2016 is looming as a massive twelve months in sport- and just two weekends into the year, there's already plenty to talk about.
Another week, another refereeing controversy in the A-League.
This week's drama came in the Western Sydney Wanderers versus Melbourne City game.
Harry Novillo's late goal gave the Melburnians a 3-2 win, but the Wanderers would have had another goal if referee Jared Gillett hadn't disallowed one scored from a quickly taken free-kick.
Wanderers coach Tony Popovic predictably unimpressed post-match.
"We've had no explanation. I don't think we need one. He blew the whistle to play. We played, we scored."
Gillett admitting in a TV interview after the game that he made a mistake.
It was a significant one, as the Wanderers are now in second place on the ladder, a point below Brisbane, who earned a point at Wellington with a nil-all stalemate.
Elsewhere, Melbourne Victory had a wild three-all draw with the bottom-placed Central Coast Mariners in Geelong, Adelaide United won 3-1 away to Perth Glory, and Ali Abbas celebrated his first game after 405 days not playing because of an anterior cruciate ligament injury by scoring in Sydney's two-nil win against Newcastle.
Sydney also beat Newcastle by that score in the W-League, solidifying their contendership for the title with one round left until the finals.
Leena Khamis scored one of the goals and set up the other in the win.
She told the ABC after the game that the team has gotten better as the season has gone on.
"We started off slow in our first two games against Melbourne City and Canberra. But we've gotten better each week, and we needed to get the monkey off our back, so to speak, with a couple of goals. And we've done that. Anything can happen in finals footy. Whether you're first or fourth, it can go either way I think."
In cricket, as the men's and women's Big Bash Leagues head towards the finals, Australia and India prepare for their one day series.
Game one of the best-of-five series is in Perth on Tuesday.
Australian opening batsman Aaron Finch hopes the conditions in Perth prove a particular advantage for Australia on their home turf against the Indians to begin the series.
"I mean, the Perth wicket probably has changed a little bit over the last few years. I don't think there's been the same amount of carry as there used to be. There's still a bit of extra bounce, and that's something that they'll have to adjust to, and we can try and exploit that straight away, at the very first game of the series. But I think that their young players, or younger players, who have come in off the back of the legends who have played, guys like Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan and (Virat) Kohli and these guys, they're all pretty well-rounded players, so I'm sure that they will adapt. But I'm sure if we can exploit that first up, I think that that can go a long way to winning a match."
And in tennis, the serious business of preparing for the Australian Open is well underway, with major tournaments in Sydney and Melbourne, amongst others, this week.
Nick Kyrgios teamed up with Daria Gavrilova to win the Hopman Cup in Perth over the weekend, defeating Ukraine in the final.
Kyrgios says the Hopman Cup has provided valuable experience heading into the year's first Grand Slam in many ways.
"It means a lot. Obviously, it's my first real title to have won as well, and I think it's the perfect way to start off the year. Obviously, I haven't lost a match yet, so I'm riding a lot of confidence going into the Aussie summer. I'm just really happy. It was a lot of hard work, obviously, playing four tough opponents. And I was doing a lot of work off the court as well. So it's a really good reward."
30 thousand dollars in prize money awaits each of the 128 people who qualify for the men's and women's singles draws at the Australian Open.
The prize purse for the winners of the men's and women's singles at the end of the month: a tantalising 2.65 million dollars.
