Belief by Marlion Pickett; Dave Warner

$39.99 AUD

Category: Sport

From prison to premiership glory; this is Marlion Pickett’s extraordinary story. It’s the third quarter in the biggest game of the season. A young man lines up for goal.  The 100,000 strong crowd leaps to its feet and roars as Marlion Pickett sends the ball soaring through the goalpost s for his first ever major, celebrated by every teammate, a tradition upheld even on Grand Final day. It was the 2019 AFL Grand Final, and Richmond’s Marlion Pickett was making history as the first player in over 50 years to debut on that ‘one day in September’. Marlion helped the Tigers thrash the Greater Western Sydney Giants in their debut grand final appearance and was judged third best on ground, only six days after steering Richmond’s VFL team with his best on ground performance to their nail biting Grand Final victory. Marlion Pickett’s extraordinary story of redemption is a true fairy tale. The tale of a man who came back from the brink to triumph on Australian sport’s biggest stage, a long-held dream come true. What’s even more remarkable about Marlion’s journey is how this young, troubled Aboriginal kid from Western Australia ever got his chance in the first place. A story all too sadly familiar – about drugs, crime, violence and time spent in jail – but also about a life picked up piece by piece through his own belief in himself and those around him who believed in him too. Belief also takes us inside the South Fremantle and Richmond Football clubs – clubs that have made stars and cult heroes out of other Indigenous players; clubs willing to overlook a talented kid’s troubled past to give him a chance. We meet the fellow players and support network who stood by Marlion’s side as he fought back against injury and the doubters and proudly ran onto the field at the MCG. Marlion’s resilience and strength is inspirational. His is an unforgettable Australian story of triumph over adversity.   ...Show more

Gary Ablett: An Autobiography by Gary Ablett

$49.99 AUD

Category: Sport

Gary Ablett: An Autobiography celebrates AFL legend Gary Ablett's stellar career. Reliving key moments and events in his life, this memoir not only explores Gary's great success at the very top of the AFL, but also his journey to get there. Drafted in 2001, Gary's incredible career has spanne d two great clubs, two Grand Finals and two Brownlow medals among many other accolades. In his book, Gary takes readers through the trials and triumphs of his life: his close bonds with his family; his famous father Gary Ablett Senior's influence on his life; joining Geelong Football Club along with his brother Nathan; becoming a star player and the pressure that brings from the media; taking on new challenges when he left his home town to join the newly minted Suns football team on the Gold Coast; becoming a captain and leading the Suns; dealing with injury and the pressure that you come under then; the joy of returning home to Geelong Football Club even though it was accompanied by a tragic family event; settling back in Victoria with his wife Jordan and baby Levi and a future that will no doubt always have football somewhere in it.  Illustrated with many never-before-seen photographs from private collections, and including contributions from Joel Selwood, Mark Thompson, Gary's mum, Sue, and Gary Ablett Snr, this book is packed with images and stories that will bring the book to life and remind the reader of the many great moments in Gary's career. From childhood to his zenith as a player, Gary's story will be a book to read and re-read about a player without equal. ...Show more

Roughy by Jarryd Roughead

$45.00 AUD

Category: Sport

Roughy is a story of perspective from a Hawthorn legend – much more than a footballer’s tale. A country boy who grew up watching his old man play local footy in Leongatha, Jarryd Roughead’s talent and dedication turned him into an AFL star. Lining up alongside some of the greatest t o ever play the game, he was a key player in a Hawthorn team that will live on as one of the best of any era.In 2015, when a melanoma was found on his bottom lip, it seemed like only a small setback. The spot was removed and, soon after, Jarryd was back on the ground, helping the Hawks secure their famous three-peat – his fourth premiership. He was newly married, planning a family, and life seemed carefree. Then, during a routine check-up in 2016, a scan showed the melanoma had moved into his lungs. He had cancer.Jarryd was one of the first to receive an immunotherapy treatment that is now saving lives around the world – and ultimately saved his. But the side effects were brutal. Endless days and nights of agony, including nerve damage to his feet that threatened any possible return to footy.What saw Jarryd through was the same resilience, drive and positivity that had turned him into an elite footballer in the first place. Not only did he return to play AFL, he was named captain of Hawthorn. A one-club man, Roughy retired as a legend and an inspiration. ...Show more

It Happened in a Holden 2nd Edition by Paddy O'Reilly (Editor)

$29.99 AUD

Category: Sport

50 Greatest Australian Cricketers by Dan Liebke

$32.99 AUD

Category: Sport

 Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them by virtue of their skills with ball and bat. This book is about the latter. Australia’s favourite sport has a proud history of turning nobodies into somebodies and ordinary men and women into heroes of inte rnational renown. From the black-and-white belligerence of Ian Chappell to the colourful celebrity of Shane Warne, the diplomacy of Adam Gilchrist to the ruthlessness of Meg Lanning, the pantheon of Australia’s greatest cricketers is as mottled as the crowds that cheer them on. But who is the greatest of them all? In The 50 Greatest Australian Cricketers, sports journalist and comedy writer Dan Liebke charts the careers, characteristics and enduring legacies of the finest Australian cricket players of the past 50 years.  ...Show more

Anna Meares Now: Sometimes the End of the Race Is Only the Beginning by Anna Meares

$34.95 AUD

Category: Sport

From 2004 to 2016, Anna Meares was one of Australia's greatest and most popular Olympians, a winner of two gold medals and medals at four Olympics. She overcame a broken neck to win silver at the 2008 Beijing Games. She is an inspiration not just because of her sporting achievements, but for way she ans wered the potentially debilitating question faced by all retiring athletes: What happens now? Anna confronted personal crises, including the death of her coach from Motor Neurone Disease and a marriage breakup, and learned plenty as she first stumbled but now strides down a bright path. She has a new career, is a new mother and is happy in her personal life. Her sporting life is only part of this story. Her recent wins have added a new dimension to what has been a remarkable life. ...Show more

Lofted: Remarkable & Farflung Adventures for the Modern Golfer by William Watt

$45.00 AUD

Category: Sport

Lofted puts a new spin on the widely played and loved game of golf--traversing the world in search of authentic golfing experiences.   A visual adventure for the modern golfer, Lofted will transport you far and wide through the world of golf. Lofted takes you on a journey of discovery with stunnin g photography and words featuring golf experiences across the globe, including classic courses in Wisconsin, the remote islands of Scotland's Outer Hebrides, a magical Malaysian course in a tropical paradise, the foothills of the Himalayas and the windswept King Island in the Bass Strait off the coast of Australia.   From the design of the bunkers and doglegged tees to the art of mindfulness in the great outdoors--the unexpected stories and images in Lofted will challenge your perceptions of golf.   ...Show more

Icons of Footy by Kevin Sheedy

$32.99 AUD

Category: Sport

Footy legend Kevin Sheedy crosses team alliances to profile the 21 most iconic Aussie Rules players and coaches of his lifetime. He also sits down for interviews with nine icons he has long admired and who don’t normally (for various reasons) have their stories told. Packed full of wisdom and wit, insight and memories, Icons of Footy is a treasure-trove for football fans of all tribes and ages, from one of the most unique and colourful characters in Australian sport. This beautifully-packaged paperback includes: Gary Ablett Senior, Allen Aylett, Ron Barassi, Kevin Bartlett, Malcolm Blight, Barry Cable, Wayne Carey, Alastair Clarkson, Jason Dunstall, Graham Farmer, Lance Franklin, Adam Goodes, Royce Hart, Francis Hughes, James Hird, Alex Jesaulenko, Leigh Matthews, Kevin Murray, John Nicholls, Barrie Robran, Michael Tuck. ...Show more

The Great Romantic - Cricket and the Golden Age of Neville Cardus by Duncan Hamilton

$24.99 AUD

Category: Sport

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER AND WINNER OF THE 2019 WILLIAM HILL SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEAR Duncan Hamilton is already a multiple award-winning sports writer, but it is hard to imagine he will write a better book than this superb, elegiac portrait of the sociable, feted, but ultimately unknowable, man who virtually invented modern sports writing...This is writing every bit the equal of Cardus himself. - Daily Mail 'Hamilton is a worthy biographer... as much sublime writing comes from his keyboard as from Cardus's pen.' The Times 'With its verve, insight and generosity of sympathy, this is by some way the best full-length life of a cricket writer, perhaps even of any sports writer.' Guardian Neville Cardus described how one majestic stroke-maker 'made music' and 'spread beauty' with his bat. Between two world wars, he became the laureate of cricket by doing the same with words. In The Great Romantic, award-winning author Duncan Hamilton demonstrates how Cardus changed sports journalism for ever. While popularising cricket - while appealing, in Cardus' words to people who 'didn't know a leg-break from the pavilion cat at Lord's'- he became a star in his own right with exquisite phrase-making, disdain for statistics and a penchant for literary and musical allusions. Among those who venerated Cardus were PG Wodehouse, John Arlott, Harold Pinter, JB Priestley and Don Bradman. However, behind the rhapsody in blue skies, green grass and colourful characters, this richly evocative biography finds that Cardus' mother was a prostitute, he never knew his father and he received negligible education. Infatuations with younger women ran parallel to a decidedly unromantic marriage. And, astonishingly, the supreme stylist's aversion to factual accuracy led to his reporting on matches he never attended. Yet Cardus also belied his impoverished origins to prosper in a second class-conscious profession, becoming a music critic of international renown. The Great Romantic uncovers the dark enigma within a golden age. ...Show more

Cheat: The Not-So-Subtle Art of Conning Your Way to Sporting Glory by Titus O'Reily

$34.99 AUD

Category: Sport

Where there's sport, there's cheating. No sport is immune; athletics, swimming, rugby, American Football, cricket, baseball, badminton, motorsports, tennis and curling. Yes, even that sport on the ice with brooms. Almost as soon as humans started playing sport competitively, they started to cheat. They cheated to win, for the fame, for the money and sometimes for reasons that are hard to understand. From the fiendishly clever to the outright hare brained, the borderline to the blatant, Titus O'Reily takes us through the many and varied ways athletes and countries have tried to cheat over the years. There's the winner of the New York marathon who was driven in a car part of the way, the male basketballer whose drug test revealed he was pregnant, the Tour De France where many of the riders took the train, the Spanish Paralympic basketball team who faked being intellectually disabled to win gold at the 2000 Paralympics. As well as sharing an alarming amount of tales involving swapping bodily fluids, Titus takes you through doping, illegal equipment, bribes, playing dirty, faking injuries, wearing disguises, dodgy referees, ball tampering, eye gouging, itching powder, licking an opponent to distract them and sending a dwarf out to bat to shrink the strike zone. Just as sport has become more sophisticated, so has cheating in sport, from state backed doping programs to tiny motors in Tour De France bikes. What does this say about us, that we cheat with such regularity and creativity? Will technology help stop cheating or will it only make it worse? Mastering the not-so-subtle art of cheating is a hilarious trip through the history of cheating in sport, and a handy how-to-guide for the professional athlete in your family.   ...Show more

Splash ! 10 000 Years of Swimming by Howard Means

$29.99 AUD

Category: Sport

A global history of swimming, from humankind's first dip in what is now the driest spot on earth to the 2020 Olympics.

Bachar Houli by Bachar Houli

$34.99 AUD

Category: Sport

Bachar Houli is as accomplished an AFL footballer as they come. He's been part of two Richmond Premiership sides, he was an All-Australian in 2019, and with over 200 games to his name he remains a key part of a champion team. Picked at number 42 in the 2006 National Draft by Essendon, Houli played 26 ga mes for the Bombers before moving in 2011 to Tigerland, where rookie coach Damien Hardwick was assembling the team that six years later would achieve the seemingly impossible and claim Richmond's 11th Premiership. Another flag followed two years later, with Houli close to best on ground in both deciders. Yet it's as the AFL's most prominent Muslim player that Houli is best known - and his strong Muslim values are at the heart of the man he is. Writing for the first time, Houli explores the experiences and beliefs that sparked his trailblazing success as a Muslim footballer, and that established him as a leading voice within the AFL community for inclusion, understanding and tolerance. Co-authored with acclaimed broadcaster and writer Waleed Aly, Bachar Houli- Faith, Football and Family tells the unique story of one of football's most fascinating men. ...Show more