The Examiner's Benn Hann, Brian Allen and Josh Partridge unpack and discuss sports news from across Northern Tasmania. Video by Aaron Smith and Phillip Biggs (30/7/24)
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00:00Welcome one and all to another episode of the Press Box.
00:10Today's episode is episode 62.
00:12My name is Ben Han.
00:13I'm joined by Brian Allen and Josh Partridge.
00:15Once again, we're well into the Olympics.
00:18Day three has just wrapped up.
00:21Well, night three for us.
00:22Anyway, I'll start off with everyone's favorite segment,
00:27of course, numerology.
00:30Now, boys, I can already see, I can sense your anticipation for this numerology.
00:3962 is an important number in Tasman, or not Tasmanian sport,
00:45but Australian Olympic sport, because at 62 years old, Andrew Hoy,
00:50the equestrian, who's won three gold medals at the Tokyo Olympics,
00:57was the oldest ever male Australian athlete to compete at the Olympic Games.
01:01So that's actually a good find.
01:05Well, hopefully the rest of the episode lives up to that, man.
01:09It's obviously been such a busy start to the Olympics for Australia,
01:12as it always is with the pool, Brian.
01:14You were up at the early hours this morning with coffee in hand
01:16and watching Ariane Titmuss swim.
01:18Yeah, it was incredibly frosty this morning as well.
01:21So yeah, look, it was a titanic battle.
01:27It had massive hype around it.
01:29You had Ariane Titmuss, Blancessen-Born, and it was here until she was mid-teens,
01:35and against Queenslander Molly O'Callaghan.
01:38And they trained together.
01:41They're coached by the same coach, Dean Boxall.
01:44And yeah, they were the two favorites going into this 200-meter freestyle final.
01:51And yes, Molly O'Callaghan came away with the win,
01:56got the gold.
01:57It was actually Hong Kong's Siobhan Hohi who was in front for the first three laps,
02:03and Ariane was second at the final turn, and Molly was third.
02:08But then Molly stayed underwater a little bit longer at that final turn,
02:13and it worked a treat.
02:14She surged ahead early in that final lap and, yeah, just held on.
02:21It was, yeah, it was actually great scenes following the race.
02:26Molly spoke, you know, really well of Ariane, and then they were on the podium.
02:33And just before the national anthem came on,
02:38Molly invited Ariane up to stand with her on the gold medal dais to sing the national anthem.
02:45And it was really special.
02:47Yeah, it was a great race, a great event.
02:50As you mentioned, they had such respect for each other, know each other so well.
02:53It was dubbed the Clash of a Generation.
02:55I think it really lived up to it.
02:57Earlier in the week, I suppose on Sunday morning,
03:00I was up at even frostier hours at 4 a.m. to watch her race in the 400 meters.
03:07Now, if that was Clash of a Generation, this one was, you know, just I don't know what to call it,
03:13but, you know, versing Canada's Simon McIntosh,
03:16who, as you can see from the medley, is just an outrageously good swimmer,
03:19and then Katie Ledecky, the American legend.
03:21And they went to battle in the 400 meters.
03:24And to be honest, Ariane never looked like losing.
03:26She was dominant from start to finish.
03:29And, you know, her third gold medal was the perfect way to start the Olympics
03:33for Australia's second gold medal at the time.
03:36We've obviously won a few more since.
03:38But Josh, that win in mind, even though she got the silver this morning,
03:44I think it's pretty safe to say Ariane might just be the greatest Tasmanian athlete we've ever produced.
03:51Yeah, it's a debate that comes around, I guess, every four years or every three,
03:55given the later Tokyo Olympics last time around.
03:59But yeah, our very own Rob Shaw penned a column in 2021,
04:03kind of not necessarily debating the fact, but going down that road.
04:08And I've seen a bit of talk on social media going down that road as well after the gold.
04:12And yeah, I think obviously the main candidate to go against that's Ricky Ponting.
04:17And, part of growing up, he's my childhood idol.
04:20So I'm not going to speak ill of him in the slightest.
04:23But what Ariane's done on a global scale in what is a reasonably individual sport, it's fantastic.
04:31And she has obviously a little bit more to give.
04:34Obviously, swimming, you kind of peak a bit younger.
04:37But the likes of Emma McCann have shown that you can keep going for as long as you really want to.
04:42So it'll be interesting to see just how much more Ariane can do within her career.
04:47James Faulkner is still my goat, to be honest.
04:49But we'll go to the men's side of the swimming.
04:53Max Giuliani, Hobart boy.
04:55He'd made a really good account of himself, won his heat,
04:59performed really strongly again in the semifinal,
05:01and I think finished sixth or something like that in the final.
05:05It's such a strong field, the 200 metre freestyle men's.
05:08David Popovich, I think was the, I think that's his name, the Romanian.
05:13He was obviously amazing.
05:14But I think Giuliani, for his first Olympics, first time out, did a really solid effort.
05:19We'll move on, though, to a quick other roundup of other Tasmanians going on.
05:23Josh, what else was in action?
05:25Yeah, so we've had Eddie Ockenden in the hockey.
05:28The Hockey Brewers, they're not necessarily playing their best,
05:30but they've won their first two games of the competition.
05:34So Eddie was inches away from scoring in last night's game.
05:38So, I'd call them Hockey Brewers.
05:41Yeah, the Kookaburras.
05:42Yeah, the Kookaburras, the Hockey Brewers.
05:44I've got the Hockey Brewers on the mind because of Madison Brooks,
05:47who is also a fellow Tasmanian who is competing.
05:51She was the traveling reserve, but she got a gig in game one due to an injury to a teammate,
05:56but didn't get on the field in game two due to the teammate coming back and actually scoring.
06:00So, yeah, the girls are going pretty well as well.
06:03Yeah, it's been all wins in the hockey front.
06:05It's been great.
06:06That brings us now on to Handy's Hard Hitters.
06:16Now this question, it might not be as hard hitting as the others,
06:18but I think it's a good, you know, topical question.
06:22Josh, I'll start with you.
06:24What is your favorite discipline and why?
06:28I think you said it yourself best.
06:30I'd be lying to myself if wearing a Tennis Australia kit here, I didn't say tennis.
06:35I mean, it's not the most Olympic of Olympic sports per se,
06:40like it's not one of those ones that kind of peaks every four years at the Olympics.
06:44It has bigger events about it, but it's one that's really captivated me at the moment.
06:48I spent seeing the likes of Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz playing doubles together
06:52and representing their country with such passion has been,
06:55it's been fantastic to see that come around and play for something other than themselves,
06:59which tennis obviously being quite an individual sport can bring.
07:03And you, Brian?
07:04Oh, mate, it's the middle distance running.
07:06It's the 800, 1500 meters.
07:09Yeah, 3000 and even the 5.
07:13You can go up to the 10 as well.
07:17There's probably a few disciplines there, but middle distance running covers it.
07:22Now the likes of, at this Olympics, Stuart McSwain from King Island.
07:28Yes.
07:28And then Peter Boll.
07:32So Stuart's in, I believe, the 1500 and 5000 meter and Peter Boll's in the 800 meters.
07:38But just growing up, like watching Craig Mottram,
07:42just it was so much joy looking forward to his races and watching him.
07:46And I guess for me, like I enjoyed doing middle distance running growing up,
07:51but it's the tactics of it.
07:53Like there's that little bit of time for tactics to come into play.
07:58It's not just a sprint and it's, you know,
08:02you often talk about the kick at the end and when do you kick in that last lap?
08:07So yeah, middle distance running for me, mate.
08:10Yeah, usually the longer the distance, the better shot there's chances.
08:13So I actually agree on that front.
08:15Mine would have to be the 4x100 meter relay, whether it's, you know, swimming or running.
08:22I just love sports that are so individualistic having that team aspect to it.
08:26It just creates so much more excitement and having,
08:29I think it just creates so many more iconic moments when you've got,
08:33you know, I mentioned last week about the Thorpe and Hull sort of thing like that.
08:35We've also got Australia's domination in the women's of the swimming and stuff like that.
08:39And, you know, it doesn't always mean that the same people win
08:42because it's all about teamwork.
08:43And I think Jacob Gaspard and the Australian team in the 4x100 meter relay in the running this time
08:48have a seriously good chance because they're such good, I suppose, teammates.
08:53We'll go now quickly on to, you know, other business.
08:56Obviously, Olympics is taking up a lot of our time at the moment,
08:59but it's also been a big weekend in footy, Brian.
09:02There was a really big result coming out of Rochellin Hillwood.
09:06Tell us a bit about it.
09:07Yeah, look, we're only now three rounds away from the NTFA Premier Finals
09:12and yeah, teams are jostling for positions trying to get that finals double chance.
09:17South Launceston pretty much secured first.
09:19So they'll go straight.
09:21They'll have the rest the first week of the finals,
09:23but the likes of Rotorilie, Longford, Bridge North and Hillwood are still in the mix for the double chance.
09:29And Rotorilie just put in a commanding performance.
09:33Midfielder and sort of the league's premier midfielder, Jordan Cousins, got off the chain,
09:38kicked three goals in the first half and the game was pretty much over at halftime.
09:42So it said a lot about how strong Rotorilie are as the reigning premiers
09:47and said a bit about how much work Hillwood need to do before their likely elimination final.
09:52And Benny, mate, you've got a big game coming up in your division this weekend.
09:56Yes, in Division 1.
09:57It's one loss between the two, Lilladale and Old Scotch.
10:01They're the clear favourites to be in the grand final this year.
10:04The last game they played without Lilladale, it was one point separating them.
10:07It was an unbelievable contest.
10:09This is very likely going to be the same.
10:12Both teams have been in great form recently as well.
10:14So I think you can only expect more of the same between these two teams.
10:19It's going to be a cracking contest.
10:21I reckon that's all we have time for.
10:23Make sure you guys get some sleep in the meantime, but we'll see you guys next week.