The short-term focus of Pat Cummins' back injury has become the opening Ashes Test, but the ailment brings into focus the inevitable shift in leadership. We ask the captain about how he sees that long term transition before speaking with Mitchell Starc about sporting mortality following the left-arm veteran's T20I retirement. Featured: Pat Cummins, Australia captain. Mitch Starc, Australia fast bowler. Alyssa Healy, Australia captain. 

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In the industry, they call it the 'second season'. Only eight teams remain as the NRL gears up for a finals series rich with storylines. What are the narratives that will define finals time? Maybe it's the Panthers seeking to find innovative ways to win the title, again. Perhaps it's the Roosters harnessing star power old and new. The infrastructure of the Storm. The complicated momentum of Brisbane. The romaticism and excellence of Canberra. Finals season is here. Featured: Nick Campton, NRL reporter, ABC Sport. 

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When Rohan Browning ran 10.01 at the Tokyo Olympics, he assumed fame, fortune, and faster times would naturally follow. That's not how it played out. Now, as the charismatic sprinter readies himself for the 100m at the world championships he is talking to us about the lessons learned, what he's seeing in Gout Gout and why Australia is in an athletics 'golden age'. Featured: Rohan Browning, Olympian sprinter. 

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Collingwood shook up the AFL finals with an upset over Adelaide, but the booing of Isaac Quaynor has dominated much of the conversation. It's an ugly post script to the Izak Rankine suspension. In the NRL, we unpack the brilliance from Brisbane, especially Reece Walsh, as the Storm's premiership push continues to stall. Ex-Wallabies and Pumas coach Michael Cheika calls in to talk Australia vs Argentina and Mark Nawaqanitawase.

Featured: Emma Lawrence, NRL reporter, Channel Nine. Michael Cheika, ex-Wallabies coach.

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Eight teams remain and we're here to tell you why every single one can win the 2025 AFL Premiership. Corbin Middlemas joins us to make a case for each club and why they're certainties to lift the trophy on the last Saturday in September. Featured: Corbin Middlemas, lead AFL commentator, ABC Sport. 

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Molly Picklum calls in from Fiji to talk about partying in a wetsuit, the big names who reached out to congratulate her, how she steeled herself after an early stumble in the final, how she wants to dominate the sport for years to come and tequila. If you want to hear what it sounds like for a 22-year-old surfer to realise her dream in Hawaii, then this is the episode for you. Try and listen to this without smiling. Featured: Molly Picklum, surfing world champion.

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Some athletes have a way of making you smile inherently. Molly Picklum is one of those competitors and she gave Australian surfing fans reason to grin ear to ear. A world title clinched in Fiji puts her in the same space as Steph Gilmore, Tyler Wright and Layne Beachley and she's far from finished. Featured: Chris Binns, surf writer and broadcaster. 

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Teenage football sensation Nestory Irankunda has had an impressive week in the Championship with Watford FC and he's back in the Socceroos squad. Along with a host of other young stars, the national team is taking on New Zealand in two friendlies starting this weekend. What is coach Tony Popovic looking for with this group as he eyes a FIFA World Cup next year?

Featured: Craig Foster, former Socceroos captain.

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When former West Coast Eagle Adam Hunter passed away his family made the decision to donate his brain to the Australian Sports Brain Bank, and the results show he suffered from CTE. His family think a lot of that damage may have come after his AFL career, when he was playing local footy and being targeted on-field. Plus it's a finals shaping weekend in the NRL so we talk resting and the run home.

Featured: Bridget McArthur, ABC Reporter. Zac Bailey, Channel 9. 

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When it comes to competing Eliud Kipchoge and Sifan Hassan have nothing left to prove, so what drives them to keep showing up for elite level marathons? Ahead of a massive Sydney marathon, we put that question to these two champions, before asking Australian competitors Brett Robinson and Jess Stenson to help us understand what makes Kipchoge and Hassan so formidable. Featured: Eliud Kipchoge, marathon legend. Sifan Hassan, Olympic gold medallist. Jess Stenson, Olympian. Brett Robinson, Olympian. 

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