分类： sports

A decade after former NSW Blues hooker and Cronulla Sharks legend Michael Ennis first heard rumblings of a pair of promising young brothers rising through the Cronulla development ranks, he believes one of those prospects is poised to deliver NSW a victory in the opening game of the 2024 State of Origin series from the interchange bench.

Ennis, an eight-time Blues representative and part of the Sharks’ 2016 NRL premiership-winning squad, made his prediction as he teamed up with public health initiative DrinkWise at Accor Stadium on Monday morning, just 48 hours before kickoff of the highly anticipated Origin opener. The event launched a new campaign backed by the New South Wales government, NSW Police Force, the National Rugby League, and local support services, which encourages matchgoing fans and home viewers alike to drink responsibly and maintain respect for other spectators during the game.

Serving as a DrinkWise ambassador for this year’s State of Origin series, Ennis emphasized the value of creating positive, lasting memories of the sport’s biggest annual interstate rivalry. “It was a privilege to experience State of Origin as a player, but now as a fan and a parent, I want to see the night remembered for great moments on the pitch, and the good times we share off it,” he said. “No matter if fans are watching from home, at local pubs and clubs, or right here at Accor Stadium, we just want to encourage anyone drinking to do so in moderation, enjoy the experience, and show respect to everyone around them. That way, everyone can leave with great memories and hopefully a NSW win.”

Off the campaign trail, Ennis’s attention quickly turned to the on-field action, where he named Cronulla Sharks dummy-half Blayke Brailey – one of the two brothers he first heard about a decade ago during his final years at the Cronulla club – as the secret weapon that could swing the opener in the Blues’ favor. Brailey, who will make his State of Origin debut off the NSW bench on Wednesday, has worked his way into the representative side after several strong seasons leading Cronulla’s attack, and Ennis said he has watched the young hooker’s growth with pride.

“I haven’t spoken to Blayke ahead of this debut, but I couldn’t be happier for him,” Ennis said. “Blayke and his brother Jayden were just coming through the youth system when I was finishing up my time at Cronulla, and to see both of them now playing elite NRL footy is fantastic. There was always chatter around the club about how talented both boys were, even back then – when Jayden made his first-grade debut, everyone was already talking about Blayke coming up right behind him.”

From his early days in the top grade, Blayke Brailey was always tipped as a future Origin-calibre dummy-half, Ennis explained. Over the past few seasons, as he has grown into the starting nine role for the Sharks, he has transformed his game to become a key attacking focal point, rather than just a support player for his teammates. That evolution has helped Cronulla push deep into the NRL finals series in recent campaigns, and Ennis said Brailey has finally found the self-belief to match his proven on-field skill.

Ennis noted that Brailey’s call-up to the Blues squad is fully deserved, after the hooker gained valuable experience on last year’s Kangaroos Ashes tour, where he got the chance to test himself against Queensland’s star hooker Harry Grant. While Ennis said he does not know exactly how Blues coach Laurie Daley will deploy Brailey from the bench, he is confident the rookie will make a major impact when he comes on to relieve starting hooker Reece Robson late in the first half, when fatigue starts to set in for the starting side.

“That rotation between Reece and Blayke off the bench is going to be one of NSW’s biggest strengths through the whole series,” Ennis said. “Reece already has that established combination with Blues captain James Tedesco from their time together at the Roosters, but having Blayke’s attacking threat to bring on in the middle part of the game, when fatigue really hits, is going to be a massive asset. Origin fatigue hits you harder than any other football, especially in the first game of the series, and with wet conditions forecast for Sydney on Wednesday, that tiredness will set in even faster. Blayke’s speed and ability to change direction quickly out of the ruck could be exactly what the Blues need to take control of the game.”

For Ennis, if the Blues can pull off the opening win, he plans to celebrate with a quiet couple of beers of his own – responsibly, of course – watching the young rookie he first heard about a decade ago take the next step in what looks set to be a stellar representative career.

Australian Rules Football icon and one of the nation’s most inspirational public figures Neale Daniher has passed away at 65, bringing a close to a 13-year public battle against motor neurone disease (MND). He died surrounded by his immediate family, leaving behind a transformative legacy of courage, fundraising and advocacy that has changed the global fight against the devastating neurodegenerative condition.

In a public statement released Monday afternoon, the Daniher family paid tribute to the man they described as the unshakable heart of their clan. “From day one, Neale was a fighter. His determination was unmatched – choosing every day to find opportunity where others might see only challenge, and taking the fight to the Beast with everything he had,” the statement read.

Even as his illness progressed through its most debilitating stages, Daniher never lost his signature playful charm and sharp wit. “Even in the toughest times, he kept pushing forward, determined to land as many blows as he could against his toughest opponent, all with a cheeky grin and a sharp sense of humour that never left him,” the family shared.

Raised as one of 11 children, Daniher built a reputation for bringing light and connection to every room he entered long before his MND diagnosis. He first made his mark on Australian sport as a fierce, strategically brilliant player for the Essendon Football Club, before transitioning to a legendary coaching career with the Melbourne Football Club, where fans affectionately nicknamed him “Coach” and “Reverend.” Across every stage of his life, he drew people in as a natural leader, beloved far beyond his titles as a husband, father, proud grandfather, music lover, and the person with the loudest laugh in any gathering.

Daniher’s activism against MND began after his own diagnosis in 2012, when he launched the “Beat The Beast” campaign that evolved into the national FightMND movement and the iconic annual Big Freeze match held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG). Over 13 years, his work raised more than $100 million for MND research globally. This year’s Big Freeze match, scheduled to take place in just a few weeks, will mark the first edition of the event held without Daniher present.

In 2025, Daniher’s extraordinary contributions to public life were recognized when he was named Australian of the Year, an honor that Prime Minister Anthony Albanese noted was met with unanimous national approval. He left a simple, powerful legacy for current and future MND fighters: “No matter the odds, no matter the diagnosis, we all have the power to fight, to smile, and to do. Because the mark of a person isn’t what they say, it’s what they do.” The family closed their statement with Daniher’s iconic catchcry: “Play On.”

AFL chief executive Andrew Dillon described Daniher’s passing as a devastating loss for the entire Australian football community. Beyond his on-field achievements, which included leading Melbourne to six finals series and a 2000 Grand Final appearance, Dillon emphasized that Daniher’s greatest impact came from his selfless advocacy.

“His contribution to wider Australian life was simply incredible in the way he put himself at the forefront, despite the challenge of his own MND diagnosis, to raise awareness of the disease, champion fundraising efforts and search for a cure that he knew would likely not help him, but may help many thousands of other Australians in the future,” Dillon said.

Melbourne Football Club President Steven Smith echoed that sentiment, noting that Daniher’s courage extended far beyond the boundaries of the football pitch. “It is impossible to encapsulate in words the impact of Neale Daniher. His courage transcended the football field, and his determination inspired an entire country,” Smith said. “Neale was not driven by personal motivation, he was driven by helping others, right until the very end. He was a true leader and the definition of what it means to be selfless.”

Prime Minister Albanese joined tributes, calling Daniher one of Australia’s greatest modern figures. “The devastating impacts of MND stole so much from Neale, but he held onto everything that people loved and admired about him: his selflessness, his bravery, his humour, his ability to look on the bright side and his fierce determination to make a difference for others,” Albanese said. “Neale Daniher’s remarkable legacy lives all around us.”

Daniher’s death comes just days after 30-year-old NRL star Jai Arrow revealed his own MND diagnosis and immediate retirement from professional sport, a revelation that cast renewed national attention on the condition.

The Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, a leading Australian medical research institution that has received $17.5 million in funding from FightMND, called Daniher an extraordinary force for the global fight against MND. “Through his powerful advocacy work, Neale helped to raise millions of dollars for researchers in Australia and around the world working to find a cure for MND,” the institute said in a statement.

Executive Director Professor Peter van Wijngaarden noted that Daniher turned a personal battle into a global movement that continues to accelerate research. “Even in his own battle with MND, Neale was fighting for everyone who would come after him,” van Wijngaarden said. “We will forever be grateful to him and FightMND for putting this disease in the spotlight, inspiring so many and supporting vital research at The Florey and across the globe.”

The first edition of the highly divisive Enhanced Games, an event that openly permits competitors to use performance-enhancing drugs banned by every major international sports governing body, wrapped up in Las Vegas on Sunday with just one unofficial world record broken, falling far short of organizers’ bold predictions of multiple record-breaking performances.

Greek swimmer Kristian Gkolomeev delivered the sole standout result of the night, clocking 20.81 seconds in the men’s 50-meter freestyle to beat the existing official world mark of 20.88 seconds set by Australia’s Cameron McEvoy earlier this year. Competing in a synthetic full-body supersuit banned from Olympic and other mainstream sporting events for decades, Gkolomeev’s achievement will never be formally recognized by global athletics regulators, but it earned him a $1 million bonus from event organizers. “It was a great race… I got it,” Gkolomeev said after the win. “I’m going to continue. Maybe next year I’ll break it again.”

Organizers had built hype around the event by promising that the open use of sophisticated doping regimens would lead to dozens of new records across swimming, sprinting, and weightlifting. Gkolomeev’s last-minute win spared the event from a total record drought, though most athletes came within fractions of a second or kilograms of existing marks without surpassing them. Earlier in the competition, Gkolomeev had also come close to breaking Pan Zhanle’s 100m freestyle world record of 46.40 seconds, finishing with a time of 46.60 and saying he was frustrated to fall just short.

Other high-profile competitors also narrowly missed record targets. Britain’s Ben Proud, a 2024 Paris Olympics silver medallist who admitted to using multiple performance-enhancing substances, won the men’s 50m butterfly in 22.32 seconds — just 0.05 seconds off the world record. “We all know what we came for. And that’s world records. And so to be that agonizingly close, it’s frustrating,” Proud said.

In a surprising turn of events that defied the event’s core premise, several clean, unenhanced athletes claimed event titles against doped competitors. American swimmer Hunter Armstrong took gold in the opening swimming event, the men’s 50m backstroke, with a time of 24.21 seconds to beat two rivals who used performance-enhancing drugs. Former 100m world champion Fred Kerley, currently serving a suspension for missed drug tests, also won the men’s 100m sprint clean with a time of 9.97 seconds, joking of his doped rivals: “Man, they got to do better than that. They need to train a little harder. Get on that shit a little bit more.” Barbados sprinter Tristan Evelyn also won the women’s 100m sprint clean, finishing in 11.25 seconds. US Olympic medallist Cody Miller, another clean competitor, rolled back the years to win the men’s 50m breaststroke, cutting seven-tenths of a second off his own personal best at age 34, though he did not come close to challenging Adam Peaty’s world record.

The pattern of near-misses extended to the weightlifting platform, where multiple athletes failed to hit the record lifts they had achieved in training. Dominican Republic weightlifter Beatriz Piron, who reportedly hit a world record lift in training, narrowly failed to complete a 100kg snatch to open the competition. Canadian Boady Santavy and American Wesley Kitts also fell short of their target record snatch lifts of 183kg and 197kg respectively, even after organizers bent competition rules to grant each an extra fourth attempt. “I hit a lot of PRs in training. Not 197 yet… Man, if I had about four more weeks (in training) I’d say I’d have had a good shot at it,” Kitts said. Even Hafthor Bjornsson, the former World’s Strongest Man best known for playing The Mountain on *Game of Thrones*, failed to break his own existing 510kg deadlift world record.

Backed by high-profile investors including billionaire tech entrepreneur Peter Thiel and former U.S. President Donald Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr., the Enhanced Games was held at a custom-built temporary arena on the parking lot of a Las Vegas casino, with large cash prizes — up to $1 million for a world record and $250,000 for an event win — luring a field that included multiple current and former Olympic medallists.

The event has faced widespread condemnation from global sports governing bodies, who refuse to recognize any records set at the competition and have called it a dangerous experiment that normalizes harmful doping. Public health experts have also raised urgent alarms, warning that the open use of banned substances such as testosterone and anabolic steroids carries major long-term risks, including life-shortening heart, liver, and kidney damage, with little research available on the full health impacts of the regimens athletes are using. Enhanced Games officials have pushed back against these criticisms, noting that all substances used by athletes are approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and the event’s parent company already sells many of these substances directly to the general public.