The Examiner’s Rob Shaw and Ben Hann unpack and discuss the sports news across Northern Tasmania.
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00:00 (upbeat music)
00:02 - Welcome to episode 35 of the Press Box,
00:10 the Examiner's weekly sportscast.
00:12 There's no Josh Partridge or Brian Allen this week,
00:14 so as usual, Ben and I will be doing the heavy lifting
00:16 for the sports department, no change there.
00:19 First Press Box of 2024, so we thought it was a good time
00:22 to look ahead to the year.
00:23 We wrote a bit of a predictions column this week
00:25 about what we thought might happen in world sport
00:29 and local sport over 2024.
00:31 We've got Tasmanian teams currently in contention
00:34 for the Sheffield Shield, the WNCL and the NBL,
00:38 probably not the BBL, but no change there.
00:40 So we'll kick off with the Sheffield Shield
00:43 and you've been talking to somebody involved
00:44 in that this week, Ben.
00:45 - Yes, yes, spoke to Jared Freeman,
00:48 who's obviously an all-rounder with the Tigers,
00:50 part of that team, who won that classic game
00:54 against Queensland late last year,
00:57 where they chased down 432 with three wickets in hand
01:00 and 10 bowls to spare.
01:02 Jared actually hit the sixth, which won the game,
01:04 and celebrations ensued with Brad Hope,
01:08 who was down the other end.
01:10 Another link there, Brad Hope was the bowler,
01:12 which Jared Freeman was hitting 230 off,
01:15 about 240 bowls off on the weekend.
01:17 - For Lindisfarne.
01:18 - Yeah, for Lindisfarne, so it all comes around.
01:22 So yeah, the Shield team, just to start off with,
01:25 they're in a pretty unusual spot
01:28 that they've found themselves in for the last few years.
01:31 Top of the ladder, playing some really, really good cricket
01:33 and a genuine chance at winning the whole thing,
01:36 alongside the WNCL team, which of course,
01:39 just keeps-- - Going for a third.
01:40 - Yeah, just keeps doing what it does
01:42 and just keeps winning.
01:43 Has to be red hot favorite to win a third in a row.
01:46 But yeah, so, but Jared was great.
01:48 He's actually playing for Mowbray this weekend.
01:51 He likes to come back whenever he can.
01:53 This is the first time he's doing it this year.
01:56 Mowbray played against Riverside on the weekend
02:00 and at 230, he's gonna be using his bowling skills,
02:03 which, very good bowler, obviously,
02:06 won't be needed with the bat, you wouldn't think.
02:09 But that game's really evenly poised,
02:11 so he should, he'll probably have an impact,
02:14 you can imagine.
02:14 - I've been, we've been writing stories
02:16 about Jared Freeman, it seems, for ages.
02:18 He was a junior sport winner for the Examiner
02:20 many years ago, but he made the big move
02:23 down to Hobart and it's been successful for him.
02:25 - Yeah, it's easy to forget he's only 23,
02:27 but he's really come into his own this year.
02:31 He felt, he said himself, he felt like his batting's come
02:34 such a long way this year.
02:36 He's been working with the New South African batting coach
02:39 who works for Tasmania now.
02:41 And he has, he pretty much just said,
02:43 he needs to put a bit more price on his wicket,
02:45 believe in himself a little bit more with that,
02:47 because if he faces 40, 50 bowls,
02:50 he can do some really, really big damage.
02:52 He's such a big hitter.
02:53 But yeah, he's, so fresh off the 230,
02:57 he said he's feeling really, really good about himself.
03:00 He goes, "Whenever my time runs out down south
03:03 "with the Tasmanian Tigers, I'll definitely be coming back
03:06 "to Moabra, they'll be my first contact."
03:08 So I think he really appreciates everything
03:11 they've done for him, and will be certainly
03:14 looking to get back whenever he can.
03:15 - And as you said, the Tasmanian team
03:17 are also going great guns in the WNCL.
03:19 They've won the last two titles,
03:21 they've won every game they've played this season.
03:23 They just did a double over New South Wales,
03:25 two big wins up there.
03:27 How do you think the NBL is shaping up?
03:30 Are the Jackjumpers a chance this year?
03:32 - Yeah, look, Scott Roth made a great point the other day.
03:36 The first three years of the Jackjumpers' existence,
03:38 after 19 games, there have been 10 wins and nine losses,
03:41 every single time.
03:42 So, there does seem to be a bit of a pattern forming
03:45 with the way he coaches sides.
03:47 He probably doesn't go all out
03:51 with, like, the team never usually finds its feet,
03:54 or goes at its best, until right at the end of the season.
03:58 They try and time their run.
04:00 And it looks like it could be happening again.
04:02 They were really, really impressive against Cairns
04:05 on the weekend.
04:06 They got a couple of big games this week,
04:08 on Wednesday and Friday, against Brisbane and Illawarra.
04:11 I think they're gonna make the grand final,
04:16 return after that first year.
04:18 But I think Melbourne United,
04:20 who have a lot of very good players,
04:21 will have a bit too much for them.
04:22 It will mean a Chris Golding NBL win,
04:25 but not for the Jackjumpers.
04:26 - You heard it here first.
04:27 So, you don't give the Sydney Kings a chance
04:29 to make the final?
04:30 - No, I think the Jackjumpers have too much for them,
04:33 and so do United.
04:34 - Lock it in.
04:35 It's also, 2024 also is an Olympic year,
04:39 and the state is optimistic
04:40 of another double-figure contribution
04:42 of Tasmanians going away.
04:44 The 11 Tasmanians who competed in Tokyo,
04:48 obviously that was a year delayed,
04:49 returned with a record seven medal holds,
04:52 and they're hopeful of a similar contribution.
04:54 Obviously, it helps considerably
04:55 that Ariane Titmuss is Tasmanian.
04:57 She's about half of that.
04:59 But we're well-placed for another solid contribution.
05:02 Just in the sport of cycling alone,
05:05 I wrote an article yesterday
05:06 about the six Launceston cyclists
05:09 that are all in for a big year.
05:10 Georgia Baker, Josh Duffy, Sam Fox,
05:13 Hamish McKenzie, Nicole Fane, and Lauren Perry.
05:15 That's all from one town,
05:17 and that's just one particular sport.
05:19 Georgia Baker and Josh Duffy
05:21 have both very much got Paris on their radar,
05:24 and I spoke to Josh about it,
05:25 and here's what he had to say about the year ahead.
05:27 - That's what my year next year revolves around,
05:30 basically, is Paris.
05:31 - What are your thoughts on Paris at the moment?
05:33 - Excited, 'cause, like I said,
05:36 super competitive environment,
05:37 so I know once we go there,
05:39 we're lining up with the best team on the track,
05:41 and with that team, I think we're pretty capable of winning,
05:44 I think, if we go, yeah.
05:45 - That's the Olympics coming up this year,
05:47 but looking locally,
05:49 the three genuine statewide competitions that we've got
05:52 in football, soccer, and netball,
05:55 it's gonna be the last season of the state league.
05:56 Josh Partridge put his neck on the line
05:58 and tipped Lauderdale to win.
06:00 What do you think of the state league this year?
06:02 - He did, it's obviously such an interesting year.
06:05 Some teams have really gone all out
06:07 to try and win the last one.
06:09 Some teams have been hurt by the fact that it's the last year,
06:11 especially the northern teams,
06:12 with just the transition and being able to deal with
06:15 moving into the NGFA.
06:17 He's picked Lauderdale, the bombers.
06:19 They obviously had those three runs in a row
06:21 at making the grand final, lost all three,
06:24 but he believes additions such as
06:26 former Essendon player Andrew Phillips
06:28 and Mitch Robinson, who's a player at Carlton in Brisbane,
06:32 they're both returning and playing for Lauderdale this year
06:35 to put it lightly, rather handy inclusions.
06:39 So I do see where Josh is coming from.
06:43 It would be nice if the northern team would obviously,
06:45 but I think Lauderdale will go into the season as favourites.
06:48 - How do you think the two Lonnie teams are facing?
06:50 - Look, it's interesting.
06:53 I think North Launceston will be good again.
06:55 They've still got some really good players,
06:56 but they do miss Ben Simpson next year.
06:59 He's going to be a big out.
07:01 He's obviously gone to the sand full.
07:03 And then Launceston have had a lot of change.
07:06 They're really an unknown next year,
07:07 I'm sorry, this year now, Launceston.
07:10 They've had a lot of players come in and out.
07:13 Mitch Thomp has got a really big task on his hands.
07:15 If he wants to be able to have a crack at the flag,
07:18 I think North Launceston are the better of the two teams
07:22 looking at it from this stage.
07:23 - Yeah.
07:23 Moving to soccer, in the NPL Tasmania,
07:25 I tipped Devonport to win.
07:27 That's a bit like saying Man City
07:28 are going to win the English Premier League.
07:29 It's not putting your neck on the line saying that.
07:31 I think Devonport are the best rung club in Tasmania.
07:34 They dominated the men's competition.
07:36 I actually think they're on the verge
07:37 of really dominating the women's competition as well.
07:40 There's changes to the league, it seems,
07:42 almost every year at the moment in both men's and women's.
07:45 And I don't think that lack of stability
07:47 helps many of the clubs.
07:49 But that's the way it is.
07:50 And so there's major changes
07:52 to the women's competition this year.
07:54 So it'll be interesting to see how that goes.
07:55 But if I was a betting man, which I'm not,
07:57 but I'd be putting money on Devonport.
07:59 And the other state league, I noticed you tipped,
08:01 in the netball, you tipped the Cavaliers
08:03 to win by one goal over the Hawks.
08:05 That'll make you popular among the Hawks.
08:07 - Yeah.
08:08 They're obviously a great team, the Hawks.
08:10 I think they've lost one game in two years, just about.
08:14 I just think it's, the Cavs weren't that far away
08:17 - No, they weren't.
08:18 - This last year.
08:19 And I just think they've got such a great youth system,
08:22 the Cavs, they're under 19,
08:23 the 19 and under's team, I should say, sorry,
08:26 was imperious all year.
08:28 All of those players are now coming up into the senior team.
08:30 You've got players like the Kidmer sisters,
08:33 you've got Ellie Marshall.
08:34 There's some really, really strong young players
08:38 coming through that system there.
08:40 Look, I would be equally unsurprised
08:42 if the Hawks won the whole thing.
08:46 I just think the Cavs,
08:47 and they took a game off them this year,
08:49 I think they're building the tools to deal with players
08:53 like Ashmore and these other great players
08:56 that the Hawks have.
08:57 They're two, gonna be the two best teams in the league,
08:59 again, which is a real testament
09:01 to the strength of Northern Netball.
09:03 But yeah, that's my early tip for the year.
09:07 It's gonna be egg on my face, I'm sure.
09:09 But yeah, I just think the youth of the Cavaliers
09:14 will shine through.
09:15 - Yeah, so I think summing all that up,
09:17 we're in for a huge year with the Olympics on the horizon.
09:20 The last year of the state league,
09:22 allegedly the AFL team coming in in the next couple of years.
09:25 I think it's gonna be a big time
09:26 to be a sports reporter in Tasmania.
09:28 - Absolutely, I can't wait for it.
09:30 - Yeah, thanks very much for tuning into us this week,
09:33 and we'll be back next week.
09:34 (upbeat music)
09:37 (upbeat music)
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