As 2023 draws to a close, it’s been yet one more memorable 12 months of Australian sport each domestically and internationally.
But which Aussie group was one of the best of the lot?
Thanks to our very exact and scientific strategies, Foxsports.com.au has ranked what we imagine are the ten finest Australian group performances of the 12 months.
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1st: Australian males’s win ODI World Cup
With an ODI World Cup on dwelling soil, the script was already written for India to interrupt its 12-year trophy drought.
All went in accordance with plan as India went unbeaten by way of to the ultimate as a date with future in entrance of 100,000 followers awaited.
But Australia clearly didn’t get the memo.
After dropping the primary two video games of the event, the Aussies rallied because of staggering particular person performances, none extra so than Glenn Maxwell’s heroic, cramp-riddled knock of 200 in opposition to Afghanistan.
Against India within the closing, the Aussies had been unrelenting and managed to beat all odds to beat the host nation because of an exciting Travis Head century.
It was Australia’s sixth ODI World Cup, however this one may need been essentially the most particular of the lot.
2nd: Matildas make the semi closing of Women’s World Cup
The Women’s World Cup promised to be one of many greatest sporting occasions to have ever been held on Australian soil and boy, didn’t it ship.
But it wouldn’t have been as profitable if not for the thrilling trip the nation bought to get pleasure from courtesy of the Matildas.
The lack of captain and celebrity striker Sam Kerr for the group phases nearly derailed the marketing campaign, however the Tillies managed to rally and made it to the quarterfinal.
If Australia hadn’t already fallen in love with the Matildas but, then the nailbiting penalty shootout win over France had the nation head over heels for the group.
Unfortunately the journey got here to an finish within the semi finals by the hands of England, however it was a time Aussie sport followers won’t ever, ever neglect.
third: Penrith Panthers full the three-peat
No group had gained three consecutive premierships for the reason that Parramatta Eels completed the feat in 1983.
Enter the Penrith Panthers.
Despite shedding star duo Viliame Kikau and Api Koroisau earlier than the season started, Ivan Cleary’s facet not often missed a beat as they edged out the Brisbane Broncos to take out the minor premiership.
The two groups would face off within the grand closing because the Broncos regarded to cease the Panthers from making historical past.
For the vast majority of the competition it actually regarded like that will be the case, however a 40/20 from Nathan Cleary kicked off a shocking revival because the Panthers got here again to win 26-24 in top-of-the-line grand finals in fashionable NRL historical past.
And, most significantly, it secured the elusive three-peat.
4th: Diamonds reclaim spot atop netball world
There aren’t many Australian groups as profitable on the worldwide stage fairly just like the Diamonds.
The Aussies loved an ideal run to victory within the spherical robin stage of the Quad Series and rounded off an unbeaten event with a 56-50 win over the Silver Ferns within the closing.
But a extra essential event awaited within the type of the 2023 Netball World Cup.
Having completed second within the 2019 version, something lower than a gold medal wouldn’t suffice.
Although the Diamonds suffered a shock loss to England within the group stage, Stacey Marinkovich’s group rallied to beat Jamaica in a three-point thriller within the semi finals to ebook a date with the Roses within the closing.
Yet there can be no shock this time, because the Diamonds beat England by 16 factors to reclaim their spot atop the throne of world netball.
fifth: Collingwood win first flag in 13 years
After coming agonisingly shut to creating the large dance in 2022, Collingwood had been scorching favourites to go one step additional this 12 months.
Under the tutelage of Craig McRae, the Pies as soon as once more lit up the AFL this season and completed high of the ladder for the primary time in 12 years.
Yet a minor premiership would depend for little if McRae couldn’t information the membership to its first flag since 2010.
Thankfully for the Pies devoted, Collingwood managed to finish the prolonged wait with a pulsating 12.18 (90) – 13.8 (86) win over the Brisbane Lions in a grand closing that went right down to the wire.
It was a day Collingwood followers most actually gained’t neglect in a rush.
sixth: Aussie Dolphins demolish rivals at World Swim Champs
13 gold medals, 5 new world data … want we are saying extra?
The Australian swim group, affectionately often called the Dolphins, obliterated the competitors on the 2023 World Aquatic Championships in Fukuoka, Japan.
So a lot in order that the nation with the second-highest gold medal tally was the common sporting powerhouse that’s the United States, with seven.
Mollie O’Callaghan anointed herself as the brand new queen of the 200m freestyle after she beat fellow Aussie Ariarne Titmus to take dwelling gold, however Titmus additionally left Japan with a world report of her personal because of victory within the 400m freestyle.
And we will’t neglect Kaylee McKeown who accomplished the clear sweep of the ladies’s 50, 100 and 200 metre backstroke occasions.
Bring on Paris.
seventh: Australian girls retain Ashes and win T20 World Cup with excellent run
The Australian girls’s cricket group continued to claim their dominance over the remainder of the world with yet one more very good displaying in a World Cup in February in addition to retaining the Ashes.
Four wins from 4 within the group stage of the ladies’s T20 World Cup preceded a gritty five-run win over India within the semi finals.
Australia then beat host nation South Africa by 19 runs within the closing to make it three girls’s T20 World Cup victories in a row.
If that wasn’t sufficient pleasure, the Aussies then went on to retain the Ashes.
Despite the Aussies shedding 4 of the seven matches that comprised the ladies’s Ashes, victory within the one-off Test in addition to the primary of the T20 fixtures meant England needed to be excellent within the remaining 5 matches on supply.
England couldn’t accomplish that, with the Aussies profitable the second ODI to make sure the Ashes would stay in Australian palms as soon as extra.
eighth: Australian males retain Ashes
A controversial run out, absurd scenes within the fabled Long Room at Lords and naturally, Baz Ball.
It was an Ashes collection for the ages however, most significantly, it completed with the urn nonetheless within the Australian males’s group’s possession.
The Aussies had been getting ready to an exciting collection victory after they raced out to a 2-0 lead.
England pulled one again within the third Test however any hope of grabbing the Ashes again ended after the fourth Test was drawn.
We can a minimum of let the Poms get pleasure from an ethical victory after they gained the fifth Test because the 2023 Ashes ended 2-2.
9h: Australian SailGP group win third consecutive season
SailGP had solely been in existence for 2 seasons and Australia had emerged winners in each of these.
Could Tom Slingsby and his crew pull off three in a row?
You wager they might.
The Aussies gained the third season to complete 16 factors forward of New Zealand, making it yet one more three-peat for an Australian group this 12 months.
Will we be again this time subsequent 12 months raving about Slingsby main Australia to a fourth SailGP title?
tenth: Queensland Maroons win State of Origin
Last however not least (effectively, relying on which state you’re from) is the Queensland Maroons.
Billy Slater’s facet gained the all-important recreation on impartial soil in Adelaide 26-18 thanks to 2 tries within the area of 5 minutes regardless of being down a person after Tom Flegler was sin-binned.
With recreation two lined up for the Queensland fortress that’s Suncorp Stadium, the Maroons demolished New South Wales 32-6 to wrap up the collection with a recreation to spare.
Although the Blues gained recreation three, it meant Queensland had gained consecutive State of Origin titles for the primary time since its run of three-in-a-row from 2015 to 2017.
Source: www.foxsports.com.au