What we learned: Sunday 20 August
With that, we will wrap the blog for now. Thanks for joining us, with today’s news dominated, understandably, by that heart-stopping Matildas’ run.
Here were the major events of the day:
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese says he is determined to see through a second term.
Three snowboarders have been hurt after a gust of wind caused a ski lift chair to detach at Thredbo resort.
Matildas forward Caitlin Foord has described the teams 2-0 loss to Sweden as her “worst nightmare” after the team’s fairytale run at the 2023 World Cup;
Foreign minister Penny Wong says the government has returned to “a more centrist” position on Israel with a change to official language that describes East Jerusalem as “occupied”.
Hundreds in Brisbane have gathered to see the Matildas receive the keys to the city while the team has thanked supporters for “the best four weeks of our lives”.
New South Wales has announced it will celebrate the team’s World Cup run with a mural.
Pauline Hanson has opened day two of CPAC where audiences are decidedly thinner, sharing re-runs of her satirical political cartoon series and making off colour jokes about her political rivals.
Updated
Controversial Crows loss will stand despite AFL error
AFL boss Gillon McLachlan has conceded Adelaide should have been awarded a late goal but says their crucial one-point loss to Sydney won’t be overturned.
The Crows’ finals chances ended in controversy after the goal umpire awarded a behind rather than a goal by Ben Keays, which would have given Adelaide the lead with just over a minute to play in Saturday night’s Adelaide Oval clash.
The umpire signalled the ball hit the post and didn’t seek a video review - which McLachlan said on Sunday he should have done.
The 13th-placed Crows are two wins outside the top eight with one game remaining, an away trip to play struggling West Coast.
Had they beaten Sydney, Adelaide’s season would have been well and truly alive ahead of a return clash with the Eagles. They smashed West Coast by 122 points in round 13 at the Adelaide Oval.
Adelaide chief executive Tim Silvers said in a statement on Sunday that while welcome, the admission of error did not lessen the frustration and disappointment shared by everyone involved with the club.
The Adelaide Football Club acknowledges the AFL’s response to the circumstances surrounding last night’s loss to the Sydney Swans.
Human error is, and always will be, part of football and we recognise our own performance in the first half of the season defining game was not at the standard we expect either.
We are also extremely proud of our players’ effort, commitment and never give up attitude, which was again on show.
The failure to video review the scoring attempt in question is inexplicable given the enormity of the moment, not just for that game but also what it meant for our finals chances and those of other teams in the competition.
Having spoken to the AFL and with no further avenues to explore, we have no choice other than to turn our focus to the final home and away match of the season.
While we will not participate in the upcoming finals series, we are determined to build on the progress our young playing group has made this year.
– with AAP
Updated
