🗞 Box Seat

G’day Sports Fans,

🗣️ “That went down like a cold flat white with the crowd, that position swap,” - Pit expert Ted Kravitz on Oscar Piastri’s teams orders to move aside to allow team mate Lando Norris through at the Australian F1.

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🏉 The Eels overcame a flying start from the Sea Eagles to emerge 28-24 winners in a Sunday afternoon shootout.

Down 14-0 after as many minutes, things were looking ominous for Parramatta before they turned things around and went on a run which saw them outscore Manly 28-4 over the next 46 minutes.

🏉 The Knights held off a late Storm surge to open their 2024 account on home soil with a 14-12 victory.

With new pairing Jack Cogger and Tyson Gamble finding their feet in the halves, the Knights scored two early tries and kicked a penalty shot in the first half, which was enough to get the job done over an undermanned Melbourne side.

🇦🇺 Cody Weightman led the Western Bulldogs to their first win of the season with six goals, securing a 48-point victory over Gold Coast. Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge sought a rebound after their round one loss to Melbourne, and his team delivered. A strong nine-goal first quarter set the tone for their 18.7 (115) to 10.7 (67) win. (match report)

🇦🇺 Port Adelaide may have been fashionably (one hour) late to Travis Boak's 350th game celebration, but they made sure to arrive in style. Despite the delay, the Power ensured their champion could mark the milestone with a victory song on Sunday. 18.14 (122) to 13.14 (92). (match report)

🇦🇺 Greater Western Sydney secured its first-ever win against West Coast at Optus Stadium, continuing its historic unbeaten start to the season. The Giants dominated the Eagles, keeping them goalless in the second and third quarters while unleashing an eight-goal streak that sealed the victory. 16.12 (108) to 5.13 (43).

🏀 The Tasmania JackJumpers are one win away from clinching a maiden NBL title after Jack McVeigh's last-ditch three sealed a 93-91 upset of Melbourne United in game three of the Championship Series.

McVeigh put up a prayer from well behind the three-point line after Matthew Dellavedova turned over an in-bounds pass with just seconds left.

The shot rattled in, sparking wild scenes among the travelling contingent of JackJumpers fans in the 10,175-strong crowd at sold-out John Cain Arena. (watch closing seconds)

Tasmania lead 2-1 in the best-of-five series, which returns to Hobart for game four on Thursday night.

If required, game five will be played in Melbourne next Sunday.

🏏 Western Australia clinched a historic triple-double of domestic titles as Tasmania fell apart in the final session of the fourth day at the WACA Ground.

Joel Paris's stunning catch in the gully secured Cameron Gannon's fifth wicket, bowling out the Tigers for a mere 160. With only around 10 minutes of play left on Sunday, Tasmania's defeat by a massive 377-run margin was confirmed.

Despite being set a nominal target of 538 to win in the final four sessions, Tasmania's resistance lasted just one session, securing WA's three-peat of first-class crowns with a day to spare.

📊 Cooper Connolly has, in 20 professional matches across all formats, won the BBL, Marsh Cup and Sheffield Shield titles.

🙋🏼‍♀️ Australia's spinners had a day out in Dhaka as the tourists secured a 2-0 lead in the three-game series

Sophie Molineux has made a statement in her return to one-day international cricket, with Australia’s spinners dominant in a series-sealing six-wicket second ODI win over Bangladesh. (match report)

🏉 Penrith are set to be the headline side to feature in Las Vegas next year, with the NRL likely to confirm the list of clubs in the next fortnight.

9News and Sydney Morning Herald reporter Michael Chammas confirmed the Australian Rugby League Commission will meet on Wednesday to discuss the submissions put in place.

The clubs in the mix are reportedly Melbourne, the Dolphins, Raiders, Newcastle, North Queensland and the Warriors - but it's the Panthers who are in the "box seat".

🏎️ Ferrari's Carlos Sainz secured the first non-Red Bull win of the season at the Australian Grand Prix. Max Verstappen, aiming for a record-equalling 10th consecutive victory, faced technical issues early on, allowing Sainz to seize the lead. Verstappen retired due to worsening brake problems, ending his two-year streak.

Meanwhile, Sainz maintained a strong lead, clinching his third F1 career win ahead of Lando Norris, Charles Leclerc, and local favourite Oscar Piastri.

Not bad for someone who  just 16 days had surgery to remove his appendix that forced him to miss the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

⛵️ The "other" Grand Prix this weekend was held in Christchurch NZ in flying yachts. After racing being cancelled on Saturday due to endangered dolphins frolicking on the course, a condensed event was held on Sunday.

Race one was catastrophic for the season leading Australian team, who were looking to pick up where they left off, winning their home grand prix in Sydney last month.

In a major error, they crashed their race yacht into one of the course marks, ending their series in the first minute of racing. (Instagram)

Their closest rivals for the title, the NZ team, cinched the win on home waters to snatch the overall lead in the championship. (shout out SJ reader Matt)

👊🏻 Brazilian Andre Lima got a tattoo of the teeth marks left by opponent Igor Severino after he bit him during their UFC fight in Las Vegas on Saturday.

Severino bit Lima on the biceps as they stood in a clinch against the cage in the second round of their flyweight bout.

Referee Chris Tognoni stopped the fight and the incident was reviewed before Brazilian Severino was disqualified and the win awarded to Lima.

🎱 Judd Trump thrashed Ding Junhui 10-4 to win the World Open title in China and claim his 28th ranking title.

The world number two knocked in breaks of 88, 79 and 78 on the way to opening up a 7-2 lead at the end of the first session in Yushan.

The 34-year-old started the evening session with a 130 before a 106 and 85 helped him to clinch victory.

⚽️ Arsenal are monitoring English midfielder Morgan Gibbs-White as Nottingham Forest may consider selling the 24-year-old to balance their books. 

⚽️ From Pele to Ronaldo, Neymar to Vinicius Jr, Brazil has produced its fair share of teenage superstars over the years - and now we have the new kid on the block.

Step forward Endrick.

The teenager came off the bench on Saturday to score a late winner for Brazil against England and become the 4th youngest male goalscorer for Brazil (behind Pele, Edu, & Ronaldo) at 17 years and 246 days. not bad company.

TODAY

04:00 - PGA TOUR - Valspar Championship, Round 4 (Fox Sports)
10:00 - NBA - Milwaukee Bucks v Oklahoma City Thunder (ESPN)

TUESDAY

01:00 - Indian Premier League - Royal Challengers Bangalore v Punjab Kings (Fox Cricket) 12:00 - NBA - Utah Jazz v Dallas Mavericks (ESPN)
19:45 - AFC World Cup Qualifier - Lebanon v Australia (10 Bold or Paramount+)