00:00Welcome one and all to another episode of The Press Box, episode 111. I know what you're
00:15thinking, I am not Ben Hand. My name is Josh Partridge and joining me today is Ryan Bentley
00:20and we are set for another cracking episode of Northern Tasmanian Sport. Firstly, we're
00:25starting off with Ben Hand's favourite segment, numerology. Now, I'm going to have to do a
00:31lot here to live up to Ben's expectations, but I'm going to get stretchy. 111 is important
00:37in Tasmanian sport because husband batter Tyler Dell the other day, he hit 154 from 47 balls.
00:45We take 154, we're minus 47, that's 107, a little bit short, but he had an 180 run stand
00:53with Jono Chapman, who hit four sixes during his time at the crease. So that is why 111
01:00is an important number in Tasmanian sport, Ryan. To continue along this theme, we'll talk
01:06a little bit more about Tyler. So Tyler's innings was massive and it actually got national coverage
01:11on the PlayHQ social channels. He hit 41 runs off and over. Yes. Can you fathom that, Ryan?
01:18Better than perfect, son, they say. So four with the first ball and then there were six
01:25sixes including a no ball in there, which the six off the no ball was impressive. It was about to hit
01:30him in the face and he just goes like this and off she goes. But yeah, fantastic innings from Tyler
01:36and that really set the tone for a big run scoring weekend. Ava Curtis from the Greater Northern
01:41Raiders, she hit 143. Jordan French from Westbury A-grade, 102. And Jared Freeman from Mowbray A-grade,
01:46101 not out. But there was also a pretty good performance with the ball as Evandale Panthers A-grader
01:56Kevin Stagg took seven for 32. Nice. Seven for 32. How? I can't even fathom taking seven wickets
02:03over the course of a couple of weeks, let alone one. Season for me.
02:06But that's where we'll finish with the cricket for today. We've got a fair bit happened in the stadium
02:13world over the past week. Ryan, talk me through what occurred. Yes, well we pondered the question a
02:19couple of weeks ago. What will happen if the stadium doesn't go through? It was a bit sad and dour but
02:25the stadium did pass through the upper house last Thursday, Wednesday and Thursday after a mammoth debating
02:32session. I think one speech went for three and a half hours. Yeah, and I think they wrapped up,
02:36what, about two, three o'clock? 2.30 and then come back the next morning to actually vote on it. But
02:41yes, the Macquarie Point Stadium will be happening. Maybe, I think. I'm sure something else will happen
02:48along the way. But yes, it should be happening. The team will be happening. 2026, end of 2026,
02:55I reckon, is when the stadium will actually start being built. So that timeline of 2029, first game
03:01there, unlikely. Yeah. Which is probably good news for anyone in Launceston because the majority of the
03:07games for, until Macquarie Point Stadium was built, probably going to be played here, which would be nice.
03:12Yeah, I think I saw something from Brendan Gale potentially, admitting that that timeline is now a
03:17little bit skewiffed. So yeah, I think, yeah, more games at Utah Stadium here for Launceston, it seems.
03:24But you can never know until everything's fully locked in and we never know when anything is fully
03:29locked in at the moment. There was also a little bit of a change happened in the regular fixtures for
03:34the pre-season competition, Ryan. Talk me through that. Yes, the almost annual, it seems, pre-season trip
03:40to Tasmania for the Hawks, not happening this year. I guess it's a product of there's only one pre-season game a
03:46year now. So they can't host every year and that's this year. And they'll still be playing the Bulldogs,
03:51I think, so. Yeah. Was it 2021 that last didn't occur here? Yeah, 2021, I think that was a COVID thing.
03:57They didn't want them traveling outside the state. And then obviously there was 2022 with the Devonport
04:04Oval Games at Utah Stadium. So yeah, people will miss it. But still, we get four games. April 25,
04:10I think, is the first one against the Gold Coast Suns. And with it being the Gold Coast Suns,
04:14possibility that Launceston's Avery Thomas, if he finds himself in the AFL team by that point,
04:19could play a game in Launceston, which could be pretty massive. We'll go along that Launceston
04:23theme now and we'll finish off this incredibly fast show with a Josh's Local Hero of the Week.
04:30Local Hero of the Week this week is race walker Sam Lindsay, who went to the National
04:35All Schools Championships last week and took 25 seconds off his own state record and beat the
04:41meet record of a two-time Olympian in the process. So he's done 5Ks in just over 20 minutes with race
04:49walking specifications and has absolutely smacked it. So that earned him a World Junior Qualifier
04:56and he'll be looking to even better that in January when there's a meetup in Canberra.
05:01So he said himself he wasn't even quite fully 100% fit leading into it. They were just kind of
05:06working him into this Canberra meet in January, but he's still gone and smacked his own state record.
05:13So congratulations, Sam. Obviously, a massive week for you, but this is just the icing on top.
05:19Well, that is it for today. Another episode of the Press Box in the Can. If you could read our stories
05:25online or in the newspaper, that would be marvellous.
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