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In today's edition of Sport Journal;

⚽️ A-League derbies

🏏 Bushfire relief, Big Bash and Tri-series

🏉 Rugby round up

...and loads more.

With sporting events being called-off across the globe due to the weather...could we see indoor sports like "Bath fishing" become an Olympic sport? 🤣

⚽️ Football

A chaotic end to the Japanese Super Cup sees Vissel Kobe and Kashima Antlers players miss 9 (yes, nine) penalties in a row between them.

After the first four penalties were scored, Hotaru Yamaguchi eventually seals victory for Vissel Kobe with the 14th kick of the shootout. (watch all of the misses on YouTube)

A-League

Melbourne City 2-1 Melbourne Victory (match report) A stunning second-half goal from Jamie Maclaren has proved crucial as Melbourne City edged out Melbourne Victory 2-1 in a see-sawing Melbourne derby.

Perth Glory 4-2 Wellington Phoenix (match report) Perth Glory made it nine A-League games unbeaten. D'Agostino with a double.

Sydney FC v Western Sydney Wanderers was postponed due to the weather.

Brisbane Roar 2-1 Adelaide United (match report) Two first-time A-League goal scorers to mount a 2-1 comeback win over Adelaide United.

Newcastle Jets 4-3 Central Coast Mariners (match report) Dimitri Petratos delivered a double as it rained goals for the Newcastle Jets in a 4-3 win over Central Coast Mariners in a wet and wild F3 Derby on Sunday.

⛳️ Golf

Vic Open (European Tour)

Min Woo Lee held his nerve in difficult conditions to win his first European Tour title at the 2020 ISPS Handa Vic Open.

The anticipated family double did not materialise but Min Woo Lee emulated sister Minjee at the Vic Open on Sunday to claim his maiden European Tour title with a two-shot victory over Ryan Fox.

"It was nice of her to come on...my sister and I winning the same tournament, it's pretty special. I've got bragging rights now, so it's even better," he said.

In the women's event: Unheralded Hee Young Park has come up trumps in an all-Korean playoff to win the $1.5 million women's Vic Open at 13th Beach.

World No.191 Park claimed the biggest victory of her career at the fourth playoff hole when Hye-Jin Choi self-destructed.

Pebble Beach (thru 54 holes)

Nick Taylor has the 54 hole lead (-17), with 5-time winner Phil Mickelson (-16), one behind. Australian Jason Day (-14) is a further two shots back.

Day shot a spectacular (-8) 64, in the second round where his short game and putter caught fire.

The final round starts at 5am AEDT.

It’s been roughly a year since Jason Day first discussed the balloon therapy that helps keep his rib cage in place, strengthens his core and loosens his back. That means a year of 30-minute sessions blowing into balloons at the gym while others are pumping iron.

“Mind you, you feel self-conscious," Day acknowledged, noting that "no one else is blowing up balloons.

On the flip side, he’s become pretty adept at it".

“Got really good at farm animals and … swords and stuff like that,” he said. “If you need a kids’ party, I can do it for you.”

🏏 Cricket

Fans left in awe as Ponting, Lara show their class in bushfire relief match

There were countless sporting legends on display at Junction Oval on the weekend — Sachin Tendulkar faced an over from Ellyse Perry, Brian Lara’s cover drives were exquisite, Brett Lee bowled with firey pace and Adam Gilchrist’s smoked the biggest six of the day.

While Brian Lara looked as if he could be walking out for the West Indies in their next international series.

Ponting’s stroke play was elegant as he didn’t look having lost any of his skill which was seen for decades, with the 13,378 Test run-scorer hitting the ball right around the ground before electing to retire himself.

His replacement, Brian Charles Lara, immediately lobbed Elyse Villani over mid-off to the boundary as he picked up the length with simplicity.

Two straight sixes off the bowling of Andrew Symonds brought the crowd to their feet, with players in awe at his ability despite retiring a decade ago.

Phoebe Litchfield developing into Australian cult hero after Bushfire Bash

For several months, 16-year-old Phoebe Litchfield has been touted as a future star of cricket.

The 16-year-old cracked her first delivery towards cover, the ball exploding off the middle of her bat. It was a sublime start, so much so commentator Mark Howard confused her for an Australian legend batting at the other end.

“Ponting, glorious stroke through the covers,” exclaimed Howard.

“It’s Phoebe, it’s Phoebe,” Damien Fleming quickly corrected.

Josh Philippe fires Sydney Sixers to Big Bash title

• Sixers 5-116, Stars 6-97; Sixers win by 19 runs

• Philippe’s 52 proves decisive in rain-hit final

Josh Philippe teamed up with his mentor, Steve Smith, to steer the Sydney Sixers to their second Big Bash League title with a rain-affected 19-run victory over the Melbourne Stars at the SCG.

Wet weather stripped 12 overs from the final but did not wash out the match entirely, as had been expected. Philippe’s polished 52 lifted Sydney to 5-116 from 12 overs, a tricky target that quickly became monumentally challenging for the Stars.

Melbourne lost their two best batsmen in the opening three overs as they crashed to 3-18. Marcus Stoinis picked out Sean Abbott in the deep after a bright start to the first over, delivered by Nathan Lyon, while Steve O’Keefe trapped Glenn Maxwell lbw.

Super Coach

We made several rookie errors, mainly missing transfer windows, including the final ☹️. Not happy but not disgraced by our final standing's.

Any of our reader's get into the top 10%?

Australia edge England to advance to women’s T20 tri-series final

Australia secured a place in the women’s T20 tri-series final after dismantling England’s batting order to win their Junction Oval clash by 16 runs.

Meg Lanning’s team appeared headed for a third defeat in four matches as they stumbled to 132-7 after being sent in to bat at the Melbourne venue on Sunday. But that score proved more than enough, as left-arm spinner Sophie Molineux (3-19) and quick Tayla Vlaeminck (2-18) never allowed the visitors’ run chase to gather momentum.

Final - 13th Feb: Australia v India, Melbourne (Junction Oval)

🏉 Rugby

Waratahs 12-32 Blues - Waratahs recorded their lowest home crowd attendance in their 25-year history. Newcastle’s McDonald Jones Stadium, saw just 7491 watching on as the Waratahs suffered their fifth straight defeat.

Lions 27-20 Reds - Gutsy Reds go down fighting Lions. But there are no prizes for second best.

Brumbies 39-26 Rebels - Brumbies will be happy with the performance and climb to the top of the Australian conference.

The two performances of the round belonged to the Chiefs, beating reigning champs the Crusaders 25-15 and the Hurricanes winning away 23-26 against the Jaguares.

6 Nations

In two weather affected matches, Ireland beat Wales 24-14 and England edged past Scotland 6-13. In Sunday's clash, France saw off a spirited Italian side to run out 35-22 winners.

Try-scorer Ellis Genge refers to England's critics as 'sausages' and says Eddie Jones's team have shut them up after their 13-6 victory against Scotland at Murrayfield.

🇦🇺 AFL

Melbourne players go 'To Hell and Back'

Melbourne players didn’t have to wait long to experience life with Darren Burgess as their fitness boss, with pre-season footage emerging of several big names pushing themselves to the limit.

The Demons appointed Burgess, a former Arsenal and Port Adelaide fitness guru, as their strength and conditioning manager last year following their torrid 2019 season on the injury front.

Burgess is shown officially addressing the playing group for the first time in the documentary series ‘To Hell and Back’, which was launched by the Demons on Sunday night.

AFLW must accept criticism, but not all criticism is acceptable

The AFL social media team is hitting back at unjust critics of the AFL Women’s competition, the fourth edition of which commenced on Friday.

Friday night’s match between Carlton and Richmond exposed the chasm between an inaugural AFLW team and one that had just joined the fold.

Most of the tournament’s condemnation centres around low-scoring contests, a trend that continued on Saturday.

Only two goals were scored during the GWS Giants vs Gold Coast Suns match at Blacktown, the final score being 9-8 to the home side. It was the lowest aggregate of any AFL/VFL/AFLW in history. To be fair, it was played in awful conditions, with 90-150mm rain forecast in Sydney (Fox)

🇺🇸 'Merica

Two new(ish) leagues kicked off at the weekend in the United States.

🏈 XFL Football

A reboot of one of America's most infamous sports leagues kicks off this weekend (the first attempt failed in 2001), billionaire wrestling mogul Vince McMahon betting once more that football fans are hungry for more football.

Just 8 Teams and faster play. The XFL is marketing itself as a faster version of the NFL and has publicly stated that it wants games to be played in under three hours.

Why it might just work this time; Speed & Sports betting: Unlike the NFL, the XFL will allow its broadcasters to openly talk about betting lines, and they will be shown on-screen during telecasts.

🏉 Major League Rugby

MLR is a professional league in the USA, going into its third season. Rugby has gone down the same route as the MLS, in their attempt to be heard above the noise of the Big 3.

A centrally managed salary cap is in place (Average Major League Rugby Salary for players is US$58,425 per year) and clubs have brought in a small number of "stars" (ageing internationals) to build in the public interest. (Wikipedia)

Big named players of yesteryear include, Ben Foden (ex-England) & Mathieu Bastareaud (ex-France), both at Rugby United New York.

Ex-Waratah Paddy Ryan is at San Diego Legion and Ex-Rebel Tim Metcher plays at Seattle Seawolves (who have won both MLR Championships to date).

The performance of the opening weekend came from NOLA Gold (New Orleans) who beat new side, Old Glory DC (Washington) 46-13. NOLA GOLD will be the side we'll be following throughout the season.

📺 Today's sport

🏌🏻‍♂️ Phoenix Open, Round 4 (5am)

🎾 ATP Cordoba Open, Final (9am)

🏀 NBA Regular Season games (from 11am)

🏅 Australian Cricket Awards (7pm)

⚽️ AFC Women's Olympic Qualifying, Thailand v Australia (7:30pm)

Tuesday:

⚽️ AFC Champions League Group Game, Melbourne Victory v Chiangrai United (7:35pm)

Back on Wednesday!

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