The Examiner's Ben Hann and Brian Allen unpack and discuss sports news from across Northern Tasmania. Video by Aaron Smith and Paul Scambler (23/7/24)
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00:00Hello and welcome to another episode of The Press Box. I'm Ben Henn, joining me is Brian
00:12Allen. Josh Partridge is a late out due to COVID, so it'll just be us two, but still
00:18plenty of great exciting stuff happening in Tasmanian sport. But first of all, it's everyone's
00:24favorite segment, numerology. So today's numerology, 61 is a famous number in sport, Brian, because
00:36Slovakia's Rory Sabatini shot 61 at the Tokyo Olympics in golf, the lowest score in Olympic
00:43history for golf. So just sit on that one for a little bit. I've actually got heaps
00:50to go on with. Obviously, the Olympics is the biggest thing happening in the world at
00:54the moment, Brian. Tasmanians, I think there's about eight or nine going to the Olympics.
00:59It's going to be really exciting to see how they get on. But there is one in particular
01:02that we're all going to be watching and glued to our TV screens with.
01:05Yeah, so Ariane Titmus, Launceston-born and she was here until she was 14. Yeah, obviously
01:12swimming at the Aquatic Center and went to St. Pat's before making the move to Queensland
01:18to further her career. But yeah, we all remember watching Ariane at the Tokyo Olympics, of
01:26course. And yeah, she had a famous battle with Katie Ledecky of the US in the 400 meters
01:33coming from behind late to win that one. And then, of course, they had further battles
01:41in the 200 and 800. So Ledecky took out the 800 with Titmus getting silver and then Ariane
01:48won the gold medal in the 200 meters. And she also was in the relay. But then with this
01:55Olympics, she's going in those events again and going to resume the rivalry with Ledecky,
02:01I'm sure, in the 400 meters. And yeah, her campaign actually is probably the first of
02:08the Tasmanians to start. It's yeah, with the 400 meter heats and the finals going to be
02:15on Sunday morning, our time of the 400 free.
02:19It's always something I love about the Olympics. Australia gets right into it with the swimming
02:22and we get medals early on the table. And yeah, it's always a great way to start the
02:25Olympics for Australia. A bit later in the two week event is Georgia Baker. So riding
02:32in the track events this time, she can obviously do both, but this time she's a track cyclist.
02:36She's had really unfortunate luck with Olympics in the past, injuries and sickness and all
02:41that sort of stuff. She's a triple Commonwealth Games champion. She's going to be a massive
02:45shout to get not just a podium, but potentially even a gold medal as well. We've obviously
02:49got such a rich history in track cycling too. So obviously a Perth native, she'll be one
02:55to watch out for as well. But there are others, Brian, as well. We've got the five time Olympian
03:00Eddie Ockenden.
03:01Yeah. Well, there's others that have been part of the examiner's junior sports awards.
03:06So Ariane actually won in 2014, but we had Eddie Ockenden speak only a couple of years
03:14ago and Ariane's done that as well in recent years. So yeah, just a little shout out to
03:20that award ceremony. But yeah, certainly a few of the names have come through there.
03:27We've obviously got Ockenden in the hockey. That's one of our first events as well. Saturday
03:34Australia v Argentina. But you've been across the basketball. Obviously these fellas aren't
03:39Tasmanian, but they do play for the Jackjumpers.
03:42Yes. Will Magnet and obviously Jack McVay, now an NBA player. Jack McVay, pretty crazy
03:47to think, no longer a Jackjumper as of last week. But we've also got Brianna Smith as
03:52well going as an Opal. So we've got plenty of basketball action to watch as well. I think
03:58those Jackjumpers, they're honorary Tasmanians. Let's just say that. And then also another
04:03swimmer, Max Giuliani from Hobart. He'll be in the event. We've got Sarah Hall also from
04:07down South. She's in the rowing. We've got Stuart McSwain, who's from Launceston originally,
04:14grew up in the King Island. What a great story. He's going to his second Olympics and then
04:18to finish off with Jacob Despard, who's currently Australia's fastest sprinter. So he's obviously
04:23a massive chance in the relay, in the 4.100 metre relay.
04:27Yeah. And obviously just with Stuart McSwain, I'm a big admirer of his as someone that hasn't
04:33enjoyed middle distance running, the 8 and 1,500 metres. Do you remember him going around
04:40at Tokyo?
04:41Yeah. So he made the final. I think he came about ninth or something like that. But to
04:46even make the final such a great effort, get through the heats. He was part of... He now
04:53lives in Sydney. But to think that coming from such a remote place like King Island
04:58is, then it will come all the way along and be at his second Olympics. I think he's 29.
05:03It's such a remarkable achievement for him. That brings us on to my segment, my second
05:09segment and my most beloved segment, Hanny's Hard Hitters.
05:21For this week, Brian, I'm going to ask you for your favourite Olympic moment.
05:25Yeah, look, given my age, obviously Kathy Freeman's 400 metre dash at the 2000 Sydney
05:33Olympics. I can recall being in Sydney with my family. I probably was six years old at
05:40the time. So yeah, I wasn't in the stadium or anything, but certainly just can recall
05:48how much everyone loved that moment. And yeah, like I remember being in prep at school or
05:54grade one and everything was Olympics. You know, all the worksheets were Olympics and
05:59you were all about the mascots. I think it was Millie and Sid and that sort of stuff.
06:04So it brings a lot. It's very nostalgic for me. It brings back a lot of good memories,
06:08the Sydney Olympics. But what about yourself? Yeah, I'm actually going with the same Olympics.
06:12I actually famously wasn't alive then, but I remember it for the commentary. The famous
06:184x100 metres, smash them like guitars, the Thorpen hole. It was the 4x100 metre men's
06:23relay. The first time a country that is not America won the 4x100 men freestyle relay.
06:30It was such an awesome race. Ian Thorpe going up against Gary Holwood Jr. and winning was,
06:36you know, you always think of that Dennis Kennedy commentary, don't you? Thorpen hole,
06:39hole and Thorpen. It was such an iconic moment. We'll move right along to our second major segment
06:47of the day, which is state rep footy was at Utah Stadium on the weekend against Sydney Canberra.
06:52Unfortunately, two losses for Tasmania in contrasting circumstances. I suppose we'll
06:57start with the men's, Brian, you covered it. What were your main takeaways?
07:01Yeah, look, I think we went into the game probably thinking we'd roll them. And yeah,
07:07that was probably because, you know, we're so passionate about footy here. And obviously,
07:12Sydney and Canberra is not traditionally, you know, those footy states. And yeah, it was on
07:18a home deck. Utah's have been raining all week. So probably so many things felt in our favor.
07:23And then I guess it was also noted quite prominently that Sydney Canberra had only
07:28trained together as a team for the first time on Friday before the Saturday game. So,
07:34you know, you had fair reason to think they're probably going to be a bit disorganized. But
07:38yeah, look, they were very impressive. They just had about four or five players
07:45that are probably the best players on the ground. Like just a couple of star midfielders,
07:51a couple, you know, their sort of last line of defense was really strong. They repelled a lot
07:58of attacks. I think one of those fellas ended up with their best on ground medal. But then
08:04they also had a really good forward, Burks, who, yeah, he would have finished with a bag, but he
08:11was a really strong target for them. So I think that they had a handful of guys that stood up.
08:19And yeah, the Blues kicked six unanswered goals late in the third through to the start of the
08:27fourth quarter. And that was kind of it. Tassie had missed a lot of opportunities, a lot of missed
08:32snap sort of goal opportunities. And we made a late surge and only fell short by one goal. But
08:40it sort of, it was, the game was sort of out of our hands halfway through the last quarter.
08:48Yeah, they gave themselves a bit too much to do, I think. In the women's, obviously,
08:51it was a bit more one-sided, 50 point the difference. It does probably on paper not
08:55look that great, you know, from a Tassie perspective. But Deb Reynolds, who's now
09:00coached both games and has been part of the Tasmanian women's footy set for such a long time,
09:04spoke pretty honestly and candidly about it and said, look, this is actually a really good sign
09:08that we proved, you know, in patches, our best footy was really good. It's just that these girls
09:14aren't, you know, exposed to this higher level often enough they're playing against girls who
09:18are playing in, you know, VFLW or, you know, state level competitions, whereas obviously ours is a
09:22much more regional model and probably don't play enough of this sort of highest end of footy to be
09:27able to maintain it for the full four quarters. You know, there is an article up on our website
09:31at the moment where she discusses it further, talks about, you know, why we need to get these
09:35next few years really right to make sure that the VFLW team, when it comes in in two years,
09:41you know, is a competitive and a strong one. Speaking of female sport, we had two netball
09:47grand finals at the Silverdome on Saturday night. I was there to cover them both. The 19th grand
09:52final was the Cavaliers' second in a row and second premiership in a row. It was a crazy game,
09:57hectic, not an inch given from either team. One of the great games of netball I've ever seen.
10:03Sophie Brewer, a goal attack, was simply amazing, shooting it from everywhere inside the tacking
10:07semicircle and seemingly got all of them in. And then it was followed up with the open grand final
10:13where the Hawks managed a three-peat. It's like we're 10 years ago. We're talking about the Hawks
10:18winning a three-peat. But, you know, just raced out of the gates really quickly, got a six-goal
10:24lead. And as Luke Carter told me on Monday, once you give them that sort of lead, they're not going
10:29to give it up. And that's effectively what happened. It was such an entertaining game.
10:34Tessa Coote was the great story. She retired at the end of that game. She won the grand final MVP
10:41as co-captain, having won three premierships in a row. You can't ask for much more than that.
10:46It was just such a great celebration. Yeah, take us to the atmosphere, mate,
10:49because obviously a little earlier in the year, I covered, I think it was a one-goal
10:53game between the Hawks and the Cavs in the seniors. And yeah, I can remember the Hawks,
11:0019 and unders, cheering really loudly at the Silverdome venue, which is obviously,
11:09I guess, accentuates the noise. Yeah, what was grand final day like?
11:13Yeah, pretty crazy. So we obviously had the Cavs in there with the Cavs dads as their
11:19support group, making noise all day. There was air horns, there was clappers, there was streamers,
11:24there was everything. It's always really loud in the Silverdome when you've got a big crowd there,
11:28just because obviously the indoor roof, it reverberates. And it really, when a player's
11:33about to run out of time to pass the ball, you can really feel it because it goes up about five
11:37notches. It's always a really great, really loud atmosphere, and it only makes for a better
11:42spectacle. I reckon that's all we've got time for, for this week. We'll see you again for the next one.