The problems of the Australian cricket team in Hobart received much attention of over the weekend. But hasn't all been bad news in Australian sport, with the excitement of the A-League and the Wallabies in action, and the anticipation of an important Socceroos World Cup qualifier on the horizon.
We start with football, and the Sydney F-C party to start this A-League season rolls on. The men in sky blue thrashed Perth Glory four goals to one to stay atop the A-League ladder, with six wins from six matches. And to make it just that much better for Graham Arnold's men in the sometimes-sadistic world of sport, their arch-rivals the Western Sydney Wanderers are now winless in their last four matches.
The Wanderers won their first two games of this campaign, but since then, have had three straight draws, and now, a comprehensive three goals to nil defeat to Melbourne Victory. The third goal of the victory by the Victory was scored by their new German import Max Beister, who was playing his first game for the club- his visa only came through the day before the game. He says he's been taken aback by just how welcoming the club's fans have been.
"Honestly, I didn't expect that...this amazing crowd, these amazing fans, supporting me like this. I've been here for about three weeks, and feel just amazing to be here. I'm just looking forward now to the next games."
Defending champions Adelaide United drew one-all with Brisbane, but are still winless and bottom of the ladder.
Meanwhile, the Socceroos are preparing for Tuesday night's crucial World Cup qualifier against bottom-of-the-table Thailand in Bangkok. Victory in the match could take Australia to the top of their group at the halfway mark of the final round of Asian qualifiers.
One of the decisions Socceroos coach Ange Postecoglu must make regarding his starting lineup for the match is whether to play Josh Risdon or Milos Degenek at right fullback. Degenek is pushing his credentials for the spot, citing his fitness as an advantage in a role that is demanding in both attack and defence.
"I feel really good there because I can get up and down (the field) , I'm quite fit, I'm a runner. I think it's a good position, obviously, because you're always up or you're down."
Competing on the world stage too, the Wallabies. They're two wins from two games now on their spring tour of Europe after yet another close win over Scotland. Australia prevailed 23 points to 22 in Edinburgh- making it the second one-point victory in a row for them over the Scots, after their 35 to 34 triumph in a World Cup quarter-final last year. The biggest margin of victory in the last five matches between the teams is only six points.
But Wallabies coach Michael Cheika (checker)expects nothing less- either against this opposition, or on this tour.
"I think that's exactly what we expect over here. Every game is going to be tight. We're playing in front of 60-odd thousand Scottish people. We didn't get the cleanliness of our game that we wanted, but I know that there's going to be games like that on this tour, where you've just got to scrap it out."
The Wallabies cross the British Channel to play France next weekend.
And in basketball, the Cairns Taipans played the Brisbane Bullets in the National Basketball League this weekend.
Nothing unusual about that- bar for the last 90 seconds or so of the game. And that's because they never happened.
A city-wide power outage, caused by an electrical storm, halted the match with the Bullets leading 84 to 76- and, following the guidelines of the sport's international governing body, FIBA, victory was awarded to Brisbane when play was unable to resume. Unsurprisngly, Cairns coach Aaron Fearne was not happy.
"I understand the FIBA side of it, but obviously we can protest it, which we will, because, obviously, there's lot of consequences everywhere. A loss, what it does in the series, point spreads, all those type of things."
Amongst other winners- in games that did go the full forty-eight minutes- this weekend were the Illawarra Hawks and the Sydney Kings.
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