Latest sports news: Brett Kimmorley on ‘how this game can break you’ – CODE’s Best of Sport

‘I’ve seen how this game can break you’: Kimmorley

Brett Kimmorley is an old hand at bouncing back from the lows of rugby league and in 2023 he’ll do it again with the Wests Tigers’ NRLW side, writes PAMELA WHALEY.

You could understand if Brett Kimmorley never wanted to coach again, but giving up is not a part of his fundamental makeup as a human being. The ex-Australia and NSW halfback has always wanted to be an NRL coach, and that ambition has not changed after a 12-week stint as caretaker for the Wests Tigers went south this year.

Kimmorley was pulled up from his role as a pathways manager to lead the NRL team for the last 12 games of the season, where they won one game against Brisbane, lost close ones to Parramatta, Penrith, Newcastle, North Queensland and St George Illawarra but otherwise were hammered and finished with the wooden spoon.

He was shattered, obviously, knowing the club were looking elsewhere for a head coach for 2023. He was essentially a stopgap solution, and having waited years for a chance to take on an NRL job, it ended so miserably.

He was recently named the club’s inaugural NRLW coach for next season, which has given him plenty of work to do, but after the men’s season ended he needed some time away to refresh mentally after a difficult year.

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Rossouw’s epic Proteas ton – six years after he quit

Rilee Rossouw quit international cricket in 2017, yet still scored an epic World Cup ton at the SCG on Thursday, writes LACHLAN McKIRDY.

Rilee Rossouw produced one of the great T20 World Cup innings at the SCG on Thursday, six years after he drew the curtain on his international career.

At the start of 2017, Rossouw sent an email to Cricket South Africa to inform them he had signed a Kolpak deal with Hampshire, a move that essentially classified him as a local county player and cut ties with the Proteas. But Brexit effectively closed the Kolpak loophole for wantaway South African cricketers, prompting Rossouw to reevaluate his international future.

He was reinstated to the national team for the T20 series in England this July and immediately made the most of his second chance. And that trendline continued at the SCG on Thursday with Rossouw dominating the Bangladesh bowling attack to finish on 109 from 56 balls and propelling his side to a thumping 104-run win.

In seven innings since his international return, Rossouw has scored 340 runs at an average of 68.

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How Alex Bolt is evolving his hustle to the top 100

The last time Alex Bolt had a prolonged break from tennis, he thought he‘d never pick up a racquet again. This year, his road back from injury has been very different, writes LINDA PEARCE.

When Alex Bolt last took such a long break from tennis that was not Covid-enforced, the challenging 2016 period included playing footy for rural South Australian club Mypolonga, building retaining walls with his brother-in-law and developing an appreciation for well-constructed fences. Of all things.

All while extremely doubtful he would return to the game he first played at the age of seven.

This time, during a six-month hiatus after April elbow surgery, Bolt was determined not just to come back but, when he did, as a better player than before.

Eighteen days ago, the Murray Bridge lefty won his first tournament since a first-round qualifying loss at the Miami Open in March. The modest $39,000 ITF Futures event in Cairns was all about starting somewhere, even if Bolt had not predicted this restart would begin nearly so well.

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Bender and busts: Fifita’s unforgettable NRL debut

When a desperately hungover Jason Schirnack earned a bizarre NRL debut next to mate Andrew Fifita, he knew the game had unearthed something special, writes BRENDAN BRADFORD.

Andrew Fifita’s memories of his NRL debut in 2010 remain as clear as day 12 years on.

Fifita’s mate, Jason Schirnack, who made his debut in the same game, has slightly fuzzier recollections.

While Fifita had a big contingent of friends and family on hand after being named on the bench for that 2010 fixture against the Roosters, Schirnack had played reserve grade a day earlier and – expecting to be a spectator for first grade – had hit the town in a pretty big way.

“We hadn’t even been home, we just went straight to the game,” he tells CODE Sports.

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How Dutch fans took on might – and mass – of India

The SCG crowd was 36,426. It’s reasonable to assume 36,423 were supporting India. LACHLAN McKIRDY met the other three.

A wall of noise reverberates around the Sydney Cricket Ground.

Tens of thousands of Indian fans, dressed in various iterations of their famous blue shirt, let out a cry in unison as their king, Virat Kohli, launches a six into the balmy night sky.

“Kohliiiiiii! Kohliiiiii!”

At the front of the MA Noble stand, three fans are attempting to make noise of their own. Proudly wearing Oranje shirts, Shane, Beau and Graham sing at the top of their lungs but are drowned out in a crowd mismatch every bit as stark as the one taking place out in the middle.

“I thought they were saying, ‘Holland!’” Shane jokes of the Indian fans. “So I was yelling, ‘Holland!’”

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