🗞 ‘Disappointed in myself’: Paul Gallen

G'day sports fans,

🗣️ “Nup. I just make everyone look stupid.” - David Warner when asked whether he drew inspiration from the relentless criticism. Warner is currently second in most runs category in the world cup (413).

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🏉 Pacific Championship Team News: Star props Payne Haas and Tino Fa'asuamaleaui will return for the Kangaroos after being rested for Australia's group match against the Kiwis, with Jake Trbojevic and Thomas Flegler making way.

Liam Martin is also back in the starting side, so Reuben Cotter is relegated to the bench.

After making his Test debut in the No.17 jersey, Nicho Hynes has been named as the 18th man. (Teams)

👊🏻 NRL great Paul Gallen has been involved in a bar fight on NSW’s south coast, with the incident caught on camera.

Gallen denied throwing a punch in the fight that took place with a patron at the Shoalhaven Heads Hotel last Friday night.

“The video doesn’t show the entire situation. I’m more disappointed for putting myself in this situation.” - Gallen said.

Gallen is an NRL commentator and his colleague Mark Levy was also at the establishment and attempted to de-escalate the melee. 

Levy could be heard saying: ‘Stop it. Enough, enough. Gal, stop’ as the NRL player-turned boxer is wrestled to the ground by several men. (Mail)

🐴 The race that stops the nation is just days away as the Melbourne Cup looms on the horizon.

There’s plenty still up in the air before Saturday’s all-important barrier draw.

Jamie Kah has committed to riding More Felons ($26.0) in next Tuesday’s $8m Melbourne Cup. Prominent owner Richard Pegum said the horse he bought partly as a birthday present for his business partner Paul Henry is the best he has sourced from overseas.

🇦🇺 Melbourne star Clayton Oliver has blamed a combination of ADHD medication, a lack of sleep from stress and a big first day back at the gym for the shock collapse that saw him rushed to hospital earlier this month.

Only days after the premiership midfielder made headlines over a potential trade due to reported behavioural issues, Oliver was taken by ambulance to Footscray Hospital.

The midfielder admitted he would have accepted a trade away from the club if Melbourne had made it clear they wanted him to leave.

“If they didn’t want me, yeah,” he said.

“Obviously didn’t want to leave - I love the boys and love the club and I love Goody. I owe my career to him so I would never leave someone who has been so loyal to me.”

🏉 The Rabbitohs have locked up Queensland Origin forward Jai Arrow with a contract extension that will keep him at the club until the end of 2027. 

“The South Sydney Rabbitohs are delighted to announce the contract extension of State of Origin forward Jai Arrow for a further three seasons until the end of 2027 today,” the Rabbitohs said in a statement.

🏎️ Australian rising motorsport star Jack Doohan says he's looking to use his final race in the Formula 2 championship as a stepping stone towards gaining a Formula 1 seat in the next two years.

The reserve driver for French Formula 1 team Alpine will sit out of the grid in 2024 in a bid to focus on the top tier.

Doohan currently sits in fourth position in F2 with British team Virtuosi Racing, with a chance to finish the season in second place.

🏏 Steve Smith has put his Californian style bungalow up for sale, hoping for a $7m sale price. It was a fairly modest three-bedder when Smith purchased it in 2019 for $3.5 million, and it has since been gutted and extended into a far more glamorous, two-level house with four bedrooms, three bathrooms and an open-plan living area overlooking a new pool. Double bubble. 

🏀 Australian Ben Simmons impressed early for the Brooklyn Nets, notching four points, four rebounds and three assists in his opening seven minutes of their 133-121 win over Charlotte Hornets.

🏉 Rugby Australia is in no rush to appoint the next Wallabies coach as it surveys the wreckage from the failed Eddie Jones smash and grab.

Rugby Australia thanked Jones, 63, for his "commitment to the Wallabies in 2023" and chief executive Phil Waugh said a "sensible" agreement was reached.

Waugh’s presser on Tuesday completed a scarcely believable 10 month rollercoaster ride under Jones, who despite denials will reportedly take a second interview for the vacant Japan job next month.

⚽️ Saudi Arabia is set to host the men's 2034 World Cup after Australia decided against bidding to stage the tournament.

Football Australia confirmed its decision only hours before Fifa's deadline for declarations of interest on Tuesday. Saudi Arabia is the only other nation to bid.

"We have reached the conclusion not to do so for the 2034 competition," read a statement from Football Australia.

The 2026 World Cup will take place in the US, Mexico and Canada.

Morocco, Portugal and Spain will host the 2030 tournament, with matches also in Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay.

💰 Former basketball star Magic Johnson has been declared a billionaire by Forbes, making him only the fourth athlete to join the exclusive club.

The business magazine estimates Johnson's wealth at about $1.2bn (£990m).

The other athlete billionaires are NBA players Michael Jordan and Lebron James, and the golfer Tiger Woods.

Forbes states that Johnson made $40m from his NBA career.

Johnson has ownership stakes in three Los Angeles-based sports teams, including MLB's Los Angeles Dodgers.

Outside of sport he has investments in Starbucks, Burger King, 24 Hour Fitness and the life insurance company EquiTrust.

Johnson says he could have become a billionaire sooner had he not turned down shares in Nike when he was entering the NBA in the 1970s. He took a deal with Converse, which offered him $100,000 a year, instead.

"So I passed on the stocks. Can you imagine? 45 years, $5 billion that stock would have been worth today."

🥇 icymi: Lionel Messi won his record-extending Ballon d'Or award ahead of Manchester City forward Erling Haaland.

France forward Kylian Mbappe - who became just the second man to score a World Cup final hat-trick in the 4-2 penalty shootout loss to Argentina - finished third.

Spanish star Aitana Bonmati won the Ballon d’Or Féminin – pipping our own Sam Kerr for the top women’s award.

🚶🏻‍♀️💨 The women's 20 kilometre race walk course at the Pan American Games was found to be several kilometres short after a world record had been set.

The results were subsequently annulled after Peru's world champion Kimberly Garcia won in one hour 12 minutes 26 seconds in Santiago, Chile.

Officials realised the error after Garcia obliterated the world record of 1:23.49 set by China's Jiayu Yang.

⛳️ Golf's latest venture - an indoor "high-tech league" launched by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy and backed by fellow sporting superstars - will get under way on Tuesday, 9 January 2024.

Fifteen of the current world's top 20 are among the 24 PGA Tour players to have signed for the inaugural season.

All events will be televised and played at a purpose-built venue in Florida.

Serena and Venus Williams, Stephen Curry and Liverpool owners the Fenway Sports Group are among the backers.

⛳️ End of outing tradition. 12 golfers qualify for one shot, 140 yards out, $250,000 on the line. Only one golfer was left to hit… (Watch on Twitter)

🐴 Classic-winning jockey James Doyle is to leave the powerful Godolphin team after nine years to join Wathnan Racing as number one rider.

The 35-year-old won the 2,000 Guineas last year on Coroebus for Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed's Godolphin outfit.

Wathnan Racing has horses including Gold Cup winner Courage Mon Ami and is a growing outfit owned by Sheikh Tamim, the emir of Qatar.

🇿🇦 Huge crowds gathered as the double world cup winning Springboks return to South Africa. (Twitter)

TODAY

10:30 - NBA - Cleveland Cavaliers v New York Knicks (ESPN 2)

11:03 - Baseball World Series - Arizona Diamondbacks v Texas Rangers (ESPN)

13:00 - NBA - Phoenix Suns v San Antonio Spurs (ESPN 2)

19:30 - World Cup - New Zealand v South Africa (Fox Cricket)

22:00 - AFC Women's Olympic Qualifying - Australia v Chinese Taipei (Paramount+ or Channel 10)

THURSDAY

10:30 - NBA - Oklahoma City Thunder v New Orleans Pelicans (ESPN 2)

11:03 - Baseball World Series - Arizona Diamondbacks v Texas Rangers (ESPN)

13:00 - NBA - Los Angeles Lakers v Los Angeles Clippers (ESPN 2)

19:30 - NBL - Brisbane Bullets v South East Melbourne Phoenix (ESPN)

19:30 - Cricket World Cup - India v Sri Lanka (Fox Cricket)