Just one week after Melbourne Victory snared the signature of Harry Kewell, the Melbourne Tigers weren’t to be outplayed by claiming a scalp of their own – Patty Mills.

A victim of the NBA lockout, Patty has turned his back on lucrative European offers to ply his craft back here in Oz. Yeah baby!

This is great for two reasons – this guy is a great player who is extremely quick, a great passer, and has a deadly long range bomb as well. He’ll put bums on seats in every stadium in Australia and is the ‘shot in the arm’ Aussie basketball needs.

The fact he’s chosen his native country means there is huge faith in what the NBL has been trying to get back into its product – respect!

The second reason is that Daniel Dillon, who turned his back on the Taipans after they resurrected his career, will now wish he’d stayed up north as he will drop down the bench with the Tigers and out of their main rotations.

He would have been a certain starter up here and it’s funny how karma seems to find guys like this. I’m not saying he should be a Taipan forever but he should have given the Cairns Taipans at least one more year.

He will however have the best seat in the house to watch Patty Mills...

The top 8 is all but sorted in the AFL but what isn’t sorted is where Mick Malthouse will be next year. It’s an intriguing topic considering clubs work very hard to be on top and the best and give themselves every chance of winning.

Right now Collingwood are the superior side yet they are going to weaken their coaching ranks. It’s strange behaviour.

The ‘pass the baton’ contracts Eddy drew up a few years ago may have solved a big issue short term but would be causing him some headaches now. Could Malthouse end up where it all began – at Footscray? The Doggies would love him but then again who wouldn’t?

This week’s winners

Wallabies; Any win against the Kiwis is GOLD!!
Swans; What was that paying?
St Kilda; I have a feeling the Sainters aren’t done yet!
Melbourne Dees; Finally...
Melbourne Tigers; Nice coup but don’t try and tell me you’re under the salary cap!
Luke Power; Will be missed!

This week's Losers                           

Ubaka and Dillon; There’s only 5 players and 1 ball. Can the egos take a back seat?
Freo; Will want to erase the past 6 weeks from memory!
All Blacks; Nice to get one back!