Australian sport's happy homecoming

For every winner there has to be a loser.

So whenever Australia celebrates the graduation of a locally-produced talent to a top overseas league there is also the lament that the athlete won't be showcasing their skills at home.

For our soccer and basketball - the two biggest participation sports on the planet - it has been a pleasant unpleasantry. While wonderful for the sport to have Australians starring abroad, their absence has had a detrimental effect on the codes at home.

It is tough for FFA and Basketball Australia to make the A-League and NBL more appealing when they know the competitions aren't the best going around. That task becomes more difficult when parts of the sporting marketplace perceive that even Australia's best aren't involved.

But over the past week the winds - probably more like a zephyr but movement at least - of change have blown through both competitions.

The return of Harry Kewell (Melbourne Victory) and Brett Emerton (Sydney FC) is a major boost for the soccer league - and thus the game itself. Kewell and Emerton are Socceroos stalwarts, who played in the top-class EPL environment and still bring a quality game to the A-League.

It is the same for Patty Mills and our hoops. Such is the nature of Australian basketball that our premier young talent is lured to US colleges, hoping to play in the NBA or graduating to lucrative European competitions.

There was a strong possibility Mills, who was last season contracted to Portland Trailblazers, might have followed that path and never lined up in the country's premier series. And there is no doubt it took the NBA lockout to facilitate Mills' move to Melbourne Tigers.

Yet what Emerton, Kewell and Mills do by coming back to where it all started is inspire and motivate another generation to follow the same dreams they once had.

Hopefully the next batch of Socceroos and Boomers will also find time to bring their talents back home so everyone in the game can benefit.

And so on.