G'day sports fans,

Quote of the weekend: "I like to call myself mozzarella because I'm the shredded cheese these days" - Brandon 'Cheese' Smith (NRL)

In today's edition of Sport Journal:

🏟 Western Australia's chances of hosting a Grand Final

🏉 State of Origin preview

🏆 The stage is set for the A-League 2021 Finals Series

🇦🇺 AFL

🏟 Western Australia's chances of hosting an AFL Grand Final have never been higher after the success of the sold-out Dreamtime clash at Optus Stadium on Saturday night.

The annual fixture between Richmond and Essendon was moved from the MCG due to Melbourne's COVID-19 outbreak and proved to be a massive success in the west.

Tickets for the fixture sold out in just 17 hours with over 55,000 spectators packed into Optus Stadium to watch a pulsating contest between the two sides.

🤕 Fremantle faces a searching test of its list depth in the coming weeks after a night of injury chaos against the Western Bulldogs that claimed captain Nat Fyfe and could end the season of important defender Brennan Cox.

The Dockers lost Fyfe with a dislocated shoulder in the fourth quarter, while Cox and ruckman Sean Darcy both suffered hamstring injuries in the same 90-second passage of play. (AFL)

🏉 NRL

🏟 Maroons (2.40) v Blues(1.57): Gagai still unwell; Injury clouds lift for NSW

Both teams have been hit by injuries and suspensions with Fittler forced to go with a new-look back row and Maroons boss Paul Green gambling on the fitness of 75 per cent of Queensland's spine.

NSW are powered by the unbeaten competition-leading Penrith and will be hoping more than a little bit of the Panthers' magic will rub off in Townsville on June 9.

Team News: Maroons: Cameron Munster has been cleared to play, AJ Brimson has trained for the first time albeit in a knee brace and Dane Gagai missed two field sessions due to illness (expected to play).

Blues: Payne Haas (knee bone bruise), James Tedesco and Josh Addo-Carr (both hip pointer) returned to the training paddock on Thursday and all are expected to play.

Player Stats:

• Valentine Holmes has been the first try-scorer in three of his last four Origin appearances.

• Xavier Coates has scored a try in each of his two previous Origin appearances.

• Josh Addo-Carr has scored two tries in two of the last three Origin matches.

📈 There are fears that the NRL's high-contact crackdown's fallout will spread to the NRL and see the same sort of blowouts that are proliferating at club level.

The Origin record for most points in a game is 72 (NSW 56 Queensland 16, Game III 2000) and the largest winning margin 46 (Queensland 52 NSW 6, Game III 2015).

However, nine of the last 10 Origin I matches have gone UNDER the total match points line.

🤕 The Eels will be sweating on scans to hooker Reed Mahoney, who went down with a shoulder injury during Parramatta's (40-4) thrashing over Newcastle. (nine)

🐇 Unwanted Sharks playmaker Shaun Johnson has been linked to a shock move to the Rabbitohs as a replacement for Broncos bound skipper Adam Reynolds.

⚽️ Football

🏆 The stage is set for the A-League 2021 Finals Series, after it was confirmed that the Central Coast Mariners and Brisbane Roar FC will host Elimination Finals next weekend.

The Mariners will take on A-League entrants Macarthur FC in an all-NSW affair on Saturday 12 June at Central Coast Stadium, after downing Western United FC 2-0 in their final league game today to secure third spot on the table.

The Elimination Final pitches two former Matildas coaches against each other, in Alen Stajcic and Ante Milicic, with the winner going through to a Semi Final against Melbourne City FC or Sydney FC.

Meanwhile Brisbane Roar FC will host Adelaide United on Sunday 13 June after finishing fourth and fifth on the A-League 2020/21 ladder respectively. Two head coaches in their first full season at senior men’s level, Roar’s Warren Moon and United’s Carl Veart, will be bidding to plot their way to the Semi Finals.

Pending COVID-19 restrictions in Victoria, Melbourne City FC are scheduled to take on the lowest ranked qualifier in the first Semi Final on Friday June 18 at AAMI Park, with Sydney FC hosting the other Semi Final 24 hours later at Netstrata Jubilee Stadium.

The A-League 2021 Grand Final will take place on Saturday 26 June.

🦘Australia vs Chinese Taipei

With three points relatively easily secured against Kuwait on Thursday, Australia will be aiming to continue their march to the Third Round when they face Group B cellar dwellers Chinese Taipei in Monday’s late match.

Having put seven goals past the East Asians in Taipei in their earlier meeting in the group, the match looms as an opportunity for Australia to continue their prolific goal scoring form, with Socceroos striker Jamie Maclaren to prime contender to start up front.

An unused substitute against Kuwait after a late arrival from Australia, Maclaren will be eager to add to his tally of 54 club goals in as many matches in the past two seasons, as well as four goals in just 109 minutes of game time in these qualifiers.

💰 Manchester United have been told it will cost them AU$148m to sign England winger Jadon Sancho, 21, from Borussia Dortmund. (Mirror)

That deal would mean rivals Manchester City will pocket AU$20m in sell-on fees after helping to develop Sancho in their academy. (Mirror)

🌍 World Sport

🏎 Max Verstappen lost victory to a late puncture in a dramatic finish to the Azerbaijan Grand Prix that also saw Lewis Hamilton throw away a chance to reclaim the championship lead.

Red Bull's Sergio Perez won the race from Aston Martin's Sebastian Vettel and Alpha Tauri's Pierre Gasly in a two-lap sprint to the finish when the race was stopped after Verstappen crashed out with five laps to go.

Hamilton was second on the grid at the restart and was ahead of Perez into Turn One but locked up his tyres and ran into the escape road, dropping to 15th at the flag.

His uncharacteristic error meant Verstappen retained the championship lead by four points from the Mercedes driver.

🤒 World number three Jon Rahm's Saturday began with a hole-in-one which helped him take a six-shot lead at the USPGA Memorial Tournament in Ohio.

However, it ended with the Spaniard, 26, withdrawing from the tournament after being told he had tested positive for Covid-19 as he walked off the 18th green.

Defending champion Rahm looked set to claim the $1.67m (£1.18m) first prize.

🏀 Kevin Durant scored 29 points as the Brooklyn Nets overcame an early James Harden injury to beat the Milwaukee Bucks 115-107 in game one of their NBA play-off Eastern Conference semi-final.

🏃🏾‍♀️ Jamaica's two-time Olympic champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce has become the second-fastest woman in history after running 10.63 seconds in Kingston.

🏍 Portuguese rider Miguel Oliveira on a KTM held off a late surge from Frenchman Johann Zarco of Ducati satellite team Pramac to win the Catalonia MotoGP on Sunday. Australian Jack Miller of Ducati took third.

🏏 New Zealand kept plugging away in the hope of a late flurry of wickets but England bat out safely for a draw, in their first of two test series.

🥊 One of the greatest boxers of all time, Floyd Mayweather, takes on one of YouTube's biggest stars, Logan Paul, in a fight which will only have winners.

Mayweather and Paul squared up to each other in traditional fashion at the public weigh-in on Saturday ahead of Sunday night's exhibition bout, which is expected to net both men tens of millions of dollars.

🐴 Racing

💰 Leigh Jordon would like to see some extra money pushed towards Finals Day at Flemington to showcase the winter meeting.

As the Victoria Racing Club's Executive General Managing – Racing, Jordon sees the meeting at Flemington on July 3 as being a jewel in the crown. (RAS)

👋🏼 Rosehill-based trainer Chris Waller had a field day at his home track training five winners (RAS)

🏇🏻 Jockey Adam Kirby won the Derby at Epsom on 17.0 shot Adayar just two days after being replaced on another leading contender by Frankie Dettori.

The jockey had been set to ride John Leeper before Dettori was called up.

🏉 Rugby

☝🏼 Wallabies coach Dave Rennie says spots for next month's France series remain up for grabs with one round of Super Rugby Trans-Tasman remaining.

Rennie will name his players next Sunday for the series, which opens in Sydney on July 7, with three Tests played in 11 days, and says there will be some changes to the 40-man training squad he named in March.

❌ The NSW Waratahs are staring down the barrel of a historic winless season after gifting the Highlanders a record-breaking 59-23 Super Rugby Trans-Tasman victory in Dunedin.

🙌🏼 The Brumbies held on to claim a gutsy 12-10 victory over the Hurricanes in Canberra, but only after All Blacks star Jordie Barrett missed two potentially game-winning penalty kicks in the final two minutes.

✌🏽 Australia’s Super Rugby franchises have won just two of 20 trans-Tasman matches. (rugby)

Back on Wednesday!

📺 Live sport 👇🏼

TODAY

09:08 - MLB - New York Yankees v Boston Red Sox (ESPN 1 or Sky Sports 3)

10:00 - Exhibition Bout - Floyd Mayweather Jr v Logan Paul (Main Event)

10:30 - NHL Conference Semifinals - Vegas Golden Knights v Colorado Avalanche (ESPN 2)

17:30 - European Open (Fox Sports)

19:00 - French Open, Round 4 (GEM, Nine or Stan Sport)

TUESDAY

05:00 - AFC World Cup Qualifier - Australia v Chinese Taipei (ABC, Fox Sports)

07:10 - MLB - Boston Red Sox v Miami Marlins (Sky Sports 3)

09:30 - NBA - Semifinals - Brooklyn Nets v Milwaukee Bucks (ESPN 1)

12:00 - NBA - Semifinals - Phoenix Suns v Denver Nuggets (ESPN 1)

12:10 - MLB - San Diego Padres v Chicago Cubs (ESPN 2 or Sky Sports 3)

19:30 - NBL - Brisbane Bullets v South East Melbourne Phoenix (ESPN 1 or SBS on Demand)

21:00 - French Open Women's Quarter-Final (GEM, Nine or Stan Sport)

23:00 - French Open Men's Quarter-Final (GEM, Nine or Stan Sport)