Weekend Sport Wrap

SBS World News Radio: The weekend sport wrap, with A-League, NRL, AFL and the Aussies involved in the NFL Draft in the United States.

Weekend Sport WrapWeekend Sport Wrap

Weekend Sport Wrap

Amazing Adelaide.

It's not a tourism slogan- although perhaps it should be- but it is the reality of life in Australian football at the moment.

Adelaide United are the champions of season 11 of the A-League after a 3-1 victory over the Western Sydney Wanderers in front of more than 50 thousand fans in the Grand Final at the Adelaide Oval.

Goals from Bruce Kamau, Isaias, and Pablo Sanchez made the Reds champions of Australia for the first time.

Spaniard Isaias, whose goal from a free kick will live long in the memory, won the Joe Marston Medal as Man of the Match.

Adelaide's triumph under coach Guillermo Amor is even more remarkable when you consider they were winless eight games into the season.

The man who opened the scoring, Bruce Kamau, says the triumph means a great deal to him as a team member and as a person.

But where there's a winner, there must also be a loser- and this is the third time in the Wanderers' four seasons in the A-League that they've made the Grand Final, but failed to win it.

There's no doubt it hurts, but captain Nikolai Topor-Stanley acknowledges the depth of his opponent's feat- and is taking solace in the promise of tomorrow.

Like the Wanderers, the NRL's Cronulla Sharks have never won their national competition.

But their strong early season form has continued, leading some to wonder whether this- their 50th season in top-flight rugby league- could well be the year.

Their latest triumph was a 30 points to 28 win over the Brisbane Broncos at their southern Sydney home ground.

Although it's a triumph that was nearly snatched from them, as their 28 to 6 half-time lead was almost eaten up by a resurgent Brisbane team.

Fullback Ben Barba has told Fox Sports that, despite the close call, it was his side's resilience that shone through.

It's Cronulla's sixth win in a row.

The NRL goes on hiatus next weekend for representative rugby league.

Australia plays New Zealand in both men's and women's internationals on Friday night, whilst Saturday sees Papua New Guinea play Fiji, then Samoa play Tonga.

Sunday sees the maligned City-Country clash in Tamworth.

Six rounds into the AFL season, North Melbourne is still the only undefeated team.

Geelong and the Sydney Swans are close behind them, but the story of the weekend was Greater Western Sydney.

The Giants blasted defending champions Hawthorn 158 points to 83 in a game that shows that they, just perhaps, have finally arrived as a genuine force in the competition.

And, speaking of force, how does 193 centimetres in height and 130 kilograms in weight sound?

Those are the dimensions of the man who could well be Australia's next big sporting export to the United States.

Adam Gotsis, orginally from Melbourne, was chosen by the defending Super Bowl champion Denver Broncos in the second round of this past weekend's NFL draft.

He's played American Football the last four years at Georgia Tech University, and now has a shot at the big time.

He says he'll try to adjust to life as a professional the same way he adjusted at university.

"You know, I had great people around me. The whole staff there at Georgia Tech, the players at Georgia Tech in the locker room...I think the faster you can become part of that culture, the easier things get. So I'm planning on doing the same thing here...just becoming part of the culture here at the Broncos, and (seeing) where that takes me."

One other Australian was drafted- punter Lachlan Edwards, also originally from Melbourne.

He was taken by the New York Jets, where he'll compete for a job with another Melburnian at the same position, Tom Hackett.


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4 min read

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By Sunil Awasthi



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