🗞 It's Business Time

AUSSIE SPORTS
Slow News Day

🚴🏻‍♂️ Vuelta a Espana: No harm done for Ben O’Connor who actually slightly increased his lead over Primoz Roglic with a strong finish. The Aussie now leads by +3mins 53secs with 12 stages to go.

⛳️ LIVE Golf: Tour Vet Adam Scott remains right contention at the PGA BMW Championship. Having led at the start of the day he now trails Keegan Bradley by 2 shots with 7 holes to play.

⚽️ Tuesday night sees Matchday 2 of the Round of 16 which features the potential for more Cupsets and an all-Melbourne match up. 

Lions take on Western Sydney Wanderers and Olympic Kingsway host Adelaide United while Hume City and Melbourne Srbija battle for a place in the Quarter Finals. 

🤼‍♂️ All Elite Wrestling will be making its debut in Australia next year as AEW Grand Slam will be held at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane on February 15, 2025.

This will not only be the first appearance for AEW in Australia in general, as well as the first event there, but the first time Grand Slam will be held in a location other than Arthur Ashe Stadium in Queens, New York — where it will be held this year on September 25th.

NRL NEWS
Slick Stuff

📄 The Sydney Roosters soared to second on the NRL ladder with a dominant 48-20 win over the Gold Coast Titans.

Trent Robinson’s team delivered a stunning performance, scoring nine tries to four, with Angus Crichton completing a rare hat-trick.

The only negative for the Roosters was Jared Waerea-Hargreaves fresh off serving a four-game suspension, could be set for another stint on the sideline after being sin binned.

📄 The Cronulla Sharks boosted their top-four hopes with a gritty 38-10 win over the St George Illawarra Dragons. The Sharks wore down their opponents over 80 minutes, fending off a determined Dragons side in their final game of the season at WIN Stadium.

👨🏻‍⚖️ Former Penrith Panthers player Taylan May was granted bail after facing court on Sunday over one charge of an alleged Apprehended Domestic Violence Order (ADVO) breach.

🪜 Five teams need to squeeze into the final spot of the ladder as the NRL season proper comes to a close. Broncos, Knights, Raiders & Dolphins all sit on 26 points, just 2 behind the Dragons.

The Storm are guaranteed a home final, after dominating the Dolphins to wrap up the minor premiership, seeing them jump to 42 premiership points.

AFL NEWS
Nerves Shredded

📄 The Western Bulldogs left Ballarat with another scalp ahead of September, as they braved the elements to defeat the Giants and secure a finals spot, closing out a 14.14 (98) to 9.7 (61) win.

📄 The path was paved for Fremantle to play finals, but a finely tuned Port Adelaide stood in the way as the Dockers fumbled their chance in a season-ending 20-point loss.

A formidable Power team made sure of its second-place finish with a 13.9 (87) to 9.13 (67) win.

📄 Carlton survived an emotional rollercoaster, falling into the finals despite a "heartbreaking" two-point loss to St Kilda.

Needing a win to guarantee their top-eight spot, the undermanned Blues were sunk by Jack Higgins' last-gasp goal in a 11.10 (76) to 11.8 (74) defeat.

But Michael Voss's Blues were saved by Port Adelaide, whose hard-fought win over Fremantle saved Carlton's blushes.

AFL 2024 FINALS FIXTURE - WEEK 1 
- Qualifying and elimination finals

Thursday September 5 to Saturday September 7

• First Qualifying Final: (1) Sydney Swans vs (4) GWS Giants at the SCG

• First Elimination Final: (5) Brisbane Lions vs (8) Carlton at the Gabba

• Second Elimination Final: (6) Western Bulldogs vs (7) Hawthorn at the MCG

• Second Qualifying Final: (2) Port Adelaide vs (3) Geelong at Adelaide Oval

(The fixture times and dates are expected to be confirmed at 8am Monday AEST)

• Thursday night: Port Adelaide vs Geelong

• Friday night: Western Bulldogs vs Hawthorn

• Saturday afternoon: Sydney Swans vs GWS Giants

• Saturday night: Brisbane Lions vs Carlton

❤️ AFL legend Kevin Sheedy (76) has been hospitalised over the last couple of days after being struck down with a mystery illness in Queensland.

🤕 A patron at Marvel Stadium is facing a likely lifetime ban after striking a goal umpire in the head with a bottle during St Kilda's clash with Carlton.

The actions of the crowd member soured St Kilda's win as goal umpire Steven Piperno was left bloodied by the flying bottle that hit in the back of his head.

Piperno was immediately replaced by emergency umpire Chelsea Roffey as he was attended to by medical staff.

AUSSIE SPORTS
New World Records

⚽️ EPL Wrap: Arne Slot's first Premier League home game in charge of Liverpool ended in a 2-0 victory as the Reds continued their winning start to the season against Brentford.

Goals came from a clinical 13th-minute finish from Luis Diaz's & Mo Salah, who clipped home with his left foot, his second goal of the season.

Noni Madueke's hat-trick gave Chelsea their first Premier League victory of the season as they beat Wolves 6-2 in a pulsating and chaotic encounter.

Dango Ouattara had a stoppage-time goal controversially ruled out for hand ball in a dramatic finale as Bournemouth had to settle for a 1-1 draw against Newcastle.

🏎️ McLaren’s Lando Norris fought back to take a dominant victory in the Dutch Grand Prix despite losing the lead to Max Verstappen’s Red Bull at the start.

Norris, for whom starts and first laps have been a weakness in recent races, was passed almost immediately when he had too much wheel spin off the line.

But such was the pace in his McLaren that he re-passed Verstappen on lap 18, before the pit stops, and romped away into the distance.

Charles Leclerc took the final podium position, belying his pre-race pessimism, fending off the McLaren of Oscar Piastri for the final 27 laps.

Verstappen appeared to sense the way the race was going even while he was still leading.

The Dutchman, who has monopolised this event since it returned to the calendar in 2021, was complaining about a lack of grip from every early on in the race.

🏌🏼‍♀️ Lydia Ko ended an eight-year major drought by claiming the AIG Women's Open after a tense finish in blustery conditions at St Andrews.

The New Zealander, who won the Olympic gold medal earlier this month, birdied the last as she closed with a three-under-par 69 to win her third major on seven under.

🥇 New World Records: Jakob Ingebrigtsen obliterated the 28-year-old 3,000m world record by more than three seconds before Armand Duplantis broke his own pole vault world record at the Diamond League meeting in Silesia.

Norway's Ingebrigtsen looked in disbelief as he crossed the finish line in seven minutes 17.55 seconds, breaking the previous record of 7:20.67 set by Kenya's Daniel Komen in 1996.

Komen's time had been the longest-standing men's athletics world record in an individual track event.

In the pole vault, Sweden's Duplantis cleared 6.26m, one centimetre higher than his previous best set as he won Olympic gold in Paris earlier this month.

🎾 US OPEN PREVIEW (starts today): The US Open can often throw up surprise winners - and this year's Grand Slam finale could be no exception.

With the Olympics taking place just three weeks ago, players are arriving in New York with fewer minutes on a hard court than before, and with more miles in their legs.

"For somebody who is maybe more of a second-tier favourite, this is their year and their opportunity."

Novak Djokovic is the defending champion, but it remains to be seen if the emotional impact of winning a long-awaited Olympic gold on the Paris clay will affect his chances.

Victory in New York would secure his 25th major - the most of any singles player, male or female - and make Djokovic the oldest man in the Open era to win a Slam.

Jannik Sinner is the form player, having won the Cincinatti Open in the build-up to New York. While Carlos Alcaraz beat Djokovic in the Wimbledon final. 

Outside of the top three, last year's runner-up Daniil Medvedev will be eyeing an elusive second Slam, while French Open finalist Alexander Zverev is also a contender.

The women's draw, too, is in a state of flux.

Coco Gauff memorably won the title at Flushing Meadows last year but has struggled recently, losing in the second and third rounds of the Canadian Open and Cincinnati Open respectively.

She has also been replaced as the second seed by Aryna Sabalenka, who triumphed in Cincinnati last week and looks a strong contender to better her runner-up showing from last year.

Jessica Pegula, born in Buffalo, New York, is also a favourite.

World number one Iga Swiatek is always a threat, while Olympic gold medallist Zheng Qinwen and Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova will be in the mix.

🏏 Spinners Mehidy Hasan Miraz and Shakib Al Hasan took seven wickets between them to secure Bangladesh’s maiden win over Pakistan in five-day cricket, a stunning 10-wicket victory in the first Test in Rawalpindi.

⚽️ EPL Whispers: Chelsea are considering Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Juventus make Jadon Sancho request and Arsenal want another striker. Manchester United have agreed a AU$50m deal to sell Scott McTominay to Napoli.

💰 In perhaps the most anticipated sports memorabilia auction ever, the jersey worn by baseball legend Babe Ruth when he "called his shot" reports are he clearly said “something's going to happen on the next pitch and he made it happen.” in Game 3 of the 1932 World Series has sold for $24.12 million with Heritage Auctions, setting an auction record for most expensive sports collectible.

⚾️ icymi: Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani became just the sixth MLB player to join the 40-40 club on Friday and he did so in dramatic fashion – with a walk-off grand slam.

Ohtani accomplished the feat of hitting 40 home runs and stealing 40 bases in a single season faster than any other player, taking just 126 games. He also became the first Dodgers player to reach the mark, as his walk-off grand slam sealed his team’s 7-3 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays.

SHARE SPORT JOURNAL

The best thing you can do to help us grow, is share Sport Journal with your friends & colleagues, even that bloke at the pub…

📲 Share it with the group chat via WhatsApp HERE

🧑🏻‍💻 Share the link with a friend to sign up HERE