Football
The international break means that the A-League is on hold this week, but fans of club football can still get their fix through the final group stage round of the Australian Championship, which began in Brisbane on Friday night with a thrilling 3-3 draw in which Queensland's Moreton City Excelsior earned an unlikely point against undefeated South Melbourne FC to secure their passage through to the next round.
There'll also be an exciting NPL Victoria showdown for Group C between Avondale FC and Preston Lions, with the latter hoping to win to guarantee their place in the inaugural quarter-finals.
The Socceroos are getting deeper into their preparations for the 2026 World Cup and have booked themselves another two friendlies on US soil against South American opposition - and at very TV-friendly times for us!
They first take on Venezuela, who failed to qualify for the tournament, at 1:30pm AEDT on Saturday afternoon in Houston, Texas, before stepping things up a gear when playing against Colombia.
Colombia finished third in South American qualifying - ahead of Uruguay and Brazil - and are expected to be a very stern opposition at Citi Field in New York for an 11:00am AEDT kickoff on Wednesday morning.
Tennis
Our own Alex De Minaur scraped through to the semi-finals of the ATP Finals in Turin, despite losing his first two group stage matches.
De Minaur told reporters he was "in a dark place" and "hating the sport" following his loss to rank number nine Lorenzo Musetti on Wednesday morning, but he got up off the canvas to defeat American Taylor Fritz in straight sets - which he needed to do - to qualify for a semi-final meeting with Jannik Sinner.
Sinner has a 12-0 head-to-head record over De Minaur. But hey, there's a first time for everything... right?
De Minaur's match against Sinner is scheduled to begin at a very friendly 8:00pm on Saturday night.
Basketball
In the NBL, South East Melbourne and Adelaide 36ers bounced back from losses last round to keep the pressure on ladder leaders Melbourne United, who will step out onto John Cain Arena hoping to retain a two-game advantage over the rest of the pack with a win over the inconsistent Brisbane Bullets.
The Bullets suffered a big loss off the court during the week when leading scorer Casey Prather went down with a knee injury during their humiliating 29-point loss to the NZ Breakers on the Gold Coast.
Winning form will be coming to a brief end for either Sydney Kings or Illawarra Hawks when they do battle in an exciting Sunday afternoon fixture.
Aussie rules
The 2025 AFLW semi-finals are both at Carlton's Ikon Park on Saturday afternoon and evening, where Melbourne and Carlton hold narrow favouritism over Adelaide and Hawthorn respectively.
The winner of the game between Melbourne and Adelaide in the early afternoon will have the honour of (likely) being demolished by the unbeaten Kangaroos in next weekend's preliminary final!
Rugby union
The Wallabies will need to dig deep against Ireland and France in their final two games of the year to have any chance to returning to the top-six in the World Rugby rankings by the end of November.
Why does that matter, you may ask?
The draw for our home Rugby World Cup takes place in December after the tournament was expanded from 20 to 24 nations. The 24 teams will be split into six groups of four, and the six highest ranked nations of the time will be seeded and separated into one group each.
Australia dropped down to eighth following last weekend's shock loss to Italy, so they're going to need to pull some big upsets out of the bag to give themselves the easiest draw possible.
Cricket
Domestic cricket continues throughout the weekend with Women's Big Bash League double-headers on Saturday (Drummoyne Oval, Sydney) and Sunday (Junction Oval, Melbourne), whilst Tasmania will host South Australia at the Kingston Twin Ovals in Hobart on Saturday for a Dean Jones Trophy match.
A shout to my brother, Daryl Brigham, who will be standing umpire for the two Melbourne games on Sunday!
Motorsport
The 2025 V8 Supercars Championship heads into its penultimate round this weekend when the 38th edition of the Sandown 500 takes place in Melbourne as part of the season's new format.
Just seven drivers remain eligible to win the title and a further three will be eliminated following the Sandown weekend, setting up a 'Grand Final' race weekend in Adelaide at the end of November.
Those seven drivers, headed by Triple Eight's Broc Feeney and Andretti's Chaz Mostert, all still retain a great chance at the championship, so it sets up a fantastic two remaining raceweeks.
Boxing
The rematch between Chris Eubank Jr and Conor Benn II will return to Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London and the main fight is expected to begin at about 8:45am AEDT on Sunday morning.
To watch live, you can order here through DAZN ($49.99), which comes with a free seven-day trial of the remainder of the service.
