Brisbane, Autumn 2026. Walking out of a shopping centre, delighted to see rain cutting through the heat. I feel the first drops on my skin. They're hot. The air is thick and the rain is hot.

So pleased for Jacob Bethell. That century will live longer in the memory than most. #AUSvENG #Ashes2025

My mind flashed back to Greg Matthews at the Gabba in 1985 playing the same big shot to mid-wicket to bring up his first Test ton. Mo's went for six but the thrill was the same today.

Even after 8 years, it's still jolting to see cricket on Channel 7 and summer tennis on Channel 9. #AustraliaSport

Whoops. Yeah, that's a pretty important word to leave out of that post, isn't it. Thanks for letting me know.

List of 24 wicket-keepers who have scored a century and another score over 50 in a men's cricket Test. Alex Carey is the 24th on the chronological list and the first Australian.

Surprised to see that Alex Carey is the first Australian to score a 100 and a 50 in a men's Test match.

#Ashes #AUSvENG #Cricket

I bow to your anagrammatical skills.

Last night's #AFLW Draft saw the first time that Brisbane Lions did not select a Queensland-based player. #QAFLW players know the Lions and Suns are not state league rep teams, but seeing no non-Academy QAFLW draftees will rock the confidence of a lot of excellent footballers.

The groans are warranted, but that still a banger of a headline. 😂

I saw that a Denver Bulldog had nominated when I went through the draft list. Thank you for saying more about Karly. Do you happen to know if any clubs have her in their sights?

In 2026, there will be two dates that produce Aussie Rules scorelines:

4.2.26 (4 February)
3.8.26 (3 August)

plus four more in the USA's middle-endian format (MM/DD/YY):

1.20.26 (January 20)
2.14.26 (February 14)
3.8.26 (March 8)
4.2.26 (April 2)

None of the 5 suburbs that require the lowest income to rent a house in Brisbane are in Brisbane (2 southern Moreton Bay islands and 3 Ipswich suburbs). Not sure if it's similar for the other cities mentioned.

This is genuinely the kind of thing I like to do with sports tables just for amusement. Unfortunately, they seem to work only when the players don't know they exist.

There are few greater disappointments than when you create a complicated points system only for the table to remain as is.

"The SLV board is a parade of professional services types – the kind that government is always lending its watch to in order to ask the time..."

I've just learned that this phrase is not a Haigh original, but that I thought it could be tells you how highly I think of his writing.

Rinse the Blood off My Toga - Wayne & Shuster - 1959 - Radio YouTube video by Jen Drouin

For the Queensland students who studied Augustus instead of Julius Caesar, here's a 12-minute summary. Ironically, this was first played to me by my Ancient History teacher at Brisbane State High School.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIdJ...

Although there wasn't the commentary facilities for us to broadcast the Gold Coast Suns v Western Bulldogs #AFLW match from Mackay, our own Daniel Viles flew up and interviewed Western Bulldogs' footballer Isabelle Pritchard after the Dogies big 66 point victory.

A table showing the ten most effective disposals by one team in an AFLW match as at 20 October 2025. First place is 259 by North Melbourne-Tasmania against Adelaide at Arden Street in the round just completed. Places 2nd to 4th, plus 8th, are all by North Melbourne-Tasmania in 2025.

North Melbourne-Tasmania break the record for most effective disposals by one team in a match for the third time this season. The stat will surprise no-one, but sometimes it's good to see things like this in writing.

@NMFCofficial #AFLW

Another #AFLW record for WARF Radio. We look forward to hearing more from these commentators in the future.

My favourites are Daniel Vettori and Murray Bennett... because left-arm spin.

But I went down the rabbit hole and found others like Devon Malcolm, Dilip Doshi, Narendra Hirwani, Eddie Barlow, Chris Rogers, Nicole Bolton, Bill Bowes and Todd Murphy. Good fun.

Ah, yes - Homeward Bound by S&G, although the lyric that best reflects my cricket career is probably:

"I'll play the game and pretend
But all my words come back to me
In shades of mediocrity"

I love a good vujà dé.

Mark Butler on 7.30 last night did mention shonky providers and the need for better regulation of service providers.

On Sunday, St Kilda became the first team to record 50 one-percenters in an AFLW match.

Previous record was 48 by Brisbane in their 2022 (S6) loss to Melbourne at the MCG. Next on the list is 47 by Melbourne in the same match.

Just making sure of your qualifications before Father's Day? 😉

I've had the pleasure of watching Tayla Gregory in the QAFLW since 2022. We have a running gag that I have to mention she's from Newcastle every time she scores. Today, she signed with @goldcoastsuns.bsky.social. The AFLW is going to love her.

AFL turned a lame attempt at humour into a death threat Abuse of coaches, players, or anyone else is unacceptable but the five-year ban of fan for a “death threat” only sent a mangled message.

Very grateful that Malcolm Knox wrote this. I was second-guessing my response to finding out what the text message actually was.

www.theage.com.au/sport/afl-tu...

I'm assuming I'm not the first person to realise this, but I just worked out that the first three winners of the #WorldTestChampionship are the same as the first three winners of the men's #RugbyWorldCup.

'Best feeling in the world': The footy carnival opening up the game for all players Brandon Redpath's time representing the NT Thunder's inclusion team at the Toyota AFL Open is among the highlights of his life

...and this one is about Northern Territory inclusion footballer Brandon Redpath.

www.afl.com.au/news/1262528...

Both Ben and Brandon were terrific. I feel very blessed to have interviewed and then written about them.

How wheelchair footy helped Ben Green back to the game after 17 years The captain of WA's wheelchair football team once aspired to play AFL. Now, he's representing his state at his sport's biggest annual tournament

The recent Toyota AFL Open, combined tournament for wheelchair and intellectual disability Aussie Rules footballers, gave me the chance to write my first ever articles for the main AFL website.

This one is about WA wheelchair captain Ben Green:

www.afl.com.au/news/1262527...

"A season five Simpsons episode randomly being re-run."
😄 Very nice touch, @deanbilton.bsky.social.