Coniston may have outclassed Bulli 5-2 in the Premier League on Friday night, but the club's biggest win came off the field over the weekend.

'Cono' was crowned Football South Coast's Club Champions, following a strong 2022 season across their grades, which included all three men's IPL teams finishing inside their respective top fives.

Coniston took to social media on Sunday to share their thoughts about the achievement.

"Ten months ago, the Coniston FC leaders met to form strategy to achieve our vision of becoming club champions," they wrote.

"On Friday it became a reality for the first time in 20 years."

Cycling fever has taken over the Illawarra, with the long-anticipated UCI World Championships finally getting under way on Sunday.

Dutch rider Ellen Van Dijk was the first champion crowned at the competition, defending her women's time trial title from Australian Grace Brown.

"I just went as fast as i could," Brown said afterwards.

"I really rode to my best today. I paced it well and I had good power. I'm really happy with my ride."

Norwegian young gun Tobias S Foss proved too strong in the men's time trial on Sunday, winning from Swiss star Stefan Kung.

Sunday was a tough day at the office for St George Illawarra NRLW side, with the Red V blown away by Newcastle 30-8.

The Dragons scored first and led 8-4 at the 20-minute mark - but that's where the joy ended, as the Knights mustered 26 unanswered points for the remainder of the game to round out a convincing victory.

Jamie Soward's team will need to find something special in the coming days as the two outfits prepare to go head-to-head again in a sudden-death semi-final this weekend.

The Red V are eyeing off back-to-back NRLW grand final appearances.

Sticking with the rugby league theme, it was the end of an era for Illawarra League club Collegians as they bid farewell to one of their favourite sons, Nathan Fien.

The three-time premiership winner coached his final game with the club on Saturday, with Collies falling 26-16 to Hills in their must-win Presidents Cup fixture.

Collies boss Bruce Prior admits it will be a monumental task to replace Fien.

"The old saying is you leave a place in better shape than you found it and Nathan Fien's done that for Collegians in spades," Prior said.

"People underestimate what he's done in the game and to have him come back to our club, win three premierships and leave it in the best shape we've ever been in, speaks volumes of the person he is."

Finally, there are good signs for the Hawks ahead of their NBL campaign, with Jacob Jackomas's side claiming a big 81-68 win over Melbourne United in their NBL Blitz opener on Sunday night.

Import Justin Robinson was the star with 14 points and eight assists, while new co-captains Sam Froling and Tyler Harvey also impressed for Illawarra.

The returning Deng Deng put the exclamation point on the victory in the third quarter, piling on nine points to take the game away from United.

The Hawks will look to make it two from two at the Blitz in Darwin when they face the Breakers on Tuesday night.

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