- 9 months ago
"They’ve walked the sidelines, chased the scoops, and lived every heartbeat of the season. Welcome to the show where the experts unpack the action, a special edition of The Pressbox! With Ben Hann and Ryan Bentley, they are trading the daily grind for the big picture. Video shot and produced by Paul Scambler and Phillip Biggs.
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00:00Welcome to another episode of the Press Box, a special episode of the Press Box, it is
00:13episode 112, but it's not going to look the way that it normally does. No numerology,
00:20no Hannes, hard hitters are no, Josh is local here of the week. Josh is in fact not here,
00:24he's in a different country I believe by the time you'll be watching this, he'll be playing
00:29golf courses in New Zealand, I think worst places to be, but you just have myself and
00:35Ryan Bentley here today to speak to you guys about the highlights of 2025 as we usher in
00:42a new year, hopefully with plenty more sporting controversies and highlights and lowlights
00:47to come, but we thought we'd just go through sort of the top things from each month. Ryan,
00:52we'll kick off with you for January. Yes, January and January 1st, New Year's Day,
00:57in your new years, you would have had your resolutions, I'm not a resolution guy myself,
01:01but the Longford Cup was on, a distrustful award on the Longford Cup, and what a great
01:06start that was, and we rolled through, Bo Webster, the big slug, made his test debut in Sydney
01:11in the fifth test of the board of Kavaska, trophy, proved quite important, some may say he was
01:17lucky, but who knows, and maybe, just maybe, 2026, Sydney Test, Bo Webster might be back.
01:23A bit of a repeat of history. We hope. Some of us hope. Then probably the most important
01:30thing in Tassie, the BBL. Hurricane's got the job done for the first time ever in the
01:35BBL, Mitch Arlen, obviously, the man, ton, easy. That's good. A great moment, I think,
01:41in Tassie sports history. Absolutely, and I was playing more of that to come, but not quite
01:46just yet. We then kicked off into February, where Bo Webster did plenty more of his exploits
01:53alongside Matt Cooneman in Sri Lanka. I did a little video for that one, giving you guys
02:00the live updates from the scene, but no, genuinely, there were some really big things happening
02:04in February, of course. Adon O'Connor, Riverside, and Georgetown product making his Tasmanian Tigers
02:10debut in both one-day cricket and first-class cricket, where he scored 27, and then he later
02:16scored a 50 in the Sheppard Shields. So, of course, Brendan Gale started off with the Devils
02:21in February. He had signed with the club well before that, but his first day officially was
02:27in February. So, there was the start of what was a really big year ahead for the Tasmania
02:31Devils, and to finish it off with a bit more horse racing is the Launceston Cup, distrustful
02:36war, completing the double. Obviously, there was the tragic incident with the Inevitable
02:42when he died in his final race, but that kept off at a very eventful February.
02:48It did. It did. And then, well, coming at the end of the February into March, it was the
02:54son of a gun, Cruz Hewitt. He was ripping through the Launceston International throughout the last
02:59week of February, and then played in the final on the first day of March against Jason Kugler,
03:03but unfortunately fell just short to Jason Kugler, who, what a gun he is. What a backhand.
03:09I still remember that backhand. Down the line. Easy as. And then, another quite remarkable
03:15game of cricket. Westbury won the cricket north flag in quite remarkable circumstances.
03:21Jono Chapman, again, vintage with the bat and with the ball, got Westbury home for their
03:26billionth premiership. They don't lose him. And then we had, well, I guess it was kind
03:33of the start of it, but Hawks, Devils, disagreements. Hawks have very much staked their claim on
03:41Lonnie and saying, hey, we want to remain in Tassie when the Devils come here. Devils
03:44obviously not so keen on that. And, I mean, in response, they launched Rummen. Rummen, we
03:50got our Rummen. What a beautiful thing he is.
03:55Worst of the effect, I think, of being maybe mixed opinion might be a great word to say
04:02about that. Of course, that Westbury game too, a great showcase of cricket north cricket as
04:08well. In April, we sowed the seeds for two ongoing sagas. Of course, the tornado's uncertain
04:15future was first revealed by us when we reported that the tornadoes and the Thunder had their
04:22licenses were set to change and they were required to find a solution. Now, at that stage, all
04:29parties were confident the solution would be reached. Of course, that is not what ended
04:33up happening. The second one was the Tassie Stadium. This is when it really ramped up, when
04:42went debate about it. Of course, what happened later we will be touching on, but there was
04:48plenty to go around in terms of Tasmanian debate. And, of course, the NTFA season kicked off
04:56in April as well. Two or three great men's leagues, I suppose, of varying degrees of competitiveness
05:06and obviously the two women's leagues as well. But, yeah, that finalised April.
05:11Yeah. Not a lot going on in the month of May, but what seemed like a significant signing at
05:17the time, but less so, Jake Weatherald signing with the Canes. It seemed like a massive signing
05:21given that, at that point, he wasn't involved in the Australian set-up. So, having a good
05:25domestic player for a whole season would be nice, but obviously, he's going to be a test
05:29player, so he'll be jumping in on the back end of the Canes season. And, I guess, a somewhat
05:35significant moment for the Devils. Their first ever, their senior academy won their first
05:39ever game against Sandringham. Now, I guess that's technically their first win as the Tasmanian
05:45Football Club. So, yeah, that was at UTAS Stadium and quite a significant moment for the Devils'
05:51history.
05:51Absolutely. On Cam June and immediately, it was the now increasingly famous Launceston 10
05:59kilometre running festival, where Stuart McSwain, the King Islander, won that, of course, followed
06:05by another local, James Hansen. Of course, Millie Clark won the 21 kilometre race as well, so
06:11it was a great sort of local event as well, which is even better considering how significant
06:16that running festival is on the world stage now. The no-confidence motion, famously, got
06:21brought against January Rockliffe, bringing forward an early election, therefore bringing
06:27under the spotlight the future of the Tasmania Devils, because it, of course, endangered the
06:32stadium. You know, there was plenty of ramifications with that, and I think there was a lot of uncertainty
06:37around Tasmania about whether this stadium would actually get built at all. Of course,
06:42that is now, I think everyone's feeling a lot more calm about that. And North Launceston,
06:48it had been in the works for quite some time, but June was really where it ramped up and
06:54hotted up their search for a new home as they find themselves leaving North Launceston and
07:01having their club rooms knocked over. That caused plenty of drama.
07:04It did, it did indeed. Adrian Hall, he's a great advocate for the club. I know, far
07:10that no-confidence motion, obviously, the election came and there was the whole Dean
07:14Winter in the North Launceston polo.
07:16And hasn't had a course of issues in a lot since.
07:19Boy, oh boy. But we move on to July. A bit of, it was a bit interesting time for the
07:26Jackjumpers there. Josh Bannon joined the Jackjumpers and it was a time when Will
07:30Magnet, everyone thought that he was off to the NBA to join the Memphis Grizzlies, potentially.
07:35Obviously, didn't end up happening, but...
07:37Played summer league there.
07:38He did end up playing summer league, yes. But, yeah, it was quite an interesting time for
07:42the Jackjumpers. There was a lot of excitement, I guess, and then maybe disappointment for
07:47Magnet, but plenty of excitement for Jackjumpers fans, I'm sure. And also in July, you and I
07:53went out to Campbelltown and witnessed probably the best NTFA game we saw all year out there,
07:57the NTFA Community Rec Series game between the NTFA and SFL. Jordan Talbot, the hero at
08:03the end with the match-winning goal with a minute left, but, I mean, that is just one part
08:08of what was an amazing game of football.
08:10Absolutely right. And that brought us neatly onto August where finals football started for
08:15the NTFA. We had some cracking games to start off with. Campbelltown's famous comeback against
08:21Evandale in that last quarter. Lillardale and Bracknell bashed it out in Bracknell where
08:26Lillardale got the eventual win. And Hillwood St. Pat's the very next day was a cracking game
08:32as well, completing a hat-trick of cracking games between those three teams. There were some
08:37fantastic games all along Division I and Division II. A few in Premier Divisions, well, I must
08:43say, in the Premier League as well, but mostly in those two ones. In soccer, Amelie Miller
08:49got selected for the Junior Matildas. Really positive news, that one from Launceston City,
08:55who had a great year overall, nearly clinching the NPL Tasmania title. Of course, just falling
09:01short there at the end, but no one can fault their effort. And to round out what was a really
09:07positive month, especially for women's sport, the WNBL announced that the Tasmania, or as we know
09:13them now, the Tasmania Jewels will be joining the WNBL from 2027.
09:18Yes. And then we roll into September and it's properly final season. People are winning flags.
09:24So I'm just going to rattle off some flag winners for you. Chris Bagan, as you should first mention,
09:29back-to-back flags, AFL coach for the Brisbane Lions. And then we had the Cavaliers, won the TNL
09:35after many years of falling short to their northern rivals, the Hawks. They finally got the job done.
09:41And then NTFA, North Launceston, Premier League. Lonnie, Premier League women's. Roadshire League,
09:49Division 1. Bridge North, Division 1 women. East Coast, Division 2. And Lonnie, under-18s. And shout out
09:56to Lonnie, under-18s, because that was quite remarkable as well. Having not kicked a goal for
10:00two and a half quarters, and then, yeah, just kicked seven of the next eight to come home and get the
10:06win. And I'm sure they'll remember that for many years to come. Absolutely. And a quick rewind
10:11the Cavs also won the TNL, how could I forget, in August, to finish off with August. Oh, yes.
10:16They, of course, defeated the Hawks to end their three-time premiership success. Into October,
10:23perhaps one of the biggest pieces of news in Tasmanian sport was that Ariane Titmuss announced
10:28her retirement. What a celebrated career, widely known as Tasmania's greatest ever sporting product.
10:34Certainly the Tasmania's greatest ever Olympian. She finished with just a stupendous career,
10:40something like seven gold medals from two Olympics. You know, what an enormous career
10:47she had. And just at the age of 25, gets to retire. I wish I got to do the same.
10:54Joy Menzi became the Tasmanian Devils' first ever player, signing on the very first day of
11:01October to become part of the VFL team. And from there, didn't they sign?
11:07Almost everyone. Yeah, exactly. I'm not sure there's many people left in Australia they
11:12haven't signed. And then Michael Stingle, very soon after, became the Tasmanian Devils'
11:18first ever NTFA player.
11:21Yes. Keeping up the NTFA team in November. Avery Thomas got drafted to the Gold Coast Suns
11:28in the second round from Lonnie. So, quite exciting for him. There was a lot of chat about him.
11:33He did well in the combine, I think. And if Damien Hardwick sees something in you, I think
11:38you're going to be okay. So, that's a good sign for him. Jack McVeigh, Tasmanian hero,
11:43made his return to Tassie after his stint with the Houston Rockets, but playing for the Cairns
11:47Thai Pans. And that was up at the Silver Dome. And yeah, he got the chocolates and was very
11:52good as well. But the Lonceston fans, to their credit, didn't give him too much stick. Maybe that
11:56will happen down and over. We'll find out. And as a bit of a different one, into the world
12:01of sailing, Tristan Gourlay, he set off on his worldwide tour. He's trying to circumnavigate
12:06the globe by himself. I think last time we checked, he'd go around Cape Horn. So, he's
12:11now going up the east coast of South America. And we come right back around to the great
12:18saga of the year, the Northern Tasmanian basketball saga. They ratified their board and that meant
12:24that they could start their coaching search.
12:25Yeah, absolutely. Massively positive news after a pretty tumultuous few months there
12:31for the NTBC. And the Tristan Gourlay news obviously brings us nearly on to December.
12:36Obviously, we've recently had the Sydney to Hobart, the Melbourne to Hobart and the Launceston
12:40to Hobart races. But perhaps bigger news was the stadium was finally approved after months,
12:49not months, years of speculation, debate, conversation. Something that has divided a lot of Tasmanian
12:55It is finally over. The vote has finally gone. We can start building the thing now.
13:02The Hurricanes won the WBBL for the first time, following in the men's footsteps to win
13:07for the first time. Both Hurricanes franchises have probably been seen to be the least successful
13:12over the years. So, it was finally great to have the year of the hurricane, get on board
13:16the cane train. And of course, the Raiders as well got their first ever one day cup final
13:21win. And who won the best on grand medal that day, Ben? We'll be moving right along.
13:26And that was obviously a massive moment for another
13:30probably a club that struggled for success for so long. So, great for
13:34Northern Tasmanian cricket just there. And just
13:37to finish off with, we'd like to wish everyone who watches our show
13:41Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Hope you guys have had a one full 2035 and here's hoping
13:472026 is even better.
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