🏉 First Night Footy Finals Fever

Happy Spring, it's Thursday, 1 September. (Sing this to the tune of that Gimme! Gimmie! Gimme! ABBA song from 1979 everybody's suddenly obsessed with again) "Footy, footy, footy, the finals start tonight. I'm super excited to watch the boys go out and play." Thoughts? Ahh well, the finals start tonight so let's forget that and dive straight in. 

⏱ 1,260 words = 5 minutes

👀 It's good to be the King.  

THE MAIN GAME

🏉 Lions and Tigers and finals, oh my! 

It's taken 6 months to get here but it's been worth the wait - the AFL Finals begin tonight at the Gabba and Dusty is IN! 

Golden points: 9 matches, 8 teams, 4 weeks and 1 winner. That's all that's left this season as the AFL Finals kick-off tonight. Here's what Week 1 looks like. 

• Tonight, Richmond start as favourites against Brisbane in an elimination final. 3-time Norm Smith Medalist Dustin Martin will play for the Tigers, even if he's only 80% fit. 

• Tomorrow night at the MCG, defending premiers Melbourne host Sydney in a qualifying final. The Demons are the favourites, but the Swans have beaten the Dees in 7 of their past 8 matches at the 'G.

• On Saturday arvo, back at the MCG, minor premiers Geelong play Collingwood in a qualifying final with more than 90,000 fans expected to attend. The Cats have won their past 3 against the Pies, but if it's close it's advantage Collingwood - they've won 11 games by 11 points or less this season.

• And last but not least, Fremantle host the Western Bulldogs in the other elimination final on Saturday night in Perth. Both teams have suffered injury blows - Freo won't have Nat Fyfe and the Dogs will be without Tom Liberatore.

• The winners of the qualifying finals advance to the preliminary finals in 2 weeks. The losers player the winners of the elimination finals next week. And the losers of the elimination finals are, well, eliminated. It's in the name.

The stat: History suggests it's tough to make the grand final from outside the top 4. Only 3 teams (Bulldogs 2016 & 2021) and GWS Giants (2019) have made the GF from outside the top in the past 10 years. But the Dogs did win the flag from 7th in 2016 so anything is possible. 

What they said: This isn't a quote so much as who the bookies have as favourites to win the comp. Geelong and Melbourne are the standout favourites, then it goes Swans and Magpies. 

Watch it: Tonight's match starts at 7:20pm AEST from the Gabba. Check it out on Channel 7, Foxtel and Kayo. Footy, footy, footy, the finals start tonight... it's in your head, isn't it? 

QUICK SINGLES

🎾 Tennis: There'll be a new women's champion at the US Open and it won't be Naomi Osaka. Defending champion Emma Raducanu hasn't been able to repeat her amazing run from last year, beaten by veteran Alizé Cornet in straight sets yesterday. Then after midnight in New York, 2-time US Open winner Osaka lost to American Danielle Collins. All eyes will be on Serena Williams this morning - she plays #2 Anna Kontaveit from 9am AEST. 

🏏 Cricket: Australia wrapped up the ODI series against Zimbabwe but the skipper is short of runs. Fast bowler Mitch Starc led the attack with 3 wickets as the Aussies bowled Zimbabwe out for 96, then chased it down with 8 wickets in hand and 212 balls to spare. Captain Aaron Finch made 1, taking his average to 15.9 from 10 one-dayers this year, but Starc reckons his skipper will find the runs soon. For batters, that's a good thing. 

🏉 NRL: Three NRL players escape punishment for off-field incidents. Newcastle Knights pair Kalyn Ponga and Kurt man have escaped sanction from the NRL after an investigation into footage of them leaving a pub's bathroom cubicle together. Panthers player Taylan May has avoided conviction for assaulting a fan during grand final celebrations last year. May was fined $1000 and made to pay the victim $1000 in compensation. 

⚽️ Football: A Cinderella story is on the cards in the Australia Cup. National Premier Leagues clubs Sydney United 58 and Oakleigh Cannons are through to the semi-finals where they'll meet A-League Mens clubs Brisbane Roar and Macarthur, respectively. The Australia Cup (formerly known as the FFA Cup) is Australia's version of the FA Cup in the UK where around 700 clubs from all levels around the country compete in a mega knockout comp for national glory. 

🚴‍♂️ Cycling: Another Aussie wins a stage of La Vuelta. Kaden Groves, rider for Team BikeExchange-Jayco, won stage 11 of the Tour of Spain overnight. It's the 23yo's 1st Grand Tour win, but it was bittersweet because his teammate Simon Yates was forced to withdraw after testing positive for COVID-19. Groves's win follows the 2 stage wins by Jay Vine last week. 

LEFT OF FIELD

🥊 UFC: Aussie UFC beast Rob Whittaker has fought some of the meanest fighters in the world, but what's killing him at the moment is a buttery croissant. Well, it's not the croissant itself but not being able to eat one. Whittaker is in Paris for his middleweight UFC fight with Italian Marvin Vettori on Sunday morning AEST. With the weigh-in set for Saturday, he's on a strict diet to make the 84kg weight, which means no croissants, no crepes and no salt (it helps retain water). But once the weigh-in is done he says he'll down a few bowls of spaghetti bolognese and when the fight is over "everything and anything is on the menu". 

📽 Highlight reel: Erling Haaland is loving the English Premier League. He scored another hat-trick this morning to take his goals tally to 9 from his 1st 5 games, which is an EPL record. 

📸 Photo finish: LA Lakers star and NBA living legend LeBron James is about to enter his 20th year in the league and he's looking pretty good for a guy who is 37yo and loves tacos. 

THE POLLING BOOTH

Wednesday's result: 45.56% support Cameron Smith's move to LIV Golf. 

WHAT WE'RE WATCHING

• 🎾 9:00am - US Open - Williams v Kontaveit - Flushing Meadows, New York - 9Gem, 9Now, Stan Sport

• 🏉 7:20pm - AFL - Lions v Tigers, Elimination Final - Gabba, Brisbane - 7 Sport, Foxtel, Kayo

• 🏉 7:50pm - NRL - Eels v Storm - CommBank Stadium, Parramatta - Channel 9, Foxtel, Kayo

All times AEST

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