Sporting Moments of the Year 2
0Yesterday some of the Sportsfreak crew took a look back at 2025 with their moments of the year.
Today it’s time for Part II and the rest of the motley bunch to have their say.
Rich Irvine (@richirvine / https://sportreview.net.nz/)
Spurs actually winning something. When the time finally came, I had no idea how to react. OK, so the football was average, but seeing the celebrations in the stadium and on the Tottenham high road was like experiencing The Rapture IRL. The memories are still warm despite us quickly going back to being extremely challenging to love.
Elsewhere, the Sinner – Alcaraz final at Roland Garros was the platonic ideal of a grand slam final, with match points saved, tearful parents in the stands and some previously un-imagined shot making. And Rory winning at the Masters, sometimes good things can happen to nice people.
Kiwi Kali (@kiwi_kali)
Accuse me of recency bias, but the West Indies holding on for a draw in the first Test against the Blackcaps showed the brilliance of Test cricket. A team bearing the weight of a proud legacy, given no chance of being competitive, and helped by some worrying injuries to New Zealand&’s Blundell, Smith and Henry, showed grit and determination to pull off an unlikely draw on the fifth day and create anticipation and excitement over what was otherwise threatening to be an underwhelming pre-Christmas home series.
Andrew McGoff (@kloppgoff)
My sporting highlight of 2025 is unsurprisingly Liverpool winning a record-equalling 20th league title, and in doing so delivering a dream debut campaign for new manager Arne Slot. Stepping into the role after the departure of club legend Jürgen Klopp, Slot became the first manager in the club’s history to clinch the championship in his first season.
The title win ended Manchester City’s four-year dominance and felt obvious to all bar Liverpool fans (who have been burnt too many times by City over the last 10 years) as they built a commanding lead over Arsenal early in the year. The Reds eventually secured the Premier League title with four games to spare with a 5-1 home thrashing of Tottenham.
It made up for LFC fans, as unlike their behind-closed-doors victory in 2020, this League title was celebrated in front of a jubilant Anfield. I would have loved to have been in Liverpool for the trophy parade, alongside hundreds of thousands of fans lining the streets to revel in the title victory.
Keith Miller (@ArtGuyNZ)
Mozzie’s Great Aussie Moment. Ahhh…Bathurst. Mount Panorama is the ultimate gift that keeps on giving and whilst 2025 was no different in general, there was one event in particular that was.
Chaz Mostert had done well to park his Walkinshaw Mustang in third on the grid and was looking to be a real contender until Lap 57. But as he and his co-driver Fabian Coulthard battled gearbox issues, the #25 slowly ground to a halt at the bottom of Conrod Straight. On the radio, an obviously disappointed Mostert – who had never failed to finish the race previously – was offered a lift back to the pits but politely declined. “Do I have to go straight back to the pits?” he enquired of his team.
Barely waiting for a response, the fan favourite (and ultimately the 2025 Drivers Champion) hurdled the fence and walked straight into a well-known fan zone, where he promptly finished off the first beer handed to him. All during the live TV coverage.
As he watched on, team boss Ryan Walkinshaw could only reiterate Mostert’s disappointment. But he also added “Chaz is on the mountain having a beer with the fans – probably the happiest he’s been all weekend. Not sure we’re going back able to get him back before the end of the race – he looks pretty set up here!”.
Out of adversity, and within minutes, Chaz Mostert had become one of the quintessential Aussie heroes.
Ryan Nixon (@newyorknixon)
Ryan Fox Wins Twice. Since earning PGA Tour status in 2023, Fox has had his fair share of struggles competing regularly with the world’s best. Even his first win this year, at Myrtle Beach, was an opposite field event while the best players battled at Philadelphia Cricket Club for 2025’s coolest trophy (pictured). His second though, beating Sam Burns in a playoff to win the Canadian Open, proved his credentials and provided Tour security heading into 2026.
The Pacers’ Finals Run. Sometimes you wonder why you bother with sports; Indiana’s finals run answered the question and then posed it again. An improbable series of wins, which featured wild comebacks against Cleveland (4.1% chance), New York (0.3%), and Oklahoma City (2.1%) took the Pacers to a deciding game seven of the Finals. But after hitting a trio of early threes, star guard Tyrese Haliburton ruptured his Achilles tendon, leading to a tame loss, and torpedoing the coming season along with it.
Chelsea Wintle ( @heyxie )
The ignominious end to Liam Lawson’s tenure at Red Bull takes top spot for me, simply because it took place much sooner than even the most cynical among us could have anticipated. Lawson lasted a grand total of two races next to Max Verstappen before being demoted to the Racing Bulls in favour of Yuki Tsunoda, a humiliating start to what was technically his rookie season. Joke’s on Red Bull though, because Tsunoda hardly fared better, and has himself been replaced for 2026 by Isack Hadjar, proving just how heavily the design favours their champion. The season ended on a high-ish for Lawson as he retained his seat with the RBs for 2026, but he will be counting himself lucky.
Runner-up: The way our group chat lit up when Christian Horner was sacked. Worst memes you’ve ever seen.
Graeme Woolf (@gcwoolf)
In October I was fortunate to travel to India as part of a two team New Zealand Masters Cricket Tour. We played 6 games whilst there, all against similar aged opposition as ourselves. We had some amazing experiences and it’s our final game that I want to highlight as my Moment of the Year.
Game 6 was in Bhopal and it was held at Sanskaar Valley School, a private school with about 2500 students, aged 5 through 18. We were welcomed by a group of kids clapping us onto the ground before being greeted by the 4 school sports leaders and taken on a tour of the school.
When the game started, they had a PA system set up and were commentating as best they could, every ball and commending us on things we did well throughout the day. I jumped on between overs while fielding and pumped up the boys.
At one stage whilst fielding on the boundary with a group of about 150 kids behind me on a terraced bank, one boy caught by attention as he wanted to get my autograph. He had his autograph book and pen ready to go and was waving them at me. Between balls, I gave in and directed him to come over. He excitedly came running towards me but little did I know that I’d created a mini riot when 50 or so others followed him. I quickly signed his book and turned around for the next ball while all I could hear behind me was a massive commotion of the teachers rounding up the kids to get back and sit down. Evidently it looked like I’d been mobbed.
That was our 3rd win out of our 6 games, and it ended the tour on a real high. A few of us swapped shirts with the other team, teachers and kids took photos with us. We were given a commemorative mug with the schools logo as a gift. They were genuinely grateful that we came and played at their school. And this bunch of aging no-name cricketers from New Zealand who two weeks before didn’t know each other at all, for a day got to see what it feels like to be treated like genuine superstars. It ended what was an amazing tour filled with great memories on a real high for me. A dream come true.
Scott MacLean (@madmaclegend)
McIIroy’s Masters. When Rory showed up at Augusta in April so did the stories. Would this be the year he’d finally claim the Green Jacket and join Sarazen, Hogan, Nicklaus, Player, and Woods as those to complete the career Slam, much less end a Majors drought that stretched back a decade. Well the omens were there when his daughter Poppy – who’d never seen Dad win one of the big ones – tapped in a putt in the Par-3 competition, and come Sunday he held a two-shot lead over Bryson DeChambeau who he’d lost to at the US Open ten months prior.
What we got was pure theatre as McIlroy mixed the sublime and awful, and went from a horrible start to a comfortable lead before throwing it away and having to chase. One shot clear playing the last a poor approach dropped him into a playoff with his Ryder Cup teammate Justin Rose, who’d made up seven shots in the last round. Facing the same shot he’d butchered in regulation, McIlroy fired it to a few feet and knocked the putt in to finally win the tournament he’d seemingly been ordained to win. Cue the release of a hot mess of emotions a teenaged girl would be proud of.
The Halasima Screamer: The Warriors promising season seems on the brink of collapse as they trail the Knights late in Newcastle. Halfback Tanah Boyd has already missed a penalty and a couple of field goal attempts and it’s rather inevitable that his final two-point attempt is charged down. But…… the ball is still live and spins away, and is scooped up by Warriors man-child Leka Halasima.
The teenager does the only thing the situation calls for and heads for the line 40 metres away. He rounds Newcastle’s Origin centre Bradman Best, steps the fullback, and with Best and two others trying to drag him down from behind he makes it to the line for a victory that seemed gone just seconds earlier. Pandemonium ensues, social media goes nuts, and another reminder the Wahs are the greatest rollercoaster ride in sports.
Thanks for reading!