TEAM OF THE WEEK
The Kangaroos. Fought back right at the death to secure a very unlikely 20-20 draw against the Kiwis in the Four Nations competition.

Zig Zag Public School, Lithgow. This wonderful school, which has just 39 pupils - many of whom have very proud grandparents - won the state junior hockey final, beating a singularly valiant team from Erina Heights Public 6-0. Go up one.
Jason Crump. The Australian has just won his third speedway world title - whatever that is - in the space of six years.

Easts-UNSW Girls' Soccer team. Will compete in the Arrive Alive Women's Super League (WSL) next year. The joint-venture team will be fielding under 12s, under 14s, under 16s and two all-age teams. Interested people can email unswfc@gmail.com.

Australian Lawyers Cricket Team. Recently won the second international Lawyers' Cricket World Cup in England when they defeated India in the final.
Balmain Regatta. Celebrated, if you can believe it, its 160th anniversary last Sunday. Balmain Boys don't cry - they sail.
The NSW XI. Won the inaugural Champions League T20 title. Even better, it came at the expense of Victoria.
Brett Lee. Did everything in the final, with runs, wickets and the match-winning catch of Kieron Pollard.
Patrick Matautaava. In a recent innings during under-19 cricket World Cup qualifying tournament, the 17-year-old from Vanuatu smashed an unbeaten 146 from 43 balls which included 18 sixes.
WHAT THEY SAID
Wayne Carey in his autobiography: ''One night, Dad put a serrated knife into Mum's nose and slit her nostril open. The wound left a scar, which she still carries today.''

Kevin Carey in reply: ''I'll be coming back against all that. I'm writing a book of me own. So f--- off.'' GREAT book title, Mr Carey!

Sydney animal trainer D'Arcy Martin, after he trained five sheep to take on 10 men in a novelty rugby match at the Casino Show last weekend, with two dogs as linesmen. ''The sheep were well-trained. We brought them to the ground in a float, and at the end of the first half I blew a whistle, and they raced off to their dressing room. It was hilarious.'' Is this the answer to the Wallabies' centre problem, against the All Blacks?

From Jessica Watson's blog: ''We even had a couple of dolphins drop in to say hi. I've already discovered that a tidy cabin means a happy Jessica …'' Rare, but beautiful: In just two sentences, with one person talking, we have first person singular, first person plural and third person singular, all about herself!

Pro surfer Mick Fanning after rival Patrick Gudauskas just missed pulling off an extraordinary move in the Portugual pro event, with the world title on the line: ''…just watching him nearly land that flip at the end, holy hell, I guess that's the direction surfing is going and I've seen him land those in competition, so, you know, uh, I was turning my shorts around.''

Kellie Stevens's mother Lorraine Falla takes aim at Wayne Carey's book, which reveals new details of his affair with her daughter: ''At this stage of their lives, whatever parties are involved should be thinking of their children. There's no purpose to it. It can only hurt.''
Bill Lawry on pigeon racing: ''I've made more friends out of pigeon racing than cricket because when we had rest days, a lot of cricketers play golf and I'd always visit pigeon fanciers. We still communicate, whereas your cricketing mates dwindle away because you're competing at the time, and they go their own way, whereas with pigeon fanciers, we seem to stick together more.''

Liverpool supporter Callum Campbell, 16, who threw the beach ball on to the pitch, which Sunderland scored an ''in-off'' goal with, to win a crucial game: ''I'm the one who did it. I'm the one caught on camera. I'm so, so sorry. This is my worst, worst nightmare. When I got home I went into the garden and threw up. I was sick - and that's before the death threats started appearing on the internet the next day.''

Callum's mother Liz: ''Liverpool FC is the love of his life. Not girls, or music, or clothes - Liverpool. He shouldn't have to go through the rest of his life being known as the fan who lost them a match.''

The reason behind the Wallabies' woes according to Robbie Deans: ''Reading their own press.''

Bart Cummings on the secret of his success after his fourth Cox Plate thanks to So You Think: ''Good horses.''


rest of the fitx file here...