The Examiner's Ben Hann, Josh Partridge and Brian Allen unpack and discuss sports news from across Northern Tasmania. Video by Aaron Smith (9/7/24)
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00:00Hello and welcome to another episode of The Press Box, episode 59 of The Press Box today.
00:13Out comes Hamish Gill and in comes fellow father Brian Allen alongside myself and Josh
00:19Partridge.
00:20Today, in honour of being episode 59, I've got a new segment coming in which Brian and
00:27Josh are sure to enjoy.
00:3259 is an important number in Tasmanian sport because last season the Tasmanian Jackjumpers
00:40kept the Adelaide 36 to just 59 points which was the lowest recorded score in NBL history
00:47under the 40 minute format. So there you go.
00:51Now we do actually have a really strong episode today so ignore that first bit. We're going
00:57to start off with a really big weekend in AFL football for Tasmania, specifically the
01:02Launceston Draftees. Josh, I have not stopped thinking about the Colby-McCurtcher run down
01:09the wing since it happened on Saturday afternoon but it wasn't just him that had a big weekend
01:13was it?
01:14Well as you can see something else happened. St Kilda finally won a game and obviously
01:19Launceston's Ari Schoenmaker was a part of that. Had some crucial moments in the last
01:24quarter actually like just with taking some kick outs and all that kind of thing but for
01:28both Colby and Ari it was their first win at AFL level which is fantastic and Colby
01:33first game back in six weeks following a foot injury and he was unbelievable. He played
01:39his career best game, 37 disposals and that moment down the wing, just for the viewers,
01:46he ran down the wing, took four bounces and then kicked in board to Nick Larkey who then
01:52kicked a goal. So it was proper highlight reel stuff and not just on a Tasmanian perspective
01:58but from a national perspective as well.
02:00Absolutely, 37 touches and that sort of explosive pace. I remember when we were doing those
02:04draft preview shows, I remember comparing him to Chris Judd thinking, gee whiz, what
02:09have I done here? But I just see so much of him even at AFL level, the way he's able to
02:14just explode away from his opponent and he's just such a dynamic player and I think him
02:21and Ari especially with his kicking is really exciting for both of them to have such positive
02:27starts to their career I suppose.
02:29The really good thing about them so far is I've watched them play at Launceston and they're
02:34doing what they did at Launceston on the AFL stage. Colby's using his pace, he's done a
02:39few runs for Launceston through the middle and that kind of thing and you go wow. And
02:43then Ari's kicking has always been his strong talent and he's doing exactly what he was
02:46doing at Lonnie but on the national stage, it's unreal.
02:50Absolutely, and we'll move right along to cricket. We've got, obviously not unknown
02:56news at the Macquarie Point Stadium but a bit of a development I suppose for Cricket
03:01Tasmania, Brian, was a new Hawkeye backed roof which you might have done some reading
03:07about as well.
03:08Yeah, just reading your article Ben, so it's a see-through roof but they've used Hawkeye
03:17technology to ensure that the top of the roof itself above the pitch is a greater distance
03:27than the six boundary, am I correct?
03:29Yeah, so they've used a sort of trajectory and science I suppose for the uninitiated
03:37to effectively come up with a roof design so that if the ball was to ever hit the roof,
03:42it could mathematically be counted as a six. So no matter what, the only way it ever hits
03:47the roof is if it's already counted as a boundary. So it faithfully takes the roof out of the
03:51equation. Obviously with that timber design, it is see-through but there are obviously
03:55panels running through so there could be issues with shadows. But I suppose the greater thing
04:00at play here is they want to play test matches there Josh, they want to do something that's
04:04never been done before, which is play Red Bull cricket under a roof. I think perhaps
04:08the natural light helps their case with this. There's going to be a lot of other issues
04:15such as humidity, so it's not natural airflow that comes through a roof stadium obviously,
04:20so they need to be able to replicate conditions so that there is an even contest between bat
04:24and ball and the ball doesn't swing half a mile across the pitch and make it impossible
04:29for the batsmen.
04:30And that's the thing, they're going to have to play, as they mentioned, they're going
04:32to play some Sheffield Shield games there to try and see what a Red Bull does under
04:37a roof. Obviously White Bull, we've seen that for years, well not years, but we've seen
04:41that for quite a while now as to what the White Bull does under a roof. So those Shield
04:45games, and to be honest, it could bring more fans to the Sheffield Shield. Imagine sitting
04:50under this roof stadium and going, okay, we're watching what could be history making. Whatever
04:54happens at this Sheffield Shield game is going to dictate whether Tasmania hosts test matches
04:59like that in the future. So I reckon that will be actually really good for the game.
05:03Yeah.
05:03I just wanted to interject, Ben, I guess for those that aren't so much cricket fans, this
05:10point about the six and the roof, why is that important? What has been done in the past
05:18when at, say, a Marble Stadium, the ball has hit the roof in a game?
05:23Right, it's often been umpire's discretion. So because of the flat nature of Marble Stadium's
05:30roof, and there's obviously metal beaming and piping underneath, the ball can hit the
05:37roof a bit more regularly, and therefore the referee, the umpire, has to make a call as
05:43to whether that ball is a dead ball or whether it should be deemed already over the boundary.
05:48So it just takes away that confusion. It's also better for 2020 games, so there isn't
05:53those random stoppages halfway through the game where they've got to stop and wait and
05:57decide what the call is. The game can just keep right on moving. There is no delay. So
06:02I think it would be really good for the Hobart Hurricanes as well.
06:05I just want to quickly touch on something that David Boone was really big on, was cricket's
06:09sort of been, in terms of international content, has disappeared effectively from the Tasmanian
06:15calendar. There are the odd T20s and the odd one days, but very rarely test matches and
06:21very rarely Australian teams playing down here. So I think if this does go well, if
06:27it ends up going the way they want it to, this could be really big for cricket in Tasmania.
06:32We do have to move along though, as much as we'd love to talk more about test matches.
06:37More local now, we've got the NTFA, we've got Longford, who are storming winning at
06:44South Launcester, who have not been beaten all year, but there was one person in particular,
06:48Brian, that caught your eye.
06:49Yeah, watch out NTFA Premier. This is Zach Morris, who I've been off for a couple of
06:56weeks, as you guys know, but I mentioned Saturday footy and notice number 19 was, yeah, just
07:03had great hands, strong body, kicked three goals. I thought, gee, this guy is a cut above.
07:10Yeah, obviously talking to Coach Mitch Stagger after the game, learned a bit about him, and
07:14Pardo, you also told me about him, a former Launceston Blue, and played for the Northern
07:20Bull Ants in the VFL last year, before being with Norwood in the Sandville Reserves up
07:27until this point of this year, and he just made his debut for Longford on the weekend.
07:32So, Pardo, you'd seen him in the past, but what can you tell us about him?
07:36Yeah, well, as a young fella, he was a really strong key defender. He actually won the Devil's
07:40Best and Fairest in 2021, but didn't really attract a crazy amount of draft attention,
07:45which is quite interesting, given the structure of the Devils and how that kind of works.
07:50But, yeah, a couple of times at Lonnie, Mitch threw him forward, and he kicked nine goals
07:57against North Hobart in a game. So, he was really strong at either end. So, the fact
08:02that he's come back to the NTFA and dominated doesn't really surprise me at all, because
08:05he was someone that was kind of earmarked to be a really strong talent. So, that's really
08:11good to see him come back and dominate from game one.
08:14I don't want to make you make any big calls this far out. What do you think this does
08:22for Longford's chances moving forward?
08:23Oh, it's huge. I sat there watching the game, and they were playing the best team in the
08:28league this season, South Launcester, and I thought, oh, this really shakes things up.
08:33They've got a serious A-grader, top-five league player there that could really make an impact
08:41in finals. I've harped on this theme a bit this year, but South Launceston's weapon late
08:49in the season will be Jay Blackberry, who's been doing his firefighting course. Hillwood's
08:55weapon has been the fact that Jake Pearce, the captain, has just come back in from a
09:01long-term back injury, and now Longford have this massive recruit. There's more to talk
09:08about there, but I'll just stop there. Essentially, watch our NDFA Premier Finals. What's happened
09:17through the season may not be reflected in the finals series, and gee, it's going to
09:22be exciting.
09:23Yeah, I think that's the great part about the Premier at the moment. I feel like all
09:26five teams have a genuine crack at being in that grand final, which I think is such an
09:31exciting thing for us watching on. We do have to move on, though. Our final segment is about
09:36the Olympics. It's getting closer by the week, as time works, but we've got two more
09:43Olympians, or actually, technically four if you want to count our Jackjumpers boys. In
09:49the athletics, we've got Stuart McSwain from King Island will be competing for his, I believe
09:53his third Olympics, or at least second. Then we've got first-time Olympian Jacob Despard.
09:58It's very exciting for both those guys. They've had a great four-year cycle and properly deserved
10:04it. Just to finish off with Josh, Ariane Titmuss was celebrated in the Launceston community
10:09this week.
10:10Yeah. Apparition Media, a company from Melbourne, came over and painted a big mural of her on
10:16the wall of the Cock and Bull in Launceston. There's 26,000 cars that go past that location
10:22each day, so they'll all see Ariane's smiling face on the wall, which is quite nice.
10:26It was quite striking. It's on the back of the Tuesday Examiner. That's all we have time
10:31for this week. We'll see you again for the next one.
10:34Thank you.