First weekend of May is done and dusted and man was there some good games on this past weekend! Here’s all you need to know from our favourite games from this weekend in the F1, AFL & NRL.
Storm vs Raiders Showdown
For Magic Round last night the Raiders and the Storm played off at Suncorp Stadium for a game to long be remembered. For the majority of the first half it appeared as though the game would be a runaway for the Storm. After nearly 30-minutes the score was 14-0 towards the Storm before finally the Raiders kicked into gear and scored two quick tries before the end of the first half to bring us to a tight 14-12. Going into the second half things grew more tense. Faalogo from the storm sealed a try to give Storm the edge, but couldn’t follow through on the conversion.
Raiders though weren’t looking to back down, in the closing moments of the second half Kaeo Weekes flew through for a last minute try and conversion to equalise the score. By the time the buzzer went off the score was 18-18 and we moved into overtime. Things though only got more heated after a brief skirmish blew out in the 83rd minute that saw both Storm Player Stefano Utoikamanu & Raiders Player Josh Papali’i be sent to the sin bin. But it was the last high contact penalty that sealed the deal for the Raiders. With a conversion kick to seal the last points at the end of GP1 to secure victory for the green machine.
Magpies vs Cats Nail Biter
In what was easily the best game of AFL all year, the Collingwood Magpies went toe to toe with the Geelong Cats at the MCG on Saturday night. The game was of special significance for Jack Crisp who now holds the record for most consecutive games of AFL played hitting 245 on Saturday night, but we’ll come back to Crisp at the end.
When the game commenced it seemed that the cats had the read on the older Pies side. With a first quarter score that showed the pies ahead but not mimicking the on-field dominance it felt the Cats were displaying. But as the game continued it seemed that Collingwood slowly started to grow more reckless, with a few too many high tackles and kicks not going straight they slowly gave away their lead. But it must be noted that in the last quarter Patrick Dangerfield was a force to be reckoned with, playing an absolute blinder of a game he led the charge on the Cats victory.
In the games final moments Collingwood was down by just one goal, and as if written by HBO Jack Crisp took a mark as the siren went to potentially secure a post-siren victory goal. But sadly, it wasn’t mean to be and the Cats triumphed over the side that up until that stage had been dominant since opening round.
The game has garnered some controversy of course, discussions have been happening all year about the quality of umpiring. Two calls in particular regarding Lachie Schultz and Bobby Hill have stirred debate, but as Pies Coach Craig McCrae himself put in his post game speech “It seemed like a couple of things didn’t go our way but it wasn’t the reason we lost.” remarking that the umpires calls weren’t the reason for the Pies defeat and it was other missed opportunities from the Pies players that sealed their fate.
The Miami GP
Australian F1 Driver Oscar Piastri has just this morning secured his fourth win of the season in the Miami GP, beating out his McLaren parter Lando Norris. With this victory Piastri has now won the last three Grand Prix. He is the first McLaren driver to win three consecutive GP’s since 1997.
We’re only a quarter of the way into the season but Piastri currently holds a 16-point lead over second place, who also happens to be team mate Lando Norris. Fellow Aussie Jack Doohan sadly DNF after a collision at the first corner during the first lap.
