Crossword Genius

In Australia, a discarded defender? (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

outback

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'in australia' is the definition.
('outback' is part of 'australia')

'a discarded defender?' is the wordplay.
'a discarded' becomes 'out' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'defender?' becomes 'back' (left-backs and right-backs are football defenders).
'out'+'back'='OUTBACK'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for outback that I've seen before include "Remote areas of Australia" , "Remote Australian area" , "somewhere remote" , "Bush country of Australia" , "Australian wilderness" .)

I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.
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