🏉 Selection Surprises For Origin Opener

Winter is coming, it's Tuesday, 31 May

🔊 Sport Today Podcast

This morning, Sam Ferris and Martin Gabor are at the mic. 

Today's listen time: 10 minutes.

Listen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify

📺  What we're watching 

⚾ 9.00am - MLB - Mets v Nationals - Citi Field, New York City - Foxtel, Kayo 

🏀 7.30pm - Women's Basketball - Australia v Japan - Newcastle Entertainment Centre, Newcastle - Foxtel, Kayo

🎾 4.45am (Wed) - French Open - Rafael Nadal v Novak Djokovic - Roland Garros, Paris - Stan Sport, 9Gem

All times are in AEST

🏉 Teams are in for Origin opener

Maybe, just maybe, we should leave State of Origin selections to the people who actually pick the teams. Otherwise, we’re left with some WhatsApp predictions that now look rather silly.

Golden points: You can delete those hot takes because the official teams are in for game one. And like most years, there were a few surprises.

• Well, that’s not entirely true. Rookie Queensland coach Billy Slater picked a squad based on form. There are 4 debutants, including Selwyn Cobbo who has played just 19 NRL games.

• The biggest surprise is seeing Melbourne’s Harry Grant on the bench. Ben Hunt got the nod at hooker and he’s also leading the Dally M votes.

• The NSW team has a few more surprises. The names rhyme but Jack Wighton will start at left centre, which means Stephen Crichton will make his Origin debut off the bench.

They said it: “My line to him was, he belongs here, that was a tough one.” - Blues coach Brad Fittler says try-scoring machine Josh Addo-Carr can work his way back. 

What’s next: So the teams are in and training is about to start. The only thing left is the actual footy, which starts on 8 June at Accor Stadium in Sydney.

🏉 Buddy hoping for a friendly outcome at the tribunal 

It’s time for another episode of Law & Order, AFL edition. And this time, it involves one of the biggest names in the game.

Golden points: We may have seen the game of the year last Friday when the Swans fought back to beat Richmond by 6 points. Lance Franklin was the star with 5 goals, but he could miss this week’s game against the ladder-leading Demons.

• Buddy was offered a one-game ban by the Match Review Officer for striking Richmond’s Trent Cotchin.

• They deemed the contact as intentional, low impact and high contact, but the Swans aren’t convinced. They say it wasn’t high and that there’s no camera angle to prove it. 

• ‘Buddy’ did beat a one-game ban last season and the Swans will need him because it looks like the Demons are about to get some key players back after their unbeaten start to the year ended last week.

What’s next: The case is tonight and we’ll have the result in tomorrow’s newsletter.

Watch it: What's your call on Buddy's shove? 

🏀 Celtics get some help from Butler 

As a famous frog once said, it’s not easy being green. Just ask Boston Celtics supporters who watched their team nearly blow a big lead in the biggest game of the year so far.

The score: Boston defeated Miami 100-96 (won the Eastern Conference Finals 4-3).

Golden points: The team in green is through to the NBA Finals for the first time in 12 years. But the sweat was pouring with a minute to go.

• The Celtics led by 13 late in the 4th quarter, but Miami star Jimmy Butler had the chance to put his team in front with 15 seconds to go. He missed, and the rest is history.

• It means the Celtics will play the Golden State Warriors as they look to win a record-breaking 18th title.

• The Warriors are fresh after their 4-1 series win over the Mavericks. They also have plenty of big-game experience compared to the Celtics and are off to their 6th finals in 8 years.

What’s next: East meets West in the best-of-7 finals starting on Friday. You can watch every game on Foxtel and Kayo.

🏏 Cricket set to dominate the summer schedule 

You know it’s gonna be a hectic summer when we’re already talking about the cricket schedule in May. 

Golden points: This isn't any old schedule. It’s the busiest one we’ve ever seen with the men’s team set to play 27 games across all formats. And that doesn’t include any potential finals matches at this year’s T20 World Cup or a couple of overseas trips.

• Things heat up early with a couple of series up north to take advantage of the warmer weather.

• There will be a lot of white ball cricket this summer. If Tests are your thing then you’ll get to see the West Indies and South Africa.

• The women will spend most of the season on tour with the Commonwealth Games coming up in the UK followed by the T20 World Cup early next year.

Key click: Here’s the full schedule, including the women’s white-ball series against Pakistan on home soil.

What’s next: We’re 7 days away from the first T20 in Sri Lanka.

🎾 Clay classic is a clash of champions 

Rafael Nadal is the undisputed king of clay, but his reign could be over if he loses to Novak Djokovic tomorrow morning. 

Golden points: This is a match worthy of a final. But we’re getting it nice and early in the quarters because Nadal’s ranking has dropped due to injuries.

• Those injuries and years and years of pushing his body to the limit have some wondering if this could be his last French Open if he loses.

• The Spanish veteran is coming off a thriller against Felix Auger-Aliassime - just his 3rd 5-setter in Paris - and now plays Djokovic for a spot in the semis.

• Nadal has only lost 3 matches at the French Open, but one of those was to Djokovic in the semis last year. The Serb leads the overall record 30-28. 

They said it: “Being honest, every match that I play here I do not know if it will be the last match here in Roland Garros in my tennis career.” - 35yo Nadal could be close to retiring. 

Watch it: You can catch it on 9Gem and Stan Sport from 4:45am AEST tomorrow. Here's what happened when they last met on the French clay. 

👀 Quick singles

🎾 World #1 Iga Świątek dropped a set but fought back to extend her winning streak to 32 matches. Last year’s French Open runner-up Stefanos Tsitsipas wasn’t as lucky, knocked out by teenager Holger Rune. 

🏉 West Coast Eagles legend Peter Matera is in hospital after he suffered a heart attack on the weekend. The 53yo had 2 stents inserted and is currently in a Victorian hospital.

🏏 Cricket legend Ricky Ponting will swap his bat for some golf clubs at the Icon Series event in June. He’ll be part of the rest of the world team that includes Ash Barty and George Gregan. 

🏀 Basketballer Liz Cambage has denied reports she used a racial slur towards Nigerian players during a practice match last year. She said she never called them “monkeys” and that her elbow to the head of one of their players was unintentional. 

🏉 The Bombers are searching for answers after a very slow start to the year. The club has announced it’ll be doing a full review of the football operations after a 2-9 start to the AFL season. 

⚽ UEFA is launching an independent report to find out what caused the wild scenes before the Champions League final in Paris. The match had to be delayed and Liverpool fans were attacked with tear gas as they fought to get into the stadium 

🏑 The Kookaburras have named their squad for their series against New Zealand. There's little time to mull it over because the 4-match series starts today in Auckland. 

🙃 Left of field...

We have no idea how much wood a woodchuck would chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood. But we do know the world’s best were in action at the Timbersports World Trophy over the weekend.

Golden points: This isn’t your average woodchopping event that you see at the Easter Show. This is taking it to the extreme… and then some.

• Aussie Amanda Beams had a big weekend in Austria. She finished 3rd in 2 events and 2nd in the underhand chop. That’s the one you’ve probably seen before where the athletes stand on a log and whack away.

• The men’s event is a bit different and sounds brutal. They’ve got to chop through 4 logs using a chainsaw, a 2-metre saw and axes without getting a breather.

• Brad de Losa is a legend of the sport and he finished 3rd behind New Zealand’s Jack Jordan.

• Aussie Jack Argent is a name to remember. He broke the world record to win the Rookie World Championship.

Watch it: Check out these legends in action.

📽 The highlight reel

Sam Burns thought he was no chance of winning the Charles Schwab Challenge. But he came back from 7 shots down to win in a playoff. That's epic.

📸 Photo finish

George Kambosos Jr and Devin Haney got up close and personal before Sunday's big fight.

🏃‍♀️ The finish line

🏆 Today's trivia answer

Franklin has 28. Carlton's Charlie Curnow leads the way with 37 goals.