G'day sports fans,

"It's been a fun ride. I've loved every bit of it," Aaron Finch on his retirement as Australian ODI captain.

“To continue on the legacy of the Australia Women’s Sevens is pretty f****** awesome.” - Australia Women's 7s co-captain Charlotte Caslick

🧹 Housekeeping: There'll likely be a Sport Journal lite edition on Wednesday, as I'll be travelling. Normal service will resume on Friday morning.

🇦🇺 Aussie Sport

🏉 Rabbitohs sent the Roosters packing amid sin-bin drama to keep their finals campaign alive.

The Roosters' season is over after the Rabbitohs triumph 30-14 in a bruising elimination final marred by a record seven sin-bins and a series of failed head injury assessments. (match report)

Rabbitohs coach Jason Demetriou called for the NRL to “come down” hard on Roosters enforcer Jared Waerea-Hargreaves after an ugly head slam on prop Tom Burgess.

While, Roosters coach Trent Robinson has “taken umbrage” with the suggestion his players were lying down for penalties.

🏏 Australia beat New Zealand by 25 runs to complete a 3-0 one-day international series win in captain Aaron Finch's final game in the format. 

Finch, who was given a guard of honour by the New Zealand players, scored just five in his final ODI innings.

He announced his retirement from ODIs on Saturday but will remain Australia's Twenty20 captain.

Australia were put in to bat and scored 267-5, Steve Smith top-scoring with 105 from 131 balls, his 12th ODI century.

He was supported by Marnus Labuschagne, who made 52, while Alex Carey scored an unbeaten 42. 

In reply, New Zealand slipped to 112-5 and struggled to recover. 

When Phillips was dismissed by Mitchell Starc, the remaining wickets fell quickly as New Zealand slumped from 224-7 to 242 all out, with Starc taking 3-60. 

🏆 The Australian Women Sevens side could barely hide the emotion as they cement their place in history, achieving a historic Triple Crown after defeating New Zealand 24-22 in the Rugby Sevens World Cup.

The achievement comes after claiming World Series and Commonwealth Games gold earlier in the season, the first team to do so, male or female.

🎾 In their first grand slam together, John Peers and Storm Sanders produced a memorable triumph at the US Open, becoming the first Australian pair to win the title in 21 years.

They are the first Australians to win the US Open mixed doubles title since Todd Woodbridge and Rennae Stubbs.

The new combination had to battle from a set down to defeat Belgian Kirsten Flipkens and Frenchman Edouard Roger-Vasselin 4-6, 6-4 (10/7) in the final in New York.

🏟 The opening round of the NRL finals saw matches at suburban grounds in Sydney, including Penrith’s 22,500-seat BluBet Stadium and Cronulla’s 12,500-capacity PointsBet Stadium, which has been reduced from 20,000 as a result of renovations.

By comparison, the AFL saw its biggest semi-final attendance under the top-eight system when Collingwood hosted Fremantle in front of 90,612 fans at the MCG - almost all of those attending being Magpies supporters.

📺 FINALS FOOTY:

Friday 16th Sept: 🇦🇺 Geelong Cats Final v Brisbane Lions & 🏉 Parramatta Eels v Canberra Raiders

Saturday 17th Sept: 🇦🇺 Sydney Swans Final v Collingwood & 🏉 Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks v South Sydney Rabbitohs

🌍 World Sport

🏎 Red Bull's Max Verstappen inflicted a home defeat on Charles Leclerc and Ferrari in the Italian Grand Prix to continue his cruise to a second world title.

The Dutchman beat Leclerc after the Italian team tried a questionable two-stop strategy, surrendering the lead to the reigning champion twice on track.

The race ended with jeers from the crowd and Ferrari frustration as the drivers had to finish the final six laps with the safety car after Daniel Ricciardo lost his engine and ended up at the side of the track.

Verstappen's 11th win this year puts him 116 points clear of Leclerc and means he could potentially clinch the championship at the next race in Singapore.

⛳️ Shane Lowry (-17) birdied the 18th to beat Jon Rahm and Rory McIlroy to the BMW PGA Championship title by one stroke.

Spaniard Rahm made two eagles and seven birdies, playing the last 10 holes in nine under, for a closing 62 as he set a testing clubhouse target of 16 under.

But Lowry kept his cool and found the par-5 18th in two then two-putted to sign for a 65 and finish 17 under.

🚴🏻 Remco Evenepoel safely came through the final stage in Madrid to seal overall victory in the Vuelta a Espana.

The 22-year-old Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl rider became the first Belgian to win a Grand Tour in 44 years.

Notable Aussie finishers:

• 8th Ben O'Connor (Aus/AG2R-Citroen) +10mins 30secs

• 10th Jai Hindley (Aus/Bora-Hansgrohe) +12mins 1secs

🏈 Here now is a look at the final scores from the early slate of games, with the exception of the two which have gone into overtime - we'll keep you posted on how they finish up.

The games in Carolina, Detroit and Washington are now final scores

🎾 Carlos Alcaraz insists he is “not afraid” as he targets the US Open title and a slice of history as the youngest men’s world number one.

The 19-year-old Spaniard tackles Casper Ruud in a winner-takes-all final, with both men chasing a maiden Slam crown and the top ranking.

Live score: Alcaraz 2-1 Ruud in the first set, on Arthur Ashe Stadium.

👊🏻 Nate Diaz marked the final fight of his 15-year UFC career by earning a fourth-round submission to defeat Tony Ferguson in Las Vegas.

🏈 NFL is BACK, and Hungry NFL fans consumed 370 billion total minutes of content in 2021, up 18% from the year before. 

• NFL games accounted for 48 of the year’s 50 most-watched telecasts in the U.S.

⚽️People were saying that the British PM's curtsy looked like she was nodding one back to the keeper, then someone made this.

🗞 Please share Sport Journal

📲 Share via WhatsApp HERE

🧑🏻‍💻 Share the link with a friend to sign up HERE

📺 Live sport 👇🏼

TODAY

06:25 - NFL - Los Angeles Chargers v Las Vegas Raiders (7mate)

06:25 - NFL - Minnesota Vikings v Green Bay Packers (ESPN) 

09:00 - CPLT20 - St. Lucia Kings v St Kitts & Nevis Patriots (Fox Cricket)

10:08 - MLB - Chicago Cubs v San Francisco Giants (ESPN 2)

10:20- NFL - Dallas Cowboys v Tampa Bay Buccaneers (ESPN) 

20:00 - Test Match - England v South Africa (Fox Cricket)

TUESDAY

04:45 - Italian Serie A - Empoli v Roma (beIN SPORTS 3) 

05:00- Spanish La Liga - Almeria v Osasuna (Optus Sport 2) 

10:15 - NFL - Seattle Seahawks v Denver Broncos (ESPN)