Looking back at 2015: Seven Sport's Hamish McLachlan

HAMISH McLACHLAN
Reporter, Seven Sport

2015 Highlight

Michelle Payne’s win on Prince of Penzance. I interviewed her the day before at a lunch at Crown, and she was very confident the horse would run very well. I didn’t listen, I knew best. The first female cup-winning jockey, on a locally trained 100/1 shot when the raiders are coming in huge numbers with unlimited budgets. Superb.

2015 Lowlight

FIFA. Drug scandals. Match fixing. Betting rorts. The constant stories of opportunists, shady characters and outright cheats are wearing even the most ardent of fans down. We need some purity back into our sport. Not sure how it happens.

Story of the year

Sepp Blatter’s merry band of men for all the wrong reasons and the magnitude of the corruption get a mention, as does Michelle Payne and the Hawks three-peat in such a competitive era, but Mick Fanning and “jaws” wins. To be caught on camera, and lose him mid attack with a wave rolling in, and then have him reappear and paddle off, three votes Mick.

Most notable trend?

Good sport, with great participants and great competition, in “real” tournaments, is still devoured, as shown by the numbers going to the game or watching at home.

What are you excited about for 2016? 

Federer at the Open. I’m not sure how many more times we will see him, but I promise you, when he is gone, we will really miss him. Rio. I’ve never been involved in a Games, so from a personal standpoint I’m very excited about the Olympics. And the Campbell sisters in the pool. I think two sisters might quinella the 100m freestyle. Imagine that!
Other featured people:

Mick Molloy

Peter Mitchell

Steve Price

Peter Holder

Abby Coleman

Tom Ivey

Smallzy

Tom Malone

Dave Cameron

Melina Vidler

Intern Pete

Jodie Oddy

Adam Shand

Steve Mills

Mike Fitzpatrick

Basil Zempilas

Erin Molan

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