The Newshub panel of experts reflect on the sporting results that shocked us during 2018.
Michael O'Keeffe (Newshub sports reporter): New Zealand U17 Football Ferns
They exceeded all expectations by not just progressing from their group for the first time, but making the semi-finals.
They beat Finland and hosts Uruguay in pool play, then stunned Japan in the quarter-finals.
Sadly, Spain won the semi-final, but they capped off their tournament with a win in the bronze-medal match.
Ben Francis (Newshub online sports producer): Rob Cross wins World Darts Championship
In his first year as a professional, 'Voltage' shocked the world by going all the way to win darts' biggest prize.
He beat retiring legend Phil Taylor in the final, and overcame the likes of Michael Smith, Dimitri Van den Bergh and defending champion Michael van Gerwen to reach the title game.
The year before he had been watching the tournament on the couch at home and worked as an electrician, but fast forward 12 months, he was the king of the world.
Craig Norenbergs (Newshub sports reporter): Kiwis beating Kangaroos in Auckland
New coach Michael Maguire is an old Canberra boy, so I was cheering for him. It was an unlikely win, considering the Roos hadn't lost in nearly three years.
Also, Shaun Johnson leaving the Warriors. I always saw him as a one-club player and his departure to the Sharks blew me away.
Randall Munro (Newshub sports producer): Auckland winning Mitre 10 Cup
It pains me to write this as, a diehard Cantabrian, but Auckland’s national provincial triumph was the fairytale story of the 2018.
A year earlier, they were flirting with relegation to the second division, but two Wellington coaches and the shrewdest mind in New Zealand rugby later saw the blue-and-whites come back to win the Mitre 10 Cup.
Auckland did it with an unlikely squad, including a teenager steering the ship, and a Canadian and Aussie in the pack.
To make this sporting upset even sweeter, they won it by ending New Zealand rugby’s greatest provincial dynasty... in extra time.
The old adage that when Auckland is strong New Zealand rugby is strong may no longer ring true, but - begrudgingly - when Auckland is strong, provincial rugby in New Zealand is well worth watching.
Grant Chapman (Newshub online sports editor): England toppling Australia for Commonwalth Games netball gold
Maybe you can throw the Silver Ferns' failure to medal into this conversation, although their fate seemed sealed when they lost a pre-Games series to Jamaica - and lost again in pool play to (good grief) Malawi.
England have been closing the gap on Australia and New Zealand for a couple of years now, ever since the national federation saw the light and allowed its top players to hone their skills in the southern hemisphere club competitions.
But no-one - except perhaps themselves - really thought the English would actually beat the Diamonds on their home turf.
Their rise is great news for the game, which has long suffered from the perennial two-horse race without meaningful challengers.
Newshub.
