Carlton are riding high on an AFLW wave of momentum. Just don’t call it a fairytale | Sarah Guiney
Momentum is a dangerous thing in sport.It can’t be acquired with any real success; it simply decides to arrive, announced only by the inexplicable way it shifts the air around a team.And something has certainly shifted down at Princes Park.If there had been any lingering doubts, Carlton’s semi-final demolition of Hawthorn well and truly dispelled them.From the first whistle, the Blues burst forth with a single-minded fervour usually reserved for teams far more experienced.
There was no grace period for their opponents; no easing into it.There was only their unrelenting onslaught, picking up right where they left off the previous week, and they did it brimming with a joy contagious to fans and neutral onlookers alike.It was the sort of jubilant performance that we’ve come to expect from the plucky young team this season – or that has, at the very least, become their trademark since a season-turning round-three victory over Brisbane.Back then, it was proof of concept.Now, nine wins later and on the eve of a preliminary final, it’s clear that it was a statement of intent.
They may be the underdogs of the final four, but they are undeniably the momentum team.And they’re not done yet.While this has been nothing short of a “fairytale run” for the Blues, calling it something so whimsical risks ignoring just how heavily this turnaround was orchestrated.In the coming weeks, much will be made of the club’s AFLW post-2022 review: a process which saw a complete cultural overhaul and massive churn of staff around the team.Players and staff will call it a turning point, a necessary reckoning for a club that has failed to reach the same dizzying heights as their inaugural counterparts.
They won’t be wrong in their assessment,At the same time, what we’re currently witnessing can’t really be manufactured,The proper scaffolding can and should be erected, and it’s certainly necessary, but change needs to happen organically beyond a certain point,So perhaps there is a little touch of fairytale magic to it, after all,Because it’s not just that the Blues are winning; it’s how they’re winning.
And it’s how much sheer, unbridled fun they’re having in the process.The good vibes around the team right now are palpable, and they’re spearheaded in no small way by their younger contingent, bringing an added spark both on and off the field.Sophie McKay has been the perfect ambassador of this new Carlton outfit: younger sister of the captain, goal-scoring extraordinaire, and the sort of unrelenting extrovert that inspires sporting dynasties.She’s a player who thrives off momentum, and her teammates clearly love her antics.Socials have been flooded this week with replays and recreations of her dramatic “injury cellies”, enjoying an organic cut-through that this league seldom sees, yet so often craves.
Perhaps there’s a broader lesson in this.All too often, people fall into the trap of an AFLW discourse that is interested only in the league’s deficits – perceived or otherwise.Discussion focuses solely on what is lacking or broken, or reasons why it doesn’t measure up to an ever-shifting standard.The league’s own administration partakes, attempting to manufacture solutions to all kinds of problems.But getting too bogged down in this pursuit means we risk missing what this competition already is, and what it is obstinately becoming in the meantime.
It’s not a problem to solve, or an issue to fix.It’s just pure, unadulterated footy.Sign up to Australia SportGet a daily roundup of the latest sports news, features and comment from our Australian sports deskafter newsletter promotionIt’s Darcy Vescio, inaugural Blue and cultural cornerstone of the club, kicking a huge torp to officially qualify their team for finals.It’s Abbie McKay, speaking of her sister’s shenanigans with nothing but love, admiration, and a wry expression that everyone with siblings knows all too well.It’s Mimi Hill burying a sausage out of superstition, before running over Hawthorn with a dominant individual performance.
It’s Kerryn Peterson’s cheek-splitting grin from the sidelines, as joyous as if she were actively playing,And it’s a group that fearlessly goes toe-to-toe with the toughest teams in the league, refusing to surrender without putting up a fight,The match-up in this weekend’s preliminary final will surely be a formidable one,Brisbane is a team methodical in both preparation and execution, bolstered by the experience of having been here multiple times before,They’ve climbed this mountain, and they’re familiar with the hazards.
But this may well be where Carlton finds their edge,There is only so much preparation to be done in the face of the unknown, after all,At a certain point, it becomes about the doing,And if there’s one thing the Blues have shown lately, it’s that they excel in the doing,Momentum and moxie alone aren’t enough to topple the big teams, yet no big team has ever been toppled without it.
And Carlton, with the wind at their backs and grins on their faces, are determined to prove as much,
England’s wing commander Daly primed to take flight against Pumas
It’s funny how things have come full circle for Elliot Daly. The first time he played a Test against Argentina he lasted barely five minutes before being shown a red card for a misjudged tackle on a still airborne opponent. And now, nine years on, to whom have England turned to help discomfort the Pumas aerially? None other than wing commander Daly.Much has changed, however, since that distant sending off at Twickenham in November 2016 on what was only his third start for England. Daly is now a vastly experienced international with 73 caps and the game also looks significantly different courtesy of the crackdown on “escorts” protecting the catcher, which has put an even greater emphasis on high-ball expertise
‘I made mistakes on TV, he made his on a field’: Panesar strikes back at Smith’s Mastermind jibe
Steve Smith, Australia’s acting captain, has confirmed his team for Friday’s opening Ashes Test – but his team announcement was overshadowed by an extraordinary verbal attack on Monty Panesar after the former England spinner suggested Ben Stokes and his touring team should try to upset him by rehashing the infamous sandpaper ball-tampering controversy of 2018.Smith insisted the comments “didn’t really bother me”, but apparently demonstrated the opposite by raking over Panesar’s notoriously miserable appearance on the TV quiz Mastermind in 2019.Panesar later hit back at Smith, saying on BBC Radio 5 Live: “I’ve had some great moments for England and I’ve had shockers, and he’s had some great moments for Australia and he’s obviously had a very big shocker in South Africa. We’ve both made mistakes. I made mine on a quiz show, he made his on a cricket field
Silly point or square leg: how well do you know your way around a cricket field?
Cricket is full of jargon. Someone can be out for a duck, fooled by a doosra or fielding in the gully. If you are listening to a game on the radio, it can be difficult to interpret the vocabulary – silly, short, square etc – used to identify the positions of the fielders.Test how well you know cricket positions with the quiz below.For each question, place the fielder on the oval
Carlton are riding high on an AFLW wave of momentum. Just don’t call it a fairytale | Sarah Guiney
Momentum is a dangerous thing in sport. It can’t be acquired with any real success; it simply decides to arrive, announced only by the inexplicable way it shifts the air around a team. And something has certainly shifted down at Princes Park.If there had been any lingering doubts, Carlton’s semi-final demolition of Hawthorn well and truly dispelled them. From the first whistle, the Blues burst forth with a single-minded fervour usually reserved for teams far more experienced
Ashes 2025-26: key battles that could decide the urn’s next destination
Before Bazball, there was Travis Head. He was the one playing on fast-forward during the 2021-22 Ashes, sprinting to 152 at the Gabba in a career-shifting innings. The southpaw has since slashed tons in two finals against India, excelled in challenging Australian conditions, and can break out of a lean patch with a chainsaw-wielding knock. Never mind his three consecutive single-figure scores during Australia’s 3-1 win over India a year ago. He’d already hit consecutive hundreds to turn the direction of the series
Boris Becker: ‘Whoever says a prison life is easy is lying – it’s a real punishment’
Former Wimbledon champion on how taking accountability for his crimes allowed for rehabilitation, watching Novak Djokovic from his cell and the new era of brotherhood in the sport“I heard the screaming and I didn’t know what it was,” Boris Becker says as he remembers staring into the dark in Wandsworth prison, just over two miles from Wimbledon’s Centre Court where he won the first of his three men’s singles titles at the age of 17 in 1985. “Were people trying to kill themselves or harm themselves? Or couldn’t they deal with their loneliness? Or are they just making crazy noises because they have lost their minds already?”Becker had been sentenced to a two-and-a-half-year jail term. Amid his insolvency, he was found guilty of not declaring all his assets so that additional funds could be distributed to his creditors. The judge confirmed that his money was used, instead, to meet his “commitments to his children and other dependents, medical and professional fees, and other expenses”.He was taken from court to prison on Friday 29 April 2022, the start of a bank holiday weekend, which meant he was confined to a cell as bedlam broke out around him
Industry can’t wait any longer for a fix to its energy crisis. Ministers should get a move on | Nils Pratley
‘No contract, no coffee’: what to know about the Starbucks workers’ strike in 65 US cities
‘We excel at every phase of AI’: Nvidia CEO quells Wall Street fears of AI bubble amid market selloff
Nvidia earnings: Wall Street sighs with relief after AI wave doesn’t crash
Cadillac copy Nasa playbook to build F1 team from scratch to hit Melbourne startline
Chiefs heir Gracie Hunt backs rival Super Bowl half-time show over Bad Bunny