It’s been a big week for Central Coast elite sports stars with top level presentations in State of Origin, AFL and international athletics.
Last Wednesday’s State of Origin final saw former Woy Woy Roosters junior player Bradman Best scored two tries to stun the Queensland team in his debut Origin game.
Best, who plays with the Newcastle Knights, said he was humbled by the opportunity to play Origin football.
Knights coach Adam O’Brien said Best was motivated by his critics who questioned his readiness to play Origin football, though he had now “shut a few up” with his performance.
In the AFL, the Greater Western Sydney Giants game against the Adelaide Crows in Adelaide over the weekend saw local former Killarney Vale Bomber forward Daniel Lloyd score the final goal in what the club considers one of its greatest comeback victories.
GWS trailed the Crows for most of the game, but booted five goals in the last quarter to snatch the unlikely victory.
In international athletics over the weekend, former Point Clare local Nicola Olyslagers (nee McDermott) jumped a record-breaking one meter and 98 centimetres at an international Diamond League athletics tournament in Poland.
The 26-year-old was one of three competitors to clear the bar, breaking the local meet record.
Olyslagers had to settle for second place on a count-back behind Ukraine’s Iryna Geraschenko.
Olyslagers is now second in the world rankings and will compete in her next event in Monaco on Friday, July 21.
The jump officially qualified her for the Paris Olympics next year.
David Abrahams