The return of the WSL Championship Tour is, at long last, upon us, four long months after the season-opening event went down at Pipeline. Typically the first event of the Australian leg would take place at Snapper Rocks, while given that it’s Easter next weekend it feels like it’s about time for the Rip Curl Pro at Bells Beach, but neither of those venues will host this event. Instead we’re heading to Newcastle, a location steeped in surfing tradition and boasting the potential for quality waves – though realistically it could be held in a lake and we’d still be excited. The event window opens in a couple of days, running from the 1st-11th of April, so let’s get stuck into it with a preview of the men’s side of the draw.
There are a set to be a couple of high-profile absentees from this event, most notably a guy called Kelly Slater you may have heard of Kolohe Andino is also a late out after he sprained his ankle in the lead-up to the event, and he’ll miss the entire Australian leg as a result. Despite their absences though, there’s still plenty of quality in the field.
The Favourites
There is a group of four pretty handy surfers from which it seems very possible that the winner will emerge. This group includes Filipe Toledo, Gabriel Medina, Italo Ferreira and John John Florence. John John, of course, already heads the CT standings having taken out his home event at Pipeline back in December. He can surf anything well, but if we get a north-east swell he’ll particularly enjoy the barrelling lefts which can be served up, given he grew up with the best barrelling left in the world on his front doorstep. Even if we end up at Mereweather Point, however, which seems likely, he’ll be perfectly comfortable carving up the long, right-hand walls.
Sitting immediately behind him in the world rankings having finished runner-up at Pipe, is the perennially successful Medina. It almost goes underrated how dominant he has been in recent years; in the six seasons since 2014, he has won the world title twice, finished second twice, and finished third twice. He is never far away and at just 27, that’s not likely to change this year, so expect to see him in the finish at Newcastle.
The man who got in the way of Medina’s third title back in 2019 was fellow Brazilian Italo Ferreira. He’s also been pretty damn good in recent years; having never won an event heading into 2018, he won three that year and three in 2019, finishing fourth and first respectively at the end of those two seasons. A dynamic and powerful goofy footer, there may be some question marks about whether the stretched-out, right-hand walls at Mereweather Point will suit him if we do end up surfing there. Having said that though, he is a past winner at Bells, so maybe those long rights don’t bother him that much at all.
The last of the brilliant Brazilian trio is Filipe Toledo. If he gets conditions to suit, he will be worth watching here. The longer the wall the more time for Toledo to pick up speed, something he does as well as anyone, and once he gets going, expect him to take to the sky. He’s won twice at J-Bay, so clearly he’s comfortable on right-hand point breaks, and may be ideally suited by the conditions at Newcastle.
The Next Tier
Though these four are deserved favourites, there’s a pretty long line of guys lining up immediately behind them. Julian Wilson heads that line. For all of his sustained high performance, Wilson has only won five CT events in his career. He has, however, shown a penchant for the waves of Newcastle, having won here last year. Of course, it wasn’t on the Championship Tour then and lacked the quality of this field, but clearly he feels comfortable on this wave.
Jordy Smith is another who should be around the mark. The lanky regular-footer clearly likes right-hand point breaks; of his seven CT wins, two have come at J-Bay, two at Trestles and one at Bells. He has a clear preference for surfing his forehand and is more than capable of causing an upset at this event.
Kanoa Igorashi hasn’t quite been around for as long as the two guys above, but he appears primed to take the next step in his pro surfing career this year. For whatever reason, however, he hasn’t excelled surfing his frontside at point breaks; he’s never made it past the final 16 at Bells, while at J-Bay he’s had a quarter-final and semi-final appearance alongside two first round exits. He has the talent to be competitive though, and it wouldn’t surprise to see him in the final few.
The Roughie
Ryan Callinan isn’t a name usually mentioned in the same breath as the above guys, but he’s very talented and perhaps more importantly, grew up in Newcastle. In fact, his childhood home is just a few streets away from Mereweather Beach, where this event will take place, so it’s safe to say he’ll be pretty comfortable in the conditions. Callinan has never won an event on the Championship Tour, but he knows the wave as well as anyone and could be a sneaky chance to go deeper than expected at this tournament.
The level of talent on the Championship Tour is as high as it’s ever been, and as a result there are a multitude of chances at each and every event. The Newcastle Cup is no different. The world’s best, the Florence’s and Medina’s of the world, will justifiably fancy their chances, but they’ll be competing against former winners here like Julian Wilson, hungry locals like Ryan Callinan, and experienced right-hand point break specialists like Jordy Wilson. All of these guys – and a few more – have genuine chances at taking out the inaugural CT-level Newcastle Cup, which sets us up for a compelling few days of surfing.
The event window begins next Thursday, so early next week keep an eye out for our piece previewing the women’s Newcastle Cup.
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