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The Aussie Dolphins Swim Team finished 3rd in the 2024 World Swimming Championships after they picked up two gold on the final day in Doha, Qatar

by Sports Benches

It might not have been the right time to dominate another World Swimming Championships feat like it was in Fukuoka, Japan, last year. However, we wrapped the big weekend up on a high with two gold medals on the final day from Isaac Cooper in the Men’s 50m Backstroke & the Women’s 4 x 100m Medley Relay team consisting of Iona Anderson, Abbey Harkin, Brianna Throssell & Shayna Jack.

We also collected three silver yesterday when USA’s Clare Curzan broke the Aussie hearts yet again this time to Jaclyn Barclay in the Women’s 200m backstroke, while Cam McEvoy’s bid for gold fell short to Ukrainian Vladyslav Bukhov by only 00.01 secs in the Men’s 50m Freestyle sprint final. And don’t forget we didn’t do bad in the Mixed 4 x 100m Freestyle Relay.

The Aussie Dolphins Swim Team finished 3rd in this medal tally behind China & Team USA as this is all about giving our other swimmers including Sam Williamson (got the gold in the Men’s 50m breaststroke Final) as well as a few next generation teenagers a chance to fill in some of the star names, who chose to prioritise the Olympics this year over another World Championships in very short time. Now these swimmers who were there in Doha will get the chance to test themselves v our best come the National Olympic Trials in June followed by the Olympics in Paris in July-August. The next goal awaits in topping this medal tally again but this time at the Olympic Games.

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Kookaburras completed another comeback last night from 0-3 down to an unbelievable 4-5 win this time v No.1 Netherlands team

by Sports Benches

Who would’ve thought when the Kookaburras was on the brink of defeat after they were 3-0 down to the high flying Netherlands at half-time with gaps here & there in defense like it was against India the other day having been two goals behind at the break 4-2 before they completed an unreal comeback win in the end 6-4. But glad the game is not at all over and yet the Kookaburras began to make up lost time with back-to-back goals in the third quarter while the Dutch were scoreless as they were just a single goal behind them going into the final quarter. Although the Dutch struck one back to bring the equaliser (4-4) for the fourth goal after the Hockeyroos took the lead for the first time so late into the match, but again, the Kookaburras just never stopped working with loads of opportunities in the attacking third until things go their way in the end and fortunately, they are still undefeated at the end of the day with the win v the No.1 team by one point 4-5.

Gotta say the half-time pep talk has always paid off likewise with the India game where gaps were everywhere in defense from their end earlier on but glad they got into work right away from the restart including benefitting from the Netherlands’ 2nd half ill-discipline, especially when they turned things around by dominating attacking game time upfront. Blake Govers kept on scoring with two goals again in as many games now while Jeremy Hayward is excellent with two of his own off penalty corners. Yes, they might have made the odd disciplinary mistake whilst leading 3-4 as the Kookaburras might need to watch out there under pressure that led to a successful penalty goal from the Dutch. But speaking of under pressure, they never backed down thanks to their rejuvenated attacking intent and possession where Tim Brand brought out the game-winning strike with 30 seconds left on the clock before they defended well tight including a brilliant save until the end for the win.

And so sorry for the Dutch who did not hesitate to get the ball rolling with a brilliant start that demonstrated their top-notch dominance as always & it won’t be easy for the rest of the other teams to match that kind of standard. They thought it was their match quicksmart but that’s only one half of the match as their failure to stop the Kookaburras in their tracks came back to haunt them before it was too late to shut them down under pressure when the clock is running out of time. Now it’s the Hockeyroos’ turn to make the Dutch team pay by going one better in the next women’s match tomorrow after their 6-2 loss when they last met Friday last week but first they got India ahead not too long from now to start off their weekend run.

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2024 World Swimming Championships, Shayna Jack the only Aussie to take out bronze for the night on Day 6 after she came 3rd in the Women’s 100m Freestyle Final

by Sports Benches

Day 6 of the 2024 World Swimming Championships was all about Shayna Jack for the Dolphins Swim Team even though she was the only Aussie to take out the bronze for the night after she finished 3rd in the Women’s 100m Freestyle Final. Now she might be nowhere near Marrit Steinbergen from the Netherlands (52.26) and even Hong Kong’s Siobhan Haughey (52.86) by just a second behind these two but she didn’t do bad though where Jack managed to keep the last medal podium spot right through the end of the wall at 52.83 secs. There is a few gold medal opportunities up for grabs this weekend starting tomorrow with promising signs from Cam McEvoy who was fastest in both his heat and the overall the Men’s 50m Freestyle semi-final as he will look to take out the gold again tomorrow morning. He will be joined by Isaac Cooper in this meet as they both want to make a 1-2 for our Aussie Dolphins. Look out for Alex Perkins having been second fastest in semi-final 2 of the Women’s 50m Butterfly ahead of team-mate Brianna Throssell in 4th where they will both look to get the job done inn the final tomorrow. Don’t forget there will be another USA v Australia challenge this time in Jaclyn Barclay v Clare Curzan in the Women’s 200m backstroke & Barclay hopes it’s her moment by ending Curzan’s unreal dominance up front for the gold. And both Maddy Gough & Kiah Melverton will round out the Super Saturday golden line-up in the Women’s 800m Freestyle Final.

As said, forget about smashing the medal tally again since most of our top swimmers are going for the Olympics which is more important than just going in at another World Champs in such short time. But again, it gives some other swimmers a chance to make a name for themselves including a few teenage/juniors who are part of our next generation cohort & sure they will make that count this weekend on a high note before looking ahead at the National Olympic trials around June.

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Day 5 of the 2024 World Swimming Championships, Iona Anderson fell short again for silver in the 50m backstroke & a team bronze in the 4 x 200m Freestyle Relay

by Sports Benches

Day 5 of the 2024 World Swimming Championships saw the Dolphins pick up two medals again off the back of another good swim from Iona Anderson in the Women’s 50m backstroke for silver as well as a team bronze in Women’s 4 x 200m Freestyle Relay. First of all, good start by Brianna Throssell with the early start up to 2nd while Shayna Jack has pushed them into the lead at one stage. Now things weren’t the same when Abbey Harkin struggled to stay ahead down to 4th before Kiah Melverton hang in there well during the last shift to only regain just a spot back to 3rd. And how good was 16-year-old Anderson who got away with another silver medal. She pushed so hard following a great start into 2nd. Yes, this could’ve been her moment where she fell so short to Clare Curzan again by 0.02 secs at the end there. But again Anderson is one of the future & sure she’ll get her first gold medal sooner rather than later. There will be gold medal opportunities for the Dolphins coming up on Day 6 tomorrow with Shayna Jack in the Women’s 100m Freestyle and the Men’s 4 x 200m Freestyle Relay.

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2023-24 FIH Pro League, Huge day last night with the Hockeyroos def. USA comfortably 4-0 while Kookaburras got away v India unscathed in a high scoring victory 4-6

by Sports Benches

Here’s another team performance all around by the Hockeyroos thanks to a 4-0 win v USA early in the afternoon over in India. They too have been brilliant both in defense and most importantly also up front in attack. Alice Arnott controlled well inside the circle en route with the opening strike earlier on followed by back-to-back goals by Maddison Brooks & Rebecca Greiner to make it 3-0 at half-time. Claire Colwill helped extend the Kookaburra’s winning score to four off the back of a penalty corner late in the 3rd quarter while things were quiet in the 2nd half. They did well to stop USA though in its tracks despite some good opposition work by the goalkeeper as well as some attacking effort against their own territory, having seen them leave without a goal as the clock ticks down in the end 4-0.

Then we saw such a close high scoring game between India and the Kookaburras later on at midnight our time. Forward Blake Govers absolutely bagged two quick goals off Aran Zalewski for the Kookaburras just inside two minutes into the match before India dominated most of the first half thanks to skipper Harmanpreet Singh off penalty corners going into half-time 4-2. So a few ill-discipline here & there has gave them the upper hand but the game isn’t over yet. As the game goes on, the Kookaburras found the net again after a predominantly quiet 3rd quarter that rounds off Govers’s hat-trick haul. Then they went even better in the 4th & final quarter to level India at 4-4 all before the Kookaburras can taste the winning feeling on what has been a mighty team effort 4-6 thanks to Lachlan Sharp, Jacob Anderson & Jack Welch.

Both of our men’s and women’s hockey teams sit 2nd now on their respective team ladders in the 2023-24 FIH Pro League season with the Kookaburras v Netherlands next up tonight followed by Hockeyroos v India tomorrow. 

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2023-24 FIH Pro League, the Men’s Kookaburras team fired off with back-to-back wins while the Women’s Hockeyroos answer their opening 3-0 loss with a 2-0 win v China

by Sports Benches

Field Hockey goes on and on over the last couple of days with the Men’s Kookaburras team started their 2023-24 FIH Pro League season from Sunday with back-to-back wins against Spain and Ireland while the Hockeyroos had a few days off at the same time after their huge 6-2 loss against the Netherlands last Friday before they finished off their opening game payback v China last night. In the first men’s game, the Kookaburras were way out in front thanks to a wonderful start 0-3 earlier on before Spain has held them back in between the half-time breaks during the 3rd quarter at 3-3 apiece. Fortunately, we were able to escape the Spanish unscathed in the end 3–4 thanks to a game-winning strike upfront by Lachlan Sharp, who got his 2nd goal into the net with eight minutes to go (4th quarter). Two days later, they made even more winning progress – having led comfortably 3-0 in the 1st half before they collected two more including another Kye Willott finisher to make up a thumping 5-0 win v Ireland. And last but not least, the Hockeyroos have returned for their 2nd Indian leg yesterday where the game might be quiet for nearly the first half but they at least got away with two goals back from their opening game defeat before last week v China. Grace Stewart has scored once again as many goals per match now & Steph Kershaw finished off her side’s quick counter-attacking play for the 2nd even against without a goalkeeper involved with a clean strike into the net.

Now there’s a huge double-header tonight with the Hockeyroos starting the day early v USA again before the Kookaburras take on India later on during midnight our time in the hope of continuing their unbeaten run for win No.3 so far this week.

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Day 4 of the 2024 World Swimming Championships, Dolphins finally got the gold off the back of Sam Williamson’s breakthrough gold in the 50m breaststroke

by Sports Benches

The Dolphins have got the gold at last halfway through this week’s World Swimming Championships as what a moment by Sam Williamson – the 26 year old from Mount Waverley in Victoria – who wowed everybody in the Men’s 50m breaststroke sprint Final. He might have fired off the bat from behind but had a brilliant last 25m form to lock out Italian Nicole Martinenghi at the end of the wall by just 0.07 of a sec at 26.32 – how good!! This is his first World Championship gold medal as let’s hope he will kick on for more throughout this year including the Summer Olympics in Paris this July-August.

Other than that, we were also oh so close where Elijah Winnington was two seconds behind Daniel Wiffen from Ireland in the Men’s 800m Freestyle Final & also in the 4 x 100m Mixed Medley Relay Final to Team USA. Elijah was outstanding from the start with the early lead where he was on the World Record radar at one stage but just couldn’t stay ahead when he lost the lead towards the last 400m. He did get back a spot back that late towards the very end though – just not enough time to challenge Wiffen there a bit longer. Meanwhile in the Mixed Medley race, slow start but Williamson (Breaststroke) organised a great springboard for his female team-mates to bring it home from 3rd where Brianna Throssell (butterfly) & Shayna Jack (freestyle) did their best during the last half shift – even though it wasn’t possible to catch down Team USA for 2nd.

And shoutout to Throssell again with the 200m Freestyle in bronze. Now the race for gold may be out of reach by Siobhan Haughey from Hong Kong while Jack’s good start has quickly faded not far from the end down in 7th, but she too has a brilliant swim all along on what has been her first individual World Championship medal other than lots of team relays.

Another four days left to go despite the chances of topping the medal charts may be out of reach since most of our top swimmers are choosing the Olympics over this World Championships, but there will be at least 1-2 gold medal opportunities coming up tomorrow such as Iona Anderson in the 50m backstroke sprint and the Women’s 4 x 200m Freestyle Team Relay.

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2024 World Swimming Championships Day 3 Review, Iona Anderson brings home silver for the Dolphins after she finished 2nd to USA’s Clare Curzan in the 100m Backstroke Final

by Sports Benches

Still no gold on Day 3 of the 2024 World Swimming Championships but the Dolphins Swim Team collected just the one silver from Iona Anderson in the Women’s 100m backstroke final that includes fellow Aussie Jaclyn Barclay, who finished 4th in that race. Good effort up front in the last dash but just not enough to stop Clare Curzan in time for the gold by nearly one second (+00.83). It’s her first World Championship medal at only age 17/18 as WA has a brilliant talented swimmer right there & sure she will get better in the years ahead with lots of gold medals being earned all over it. The same goes to Barclay, who fell short outside of the podium spots, but again Barclay is 16 from QLD & also one of the brightest next crop of stars to light up in the next few years including the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles and the home games in Brisbane for 2032 as well.

Other than that it’s not Elijah Willington’s day as we hoped for in the Men’s 200m Freestyle Final where he finished 7th. So does Maddy Gough after she also came home in the same position as Elijah in the Women’s 1500m Freestyle Final, having competed in the open water World Championship races with Moesha Johnson earlier this month in 18th.

Going into Day 4, we might not have the time to catch up and dominate this medal tally again like last year in Fukuoka, Japan, since most of them have skipped this WC on what is going to be a huge Olympics year in July-August. But there’s a few gold opportunities we can look forward to with Sam Williamson in the Men’s 50m breaststroke (fastest in his own semi heat & will start from lane 4) as well as Shayna Jack & Brianna Throssell in the Women’s 200m Freestyle with huge competition up for grabs, Winnington again in the 800m Freestyle & the 4 x 200m Mixed Medley Team Relay. So 2-3 would be great but to be real with USA & China comfortably in front, the Dolphins should finally take out the gold tomorrow.

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2024 Super Bowl 58 review, Kansas City Chiefs win once again by 3 points v 49ers before CBS’s new drama Tracker accidentally made its quick cameo on Australian TV

by Sports Benches

Yesterday’s Super Bowl 58 was so unreal to watch where the Sam Francisco 49ers & Kansas City Chiefs have gone side-by-side right from the start to the very end through overtime at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. It was quiet for a bit over the first quarter by both teams before the 49ers got away with their first scoring touches off the boot & the big score while the Chiefs took a little longer to finally get themselves going before they earned a lifeline with not long left on the clock in the fourth quarter. So that leaves one last round to fight on the run home in extra time but still one team will have to take home the Vince Lombardi Trophy for the World Championship. At the end of the day, the winning belongs to the Chiefs once again thanks to a championship-winning setup by Patrick Mahomes to Mecole Hardman, who caught that golden pass in the end for the touchdown by just 3 points with 3 secs to go on the overtime clock. The final score was 22-25.

As said, great start by the 49ers but a few hit and misses later on gave a great opportunity for the Chiefs to catch up whilst leading. Unfortunately, that became their tipping point at overtime where the game was eventually won by the Chiefs & it’s a bitter pill to swallow when being second best. Not a bad season though where they made all the way to the main event which is never easy as it will be exactly three decades now since the 49ers last won a World Championship. Meanwhile, congratulations to the Chiefs on what has been an incredible performance from behind after they came back to haunt the 49ers so late it was enough to take home the trophy. It was a final that was never going to be so easy as it was up to them to stop the 49ers in their tracks and they did so to bring back another huge of silverware in front of their fans and hometown too. Looks like the Chiefs are setting the benchmark now, having won three World Championships in the last five years after a long drought & shortcomings that goes way back to Super Bowl IV (1969). Speaking of the Chiefs, let’s see if a Super Rugby in Waikato, New Zealand, will win at last this season that will begin next Friday. They dominated the round robin part almost undefeated until they fell short in the Final at home (FMG Stadium) by the still unbeatable Crusaders team yet again.

And finally straight after the Super Bowl coverage on TV here, Seven have accidentally showed a bit of CBS’s new drama show called Tracker (based on The Never Game novel by Jeffrey Deaver) for 10 seconds before they quickly moved on to their normal programming for the rest of the day. Not sure if they have the rights to that show since 20th Television handles the International Distribution as would love to see a simulcast or even same day airing of first-run US shows here.  It won’t be possible unfortunately due to the time difference worldwide where we all work during the day while some sleep at the same, so don’t think it will make a difference. Not even in a million years that we will get to watch a live simulcast TV drama or comedy ever that can shared by everyone worldwide from its original country of origin other than just the US and Canada legally unlike news, special events and sports coverage. Plus, reality TV shows lead the way these days which isn’t expensive to produce and have it on the air. For now, bring on Super Rugby again soon starting next Friday while a few more scripted shows have returned with more on the way in the next few weeks to resume & finish off this unusual prime-time TV season.

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Day 2 of the 2024 World Swimming Championships Review, Cam McEvoy the only one taking out bronze in the Men’s 50m Butterfly sprint final for the Dolphins

by Sports Benches

Day 2 of the 2024 World Swimming Championships was okay but underwhelming when trying to snatch a gold medal for our Dolphins where Cam McAvoy only walked away with just the bronze in the Men’s 50m butterfly Final ahead of team-mate Isaac Cooper who finished 4th. Other than that, there were close finishes just outside the podium spots like Sam Williamson in the Men’s 100m breaststroke Final as well as Brianna Throssell in the Women’s 100m Butterfly Final. Also, Alex Perkins was with Throssell in that race but she finished 6th.

So still no gold yet going into Day 3 but there’s always a few opportunities coming up with Elijah Winnington in the Men’s 200m Freestyle, Maddy Gough in the Women’s 1500m Freestyle, Jaclyn Barclay & Iona Anderson in the Women’s 100m backstroke. As said while some of our best swimmers will prioritise the Olympics this year over another unusual World Championships, but our Dolphins team are doing their best & sure they will get better as it gets later this week in Doha, Qatar.

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