🗞 Heat of the Moment

G'day sports fans,

🗣️ Classic quote: "You can't kick goals if you're unconscious" - Kevin "Cowboy" Neale... in reference to Allan Jeans stating St.Kilda would need to concede Peter Hudson 5 or 6 goals in the 1966 grand final. Neale did indeed give Hudson a round arm punch to the face that Hudson says he did suffer concussion from.

He only kicked 1 goal after the incident... later missing some shots that were ordinarily certainties by his usual standards, meaning he could only tie Bob Pratt's all time record of 150 goals in a season.

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🇦🇺 With 64 picks made over two intense nights, the 2023 AFL draft has been finalised.

After the first round on Monday evening, rounds two and beyond were resolved on Tuesday — and it was not without surprises.

» Official Draft Tracker.

In outgoing Essendon list boss Adrian Dodoro's final draft, the club carried out a cunning move to secure Western Bulldogs Next Generation Academy prospect Luamon Lual at pick No.39.

Geelong pulled one of the surprises on night two with a 26-year-old VFL star, a Barwon Heads local footy star and unknown WA prospect joining the 2022 premiers.

⛳️ The new DP World Tour season tees-off in Brisbane for the Fortinet Australian PGA Championship (23-26th), less than four days after the old one reached its conclusion in Dubai.

• Course: Royal Queensland GC, Brisbane

• Course Stats: Par 71, Yards 7,134

• Defending Champion: Cameron Smith

• Purse: €2,000,000

This new course layout was completed in December 2007, having been designed by former Tour pro Mike Clayton. It is a largely flat course, with wide fairways.

The parkland course has plenty of sand, water hazards should only be a problem for Tour pros on four holes.

The 'top seed' is defending champion and Brisbane Broncos fan Cameron Smith $6.0 who is probably among the leading five golfers in the world right now.

Past Major winners who will tee off on Thursday include Smith, Adam Scott and Geoff Ogilvy. 

Among the players who are enjoying good current form, and also have a decent course history, are Min Woo Lee $9.0, David Micheluzzi $34.0 and Ryo Hisatsune $26.0.

Min Woo Lee has twice finished fourth at Royal Queensland. Min Woo Lee has twice finished fourth at Royal Queensland including in 2022. 

🐴 The Victoria Racing Club, host of the Melbourne Cup, has submitted a proposal to extend its place in the spring racing carnival from 2024 by taking over Cranbourne’s biggest race day of the year.

❤️ Australian football star Sam Kerr and U.S. women's national team player Kristie Mewis announced their engagement in an Instagram post Tuesday.

After months of speculation, Mewis confirmed reports of their engagement in an interview with People magazine on Nov. 9 and said Kerr has been "just about everything to her."

⚽️ Asian Cup qualifier: Harry Souttar's early winner (18’) guided the Socceroos to another win in Group I. Two wins from two to start the qualifying campaign.

🏉 Knights star Bradman Best is set to knock back the Tigers and re-sign with his club on a deal reportedly worth $2 million over three years. 

Best was being courted by Tigers coach Benji Marshall on the back of a breakout season that saw him make his NSW debut.

Best will put pen to paper on a new deal in Newcastle worth $700,000 per season that will keep him at the club until the end of 2027, according to News Corp. 

“I want to stay here. The Tigers have shown some interest, they are keen, but I have to weigh everything up,” Best said.

🤸🏻 Olympic gymnast Georgia Godwin has become just the fifth Australian to have an original move named in her honour.

The Godwin is now in the global scoring system for gymnastics.

The 26-year-old performed the move on the uneven bars at world challenge cup events in Israel and Croatia earlier this year.

🏉 Brisbane veteran Corey Oates has ended months of speculation surrounding his future by signing a new one-year deal to stay at the Broncos next season.

🏉 Luai linked with Tigers: Bradman Best has been busy… Luai posted a video about his appearance at the opening of Foot Locker Liverpool on Monday, to which Best replied with an emoji of a Tiger and wide eyes. 🐯👀

The comment came one day after Luai reportedly met with Tigers coach Benji Marshall about joining the club in 2025.

7️⃣ The Australian men's sevens team believe they have uncovered a gem after naming teenager Hadley Tonga in their squad for the 2023-24 world series.

Tonga reportedly attracted NRL interest from the Eels and Dolphins before signing a long term rugby contract designed to see him play for the Waratahs after a sevens stint.

"Hadley is one of the most exciting young players in rugby," Australia coach John Manenti said.

The rebranded 'SVNS' series kicks off in Dubai on December 2-3 as teams build towards the 2024 Paris Olympics.

🎯 Phil Taylor, winner of a record 16 World Championships, will retire from competitive darts next year.

Taylor, 63, stepped away from the sport after reaching the World Championship final in 2018 but returned in 2022.

Considered the greatest darts player of all time, he has spent the past two years on the Senior Darts Tour and will retire at the end of the 2024 season.

⚽️ Everton's 10-point deduction by the Premier League for financial breaches has been taken to UK Parliament.

🏟️ An A-Leagues club is coming to Auckland in 2024 . The Australian Professional Leagues has today awarded a full A-Leagues license to Bill Foley! Foley is the owner of AFC Bournemouth, FC Lorient & the Vegas Golden Knights.

💰 Owing the F1 race, Dealers at the Wynn in Las Vegas split $700,000 in tips on Saturday, per @LasVegasLocally

Each dealer went home with ~$2k in tips — 5-6 times more than their average and the highest amount in Wynn's 18-year history.

🏈 Jalen Ramsey with one of the most beautiful interceptions you'll see this year to seal the Dolphins' win over the Raiders…

🏏 India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi has lauded the Indian men's cricket team for their 10 consecutive wins in the tournament and asked them to motivate each other as he met them after their loss to Australia.

"India stands with them today and always," the prime minister said.

⚽️ San Marino’s on fire… your defence is terrified. Well they’re at least smouldering. The tiny micro state off Italy sit last [207] in Fifa's world rankings, having lost 85 of their 86 Euro qualifiers.

A 97th-minute penalty against Finland marked the first time in their history the minnows have scored in three consecutive matches.

⛳️ Ludvig Äberg, 24, won his first PGA event at the weekend and surpassed the 50 rounds needed to be included in the PGA TOUR’s statistical rankings where he’s gone from Jan 1st 2023 (3,064th) to 32nd. If he keeps his head on straight, he’s going to win a lot of tournaments.

Here’s where he ranks:

• Strokes Gained: 2nd

• Total Driving: 1st

• Driving Distance: 6th

• Greens hit %: 3rd

• Average approach-shot proximity to hole: 2nd

⛳️ The launch of Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy's virtual golf competition has been pushed back one year, to early 2025, after its facility in Florida sustained damage.

TGL, an indoor "high-tech league", was due to start on 9 January 2024.

But those plans have been delayed after a power outage caused the collapse of the air-supported dome roof at the SoFi Center in Palm Beach Gardens.

⚽️ Six of the shirts worn by Lionel Messi during Argentina's World Cup-winning campaign are to be sold at auction.

His shirt from the final is included in the set, which are expected to fetch more than AU$15m in the auction hosted by Sotheby's in New York.

The record for a game-worn football shirt is Diego Maradona's 'Hand of God' jersey, which sold for AU$14m in 2022.

👊🏻 The Professional Fighters League has announced it has acquired rival mixed martial arts promotion Bellator from Paramount in a "transformative deal".

Paramount will retain a minority stake in Bellator, which launched in 2008.

PFL said the Bellator brand "will continue", and a PFL Champions v Bellator Champions event will take place in 2024.

"PFL is now a global powerhouse in MMA," said Donn Davis, PFL founder and chairman.

TODAY

06:45  - UEFA EURO Qualifier -  Greece v France (Optus Sport 1)

06:45  - UEFA EURO Qualifier -  Romania v Switzerland (Optus Sport 5)

11:30  - NBA -  Philadelphia 76ers v Cleveland Cavaliers (ESPN)

11:30  - CONMEBOL WC Qualifier -  Brazil v Argentina (SBS)

14:00  - NBA -  Los Angeles Lakers v Utah Jazz (ESPN)

14:30  - College -  Men's NCAA Regular Season (ESPN)

THURSDAY

19:00  - Super Welterweight Title -  Nikita Tszyu v Dylan Biggs (Main Event)

04:00  - Men's NCAA -  North Carolina Tar Heels v Northern Iowa Panthers (ESPN)

09:00  - Men's NCAA -  Michigan Wolverines v Memphis Tigers (ESPN 2)

11:30  - NBA -  Boston Celtics v Milwaukee Bucks (ESPN)

12:00  - PGA Tour of Australasia -  Australian PGA Championship, Round 1 (Fox Sports or GEM)

14:00  - NHL -  Seattle Kraken v San Jose Sharks (ESPN 2)

14:00  - NBA -  Phoenix Suns v Golden State Warriors (ESPN)