G'day sports fans,

Classic quote: “We didn’t underestimate them. They were a lot better than we thought.” - Sir Bobby Robson (England coach)

In today's edition of Sport Journal:

🇦🇺 SA Clubs could avoid hubs

🏉 NRL legend, Greg Inglis in shock return to the game

⚽️ 6 EPL players test positive in first round of player testing

🇦🇺 AFL

SA clubs could now avoid hubs - and face off in R2

Port Adelaide and Adelaide will not have to fly to Gold Coast on Sunday, following the South Australian Government granting special permission for next week’s training block.

It means both clubs will be able to remain in their home state to prepare for next month’s season restart.

Originally, the Power and Crows were scheduled to leave the state due to strict restrictions keeping them away from each other, with contact training banned.

It also keeps the door ajar on the possibility of a Round 2 Showdown at Adelaide Oval for the two clubs.

“Instead of that Sunday flight and those six or seven weeks in the high performance villages, they will stay home,” Herald Sun AFL reporter Jon Ralph said on Fox Sports News’ AFL Tonight.

⚽️ Football

Women's World Cup bid

France 2019 saw an estimated global audience of one billion.

It's fair to say countries are keen to be the next host of what has briskly become one of the most viewed and anticipated events in world sport.

In addition to Australia & New Zealand's (joint bid), Japan, Colombia, and Brazil also have tabled bids for the event in 2023.

There is real uncertainty around the other three bids recovery from coronavirus in the short and medium-term. 

Considering both countries' excellent track records as hosts of significant events and domestic fans will attend in drove. Conceding perhaps both nations are not seen as traditional football powers.

We can perhaps be optimistic on June 25, when the four bids and five nations will learn their fates. (theroar)

😸 Meownuel Neuer with some world class saves. Highly recommend you watch the full 2 minutes, with commentary on Twitter

A-League targets June for training return

FFA chief executive James Johnson hopes A-League teams can return to training in June, with the season to be completed by the end of August.

"We're in a little bit of a different situation to the AFL and the NRL in that we only have 27 regular-season matches left and five more play-off matches.

Johnson revealed that the FFA is looking at "different types of hub models", flagging a base in either NSW or Victoria.

"The two states we're looking at are NSW and Victoria, and it's important from a logistics standpoint that we play in one state, so we have (the least) amount of travel across borders as possible," Johnson said. (FTBL)

Premier League: Six positive coronavirus tests across three clubs

There were six positive tests for coronavirus across three Premier League clubs on Sunday and Monday, as the top flight prepares to resume in June.

The unnamed players or staff who have tested positive will now self-isolate for seven days.

A total of 748 players and staff from 19 clubs were tested. The remaining club did their tests on Tuesday so will be included in Saturday's results.

The league had previously identified 12 June for matches to possibly start again, but there is now an expectation this will need to be pushed back.

"The Premier League is providing this aggregated information for the purposes of competition integrity and transparency," it said in a statement. (BBC)

🏉 NRL

NRL legend Greg Inglis comes out of retirement for Super League return

Rugby league great Greg Inglis is coming out of retirement to join Warrington in the English Super League for the 2021 season.

The 33-year-old fullback retired in April last year after long-running battles with knee and shoulder injuries.

The move comes as a shock, particularly after the South Sydney and Melbourne Storm star had also battled mental health issues.

“To get the opportunity to live in the UK, to play for such a powerhouse club that I believe is on the rise is something I’m looking forward to and hopefully I can add value to the team.” - Inglis said.

Parramatta Eels the winners as NRL picks six venues for return

Parramatta will be the only NSW club to play home games at their fulltime ground for at least the first seven weeks of the restarted NRL season.

The NRL confirmed that only six venues will be used until the end of round nine before a further review of biosecurity measures, which may allow more grounds to be used.

Under the new model, North Queensland will play games at Townsville's new QCB Stadium.

• Melbourne will play out of their home at AAMI Park

• Suncorp Stadium - Gold Coast and Brisbane.

• Bankwest Stadium - Parramatta, Canterbury, South Sydney, Cronulla, and the Sydney Roosters. It means the Roosters won't play their blockbuster return match against South Sydney at the SCG as they had hoped.

• Campbelltown Stadium - The Wests Tigers, Canberra, St George Illawarra, and Penrith. 

• Central Coast Stadium in Gosford - Warriors, Manly and Newcastle. (NRL)

🐴 Racing

Staggering $3million offer rejected for spring-bound Masked Crusader

The owners of Masked Crusader have knocked back a staggering offer of over $3million from Hong Kong for the boom three-year-old sprinter – but that hasn’t stopped even more lucrative offers from flooding in.

“The offer (from Hong Kong) was a little bit more than $3million – it’s not only his owners who think the world of him, but everyone else does too,” Legh told Racenet.

“We may regret it knocking it back, but I don’t think we will. - said, Managing owner Rupert Legh

“When you have got a horse like this and you look at the sprinting ranks out there at the moment, they are all retiring, and you have got races coming up like The Everest, the TJ, the Darley Newmarkets, all these sort of races.

“If he is as good as what we think he is – because he has got a long way to go yet to prove himself – then the world is his oyster. (racenet)

🏏Cricket

ICC cricket committee recommends COVID-19 law changes, including saliva ban

The committee heard from the chair of the ICC's medical expert, Dr Peter Harcourt, regarding the increased risk of transmission if players continue to shine the ball using saliva.

It was unanimously agreed that this should be banned.

However the expert advice was that it is "highly unlikely" COVID-19 can be transferred through sweat, and there was no need to ban shining the ball with perspiration.

Australian fast bowler Josh Hazlewood has previously said that Test cricket would be tough for bowlers if they weren't allowed to shine the ball.

🇺🇸 'Merica

Michael Jordan's signed, game-worn Jordan 1s sell for $560,000, breaking all-time record

The popularity of ESPN’s “The Last Dance” documentary (watch on Netflix) has led to a record-breaking auction price for a pair of iconic Michael Jordan sneakers.

A pair of autographed Air Jordan 1s worn by Jordan during his 1984-85 rookie season broke the all-time record for sneakers sold at auction on Sunday. When the gavel came down at Sotheby’s, the winning bid was $560,000 — beating the old record by more than $100,000. (Yahoo)

MLB Clubs Exploring Ad Tarps for Empty Seats

MLB owners say they’ll lose an average of $640,000 per game in 2020 assuming players earn prorated salaries, USA Today reported.

At the league level, MLB is exploring selling advertising around tarped seats.

I could see this catching on across the world, could you?

See you on Friday, for another round of the SJ tipping game!