Before we get into this, I should point out that these shockers are my personal top five. I don’t keep a close eye on sports such as basketball, rugby or golf – and I’m sure they would have provided a few dud performances over the past year – so my list does have a limited scope.

However, I’m confident that we will all agree on who claimed the number one spot for 2024 – but we’ll get to that disaster later…

So, let’s count them down.

5. Tim Tszyu vs Bakhram Murtazaliev.

This was a really weird fight, and the result of poor preparation and management, rather than any fault of Tszyu himself. It was evident after only a couple of rounds that Tim might have bitten off more than he could chew – and the powerful Russian ended up making short work of the Australian.

It actually pains me to include this in my top five, as I have a soft spot for Aussie boxing – but in all fairness this non-event had to be squeezed in somewhere.

4. GWS Giants‘ enormous choke in the AFL finals.

This should make everyone’s list of sporting failures for 2024, because the Giants actually fell asleep two weeks in a row – and during their most important matches of the season!

In week one of the finals, GWS blew a 28 point lead against cross-town rivals Sydney, but to be fair here – the dangerous Swans were hanging on and always looked like making a rush towards the end of the game – and did so to win by four points.

That being said, there can be no excuses for the following week.

With home ground advantage against Brisbane in a knockout semi-final, the Giants amassed a 44 point lead at one stage in the third quarter – only to allow the Lions to kick eleven out of the next twelve goals in the game and run out five point winners.

Their social media post after the match said it all…

3. Socceroos 0 – Bahrain 1

This should have been a certain three points on the way to the 2026 World Cup, but instead set the Socceroos on a much longer and shakier path to qualification.

The match was a home game – being played on the Gold Coast – and it was an abysmal spectacle with the Bahrain players constantly faking injury and time-wasting in an effort to secure a 0-0 draw.

As fate would have it, they went one better than that and managed to score via an own goal very late in the game, presenting the tiny gulf nation with arguably their greatest footballing moment – and marking the beginning of the end for Australian coach Graham Arnold.

2. Sydney Thunder bowled out for 15.

For those who do not follow or understand cricket; believe me when I tell you that this is a massive sporting disaster – about as bad as it gets! I can’t really give too much perspective by comparing it to other sports – only to suggest that it may equate to an NBA team scoring less than 30 points in a game or a pro golfer hitting a round of 200.

Being bowled out for such a low score at this level of cricket is a once-in-a-decade moment, and in any other year the Sydney Thunder would have clinched the number one spot.

However, Australian ‘sport’ produced something else truly extraordinary in 2024 – at the Olympic Games no less – and there’s no prize for guessing who it is!

1. Raygun

I’m going to leave this here, as Raygun has put together a legal team who are very protective of her image and ‘special’ dance moves.

All I can do is offer my own opinion and say that her performance was a national embarrassment – worse than the 1981 underarm incident and our America’s Cup yacht sinking in 1995.

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I’m sure most Aussies would agree with at least three of my picks belonging in the top five. I did try and keep it as high-profile and mainstream as possible, choosing efforts that made back page headlines in most newspapers around the country.

Let’s hope 2025 is a great year for Aussie sport!

Photos courtesy of Code Sports, Daily Mail, The Guardian, Cricinfo, BBC, ABC and CNN.