The Sniper is back with all your Gold Coast sporting gossip
The Sniper is back with all your Gold Coast sporting gossip.
Local sport
Don't miss out on the headlines from Local sport. Followed categories will be added to My News.
The Sniper is back with all your Gold Coast sporting gossip.
RUGBY LEAGUE
TITANS centre Brian Kelly says next month’s NRL Nines in Perth will serve as an ideal lead-in for his fourth season in the top grade - but he faces a nervous wait to learn if he’ll get there.
With the 23-year-old’s partner, Marissa Carr, due to give birth to their first child in mid-February, Kelly remains unsure if he will be on the plane to WA with his Gold Coast teammates.
“I think (the Nines) has been out for a couple of years so it’s a good little warm up to the year. Just getting your hands on the ball and space for us backs, it’s a fun tournament,” Kelly, who scored eight tries in 23 games for the Titans last season, said.
“I’m looking forward to the season kick off and the Nines is just around the corner. This year’s my fourth pre-season and I’m probably enjoying it the most this year.
“I’ve just got to wait and see (about the Nines), I’ve got a little bub on the way and it’s around that due date so it just depends on if it comes or not. I’m just excited to have a little family come along with the footy.
“It hasn’t changed too much about me, I’m just excited and keen for the experience. I can’t wait for the season to kick off.”
With new coach Justin Holbrook putting a heavy focus on defence in pre-season, Kelly said assistant and renowned hardman Jim Dymock had already made an impact on the playing group.
“Jimmy’s been awesome. He definitely ramps you up and gets you geed up for training,” Kelly said of the 47-year-old, who won a World Cup with Australia and the 1995 premiership at Canterbury.
“If you do something good or bad he definitely pulls you up or encourages you as well. He’s a big help this pre-season and I’m enjoying working under him.”
FOOTBALL
WHILE we’re on the subject of babies, Merrimac owner Chris Cahill has also started 2020 on a high.
The Gold Coast resident and brother of international soccer star Tim welcomed a set of twins into his family last week alongside wife Katrina.
Baby Carter and Bentley are doing well and join their three siblings in what could soon be a mini Cahill soccer team.
RUGBY UNION
WHICH Queensland rugby star was spotted in a Dalby convenience store loading up on blocks of chocolate ahead of the Reds final trial against the NSW Waratahs on Friday night?
It didn’t stop the speedy backline member from crossing for a try.
Could excessive quantities of Cadbury Top Deck be the secret ingredient for try-scoring success?
Your columnist will dutifully increase my intake to test the exciting new sports science theory.
SURF LIFE SAVING
WE love a conspiracy theory and we also love it when athletes go to war against their governing body.
So as the surf life saving community continues to air their grievances about Iron X, the new exhibition event held on Monday at Mooloolaba, some believe that the event was a ploy by Surf Life Saving Australia to clap back at their negators.
The amount of money and resources poured into the one day event led to some believe it was an attempt by their governing body to get back at athletes and clubs following public opposition of the idea late last year.
AUSSIE RULES
WHEN the Suns’ had to choose one AFLW player to mic up at a recent training session as part of content in the lead up to their inaugural season, draftee Serene Watson was the obvious choice.
Not only is the defender a soon to be star of the game but she has the banter to match ... so much so that her teammates drew the line during a session the other week.
“I was placed on a 20-minute speaking ban the other week,” Watson said.
“I wasn’t allowed to speak but they (her Suns teammates) eventually cracked it and I was allowed to start speaking again.”
RUGBY UNION
BOND University winger Henry Speight has pulled back the curtain on the best and worst banter merchants at the Queensland Reds.
“Isaac Lucas is up there,” Speight said.
“He’s the least-weighing back but he throws his weight around with banter.
“In the forwards, Harry Wilson gives you a bit of flak but if he has a dad bod like mine in 10 years he’ll doing well.”
A fair point from the six-packed former Wallaby, who turns 32 in March.
FOOTBALL
IT’S hard to know what to make of Fraser Eller’s comments about his time at Gold Coast Premier League club Nerang.
The 20-year-old striker spent the first half of last season with Palm Beach but switched to Nerang after falling out of favour with coach Brett Budwee.
But having buried the hatchet with Budwee, Eller has returned to the Sharks for the 2020 season and opened up on his time with the Eagles.
“I enjoyed it. I had a couple of mates there who made it a pretty easy transition,” Eller said.
“It was different to Palmy. It was a bit different where everyone is fighting for their spot.”
Given the Sharks finished lower than Nerang last season, maybe they need to have more competition for spots.
CRICKET
HELENSVALE Pacific Pines quick Alex Hayes may be the king of the understatement.
The 24-year-old left-armer has enjoyed a breakout Kookaburra Cup season, taking 18 wickets at 23.72.
And he knows exactly why.
“I can move it both ways in and out so that helps at times,” he said.
There’s probably a few opposition batsmen who would agree.
RUGBY UNION
THE generational shift in rugby’s famous Front Rowers Club has been staggering.
An Australian under-20s prop hailing from the Gold Coast has been sending out invitations on facebook to like his meme page, ‘Vodka Cruiser memes for beer drinkin blokes.’
Getting caught drinking a Guava-flavoured alcopop would have been a death sentence in club rugby even a decade ago.
16-year old Emerson Jones triumphs as Family Connection Takes Center Stage
World number one junior Emerson Jones made her Far North debut on Wednesday, but for the 16-year old with a bright future, it was an acknowledgment of the past shared with her older brother that was at the forefront of her performance.
Australia’s No.1 junior tennis star battles it out at Cairns International
Australia’s number one ranked junior female tennis star has gone down in a gutsy effort at the Cairns Tennis International on Thursday morning. READ ABOUT THE DAY 5 ACTION HERE.