The top 35 biggest sports stories of 2024
From a retiring Geelong Cats great, elite level basketball coming to the region and a controversial masterplan for the city’s premier sports precinct, there has been plenty of big stories this year.
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They are the biggest sports stories of 2024.
This masthead has gone through the archives to discover which stories made the biggest headlines this year and got local people talking.
And there have been plenty of contenders, from Geelong winning its inaugural WNBL licence, a new masterplan for Kardinia Park and a champion Cats forward retiring as a new star arrives.
The biggest Geelong Advertiser sports stories in 2024
Kardinia Park masterplan
A masterplan for Geelong’s number one sports precinct was one of biggest, ongoing sporting stories in 2024 and will continue to be in 25, with the Cats keen to build an indoor training hub in an existing car park while there has been discussions of a boutique stadium at the site for several years.
Meanwhile, it appears multiple netball courts could be removed for the overhaul.
Geelong hoops goes national
Geelong United Basketball announced in May it had attained a WNBL licence following the cessation of the Melbourne Boomers.
However, their inaugural season has not been without drama with US import Lynetta Kizer parting ways with the club after just one game.
Off-court issues at Geelong Arena
Geelong United’s NBL1 men’s coach Grant Wallace was reinstated just 48 hours after walking away from his post following a reported succession plan with women’s mentor Jamie Petty. Wallace was subsequently granted a two-year contract extension while Petty and NBL1 South player Sarah Elsworthy will not return in 2025.
However, Geelong have since snapped up six existing United WNBL players for the looming season which starts in March.
Bellarine female basketballers’ strong top tier debut
The Bellarine Storm’s women’s team excelled in their first season in the Big V championship.
After losing last year’s division one grand final to Warrnambool, the Storm, with the addition of some new players in Ally Knights, Bridgette Rettstatt and Courtney Strait shook off the disappointment to play in a preliminary final in 2024.
They would go down to eventual champions Wyndham by seven points.
Surfcoast continue to ascend
The Surfcoast Chargers maintained their trajectory in 2024, going from deadlast in 2022, sixth last year to a grand final berth in Big V’s division two.
The Chargers farewelled their coach David Scott who stepped away after his side’s brave nine-point loss to Craigieburn in the decider.
Popular physio dies in PNG
Beloved Geelong physiotherapist Travis McCombe passed away after a medical episode on his 53rd birthday.
McCombe, who spent a season at the Cats in 2008, had been leading a travel tour to Papua New Guinea, the country he spent the first 12 years of his life.
However, he collapsed in the water after experiencing what he thought was chest and shoulder pain.
Hawk calls it a day
One of Geelong’s greatest players and three-time premiership forward Tom Hawkins hung up the boots after 359 games and 796 goals at the highest level across 18 seasons.
Hawkins would injure his foot in Round 15 against Carlton on a Friday night and would not return for the Cats’ run into finals, despite playing his final games in the state league.
Bailey becomes a Cat
Geelong’s engine room is set to be massively bolstered in 2025 after the Cats snared Western Bulldogs star Bailey Smith during the trade period.
Smith, who missed all of the 2024 season with a knee injury, was traded to Kardinia Park in a four-way deal.
Resurgent Cats
Some again thought they would drop off the AFL perch after missing the finals in 2023 but Geelong continued to prove the doubters wrong, qualifying for a preliminary final against the eventual premier Brisbane while unearthing some stars of the future in Lawson Humphries and Ollie Dempsey.
While Humphries quickly became a mainstay in defence, Dempsey would win the Rising Star award and played a major role in rejuvenating the Cats.
Cats forward hospitalised after three-goal performance
Premiership star Tyson Stengle was hospitalised after being found unresponsive in a local nightclub and just hours after starring for the Cats in an important win over North Melbourne in Hobart.
However, Stengle would put the lowpoint behind him to be one of the club’s better players as they went deep in September.
Moloney the marvel
You could make a pretty solid argument Aishling Moloney is Geelong’s greatest recruiting story from its AFLW program so far.
The Tipperary product blazed her own path in 2024, not only winning her first All-Australian jacket in just her second season, but led the goal kicking in the competition with 21 majors.
Fortunately for Cats fans, Moloney has committed to a further three seasons at Kardinia Park.
Falcons snapped up in national draft
Geelong Falcons star Sara Howley is dreaming of a Round 1 AFLW debut after being snapped up by the GWS Giants.
The midfielder was left visually stunned when she was taken inside the top five in the draft.
Howley is among three current or former Falcons taken in the 2024 draft, with her current teammate Rebecca Clottey heading to Hawthorn with pick 50 while graduate and this year’s VFLW rising star Keeley Hardingham going pick earlier to the Western Bulldogs.
Big test for Taylah
After guiding Grovedale to a women’s flag in 2024, 22-year-old Taylah Hassett is now facing a much bigger challenge: coaching Geelong’s VFLW team.
Hassett is taking over from Elise Coventry, and will look to lift the team off the bottom of the ladder after a disappointing season in 2024.
GFNL decider returns to Kardinia Park
The GFNL grand final returned to Kardinia Park for the first time in five years as the Lions went back-to-back with a win over South Barwon for the second season in a row.
However, local peak body AFL Barwon has since admitted it had proven difficult to turn a profit from holding the decider at GMHBA Stadium, leaving the door open for a potential return to a community ground in 2025.
Stevie J to coach the Eagles
There will be a raft of new GFNL senior coaches in 2025 and Newtown & Chilwell snared the biggest name of the lot.
After guiding Yarrawonga for a couple of seasons, including to a 2023 premiership in the Ovens & Murray League, Geelong Cats great Stevie Johnson was unveiled as the Eagles’ new senior mentor.
Thomson’s redemption
The Tigers put the demons of 2023 behind them with 54-point belting of the Belmont Lions as Darcy Troop bagged four majors.
Meanwhile, it was far from a fruitless season for the Lions, who rose from ninth to vie for their first senior flag since 2007.
Tigers salute again
The BFNL’s most dominant team of recent seasons did it again, going back-to-back after demolishing the well-fancied Anglesea in the grand final by 62 points, while also winning the reserves title along the way.
The Tigers took sweet revenge after being run off their feet in a qualifying final by the Roos a fortnight prior by seven points.
Matt Boag’s stunning homecoming
The GFNL star made a triumphant return to his junior club by playing in a BFNL premiership and taking out the competition’s highest individual honour, the Les Ash Medal.
Boag would pay tribute to the late Frank Fopiani as an early influence on his career during his victory speech.
Demons’ break Bellarine drought
Portarlington banked its first BFNL win since July, 2018 when it beat Newcomb in Round 1. The Demons, who recruited former AFL players Connor Menadue and Teia Miles during the off-season, would win three matches in 2024 to give Demons fans hopes for the future.
Star Tiger departs Torquay
One of the BFNL’s biggest names shocked the local footy world by signing with SFNL club Robinvale Euston, just weeks after winning a second successive flag with Torquay.
Baxter Mensch had starred in the Tigers’ twin BFNL flags in as many years, but sought fresh opportunities in the north of the state while also playing during the off-season with the Darwin Buffaloes in the NTFL.
AFL Barwon restructure
Geelong’s footballing peak body made the bold decision to merge the GFNL and BFNL leagues into a two-tier competition.
After six months of extensive consultation, the commission adopted a relegation and non-mandatory promotion system for every two years.
Surf Coast Suns to enter the BFNL in 2026
Surf Coast will become the 11th team in the Bellarine senior competition in 2026 after a landmark decision from the AFL Barwon Commission.
The commission passed a motion “unanimously in favour” of the Suns entering the competition in 26.
Osca Riccardi’s brave recovery
The former Geelong player and son of Cats great Peter had a year to forget after being rushed to hospital in late May and placed in an induced coma at Geelong Hospital with a brain infection, sinus infections and glandular fever.
He would spend three days in a coma before regaining consciousness and eventually returning home.
Farewell to ‘Redders’
Former 66-Test batter and Geelong Cats coach Ian Redpath died at the age of 83 in early
A proud Geelong man, Redpath ran a local antiques store for many years and was a revered figure in cricketing circles.
From Test coach to local cricketer
Several seasons after the former Test player turned out for the Cats in the Victorian Premier competition, Andrew McDonald had a local hit with Geelong West in the fifth grade.
McDonald would make 62 for the Rams.
Ollie takes on the world
Young southpaw Ollie Peake starred for Australia at the under-19 Cricket World Cup in South Africa, after being a late call up due to injury.
Peake, who starred at the under-19 national championships again this summer for a third straight year, also played for the state’s second XI and seems poised for higher honours.
Also stroked two centuries during an under-19 tour of India.
Callum’s big call up
Young left arm wrist spinner Callum Stow enjoyed a massive 12 months, going from a rookie looking to break into Geelong’s first grade team to a Melbourne Renegades squad member ahead of the BBL season.
Sadly, Stow did not get a game when the Gades played the Hobart Hurricanes on December 19 at GMHBA Stadium but is very much on the radar of state selectors.
Magpies go five in a row
North Geelong won their fifth GCA1 title in a row after drawing against East Belmont.
It was a result which drew the ire of some Lions supporters who questioned if the draw rule was an adequate way to decide a premiership.
And it would precede the move of Lions spinner Chris Williams to Newtown & Chilwell as senior coach.
Seagulls’ sublime promotion
Barwon Heads won back-to-back BPCA premierships, beating an Anglesea team who were chasing five in a row in A1 by 61 runs.
And making it all the more sweeter, it came after the Seagulls were promoted from A2 for the 2023-24 season after beating Drysdale by 129 runs in the decider.
Netball dominance from two powerhouses
Ocean Grove’s era of BFNL netball dominance extended for another year when it went back-to-back against the previously undefeated Geelong Amateur.
The Grubbers won 53-48 in a September thriller after winning last season by eight points against the same team.
Meanwhile, Newtown & Chilwell won its eighth flag from 10 deciders in GFNL A Grade, getting home by four points over St Joseph’s in an instant classic.
Matildas return to Kardinia Park
The Matildas were back at GMHBA Stadium for the first time since November, 2017 with more than 30,000 people watching a 6-0 flogging of Chinese Taipei.
Local fans also got to see the national team blood two debutants on the night as Clare Polkinghorne played her final game in the green and gold.
Modewarre to become major tennis hub
Modewarre will be home to the biggest tennis academy in the southern hemisphere with the $500m project containing 48 tennis courts, swimming facilities and a gym.
Corio gridiron incident probed by police
Police continue to investigate an ugly melee during an under-18s game at Corio between the Geelong Buccaneers and Western Crusaders on December 1.
It saw scores of players suspended, a coach injured and a young star return to his native New Zealand after the incident.
Ben’s big breakthrough
Ocean Grove golfer Ben Henkel scored his first win as a touring professional at the Gippsland Super 6 earlier this month.
The 24-year-old endured a marathon 28 holes at Warragul Country Club to beat close friend Dylan Gardner in the final of the quirky format, securing his first win on the PGA Tour of Australasia.
He was on the sidelines for more than a year after fracturing a vertebrae in his back in a serious car accident in 2019.
Geelong athletes on the biggest stage
Local products Mia Gross (200m), Joel Baden (high jump) and Angus Widdicombe (rowing) all represented the country at the Paris Olympics.
Gross would finish sixth in a heat and then fourth in the repechage in a time of 23.34; Badel was well out of medal contention while Widdicombe finished sixth in the men’s eight.
Originally published as The top 35 biggest sports stories of 2024
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