We start Episode 182 with a tribute to Denis Law after the sad news that the King of the Stretford End had passed away this week. A true great of the British game, and a favourite of Manchester United fans. RIP Denis.

With the Australian Tennis Open moving into its second week we bring you all the latest, with men’s favourites Djokovic and Sinner, and women’s favourites Swiatek and Sabalenka all progressing to the last eight. We also have news on the progress that British prospects made, before being knocked out by the big guns.

Staying in Australia, just one week after announcing that the Women’s Ashes (Washes) had started, Australia have already secured the urn. A 3-0 whitewash in the one-day series, and a win in the first of three T20 matches means that Australia have an unassailable 8-0 lead. England have, so far, been comprehensively beaten by the hosts and will have to step up to hope to avoid a 16-0 whitewash.

On top of all this we have all the news from Rugby’s European Cup, Golf from Dubai, the drama of the NFL play offs, a star-studded line up announced for the London Marathon – AND enjoying some marmalade sandwiches with an unusual lunch partner!

Despite the snow and freezing conditions, we are here with your weekly helping of sports news and chat.

We kick off with the latest from the FA Cup 3rd round, as well as the mid-week League Cup results that see Newcastle on the verge of making a Wembley final.

In Cricket it was the start of the Washes- the women’s Ashes. In the first one-day international, England were disappointing as they slipped to 204 all out, which Australia saw off with relative ease, to win by 4 wickets and take a 2-point lead in the series (needing only 8-points to retain the Ashes). Meanwhile the arguments rage on whether England Men’s team should play Afghanistan in the Champion’s Trophy.

We have the latest from Golf’s Team Cup, where the Britain & Ireland team beat the Continental Europe team in Abu Dhabi, in what Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald said was “very valuable” preparation for this year’s Ryder Cup.

And in NFL we bring you all the updates from the Wild Card Play Off round, including a last second win for the Washington Commanders as teams now move on to within two games of the Superbowl.

With the Australian Tennis Open having kicked off this weekend we call on tennis expert Justin Cook from the JC Tennis Coaching Centre. Juston runs the rule over the key favourites in the men’s and women’s event, as well as his thoughts on the hopes of the British contingent. We also chat about how things might play out in the new coaching partnership between Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic.

Justin also shares how he and his coaching groups have adapted their training to compensate for, and include, the snowy and wintery conditions!

We have another international episode with Andy out in

Appropriately, with it being our 180th episode, we cover darts for the first time with Luke Littler becoming, at 17, the youngest player to ever win the PDC World Darts Championship.

We have all the latest from football’s Premier League, with

In Test Cricket it was the 5th and final test in the series between Australia and India, and it served up as much drama as the previous matches in the series. And in Women’s Cricket, we look forward to the start of the Women’s Ashes- the Washes – that kicks off this weekend with the one-day part of the multi-format series.

Staying in Australia, we preview the Australian Tennis Open that starts this weekend, with us running the rule over some of the main contenders.

In NFL, we now have the play off places finalised, with Detroit Lions and Kansas City Chiefs earning byes for topping their conferences, as teams look to progress through the knock out rounds to the Super Bowl final on February 9th.

And we have the latest from our Doddie Aid efforts, with

Happy New Year to all our listeners! We kick off with a quick reflection on the festive season and a review of excellent cheese boards!

We get into cricket with the 2 tantalising test matches, between Australia & India and South Africa & Pakistan proving that test cricket still has plenty of excitement to offer fans. And in Get a Grip we have a swipe at Indian poster boy Virat Kohli after his unnecessary barging into Australian debutant Sam Konstas.

In Rugby Union we bring you the latest from a full, high-scoring premiership schedule, and a world record crowd for a women’s club game between Harlequins &Leicester in the Big Game at Twickenham.

In Tennis the build up has started for the Australian Open, with qualifying underway and Nick Kyrgios speaking out about the doping charges facing both the men’s and women’s world number ones.

In NFL there’s just a handful of play off spots left after the penultimate round of the regular season – so we run the rile over the teams that are already into the Superbowl play offs and those chasing the final spot in each division.

Finally we give a plug to Doddie Aid that takes place each January. Listeners can sign up via www.doddieaid.com and not only get active in January, but also raise funds and support for the MND community. If you want to take on Tony and Andy, then once signed up in the App, join the Null & Void league to see who wins bragging rights this January!

Our first guest of 2025 is our Football Correspondent, Billy Carr. Billy joins us at the halfway point of the Premier League season to look at what’s happening at the top and bottom of the table, where the surprises have come from and what impact the multitude of games over the festive season has had on the table as we reach the turn.

A fantastic episode to kick off 2025!

We have a new sport to cover in Episode 178, as Andy brings a report from the Muay Thai kickboxing he watched on holiday. We then have the latest from the Premier League and WSL, as Pep Guardiola’s Man City continue to struggle.

In cricket we have coverage of England men’s 3rd test

In Rugby Union we bring you news of the early leaders in

In Get A Grip, it’s a familiar foe as we take FIFA President

And our guest slot sees a returning favourite as former

In cricket we have coverage of England men’s 3rd test shambles in New Zealand, where they went down to a 423 run defeat in Hamilton, whilst the Women’s team won their solitary test against South Africa convincingly after the Proteas were all out for just 64 on day 3 of the 4-day test.

In Rugby Union we bring you news of the early leaders in each of the European Champions Cup groups – with Northampton breaking up the French dominance from Toulouse, Toulon and La Rochelle. And in Netball it’s been announced that when the 2025 season gets underway there will be a “Golden Shot” allowe3d in the last 5 minutes of each quarter that will be worth two points. This looks like being an exciting development.

In Get A Grip, it’s a familiar foe as we take FIFA President Gianni Infantino to task for handing the 2034 World Cup to Saudi Arabia, with no voting allowed on the country’s bid.

And our guest slot sees a returning favourite as former international skier Konrad Bartelski joins us, to look back on his career in downhill racing, as well as his time as a presenter and broadcaster (including the early days of Ski Sunday) as well as chatting to us about his current profession as a successful photographer, with recent exhibitions in Wimbledon and Mayfair. You can see some of his collections at https://www.konradbartelski.photography

We start with rugby – as England signed off the autumn with a win over Japan, Scotland had a superb win over Australia and Ireland a big win over Fiji. Meanwhile Wales made it 12 losses in a row with their 45-12 loss to South Africa.

Talking of losing streaks, Manchester City’s 4-0 home defeat to Spurs was their 5th defeat in a row. Leaders Liverpool beat Southampton 3-2 to go 8 points clear of City at the top.

In Cricket, England’s women won their first T20 in South Africa, whilst their male counterparts are facing a wicket keeper shortage after Jordan Cox – who was due to make his debut in New Zealand – has had to fly home with a broken thumb. And India have started their tour of Australia in scintillating form, beating the hosts by 295 runs in the first test in Perth.

We celebrate the career of double Olympic Gold medallist Alistair Brownlee, who announced his retirement this week.

Our guest is tennis expert Justin Cook, from the JC Tennis Centre, to talk about the retirement of Rafal Nadal, the surprise announcement that Andy Murray is joining Novak Djokovic’s coaching team. Justin also shares his thoughts on the recent excitement in the Davis Cup and Billie-Jean King Cup.

And finally just a quick announcement that we’ll be taking a 2-week winter break, so give your ears a rest and we’ll be back with you on 19th December!

We open this week’s episode with a look back at the latest round of autumn rugby internationals with England’s loss to South Africa, Wales’ record 11th consecutive defeat, Ireland’s narrow win over Argentina and France’s electric win against the All Blacks. We also cover the cross-code game from Headingley where former Rugby League and Rugby Union stars pulled their boots on for a hybrid game to raise important funds for Motor Neurone Disease.

It was (yet) another Nations League break in men’s football, with England’s wins over Greece and Ireland securing their return to the top tier of international football. It was also promotion for Wales as their run under new manager Craig Bellamy continues. Meanwhile in the Women’s Super League and Championship it was a first, as all fixtures were played at each home club’s main stadia. League leaders Chelsea continued their 100% start to the season, inflicting a first defeat of the season on second placed Manchester City, whilst Arsenal had a convincing win away to Tottenham.

In tennis Jannik Sinner wrapped up another title with his win in Turin, whilst in the women’s Billie Jean King Cup, Great Britain were led to a quarter final victory over Canada thanks to singles wins by Emma Raducanu and Katie Boulter – meaning they progress to take on Slovakia for a place in the final.

We also have the latest from cricket, golf, NFL, netball and cycling before issuing a Get a Grip haymaker to everyone involved in the utterly farcical boxing bout between 27 year old Youtuber Jake Paul and 58 year old retired heavyweight champion Mike Tyson.

Another great show from your favourite duo.

It was a tough weekend for the norther hemisphere home nations in Rugby Union, as Ireland lost to New Zealand, Scotland lost to South Africa, Wales had a record equalling 10th straight loss at home to Fiji and England yet again missed out in a close game, losing 42-37 to Australia.

In Rugby League we preview this Sunday's hybrid game for MND. A mix of former rugby union and rugby league greats will play in a cross-code game to raise funds for MND. The game was the brain child of former Rhinos player, Rob Burrow (who passed away from the disease last year) and former Leicester lock Ed Slater. The game is called the 745 game as a tribute to the shirt numbers worn by Burrow, Slater and Scotland's Doddie Weir, who have all done so much to raise awareness and vital funds.

Pep Guardiola's Manchester City slumped to their fourth consecutive defeat means that Liverpool go into the international break 5 points clear at the top, whilst in the Women's Super League, big wins for Chelsea and City mean they maintain their unbeaten start to the season.

In Tennis, Cameron Norrie made the final of the Moselle Open. Still working his way back from a 3 month injury lay off, Norrie played well to get to the final, but was then beaten by Frenchman Benjamin Bonzi.

And in Cycling, Sir Mark Cavendish brought the curtain down on a 19 year career, winning a sprint finish in the Tour de France Criterium in Singapore. Sir Cav was saluted with an emotional "Wheel of Honour" from other riders before the start.

We also have the latest from golf, athletics, netball and cricket-including a worthy Get a Grip regarding the hosting of the Champions Trophy in February!

First up in Episode 174 is Rugby Union, following England's agonising 24-22 defeat at home to New Zealand, whilst Scotland kicked off their Autumn series with a fantastic 57-17 win over Fiji.

In Football, Arsenal's title hopes seemed to take a dent in their loss at Newcastle, until City lost at Bournemouth and Chelsea drew with Manchester United. In the FA Cup, Tony and Andy have nailed their colours to the mast as to which minnows they will start with in following a path from the second round to May's final at Wembley.

The Formula 1 in Sao Paolo was a fantastic display of wet weather driving, as Max Verstappen went from 17th on the grid to winning the race- putting him within touching distance of the title with just 3 races left.

We also bring you the latest in Cricket, Rugby League, Golf, Tennis and NFL - before we give a Get a Grip to New Zealand's All Blacks (and their fans) over being too sensitive over the Haka and how other teams respond.

Our guest slot sees the return of local triathlete Tom Mayor. In January we interviewed Tom as he shared his story of being diagnosed with a brain tumour whilst coaching football in America, and how he intended to run or cycle 10k a day for 10 months to raise awareness and funds for Brain Tumour Research to mark 10 years since his diagnosis. Well 10 months on and Tom rejoins us to update on how the challenge went, and some of the highs and lows that went with it.

If anyone wants to donate to this amazing cause, there is still time. Just donate via:

http://www.justgiving.com/page/tom-mayor-10k-a-day

In Episode 173 we are excited to welcome as out guest

In football we have the news of Erik Ten Hag’s departure

From Valenica we have a new half marathon world record after Ethiopia’s Yomif Kejelcha ran 57 mins 30 secs on his way to victory in Spain. And in NFL, Chiefs remain unbeaten, whilst Washington’s rookie quarterback threw a 52-yard Hail Mary touchdown pass to steal a last minute victory over the Bears.

We also have updates from the Rugby League series between England and Samoa, Cricket from Rawalpindi, Formula One, Golf and Tennis – as well as your contacts and another spicy Get a Grip!