分类： sports

After more than two decades of calling northern Tasmania home, Australian Football League (AFL) side Hawthorn FC is facing an uncertain future for its Tasmanian membership and local staff, after the governing body ordered the club to cede all of its Tasmanian match rights to the newly admitted Tasmania Devils expansion team ahead of the Devils’ 2028 debut.

For years, Hawthorn has hosted four annual home-and-away fixtures and one pre-season match in Launceston, building deep roots in the northern Tasmanian community and creating some of the club’s most iconic on-field memories – including Lance Franklin’s legendary 13-goal performance against North Melbourne in 2012. The club had argued to retain its Launceston matches after the Devils’ entry, noting the expansion side would base its operations out of southern Tasmania’s Hobart. But AFL confirmed in an official announcement Tuesday morning that the new franchise will receive exclusive rights to host matches across the entire state, ending Hawthorn’s long-standing Tasmanian partnership.

Hawthorn president Andy Gowers confirmed the club has already entered discussions with AFL to relocate the five displaced matches, with the club’s top priority being securing four extra home games at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), the league’s premier venue. Gowers also acknowledged the significant financial and community impact of the decision, noting that the Launceston games have long been a major contributor to the club’s bottom line. “I am not going to talk exact numbers (money lost), but what I will say is it is a significant factor in our bottom line and has been for a number of years. That’s part of our disappointment,” Gowers told reporters Tuesday.

The biggest immediate concern for the club is the future of its 8,000 local members and full-time Tasmanian-based staff, who have been core to Hawthorn’s presence in the region for decades. “That is clearly one of our major considerations. Members down there on the ground but also staff, we’ve got full-time staff who work there. We feel for them and we’ll be communicating with every member, all of our staff, all of the people down there who have supported us and got involved in the football program down there – we feel for them,” Gowers said. When asked whether AFL would assist displaced Launceston-based staff with re-employment in Tasmania, Gowers said he could not confirm any support arrangements at this time.

Hawthorn head coach Sam Mitchell echoed the club’s widespread disappointment, framing the decision as an unexpected loss of a second home for the club’s players and staff. “You know the people at the coffee shop, the hotels and go on the same sort of walks and around the same sort of people all the time. It feels like we’ve sort of been kicked out of a home and I understand, I guess, from the AFL’s perspective,” Mitchell said. “I mean it’s easy to group all of Tassie together, but we’ve spent the vast majority of our time in Launceston and we’ve loved our time there. We’re enormously disappointed we won’t get the opportunity to continue to be a part of that community.”

Despite the disappointment, Mitchell noted the club remains focused on its remaining 2024 season fixtures, with the team set to play its next scheduled Launceston match this Thursday night. “Having said that, we’ve still got seven games to go, so we’ll do our best to show how much they mean to us on Thursday night,” Mitchell added.

After months of sidelined frustration and a years-long streak of cruel injury setbacks, the wait for Hawthorn Football Club and its star Will Day is finally drawing to a close. The talented 24-year-old is set to make his first competitive appearance of 2026 this Friday, stepping onto the field for the Box Hill Hawks in the Victorian Football League (VFL) as part of a carefully structured comeback plan, putting him in line for a potential return to the top-tier AFL squad as early as next week.

Day’s path back to competitive football has been marked by repeated heartbreak. The young star has not seen a single minute of senior action in 2026, after damaging his shoulder during the club’s pre-season training camp. This latest injury blow follows a 2025 campaign cut short by a persistent foot injury, which itself came after a collarbone issue ended his 2024 season prematurely. Three straight years of season-interrupting injuries have kept one of the club’s most exciting prospects off the field far more than he has been on it, leaving fans hungry for his return.

Hawthorn head coach Sam Mitchell confirmed the comeback news in an upbeat briefing this week, noting that Day has passed every fitness benchmark after two full weeks of full training with the senior squad. “He’ll play this week, he’ll play some limited minutes on Friday night with Box Hill,” Mitchell said. “It’s pretty exciting, pretty exciting for Will and I think for all of us. He’s obviously a very high-profile player to be getting back and playing some VFL time.”

To protect Day from re-injury as he regains match sharpness, the club will manage his minutes very carefully in Friday’s outing. Mitchell outlined that the 24-year-old will start on the bench for each quarter to ease him back into the physical intensity of competitive play, and made clear that Day is not yet expected to be ready for full AFL-level action this weekend. “He certainly won’t be ready for AFL footy at this stage,” Mitchell added.

The coach did, however, hint that Day could be recalled to the senior side much faster than most injured players, thanks to the nature of his recovery. Unlike lower-body injuries that force athletes to spend weeks building back cardiovascular fitness, a shoulder injury allowed Day to maintain his conditioning throughout his recovery. “He’s obviously coming back from a shoulder which means he’s fitter, you can get a lot more physical work in, your physical profile, they can work pretty hard. So he’s going to be ready for AFL footy at a high level straight away. Sometimes when you get back from a foot or a lower leg injury, it’s hard to get the fitness base needed,” Mitchell explained.

Day’s potential comeback comes at a key juncture for Hawthorn, who are currently in the middle of their fixture run in Tasmania, with a match against Adelaide kicking off in Launceston this Thursday night, one of the club’s final seven scheduled games at the Apple Isle. Fans have long remembered Day’s standout performance in last year’s opening round, where he led the Hawks to a victory over Sydney at the Sydney Cricket Ground, a display that cemented his status as one of the club’s most promising young talents.

Mitchell said the club will not push Day to replicate that electric form straight away, but he is confident the young star will be able to contribute from his first minutes back on the field. The timeline for his senior return will depend on how Day pulls up after Friday’s VFL outing, with assessments of his movement, fitness and confidence set to dictate next steps. “To be determined, we’ll see how he goes this week, see how his movement is, how his confidence is,” Mitchell said. “When he gets back, stay back. That’s the aim, it could be as early as next week or it could be longer than that.”

For long-suffering Hawthorn fans who have followed Day’s injury battle over the past three seasons, Friday’s limited appearance will mark a small but incredibly exciting step forward for one of the club’s brightest stars.

The 2023-2024 English Premier League title race has entered its final, nail-biting stretch, with Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal side moving to the cusp of ending a two-decade-plus championship drought courtesy of a tense 1-0 victory over already-relegated Burnley at the Emirates Stadium on Monday.

Kai Havertz’s 37th-minute header from a Bukayo Saka corner proved the difference on the night, pushing the Gunners five points clear of defending champions Manchester City at the top of the table. Havertz’s goal marked Arsenal’s 18th Premier League goal scored from set pieces this season, a testament to the club’s well-honed tactical strength in dead-ball situations.

However, the result could have been drastically different. In the second half, Havertz mistimed a challenge that raked his studs down Burnley midfielder Lesley Ugochukwu’s calf, an incident that went to a VAR review for potential dismissal. In a call that kept Arsenal at full strength, referees opted to retain the original yellow card decision rather than upgrade it to a red card that would have left Arteta’s side to defend their narrow lead with 10 men for the final 25 minutes of play. Havertz was shortly substituted off for new signing Viktor Gyokeres, though the Swedish forward’s introduction did not unlock a second wind for Arsenal’s attack.

The match was far from the dominant victory many fans and pundits predicted. Buoyed by a sold-out home crowd for their final home fixture of the season, Arsenal were widely expected to cruise past a Burnley side that had claimed just two points from their previous 10 outings. But the already-relegated Clarets put up a staunch defensive fight, forcing the Gunners into a tense finale that kept spectators on edge until the final whistle. Before Havertz’s winning goal, Leandro Trossard hit the outside of the post from the edge of the penalty area, and a first-half penalty appeal from Bukayo Saka was turned away by officials.

The narrow win leaves Arsenal on the brink of their first Premier League title since 2001-2002, ending a 22-year wait. The Gunners could even lift the trophy as early as Tuesday, if Manchester City fails to secure three points away to Bournemouth. Even if City maintains its title push by beating Bournemouth and wrapping up its final two fixtures against Bournemouth and Aston Villa, Arsenal only needs one more win away to Crystal Palace this coming Sunday to seal the championship. A draw at Selhurst Park would open the door for City to claim the title on goal difference if Pep Guardiola’s side wins both of their remaining matches.

Speaking after the final whistle, Arteta emphasized that his side had completed everything within their control to put themselves in a winning position. “One more to go. We have done our job, what is in our hands. We have to wait and see what is going to happen tomorrow and then it’s time to prepare for the Palace game,” the Arsenal manager said. Acknowledging the narrow margin of victory, he added, “The margin should have been bigger but we haven’t achieved that. We have shown what we have shown all season that when we need to defend and get through the game, we can do it in an efficient way.”

That defensive efficiency has been key to Arsenal’s recent run: since their loss to City last month, the Gunners have kept four consecutive clean sheets in Premier League play, a solid foundation that has allowed them to extend their lead at the top of the table. The narrow result, however, still leaves a narrow opening for City to clinch a fourth consecutive Premier League title. Adding further drama to the final days of the season, multiple reports emerged on Monday that Guardiola is set to depart Manchester City after a trophy-laden 10-year tenure following the club’s final home match against Aston Villa on Sunday.

As the 2026 State of Origin series opener in Sydney draws closer, a key injured NSW Blues star has thrown his full support behind two controversial selection calls that have rocked the rugby league community. Injured Manly Sea Eagles captain Tom Trbojevic, who ruled himself out of the squad with a hamstring injury sustained in a match against the Cowboys last month, says rookie winger Tolu Koula will thrive despite his lack of top-flight NRL experience in the position.

Trbojevic, who is on track to return to club action no earlier than round 16 of the NRL season, opened up about the selection in an interview with SEN, where he heaped praise on the 22-year-old Manly speedster. Koula, who has been named on the left wing for the Origin opener, has never featured in the position at the NRL level, though he has played wing previously in the NSW Cup and for his home nation of Tonga in international competition. Despite the inexperience at the sport’s highest domestic level, Trbojevic says Koula’s natural aggression and athleticism make him the perfect fit for the role. “He’s a very confident kid. When he gets on a footy field, he absolutely goes after it. It’s going to be no different come next Wednesday night,” Trbojevic said. “The way that he moves is incredible. He’s going to be a real strike for them out wide.”

The selection of Koula over veteran Blues winger Josh Addo-Carr has been one of the most talked-about calls from new NSW coach Laurie Daley, but Trbojevic also threw his weight behind another high-profile selection: the recall of former Blues captain James Tedesco, who will start at fullback after edging out in-form Penrith Panthers star Dylan Edwards for the spot. Tedesco will make his first Origin appearance since 2024, after continuing the red-hot form that earned him the 2025 Dally M Medal into the opening rounds of the 2026 NRL season. Trbojevic noted that choosing between the two elite fullbacks was an unenviable task for Daley, but said Tedesco is more than ready to deliver for his state.

“He’s been unbelievable this season and last year, and he’s picked up this year where he left off,” Trbojevic said. “He’s always been very damaging around the ruck and gets the ball late in sets to attack tiring forwards, but he’s also done a lot of good work out wide, and that’s where he’s grown a lot. I wouldn’t like to be Laurie Daley in that situation because they’re two incredible players, but whichever way you go, you’re going to get someone to do a job.”

Trbojevic also praised the selection of his Manly teammate Haumole Olakau’atu, who will earn his first starting Origin spot on the right edge after several appearances off the bench over previous series. Olakau’atu has been in dominant form for the Sea Eagles to open the 2026 season, with Trbojevic arguing the forward has been one of the best players in the entire competition over the past two months. “I thought he was almost the first one picked the way he’s played the last seven or eight weeks,” Trbojevic said. “He’s been our best player and has almost been the best player in the comp the way he’s gone after it. He’s obviously played Origin before coming off the bench, but if you give him that opportunity to start on the right edge, it really suits him because he can get into the game and hopefully can cause some havoc.”