1994 – Gary Hosie
1995 – Willi Hofmann
2015 – Peter Thomas
2016 – Christian Haas
2017 – Peter Thomas
2019 – Robert Green
2020 – Rudy Hesty
2023 – Peter Thomas
2024 – Peter Thomas
2025 – Wolfgang Haas
2026 – Bernard Lim
Bernard Lim became the 5th international victor to claim the Australian Grand Prix, with a dominant 5-0 win against Tony Credentino (AUS/Sydney TFC). Using a well worn cliché, the scoreline did not truly reflect the balance of the match, with Tony dominating possession and well in it until the 3rd goal. Bernard’s fluid attacks were the difference, piercing Tony’s defence, especially towards the end. Tony had his share of attacks, but in reality he had played his “final” in a devastating 2-0 win against Benji Batten (AUS/Melbourne TFC) in the semifinal when he could do no wrong.
The U20 event feature five of the contestants from the October Asian Cup, and once gain it was a tight affair, played as a round robin. As the last group match was played between Catherine Palamara (AUS/Sydney TFC) and Tim Phokos (AUS/The Tumbleweeds), Josiah Jackson (AUS/The Tumbleweeds) gave the impression of being calm and unfussed. But you could see inner turmoil: A win for either Catherine or Tim would give them the title; Josiah had to hope for a draw. As every shot skimmed the bar or was tipped away by Catherine and Tim, Josiah’s tension grew, until the final buzzer and a broad smile broke out on his face. Mention must be made of Tumbleweeds teammates Zakkhya Quinn and Aidan Wilson, who continue to grow.
Catherine meanwhile took the Women’s event, winning both matches against Beth Eveleigh and Imojjen Hunnam. Here’s hoping for more women players at next year’s AGP and Asian Cup.
In the Open event, matches went as expected, before Josiah caused a minor upset, holding 3rd seed Eliot Kennedy (AUS/Northern Falcons TFC) 2-2 in their group. Johnny Ball (AUS/Northern Falcons TFC) then beat Tony Credentino 1-0, who beat Vikas Chandiramani (SGP/Jurong) 1-0 to throw group 4 wide open. When Johnny was held to 2-0 by Imojjen, it knocked him out of the next phase. What might have been!
In the round of 16, Bernard, Giuseppe Tardiota (AUS/Brisbane SC) and Luke Radziminski (AUS/Melbourne TFC) all progressed, while Vikas needed extra time to beat Nick Brill (AUS/Tumbleweeds). Melbourne clubmate Adrian Connolly kept his form, to progress to the quarters, while Daniel Lombard (AUS/Sydney TFC) overcame Frank Cozzarin (AUS/Tumbleweeds) in extra time in a tense encounter. In the semi finals, the biggest shock happened when Tony beat Benji 2-0 (check out the goals!) while Bernard overcame Vikas in a close encounter.
In the teams event, only four eventually entered, but the competition remained fierce. A round robin format was agreed, and started with comfortable wins by Melbourne against the Tumbleweeds 3-0, though the battle of the Adrians was a 0-0 (Adrian Connolly v Adrian Elmer), and Nathan Urbaniak was pushed all the way by Josiah Jackson before Nathan got the 1-0 win. Jurong beat the Northern Falcons 3-1, with the topsy-turvy match between Rizal Taib and Jonty Brener (3-2) being the key.
In the next round, the dramatic changes in team matches were highlighted when the Falcons came from 3-0 down to draw the tie 1-1, courtesy of Eliot’s come-from-behind 3-2 win over Benji Batten and Johnny Ball’s draw with Adrian Connolly.
Jurong had to fight hard against the Tumbleweeds for a 2-1 win, then the Tumbleweeds got revenge for their Asian Cup defeat at the hands of the Falcons with a 2-1 win.
Down to the last match, the maths was simple: Melbourne needed to win, and Jurong could afford to draw. But starting a match down (having only 3 players), the odds were against them, further dampened when Benji took the lead against Vikas. With Adrian Connolly on fire, Melbourne ran out 3-0 winners, with Luke Radziminski holding Open winner Bernard Lim 0-0.
A great competition.
As is customary with the AGP, two separate WASPAs were held, on Saturday and Sunday. The Saturday one was for those eliminated in the groups, and was taken out by Johnny Ball.
On Sunday, an event was held for those not playing in the teams event, with Giuseppe Tardiota taking the title. Meanwhile, in the teams event……
But that was not all!
To round out the day and the weekend, a fantastic doubles event was staged using the Australian doubles rules (2 players per side on the same pitch).
Random drawing of pairs saw 8 finely balanced teams engage in some fantastic, fun and frantic action, with Beth Eveleigh and Benji Batten coming out on top.
Dramatic shots on the run from corners, flick ins and free flicks created a fantastic atmosphere.
Anyone interested in doubles can read the rules here: https://subbuteoaustralia.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Doubles-Rules.pdf
A spreadsheet of the full 2026 Australian Grand Prix results can be found by clicking the download button…
report by Steve Dettre
photography by Luke Radziminski
