DAVE: Alright boys, a brilliant weekend of sport, both on the international stage and locally, with Ash Barty taking out the Australian Open and plenty happening on the local sporting fields as well. Last week I picked Sam Kerr over Ash Barty as our greatest current female athlete…did I get it wrong Tyler?
ASH BARTY
TYLER: Yeah, I think you were wrong Dave. She didn’t drop a set for the whole tournament which was pretty impressive. I was at a wedding and checked the scores, she was down 5-1 in the second set and by the time I got home she was holding up the trophy. She’s a superstar and she smashed a beer down after the match which sort of made us even more proud.
DAVE: She handled the pressure of the situation extremely well. My only doubt heading into the final was that she hadn’t been tested all tournament, but she well and truly ticked that box didn’t she. Ash seems to have her life in perspective, winning and losing doesn’t shape the person she is, and that’s probably the most impressive thing about her, I think. She’s not over the top with her emotions, she doesn’t carry on, what a ripper Aussie to have represent our country.
LACHLAN: Like Tyler said, she was 5-1 down and it looked like we were going to a third for sure…she was all at sea but lifted like a true champion. The moment for me was when Evonne Goolagong came out to present the trophy. Ash wore an Evonne-inspired dress at Wimbledon last year so obviously they have a great connection. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house, an incredible moment, one we will always look back on with pride. It lifted Australia, Melbourne in particular, after everything we’ve all been through.
TYLER: It was good to see her with Cathy Freeman as well…that was pretty cool.
LACHLAN: Probably three of our greatest indigenous athletes, all there together, that was pretty special.
DAVE: I see our new Australian of the Year, Dylan Alcott, was at the Barty after-party as well, knocking back a few margaritas. Look out boys, I reckon there might be a Dan Murphy’s sponsorship coming up for the pair of them.
LACHLAN: With Barty, I think we’ve got the 2023 Australian of the Year out of the way nice and early. I think the judges can sign off for the rest of the year.
DAVE: What about Nadal, what a competitor that man is…he looked absolutely gone when he went two sets down.
TYLER: He was stepping on his own toes a bit those first two sets. Unforced errors were 20 to seven, he threw away a set point in the second, and he probably lost 10 kilos in sweat. But his mental and physical fitness, the whole package, it’s been almost impossible to break down over the years and proved that way again. Everyone was cheering for Rafa…unless you were Russian or part of Medvedev’s family.
DAVE: Yes…Djokovic and Medvedev both leave Australia with their tales between their legs and Rafa comes out smiling – the perfect conclusion to a great tournament I would have thought.
TYLER: One more thing. Chair Umpiring in tennis, it’s the worse job in sport, they’re sitting ducks, they just sit there and get yelled out (laughs).
LOCAL HIGHLIGHTS
DAVE: Okay boys, let’s change our focus to local sport. Over the last three weeks we have had three hat-tricks in West Gippsland cricket – Aaren Corrin, Nick Mueller and now Nick Kyval – and a bloke called Matt Guy (not the opposition leader) has an albatross at Drouin. We’re not talking Barty or Nadal here – but it’s great to see our locals have their moments in the sun.
LACHLAN: Yeah, it’s an unreal effort, it’s great to see the locals emulating the feats of their heroes. Peter Siddle can claim a hat-trick, and a bloke from the Goon can get that same feeling…it’s one of the great things we love about sport.
DAVE: There’s been some serious bowling figures returned lately. I think we’ve used the Scotty Boland “Build the man a statue” headline about four times since Christmas…Tyler, I think you’re the main culprit.
TYLER: Yep, I’ll put my hand up for that one, but I love local sport so much. Put a footy, cricket ball, golf club, basketball in someone’s hand and they may as well have a pen…they write their own stories. It makes it easy to fill the paper that’s for sure. Have a look at James Quinn, who I’ve written a story about this week – 500 wickets – that’s an unbelievable effort and one that needs to be celebrated.
LACHLAN: And it’s great for the kids coming through to see that as well, that you don’t have to be on the big stage to have great moments in sport. You can still do something remarkable at local level and it still means as much.
DAVE: Even the golf and bowls, I love subbing those reports each week. Every week there’s the skip of a local team that transforms the game with one great bowl…they’d get a massive thrill out of that!
LOCAL EVENTS
DAVE: Local events boys, I was at Tooradin on Australia Day to watch some cricket and at Officer on Sunday for the WGCA Kookaburra Cup Finals. The venues were great, the events were well run, it’s just enjoyable to be at local sporting events and enjoy the efforts that the organisers put in.
TYLER: I love this topic, I can’t get enough, I’ve actually already looked at the footy fixtures to see where I’m going round one. That’s how excited I am to be back amongst the crowd, I reckon there are going to be some huge crowds at the local footy this year. The atmosphere, the culture, let’s hope we get a full crack at it this year.
LACHLAN: I was there for Marc Holt’s 1000th goal…
DAVE: I was there too…
LACHLAN: I was doing the radio for that; I was the boundary rider…
DAVE: That was my going bald moment, you know the adds where they say “that was the moment”, well that was mine. I watched the video back and saw a few photos and thought ‘who’s that bald bastard’…it was me, that’s when I knew I was going bald. Sorry to interrupt you mate…
LACHLAN: That’s okay Dave…it sounds like something you needed to get off your chest anyway (laughs). The smell of the canteen, the swearing of the coaches, the volunteers…they do it because they love it. Sport brings people together and I think it’s never more evident than at community sporting events…it’s great to be a part of.
TYLER: The local netball is always good to be a part of, the venues are smaller and there’s so much going on. The noises from the court, the coaches yelling out, it’s just a really vibrant atmosphere to be a part of.
DAVE: On Sunday, the WGCA and Officer put a lot of time into that event. The Woolworths Cricket Blast kids were there putting on a show, there were representatives from Cricket Victoria in attendance, organising catering, making sure the speakers are working, do we have enough toilet paper, is the beer cold…. when everything goes right you never here about it but if one thing goes wrong…that’s all you hear about. Well done to all our local clubs and organisations for the tremendous work and planning that they put in to their events.
CRICKET MOVING FORWARD
DAVE: Boys, I’ve had a chat to a few prominent local cricketers over the last few weeks and we’ve discussed how a couple of seasons of one-day cricket will impact two-day cricket moving forward. Some teams took time to adjust to the white-ball…will it take time to adjust back to the red ball and the longer forms of the game?
TYLER: I wouldn’t be surprised to see teams getting bowled out in 50 or 60 overs, not used to batting that long, but I think the real adjustment will not be with the bat, but with the ball and in the field. Standing in the field for 20 or 40 overs is a lot different than 70 or 80 overs, it’s very tiring, and maybe the patient batters will cash in through the latter overs. But there’s nothing better than the creams and the long form of the game, I’m looking forward to its return.
LACHLAN: I prefer red-ball cricket over the white-ball, it gives you more time and creates better battles between bat and ball. You don’t have to go swinging from ball one, you can go back to waiting until after tea, when the loose balls normally come, to put a decent score on the board. Some bowlers will fatigue, some move the red ball more than the white, others the opposite, but it will be interesting to see how everyone adjusts.
DAVE: I can think of a couple of batters that have really blossomed over the Covid-period, due to shorter 40-over cricket, because they naturally like to hit the ball and they can do so from ball one. There’s a maximum of two fielders out in the early overs and it’s sort of like they have an excuse to play a rash shot and hopefully get away with it. We’ve seen some big hundreds in 40-over cricket over the last two years…it works for some blokes…but I just wonder how forgiving a captain or coach is going to be when one of their top order hits an early one up the chimney in the longer form of the game. I’m sure some of us will miss the big hitting, and some will enjoy the slower passages of play, it’s a great game cricket like that. If I was a betting man, that’s right I am…I would put money on a team to score 400 in two-day cricket next season.
TYLER: Four an over is no longer a massive ask – if that’s the template we’re looking at then we are going to see some big scores.
DAVE: Well done boys, more local content this week…and more local heroes, that’s a good thing!
