Herald Sun journalist Daryl Timms retires after 30 years covering sport and racing

VETERAN Herald Sun journalist Daryl Timms will next week retire after 30 years covering the biggest stories in sport and racing.

Herald Sun racing and sports journalist Daryl Timms has put the pen down after 30 years and is set to focus on horse-training. Picture: George Salpigtidis

THE Herald Sun sports department will become a safer place with the retirement next week of veteran sports reporter Daryl Timms.

Timms has spent the last 30 years combining his time between breaking a host of football and racing stories (Hawthorn-Melbourne merger, John Greening exclusive) while also building up a practical joke CV to rival any in the company’s history.

“Timmsy”, as he’s affectionately known, plans to smell the roses for a while and just potter around with his nags in his role as a Cranbourne-based trainer.

Yesterday he found himself on the other end of the tape recorder when asked to name his memorable moments in his career, a swapping of roles that saw him almost serious at times.

He arrived at The Sun as it was in 1986 via a cadetship at the Dandenong Journal, then joined the Sunday Observer before cutting his VFL teeth at The Truth, or “Babe Ruth” as it was known. So Daryl, over to you.

Daryl Timms covered Alex Jesaulenko’s appointment as Carlton coach in 1989.

Most memorable moments:

Ted Whitten was a favourite. At a state game in Perth some lunatic gatecrashed the pre-game function in the morning. Ted told him to ‘F’ off, prompting the bloke to push Ted. All the players got involved and two VFL officials came to me and said ‘you didn’t see what just happened’. Then Teddy called me over and said ‘did you see that? Write it, write it’. So I got a front-page story out of it. Paul Couch was another person I loved being around because of his ability to find a laugh in most things.

Best sporting events reported on:

The 1989 Grand Final between Hawthorn and Geelong, Jeff Fenech knocking out Steve McCrory in 1986 and Chautauqua coming from last to win The Chairman’s Sprint in Sha Tin earlier this year.

This pic tells it. Chautauqua showed in Chairman's Sprint at why he's the world's top sprinter@superracing pic.twitter.com/fZXva8klhk

— Daryl Timms (@TimmsyHeraldSun) May 1, 2016

Run-ins:

I asked Daniel Kerr a question once and he said ‘that’s a stupid f...ing question”. I told him I thought it was “a pretty f...ing good question”. He was just a smart a..e

Coaches:

Mick Malthouse once asked me at a press conference if I was deaf as well as stupid. A bit later, he came at me and grabbed me on the chest which became a big deal. But after that we got on pretty well. The next week after that Malthouse incident Kevin Sheedy grabbed me in a headlock at a press conference as a joke.

BACKROADS, a homebred for Nagambie's Limerick Lane, wins at Mornington for trainer (& racing journo) Daryl Timms pic.twitter.com/asookS38Uo

— TBV (@vicbreeders) December 2, 2016