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By NCA NewsWire and James Cooney For Daily Mail Australia

Published: 02:58 EDT, 25 September 2023 | Updated: 03:55 EDT, 25 September 2023

The Voice Australia’s top four revealed ahead of grand finale

By Caleb Taylor For Daily Mail Australia

Published: 09:13 EDT, 24 September 2023 | Updated: 09:16 EDT, 24 September 2023

By Adrian Bishop For Mailonline

Updated: 10:42 EDT, 2 September 2023

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By James Cohen For Mailonline

Published: 10:00 EDT, 30 June 2023 | Updated: 10:04 EDT, 30 June 2023

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Port Adelaide‘s only AFL premiership coach Mark Williams has used his Hall of Fame induction to issue an emotional call to fight racism in the sport – and explained what led to one of the most iconic images in Power history.

In a passionate and wide-ranging speech at Melbourne‘s Crown Casino, the life-long football champion ended the function in stirring style.

Joking he was given the hard task of following iconic broadcaster Bruce McAvaney, Williams need not have worried as he delivered a memorable acceptance speech.

The 64-year-old said he remained in football, currently at Melbourne, due to his love of working with people from all backgrounds.

‘The Aboriginal people, I absolutely love. I really admire the AFL for talking and standing up for the ‘Yes’ vote for the Voice,’ Williams said.

‘I am saying we have to do the right thing and understand how bloody hard it is for the Aboriginal players to make their way in the AFL.

‘We need to support them and understand them.

‘When we get them there, make sure we give them opportunity and then absolutely demand the best from them and expect the best.’

Williams used the 2004 grand final when he coached Port to their sole premiership as an example of First Nations players starring on the biggest stage.

Byron Pickett won the Norm Smith Medal, while fellow Indigenous Power teammates Gavin Wanganeen, Peter Burgoyne and Shaun Burgoyne also played key roles in Port’s 40-point victory over the all-conquering Brisbane Lions.

‘I want them to be best on ground, not just making up the numbers,’ Williams said.

‘On grand final day, that’s what we saw when Port Adelaide won.’

The iconic image from Port’s breakthrough AFL premiership was Williams’ mock tie-choking gesture after the siren.

Williams reflected on just how tough things were for him and his family at that time in his life.

‘We were getting a lot of flack, it was hard living in Adelaide. Walking down the streets, my family was getting bullied and abused,’ he said.

‘People see the pulling of the tie and try and understand it. (But) If you walked a mile in my shoes or theirs (my family), you would understand how difficult it was.

‘To everyone’s credit, the Port Adelaide players, staff and board — everyone stuck together really closely. We worked on it and worked on it and kept going and kept believing in ourselves and finally got there.’

Three-time Geelong premiership heroes Jimmy Bartel and Corey Enright have become the latest Cats legends to be inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame.

The pair both ended their playing careers at the end of the 2016 season following Geelong’s preliminary-final loss to the Sydney Swans.

Despite ending their time with the Cats on a low, Bartel and Enright played a central role in an extraordinary period of success for the regional Victorian club.

The dynamic duo starred in Geelong’s 2007 premiership, the club’s first in 44 years, before being part of further grand-final success in 2009 and 2011.

A courageous midfielder, Bartel was awarded the 2007 Brownlow Medal and took out the Norm Smith Medal for his best-on-ground performance in the 2011 grand-final win over Collingwood.

Now a respected media analyst and a GWS board member, Bartel finished his career with 305 games and 202 goals.

Enright remains one of the greatest defenders in modern AFL history, named All-Australian six times, including in his final season.

Geelong should continue to dominate the Hall of Fame intake in coming years with fellow premiership greats such as Gary Ablett Jnr, Steve Johnson, Joel Selwood and Tom Hawkins almost certain to be included when they become eligible.

One of Bartel and Enright’s former adversaries, Sam Mitchell, was also inducted into the Hall of Fame after a stellar four-premiership career for Hawthorn, followed by a one-season stint at West Coast.

Mitchell skippered the Hawks’ 2008 grand-final victory over Geelong, before handing the captaincy reins over to Luke Hodge ahead of the 2011 season.

Hawthorn added to their premiership cabinet with a 2013-15 flag three-peat.

Mitchell was retrospectively crowned a joint winner of the 2012 Brownlow Medal after Essendon’s Jobe Watson gave up his award following the Bombers’ supplements saga.

Now coaching Hawthorn after taking over from his long-time mentor Alastair Clarkson at the end of 2021, Mitchell finished with 329 games and is a five-time Hawks best-and-fairest winner.

Port Adelaide’s only AFL premiership coach Mark Williams received a belated induction, 13 years after he stepped away from the Power.

Williams enjoyed an illustrious playing career in the SANFL with Port Adelaide, before taking his talents to the VFL/AFL at Collingwood and Brisbane.

AFL Commission chairman Richard Goyder confirmed St Kilda great Nick Riewoldt had accepted an invitation into the Hall of Fame.

However, the former Saints captain is living in the United States with his family this year and will be officially inducted when he returns to Australia.

2023 AUSTRALIAN FOOTBALL HALL OF FAME INDUCTEES

Sam Mitchell (Hawthorn, West Coast)

Jimmy Bartel (Geelong)

Corey Enright (Geelong)

Michael Aish (Norwood, SANFL)

Tom Leahy (West Adelaide, North Adelaide SANFL)

Bruce McAvaney (broadcaster)

Mark Williams (Port Adelaide as player and coach, Collingwood, Brisbane)

Gary O’Neil was sat at home on Sunday musing over Bournemouth‘s plans for pre-season. Come Monday morning he had been sacked over the phone and his successor, Andoni Iraola, appointed within two hours.

The move was a major shock and was, largely, met with condemnation after O’Neil had kept Bournemouth in the Premier League against the odds, given the Cherries’ more modest budget. 

But, truthfully, it should not have been such a surprise, not with new owner Bill Foley calling the shots.

You see, Foley absolutely detests mediocrity. Hates it. Staying up, which many may view as a success year on year for Bournemouth, is not going to cut it for the Austin-born billionaire.

‘I believe if you tolerate mediocrity, your business is going to be mediocre,’ Foley once told the Las Vegas Review Journal. ‘I don’t tolerate it.’ 

And so with that O’Neil was gone and Iraola was in. 

Foley, who had four children to his wife Carol, is a curious character, one that was once described as a ‘frank man with an almost goofy charm’.

He has likened himself to a ‘dictator’ that has to be ‘captain of the ship’. Back in 1996 he described himself as his own ‘worst enemy’.

Born in 1944 in Texas as the only child to a father in the US air force, Foley quickly learned not to get to attached – to things or places.

He bounced around homes, spending time in Canada when his dad was posted there, and he would routinely find himself back in Texas in the summertime at a ranch owned by his mum’s family.

Foley’s dream was to be a fighter pilot but his deteriorating eyesight put paid to that and he was assigned a desk role after graduating from the US Military Academy in 1967.

While a cadet he showed his business acumen by earning $40,000 in profits from trading stocks. It would be the start of a fascination for acquisition and for profit.

And an analysis of Foley – who went on to gain degrees from Seattle University and University of Washington School of Law – shows an almost military-like efficiency when it comes to business. High standards, acquire lots of assets and cut losses without much sentiment if it doesn’t work out. 

‘I always want things better than they were. I can be a little anal about it,’ he told Forbes in 2017.

‘When I’m in a conference room, if the chairs are not all behind the table properly, I rearrange them.’

Foley’s business empire, which has his estimated net worth at $1.6bn by Forbes, has seem him invest in wineries, golf courses, hotels, ski resorts, and restaurants. It has been in the last decade where, even in later life, his ambition in sport is burning hot.

In 2016, Foley paid $500m to purchase the Vegas Golden Knights hockey team, the first NHL expansion team since 2000.

The immediate message was clear: we are going to spend and we are going to win. 

‘I know I can create a winning culture,’ he told Worth in 2016. ‘I believe hockey is going to be easier than some of my businesses.’ 

That is exactly what he achieved, with the Knights winning their first ever Stanley Cup this year, defeating Florida.

But in typical Foley fashion, winning one wasn’t going to quench the thirst for success.

‘We’re not done,’ Foley said. ‘I told William Karlsson (star player) when he signed an eight-year deal [in 2019] that I expect three Stanley Cups during the length of his contract. 

‘When we were on the ice and getting our [championship] picture taken, I looked over at him and told him, “OK, you got one.”‘ 

There is something that Foley said back in 2002 that resonates to this day – and is a nod to why Bournemouth have shaken things up when staying pat seemed the safest option.

‘We’re always looking over our shoulder,’ Foley said in the Santa Barbara News-Press in August 2002. ‘So when things are good, that’s the time to prepare.’ 

And so to Bournemouth, a club he is refusing to let wallow in its image of the smallest fish in English football’s biggest pond.

‘Gary will go on to have a long career as a head coach or manager, but we feel that, at this moment in time, a change is in the best interests of this football club. I would like to place on record my thanks to Gary and wish him all the best for the future,’ Foley said to round out Monday’s statement. 

You’re good but not good enough, basically. 

Michael B Jordan is on board as a minority owner, Foley is willing to spend and he is looking at Aston Villa and Brighton and those pushing English football’s elite and asking, why not us? 

‘We’re not afraid of change,’ Foley told the Athletic. ‘We want to make things better. I want this team to play in Europe. 

‘Our ultimate goal is not to worry about avoiding relegation but to move way up the table.’

Foley did not waste much time in deciding that O’Neil wasn’t taking them there.

Working with Foley isn’t easy. He makes the decisions and he takes the blame, that’s how it goes. 

‘I have looked at several teams over the last two or three years and they all involved minority investment and someone else is already in charge. I don’t like that. I’m a dictator,’ he told BBC Radio Solent upon buying the team.

‘When I’m involved, I need to be the captain of the ship. I had to wait for a situation where I could buy the team myself, with my partners of course, and control the destiny of the team.’

But Jordan can offer something that Foley, for all his billions, cannot: A-List appeal. 

‘He’s going to help with international marketing,’ Foley said of Jordan’s undefined role. 

‘He’s going to help with our brand marketing. In five years, this will be a different club.’

What happens next given his minority stake in FC Lorient, in France’s top division, is one to watch. Multi-club models have delivered great success elsewhere in Europe and Foley is ambitious enough to create a web of talent all directing back to the south coast. 

But if there is one message to send to new boss Iraola: hit the ground running. Foley is not a man to sell mediocrity too.

By Samuel Draper For Mailonline

Published: 12:55 EDT, 18 June 2023 | Updated: 15:23 EDT, 18 June 2023

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By Michael Rudling For Mailonline

Published: 14:58 EDT, 17 June 2023 | Updated: 15:11 EDT, 17 June 2023

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Everything you need to know about the A-League grand final: How to watch, the danger men for Melbourne City and Central Coast – and a fearless prediction

• Melbourne City play Central Coast Mariners in Grand Final
• Rado Vidosic’s City chasing a 2022/23 season A-League double
• Decider in Sydney, June 3 at Commbank Stadium from 7.45pm

By Andrew Prentice For Daily Mail Australia

Published: 19:23 EDT, 1 June 2023 | Updated: 20:03 EDT, 1 June 2023

Geri Horner looks glam in a plunging cream dress as she joins David Harbour and Orlando Bloom at the Gran Turismo photocall during the F1 Monaco Grand Prix

By Amina Mughal For Mailonline

Published: 11:52 EDT, 28 May 2023 | Updated: 14:04 EDT, 28 May 2023