with a clinical 6-2, 6-3 victory over Italian Lorenzo Sonego on Saturday, all the talk at the Caja Magica surrounded another dismal first-round defeat for Djokovic, whose quest for 100 titles took another savage hit.

April 27, 2025

Auckland clinch ALM premiership as City held to draw by Adelaide

Auckland clinch A-League Men premiership in maiden season
Melbourne City held to 0-0 by Adelaide United at AAMI Park

Auckland FC have claimed the A-League Men premiership in their first season, while Melbourne City will lick their wounds and turn their focus to locking in second place after falling short.

Second-placed City were held to a 0-0 draw by Adelaide United at AAMI Park on Saturday night. The draw also means City could yet let second place slip - and with it an Asian Champions League Elite berth and the first week of finals off - while Adelaide’s finals hopes are all but over.

April 26, 2025

Melbourne Storm leave Indigenous elder ‘heartbroken’ after cancelling Welcome to Country

Aunty Joy Murphy Wandin was to perform before NRL Anzac Day clash
Club say was ‘miscommunication’ over decision to call off ceremony

Melbourne Storm are under fire after being accused of cancelling a Welcome to Country at its Anzac Day NRL match at the last minute, leaving an Aboriginal elder “broken-hearted”.

Wurundjeri elder Aunty Joy Murphy Wandin said she was informed by the club on Friday afternoon that she was no longer required to address the crowd before the match at AAMI Park.

April 24, 2025

NRL approves revised Perth team expansion bid to bring back the Bears

ARLC agrees in principle to Western Australian government proposal
Clubs and Rugby League Players’ Association still to sign off deal

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.

April 23, 2025

Australia teenager Maya Joint breaks Ash Barty’s record with win on Madrid Open debut

19-year-old is youngest Australian to win a match at WTA 1000 level
World No 78 beats Carlota Martinez Cirez 6-2, 2-6, 6-4 in first round

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.

April 22, 2025

AFL player Noah Balta avoids jail for car park assault but given curfew and alcohol ban

Richmond footballer fined $3,000 after pleading guilty to attack
Premiership defender also pays victim $45,000 in compensation

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.

April 18, 2025

Alex de Minaur beaten by in-form Alcaraz in Barcelona quarter-final

Australian goes down 7-5, 6-3 against the world No 2
Victory gives the Spaniard a 4-0 record in head-to-heads

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.

April 18, 2025

Richmond court controversy with Noah Balta slated for polarising AFL return

Premiership star to play against Gold Coast on Saturday
Tigers backman faces court after pleading guilty to assault

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.

April 14, 2025

Rohan Dennis shows ‘no remorse’ over death of Melissa Hoskins, says her family

The Olympian’s mother tells champion cyclist that his temper is his ‘downfall’ during victim statements in Adelaide court

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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.

April 14, 2025

‘In a league of his own’: Oscar Piastri star continues to rise with Bahrain GP win

Australian leads from pole to flag to pick up second win of season
‘It was relatively straightforward,’ says McLaren driver

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.