The Press Box - Episode 43
The Examiner’s Rob Shaw, Brian Allen, Josh Partridge and Ben Hann unpack and discuss the sports news across Northern Tasmania.
Transcript
00:00 (upbeat music)
00:02 - Welcome to episode 43 of the Pressbox,
00:09 the Examiner's Weekly Sportscast.
00:12 I'm back from climbing assorted Tasmanian mountains
00:15 and we finally got the band back together
00:17 and we'll be playing some old hits today
00:19 with AFL cricket and soccer on the playlist.
00:22 We'll start with AFL.
00:23 Brian, what's the latest on the AFL club launch?
00:26 - Yeah, the latest is fairly surprising.
00:29 It's sitting at home, couched last night,
00:34 watching Fox footies return
00:36 with the first round of the AFL coming up
00:38 and John Ralph Haraldson,
00:41 an obviously Fox footy reporter,
00:43 just jumps on and he talks about the,
00:47 it's gonna be the Tassie AFL team
00:49 which is to launch on March 18th,
00:51 which we've heard a fair bit about.
00:54 I think they had their tickets
00:55 for the launch only yesterday.
00:58 Is, yeah, so they're meant to be saying the name
01:02 and like the logo and the jumper on March 18th,
01:04 but yeah, last night it was revealed
01:07 that the name is gonna be Tassie Devils
01:09 and the jumper, what I gather,
01:12 is largely gonna be pretty similar
01:14 to the sort of the green jumper
01:17 with probably the map,
01:19 similar to the under 18 jumper we currently have, so.
01:23 - Are we surprised by any of this?
01:25 - Oh, no.
01:27 We're not surprised really by the details.
01:29 I think like the kit and the colors and everything
01:32 and the name of God, it's fantastic as is.
01:35 So there's no need to change any of that.
01:38 Is it disappointing that it's been revealed now
01:41 and not on the date that I'm sure
01:43 the Tassie Football Club is like?
01:45 Yeah, that is disappointing for them
01:48 and probably takes a bit of the air out of the balloon
01:53 for that occasion that's meant to be happening
01:55 in about a fortnight.
01:57 So yeah, just interesting to know
02:00 that what has been reported is that the AFL
02:04 and Warner Brothers are just working
02:06 through the Devils moniker.
02:08 Yeah, that's been reported across the journey.
02:13 Some debate about getting that Devils moniker thing.
02:18 - What do we think of this, boys?
02:21 - Yeah, I think it actually could be really interesting
02:23 because now that some of the stuff has come out,
02:25 maybe the Tassie Football Club will want to release
02:27 some other stuff on March 18th.
02:29 I reckon they'll want to come out with a few more things
02:32 that maybe they wouldn't have mentioned in the past,
02:34 but now that this is coming out,
02:35 maybe they might try and give a little bit extra
02:38 to those who have taken the tickets
02:41 and all that kind of thing.
02:41 So it'd be really interesting to see whether they,
02:44 I guess, give us a bit more now that, as you said,
02:46 the air's come out of the balloon a little bit.
02:49 - I still think that seeing the jumper
02:52 or the colors and the actual flesh
02:54 is going to be an important moment for a lot of people.
02:57 Just seeing it on a graphic or ideas is one thing,
03:00 but actually seeing it in face-to-face
03:02 is usually how a lot of people believe something.
03:05 So I think it's still going to be an important evening,
03:07 even if it has been late.
03:08 - Especially if they've got merchandise
03:10 and they've actually got a scarf and a shirt
03:12 saying what we've been told.
03:13 - Maybe a shoe cover, all those sorts of things.
03:15 They do that.
03:16 - Yeah, absolutely.
03:17 Moving on to cricket.
03:18 And great day yesterday, Tasmania.
03:20 All but secured their place in the Sheffield Giro final.
03:23 We spent a lot of time yesterday morning, Ben and I,
03:25 doing our maths.
03:26 I wasn't very good at maths at school, Ben,
03:28 so couldn't work out definitively
03:30 that they are in the final,
03:31 but it would take a bit of a miracle
03:32 to keep them out, wouldn't it?
03:33 - Yeah, it would.
03:34 Look, if everything goes their way,
03:37 they could still lose and be hosting the final.
03:41 That's sort of how strong their position is.
03:43 WA will play Victoria, first versus second.
03:46 As I was saying, second versus third.
03:48 So we, like, they've already made the final pretty much.
03:52 It's just how it's gonna look,
03:54 whether they're gonna be playing in Tasmania or not.
03:58 The maths is a bit complicated,
03:59 'cause you get bonus points on first,
04:01 and you have to spend them on the wickets and the runs.
04:04 But they've absolutely earned their spot.
04:07 It's been thanks to some great performances
04:09 from players like Barwer,
04:10 so his lead in shield runs.
04:12 You know, Gareth Bell from Georgetown
04:14 has been absolutely immense for them all season,
04:16 and many other contributors.
04:18 Trent says Caleb Jorgen had a double-tongue not long ago.
04:21 So it's really been such a great return to form
04:25 for the Tigers, who've obviously had a pretty tough time
04:27 with injuries.
04:28 - I remember their three shield wins,
04:29 going back over a decade now,
04:31 and the golden era of the generation of Bailey and Payne,
04:35 and Ponting was at the tail end of his career,
04:37 Hilfenhaus, Doherty.
04:39 We had a great side back there, Doolan, yeah.
04:41 So you've kind of followed Tassie cricket
04:43 all the way through.
04:44 Josh, how big a deal is it to be back at this level?
04:46 - Yeah, and especially, I think,
04:48 when you mention those kind of names,
04:50 nearly all of those players have played for Australia.
04:52 So to have the lineup that we've got at the moment,
04:54 full of, I'm not gonna say unheralded talent,
04:57 but yeah, people that haven't really taken
04:59 that next step up, yeah, it's fantastic.
05:02 And you mentioned Bo Webster, the amount of form
05:05 that he's in, I mean, 167 not out.
05:07 Him and Riley Meredith had a record partnership
05:09 with 153 for the 10th wicket.
05:12 That's just ridiculous.
05:14 Tassie were in a lot of trouble at nine for 154,
05:16 and then they come out and battle together
05:19 and get him to 307, so.
05:22 - Yeah, I think, yeah, I think that's a great point.
05:25 Bo Webster's probably the main one,
05:27 where he obviously has never played international cricket,
05:30 but he's just turned 30.
05:31 It probably is unfortunate that Mitchell Marsh
05:33 and Cameron Green are currently
05:35 in the international setup,
05:36 being two very similar players to Bo,
05:39 but I think on form right now,
05:41 he's gonna be just about the next chap off the rank
05:44 for any player looking to get into the Australian setup.
05:46 - Yeah, I think it was, I think I saw a stat,
05:48 and it was one of either six or seven players
05:50 to have scored 800 runs and taken 20 wickets in a season,
05:53 and it put him up, I think Tom Moody was on there
05:56 maybe twice or three times,
05:57 so it's putting him with players
05:59 that have represented Australia plenty of times, so.
06:02 - Well, good, moving on to soccer,
06:04 and the other saga that keeps lumbling on
06:06 is the Tasmanian's push to be involved
06:08 in the second division of the A-League,
06:10 the National Soccer Competition.
06:12 What's the latest on that, Ben?
06:13 - Right, it's all moving fairly quickly,
06:16 so give a quick wrap of things.
06:19 The Southover Football Club bid
06:21 for to be a part of the National Soccer Division,
06:23 which would serve under the A-League,
06:25 that has pivoted towards a change
06:30 towards Ben Cobb, currently his Tasmanian team,
06:33 obviously that's not gonna be the actual name,
06:34 but, so they announced that that's what was going to happen.
06:39 Hours after that, Football Tasmania announced
06:42 that they won't be supporting the bid,
06:43 they're focusing on themselves,
06:45 they want an A-League team, not a second division team,
06:47 they want a team for women and men, not just a men's team.
06:51 So, that was sort of causing a bit of confusion.
06:55 Then it was announced that this Tasmanian team
06:58 wants to play games in Launceston as well,
07:02 at Prospect Park, which was obviously big news
07:05 for Launceston City as well,
07:07 and then I've spoken to Liberal government
07:12 and Labor government, and both are saying,
07:13 "Look, we're not gonna shun it off right now, right here,
07:17 "but work needs to be done if we wanna support this."
07:20 So yeah, that's effectively the summary of it,
07:22 it's pretty complicated.
07:23 Fair to say, a lot more needs to get done
07:26 if they're gonna get this 10 and a half million
07:28 over five years is what they're asking for.
07:30 - And I suppose, Rory, what are your thoughts on it?
07:31 Obviously being a pretty heavy soccer football head
07:34 in Tassie, I suppose, what do you think about
07:37 the state of play and where it's at at the moment?
07:38 Bit of a loaded question, but I'll--
07:39 - No, no, that's fair enough.
07:40 I think it's good news that it's being seen
07:43 as a statewide push rather than a Hobart team.
07:48 South Hobart, one of our strongest sides,
07:49 so it's good that they really got behind it.
07:52 Devonport weren't keen from day one,
07:54 and I don't think Launceston's got the strength.
07:57 So it's good that South Hobart are keen
07:58 to play games in the north,
07:59 and Launceston City have traditionally been
08:01 Launceston's most successful soccer club,
08:03 so, and they're having a lot of work done on Prospect Park,
08:06 so the venue will be an excellent venue.
08:09 So I think that's good.
08:11 The general idea about going into
08:14 the National Second Division,
08:15 I don't know how successful that's going to be,
08:17 but I think soccer in Tasmania needs a shot in the arm.
08:22 That's a terrible analogy,
08:23 but it does need something like that
08:25 to get it to the same level.
08:26 It's interesting that we've been talking today
08:28 about the new AFL team, potentially a Tasmanian team
08:31 on the national stage in soccer.
08:33 We know how well the Jackjumpers are going.
08:35 We've also been talking about us making a cricket final.
08:38 So it's a really bumper time for Tasmanian sport,
08:41 I don't know.
08:42 - And it shows us the blueprint for Tasmanian sport.
08:45 If they want to be playing at the national level,
08:46 they need to be Tasmanian.
08:48 It can't be Hobart, it can't be whatever else.
08:50 - Absolutely.
08:51 - For them to be able to compete with the whole of the state,
08:54 which is, because of the population,
08:56 needs the whole of the state to support it,
08:57 it needs to be Tasmanian.
08:59 - And again, using the Jackjumpers example,
09:00 they were very much a Hobart side,
09:02 but they do play games in the north,
09:04 so it's their time of trying to tick all the boxes.
09:06 - Yeah.
09:08 I think that's a wrap for this week, fellas.
09:10 Thanks for tuning in.
09:11 Tune in next week for another edition.
09:13 (upbeat music)
09:16 (upbeat music)
09:19 (upbeat music)
09:22 [BLANK_AUDIO]