TALES OF THE GAME

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About

Fighting and writing out of Queanbeyan, Australia, Caden Helmers is a sports journalist working for The Canberra Times. This website is home to stories outside of that mould. Whether they are tales of the fight game or football, hoops or ‘howzat’s’, this is a place to help hone the craft.…Continue reading “About”

9Aug 20199 Aug 2019

The inspiration of a fighter

Few words can aptly describe the feeling that washes over a fighter come the opening bell. Just metres away stands…

13Jun 20195 Aug 2019

David Warner leaps above fear

David Warner is an international centurion again. The struggles to get out of bed amid fears he would never play…

The Duke of Canberra wants to keep his crown

Duke Didier jokes if you name a kid “Duke”, you’re going to get a loudmouth. But the Brace mixed martial…

Boxing

The inspiration of a fighter

9 Aug 20199 Aug 2019

Few words can aptly describe the feeling that washes over a fighter come the opening bell. Just metres away stands an opponent determined to have their hand raised. In between…

David Warner leaps above fear

13 Jun 20195 Aug 2019

David Warner is an international centurion again. The struggles to get out of bed amid fears he would never play for his country again, the critics who say he doesn't…

MMA

The Duke of Canberra wants to keep his crown

Duke Didier jokes if you name a kid "Duke", you're going to get a loudmouth. But the Brace mixed martial arts light heavyweight champion is serious when he says "this…

A plan B could save a life

1 Jun 201719 Dec 2017

“Football is the only thing I’m good at. If I don’t have football, I have nothing.” That was Wests Tigers under 20s player Mosese Fotuaika’s message to his girlfriend when…

Racing

Voice of the greyhounds calls for justice

20 Oct 201611 Mar 2018

Kel O’Rourke can see his fingerprints everywhere he looks from his commentary box at the Canberra Greyhound Racing Club. As O’Rourke calls Murray Darling past the white pickets at the…

Wilcannia’s woe sees Tigers taken

16 Jul 201612 Jun 2019

The decline of the Wilcannia Tigers ran parallel to that of their small town, suggesting the game of rugby league was the heart and soul of the small Darling River…

Sitting down with a Vietnam veteran

16 Jul 201612 Jun 2019

“Do I have the courage go to war?” The thought permeates the minds of people all over the nation on those days upon which we gather to remember those that…

Meeting Natalie Whalley

16 Jul 201612 Jun 2019

Sitting in Sydney's Capitol Theatre, a young Natalie Whalley is in awe of the breathtaking performance of Jemma Rix as Elphaba in Wicked. Fast forward nearly 10 years, and Whalley…

A night in Tigers territory

16 Jul 20163 Dec 2017

It's March 14, a warm Autumn night in Leichhardt. Thousands of men and women – young and old, all decked out in various shades of orange – are making the…

Draped in Breen and gold

10 May 201512 Jun 2019

Picture this. You are just 10 years old, walking into Sydney’s Stadium Australia, with over 100,000 other people. You are surrounded by people from all walks of the globe, all…