Your browser window currently does not have enough height, or is zoomed in too far to view our website content correctly. Once the window reaches the minimum required height or zoom percentage, the content will display automatically.
Alternatively, you can learn more via the links below.
St Kilda star Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera agreed to stay at the club, but only after the Saints offered him $2 million a season. This makes him the highest paid AFL player. The two-year deal came after several agonising months for Saints fans when ‘Nas’ was considering other monster offers from Adelaide and Port Adelaide.
The highest paid NRL player is reportedly Newcastle Knights captain and fullback Kalyn Ponga (about $1.4 million in 2025).
These pay packets are peanuts compared with what soccer players earn in the Premier League (UK). Liverpool star Mohamed Salah earns a reported $824,000 a week – that’s almost $42 million a season. The average salary of a Premier League player is about $7 million a season. Good work if you can get it.
In the NRL and AFL, the minor premiers (Canberra and Adelaide) disappeared from the flag race without a whimper. And, by the time you read this, some of the biggest questions of the football finals will have been answered.
In the NRL, can Penrith’s premiership run be broken? Is Melbourne – last year’s runner-up and minor premier – the team to do it? All will be revealed in the grand final on 5 October.
In the AFL, Collingwood, who seemed to be running out of puff before the finals, fell to Brisbane, who are aiming to go back-to-back against the probable favourite, Geelong, in the grand final on 27 September.
Never one to shy away from the big calls, my flag fancies are Melbourne in the NRL and Geelong in the AFL. To those reading after the event – am I right?
The part-timers who play for Heidelberg United, in Melbourne’s north, have upset a third consecutive A-League team to reach the final of the Australia Cup.
It’s the first time a semi-professional team has made the Australia Cup final, and, along the way, the Bergers (as they’re known) have kept all their opponents scoreless.
As Roy Ward reported in The Age, the Bergers are a team of civil engineers, aviation managers, mortgage brokers, shop assistants, labourers, students and Uber drivers. Their latest victim, Auckland FC, is owned by an American billionaire.
Now the Bergers face another A-League team, Newcastle Jets, in the final on 4 October at Lakeside Stadium, in Melbourne, having sent Western Sydney Wanderers and Wellington Phoenix packing in the first two rounds.
The tournament is Australia’s version of Britain’s FA Cup. Among the most unlikely FA Cup winners was rank underdog Wimbledon in 1988, who faced the might of Liverpool. Despite being in the football league only 11 years, the Dons took the lead early, but it looked like their aggression would be their undoing when Liverpool won a penalty. Goalkeeper Dave Beasant saved the penalty – the first time in FA Cup final history – and the Dons took the trophy, against all the odds.
Oscar Piastri has had one hand on the Formula 1 world title, but the 24-year-old Australian’s supporters fear his teammate, Englishman Lando Norris.
Piastri went 34 points clear in the championship after his victory in the Dutch Grand Prix (his seventh win of the year), but that was cut to 31 points when he came third in the Italian GP, having been ordered by his McLaren team to let Norris overtake him after the Brit’s slow pit stop.
The last six races this year are in the Americas and Middle East, with 25 points for each win.
The two Ks opening Australia’s batting in the West Indies in the most recent test series come from opposite ends of their careers, and both are struggling.
Teenager Sam Konstas, who famously thrashed the world’s best fast bowler, India’s Jasprit Bumrah, in the Boxing Day test last year, scored only 50 runs across the three tests in the Caribbean.
His partner, Usman Khawaja, who will turn 39 in December, did a little better, scoring 117. As usual, the bowlers had to rescue Australia, who won the series 3–0.
Where do the selectors turn for opening bats as they eye the old enemy, England, in the Ashes, beginning on 21 November? Khawaja, the 84-test veteran, has made it plain he wants to retire at the end of the series – but are we happy with players dictating when to hang up their bats or boots? I’m certainly not.
Konstas scored a century for Australia against India in Lucknow recently, but he needs to score plenty of runs in the early state matches, otherwise someone else will be facing England’s new ball bowlers in the first test in Perth. As for Khawaja, we will see whether the old saying – that it’s harder to get out of, rather than into, the Australian team – is still true.
Australia’s Jessica Hull took the long way to the 800 metres final in the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo. In her heat, a tangle of legs early in the race led to her falling, but she got up and completed the race.
Her appeal for a place in the semi-final was upheld, and she ran third, claiming one of two non-automatic qualifying spots for the final and breaking the Australian record. In doing so, Hull became the first woman to hold the 800- and 1,500-metre Australian records at the same time, but she came last in the final.
Earlier in the championships, Hull took the bronze medal in the 1,500 metres and said the 800 metres was her “side quest” – not a bad one either.
One of the highlights of the championships for Australia was the performance of 17-year-old Gout Gout, who came fourth in the 200-metre semi-finals. It certainly looks like he will have an exciting future.
Can you find all the words from the clues?
Rolling Stone is a game for four players. You’ll need a 32-card deck (remove 2s through to 6s). Aces are high and 7s are low. The aim of Rolling Stone is to be the first player to discard all their cards.
A big thank you to Dougie, who writes from a Victorian prison, for sharing his jokes with us!
Find the nine-letter word in the grid. Then see how many other words you can find of three or more letters. You can only use each letter once and every word must contain the centre letter.
Help keep the momentum going. All donations will be vital in providing an essential resource for people in prison and their loved ones.
All donations of $2 or more are tax deductible. If you would like to pay directly into our bank account to avoid the processing fee, please contact donate@abouttime.org.au. ABN 67 667 331 106.
Help us get About Time off the ground. All donations are tax deductible and will be vital in providing an essential resource for people in prison and their loved ones.
Leave a Comment
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius enim in eros elementum tristique. Duis cursus, mi quis viverra ornare, eros dolor interdum nulla, ut commodo diam libero vitae erat. Aenean faucibus nibh et justo cursus id rutrum lorem imperdiet. Nunc ut sem vitae risus tristique posuere. uis cursus, mi quis viverra ornare, eros dolor interdum nulla, ut commodo diam libero vitae erat. Aenean faucibus nibh et justo cursus id rutrum lorem imperdiet. Nunc ut sem vitae risus tristique posuere.