Coming up this week: An AFL Grand Final showdown in Melbourne, a fairytale rugby clash at Twickenham, and golf’s Ryder Cup braces for the New York cauldron. Here’s your Inside Track to the action.
AUSTRALIAN RULES
A Grand Final with great expectations
Devotees of mullets, handlebar moustaches and sleeveless jerseys are in for a treat this weekend as Australian Rules football takes centre stage for a feline-themed Grand Final between the Geelong Cats and Brisbane Lions.
To the uninitiated, Aussie Rules football appears chaotic, with few rules and barely a pause for breath as 18 players on each side chase an oval ball and crash into each other in a contest that veers from brawl to ballet in a heartbeat. Imagine a sport that is stitched together from scraps of rugby and Gaelic football and sprinkled with Aussie mayhem, and that’s Aussie Rules — anarchy in the shortest of short shorts.
To Australians, though, it’s just footy.
On Saturday, some 100,000 spectators will cram into the Melbourne Cricket Ground, a citadel for this blood-and-thunder sport, as one of the southern hemisphere’s most extraordinary sporting occasions unfolds.
Both the Cats and the Lions will be fighting to become the most dominant AFL club of the 21st century. Having racked up four championships apiece in the last 25 years, this will be their first Grand Final meeting.
The Cats are the model of consistency. Under coach Chris Scott, they blend grit and high-gloss recruits like Jeremy Cameron and Patrick Dangerfield. For the best part of the last two decades, they have regularly ended up near the sharp end every season.
The Lions are the new order. Rebuilt from a struggling outpost into a modern machine, they arrive with last year’s premiership in their pocket and a third straight grand final on the bounce. Their rise has been driven by shrewd recruiting, a booming academy and a Queensland spine in Harris Andrews, Charlie Cameron and the Ashcroft brothers Will and Levi. Another triumph would plant them firmly among the dynasties of Richmond, Hawthorn, and their own golden run of the early 2000s.
Both sides boast deep pipelines of talent. Both know that lifting the cup at the MCG is about more than medals or memories — it is a chance to seize the decade.
AFL Grand Final, Melbourne, Australia — September 27
RUGBY
Can Canada crash England’s party in the Women’s Rugby World Cup final?
It’s a tale rarely told anymore in international sport: A semi-professional team operating on a shoestring budget taking on the best-prepared, best-funded outfit the women’s game has ever seen, and all in front of 82,000 paying fans at a sold-out stadium, with millions more tuning in from home. Yet, on Saturday, that is exactly what will be on display at Twickenham when Canada, who crowd-funded the one million Canadian dollars ($723,000) they needed to take part in the Women’s Rugby World Cup, will seek to crash hosts England’s party.
Everyone expected the final to be a repeat of the last one, when New Zealand beat England in a dramatic finale. New Zealand always make the final – or at least they have in six of the last seven tournaments, winning them all. But Canada had other ideas and stunned them 34-19 in last Friday’s semi-final.
In truth, it should not have been such an upset. Canada are ranked second in the world behind England, and certainly nobody in the Canadian camp went into the game thinking they were there to make up the numbers.
That is exactly the attitude they will have to bring on Saturday in front of the biggest crowd ever to watch a women’s rugby match. The Canadians don’t like being called amateurs, and around half the squad earn their living playing professionally in England and France. The other half, however, need side gigs to supplement the income they get from playing internationally, which for most is considerably less than 10,000 Canadian dollars ($7,200) a year.
England’s players aren’t exactly on Premier League wages either, but they do have all the other support that comes from being part of the RFU, including high tech training facilities, nutritional support, top notch medical care – and almost all of them have decent club contracts.
England’s squad depth and professional preparation off the pitch is underlined by their extraordinary performances on it. They go into Saturday’s game as hot favourites after a record run of 32 wins, having lost just once in their last 63 games – albeit the biggest of the lot, that 2022 World Cup final.
Canada, however, have shown that they’re no respecter of reputations and will hope their almost superhuman enthusiasm for the physical side of the game will stifle England.
England needed two late tries to win the teams’ last meeting in October, and their superior fitness and conditioning suggests they will finish strongly again on Saturday. But Canada have already proved they can flip the script — and they’re not done yet.
Women’s Rugby World Cup final, London, England — September 27
GOLF
Bethpage Black braced for Ryder Cup as Europe confront partisan New York crowd
Bethpage Black isn’t known for its hospitality. The sign at the first tee — “The Black Course Is An Extremely Difficult Course Which We Recommend Only For Highly Skilled Golfers” — reads more like a challenge than a greeting. Now, the Ryder Cup arrives on Long Island, where one of golf’s loudest crowds will turn the municipal fairways into a cauldron of noise and pressure. For Europe, success will depend not only on execution, but on resilience.
In New York, heckling is part of the culture. The Ryder Cup is always loud, but Bethpage brings its own brand of intensity: blunt, partisan, and often unforgiving. A four-foot putt is hard enough without thousands of fans rooting and roaring for a miss.
European captain Luke Donald is preparing his team for that hostile welcome. Players have used virtual reality headsets to simulate the atmosphere in a modern twist that reflects the challenge ahead. In Rome, they were serenaded. In New York, they’ll be screamed at.
Recent history suggests the crowd matters. The last five Ryder Cups have gone to the home side, with fans playing a key role in creating momentum. Europe pulled off a famous comeback at Medinah in 2012, but Bethpage may present an even tougher test.
And the drama won’t be limited to the course. Donald Trump is expected to attend, adding another layer of spectacle to an already charged event. For Europe, the challenge will be as much psychological as physical.
Ryder Cup, Bethpage Black, New York — September 26–28
EXTRA TIME
What else we’re watching
NFL: American Football makes Irish history on Sunday with the country’s first-ever NFL regular season game — a Croke Park sell-out months in advance — as the Pittsburgh Steelers face the Minnesota Vikings.
Flag Football: The fast-growing sport takes centre stage this week as EuroFlag 2025 kicks off just outside Paris, with a record number of national teams chasing continental glory from September 25–27. Fast, fierce and full of flair, the tournament offers a glimpse of the sport’s Olympic future ahead of its LA28 debut.
Handball: The Club World Championship lands in Egypt next week, with holders Veszprém, European giants Magdeburg, Cairo rivals Al Ahly and Zamalek, and wildcard Barcelona among nine teams battling for glory in a fast, furious global shootout ending October 2.
MotoGP: The sport turns to Motegi, Japan, this weekend, where Marc Marquez is on the brink of a fairytale seventh world title — 2,184 days after his last. After injuries, surgeries and team switches, the 32-year-old needs only to stretch his 182-point lead to 185 to clinch the title with five rounds left. His only challenger, fittingly, is his younger brother Alex, who once talked him out of retirement.
Soccer: Two Premier League bosses are already in the firing line. Graham Potter’s West Ham sit 19th in the league, and Sunday’s trip to Everton could decide his fate. Meanwhile, Wolves, who head to Tottenham on Saturday, have yet to earn a point under Vitor Pereira, who is now the bookmakers’ favourite for the chop.
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Editing by Yasmeen Serhan and Toby Chopra; Illustration by Jeremy Schultz
Footy, Fairytales and Ferocity
