What a weekend of sport! Regardless of the code you follow or the game you watched, it was an electric weekend around the nation in the sports world. From heart pumping clashes that were tight from start to finish, to daring comebacks, to the Japanese Grand Prix. This weekend had it all, but in the end the real winners are us, the viewers. (Unless you’re a Carlton fan, at this stage I’d cancel your Kayo subscription)
F1
Over the weekend Australia’s own Oscar Piastri got back behind the wheel for the Japanese Grand Prix. After a horrific start to the season that saw Piastri fail to start in the first two grand prix, getting on the podium this week was an essential. So when Piastri hit the pavement in Japan he came out like an untamed beast, McLaren might have been in disarray the last few weeks but Oscar was here to make a statement. Despite what his start of the season statistics may say, he was here to remind his competition that he is not one to be trifled with.
Oscar Piastri this weekend conducted one of his most precise and effective races of his career, having qualified third, Piastri led from the first lap and despite his somewhat inferior car, he was on track to win the Japanese Grand Prix for much of the race. That was until a safety car assisted Antonelli in snatching the first place position, one that Antonelli would hold for the rest of the race, winning Mercedes the Japanese Grand Prix. Piastri went on to secure second place and claimed his spot on the podium.
NRL
In the NRL world this week we saw some stunning victories and some surprising defeats. Starting us off on Thursday night we had the Roosters defeat the Sea Eagles 16-33, then on Friday night the West Tigers defeated the Warriors in Auckland?! In the clash between the Broncos and the Dolphins, the Broncos walked away with a 26-12 victory. Saturday gave us the Knights defeating the Bulldogs, the Panthers demolishing the Eels, and then we saw the Cowboys and Storm in Townsville.
The Cowboys served as host to last year’s grand final runner ups the Melbourne Storm. Going in to this game, I’ll admit I had my biased misconceptions in assuming the Storm would humiliate the Cowboys. What we got instead was oh so much sweeter. It was the Cowboys the made their first mark on the board with a try and conversion by Jake Clifford at the four minute mark, but only 3-minutes later did the Storm retaliate in kind with Warbrick landing the much needed try. 10-minutes in the score was 6-6 and the game only intensified from here. Braidon Burns secured a linebreak and was able to get ball to grass for the Cowboys second try, unfortunately followed up by a missed conversion from Jake Clifford. The Storm and Cowboys battled it out for another 12-minutes before the score was impacted again, this time by the Storm. Warbrick got his second try for the storm after a linebreak, and Harry Grant didn’t miss his mark, giving the Storm a 10-12 lead for the first time this game. The intensity picked up but with 4-minutes remaining in the first half Sualauvi Faalogo got another try for the storm to give them a healthy 10-16 lead to conclude the first half. When the teams returned in the second half, Warbrick thundered back out with a hat trick try that made the score 10-20. It was at this point I was tempted to change over to the AFL and check to see how badly the Essendon Bombers were losing by. Thankfully however, much like the Cowboys, I stuck it out and got to watch an immensely entertaining half of footy. At the 52-minute mark Murray Taulagi gave the Cowboys some much needed confidence and landed a try, 14-20. 12-minutes later Warbrick collected his fourth try for the Storm and times seemed bleak for the Cowboys. With only 15-minutes left on the clock the score was 14-24, what were the Cowboys to do? Sam McIntyre answered with a try to keep the spirit alive, 18-24. Only 4-minutes after this did Heilum Luki get another for the Cowboys, with a successful conversion brining the scores equal 24-24. 7-minutes left in this game and the scores were even, but it didn’t stay this way for long. Braidon Burns only 90-seconds later got ball to grass and gave the Cowboys the lead. A lead they were able to lock down for the remaining 5-minutes of play and the Cowboys defeated the titanic Melbourne Storm in a hard earned comeback with the final result being 28-24.
Oh yeah, and the Titans defeated the Dragons and the Sharks defeated the Raiders… Not happy Ricky.
AFL
This was such a strange round of AFL. Before getting into the results and the game in highlight, it was confirmed by the AFL this week that the grand final will still be held at 2:30pm AEST for 2026 and 2027, rather than the proposed night time bounce. It was also revealed that this year’s half time act is none other than the queen herself Kylie Minogue.
Round 3 of the AFL had some rather unexpected results to say the least, and one result that was joked about relentlessly that sadly did come to fruition. Geelong was able to claw back victory after a shaky start at home from Adelaide Crows, 68-60. Collingwood sadly had to travel this week to Marvel stadium, something the Giants made fun of them for but couldn’t back the talk. Collingwood defeated the Giants 87-54. St Kilda and the Lions played a close game of footy until the Lions were able to sneak away in the last quarter with an 80-113 victory. Richmond put up a valiant effort in the opening quarter only for Freo to embarrass them with a 103-43 final score. Essendon lost, water wet. West Coast managed to get a second victory, going back to back for the first time since 2024. Then finally our game in focus Carlton vs Melbourne Demons.
Man, I don’t want to have to write about this but it has to be done. The Demons players this week rocked up to the MCG in casuals and sweats, in a display that many interpreted as remaining cool and calm, but after the first half of footy could instead be seen as still being half asleep. Carlton in the first quarter seemed eager to make a statement and put to rest any doubts about their season mimicking 2025. Carlton secured a dominant first quarter lead with the score being 38-1 at quarter time. In the second quarter the score came to a halt with the blues only scoring an extra goal and the demons finally getting one on the board themselves with a half time score of 46-12. Now, it’s been joked about for weeks about the Carlton curse, they can only play one half of football before crumbling (See Richmond and Swans games for evidence). Sure they’ve lost to some meek teams after a large lead before, but surely they wouldn’t do this again and third time in a row. Then sadly, Dan Gorringe had to say something.
It’s funny to joke about a team being cursed and see Dan Gorringe cry, but this isn’t just about Carlton not turning it on again. The second half of this game was largely due to the Demons coming out with a vengeance, and Kozzie specifically. In the third quarter the Demons led a valiant charge that saw them score 6.2 in a single quarter, bringing that 34-point margin down to a far more manageable 12 points going into the last quarter. In the last quarter Carlton showed some decent fight in the opening minutes, but sadly, it was the result we all joked about that came to pass. The Demons were able to double their score in the last quarter with some incredible work from Kozzie leading the charge. By the time the siren rang the Demons were ahead by 23-points. The final score was 77-100 with the Demons defeating the Blues after the Blues at one point holding a 43-point lead, to then lose by 23-points.
Sadly, Carlton fans have been turning on their own team the last few months over their performance and leadership. After last nights effort the fingers are back to pointing at head coach Michael Voss, with many Carlton fans turning from blue to red with rage. Thankful for Tom Lynch from Richmond missing so many shots at goal during their clash, because otherwise the Blues would be looking at three games in a row where they’ve held huge leads only to lose it because they played an excellent first half of footy with a near non-existent second half. All this said, I actually like Carlton, they’re not my team but no one wants to see a team fail like this and see the fans turn on their own club in this way. Whilst I never want to see Voss, or any coach for that matter, get the vitriol and hate pointed towards them like Vossy is now, their is a fair question to be asked why this has become a regular pattern for a once titanic and elite football club.
