2012 24 Heures Du Mans (24 Hours of Le Mans)- Australian TV Guide

Wednesday 13 June

Le Mans 24 Minutes (11.00am - 11.30am; Eurosport)

Thursday 14 June

Le Mans 24 Minutes  (1.30am - 2.00am; Eurosport)

24 Hours of Le Mans Free Practice (2.00am - 6.00am; Eurosport)

24 Hours of Le Mans Qualifying 1 (6.00am - 8.00am; Eurosport)

Le Mans 24 Minutes (8.00am - 8.30am; Eurosport)

Friday 15 June

24 Hours of Le Mans Qualifying 2 (3.00am - 5.00am; Eurosport)

Le Mans 24 Minutes (5.30am - 6.00am; Eurosport)

24 Hours of Le Mans Qualifying 3 (6.00am - 8.00am; Eurosport)

Le Mans 24 Minutes (6.00pm - 6.30pm; Eurosport)

Saturday 16 June

Le Mans 24 Minutes (4.30pm - 5.00pm; Eurosport)

24 Hours of Le Mans Warm-up (5.00pm - 6.00pm; Eurosport)

24 Hours of Le Mans Legends Race (6.00pm - 7.00pm; Eurosport)

Le Mans 24 Minutes (10.15pm - 10.45pm; Eurosport)

2012 24 Hours of Le Mans (10.45pm - 11.59pm)

Sunday 17 June

2012 24 Hours of Le Mans (1.30am - 6.30am; Eurosport)

Le Mans 24 Minutes (6.30am - 7.00am; Eurosport)

2012 24 Hours of Le Mans (7.00am - 5.30pm; Eurosport)

Le Mans 24 Minutes (5.30pm - 6.00pm; Eurosport)

2012 24 Hours of Le Mans (6.00pm - 11.15pm; Eurosport)

Le Mans 24 Minutes (11.15pm - 11.45pm; Eurosport)

Swans Review - Essendon (9 June 2012)

An incredible football game.

Where does one start with a contest like this? It seems to always happen, when the Swans and Bombers get together in Melbourne, there is last-minute - last second, after the siren, even - drama that gives the football world something to talk about for the next few days. Last year, it was Adam Goodes missing after the siren. This year, it was the unfortunate Courtenay Dempsey wheeling around to play on as the clock went to 0:00, ending the game and ending, too, a most furious comeback from Essendon. Clearly, these are must-see games, year-in, year-out.

The Swans, thanks to Lewis Jetta, executed the mother of all great escapes tonight. It was all Essendon all the time in the fourth quarter, except when Jetta seemed to have the football on a string and the Bombers clutching vainly at his shoestrings. Down 47 points at half time, even the staunchest of Essendon fans had to think their goose was cooked. Only the most pessimistic Swans supporters were even barely entertaining the thought of anything but a comfortable, statement-making win.

Then, the flood gates opened and Essendon, dead and buried in the third, came roaring back, erasing forty-three of the forty-seven point three quarter time deficit, thanks to brilliant work from another Jetta, from a Watson and from a Hocking, and there seemed a time where the Bombers would make history, recording a famous victory in front of an electric Etihad Stadium crowd, and, in the process, recording the greatest comeback from a three quarter time deficit in history.

It was that close. But Lewis Jetta and Jude Bolton, the only two Swans who made a major mark in the scorer's book in the final, did enough to stem the tide before Dempsey's moment at the death, one that is sure to be spoken about for a long time. It's added to the recent lore between these teams. For both teams. It was penthouse to outhouse, hero to zero - or vice-versa - stuff.

Yet the best team across four quarters undoubtedly won the game tonight. The Swans were ruthless for three quarters, the midfield slicing apart Essendon - the Bombers looked pedestrian at best until the commencement of the final term - thus giving the forwards, led by the remarkably-improved Jetta, wonderful scoring opportunities. What happened to all of that in the last quarter? That, surely, is the question every Swans fan the world over is asking. The separation between being such a lofty position and almost recording a most humiliating defeat was mere seconds, heart-stopping, breathless seconds for fans on both sides of the fence.

Essendon were like a snowball in the final quarter, and it seemed like there would be no stopping them. Credit to the Bombers. They showed an incredible amount of moxie in coming back the way they did. It was as if the Swans had poked the big bear enough to wake them up, and once the Bombers were awake, they were impressive. It was easy to see why Essendon are being spoken about as Flag favourites - at least in the final quarter. Poor kicking and general ineffectiveness killed them early, and set up what was eventually a thrilling, grandstand finish win.

For the Swans, there is work to be done over the bye weekend. Most importantly, they need to work on playing a full game against good teams, not just against the lower-tier teams. Yet, the first three quarters proved that they are capable of matching it with the best in the AFL. Their ability to play coast-to-coast football, cutting through the middle of the park, was impressive. There was forward pressure, fierce tackling, smooth handballs, a great pack mentality down back, where there was a pleasant absence of the helter-skelter defensive work that sometimes appears. It was like watching a well-oiled machine. The entirety of the first three quarters was a thing of beauty, unless you were an Essendon fan. Really, it was an absolute beating. Then the amazing comeback. The siren was a relief tonight like it's rarely been such a relief before.

The bye awaits - just as well, with injury concerns for Hannebery and Nick Smith, both of whom missed the furious final quarter - and then Geelong on a Friday night at the SCG. Given the way this one ended tonight, Swans fans are likely glad of the two-week break. They'll need it to let their heart-rate return to normal!

Swans Review - Western Bulldogs (3 June 2012)

SYDNEY 9.0  10.5  16.9  20.12 (132)
WESTERN BULLDOGS 1.1  3.1  4.5  5.10 (40)

GOALS
Sydney: Jetta 4, McGlynn 3,  Dennis-Lane 3, Bolton 2, Jack 2, Roberts-Thomson 2, Reid 2, Kennedy, O’Keefe.
Western Bulldogs: Picken 2, Cordy, Wallis, Veszpremi.

BEST
Sydney:  Bolton, Shaw, Jack, Richards, Hannebery, Kennedy, O’Keefe.
Western Bulldogs: Boyd, Griffen, Cooney, Picken, Wallis.

 
Another percentage-boosting win for the Swans on an afternoon that epitomised the bleakness of winter. It was raining constantly for many hours pre-game, and during the first quarter, but the Swans, in a surprising display of accuracy, kicked nine straight to just the solitary major for the Western Bulldogs in a first term that stretched, incredibly, beyond the thirty-six minute part. Had you checked the score online or on the AFL's iPhone App at the end of the first quarter, you could've been forgiven for assuming that the contest was taking place under clear, sunny skies. It was not, but the Swans played like they thought different. It was a blistering start./

In evidence this week - and sorely lacking last week - was the hunger and ferociousness that was there in spades the last time the Swans stepped out in Sydney, their even one hundred point win over the then-winless Melbourne Demons. The Bulldogs, while not as low on the AFL's totem pole as the Dees were and are, were made to look just as inept. The midfield, up and about after a somewhat lacklustre performance seven days before, and led, as ever, by the hard-working Jude Bolton (forty-one touches in a sparkligly vintage performance) and Dan Hannebery (close behind Bolton with thirty-five gets), cut the Bulldogs to shreds early, ensuring that the game was beyond doubt even before the siren called a halt to first quarter hostilities, and a halt to another necessarily ruthless Swans performance.

When they weren't creating scoring chances for the forwards, the midfield was scoring themselves, with Jack and Kennedy and O'Keefe recording majors, playing the role of secondary scorers behind Jetta and Dennis-Lane and, somewhat remarkably, Lewis Roberts-Thompson. The Swans' new forward weapon, he probably isn't, but LRT has looked more at home in the attacking half of the ground than Jesse White has in his brief appearances up forward this year.

Yet the day belonged, largely, to Lewis Jetta, whose two highlight-reel goals and two further true kicks (and three score assists) and Bolton, seemingly everywhere on the ground, in every scrum and contest, whose combined efforts electrified the modest crowd of 13,505 who braved horrible weather conditions for much of the game, and endured not much of a contest after that. The regulation win might have ensured no one in red and white went home unhappily, but the injury to rising midfield star Luke Parker - 6-8 weeks with a broken collarbone - dampened spirits as fans left the SCG, heading, mostly, to a similarly dampened car park quagmire.

Another Swans effort to be proud of, though the real test will not be against these bottom-tier sides, but against the high-flyers, and Essendon, despite their shock loss to Melbourne on Saturday night - I for one, was very glad to see the Demons win, and Mark Neeld regain at least a little of the confidence the AFL press corps has done their best to erode and destroy - the Bombers are still right up there, as far as yardsticks and Flag favourites go.

The Swans need a win in Melbourne and against a top four team - they are 2-5 against teams in the top four since John Longmire took over - to reignite talk of them being genuine premiership contenders.

Swans Review - Melbourne (19 May, 2012)

SYDNEY 7.1  11.4  16.9  21.12 (138)
MELBOURNE 0.3  1.5  2.7  5.7 (37)
 
Goals: Sydney: J Kennedy 3 K Jack 3 L Jetta 3 L Parker 3 B McGlynn 2 T Dennis-Lane 2 T Walsh 2 M Mattner R O’Keefe S Reid. Melbourne: N Jones 2 B Green C Sylvia J Bennell.
Best: Sydney: K Jack L Jetta R O’Keefe D Hannebery J Bolton M Mattner L Parker. Melbourne: N Jones J Watts S Blease M Clark.
 
Official Crowd: 20,818 at SCG.


Well, what can be said about that game? How to sum up the Swans' first 100+ point win since the 2006 season? I said on Twitter that it was an epic dismantling of extraordinary proportions. That barely does justice to what we saw today.

Not even the most ardent Swans fan could possibly have imagined how the game would go down. After all, the Swans have a frustrating and recent history of not totally demolishing teams that they are expected to totally demolish. The most recent example of that was Opening Night, when many critics thought that the red and whites would run up a cricket score on the GWS Giants. It didn't happen that night but tonight, in the twilight zone, the Swans put the sword to a woeful, inept, lacklustre and demoralised outfit, and they did it in a way that had to be seen to be believed.

This was ruthlessness as it is defined in the dictionary. The Swans were coldly dispassionate as they carved up the Demons in every facet of the game. They showed no quarter, accepted no surrender. It was pressure, pressure, pressure from the beginning to the end, and, in that way, this performance was a thing of beauty to watch, a perfect rebound from two straight losses, and a warning to the rest of the AFL that the Swans knew how to deliver a drubbing. This game will not go unnoticed by those in Melbourne. Yes, the talent level they had opposing them wasn't great, but their sheer will at every contest was something to behold. Not even at the end, when the game was well beyond doubt, did they slow down. Their foot stayed on the accelerator, and there were players lining up to have a shot at the big sticks.

The midfield dominated - O'Keefe, Hannebery and Jack all had more than 33 touches, and Jude Bolton wasn't far behind with 21 on a day when the white-shirted Swans midfield brigade seemed to be able to evade trouble with a deft step. It was little more than a training run for a team who, in their own words, had been an "embarrassment" last week vs. Richmond at the MCG. There was nothing that the Swans couldn't do; possessions were stacked up almost as quickly as goals were stacked up. The Demons rarely showed offensive spark. Their eighth loss is far and way their worst. They looked completely outclassed. It isn't unreasonable to say that they would struggle to beat the Swans reserves team. Where their first win of the season is coming from, I don't know. I don't think their coach, Mark Neeld, knows either. Horror start to his coaching career.

Attack was as good as defence. The debutant Tommy Walsh had an impressive two goal beginning and Lewis Jetta, a guy who couldn't have bought a goal a couple of seasons back, chimed in with three. Luke Parker and Kennedy had three, each, too and even Sam Reid chimed in, kicking his first major since round three. Trent Dennis-Lane and Ben McGlynn bagged doubles each. At the end, every Swan seemed to be getting in on the scoring action.

And so ended something of a record-breaking night at the SCG that was good to cure the two game losing streak and to boost their percentage, but not really for much else. Tonight's win will not be the one to catapult Sydney back into the premiership talk. This was a regulation win against perhaps the very worst team in the Toyota Premiership at the moment. Still it was a pleasing effort - a win's a win, after all - but it will do no one any good to let tonight's shellacking of an inferior opposition unit go to their heads. Surely, that's what John Longmire told his charges in the room, post-game.

The Swans are still without Adam Goodes and Shane Mumford. Neither was particularly missed on this night, but next week and further on down the track they will. They are vital cogs, of course. Now, the Swans must regroup and prepare to face the in-form St Kilda next Saturday night in Melbourne. A win at Etihad Stadium will do what tonight could not: let the AFL know that the Swans are back in the game.

Go Bloods!

Swans Review - Adelaide (5 May 2012)

Well, it had to happen last night, and it was probably better to have it happen by a close margin than in a major blow-out.

Finally, the Sydney Swans have been beaten in Season 2012, and it was only after a pulsating game of football that surely ranks amongst the best played in the six rounds thus far. Once more, the Adelaide hoodoo at the SCG continues - the Swans have not beaten the Crows in Sydney since 2005 - but only just, in a game full of intensity, courage and some wonderful goals. It was, as they say, a game that could legitimately have gone either way.

The end result may have been different had Adam Goodes been in the game for the last quarter. He wasn't, subbed off due to injury, when, previously, the Crows had found it difficult to contain him. It was vintage Goodes through three quarters. The games record holder for the Swans booted five majors, and was ably supported by a player so many of the Swans faithful hope will take over the mantle as resident football wizard when #37 hangs them up, Lewis Jetta. Without a doubt, it was Jetta's best game in a red and white jumper, and a shame that the end result wasn't what everyone wanted.

Even in a loss, there were other positives. Ryan O'Keefe appears back to his best form, and the midfield - the midfield battle tonight was extraordinary - continues to tick along, though there were less mentions of Messrs McVeigh, Bolton and Jack than in previous weeks, though they seemed to follow the Adam Goodes line and pop up when needed to make a critical play. They have a good role model in that. Richards, Grundy and Mattner were less solid tonight than usual. I thought that they went the spoil more than the mark down back more than they should have. Alas, even very good players have a bad night, and it wasn't as though they were failing against a bottom-feeding team. They were beaten tonight by a very good Adelaide Crows team, whose resurgence under Brenton Sanderson, the former Geelong assistant, seems almost complete now.

There is one thing that needs to change: the Swans seem to have developed this fascination with letting teams get out to a twenty-odd point lead before switching on and playing football. It was somewhat lucky that this didn't cause a problem last week against Hawthorn in Tasmania, and to have it happen against this Saturday night was more than enough to have the natives restless. You can't spot good teams such leads and expect to always be able to reel them in. That much was proven true tonight, and Longmire will likely point it out during the week.

The Crows deserved their victory, and you could sense how big it was for them by the powerful embraces post-game. On the flip side, you could sense how much the Swans had invested in their comeback from the sputtering first quarter start when you saw them laid out on the SCG turf after the final siren, which came when they were on the Crows' doorstep, perhaps about to kick a goal to win the game. We shall never know. Even so, the drama was high, and it was an example of how gripping and brilliant Australian football can be when played as well as it was tonight.

Yet it isn't all doom and gloom. All is far from lost. The Swans were beaten by a good team tonight, but not embarrassed as they have been in the past in Sydney by Adelaide - I cam remember some ugly ones in the last few years - and there are good lessons to be learned ahead of next week's meeting with Richmond, in the Saturday twilight slot at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Make no mistake, 5-1 is still an impressive mark, and it keeps the Swans well ensconced in the upper echelon of the AFL, and most likely amongst those mentioned when the question of premiership contenders is raised.

Go Bloods!!