WINNERS

TENNIS AUSTRALIA
A tweet by Nick Kyrgios snowballed into a series of heartwarming gestures in support of those who have lost their homes in the devastating bushfires. This all culminated in the Rally for Relief charity game that was held last Wednesday night by Tennis Australia at the Rod Laver Arena, with the world’s greatest players attending and offering the crowd some spectacular moments, while raising the amount gathered towards the bushfire appeal to over $5 million. A further $250k offered by Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer came to ensure that the tennis community would do their utmost to bring some form of relief towards the communities affected by the disasters.

GREECE WOMEN’S WATER POLO TEAM
It’s a well-known fact that Greece is traditionally strong in underwater sports and this was confirmed at the start of the Women’s Water Polo European Championship in Budapest. Giorgos Morfesis’ team annihilated both Serbia and Croatia in their two opening matches of the tournament, beating the Serbs 26-7, and the “Hrvatski” by 18-3, displaying their quality. Although the Greek manager, ever the perfectionist, still insisted that the team needs to improve on their defence if they are to go all the way. The men’s team made an equally impressive start in their respective competition, beating Slovakia 18-2 in their opening game and Georgia 17-10 in the second.

READ MORE: Melbourne eatery launches limited-edition ‘Tsitsipas Souvlaki’ to raise money for bushfire victims

ANNA KORAKAKI
Having already set her sights on what will be her second Olympic Game appearance in Tokyo this summer, the young shooter continues to set records. Her most recent accomplishment involves yet another gold medal, this time at the Kuwait Grand Prix, with the 23-year-old equalling her own world record of 583/600 successful shots. Korakaki definitely kicked off the year on a positive note and she will want to continue like this in the build-up towards the difficult year ahead, with her ambitions only getting higher from here on.

SINNERS

MELBOURNE VICTORY
It appears the season was doomed from the start for one of the greatest clubs of the A-League. After several departures of key players at the end of the previous season (including Terry Antonis, Kosta Barbarousis, James Troisi and Keisuke Honda), it was going to be a difficult task for any manager to create a new team from scratch and expect them to be competitive from the get-go. Marco Kurz was given very little time and not much to work with, yet he still tried to make the most of a bad situation. Sadly he was used as a scapegoat by the Victory Board, in their attempt to justify their poor choices and to cover up the reasons as to why so many players decided to leave Melbourne last May. As he has already shown the Australian public, Marco Kurz is not a bad manager. Perhaps this turn of events could even work to his own benefit.

READ MORE: Rally for Bushfire Relief event a huge hit thanks to Kyrgios, Tsitsipas and other tennis megastars!

REFEREES/VAR
Every weekend there’s yet another incident(s) where the referees in the A-League are caught checking the VAR, only to overturn their own decisions causing an uproar among the fans. Last round’s example in the game between the Mariners and the Victory, where the referee awarded the home side two (!) penalties after extended consultation with the VAR, is not an isolated event. It’s like every contact between defender and attacker, every touch by the defender’s hand on the ball, everything is being double and triple checked, while the game is paused for an inexcusable period of time with players and fans left exhausted by the entire process. Referees need to have more faith in their own decisions. The VAR is meant to be used as a tool to assist referees, not to do their entire job for them.

KYRIAKOS PAPADOPOULOS
Once hailed as one of the players with the most potential in Greek football, now the 27-year-old has lost his place at both his club and his national team and is set to make a big step backwards in his career. The former Bayer Leverkusen player is rumoured to be close to a move to Chinese team Shanghai Shenhua who are offering him a two-year contract. The player is currently in negotiations with the Asian club, but should he sign, he will become the first Greek to play in China since former Brisbane Roar defender Avraam Papapdopoulos. Surely not the step forward one would expect to make, although the 27-year-old’s career has been one plagued with injuries.