We start with AFL and Sydney Swans forward Lance Franklin believes he's thriving as a leader heading into the AFL finals.
The four-time Coleman medal winner was the only Sydney player named in the All-Australian side this week.
It's the seventh time the 30 year-old has received the honour.
Franklin says he's enjoying mentoring the Swans' young forwards ahead of next Saturday's first elimination final against Essendon.
"See how far we've come. We lost the first six and then to win the next 15 games of something, it's been a super effort and I've really enjoyed fighting our way back in and we're in the finals and that's what we play football for."
Meanwhile, the nation's leading AFLW players will face off in the inaugural women's State of Origin match on Saturday night.
Victoria will take on the Allies, a team consisting of players from across Australia.
In rugby league, the eight teams to contest this year's finals series will be decided this weekend.
Five teams have already secured a spot, with the Panthers, Cowboys, Sea Eagles and Dragons vying for the three remaining slots.
Defending premiers Cronulla sit in outright fifth ahead of their clash with the bottom-placed Knights.
Sharks veteran Luke Lewis says the team needs to recapture the belief that saw it claim championship last year.
"For us we need to start building a bit of belief, start building the game of footy for 80 minutes and start preparing for semi-final football. The mathematical chance of making top four, it is what it is and we've put ourselves in that situation so the only people that are going to get us out of it is us."
In cricket, Australian selectors are reportedly considering using a lone specialist fast-bowler in Pat Cummins for the second Test against Bangladesh in Chittagong next week.
Injured seam-bowler Josh Hazlewood has been replaced by Steve O'Keefe, raising the prospect the Australian attack will be led by three spinners, Nathan Lyon, Ashton Agar and O'Keefe.
After losing the first Test, Australian captain Steve Smith says the tourists will assess the Chittagong wicket and decide accordingly.
"Obviously we're down one nil in the series, of a two match series, so plenty of pressure to perform and hopefully level the series in Chittagong. It's another good challenge for this group. Obviously disappointing we didn't get the result we would have liked here but we're obviously going to be looking forward to Chittagong and hopefully we'll be able to right a few of the wrongs that we made out here."
In cycling, the Tour of Spain continues this weekend with Chris Froome tighting his grip on the race.
The four-time Tour de France winner has opened an overall advantage of over a minute on Vincenzo Nibali, with Esteban Chaves over two minutes behind.
Froome has set the benchmark since assuming the leader's jersey on stage 3 and looks likely to continue that dominance.
The weekend will also be marked by the ongoing US Open tennis, the netball Quad series match between Australia and New Zealand and the Italian Formula One Grand Prix.
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