The composition of the finals series in both the N-R-L and A-F-L is now set, that coming as the all-important second week of the U-S Open tennis gets going.
We start with football.
The Socceroos are hoping they have a case of nine down, one to go on their hands.
But if things don't go their way, they could be nine down, with five matches to go to secure World Cup qualification.
Australia plays Thailand in Melbourne on Tuesday night.
They likely have to defeat the Thais, then wait for the result of the Saudi Arabia versus Japan match hours later to see if they've booked an automatic spot at next year's World Cup.
As they have the same amount of points as the Saudis, but an inferior goal difference, they may need to not only beat Thailand, but thrash them.
And wing-back Mat Leckie knows that means opportunities, as far as his role in the team is concerned.
"If we can get on top of Thailand and push them back into their own half, it'll definitely give us the opportunity to get high (up the pitch)and, like I said, we need goals. So, towards the end of the game, we might have to take some risks as well."
The A-F-L had a bye weekend before the finals.
The first week of the finals consists of Adelaide versus Greater Western Sydney on Thursday, Geelong versus Richmond on Friday and then two elimination games on Saturday as the Sydney Swans host Essendon, and Port Adelaide is at home to West Coast.
In rugby league, the N-R-L has had its final round, the highlight- or lowlight, depending on your point of view- of which was St George Illawarra wrecking their own chance of a spot in the finals series.
All the Dragons had to do was beat lowly Canterbury to get into the top eight- and knock North Queensland out of it.
And all they did was lose- 26 points to 20.
The first week of the finals consists of Cronulla playing North Queensland in an elimination game on Sunday, Penrith taking on Manly in a similar game on Saturday, and top-four battles between Melbourne and Parramatta on Saturday, and the Sydney Roosters and Brisbane on Friday.
The talking's already started ahead of the Melbourne-Parramatta clash.
Parramatta coach Brad Arthur is urging the referees to crack down on what he sees as Melbourne's habit of slowing down the play the ball.
"We're looking forward to the challenge. No one's going to give us a chance. So it's a free throw at the stumps, really, If we're allowed to play a little bit of football, we might be a chance."
In tennis, Roger Federer's chance of winning three Grand Slam singles tournaments in one year at the age of thirty-six is still alive.
After being taken to five sets in his first two matches, he's defeated Spain's Feliciano Lopez in three sets in his third round match to set up a fourth round showdown in the early hours of Tuesday morning against German Philipp Kohlschreiber.
Federer says his early struggles were due to good play by the other player rather than bad play by him.
After beating Lopez, he says he's pleased with how he's going.
"I struggled the first couple of rounds but I also think that's something to do with my opponents. They came out, played very well and once I got a slow start, once my opponent fought back really hard and today it almost happened again the third set but like you said I fought a clean match. I couldn't be happier."
And in netball, a shock defeat for Australia in the final of the Quad Series tournament.
The Diamonds played New Zealand in Invercargill, which is New Zealand's southernmost city- and their fortunes went in a similar direction.
New Zealand won the match, 57 to 47.
Afterwards, the Australians didn't waste time with excuses.
Captain Caitlin Bassett telling Channel Nine her team didn't take advantage of opportunities- and were also too physical in their play, leading to too many penalties being called against them.
"Oh look, I think there was just too many errors on our behalf. We turned over plenty of ball defensively- we just didn't convert it. I guess our Australian style is to be more on the body, and we just didn't adjust. So, that wasn't good enough either."
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