Titans end Cronulla’s unbeaten season opening
March 30, 2008
The Gold Coast Titans have ended Cronulla’s winning streak with a convincing 18-4 win at the Gold Coast. The match was up for grabs at half time as the Sharks held a 4-0 lead going into the break thanks to a 23rd minute try to Ben Pomeroy.
The Titans played scored 3 tries in the second half to take the win and keep the home fans happy. Tries came in the 47th minute to Mat Rogers, 55th minute to Brad Meyers and in the 74th minute to Jordan Atkins. A penalty goal was also kicked by Scott Prince to give the Titans 18 second half points.
The Sharks had an impressive start to the season with consecutive away wins against last seasons grand finalists.
Raiders too good for Dragons
March 30, 2008
The Canberra Raiders have come from 10-0 behind to defeat the St George Illawarra Dragons. Dragons winger Jason Nightingale scored first to give the Dragons the early lead. Two penalty goals extended the lead to 10-0.
In the 28th minute Troy Thompson got the Raiders into the match with a converted try. The Dragons hit back with another try to Nightingale after 33 minutes.
With the score at 14-6 to the Dragons they were looking good just before half time. In what probably turned the match some lazy Dragons defence allowed Terry Campese to score right on half time. Following the conversion in was 14-12.
In the second half the Raiders were all over the Dragons and did not allow them to score again in the match. At the same time two Joel Monaghan tries in the 50th and 54th minute gave the Raiders a good lead. Todd Carney sealed the win with a 79 minute field goal to make the final score 21-14 to the Raiders.
The win moved them to 7th spot on the ladder.
In what will be an interesting develop to follow, Dragons interchange forward Jarrod Saffy was reported for biting Todd Carney. Carney said after the match he is prepared to go to the judiciary to pursue his allegation against Saffy.
For more NRL news you can visit the official NRL website.
42 Aussie swimmers headed to Beijing
March 29, 2008
On a night that once again saw a world record broken the Australian swim team to compete at the Beijing Olympics was announced.
42 swimmers were selected. In order to make the team competitors were required to finish first or second in a final as well as go under the A qualifying time.
The Australian Olympic swim team comprises 22 women and 20 men. Ten coaches will also make the trip to Beijing.
The average age of the team is 21.26. The oldest team member is father of two, Adam Pine. He is 32 years and 30 days. Contrasting this is Emily Seebohm who at 15 years and 297 days is the youngest on the team.
Grant Hackett is the team captain. Hackett will be chasing history by trying to become the first swimmer to win three consecutive 1500m gold medals. Hackett stopped his long time rival, Keiran Perkins from achieving that feat when he won the gold medal in Sydney in 2000.
The unluckiest swimmer perhaps is Adam Lucas. He came in second in both medley events however missed the team as he did not meet the qualifying standard.
Grant Hackett, Adam Pine, Ashley Callus and Leisel Jones will all be making their third appearance at an Olympic Games when they represent Australia as part of the Australian swimming team for Beijing.
A list of the Australian Swim team for Beijing is on the Swimming Australia website. The status of Nick D’Arcy is in doubt, see Australian swimmer Nick D’Arcy charged with assault.
Update: 18 April it was announced that Nick D’Arcy was dropped from the swim team to go to Beijing in August.
Tricket breaks another world record
March 29, 2008
Libby Trickett has completed a superb meet at the Australian swimming Olympic trials. This time she has broken the world record in the 50m freestyle.
Trickett hit the wall and stopped the clock at 23.97 to become the first woman to break the 24 second barrier. In doing so she snatched the record from Dutchwoman Marleen Veldhuis. It was a record set only 5 days ago. The previous mark was 24.09.
Australia now has the world record for both woman and men following Eamon Sullivan’s world record swim last night.
It makes you wonder just how much of an impact the new wonder suits are having on world times. Just in this meet alone eight world records have been set.
Following the meet tonight the Australian swim team was announced for the Beijing Olympics.
Roosters upset 2007 premiers
March 29, 2008
At home the Sydney Roosters have out defended the 2007 NRL premiers Melbourne Storm. In a match that produced only two tries it was the superb Roosters defence that proved the difference.
Roosters winger Shaun Kenny-Dowall scored in the 7th minute following a kick by Mitchell Pearce which was knocked back before Kenny-Dowall scrambled over for the Roosters only try. The conversion saw the Sydney team hold an early 6-0 lead.
After two penalty goals kicked by Craig Fitzgibbon the Roosters were 10-0 up. It looked as thought the Storm would go scoreless for the first time in 5 years. It was not until the 75th minute that Melbourne scored with a converted try to Billy Slater.
The Roosters held on for a well deserved 10-6 victory. The Storm slumped to a second defeat after a close loss to Cronulla last weekend in Melbourne.
Parramatta win is golden
March 29, 2008
Parramatta Eels have secured a golden point win against the Newcastle Knights. In what was an entertaining match the Eels came back from a point down with 7 minutes to play. The final score was 24-23.
An unlikely player in the form of Nathan Cayless slotted a field goal for Parra to level the match as time wound down. In the extra period where the first to score wins it was Luke Burt who was the match winner.
After a Newcastle handling error gave Parramatta crucial field position Burt calmly knocked over the winning field goal after a scrum.
For a full match report visit the NRL website.
Novak Djokovic out of Miami Masters
March 29, 2008
Defending champion Novak Djokovic has been knocked out of the Miami Masters in his opening match. Read more
Sullivan’s 50m record lasts one day
March 28, 2008
Earlier this week we saw an Australian swimmer break a world record only to have it beaten the next day. The same thing happened today but ain’t it sweet when you are the one breaking the world record.
That is what happened with the men’s 50m freestyle. Last night Eamon Sullivan got back his 50m world record from Frenchman Alain Bernard . Tonight he was able to better that remarkable swim from last night.
The Aussie swimmer stopped the clock at 21.28seconds to improve his mark set last night of 21.41s by 0.13s at the Sydney Olympic pool.
A few nights ago Sullivan came oh so close to claiming the 100m world record. He was just 2 100th of a second from the world mark set by Alain Bernard.
The tough part is now to be at the top of his form when swimming in Beijing.
Trickett 100m world record official this time!
March 28, 2008
Thursday night at the Australian swimming team Olympic selection trials saw two world records fall. The first went to Libby Trickett formerly Lenton.
Having been the first woman to ever swim 100m in under 53 seconds in a swim against Michael Phelps last year Trickett was keen to officially enter the record books as the fastest woman. The previous time of 52.99 was not ratified by Fina.
Last night she smashed through the 53 second barrier by completing two laps at Sydney’s Olympic pool in a time of 52.88. Trickett was clearly excited with her fantastic time. She also had a bit of a go at Fina for having not recognising her past effort.
One notable absentee from the 100m final was Athens gold medalist Jody Henry who unfortunately is out of the Beijing Olympics due to injury.
Second in the race was 15 year old Sally Foster in a time of 53.81.
For more results visit the Australian Swimming website.
G’day Sports Fans!
March 27, 2008
Welcome to the One Man Sports Network brought to you by Rob Keating. I am 41 and live in Canberra, Australia.
What you will find here are sports stories that I am following from around the globe.
I have always loved sport. This came from my father. At the time I was born he played squash, water polo and rugby union. You could say sport was in my blood.
As I grew up I played rugby union, soccer, basketball, tennis, cricket, volleyball, badminton and rugby league. I also competed in athletics and swimming carnivals.
During my high school days a normal day for me involved some sport at school. In the afternoon I would have basketball training, followed by rugby union training and then to round out the day I had volleyball training.
You would think with all this sport that would be enough but no. I would watch anything I could on tv or read tennis, rugby league or whatever sports magazine or newspaper article I could.
Growing up, the teams I grew to love were Liverpool, Eastern Suburbs rugby league, Chicago Bulls, the now defunct Canberra Cannons, Los Angeles Dodgers and the Carlton AFL team.
Later in life I played professional beach volleyball on the beautiful Australian beaches. Those were fun days. Amongst the endless hours of volleyball training I would play tennis with my mates and also attend the Australian Open tournament as often as possible.
As a youngster Friday nights were my favourite night. Not for going out and drinking but because I played basketball each Friday and then went home and watched the ABC sports program. I also enjoyed a Moove flavoured milk or two.
I was up early the next day to play rugby union. Quite often on Saturday night it was off to watch the NBL Canberra Cannons basketball team. On Sunday afternoon it was volleyball. Frequently after volleyball I would go and watch the new Canberra Raiders rugby league team compete in the NSW Rugby League competition.
As I was growing up in Australia access to overseas sport was limited. I remember watching Wimbledon each year and also the weekly English soccer show on the ABC. Later in life I started watching the Major League Baseball, NBA basketball and the NFL. I loved the days before pay television when all this was on free to air.
I also loved the big events like the world cup soccer and of course the Olympics. My first memory of the Olympics is the Montreal opening ceremony. We had just got a colour television and I was blown away by the colour and spectacle of that day.
From that moment I always dreamed of attending the Olympics either as a competitor or spectator. I keenly watched all Olympics from that day onwards. I also started collecting Olympic memorabilia. Fortunately for me Sydney was awarded the 2000 Olympics and I was able to go along. That was a fantastic experience. I also was a volunteer… almost. You can ask me about that one day.
I am married to Tina, who lucky for me is from Beijing. This has allowed me to once again get into the Olympic spirit and my family will be in Beijing in August 2008.
That is probably enough for my introduction post. You probably get the idea that I am a true sports fan. I hope you enjoy what I bring to you from the world of sports.
cheers, Rob
