Global Pulse

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  • ‘Haven’t really been a big fan’: Jayden Sullivan unloads on NRL rule as he firms for South Sydney starting spot

    ‘Haven’t really been a big fan’: Jayden Sullivan unloads on NRL rule as he firms for South Sydney starting spot

    As South Sydney Rabbitohs gear up for their high-stakes Friday blockbuster against the Canterbury Bulldogs, young utility player Jayden Sullivan — the frontrunner to replace injured starting half Ashton Ward — has launched a candid critique of the National Rugby League’s controversial six-man bench rule, arguing it is actively holding back the development of emerging specialist playmakers.

    Ward was forced out of South Sydney’s Saturday night victory over the Parramatta Eels after suffering a hamstring injury during a goal attempt, and the 24-year-old playmaker is set to miss an extended stretch of games. His injury has created an unexpected starting opportunity for Sullivan, who will make only his third starting appearance of the 2024 NRL season if named this week.

    This season, Sullivan has spent the majority of his time on the first-grade bench: he has made several appearances coming on as a reserve, while he has been left as an unused substitute six times already this year. For the young half, this lack of consistent game time is a direct unintended consequence of the NRL’s decision to expand the match day bench to six players. While the rule provides much-needed flexibility for teams dealing with early-game injuries to outside backs, Sullivan says it robs young specialists of the regular minutes they need to grow.

    “I’ve been part of the six-man bench set-up for a while now, but I’ve never really been a big fan of it,” Sullivan told reporters ahead of the Bulldogs clash. “I’ve stayed healthy all season and I’ve only played 10 games — it’s been pretty tough. I’m still a young player, I’ve only got 50 first-grade games under my belt, and I’m still learning how to play the half position. The best way to improve is to play week in and week out, whether that’s in the Cup or the NRL, and I just haven’t been getting that opportunities right now.”

    Sullivan has not been completely sidelined this year, picking up seven matches in the NSW Cup to stay in match condition, and he has held open, honest conversations with legendary Rabbitohs head coach Wayne Bennett about his development pathway. The young playmaker says Bennett has been a consistent advocate for him, and the pair regularly align on the best way forward for his career.

    “It’s a tricky position to be in,” Sullivan explained. “I still want to be part of the first-grade squad, even if that means sitting on the bench, but it’s hard to stay sharp when you’re not getting on the field. Wayne’s been great with me, we can talk honestly about where I’m at, which I really appreciate.”

    With Ward sidelined, Sullivan is set to get an extended run of game time over the coming weeks, an opportunity he says he is relishing as the Rabbitohs push toward a finals berth. Sullivan has not played finals football at the NRL level, but his last post-season appearance came in 2019, when he led the Illawarra Steelers to a famous SG Ball Cup grand final victory over Manly Warringah Sea Eagles — and seven years on, he is hungry for another shot at high-stakes football.

    “Seven years is a crazy long time to wait for another crack at finals footy, but I’m just grateful to get any opportunity to play now,” he said. “I’ve been healthy all year, even if I haven’t played as much as I want, and the two years before that I was out with injuries the whole time, so I don’t take any minute for granted.”

    Sullivan also paid tribute to Ward, who he says is one of his closest friends off the field, with both hailing from Wollongong. “Wardy’s had an outstanding year, and I’ve learned so much from him,” he said. “I know exactly what it’s like to do a hamstring injury, I’ve had a few myself, so it’s really tough for him right now. I’m just sending him all my support as he recovers, and I’m going to do my best to fill in while he’s out.”

  • Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez freezing her eggs and hasn’t ‘ruled out’ presidential run

    Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez freezing her eggs and hasn’t ‘ruled out’ presidential run

    New York Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has made a rare, personal reveal: the 36-year-old progressive leader has opted to freeze her eggs, and she is opening up about the early stages of the process to destigmatize fertility care amid a national reckoning over reproductive rights in the United States.

    Ocasio-Cortez first shared short video clips documenting her experience on social media this past Sunday. Just hours after posting the content, she appeared on ABC News’ *This Week* where she addressed both her fertility journey and swirling speculation about her future political ambitions.

    In her candid social media clips, Ocasio-Cortez walks viewers through a self-administered injection required for the egg-freezing process, shares actionable tips she has picked up from her own medical appointments, and answers common public questions about everything from the steep costs of fertility treatment to the clinical steps involved and how accessing this care navigates what she describes as America’s broken healthcare system.

    Speaking to *This Week*, the congresswoman explained her decision to share such a personal process: she aims to normalize open conversations about egg freezing and fertility care, particularly at a moment when reproductive autonomy is under attack across the country. “This administration is denying reproductive care to women across the country, from abortion rights to the ability to carry out a healthy pregnancy,” she told anchor George Stephanopoulos. “I think it’s important for us as leaders to have these conversations and share these processes,” she added, framing her transparency as an act of political solidarity with people navigating reproductive care access nationwide.

    The conversation soon turned to growing rumors about Ocasio-Cortez’s national political aspirations, prompted by recent polling that shows strong popularity for her as a potential 2028 Democratic presidential candidate. When first asked about a White House run, Ocasio-Cortez laughed and deflected the question, emphasizing her immediate political priority. “I’m focused on winning the midterms, I’m running for Congress right now,” she said.

    When pressed further on whether she would leave the door open to a 2028 presidential bid and whether such a run is a realistic prospect, Ocasio-Cortez confirmed she has not closed off that path. “I haven’t ruled out the possibility and I’m very humbled by the tremendous amount of support out there,” she said, adding that “We have a responsibility to remain focused on the midterms and not on our individual aspirations or plans.”

    When asked about another high-profile potential race—a challenge to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, New York’s senior Democratic senator, for his Senate seat—Ocasio-Cortez offered a similarly open-ended response, saying “anything was possible.”

    The upcoming U.S. midterm elections, scheduled for early November, fall in the middle of President Biden’s four-year presidential term. All 435 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives are up for election, along with 35 of the 100 seats in the U.S. Senate, making the cycle critical for Democrats looking to maintain or expand their control of Congress.

  • China evacuates one million from homes as massive storm arrives

    China evacuates one million from homes as massive storm arrives

    On a Sunday evening, eastern China braced for the impact of Typhoon Dolphin, which made two consecutive landfalls along the Zhejiang province coastline, forcing emergency responders to evacuate more than one million residents across the region including the major coastal metropolis of Shanghai.

    Meteorological officials confirmed the storm first made landfall in Yuhuan at 17:30 local time (09:30 GMT), carrying maximum sustained wind speeds of 150 kilometers per hour (94 miles per hour). Roughly 60 minutes later, the typhoon made a second landfall in nearby Wenzhou, maintaining enough strength to batter coastal infrastructure and trigger severe weather warnings across a wide swathe of eastern China.

    Before the storm’s arrival, national meteorological authorities issued the nation’s highest-level red alert for typhoon activity, activating emergency response protocols across multiple provincial and municipal governments. By Monday morning, however, the system had weakened enough to be downgraded to a tropical storm, though official warnings remain in place through Wednesday.

    As the weakened storm system progresses inland, emergency management teams continue to warn residents of ongoing hazards, including torrential downpours, widespread flash flooding, and elevated landslide risks across multiple inland and coastal regions. On Monday, heavy rainfall was forecast for seven provinces – Shandong, Henan, Hubei, Anhui, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang – as well as the major urban center of Shanghai.

    The severe weather has brought regional transportation to a near standstill. In Shanghai alone, more than 1,400 scheduled flights were canceled in advance of the storm’s arrival, with rail services also suspended and ferry routes closed to protect passenger safety.

    Local authorities have urged residents across the affected region to avoid unnecessary outdoor activities, and dozens of high-profile tourist sites have temporarily shut their gates to visitors. Closures include large sections of Shanghai Disneyland and Legoland Shanghai, alongside multiple popular viewing platforms along the city’s iconic Bund waterfront.

  • Laneway Festival axes Adelaide, Perth shows in major 2027 shake-up

    Laneway Festival axes Adelaide, Perth shows in major 2027 shake-up

    One of Australia’s most beloved and long-running indie-pop music festivals, Laneway Festival, has announced sweeping changes to its 2027 national schedule that will see the event take a one-year hiatus from two of its longest-standing host cities: Adelaide and Perth. The pause marks the first time the festival will skip the two markets outside of the global COVID-19 pandemic lockdown period, breaking a 19-year annual streak in Perth that dates back to 2009, and a 19-year run in Adelaide stretching back to 2008. Organisers made the announcement official via a public post on the festival’s Instagram channel on Monday morning, moving quickly to address growing fan speculation and reassure attendees that the break is not permanent.

    In the statement, organisers acknowledged the news would come as a disappointment to loyal local audiences. “To our Adelaide and Perth friends, we know this will be disappointing. In 2027, Laneway will be taking a break in your cities,” the post read. The festival team went on to reflect on its 20-plus year history of bringing independent music to audiences across Australia, New Zealand, and even international stops including Singapore and Detroit. “Running so many shows, so close together, across so much ground is a logistical feat we are proud of, but it also asks a lot of our line-up and crew,” the statement explained.

    Organisers emphasized that the planned pause serves two key purposes: it will allow the team to refine the overall festival experience to deliver the highest quality event for attendees across all stops, and it will open up touring gaps that let more performing artists book standalone headline shows in cities that are typically only included on the festival’s annual route. The statement closed with a note of gratitude to local fans: “Adelaide and Perth, we love you! We are incredibly grateful to every single person who has shown up for us over the years,” adding “this isn’t goodbye, just see you soon” to reinforce that the hiatus is temporary.

    Alongside the hiatus announcement, organisers confirmed a change of location for the festival’s Queensland stop. After being hosted on the Gold Coast in recent cycles, the 2027 Queensland Laneway show will return to its previous home in Brisbane. As of the announcement date, the full 2027 festival line-up of performing artists has not yet been revealed to the public.

  • AFL 2026: Patrick Dangerfield admits Geelong ‘buggered up’ Jake Kolodjashnij concussion waiver

    AFL 2026: Patrick Dangerfield admits Geelong ‘buggered up’ Jake Kolodjashnij concussion waiver

    A growing controversy over a contentious concussion-related waiver agreement involving Geelong Cats player Jake Kolodjashnij has prompted the club’s captain Patrick Dangerfield to publicly acknowledge the team made missteps in the process, while urging the public and football community to wait for full details before drawing final conclusions.

    The scandal first broke into public view last Thursday, when it was revealed that Geelong’s leadership and Kolodjashnij had reached an agreement that saw the defender waive his right to file future legal claims against the club if he develops long-term brain injuries linked to repeated on-field concussions. By Friday, the player himself went public to confirm his identity as the athlete at the center of the case, and Geelong chief executive Steve Hocking released a statement emphatically denying that Kolodjashnij had been pressured or coerced into signing the controversial document.

    Speaking to Fox Footy Monday morning while arriving for team training, Dangerfield offered the most candid comment from a club leader to date, admitting that portions of the process were handled poorly. “It’s not until you unpack all of the detail that you sort of find out what the whole process was,” Dangerfield said. “Why it was done the way that it was. Clearly, there’s some parts of it that we buggered it up and we can be better, but I still think there’s a bit to unpack yet.”

    Like most outside observers, Dangerfield said he first learned of the agreement via social media last Thursday morning, a reveal that came as a shock even to the team’s captain. He acknowledged that the topic of player brain health is deeply emotionally charged for football communities, making it difficult to wait for full context before reacting. “As an older player what I’ve learned over time is you’ve got to wait for the detail before the shock and awe kicks in,” he explained. “That’s a bit of a challenge with something like this that is very much emotive, and especially when it comes to players’ health and when it’s one of our own, one my players – that’s certainly concerning in that sense.”

    Dangerfield added that key contextual details about the agreement are still being assessed by the Australian Football League (AFL), with Geelong staff working over the past several days to compile and share full records. “But you’ve got to get the detail first. The nuance to that is the context of how it was done and clearly there has been more information needed from the AFL and that’s what the club has been doing over the past few days,” he said. “I think it’s not until we get all that information, that’s assessed, there will be a decision made around process and all that sort of stuff.”

    Beyond the procedural controversy, Dangerfield emphasized that the human impact on Kolodjashnij and his family has been largely overlooked amid intense media scrutiny. “I think that’s not a question that’s been asked a lot over the last little bit, that human element sometimes gets lost in the chase for a story,” he said. “That’s been, as players, the most important thing for us. And as leaders of the football club, it’s been a pretty difficult few days for Jake and his family for obvious reasons.”

  • A rare on-field headline in South Korea: Manchester City’s 3-1 comeback over Atlético

    A rare on-field headline in South Korea: Manchester City’s 3-1 comeback over Atlético

    A sold-out pre-season exhibition match between two European soccer giants brought 50,000 cheering fans to Seoul World Cup Stadium on Sunday, providing a rare moment of uncomplicated on-field action for South Korean soccer amid a turbulent, scandal-plagued summer.

    Manchester City rallied from an early second-half deficit to secure a 3-1 victory over Atlético Madrid, even with the introduction of South Korean fan favorite Lee Kang-in after halftime. Lee, the 23-year-old national team star, only completed his high-profile $40 million transfer from Paris Saint-Germain to Atlético Madrid last month, and his appearance marked one of the biggest local draws for the clash. Atlético held a 1-0 lead going into halftime after Jorge Dominguez netted a late first-half strike, but Manchester City flipped the script in the final 45 minutes: Omar Marmoush notched two unanswered goals, and Rayan Ait-Nouri added a third to seal the win.

    For South Korean soccer, however, the friendly offered a much-needed distraction from a cascade of controversies that have roiled the Korean Football Association (KFA) for months. The latest scandal broke after a leaked government audit exposed that senior KFA officials used corporate credit cards to pay for visits to adult entertainment venues for foreign referees back in 2011 and 2012.

    The KFA released an official apology on Saturday, acknowledging public concern over the string of controversies, ranging from parliamentary probes and a historic police raid to the decade-old entertainment venue scandal. “We express our sincere apologies for causing concerns over a range of issues, from a parliamentary hearing and an unprecedented police raid to media reports about incidents from more than a decade ago that even members within the federation were unaware of,” the statement read.

    But prominent South Korean soccer commentator Park Moon-sung dismissed the apology as insufficient, questioning how the federation could expect to dismiss such serious misconduct as an old, forgotten issue. “Are match-fixing and sexual services — things so disgraceful that I do not even want to mention them — something that can be brushed aside by saying, ‘Why bring up events from more than a decade ago that we did not know about?’” Park wrote on social media.

    This scandal is only the latest to hit KFA this summer. Public anger first erupted in June following South Korea’s underperformance at the 2026 FIFA World Cup co-hosted by the U.S., Mexico and Canada, where the national team lost two of three group-stage matches and failed to advance to the knockout round. The outcry prompted South Korean police to reopen a stalled investigation into the 2024 appointment of former head coach Hong Myung-bo, with critics accusing KFA President Chung Mong-gyu and technical director Lee Lim-saeng of bypassing the federation’s own formal hiring procedures. By July, both Hong and Chung had stepped down from their KFA positions and appeared before National Assembly lawmakers for questioning over the hiring scandal.

    In response to the institutional crisis, the South Korean government launched a K-Football Innovation Committee tasked with overhauling the KFA’s governance structure. The panel is co-chaired by Park Ji-sung, the legendary former Manchester United and South Korean national team captain, and Ryu Seung-min, head of the Korean Sport and Olympic Committee. Its flagship proposal to date would dramatically expand the electorate for the next KFA presidential election, growing the voting body from just 300 hand-picked voters to roughly 20,000, including active professional players, coaches, referees, and amateur soccer stakeholders.

    With both the top federation leadership and national team head coach positions currently vacant, the KFA is now moving to appoint an interim head coach in preparation for the 2027 Asian Cup, which is set to kick off in Saudi Arabia this coming January.

  • Israeli media eye Rebeca Grynspan’s Jewish identity as she emerges as UN chief frontrunner

    Israeli media eye Rebeca Grynspan’s Jewish identity as she emerges as UN chief frontrunner

    As the United Nations prepares to select a new leader to succeed two-term Secretary-General António Guterres when his tenure ends on 31 December, Costa Rican economist and diplomat Rebeca Grynspan has claimed an early lead in the race, bringing her Jewish heritage and deep family connections to Israel into the global spotlight.

    The first unofficial, secret straw poll held by the UN Security Council on 30 July delivered a strong opening showing for Grynspan, who currently leads the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). She earned 10 votes in the “encourage” category, four “no opinion” votes, and just one “discourage” vote out of the 15 total Security Council members, which include five permanent members and 10 rotating elected members. Individual country votes are not made public, and while subsequent rounds of voting could shift the standings, Grynspan’s single objection leaves her well-positioned ahead of other contenders. The Security Council is on track to finalize its preferred candidate by October, though any of the five permanent members holds veto power that could immediately end her campaign.

    Longstanding informal regional rotation practices at the UN have led to widespread expectations that Guterres’ successor will hail from Latin America, a geographic alignment that works in Grynspan’s favor. Born in 1955 to a Jewish family in Costa Rica, Grynspan’s background is rooted in a history of displacement and tragedy: her parents were European Jewish refugees who fled rising Nazi persecution in the years before World War II, and multiple members of her extended family were murdered in the Holocaust. If selected, she would make history as the first woman, the first Central American, and the first Jewish person to take the top UN post.

    Israeli media outlets have dedicated extensive coverage to Grynspan’s family ties to the country, noting that her sister Frida Greenspan relocated to Israel at age 17 and currently resides in Mevaseret Zion, a town just outside Jerusalem. Greenspan’s children have all served in the Israeli military, some holding officer ranks, and she told Israeli outlet Ynet that the family “are Zionists by birth.” The reporting adds that Grynspan has relatives living in the occupied West Bank, and Israeli media has framed her as one of the most pro-Israel candidates in the field, emphasizing that she is open about her Jewish identity and has maintained close working relationships with Israeli officials based in Jerusalem for decades.

    Despite these widely reported connections, it remains unclear how Grynspan would approach the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict if she became Secretary-General. The candidate has rarely centered Israel in her public political profile, leaving her potential approach to the UN’s longstanding policy positions on Palestine untested. Even Israeli analysts acknowledge that her perceived closeness to Israel could become a significant liability in a contest where candidate support is needed from governments holding deeply opposing views on Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory and its ongoing military campaign in Gaza.

    A key contradiction has already emerged in Grynspan’s record: under her leadership, UNCTAD has published some of the UN system’s most critical assessments of the economic harm Israeli policies have inflicted on the Palestinian people. UNCTAD reports have repeatedly documented the economic costs of occupation, the damaging impact of Israeli movement restrictions across the occupied West Bank, and the total collapse of Gaza’s economy following Israeli military operations, directly linking Palestinian economic suffering to Israeli policy choices.

    In January 2024, Israel’s foreign ministry cut diplomatic ties with multiple UN agencies and international bodies over their reporting on Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, labeling the coverage anti-Israel. UNCTAD was included on that list, with Israel accusing the agency of publishing “dozens of virulent anti-Israel reports.” Notably, however, Israeli officials have not publicly targeted Grynspan personally, in contrast to their repeated public attacks on current Secretary-General Guterres and other senior UN leaders.

    Israel Hayom, a newspaper widely aligned with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has examined Grynspan’s public comments on Gaza, noting that she has repeatedly called for full, unrestricted humanitarian access to Gaza and has insisted that aid must not be politicized or weaponized for political ends. The outlet concluded that “despite the candidate’s identity”, Grynspan largely adheres to the UN system’s traditional, longstanding position on the conflict. An opinion piece in Israel Hayom went further, arguing that Grynspan’s candidacy has been quietly promoted to key member states — most notably the United States and Israel — through a carefully framed narrative centered on her identity as a daughter of Holocaust survivors, her familiarity with Hebrew, and her close family ties within Israel.

    Israeli media also suggests that Israel can wield indirect influence over the selection process, noting that Israeli positions on candidates tend to filter through to the permanent Security Council members that ultimately hold decisive power: the United States, the United Kingdom, and France. Ynet also reported that multiple candidates in the race have already sent representatives to court Israeli UN Ambassador Danny Danon in a bid to win his implicit backing.

  • ‘Brain explosion’: Corey Horsburgh charged by the MRC for sin bin slap as Sharks enforcer faces a ban

    ‘Brain explosion’: Corey Horsburgh charged by the MRC for sin bin slap as Sharks enforcer faces a ban

    The National Rugby League’s (NRL) match review committee has handed down controversial charges that have upended two clubs’ late-season campaigns, with Canberra Raiders forward Corey Horsburgh headlining the sanctions after a reckless act that ended his side’s shot at 2024 finals football.

    Horsburgh was charged with a Grade 1 contrary conduct offence following a unprovoked slap to Newcastle Knights winger Dane Gagai during Sunday’s crucial clash. The moment came at a pivotal juncture for the Raiders: with the team trailing by just two points, officials had just awarded Canberra a penalty within striking distance of the posts, only to reverse the decision after spotting Horsburgh’s slap. The forward was sin-binned for the infraction, a costly exclusion that ultimately derailed the Raiders’ comeback.

    If Horsburgh accepts the early guilty plea, he will only face an AU$1800 fine, avoiding a suspension that would have ended his season outright. But the damage to the club’s finals hopes, and to his standing with head coach Ricky Stuart, is already done. After the match, Stuart launched a scathing rebuke of his forward’s lapse in judgment, laying bare the cost of the mistake.

    “It should have been 28-all, and there’s a brain explosion when we got a penalty,” Stuart told reporters post-game. “It was a f–king brain explosion and we lost the opportunity. We lost the start of the season because we were self-entitled and undisciplined and we lost the opportunity to still then continue and try to make the semis. It wasn’t everybody’s fault. There are 16 other blokes there that made a lot of massive effort. There’s one sh*t bloody decision choice that has cost us.”

    The incident has reignited off-season transfer speculation around Horsburgh, who has been heavily linked with a move to the Brisbane Broncos in recent weeks. Rugby league analysts are now waiting to see if Stuart’s anger over the blunder will accelerate the forward’s exit from the Canberra outfit ahead of the 2025 season.

    In a separate blow to another NRL side, Cronulla Sharks enforcer Addin Fonua-Blake has also been sanctioned for a dangerous play during the Sharks’ shock upset loss to St. George Illawarra Dragons. Fonua-Blake was charged with a Grade 2 careless high tackle for a hit on Dragons player Hamish Stewart, which also earned him a sin bin during the match. If he accepts the early guilty plea offer, the front-rower will serve a one-match suspension, forcing him to miss Cronulla’s upcoming clash against the Raiders this coming Saturday. The absence of their starting enforcer is a fresh setback for the Sharks, who are already fighting to secure their own place in the 2024 finals series.

  • Signings tracker: Brian To’o signs long-term deal to join the PNG Chiefs

    Signings tracker: Brian To’o signs long-term deal to join the PNG Chiefs

    The National Rugby League’s newest expansion franchise, the PNG Chiefs, has pulled off another high-profile recruitment coup, locking in Penrith Panthers premiership-winning winger Brian To’o on a three-year contract that will see him join the club at the beginning of the 2028 season. To’o, a four-time NRL premiership winner with the Panthers, will complete one final season with the Penrith-based side in 2027 before making the move north to link up with his close friend and former Panthers teammate Jarome Luai at the Papua New Guinea-based franchise, which is currently building its roster ahead of its inaugural entry into the NRL competition.

    In announcing the signing, PNG Chiefs chief executive Lorna McPherson emphasized that the addition of To’o extends far beyond the club’s on-field goals. “Brian is an exceptional rugby league player, but this signing is about much more than football,” McPherson said. “The PNG Chiefs will be a club proudly built in Papua New Guinea but with a strong Pacific identity. Across our region, family, culture, community, and rugby league are deeply connected, and Brian represents those values every time he takes the field.”

    To’o, who is fiercely proud of his Samoan heritage and known for his tight-knit family bonds, embodies the regional identity the PNG franchise is working to build, McPherson added. “He understands what it means to represent something bigger than yourself. That is exactly the kind of person we want wearing the Chiefs jersey. We want young people across Papua New Guinea and the Pacific to look at this team and see themselves in it. Brian choosing to become part of the Chiefs sends a powerful message about the club we are building and what this team can represent for our region, and we are incredibly proud to welcome him, his wife and children into the Chiefs family.”

    A Panthers junior product, To’o made his first-grade debut for the club in 2019, and has gone on to claim four NRL premiership titles across his tenure with the side. The 27-year-old has also earned representative honours, turning out for both New South Wales in State of Origin and Samoa internationally. A powerful, consistent performer on the flank, To’o has crossed for 99 tries across his 144 first-grade appearances for Penrith, and is widely regarded as one of the game’s best outside backs for his ability to generate valuable yardage from the backfield.

    Penrith head coach Ivan Cleary paid tribute to To’o’s contributions to the Panthers dynasty, praising both his on-field skill and off-field character. “Brian is an exceptional player, but he’s an even better person. He’s a great teammate, a devoted family man and someone who brings so much energy and positivity to our club every day,” Cleary said. “He’s been a huge part of what we’ve built here and we’re looking forward to sharing one more season with him before he begins his next chapter.”

    To’o is the latest high-profile name to commit to the PNG Chiefs, joining former Panthers playmaker Jarome Luai and ex-St George Illawarra centre Zac Lomax as the expansion side continues to assemble a competitive inaugural squad. The signing comes as Penrith faces a wave of upcoming player contract changes: three of the club’s star players, including head coach Ivan Cleary’s son Nathan Cleary, Isaah Yeo and Liam Martin, are all set to become free agents when their current deals expire at the end of November 2027.

    Panthers chief executive Matt Cameron said the club respects the right of all its out-of-contract players to choose their next career step, including To’o. “The club has maintained a strong position that this cohort of players has absolutely earned the right to choose what is the next step in their rugby league journey,” Cameron said. “We are so proud of what Brian has been able to do for our community and fully respect the decision he has made. It’s an exciting period for the game as the NRL continues to grow, and we believe a strong competition is ultimately good for rugby league.”

  • Households warned to brace for multiple rate hikes as RBA experiment ‘fails’

    Households warned to brace for multiple rate hikes as RBA experiment ‘fails’

    As Australia’s Reserve Bank (RBA) prepares for its August policy meeting, a leading independent economist has issued a stark warning that the central bank’s cautious approach to interest rate policy has sparked an ongoing inflation crisis, and failure to implement aggressive rate hikes now could lead to a catastrophic financial meltdown similar to the worst economic downturns of the past century.

    Market consensus overwhelmingly predicts the RBA will hold the official cash rate steady at 4.35% this week, a pause that would bring temporary relief to mortgage borrowers already reeling from three rate increases so far in 2026. But Warren Hogan, managing director of EQ Economics, argues this popular policy path is a dangerous mistake that will only deepen long-term economic pain.

    Hogan argues that the RBA’s years-long “economic experiment” of keeping interest rates far lower than most other developed economies has failed to bring inflation back to the central bank’s 2-3% target band. Australia’s trimmed mean inflation, the RBA’s preferred core measure that strips out volatile price swings, hit 3.6% in the 12 months to June 2026, well above the target range. To get inflation under control, Hogan says the cash rate needs to rise to at least 5.6% – matching the level reached by other major central banks in 2024 – and could even need to climb as high as 6% or 7% to fully tame persistent price pressures.

    “They’ve been too kind … pulling up stumps on the hiking cycle at 4.35 was a risky proposition and they needed to get up to 5 per cent if not a bit higher because they needed to kill this thing off when they could,” Hogan told NewsWire. “The problem the Reserve Bank has is the framework and thinking over the last few years has proven to be wrong. The reality is the interest rate is not out by one or two rate hikes, it is out by at least four. That is why they need to raise rates this week.”

    He argues that the RBA missed its window to crush inflation early, and delaying further hikes now will only force more severe action later, raising the risk of a full-blown financial crisis rather than a mild, short-lived downturn. While Hogan acknowledges that additional rate hikes will strain household budgets in the short term, he insists that inaction will lead to far worse outcomes, including a deep, prolonged recession.

    A key factor backing Hogan’s call for immediate action is surprisingly resilient household spending, which has remained far stronger than expected despite previous rate hikes and global energy market volatility stemming from the US-Iran conflict. Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows household spending rose 0.8% in June 2026, bringing total spending growth for the 2026 financial year to 6%. Most of that growth has come from discretionary spending, indicating that consumers are still keeping demand high enough to sustain upward price pressure. To bring inflation under control, economic growth needs to slow to 2% or lower; any faster growth exceeds Australia’s “economic speed limit” and fuels further inflation.

    “Recent data is showing households might be feeling bad, but they have not stopped spending,” Hogan said. “We got the latest number earlier this week and they were nothing short of spectacular, after a strong May. Overall, an overall picture being painted by the numbers shows the consumer is hanging in there. We have this data saying Australian consumers hardly missed a beat.”

    Compounding inflation pressures, Hogan notes, is continued expansionary fiscal policy across Australia’s state and federal governments. Total government spending as a share of GDP has risen from pre-pandemic levels below 25% to around 27.3% today, adding extra demand to an already overheated economy and pushing prices higher. He argues that current economic conditions bear a striking resemblance to the 1970s, a decade marked by crippling stagflation that eroded living standards across the Western world. “Right now we are in about 1976 ready to have another ripping of inflation for the next couple of years,” he warned.

    Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers has pushed back against this criticism, pointing to the federal government’s recent $63.8 billion package of net spending cuts and reprioritisations, which Chalmers calls the largest savings package in Australian history. The package includes $37.8 billion in savings to reform the National Disability Insurance Scheme to put it on a more sustainable long-term footing. Chalmers says these measures are already improving the budget position, which is $44.9 billion better off than projected in the mid-year economic update.

    Hogan says a coordinated approach between fiscal and monetary policy could limit the economic damage of bringing inflation under control. If federal and state governments agree to gradually reduce spending alongside gradual RBA rate hikes, Australia may only face a mild, short “garden variety” recession rather than a catastrophic financial crisis. But if governments continue to run large deficits and leave the RBA to do all the work to cool inflation, the central bank will be forced to implement far sharper rate hikes that raise the risk of systemic financial instability.

    RBA Governor Michele Bullock has previously acknowledged that both rate hikes and inflation impose broad hardship on Australian households, but emphasizes that taming inflation is a necessary priority. “Higher inflation isn’t just a statistic. It strains household budgets, complicates business planning, and weighs on confidence,” Bullock said in a recent speech at the Anika Foundation. “Many Australians are again feeling this pressure; indeed, we recently published survey evidence showing that inflation is the single most pressing economic concern for Australians. Getting inflation back to target requires slowing demand to align with the growth of supply, which is exactly what interest rate hikes are designed to do.”

    Money markets currently assign just a 5% probability to a rate hike at this week’s meeting, with all four of Australia’s major banks predicting rates will remain on hold until at least 2027. Hogan warns that this widespread complacency about inflation puts Australia on track for an economic crisis not seen in 50 years, with destabilizing impacts on both the economy and the political environment that have stemmed from four years of unrelenting cost-of-living pressures.