The Press Box - Episode 31
The Examiner’s Ben Hann, Rob Shaw and Hamish Geale unpack and discuss the sports news across Northern Tasmania.
Transcript
00:00 Welcome to episode 31 of the Pressbox, the Examiner's weekly sportscast.
00:12 We thought we were going to be down to two this week with Josh and Brian both unavailable.
00:15 Ben and I thought we'd be carrying the load again.
00:17 But we've got a late call up from the news team, Hamish Gill positively sprinting off
00:23 the interchange bench, former member of the sports team.
00:26 Welcome Ham.
00:27 Thanks very much for having me.
00:28 It's a pleasure to be part of such an esteemed production.
00:32 Don't sprint too fast, I know you've got a dodgy car.
00:38 This week we're going to be talking about a column that Ben wrote this week about Tasmanian
00:42 sport.
00:43 It was a lovely piece that was in Monday's paper.
00:45 Ben, just tell us what the column's about and why you wrote it.
00:48 Well I felt compelled to write this to be honest.
00:52 Last week I felt every story I was writing was about another Tasmanian success story.
00:57 You just were almost confronted by it.
01:00 You start off the week with Jack McVay hitting a three point up in Cairns from goodness knows
01:06 how far away behind the three point line on the Bunnings logo.
01:10 And then the World Cup was just a day later, or a day and a half, it was sort of 4am I
01:16 think was when I was up to.
01:17 I thought you were tired the next day.
01:18 A real amount of dedication this man.
01:19 Tragic I think is probably the word I'd go with.
01:25 And I talked about George Bailey's role within that.
01:28 Obviously there was no Tasmanian player but George Bailey had a key role.
01:32 Also talked about the draft, that was probably the thing that filled our newspaper the most
01:36 during last week.
01:37 Obviously the four Launceston kids going through to the AFL.
01:42 And then to finish off with something that maybe less people are aware of, the Tasmanian
01:46 Tigers men's team after a few pretty bleak years, to be brutally honest, are top of the
01:51 Sheffield Shield.
01:52 They had that 420 run chase against Queensland.
01:57 They followed that up with a win against New South Wales by an innings.
02:01 So they are flying a lot.
02:03 Innings and one run I think.
02:04 Yeah exactly.
02:05 We'll go back to the top of those stories because it's a lovely background story.
02:08 So George Bailey is now Chairman of Selectors.
02:11 Very much in the background, former international and very proud Launcestonian.
02:15 Just tell us what his role in the World Cup was.
02:18 Yeah, so he's a bit of an unsung hero with all of this.
02:21 They were lauded through their whole World Cup campaign about the tactics they used and
02:28 about how they sort of played the World Cup.
02:31 One thing in particular was Travis Head's selection in this squad.
02:35 A lot of people didn't give Australia a chance when he was out injured just a few months
02:40 out and they all thought, well, busted hand, that's his power hand when he was hitting.
02:44 I don't see how he's going to play anything.
02:46 It seems way too risky to pick him.
02:49 It's easy to say with hindsight now, well he hit a century in his return against New
02:53 Zealand.
02:54 He completely revolutionized how we were batting just with that aggressive way he was going
02:58 out and then obviously finishing off with two men of the match performances in the semi-final
03:03 and final.
03:04 Another one that's a bit sort of understated as well was George Bailey's decision to stick
03:09 with Marnus Labasche.
03:10 So he was initially out of the whole World Cup squad altogether.
03:15 George Bailey rewarded his form in South Africa and then he came along and just sort of stuck
03:21 with him and then they could have gone with him or Marcus Stoinis who was the incumbent
03:25 player at the time because Stoinis obviously can bowl as well but they went with Labasche's
03:31 fielding.
03:32 Labasche led the tournament in run outs by the end of it.
03:36 It was crucial and saved so many more runs by the way.
03:40 And then played that amazing innings with Travis Head.
03:43 So George Bailey's efforts were summed up in that final when you have Travis Head and
03:50 Marnus Labasche batting together, winning the match for Australia, both of which a different
03:55 selector might not have picked for this tournament.
03:57 So he really has probably not got the plaudits he deserves because he absolutely nailed it
04:05 on this occasion.
04:06 Hey, are you familiar with George Bailey?
04:09 Probably actually not more than you but he is I think officially my brother-in-law so
04:16 I'll probably say him at Christmas.
04:17 I'll probably have turkey with him, I don't know.
04:21 And you've got your own connection with him.
04:23 What's George Bailey's connection with you Rob?
04:24 He may have written the forward to my book, 'Sure Things 29.95 still available for perfect
04:29 Christmas present, just get in contact with me by email'.
04:34 I think the selectors are, everyone's quick to bank selectors when they make mistakes.
04:39 They often don't get the credit when they get something right.
04:42 Yeah, absolutely.
04:43 I think it's almost like an umpire, the best selectors are the ones you don't notice.
04:48 And it's a bit like that for George.
04:50 I don't think he got a single thing wrong this whole tournament.
04:54 He was backed into a corner with Ashton Agar's injury right before the tournament and I think
04:58 he just played it perfectly, managed the bowls really well.
05:03 So quite frankly what I'm trying to say is Tasmania won this World Cup for Australia.
05:07 More specifically, Launceston won the 12 Cup for Australia.
05:10 So that's where I've come to with that.
05:12 And so, Han, can you pass that on over Christmas lunch?
05:14 Yeah, no worries.
05:15 I'll just say well done.
05:16 All of Australia is indebted.
05:18 That's right.
05:19 Essentially.
05:20 And just talking about the AFL Dwarf success, you've also got an interview today about the
05:27 AFLW.
05:28 Yeah, absolutely.
05:29 So Mia King, obviously a Launceston product, is playing with North Melbourne.
05:34 They've made their first ever AFLW Grand Final.
05:37 They're not long into the competition so it's a great effort for them.
05:41 They're playing Brisbane, I believe, on the weekend.
05:45 So I'll be talking to Mia today about sort of, it's a pretty cool week being in that
05:50 week before a Grand Final.
05:51 I feel like you can play the Grand Final a thousand times in your head before you've
05:55 even got out in the field.
05:56 So I'm just going to talk to her about how do you manage yourself during this week in
06:02 what's obviously a massive week for a career.
06:06 And just talking about Tasmanian teams in national competitions, you touched on the
06:09 Sheffield Shield and as you rightly pointed out, I think this is our best start to a Shield
06:13 campaign for many, many years.
06:15 Back to the heyday of Tim Coyle and George Bailey, who was captain back then.
06:20 But we've also got teams in the national hockey competition, the Hockey One League, and of
06:24 course the WBBL is just wrapping up.
06:27 So just touching on the Hockey One, they had their semi-finals at the weekend and Tasmania
06:32 made the semi-finals.
06:33 They have won the national competition back in 2014, but it was quite impressive.
06:37 Their best player, their standout performer is Eddie Ockendon, who's been to four Olympic
06:41 games, so he's the pinnacle of Tasmanian hockey.
06:44 Well, Eddie wasn't able to play in any of the games, and yet without him they still
06:48 made the top four.
06:50 Unfortunately, they lost to New South Wales, who were going for a three-peat in the semi,
06:55 and then lost the bronze medal match to HC Melbourne.
06:57 But even without Eddie, there were players like Jack Welch, Josh Belts, who also went
07:01 to the Tokyo Olympics.
07:03 Jeremy Edwards is a Commonwealth Games representative.
07:06 Even Devo, the A's list team Devo, is still going around.
07:09 So really good performance by Tasmania to make the top four.
07:12 Yeah, absolutely.
07:14 And I suppose with that, hockey is probably, you know, these are the moments where hockey
07:18 gets to have its moments in the sunshine.
07:21 So I suppose, how do you sort of see Tasmanian hockey and its strength at the moment?
07:26 Obviously a lot of those guys are a bit more of the veteran type.
07:28 So do you still see Tasmanian hockey in the same health as it was?
07:32 I think so.
07:33 If they're making the top four without their best player, there is a bit of... it's the
07:37 same as in cricket.
07:39 There are players that are not Tasmanian playing in the Tasmanian side.
07:42 One of the best performers at the weekend was Jeremy Hayward, who is Northern Territory,
07:47 born in Darwin.
07:49 But obviously Northern Territory doesn't have their own team in it, so he plays for Tasmania.
07:55 But I think he's pretty much the only one.
07:56 The rest, it's a very Tasmanian side, and if they can still... you replace Eddie Ockendon
08:01 for him, that's a very strong side that would probably still make the semis.
08:04 So I think Tasmanian hockey, considering the numbers limitations compared to the big states,
08:09 is really strong.
08:10 Yeah, absolutely.
08:11 And then on the other hand, we have an organisation who aren't doing so well at the national level,
08:16 is the Hobart Hurricanes women's team.
08:19 You obviously wrote a column yourself about that.
08:22 Where do you think it's just still going wrong for the Hurricanes?
08:26 I just...
08:27 I think it's the sixth time in seven years that they've finished in the bottom three.
08:33 And yet, when you look at their squad on paper, they've got a very, very strong squad.
08:38 So I wrote a column about it yesterday, and I think in Elise Villani, Molly Strano and
08:42 Nicola Carey, you could argue that it's the competition's best batter, bowler and all-rounder.
08:47 This side should be doing a lot better than sixth.
08:50 But yeah, it was another sixth place finish, which was a bit underwhelming, considering
08:55 the cattle they had.
08:56 They had very...
08:57 They didn't do very well on the imports.
09:00 I thought Shabne Mishma came good towards the second half of the tournament, but the
09:06 all-rounder, Bryony Smith, had a dreadful tournament.
09:09 She was batting at three and opening on occasions, and averaged nine.
09:13 Yeah.
09:14 It seems to be a bit of a curse, doesn't it, Hamish, for the Hurricanes in men's and women's?
09:18 They've had a pretty rough shot.
09:20 So I think across both comps, I have been the only team to have not either won in the
09:30 men's comp or made a final in the women's comp.
09:35 So I think everyone's hopeful that in the next couple of years, we'll see them come
09:40 good, but yeah, who knows.
09:42 And I made the point in the column that one of only three teams not to win a WBBO, and
09:48 the other two are the two Melbourne sides.
09:51 So yeah, hoping for better there.
09:52 So that's almost it.
09:53 How does it feel to be back on sport, Ham?
09:56 It's very lovely.
09:57 It's always lovely vibes on the sports team.
10:01 So thanks for having me back, everyone.
10:02 Do you miss sport when you're working on news?
10:04 Do you sit there thinking, "Oh, I wish I was covering the Greater Northern Rangers"?
10:09 It's nice.
10:10 I think what I really enjoyed was getting to go out and kind of watch a bit of a game
10:14 of cricket or something like that and think, "Oh, I'm going to get paid for this.
10:17 I'm actually working right now."
10:18 That's always fun.
10:19 Absolutely.
10:20 It's nice to have you back.
10:21 You're welcome any time, Ham.
10:22 Thanks.
10:23 Thanks.
10:24 Thanks for tuning in.
10:25 That's about it for this week.
10:26 Read all about those stories.
10:28 Both Ben's columns and my review of the WBBO season is on our website.
10:33 Thanks for tuning in and see you next week.
10:35 See you.
10:36 [music]
10:43 [silence]