What we want to see in Australian sport in 2017
AFTER a year of fairytale victories and sporting upsets, GLENN McFARLANE takes a look ahead at some of the burning questions in Australian sport for 2017.
Sport
Don't miss out on the headlines from Sport. Followed categories will be added to My News.
AFTER a year of fairytale victories and sporting upsets, GLENN McFARLANE takes a look ahead at some of the burning questions in Australian sport for 2017.
1. COULD WE HAVE A MELBOURNE DERBY A-LEAGUE GRAND FINAL?
Absolutely, we can. On paper Melbourne City has the best team in the competition and we know Melbourne Victory has the capacity and wherewithal to produce its best when it has to — as we saw in the recent derby.
Etihad Stadium is vacant on the weekend of the A-League grand final, Sunday May 7. So what better way to cap off the 2016-17 A-League season? Typically, you would expect Tim Cahill to rise to the occasion.
2. WILL WINX JOIN RACING’S IMMORTALS?
She’s almost there already. Trainer Chris Waller’s mighty mare followed up the fastest Cox Plate on the strathayr (2015) with the most comprehensive win — eight breathtaking lengths — in Australia’s greatest weight-for-age race (2016).
A third Cox Plate next spring would elevate her from champion to immortal, and there is no reason to think that won’t happen.
By then she could have extended her winning streak to 17 and pushed her prizemoney beyond $13 million, within striking distance of Makybe Diva’s Australasian $14.52 million record.
3. WHAT CHANCE THE WESTERN BULLDOGS BACK-TO-BACK?
The gap between the Dogs’ first and second flags was 62 years; the gap between their second and third might just be the one season.
Premiership sides aren’t technically meant to become stronger, but on paper the Western Bulldogs will field a more rounded, more seasoned side in 2017.
They welcome back Bob Murphy and Mitch Wallis from injury, have signed up Travis Cloke, while Stewart Crameri is the equivalent of a new recruit.
Throw in Matt Suckling, Lin Jong, Marcus Adams and Jack Redpath as players pushing their claims and the Dogs are a serious premiership threat, with Greater Western Sydney their most likely serious challenger.
4. IS WOMEN’S FOOTBALL A FAD, OR SOMETHING BIG?
It’s big. Seriously big ... and they haven’t even bounced a ball in anger yet.
The eight-team, 28-game season kicks off with a Collingwood-Carlton clash on February 3 and runs through to the grand final on March 25.
There will be some teething problems, as there always is in a competition virtually built from scratch, and the first season will be a learning curve for players, officials and the fans.
But with the clear backing of the public and the AFL, and the refreshing backstories of the players (including marquee signings such as Mo Hope, Daisy Pearce and Katie Brennan), there is no doubt the trajectory of this competition is only going in one direction — through the roof.
5. WILL THE LITTLE URN RETURN TO OUR TROPHY CABINET?
The old enemy might have won four of the past five series — three of them played in the Old Dart — but Australia has already been installed as $1.75 favourites to win back the Ashes.
Although that seems short for a team still with plenty of question marks, the home conditions hold the key.
If we can get James Pattinson and Pat Cummins fit and firing again, the bowling stocks could hardly be stronger alongside Mitch Starc and Josh Hazlewood.
There is less certainty about the spinner’s role. The English attack will once more be carried by veterans James Anderson and Stuart Broad. Another point of interest is the English captaincy.
Steve Smith, with another full year as a leader under his belt, might have a new counterpart — Alastair Cook is rethinking his role as England skipper after the recent 4-0 Test drubbing to India.
6. SHOULD DANIEL RICCIARDO FIND A NEW DRINKING VESSEL?
Not unless it is the world drivers’ championship trophy.
Ricciardo started drinking champers out of his driving boot — he called it his “shoey” — when he finished second in the German Grand Prix, and despite the obvious sanitary concerns, it didn’t faze him for the rest of the year (or upset his stomach).
In fact, he went on to win the Malaysian Grand Prix and finish third in the drivers’ championship. Ricciardo is improving all the time and already has his eyes on the Melbourne Grand Prix on March 26.
He is listed as third favourite to win the title, behind Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton, and Red Bull teammate Max Verstappen.
He is a much shorter quote to keep up the “shoey”.
7. IS IT TIME FOR US TO OFFER KYRGIOS AND TOMIC TO NEW ZEALAND?
Not yet.
We Australians are a forgiving lot, but somewhere there has to be a breaking point.
That might come at the 2017 Australian Open for either Kyrgios or Bernard Tomic.
We want to like them; we want them to make the most of their undoubted talents, and not look back in 20 years with regrets or recriminations.
But we also want them to stop acting like prats.
The sooner they realise the world isn’t against them, the sooner they might find Australia is actually with them again.
So c’mon guys, give us your best at Melbourne Park, and leave the attitude and arrogance in the locker room once and for all.
Let’s make 2017 the year you turn it all around and push deep into the top 10, maybe even with a whiff of grand slam success on the horizon.
8. CAN RICHIE PORTE DO A CADEL, AND WIN THE TOUR?
Not unless three-time winner Chris Froome is hit with mechanical failure in consecutive stages and Colombian climber Nairo Quintana returns to taxi driving.
But with Cadel Evans in his corner as an adviser at team BMC, Porte can certainly build on last year’s fifth and set his sights firmly on a top-three finish.
From there Porte will look to make 2018 his year.
Originally published as What we want to see in Australian sport in 2017
The future is now: Moore absence opens door for Magpie history
Collingwood will be without captain Darcy Moore for Anzac Day, opening the door for the Magpies’ youngest captain in 57 years to lead them in the biggest game of the 2025 season.
Reid of the week: How Murphy climbed to the top
Murphy Reid is just happy to be mentioned in the same sentence as his namesake Harley from the Eagles. But the Docker is looking like a 200-game star himself.