Andrew Fifita has opened up on why he dumped Australia for Tonga and the heated backlash that followed. Check out CODE’s Best of Sport for today’s sporting news.
Here is CODE Sports’ Best of Sport line-up for October 18, 2022.
Why Fifita fled after pledging allegiance to Tonga
When Andrew Fifita chose to play for Tonga over Australia in 2017, he encountered a firestorm like he’d never experienced before. But his brave actions started a movement, writes BRENDAN BRADFORD.
Andrew Fifita broke new ground when he shocked the rugby league world by declaring his allegiance to Tonga instead of Australia for the 2017 World Cup.
His decision came at a cost, with the Sharks prop having to move out of home and leave Sydney as the furore over his decision died down.
At the time, Fifita and Jason Taumalolo were the highest-profile players to choose to play for Pacific Island nations rather than Australia and New Zealand.
Their decision saw Tonga advance to a historic semi-final spot at the World Cup, and helped encourage more Pasifika players to follow in their footsteps.
At this year’s World Cup, more Penrith players will be playing for Samoa than Australia, while Tonga enters the tournament as the second-ranked nation in the world.
And despite having to hightail it out of the city, Fifita says what he achieved in the red jersey of Tonga remains a career highlight that eclipses winning Cronulla’s first premiership and New South Wales’ drought-breaking State of Origin win in 2014.
Analysis: Urgent task awaiting new netball chair
Marina Go‘s sudden departure ensures Wendy Archer will step in at a crucial and controversial time in netball’s history, writes LINDA PEARCE.
New Netball Australia chair Wendy Archer’s hot seat at the head of the board table is in a house divided like rarely before. The sport has had its ructions and fractures previously, but relations between the players and the administration have never been more fraught.
If Archer’s busy predecessor Marina Go’s decision to step down after just 17 months for “time commitment” reasons was indeed a planned transition many months in the making, as Go and Netball Australia insist and several others confirm, the specific date was a secret well kept and thus a surprise to many.
Go, interestingly, remains a director, and maintains that her passion for the sport and wish to see it prosper remains undiminished.
Yet what a fractious, difficult past week or two it has been for the former head of the Super Netball commission, who was persuaded to lead the newly-constituted inaugural board last May.
Best 22: Which teams will look totally different next AFL season?
It’s the question on every fan’s lips. Who is in is our best side in round 1 next year? We’ve looked at every list and delivered a verdict.
ADELAIDE
B: J. Worrell, J. Butts, T. Doedee
HB: J. Dawson, N. Murray, B. Smith
C: J. Soligo, R. Laird, M. Hinge
HF: I. Rankine, D. Fogarty, J. Rachele
F: S. McAdam, T. Walker, R. Thilthorpe
FOL: R. O’Brien, B. Keays, S. Berry
I/C: R. Sloane, H. Schoenberg, N. McHenry, W. Milera
DEPTH
P. Parnell, J. Hately, C. Jones, L. Murphy, M. Crouch
DRAFT PICKS
23, 46
A-League wildcards stake World Cup claims
As Graham Arnold grapples with the status of tried-and-true Socceroos, A-League Men’s players are working their way into – and out of – World Cup contention, writes ADAM PEACOCK.
Another weekend, another 40-odd matches for Socceroos coach Graham Arnold to consider with the sands in the selection hourglass running out before next month’s World Cup.
And what of those who didn’t play.
Harry Souttar is still not back. His knee is nearly there. Nearly! Nathaniel Atkinson sat out for Hearts in Scotland. Got hurt last week. Bummer. The improving Tasmanian scored a beauty in the game before injury struck. Tom Rogic disappeared from West Brom’s team sheet. Needs more training time. Odd. Steve Bruce played him in a couple of games before he was sacked last week.
West Brom are still searching for a new manager as Rogic gets back his lung capacity.
He’ll be in Qatar, unless he stays off the team sheet for the next month.
What’s next for ‘Ferocious’ George Kambosos?
Boxing is a fickle sport, and George Kambosos wouldn’t be the first big-name fighter to be cast aside after a loss. But his time in the spotlight isn’t over, writes BRENDAN BRADFORD.
So, what’s next for Ferocious Kambosos?
First things first: rest. He fought three world title fights – two of them wars – in the space of 11 months, and has said he’ll spend a few months relaxing and recovering.
Kambosos swears he’ll fight on, but the thought of retirement must have crossed his mind.
He hinted at it in the build-up to the rematch with Haney, and after banking something in the vicinity of the high seven figures in his past three fights, he could easily decide enough is enough.
If and when he does lace on a pair of gloves again, an obvious option next year is a rematch with Lopez, whose only loss as a pro is to the Aussie.
Nedd’s triumph over pain, distance and maggots
Injuries, blisters and maggots could not stop Nedd Brockmann from crossing – and inspiring – the continent, writes BRENDAN BRADFORD.
A shoey on the balcony of the North Bondi Surf Life Saving Club was a fitting finale to Nedd Brockmann’s superhuman running fundraiser.
After 3,800 kilometres in 46 days, and well over a million dollars raised for the charity We Are Mobilise, the 23-year-old had earned every drop.
Brockmann, an electrician from Forbes, took the agonising final few steps of his cross-country run from Perth to Sydney on Monday afternoon as thousands cheered him on along the boardwalk at Bondi Beach.
The throngs of supporters, the television cameras, the 40,000 people tuning in to his Instagram live video, and the helicopter capturing images from above was a testament to how Brockmann’s epic adventure has captured the nation over the past six-and-a-half weeks.
VISIT CODE SPORTS FOR MORE GREAT STORIES: Our in-depth CODE originals, everything from News Corp Australia’s National Sports Newsroom, plus the best of The Times (London), The Wall Street Journal, The New York Post and FOX SPORTS US.
Tim Elbra is the deputy editor of CODE. He started out as a reporter at The Daily Telegraph in 2003 and has also worked for mX, NRL.com, Fox Sports, AthletesVoice and Nine’s Wide World of Sports. Tim was one of those kids who played every sport he possibly could while growing up and you’ll find him writing about a broad range of sports on this site. He’s never met a sport he doesn’t like and outside of footy, cricket and tennis, has a passion for snowboarding, bodyboarding, scuba diving and hiking. He’s still waiting, impatiently, for the Parramatta Eels to win another premiership.