Cody Walker says he will not sing the national anthem before the State of Origin opener next Wednesday, even though millions of sports fans will be tuned in to what will be one of the biggest sports events of the year.

Just as he remained silent during Advance Australia Fair before the Indigenous All Stars game at the start of the year, Walker will not change his mind because of the enormous interest surrounding the Origin opener at what will be a packed-out Suncorp Stadium.

While insisting he did not want to court controversy, the Blues rookie told the Herald on Tuesday: "I'm not pushing my views on anyone, it's just how me and my family have grown up and how I feel. I've already voiced my opinion, and I want to reiterate it's just my opinion.''

Blues coach Brad Fittler said it was completely up to Walker if he chose to remain silent during the anthem but he added: "I'll be singing it."

Advertisement

Walker, however, found a high-powered supporter in Johnathan Thurston, who said he thought there should have been more debate about the anthem when several Indigenous All Stars brought the matter to a head at AAMI Park in February.

"The stand the team took on not singing the national anthem … it was like it was just brushed over,'' Thurston said in an interview with the Herald.

"They did that and there wasn't really any discussion to come out of that, even though it was a stand they took for themselves and their family.

"I thought it was great leadership by the team. Cody Walker came out after the game and said the national anthem doesn't represent him or his family. We made a decision based on that and that was pretty much the end of it. I can't remember anyone from the game coming out and having a further discussion about it."

Kangaroos coach Mal Meninga also supported further debate straight after the All Stars game and said: "We expect them to sing the national anthem, but I'm also in favour of the fact, if it is offensive to Indigenous Australians, let's have a discussion about it.

"We're a multicultural society, so all of Australia should decide on what our anthem should be. The majority of us are third- and fourth-generation Australians now. What does contemporary Australia want? If it's important to people, why not call for a referendum?"

In the US, The NFL was last year forced to review its policy after many players refused to stand for the American national anthem, with players given the option to remain in the dressing-room if they did not want to sing The Star-Spangled Banner.

While Walker will literally stay tight-lipped during the anthem, he was more than happy to sing the praises of his NSW left-edge combination of fellow indigenous stars Latrell Mitchell and Josh Addo-Carr.

Such was the popularity of his centre and winger, Walker's two sons, Kian and Kade, have run around wanting to be Addo-Carr and Mitchell.

"When I did the Fox League interview with my boys, they came on TV and when asked who their favourite players were they said, 'Fox and Latrell'," Walker said.

"They won't be getting the No.3 and No.5 on the back of their jerseys, I can tell you. It will be the No.6.

"I played with both of them in the All Stars game, but I was on the right edge. They are superstars of the game. I can count my lucky stars."

Moments after learning of his first Origin selection on Sunday, Walker received some praise and advice from one of the most popular league identities north of the border – Souths coach Wayne Bennett.

Click Here:

"He was very happy when I saw him Sunday. I got three handshakes and a cuddle. That's a record I think," Walker said.

"It's always good to hear those things from a guy who is a legend. He's an unbelievably-experienced coach and we're so lucky to have him at the club.

"He told me to soak up the week, not let the hype leading up to the game get to me, but let the game get me up."

Scott Morrison got the government re-elected on the back of a budget built on an illusion: that the economy was growing strongly and would go on doing so for a decade. The illusion allowed Morrison to boast about getting the budget back into surplus and keeping it there, despite promising the most expensive tax cuts we’ve seen.

The illusion began falling apart even while the election campaign progressed. The Reserve Bank board responded to the deterioration in the economic outlook at its meeting 11 days before the election.

It’s now clear to me that it decided to bolster the economy by lowering interest rates, but not to start cutting until its next meeting, which would be after the election – next Tuesday.

If that wasn’t bad enough for Morrison, with all his skiting about returning the budget to surplus he may have painted himself – and the economy – into a corner.

Advertisement

In a speech last week, Reserve Bank governor Dr Philip Lowe made it clear that cutting interest rates might not be enough to keep the economy growing. He asked for his economic lever, “monetary policy” (interest rates), to be assisted by the government’s economic lever, “fiscal policy” (the budget).

He specifically mentioned the need to increase government spending on infrastructure projects, but he could have added a “cash splash” similar to those Kevin Rudd used to fend off recession after the global financial crisis in 2008.

See the problem? Any major slowdown in the economy would reduce tax collections and increase government spending on unemployment benefits, either stopping the budget returning to surplus or soon putting it back into deficit.

That happens automatically, whether the government likes it or not. That’s before any explicit government decisions to increase infrastructure spending, or splash cash or cut taxes, also worsened the budget balance.

And consider this. The Reserve’s official interest rate is already at a record low of 1.5 per cent. Its practice is to cut the official rate in steps of 0.25 percentage points. That means it’s got only six shots left in its locker before it hits what pompous economists call the “zero lower bound”.

Loading

What happens if all the shots have been fired, but they’re not enough to keep the economy growing? The budget – increased government spending or tax cuts – is all that’s left.

The economics of this is simple, clear and conventional behaviour in a downturn. All that’s different is that rates are so close to zero. For Morrison, however, the politics would involve a huge climb-down and about-face.

My colleague Latika Bourke has reported Liberal Party federal director Andrew Hirst saying that, according to the party’s private polling, the Coalition experienced a critical “reset” with April’s budget. The government’s commitment to get the budget back to surplus cut through with voters and provided a sustained bounce in the Coalition’s primary vote.

The promised budget surplus also sent a message to voters that the Coalition could manage the economy, Bourke reported.

Oh dear. Bit early to be counting your chickens.

The first blow during the election campaign to the government’s confident budget forecasts of continuing strong growth came with news that the overall cost of the basket of goods and services measured by the consumer price index did not change during the March quarter, cutting the annual inflation rate to 1.3 per cent, even further below the Reserve’s target of 2 to 3 per cent on average.

Such weak growth in prices is a sign of weak demand in the economy.

The second blow was that, rather than increasing as the budget forecast it would, the annual rise in the wage price index remained stuck at 2.3 per cent for the third quarter in a row. The budget has wages rising by 2.75 per cent by next June, by 3.25 per cent a year later and 3.5 per cent a year after that.

As Lowe never tires of explaining, it’s the weak growth in wages that does most to explain the weakening growth in consumer spending and, hence, the economy overall. Labor had plans to increase wages; Morrison’s plan is “be patient”.

The third blow to the budget’s overoptimism was that, after being stuck at 5 per cent for six months, in April the rate of unemployment worsened to 5.2 per cent. The rate of underemployment jumped to 8.5 per cent.

Why didn’t Labor make more of these signs of weakening economic growth during the campaign? It had no desire to cast doubt on the veracity of the government’s budget forecasts because, just as they provided the basis for the government’s big tax cuts, they were also the basis for Labor’s tax and spending plans.

Labor was intent on proving that its budget surpluses over the next four years would be bigger than the government’s – $17 billion bigger, to be precise.

Think of it: an election campaign over which side was best at getting the budget back to surplus, just as a slowing economy and the limits to interest-rate cutting mean that, at best, any return to surplus is likely to be temporary.

Morrison’s $1080 tax refund cheques in a few months will help bolster consumer spending, but they’re a poor substitute for decent annual pay rises.

Ross Gittins is economics editor.

Click Here:

Miami: An Australian man whose wife disappeared while they honeymooned at sea has been sentenced to eight years in prison for involuntary manslaughter.

Lewis Bennett, 42, apologised to the family of Isabella Hellman during a hearing before US District Judge Federico Moreno in Miami on Tuesday. He waived his right to appeal.

Bennett was originally charged with murder, with investigators alleging he intentionally tried to sink the boat, but later dropped the charges.

Bennett, a dual Australia-UK citizen, had asked the judge to let him out of prison sooner so he could raise the couple's daughter, who turns three in July and is being raised by Bennett's parents in Scotland.

Advertisement

"If you may permit me to be with my daughter as soon as possible," Bennett said. "I want to bring her up in a manner that is respectful to my wife's wishes."

But Moreno sided with prosecutors and chose eight years in prison as the sentence and three years on supervised release.

Hellman disappeared as the couple sailed off the Bahamas in May 2017.

A statement from the US Attorney's office says Bennett had experience sailing, including training on emergency procedures, and had previously travelled from St Marteen to Australia.

Loading

His wife, a naturalised US citizen born in Cuba, had not trained in emergency sailing procedures and had less experience.

The couple had been married for three months when they set sail to St Marteen, Puerto Rico and Cuba for a delayed honeymoon in late April.

After they left Cuba on May 14, Bennett asked Hellman take over control of the boat for the night so he could go rest in the boat's cabin, according to court documents.

He didn't require her to wear a life jacket, harness or personal locator, prosecutors said in the statement.

He said he woke up when the craft hit something and Hellman was missing.

Loading

Replay

Replay video

The government maintained he didn't use the satellite phone to call for help. Instead, he loaded provisions and stolen silver coins onto a life raft and boarded it.

Prosecutors said he called for help 45 minutes after he had woken up realising his wife was gone.

A US Coast Guard helicopter rescued him; authorities searched for Hellman for four days, but never found her body.

A Florida state judge declared Hellman dead earlier this month to clear the way for the couple's daughter to inherit her mother's estate.

"Hellman's death occurred as a result of Bennett's knowledge of circumstances that existed that could have reasonably enabled him to foresee threat to life," the US Attorney's office said in a statement on Tuesday.

The FBI said an inspection found that holes in the hull were inflicted from the inside and hatches were opened in a deliberate attempt to sink the boat.

Bennett was initially arrested and charged with murder last year before reaching a plea deal with federal prosecutors. He had already pleaded guilty to transporting $US100,000 ($A144,340) in stolen coins.

AP

Click Here:

Accused killer Henry Hammond was banned from a Thornbury restaurant where he volunteered because he frightened the customers.

Lentil as Anything manager Dayle Lee Jones said Mr Hammond was living in a van beside the restaurant car park and had come to believe he was the Norse god Odin.

She was forced to bar him from the restaurant – a non-profit, pay-as-you-feel eatery that is 99 per cent run by volunteers – after alarming incidents including one in which he repeatedly threw himself against the window, scaring customers.

Mr Hammond faced court on Monday charged with the murder of Courtney Herron, whose body was discovered in Royal Park on  Saturday morning.

Advertisement

The killing triggered a wave of grief from the many who loved her and from the wider community distraught and outraged at the death of another woman, allegedly at the hands of a man, in Melbourne.

Ms Herron had also been sleeping rough and battling drug addiction.

Mr Hammond's family released a statement on Tuesday expressing their shock at Ms Herron's death.

"Our deepest sympathy and compassion goes out to Courtney’s family and friends on their heartbreaking loss," the statement reads.

"Henry Hammond grew up loved by his family and friends. For many years he has struggled with mental illness, more recently drug issues and homelessness.

"We ask the media to please respect our privacy as we try to process this tragedy. Our hearts go out to Courtney’s family and friends."

On Tuesday it also emerged that Mr Hammond, 27, had appeared in a 2018 "Street Talk" segment of The Footy Show at Hosier Lane in Melbourne's CBD.

A dishevelled Mr Hammond, who was playing a recorder, told host Sam Newman: "I've put bamboo through my nose because I'm a very powerful shaman."

Footage later in the segment shows him dancing and flinging his arms towards the sky.

Ms Lee Jones said Mr Hammond came into Lentil As Anything every day as a patron and the restaurant took him on as a volunteer because he didn't have any money.

"I spent many an hour sitting outside on the kerb with him giving him the opportunity to have somebody to talk at, not necessarily talk to," she said.

"Talking to him, it was his love life and I don’t know what happened with his fiancee … I know he was devastated. He never once mentioned he had a son."

She said his behaviour deteriorated to the point that she was concerned about him being around other staff and patrons.

"Because of his aggression – we try to give people a second chance, especially when mental health is involved – it just became too much. And so I had to ban him from the restaurant."

Ms Lee Jones said she had called police about Mr Hammond several times because of his threatening behaviour and his belief he was a god.

"I ended up calling the mental health services in the northern ward to get them to come and pick him up because he didn’t have anybody … He was always here, out the front, he was intimidating and scary."

Ms Lee Jones said she and her staff were devastated by Ms Herron's murder and the fact someone they knew had been implicated.

Eurydice Dixon, 22, had volunteered at the same restaurant before she was murdered in Princes Park by Jaymes Todd on June 13 last year.

“She was an amazing person," Ms Lee Jones said.

"[It's] one extreme where one volunteer is killed senselessly, [then another] to have someone who was a volunteer and patron, who we tried to help, to be standing accused of murder."

Ms Lee Jones said when she tried to get Mr Hammond psychiatric help last year she was left on hold for two hours until someone could speak to her.

She said services met with Mr Hammond that year and had attempted to find him appropriate accommodation, but she did not know if he was ever placed anywhere. The last thing she heard was that his mother was looking for him because he had "disappeared again".

Ms Jones agreed to speak about Mr Hammond's case in the hope it would draw attention to what she and experts agree is a buckling mental health system.

"There is a bigger and bigger gap, we see it here," she said, referring to her more vulnerable regulars.

"[Mental health workers] are under pressure. There's not enough funding."

Click Here:

A young man and woman killed in what police say was a speed-related crash on the Mornington Peninsula were car lovers whose friends and family will pay tribute to them with an organised car meet.

The sister of Pauly Khaled has pleaded with people attending the meet not to hoon or speed, after one friend posted a tribute video that appeared to show the ute the pair were in doing a burnout just hours before deadly crash.

Mr Khaled, 22, and Kalinda Nheu, 18, were both killed when their yellow ute went into the path of another car on the Nepean Highway near Mt Eliza about 11.15pm on Monday.

Their deaths came on a horror night on Victorian roads that killed two other people and left another man fighting for his life.

Advertisement

A tribute page set up for Mr Khaled and Ms Nheu on Facebook showed they were part of Melbourne's street car culture. Their own Facebook pages were filled with photos and videos of cars.

On the tribute page, a grieving friend posted a video he said showed one of their final moments.

The video showed a yellow ute and a dark coloured car doing a burnout about two hours before the fatal crash.

"I still can't believe it. This was taken [Monday] night two hours before you left this earth, we love and will see you soon," the friend said in the video posted to Facebook.

Loading

Replay

Replay video

The friend said he had seen Mr Khaled and Ms Nheu just 40 minutes before the crash.

"I saw these two amazing people 40 minutes before they left this earth. I feel [sic] asleep to wake up to this horrific news, all my love goes out to everyone who has been affected by this, this is one of the last videos of them two leaving on their last track you two will always be with us."

Police said the car involved in the fatal crash was a yellow ute.

Acting Deputy Police Commissioner Stephen Leane said it appeared the ute was speeding when it spun out of control.

"Two young people … driving down Nepean Highway quite simply in the rain again just too fast, lost control, and spun out of control into the path of an oncoming car," he said.

Click Here:

"It's very sad circumstances.

"A third of the people who have been involved in fatal collisions [this year] have been involved in excessive speed – they're just travelling too fast.

"We can all slow down just that little bit."

Tributes were flowing for the Mr Khaled, who was from Heatherton, and Ms Nheu, who lived in Pearcedale, on Tuesday.

One friend described watching the horrifying crash unfolded.

"Can't believe I watched this all unfold right in front of me. Still can't believe this happened and I'll never be the same again," Kyle O'Grady wrote on Facebook.

"As I stood next to you in your final moments just know I did whatever I could but it just wasn't enough."

Mr Khaled's sister also took to Facebook, describing the final time she saw him earlier that night.

"Had I known last night was the last time I'd get to see your beautiful eyes sparkle I would have hugged you and never let you go," Marianna Khaled said.

"There are no words to describe how much losing you hurts or how it's made us all feel. I wish you were still here next to me. Who's going to call me a loser now, who's going to eat the food I was saving, who's going to smack me on the back of the head and stomp around the house now? I really really miss you Paul. I know heaven will be so good to you."

Friends and family have organised a car meet at 6.30pm on Tuesday in Oakleigh South to pay tribute to the pair.

Ms Khaled asked people attending the event not to speed or hoon.

"Please no speeding or hooning tonight. That's not what tonight is about. You're welcome to do as you wish any other time but please not tonight while mum dad and I are there," she wrote.

"I ask you all to go home and tell your parents and kids and siblings you love them and give them a hug."

Family was also believed to be visiting the crash scene to put crosses up, according to a post on the event.

Grieving loved ones had raised more than $500 by Tuesday afternoon to help cover funeral costs via a GoFundMe page.

Police believe the yellow ute was travelling north and was speeding when it spun out of control and went into the path of another car on the Nepean Highway near St John's Lane.

A 25-year-old man from Mount Eliza, who was driving the other vehicle, was taken by ambulance to The Alfred hospital in a stable condition with chest injuries.

Horror night on Victorian roads

Four people, including Mr Khaled and Ms Nheu, were killed on Victoria roads on Monday night. The deaths take the 2019 road toll to 138, well above the 88 killed at the same time last year.

A woman, aged in her 40s, was found dead on Ballarat Road in Ardeer about 7.40pm on Monday after an alleged hit-run.

Police believe the woman was struck by a black Holden Commodore VT as she was crossing the road.

A 31-year-old man from Cairnlea handed himself in to police early on Tuesday morning.

The man was charged late on Tuesday with failing to render assistance in a fatal collision.

"The person involved in the collision knew that they'd hit another person and left the person on the side of the road," Acting Deputy Police Commissioner Stephen Leane said on Tuesday.

"Not sure what they knew, what the condition of the person was, but sadly a woman has lost their life."

A third fatal crash, in Red Cliffs near Mildura, killed a 31-year-old man and injured two others, aged 38 and 39. All three men were from Red Cliffs.

Australia’s public psychiatric system is in slow and painful decline, with “profoundly disillusioned” psychiatrists leaving for private practice, senior specialists warn.

The “psychiatric breakdown of the public system” is driving away overburdened psychiatrists who were dedicated to treating some of the most vulnerable mentally ill patients, UNSW Scientia Professor Gordon Parker says.

The veteran public hospital psychiatrist and founder of the Black Dog Institute will call for urgent reforms to arrest “the slow death in quality” in public psychiatric care at the launch of the 2019 Australian Mental Health Prize at UNSW on Wednesday.

“The tipping point has been passed,” Professor Parker said. “The system has been under threat of deterioration in quality and sophistication of care for several years.

AdvertisementLoading

“My concern is that so many excellent psychiatrists who have worked in – and solidly contributed to – the public psychiatric sector are leaving or planning to leave the system and to take up more attractive jobs. Principally at private practice.”

The Herald and The Age have learned multiple senior psychiatrists have resigned or are planning to resign from a handful of Sydney psychiatric units within the year.

Other specialties have a shortage of training positions for their oversupply of trainee doctors. But psychiatry is struggling to fill positions with their demanding and unrewarding workloads.

NSW has a record 60 vacant training positions for psychiatric trainees, Professor Parker discovered.

“Trainees are rapidly falling away,” he said. "This is a canary in the coal mine signal."

“I see trainees and young psychiatrists … with a genuine commitment and wish to help those with serious psychiatric problems, who, over the next few years, become profoundly disillusioned.”

He described the stress of overstretched EDs where 50 per cent of up to 30 patients waiting for a psychiatric assessment should be admitted to the psychiatric units that are full to capacity.

Psychiatrists were “under tremendous pressure” to discharge patients before they were fully well to make room for new patients, Professor Parker said.

“[They] end their day aware that they were unable to find a bed for someone at high risk of suicide, that the depressed patient who needed close observation as their treatment unfolded has been prematurely discharged," he said.

“…that the patient who should have been discharged to public housing is now going to sleep rough and that their colleague assaulted by an ice addict may never return to work.

“It’s not surprising that the public system becomes a target for frustration, anger and complaints by those who experience or witness the system close at hand."

Professor Parker criticised the "exponential growth" in hospital middle managers and untenable amounts of paperwork. “Staff are therefore most commonly observed in their offices and nursing stations completing forms and thus having minimal therapeutic time with patients,” he said.

He said the pressure on acute psychiatric units could be reduced by up to 50 per cent by treating three key patient groups in other settings: forensic patients in forensic environments, drug-affected patients in separate facilities, and long-stay patients who cannot be discharged into the community should be treated in fit-for-purpose accommodation with constant care.

NSW chief psychiatrist Dr Murray Wright agreed that the loss of public sector psychiatrists was a serious national issue.

Loading

“It’s a very challenging environment and you’re dealing with a lot of risk. It can be a very heavy burden and really wear people down,” he said.

“But I don’t take the view that the system is a critical as Gordon describes.”

Nor did Dr Wright believe segregating patients was the solution.

“If we had some national windfall and could increase our resources then some of the pressures which are contributing to the dissatisfaction of the medical workforce could be addressed," he said.

“In the meantime, we are working to improve workforce conditions to attract and retain people."

The NSW Health Ministry and RANZCP are collaborating on a psychiatry workforce plan – in line with the state’s mental health workforce plan – to correct workplace culture, improve leadership and address the other drivers of burn out.

Last year, the Sydney Children's Hospital was forced to close its psychiatric ward for several weeks after its only consultant psychiatrist resigned and her position could not be filled. The ward had a long history of high psychiatrist turnover, grueling hours and heavy workloads.

Acting head of the UNSW School of Psychiatry Scientia Professor Henry Brodaty – who backed Dr Parker's concerns – said it was critical to acknowledge the individuals working tirelessly in mental health.

UNSW’s Australian Mental Health Prize is awarded annually to an Australian who has made outstanding contributions to either the promotion of mental health or the prevention or treatment of mental illness.

Nomination forms can be found at australianmentalhealthprize.org.au.

Applications close August 30.

Click Here:

Court documents made public in London this week reveal that a woman suspected by British authorities of having ill-gotten wealth spent £600,000  ($1.10 million) in one day at upmarket department store Harrods and once forked out £30,000 ($58,825) on chocolates.

Zamira Hajiyeva is the first person subject to an Unexplained Wealth Order, which allows British authorities to seize assets from people suspected of corruption or links to organised crime until the owners account for how they were acquired.

Britain's National Crime Agency wants to know where Hajiyeva, whose banker husband is in jail in Azerbaijan, got the money to fund her spending and buy two British properties worth £22 million ($40 million) – including a house just around the corner from Harrods.

Investigators say Hajiyeva spent £16 million ($35 million) at Harrods between 2006 and 2016, using 35 credit cards issued by a bank led by her husband.

Advertisement

Harrods records disclosed at the High Court detail spending that includes £5.75 million ($10.5 million) at jewellers Boucheron and Cartier, £1 million ($1.82 million) in Harrods' toy department and £30,000 at chocolatier Godiva.

Harrods said in a stament that it complied with "the strongest anti-money laundering policies."

"In this instance, where Harrods cooperated with a wider investigation, there has never been any suggestion that Harrods has operated in any way other than in full compliance with the highest regulatory and legal standards," it said.

Hajiyeva's husband, former International Bank of Azerbaijan Chairman Jahangir Hajiyev, was sentenced to 15 years in jail in 2016 for fraud and embezzlement.

Hajiyeva, 55, denies wrongdoing and has been granted permission to challenge her wealth order at the Court of Appeal. She is also fighting extradition to Azerbaijan.

Click Here:

AP

What We're Thinking is a weekly take on the fashion issues and questions on our minds – from what we adore to what we abhor.

There was a time when the most annoying thing about sports gear was the washing machine eating one of your socks (and always from odd pairs?!).

These days, since it's more common to wear one's active wear to eat brunch than to do bench presses, we make our gear work a lot harder than when we simply used exercise attire for … actual sport.

Last year, Australians spent an estimated $2 billion on active wear, according to the Australian Sporting Goods Association. And that means that we're wearing it for longer periods, and having more gripes with it.

Advertisement

Common complaints from peers included tights that dig in (try higher waisted styles to avoid "band belly"), chafing around the inner thigh (try seamless styles), and a lack of selection for men. (Check out the ratio of men's to women's wear at your nearest Lululemon and the case is clear.)

Loading

For me, the biggest annoyance is when the pads in my crop tops perform a 180-degree rotation, coupled with doubling over themselves until they resemble a folded-up slice of pizza after a wash cycle.

Why has no one invented a crop top with pads that don't move? And what form of modern-day torture are the manufacturers up to when they make the slits for re-insertion so impossibly small that it's nearly impossible to get them back into their original position? And why, oh why, do you mostly only discover said "pizza-pad" when you are half-way through your warm-up at yoga?

I went searching for answers to these questions (OK, maybe not the last one) but the news wasn't great.

One of my active wear contacts admonished me for washing the crops with the cups inside. Apparently you're meant to remove them before washing. (Yes, and you're also supposed to hand-wash and flat-dry your T-shirts. But does anyone actually do that?)

But seriously, when it comes to replacing the pads after wash, it's the fashion equivalent of threading a needle, or putting on your doona cover while wearing a blindfold.

Loading

Some brands have handy "L" and "R" symbols to help you work out which way to pop in the pads. Otherwise, another handy idea is to get a fabric marker and write your own prompts. Or, as some homemaker websites suggest, a couple of small stitches ought to fix the pad in place, if that's your priority over keeping them in pristine condition.

And if your crop has succumbed to "pizza pad", it may be time to buy new ones (they are available for a few dollars from habedashery stores), or perhaps it's time to just happily surrender to "uniboob". Apologies in advance to my yoga classmates.

Click Here:

Brad Fittler believes the State of Origin series is at a tipping point, with a new generation of superstars set to determine which team creates the next winning streak.

Fittler has shaken up the interstate series since his appointment, throwing in 11 debutants during last year’s win. The NSW coach has blooded a further five new faces – Nick Cotric, Cody Walker, Jack Wighton, Payne Haas and Cameron Murray – for the opening match at Suncorp stadium in a bid to begin a dynasty.

Queensland are undergoing their own generational change after stalwarts Cameron Smith, Billy Slater, Cooper Cronk, Johnathan Thurston and Greg Inglis finally left the scene. It has left Origin ascendancy in the balance as both sides prepare to again battle for supremacy.

“Origin feels like it’s at a point, everyone is surprised at how strong the [Queensland] team looks, they’re in a lot of form,” Fittler said.

Advertisement

“I just feel like one side could make a statement or some players could really make a statement. That group of Queenslanders now is gone – Johnathan, Billy, Cameron, Cooper – they’ve all moved on. Everyone is saying, 'Who will be the next superstars?’

“The thing they did very well was that they were consistent, they were consistent at their club. That’s what I’m trying to get our players to be like. If you want to be great at Origin, you have to be great when you go back to your club as well.”

The Maroons had won 11 of the previous 12 series until Fittler’s "Baby Blues" broke through for a victory last year. Now "Freddy" believes another state is on the verge of a winning streak.

“I feel like that,” Fittler said. “It seemed like a feeling that when those [dominant Queensland] players go, that Origin would die. It feels like it’s kicked again, if anything the interest has kicked again.

“Now you’ve got Pongas [Kalyn Ponga], Tedescos [James Tedesco] and all of these superstars coming through. It’s now up to them to do it week in and week out, which they’re doing at the moment.

“Getting our kids playing is the key, trusting the game. The best way to do that is to have heroes. To be a hero, you have to handle pressure. You have to deal with it and excel, play tough. That’s what the kids demand of their heroes. There were a few last year and they’ve got to do it again.”

South Sydney forward Murray represents part of the next Blues wave, picked after a series of eye-catching performances in just his third season of NRL.

“Being picked in the side is a great honour, but I need to prove to myself more than anyone that I’m ready for this, that I can handle it,” Murray said.

“I need to get my body right and my mind right, get my combinations right to be successful on Wednesday.

Canberra three-quarter Cotric is another youngster that has forced Fittler’s hand after a strong start to his career.

“Marking up on Corey Oates is going to be a good test, I can’t wait,” Cotric said.

Click Here:

The Maroons coaching and playing staff have refused to even mention the Blues by name, seemingly the result of ‘football whisperer’ Bradley Charles Stubbs’ influence on Kevin Walters. The Queensland coach has talked up his side, perhaps the first time in Origin history the northerners haven’t embraced the underdog tag.

Fittler hadn’t witnessed Walters’ “This is War” press conference, but isn’t concerned by Queensland’s change in tack.

“We’re ok with that,” Fittler said. “I don’t know who they are going to smash at the moment, it’s not until June 5.

“We’re trying to worry about our footy, do the best we can during the week to handle the pressure and then get out and execute and perform. We’ll be hard by June 5, we’ll be ready to go.”

Sometimes blind luck falls your way. Trainer Robbie Laing knows that more than most after Missrock topped the first day of the Magic Millions broodmare sale at $2.3 million.

Laing sat back with owners Ray and Susie Montague toasting a sales ring success. Missrock had been a quality sprinter on track, twice a runner-up in the Goodwood, a group 3 winner but more a nearly horse on the track that earned more than $1.3 million.

She was also nearly a nearly horse in the ring, according to Laing.

He smiled as he told the story of when he first set eyes on the filly at Magic Millions in 2015, just before she was to be sold.

Advertisement

“I had a horse breaker from Melbourne with me and he was asking what I look for in a horse,” Laing started.

“She walked past and I wasn’t paying that much attention and said that colt there.

“He looked at me and I don’t why I’m asking you because that’s a filly.

“I thought it looked like a $1 million horse and just watched her walk and went around the front.”

Laing still didn’t have any intention of buying the daughter of Fastnet Rock and watched as the Hawkes stable got to $450,000 and couldn't help but to have a shot at $475,000.

Loading

“That was it. No more bids and she was passed in. Barry Bowditch, who was spotting, came up and told me they want 500,” Laing said.

“I didn’t have a buyer, so I rang Ray and then my vet to find out if there were any problems with her. I knew the Hawkes were bidding on her, so they would have done more homework than me.

“Ray got back to me and said he would take more than half.”

Montague and his wife Susie know a bit about racing fairytales. Susie is the producer of the Michelle Payne film Ride Like A Girl, documenting the first Melbourne Cup win by a female jockey, but since that day in 2015 they hadn’t been having much luck.

“We had bid on four or five [yearlings] and got blown out the water. Robbie rang and I trusted him, so I asked Susie and we decided to buy her,” Montague said.

"When we saw her and she was just magnificent, we just had a good feeling the first time we saw her."

Laing went to the vendor – Cressfield Stud’s Bruce Neill – and closed the deal.

“I offered him 480 and he said 500 or I’m taking her home. We had come that far so I said OK,” Laing said.

Neill remembered the day.

“I sold him to good people and we have become good friends and I have put some into Susie's film about Michelle Payne,” Neill said. “It has opened up a different world to me. It is strange how good this story has been for everyone.”

Missrock won a Debutant Stakes and Percy Sykes Stakes as a two-year-old before being placed in a Wakeful Stakes at three over 2000m, but it was as the older sprinter that she would make her name.

“We had quiet a bit of fun with her and were so close to winning that group 1. We got it today,” Laing said. “Coming here today we were hopeful that she would get close to $2 million but you never know.

“It is a great result for everyone.”

Click Here:

As the bidding went past the amount Missrock earned on the track, the Magic Millions arena fell silent with Arrowfield Stud and Coolmore Stud still in the mix.

But the hammer feel to Bowditch, now the boss of Magic Millions, who was on the phone was to Queen Elizabeth’s bloodstock advisor John Warren. He was buying for a private owner from Highclere Stud in England.

Missrock was one of five mares to break the seven-figure barrier on Tuesday with one-time Everest contender Invincible Star bringing $1.45 million and Whispering Brook $1.1 million while Oregon’s Day, which will run in next month’s Tatts Tiara, and Savvy Coup each brought an even $1 million.

Meanwhile, a sale of eight stallion services raised $283,500 for injured jockey Tye Angland to close Tuesday's session.