Flowers have piled up outside Crows headquarters, the Adelaide Oval was opened to the public on Sunday in place of the abandoned AFL fixture, and club colours have been left hanging from homes around the country.

Players also paid their respects, starting with Collingwood and Hawthorn at the MCG, with men standing arm in arm in the middle of the field after the game.

It was a gesture that was also played out at Max McMahon Oval on Saturday, with the Maitland Saints and the Killarney Vale Bombers pausing together in silence.

Tributes were also on show last weekend in the world of rugby league following the death of Queensland-based player James Ackerman.

Ackerman was knocked unconscious in a tackle and died in hospital two days later, which shocked not only the Sunshine Coast community but the wider sporting world.

Closer to home the Maitland Pickers, Kurri Kurri Bulldogs and Greta Branxton Colts marked their respects by #takingakneeforAckers before kick off. 

It seems Simon Orchard’s post-goal celebration last week wasn’t what it first seemed.

The Kookaburras midfielder scored the Australian’s third in a 4-1 win against Ireland at the Hockey World League semi-finals in Belgium, before making a hand ­gesture near his head.

At one stage in his career after hitting the net Orchard had been renowned for doing the Ram, a shout out to his former Maitland club by making a set of horns with his fingers, the back of his hand and his forehead.

More recently this had been put in the kit bag and it remains that way, with the most recent shenanigans nothing to do with the animal symbol but rather the alphabet.

Orchard made the letter W on his melon using both hands as a birthday message back home for his younger brother Josh, representing the affectionate nickname Weenis. 

The Newcastle Jets start official pre-season training on Monday under new head coach Scott Miller, who watched the Youth side go around in the local first grade competition on the weekend.

But last week the squad was out and about jogging along the foreshore from Honeysuckle before engaging in a game of beach football with fans at Nobbys.

It was certainly a step in the right direction in picking up the pieces from last season’s debacle and ­engaging with the community for 2015-2016. 

It looks as though Keinbah harness racing trainer Shane Tritton is a bit of a reality television fan.

The defending Newcastle and NSW metropolitan premiership winner was on social media last week barracking, not a race winner, but the Madden brothers on singing show The Voice. 

“Come on Madden boys ? Let’s get a singer ? #TheVoiceAU,” Tritton posted on Twitter.

Hunter wheelchair athlete Kurt Fearnley has an incredible story from Paralympic gold medals, to marathon wins, from contesting the Sydney to Hobart yacht race to crawling the Kokoda Track. 

This was all covered last week by Julia Zamiro on her program Home Delivery with Fearnley going down memory lane to where it all started in the country NSW town of Carcoar.

The inspiring episode is well worth a captain cook online at ABC iView.

And finally, forget State of Origin, the NRL or even the Maitland Pickers – Saturday’s international clash was one for the ages.

Despite the political situation between the two countries being at boiling point – Russia and Ukraine meet on neutral territory in Belgrade.

Regardless of the result, it proves that sport really can bring people together, even through the threat of war.

Numbers Game: 3000 – the amount of money raised for the Hunter Medical Research Institute brain cancer unit on Friday at the third instalment of the Bushrangers Bar and Brassiere Let’s Do Lunch series, which featured two-time Newcastle Knights premiership ­winner Mark Hughes as guest speaker. 

Moment That Mattered: Maitland triathlon veteran Pete Hodgson announcing he will ride to Canberra in his budgie smugglers this summer to approach Prime Minister Tony Abbott about recognising Lyme disease in Australia shortly after arriving home from a 1000km journey on two wheels ­raising funds and awareness for the condition.

Quote: “Sports do not build character, they reveal it,” John Wooden.