The Fifth Quarter

Written by Lachlan Sherriff (Photo by James Worsfold/Getty Images) Needing to bounce back after a loss against Sydney, the UC Capitals travelled over to Perth for the final game at HoopsFest, in hopes they could grab a win that would put them back in fourth. However, this would be easier said than done, as the Capitals matched up against a Townsville team who sat second in the standings and were coming off a two-game winning streak. Nonetheless, the first quarter was close, w

Written by Lachlan Sherriff (Photo by James Worsfold/Getty Images) An 11:30AM tip-off might not be the ideal starting time for a basketball game, but with the first-placed Adelaide 36ers taking on the second-placed SEM Phoenix, it was never going to matter, as RAC Arena packed out for the final NBL game of HoopsFest. And with Wildcats’ legend, and now 36ers guard Bryce Cotton back in town, it was never a debate on who the locals were going to be supporting. In fact, you’d be

Written by Lachlan Sherriff (Photo by Paul Kane/Getty Images) Needing to bounce back from their recent loss against Townsville, the Southside Melbourne Flyers travelled over to Perth for their HoopsFest game against the Adelaide Lightning. It hadn’t been a great season for Adelaide entering today’s game, but a recent win against Sydney gave the Lightning hope they could leave Perth with another victory. The first quarter was back-and-forth, with fast paced basketball leading

Written by Lachlan Sherriff (Photo by Paul Kane/Getty Images) Coming into tonight off a three game winning streak, RAC Arena was always going to be lively for the Perth Wildcats’ HoopsFest game, no matter who the opponent. But with the opponent being the Illawarra Hawks, who boast one of the NBL’s greatest ever imports in JaVale McGee, there seemed to be even higher interest in tonight’s game. Indeed, McGee showed his talent early into the game, as he scored the first basket

Written by Lachlan Sherriff (Photo by Paul Kane/Getty Images) In a season that hasn’t exactly been successful for the Geelong Venom, they went into today’s game with hopes they could record a rare victory against the Sydney Flames, who only had two more wins then bottom-placed Geelong entering the match. It was a brilliant start for the Venom, who took a 9-2 lead thanks to four points from Mackenzie Holmes, forcing the Flames into an early timeout. The Flames began to claw ba

Written by Lachlan Sherriff (James Worsfold/Getty Images) Coming off a win against Melbourne United, the Sydney Kings travelled over to Perth for their HoopsFest game against the Brisbane Bullets. The Kings would’ve felt confident coming in against a Bullets team who had lost their last five games, but they’d still have to win shorthanded, as Matthew Dellavedova (concussion) was added to Sydney’s injury list which already featured the likes of Xavier Cooks and Bul Kuol. Surpr

Written by Lachlan Sherriff (Photo by Paul Kane/Getty Images) Coming off a surprise loss to Sydney, which was only their third defeat of the season, league leaders Bendigo Spirit returned to the court to take on the Perth Lynx in the opening game of HoopsFest. The Lynx, who defeated Adelaide 80-65 five days earlier, welcomed the rest of the league to Perth for HoopsFest, and looked to kick the action-packed weekend of basketball off with a win. Immediately, the contrast betwe

Written by Lachlan Sherriff (Australian Championship/X) After 11,265 days, South Melbourne and Heidelberg United finally played another game against each other in a national competition. Even in the thirty years away from the national stage, this Greek derby still produced many memorable moments at state level, including when South Melbourne defeated Heidelberg 2-1 in the Dockerty Cup final at the Home of the Matildas earlier in the year. Now, back at their home of Lakeside

Written by Lachlan Sherriff (Australian Championship/X) After a 2025 campaign that's included the NPL Victoria season and finals, the full length of two cup competitions, and their Australian Championship group, today could have finally been the end for Heidelberg United, who would have been eliminated from the Championship with a loss against MetroStars. But as long as this season's been for Heidelberg, they weren't ready to end it just yet. MetroStars, who punched their tic

Written by Lachlan Sherriff (Graham Denholm/Getty Images) It hasn't been an ideal week for the Brisbane Bullets. A humiliating Wednesday night on the Gold Coast saw the Bullets lose 113-84 against New Zealand, who are one of only two teams with less wins then the Bullets. In that game, Casey Prather injured his knee, and it's now confirmed he'll miss the rest of the season. As if that wasn't bad enough, superstar import Jaylen Adams left the club on Friday, after only thirtee

Written by Lachlan Sherriff (Graham Denholm/Getty Images) With Melbourne United now at 9-0 after their first nine games, it'd be fair to say that players around the league would love to beat them. But if you had to pick one player who wanted to make United taste defeat the most, it'd be hard to look past Matthew Dellavedova, who left Melbourne for the Sydney Kings over the offseason. It wouldn't be the first time Dellavedova took on Melbourne in Sydney colours, as the Kings l

Written by Lachlan Sherriff Nathan Sobey once again impressed for the Phoenix with 22 points. ( Daniel Pockett/Getty Images) Returning to John Cain Arena on a three-game winning streak, the South East Melbourne Phoenix hoped to continue their winning form against the Perth Wildcats. The start to life without Bryce Cotton had been a bumpy one so far for Perth, but following a 95-84 win against Tasmania on Wednesday, they also came into John Cain Arena high on confidence. With

Written by Lachlan Sherriff When the 2025-26 NBA season tipped off in Oklahoma City, there wasn't really much that connected Terry Rozier, Chauncey Billups and Damon Jones, aside from the fact that they were all guards in the NBA at some point. But only 36 hours later, the three men were all connected to what might just be the biggest illegal gambling take down in sports history. Jones hasn't played in the NBA since 2009, and hasn't coached in it since 2018. Of course, if he'

Written by Lachlan Sherriff (Daniel Pockett/Getty Images) After a dominant victory against Illawarra on Saturday which saw South East Melbourne cement themselves as true contenders this season, the Phoenix once again returned to John Cain Arena for another night of basketball. Their opponent, the Sydney Kings, were also in good form, coming off their own blowout win against Perth. With both teams playing high off momentum, we were treated to a pretty even first quarter. Natha

Written by Lachlan Sherriff Shohei Ohtani in action against the Toronto Blue Jays - a team he very well could have joined two years ago (AP Photo/Wally Skalij) When it became clear Shohei Ohtani wasn't re-signing with the Angels at the end of the 2023 season, two teams quickly became the favourites to capture his signature. The Los Angeles Dodgers and the Toronto Blue Jays. The two were chalk and cheese. The Dodgers were the big market team with all the money in the world to

Written by Lachlan Sherriff Chris Goulding and Dash Daniels embrace each other during Melbourne's win. (Kelly Defina/Getty Images) Coming off a 95-86 win in Brisbane against the Bullets on Friday night, Melbourne United returned to John Cain Arena to take on the New Zealand Breakers, with hopes they could improve their record to 7-0. The Breakers also had high hopes of winning. They may have been 2-5 coming into the game, but an 82-65 win against Tasmania on Friday night ensu

Written by Lachlan Sherriff Ange Postecoglou watched on in dismay as Nottingham Forest lost 3-0 to Chelsea. (Reuters: Peter Cziborra) "I always win things in my second year" It's a quote that will go down in history. Ange Postecoglou struggled in his second season as manager of Tottenham Hotspur, finishing seventeenth in the league. But when Tottenham won the Europa League, it felt like none of that mattered. Ange Postecoglou had snapped Tottenham's seventeen year trophy drou

Written by Lachlan Sherriff (Auckland FC/Instagram) When fixtures for the 2025/26 A-League Men's season were announced, tonight's match between Melbourne Victory and Auckland FC was instantly marked down as one of the most exciting games of the season. Following the semi-final from last season, which saw Victory qualify for the Grand Final with a thrilling 2-1 win on aggregate, Auckland travelled to AAMI Park tonight in hopes they could get their revenge. Whatever happened, t

Written by Lachlan Sherriff Photo: Australian Championship/X Some games become iconic, lasting memories due to what happened on the...

Written by Lachlan Sherriff Photo: Joel Carrett/AAP PHOTOS If the first 28 Throwdowns wasn’t enough of a message, then Throwdown 29 has...