Pressbox 111 The Examiner 10/December 2025

The Examiner

The experts are here! When it comes to northern Tasmanian sports, no one knows more than Josh Partridge, Ryan Bentley, and Ben Hann. Get ready for episode 111 of the longest-running, unmissable sports podcast from The Examiner: The Pressbox.

Transcript

00:00Welcome one and all to another episode of The Press Box, episode 111. I know what you're

00:15thinking, I am not Ben Hand. My name is Josh Partridge and joining me today is Ryan Bentley

00:20and we are set for another cracking episode of Northern Tasmanian Sport. Firstly, we're

00:25starting off with Ben Hand's favourite segment, numerology. Now, I'm going to have to do a

00:31lot here to live up to Ben's expectations, but I'm going to get stretchy. 111 is important

00:37in Tasmanian sport because husband batter Tyler Dell the other day, he hit 154 from 47 balls.

00:45We take 154, we're minus 47, that's 107, a little bit short, but he had an 180 run stand

00:53with Jono Chapman, who hit four sixes during his time at the crease. So that is why 111

01:00is an important number in Tasmanian sport, Ryan. To continue along this theme, we'll talk

01:06a little bit more about Tyler. So Tyler's innings was massive and it actually got national coverage

01:11on the PlayHQ social channels. He hit 41 runs off and over. Yes. Can you fathom that, Ryan?

01:18Better than perfect, son, they say. So four with the first ball and then there were six

01:25sixes including a no ball in there, which the six off the no ball was impressive. It was about to hit

01:30him in the face and he just goes like this and off she goes. But yeah, fantastic innings from Tyler

01:36and that really set the tone for a big run scoring weekend. Ava Curtis from the Greater Northern

01:41Raiders, she hit 143. Jordan French from Westbury A-grade, 102. And Jared Freeman from Mowbray A-grade,

01:46101 not out. But there was also a pretty good performance with the ball as Evandale Panthers A-grader

01:56Kevin Stagg took seven for 32. Nice. Seven for 32. How? I can't even fathom taking seven wickets

02:03over the course of a couple of weeks, let alone one. Season for me.

02:06But that's where we'll finish with the cricket for today. We've got a fair bit happened in the stadium

02:13world over the past week. Ryan, talk me through what occurred. Yes, well we pondered the question a

02:19couple of weeks ago. What will happen if the stadium doesn't go through? It was a bit sad and dour but

02:25the stadium did pass through the upper house last Thursday, Wednesday and Thursday after a mammoth debating

02:32session. I think one speech went for three and a half hours. Yeah, and I think they wrapped up,

02:36what, about two, three o'clock? 2.30 and then come back the next morning to actually vote on it. But

02:41yes, the Macquarie Point Stadium will be happening. Maybe, I think. I'm sure something else will happen

02:48along the way. But yes, it should be happening. The team will be happening. 2026, end of 2026,

02:55I reckon, is when the stadium will actually start being built. So that timeline of 2029, first game

03:01there, unlikely. Yeah. Which is probably good news for anyone in Launceston because the majority of the

03:07games for, until Macquarie Point Stadium was built, probably going to be played here, which would be nice.

03:12Yeah, I think I saw something from Brendan Gale potentially, admitting that that timeline is now a

03:17little bit skewiffed. So yeah, I think, yeah, more games at Utah Stadium here for Launceston, it seems.

03:24But you can never know until everything's fully locked in and we never know when anything is fully

03:29locked in at the moment. There was also a little bit of a change happened in the regular fixtures for

03:34the pre-season competition, Ryan. Talk me through that. Yes, the almost annual, it seems, pre-season trip

03:40to Tasmania for the Hawks, not happening this year. I guess it's a product of there's only one pre-season game a

03:46year now. So they can't host every year and that's this year. And they'll still be playing the Bulldogs,

03:51I think, so. Yeah. Was it 2021 that last didn't occur here? Yeah, 2021, I think that was a COVID thing.

03:57They didn't want them traveling outside the state. And then obviously there was 2022 with the Devonport

04:04Oval Games at Utah Stadium. So yeah, people will miss it. But still, we get four games. April 25,

04:10I think, is the first one against the Gold Coast Suns. And with it being the Gold Coast Suns,

04:14possibility that Launceston's Avery Thomas, if he finds himself in the AFL team by that point,

04:19could play a game in Launceston, which could be pretty massive. We'll go along that Launceston

04:23theme now and we'll finish off this incredibly fast show with a Josh's Local Hero of the Week.

04:30Local Hero of the Week this week is race walker Sam Lindsay, who went to the National

04:35All Schools Championships last week and took 25 seconds off his own state record and beat the

04:41meet record of a two-time Olympian in the process. So he's done 5Ks in just over 20 minutes with race

04:49walking specifications and has absolutely smacked it. So that earned him a World Junior Qualifier

04:56and he'll be looking to even better that in January when there's a meetup in Canberra.

05:01So he said himself he wasn't even quite fully 100% fit leading into it. They were just kind of

05:06working him into this Canberra meet in January, but he's still gone and smacked his own state record.

05:13So congratulations, Sam. Obviously, a massive week for you, but this is just the icing on top.

05:19Well, that is it for today. Another episode of the Press Box in the Can. If you could read our stories

05:25online or in the newspaper, that would be marvellous.

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