Global Pulse

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  • Korir defends Boston Marathon title with course record

    Korir defends Boston Marathon title with course record

    The 130th edition of the Boston Marathon delivered historic drama and unforgettable performances on Monday, as Kenya’s long-distance running elite once again dominated the world-famous race, with John Korir breaking a 14-year course record to claim his second consecutive men’s title and compatriot Sharon Lokedi holding off challengers to defend her women’s crown.

    Korir, 29, delivered a masterclass in pacing and endurance to cross the finish line in 2 hours 1 minute 52 seconds, an astonishing 1 minute 10 seconds improvement on the previous Boston course mark set by fellow Kenyan Geoffrey Mutai back in 2011. This stunning result already ranks as the fifth fastest marathon time ever recorded globally, capping a remarkable winning streak for the athlete that includes victories at the 2024 Chicago Marathon and the December 2024 Valencia Marathon.

    For Korir, the triumph was even sweeter after a chaotic 2024 race, where he fell early in the route before battling back to claim victory. This year, he faced no such disruptions. “This year was a breeze for me because I had no problems at the start or at the finish,” he told reporters after the race. “It felt like a race back home with all the people cheering. It was in my mind to set the course record and I thank God that he fulfilled my wishes.”

    On the women’s side, Lokedi matched Korir’s back-to-back feat, finishing with a time of 2 hours 18 minutes 51 seconds. While she fell short of breaking her own 2024 Boston course record of 2:17:22, the 2022 New York Marathon champion held off a tight challenge from fellow Kenyan Loice Chemnung, crossing the finish line 44 seconds ahead of her second-place compatriot.

    Lokedi credited mental grit and a sweet moment with a young spectator for carrying her to the finish line. “I just kept telling myself ‘Be patient, be humble, you can do this’,” she said. “And then I saw a little girl who said ‘You got this, ladies!’ And it was so cute, and that was what I needed.”

    The race also made headlines for a remarkable display of athleticism from British runner Calli Hauger-Thackery, who completed the full 26.2-mile course at 22 weeks pregnant, finishing in 2:43:58. This is not the first high-profile marathon finish for the 33-year-old during pregnancy: she won the Honolulu Marathon four weeks into her current pregnancy, followed by a win at the Houston Marathon just one month later.

  • Tour de France Femmes UK stage routes revealed

    Tour de France Femmes UK stage routes revealed

    For the first time in history, the women’s edition of the Tour de France will bring its world-class racing to British roads, with organisers pulling back the curtain on the full route details for the event’s opening three stages of the 2027 race.

    This historic occasion marks a milestone for global cycling: 2027 will be the first time that both the men’s and women’s Grand Departs (opening stages) of the Tour de France are hosted outside France in the same nation, building on the UK’s long history of welcoming the world’s most prestigious cycling race. The men’s race has previously held its opening stages in Britain four times, most recently in 2014 when an estimated 4.8 million fans lined the roads to cheer on riders.

    The three newly revealed stages for the 2027 Tour de France Femmes Avec Swift bring a mix of sprint opportunities, high-altitude drama, and a groundbreaking first for the women’s event. The opening 85.7km stage will kick off in Leeds and finish with a likely sprint finish in Manchester, setting the tone for a race that will push even the most elite riders to their limits. The most anticipated test comes in the second stage: a gruelling 154km route from Manchester to Sheffield that packs nearly 3,000 metres of climbing, including the iconic Winnats Pass in the Peak District. Race organiser ASO calls this leg “one of the hardest Grand Depart stages we’ve ever seen before”, a description echoed by rising British cycling star Cat Ferguson. The third and final opening stage will be an approximately 18km team time trial finishing at London’s Mall, a first for any edition of the women’s Tour de France; full route details for the time trial are set to be announced this coming October.

    For Ferguson, a 19-year-old rider with Movistar who was born in the Yorkshire town of Skipton, the opportunity to race on home roads feels like a full-circle moment. As a young child, she watched the 2014 men’s Grand Depart in Yorkshire from the side of local roads, and now she is gearing up to compete in the 2027 edition. “I trained on those roads and I know they’re going to be super brutal stages. Stage two in particular – always up and down. It’s really going to be one [stage] that can change the Tour. The GC [general classification] leaders can lose a lot,” Ferguson explained.

    The 2027 event will see the opening three stages of both the men’s and women’s races held across the UK, with the men’s race kicking off on 2 July and the women’s race starting on 30 July. Men’s route details for stages starting in Edinburgh, Keswick and Welshpool were first unveiled back in January 2026. UK government’s Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) has billed the combined event as “the most accessible major sporting spectacle ever held in Britain”: organisers estimate the combined Grand Departs will pass within an hour’s drive of 60% of the UK population, with free public access to spectating along more than 900km of public roads.

    Tour de France Femmes race director Marion Rousse highlighted the broader significance of the UK hosting the women’s race, saying: “The United Kingdom has already shown its passion for the Tour, and these stages will once again showcase the energy of the crowds, the beauty of the landscapes and the growing importance of women’s cycling on the world stage.” The official route announcement included a focus on growing grassroots participation, with seven young girls joining race leaders and professional riders as part of the JOY programme, an initiative designed to reduce physical inactivity and improve mental wellbeing among girls in the UK.

    The 2027 event comes as the UK is poised to reap the benefits of a previous golden age of British cycling sparked by the 2014 Tour Grand Depart. After British riders Bradley Wiggins claimed the 2012 Tour title and Chris Froome won in 2013, the 2014 event cemented the UK’s status as a global cycling powerhouse. Today, that legacy has grown: the UCI World Tour now counts a combined record 49 British male and female riders, with many ranked among the top contenders to win the sport’s biggest events. The combined six stages of the men’s and women’s races in 2027 draw a global audience of over one billion viewing hours across 190 countries, making it an unprecedented moment for UK cycling.

    Even with this momentum, the event faces notable challenges. British Cycling, the national governing body for the sport, has seen declining membership numbers in recent years, and only stepped in to rescue the men’s and women’s Tours of Britain from collapse in 2024. Hosting major pro cycling races on closed public roads in the UK is far more expensive than it is on the European continent, driven largely by exorbitant policing costs for high-speed events that require a full race cavalcade of 40 cars and dozens of motorbikes. While no official cost figures have been released, unofficial estimates place the total cost of hosting all six 2027 stages at over £50 million, with the majority of funding coming from central government and local councils.

  • Victory slips away as marathon runner celebrates too soon

    Victory slips away as marathon runner celebrates too soon

    The Delaware Marathon delivered one of the most dramatic and heartbreaking final moments in recent road racing history on Sunday, when a premature celebration turned a sure victory into a stunning upset. With only a few hundred meters remaining in the 42.195-kilometer race, the front-running runner had built a comfortable gap over his closest competitor, appearing poised to cross the finish line first and claim the top prize. In a moment that will be replayed in running highlight reels for years to come, the leader began slowing down early, raising his arms in celebration to acknowledge the cheering crowds lining the race course before he had actually crossed the official finish mat. Seizing the unexpected opportunity, the trailing runner, who had never given up the chase, dug deep for a final, all-out sprint. Closing the gap in mere seconds, the chaser surged past the stunned leader right at the finish line, crossing the tape first to steal the victory in a shocking turnaround. The shocking upset has already sparked widespread discussion among running communities about the importance of staying focused until the final step, serving as a cautionary tale for competitors at all levels of endurance sports.

  • Switzerland great Marcel Hug claims his ninth Boston Marathon wheelchair title and fourth straight

    Switzerland great Marcel Hug claims his ninth Boston Marathon wheelchair title and fourth straight

    On a crisp, sunlit Monday morning at the 130th running of the Boston Marathon, Swiss wheelchair racer Marcel Hug delivered yet another masterclass in endurance and competitive dominance, securing his ninth career title in the event and extending his consecutive winning streak to four straight victories.

    Starting temperatures hovering in the low 40s Fahrenheit created ideal racing conditions for the elite wheelchair field, and Hug wasted no time stamping his authority on the 26.2-mile course. Within just three miles of the starting gun, he had broken away from the pack, opening a 13-second gap over British veteran David Weir. By the race’s halfway mark, that advantage had ballooned to 55 seconds, leaving his closest competitors struggling to match his blistering pace.

    When he crossed the finish line, Hug’s unofficial time clocked in at 1 hour, 16 minutes and 6 seconds — a result that cements his standing as one of the most decorated athletes in Boston Marathon history. With nine titles to his name, he now sits alone in second place on the all-time men’s wheelchair leaderboard, trailing only South African icon Ernst van Dyk, who set the current record of 10 titles over a 13-year stretch between 2001 and 2014.

    American top contender Daniel Romanchuk crossed second with a time of 1:22:44, while Jetze Plat of the Netherlands rounded out the top three with a finish time of 1:24:13. In the women’s wheelchair division, Britain’s Eden Rainbow-Cooper claimed the top spot on the podium.

    Hug’s historic win in Boston extends an extraordinary run of form for the Swiss athlete that dates back to his 2022 victory at the Berlin Marathon. Across seven World Marathon Major events since that win, Hug has finished outside the top spot just once: he took second place at the 2024 New York City Marathon earlier this year, a rare blemish on an otherwise perfect stretch of elite competition.

  • Billion-dollar attack: France boasts a rich scoring depth other World Cup teams only dream of

    Billion-dollar attack: France boasts a rich scoring depth other World Cup teams only dream of

    As the upcoming FIFA World Cup approaches, the French men’s national team is entering the global tournament with one of the most stacked and valuable attacking groups in modern soccer history. Two independent leading football valuation bodies, Transfermarkt and the CIES Football Observatory, have calculated that the combined market value of France’s 10 forward candidates for Deschamps’ squad totals 855 million euros, equal to just over $1 billion. That staggering figure has put Les Bleus in a rare position: head coach Didier Deschamps does not face a crisis of who to select for his roster — he faces the far more pleasant challenge of which world-class talent to cut from his starting 11 for their opening group stage match against Senegal on June 16.

    Leading this extraordinary cohort of attackers is 27-year-old Kylian Mbappé, the two-time World Cup final top scorer and Real Madrid superstar, whose individual market value tops the group at 200 million euros ($236 million). Currently in another dominant club season, Mbappé is just one goal away from equaling Olivier Giroud’s record of 56 career goals for France, which would make him the nation’s all-time leading international scorer. His proven big-game pedigree and consistent prolific finishing make him the undisputed anchor of France’s attacking threat.

    Behind Mbappé, a mix of established stars and exciting emerging talent gives Deschamps endless tactical options. Bayern Munich’s Michael Olise ranks second in squad value at 140 million euros, coming off a scintillating season for the Bundesliga champions that has seen him net 18 goals and register 25 assists across 44 competitions. Paris Saint-Germain’s rising 20-year-old Désiré Doué comes in third at 115 million euros, outvaluing 28-year-old Ballon d’Or winner Ousmane Dembélé, who is valued at 100 million euros and brings blistering pace and clinical finishing to any attacking line. Bradley Barcola, Doué’s in-form PSG teammate who impressed against Chelsea in this season’s Champions League, is valued at 70 million euros, followed by 21-year-old playmaker Rayan Cherki at 65 million euros.

    Cherki, who first made headlines as a 16-year-old scoring a brace in a French Cup fixture for Lyon, has seen his stock skyrocket after a mid-season transfer to Manchester City for an initial 36 million euros, a fee that already looks like a major bargain. He turned heads again with a superb solo goal in a top-of-the-table Premier League clash against Arsenal, and his instinctive, creative playmaking has drawn praise even from City manager Pep Guardiola, who worked alongside legends of passing like Lionel Messi and Andres Iniesta during his time at Barcelona. A strong World Cup performance could send Cherki’s market value soaring even higher.

    The list of talented options continues with 25-year-old Maghnes Akliouche, who scored in both legs of Monaco’s tight Champions League playoff against PSG and whose galloping runs from deep are notoriously difficult for defenders to track. His 50 million euro valuation matches that of Inter Milan’s Marcus Thuram, who has hit top form as Inter closes in on the Serie A title, adding strong aerial ability to France’s attacking diversity. That same physical, aerial threat is offered by Crystal Palace’s Jean-Philippe Mateta, a consistent Premier League goalscorer who has two strikes in three appearances for Les Bleus and is valued at 35 million euros, with a move to a top European club expected this summer.

    Rounding out the group is Randal Kolo Muani, who is currently on loan at Tottenham Hotspur from PSG. Although he has struggled for form in North London this season, the forward still holds a 30 million euro valuation, and he remains a familiar name to World Cup viewers after coming seconds away from writing his name into tournament history: in the 2022 World Cup final against Argentina, he missed a point-blank chance in the final moments of extra time, before France lost the title on penalties despite a Mbappé hat-trick.

    For French soccer fans and neutrals alike, the sheer quality and depth of this $1 billion attacking group makes Les Bleus one of the most exciting teams to watch ahead of the tournament, with Deschamps holding all the cards as he prepares to build his starting lineup around the world’s most valuable forward line.

  • Police fire rubber bullets as Paraguay derby abandoned

    Police fire rubber bullets as Paraguay derby abandoned

    On a Sunday matchday in Asuncion, Paraguay’s most anticipated domestic football fixture — the capital city Superclasico between league giants Olimpia and Cerro Porteno — collapsed into chaos, forcing officials to call off the game just 29 minutes after kickoff following widespread violent clashes between supporters and law enforcement. The match between the top two clubs in Paraguay’s Division de Honor carried high stakes: six points separated first-place Olimpia from defending 2025 Torneo Clausura champions Cerro Porteno, making the result critical to the season’s title race. When the violence broke out, hundreds of panicked spectators fled the stands and surged onto the playing pitch to escape the unrest, as police responded to the disorder by firing rubber bullets and tear gas into crowd sections.
    Witnesses on site confirmed the unrest began when unidentified individuals set off multiple firecrackers in the stands reserved exclusively for Cerro Porteno supporters. The disturbance quickly escalated into full-scale confrontation between fans and security forces: one local witness told reporters a supporter managed to seize a police riot shield and paraded it through the stands as a trophy, intensifying the chaotic atmosphere.
    By the time order was partially restored, local law enforcement had detained approximately 100 fans connected to the violence. While there has been no official confirmation of injuries among supporters, at least six police officers were hospitalized with a range of serious wounds. David Torales, a spokesperson for a local Asuncion hospital, confirmed the officers suffered multiple injuries including head trauma, lacerations, and suspected stab wounds, with one officer remaining in critical condition.
    In an official statement following the clashes, Paraguayan police emphasized that officers intervened rapidly to protect all spectators in attendance. “Our priority was to contain the violence as quickly as possible to prevent further harm to civilians and staff,” the statement read, adding that authorities are currently working to identify and prosecute the individuals who instigated the unrest, with plans to push for permanent bans from future sporting events for those found responsible.
    The match was tied 0-0 at the time of abandonment, and the outcome of the fixture will now be determined by the Paraguayan Football Association (APF) disciplinary tribunal, under existing league rules. APF regulations clearly state that if a match is forced to be suspended due to unrest caused by one team’s supporters, that team forfeits the match and the opposing side is awarded three points. However, the two club presidents have already taken opposing stances in the lead-up to the tribunal ruling.
    Olimpia president Rodrigo Nogues confirmed his club will formally file a request to be awarded the full three points from the abandoned fixture. In contrast, Cerro Porteno president Blas Reguera has pushed back against any potential forfeiture, arguing that as the host club for the match, Olimpia bore full legal and operational responsibility for stadium security, shifting blame for the unrest away from his side’s supporters.
    The incident has sparked renewed debate around fan violence and stadium security protocols in Paraguayan top-flight football, with authorities promising a full review of safety measures ahead of future high-profile derby matches.

  • Nahid Rana takes five wickets as Bangladesh beats New Zealand to level ODI series

    Nahid Rana takes five wickets as Bangladesh beats New Zealand to level ODI series

    On a sluggish, low-bouncing pitch in Mirpur, Bangladesh, young pace bowler Nahid Rana delivered a career-defining performance on Monday, claiming a spectacular 5 wickets for just 32 runs to power the hosts to a six-wicket victory over New Zealand in the second One Day International. The result levels the three-match series at one win apiece, setting up a highly anticipated decider scheduled for Thursday in Chattogram.

    New Zealand captain Tom Latham won the toss and made the call to bat first, a decision that quickly came under pressure as Nahid’s blistering express pace – clocked at a maximum of 144.7 kilometers per hour – tore through the visitors’ top order on the slow playing surface. The 22-year-old seamer notched his first breakthrough early, dismissing Henry Nicholls, and followed up with a second wicket in consecutive overs to remove Will Young. By the middle of the innings, New Zealand’s batting lineup was in disarray, with only opening batter Nick Kelly able to withstand Bangladesh’s bowling attack.

    Kelly, playing in just his third ODI, notched a maiden half-century and went on to score an 83 off 102 balls, laced with 14 fours, to anchor New Zealand’s innings and drag the side to the brink of a 200-run total. But he received almost no meaningful support from the rest of the batting order: no other New Zealand batter managed to cross the 20-run mark, leaving the tail exposed to Bangladesh’s pace attack. Nahid continued his rampage through the middle and lower order, clean-bowling Jayden Lennox for a duck to secure his second five-wicket haul in his short international career. He came close to a sixth wicket when Will O’Rourke survived a close review, but Taskin Ahmed cleaned up the innings soon after, leaving New Zealand all out for 198 in 48.4 overs. Fellow Bangladeshi pacer Shoriful Islam chipped in with two key wickets – including Kelly, removed by a well-directed short delivery – to finish with figures of 2 for 32.

    Needing just 199 runs to level the series, Bangladesh got off to a rocky start that gave New Zealand a faint glimmer of hope. Pacers Nathan Smith and Will O’Rourke removed openers Saif Hasan and Soumya Sarkar (returning to the side in place of Afif Hossain) for single-digit scores, leaving the hosts reeling at 21 for 2 after just four overs. But a transformative 120-run third-wicket partnership between opener Tanzid Hasan and captain Najmul Hossain Shanto flipped the match entirely in Bangladesh’s favor.

    Tanzid played a fluent, aggressive innings, reaching 76 runs off just 58 balls, while Shanto built a patient innings to anchor the chase. Just after Shanto hit his 12th career ODI fifty – his first since February 2025 – a sudden muscle cramp forced him to retire hurt, but by that point Bangladesh held unchallenged control of the run chase. Left-arm spinner Lennox did manage two late wickets, removing Tanzid and Bangladesh wicketkeeper Litton Das (playing his 100th ODI) for 7, but it was too little too late. The hosts reached the winning target of 199 with four wickets in hand and 87 overs remaining, closing out the win and setting the stage for a series decider in Chattogram later this week.

  • AFL 2026: St Kilda CEO Andrew Bassat defends Ross Lyon’s media style

    AFL 2026: St Kilda CEO Andrew Bassat defends Ross Lyon’s media style

    A fresh controversy has erupted in Australian Football League (AFL) circles following a fiery post-match exchange between coach Ross Lyon and reporters, with St Kilda’s top executive stepping forward publicly to back the embattled coach. The drama unfolded after the Saints suffered a gut-wrenching one-point defeat to Adelaide on Saturday night, where Lyon pushed back against media questioning in a tense press conference that quickly divided opinion across the football community.

    In the tense press briefing, Lyon stood by his claim that the St Kilda side had shown clear improvement despite underwhelming early season results that leave the club with a 2-5 win-loss record halfway through the opening round of fixtures. The coach went as far as pressing reporters to recall the final ladder positions of each of the Saints’ opponents from the previous season, a standoff that sparked widespread debate across the sport.

    The criticism reached a peak when former AFL player and prominent player agent Liam Pickering called on sports journalists to boycott Lyon’s future press conferences in response to the coach’s confrontational approach. But St Kilda president Andrew Bassat has doubled down on the club’s support for Lyon, defending both the coach’s stance and his unfiltered style of media engagement in an interview with ABC Melbourne on Monday.

    “Ross is a fascinating guy, and I personally love working with him. He’s incredibly driven, hungry to win, and has that relentless edge every top coach needs,” Bassat explained. “It’s worth remembering just how unforgiving the position is: we walked away from a one-point heartbreaker, with almost no luck down the stretch, and immediately he has to stand in front of a room of reporters to answer questions.”

    Bassat acknowledged that Lyon reacts very differently depending on the quality of questioning he receives, confirming that the coach’s famous line — “ask stupid questions, win stupid prizes” — is a genuine reflection of his approach to media interactions. “He’s far more responsive when the questions are intelligent and fair, that’s no secret. I’ve been on the receiving end of that sharpness myself when I’ve asked a question he thinks misses the mark,” Bassat said. “The truth is, he’s just more honest than most coaches when he thinks a question isn’t worth answering. That’s just who he is.”

    Beyond the controversy over the press conference, Bassat also opened up about his mixed views on the AFL’s new Opening Round concept, which gave selected clubs early starts to their home-and-away season this year. St Kilda was chosen to feature in the opening round, drawing the club’s largest ever home-and-away crowd for a match against Collingwood at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. The big turnout was a win for the club, even if they walked away with a loss, but Bassat still has lingering reservations about the restructured opening to the season.

    “I’m a bit torn on the whole idea, to be honest,” Bassat admitted. “I don’t love that it creates an uneven start to the season for different clubs and messes with the structure of bye rounds later in the year. That said, if the league is going to have an Opening Round, we absolutely wanted to be part of it — we asked the AFL for a spot, and they agreed. It gave us a fantastic chance to play in front of a huge crowd, even if we didn’t get the result we wanted. If I’m being honest, I’d rather we didn’t have the concept at all, but if we’re going to have it, I’m glad we were included.”

  • ‘See what happens’: Matt Burton addresses Bulldogs future as club seeks answers following shock loss to Parramatta

    ‘See what happens’: Matt Burton addresses Bulldogs future as club seeks answers following shock loss to Parramatta

    The National Rugby League (NRL) side Canterbury Bulldogs are still searching for answers after their stunning upset defeat to the Parramatta Eels over the weekend, while star five-eighth Matt Burton has moved to shut down persistent speculation linking him to a future exit from the Belmore-based club.

    Burton, one of the Bulldogs’ most high-profile players, enters this week of competition with 12 months remaining on his current contract at Canterbury. However, industry whispers have persisted for months that a potential move to a Perth-based expansion side could materialize as early as 2026, a shift that would free up critical salary cap space for the Bulldogs to reshape their roster.

    Speaking to reporters at a public event on Monday, the left-footed playmaker declined to give further credence to the off-field rumours, emphasizing he remains fully focused on fulfilling his current commitments to Canterbury. He also reaffirmed his willingness to adapt his position for the good of the team, saying he would happily shift from the halves to left centre if the coaching staff required the adjustment.

    “Right now, my only priority is playing my best rugby for the Bulldogs, and we’ll see what the future holds down the line. I’ve left all contract discussions to my manager and the club’s leadership to work through,” Burton explained. “I don’t pay too much attention to the outside noise. I hear about the rumours from other people who follow the media, but I have a job to do here at Belmore, and that’s all that matters to me. Whatever position the team needs me to fill, I’ll give 100% effort – that’s the team-first culture we’ve built here, and I fully buy into it.”

    The Bulldogs’ backline structure is set to undergo a major shake-up this week ahead of their Friday night clash with the Brisbane Broncos, with the club set to confirm team selections on Tuesday afternoon. Skipper Stephen Crichton is widely expected to make his return from a short-term shoulder injury layoff, while starting winger Jacob Kiraz is poised to be sidelined with a knee injury.

    If Crichton is cleared for a full return, utility Bronson Xerri is expected to shift to right centre – a positional change that stirred internal tension earlier this season when Xerri was dropped from the starting side. Burton welcomed Crichton’s potential comeback, noting the leader’s impact on the team regardless of selection challenges.

    “I think he’s got a really good shot at playing this week, and it would be huge to have him back out there,” Burton said. “He’s such a massive boost for us if he’s available, but I know whoever gets called up to fill the gap will do the job required.”

    Regardless of the final team sheet, the biggest challenge for the Bulldogs this week remains addressing their frustrating inconsistency, which has seen the side deliver wildly contrasting performances over the past fortnight. In Round 6, the blue-and-whites pulled off one of the upsets of the season, ending reigning premiers Penrith Panthers’ long-running winning streak. Just seven days later, they turned in a disjointed performance to fall to a struggling Parramatta side missing multiple key starters to injury.

    Bulldogs head coach Cameron Ciraldo made his frustration clear in post-match press conference following the Eels defeat, but veteran forward Kurt Mann rejected claims that the side had grown complacent after their high-profile win over Penrith.

    “I don’t think complacency was the issue at all,” Mann said ahead of this week’s road trip to Brisbane to face an injury-depleted Broncos side. “We just made far too many unforced errors, and that put us under constant pressure playing out of our own end. We didn’t execute our game plan the way we planned to, and that hurt us.

    “When you give up field position and possession that cheaply, it’s almost impossible to stick to your game plan. It’s really disappointing – after the performance we put in against Penrith, to come out and play like we did is a letdown for all of us. We’re going to review every minute of this game, take the lessons on board, and move forward.

    “The NRL is all about consistency, you have to bring your best effort every single week. Right now, we’re up and down, and we’re still working to find that steady level of performance. We’re going to keep working on that this week, and all season long.”

  • Blues blow: Payne Haas to miss Origin opener as Broncos reveal horror injury list

    Blues blow: Payne Haas to miss Origin opener as Broncos reveal horror injury list

    Defending National Rugby League premiers the Brisbane Broncos are facing an unprecedented injury crisis following their narrow one-point victory over the Wests Tigers in Campbelltown on Saturday night, with one of the sport’s biggest stars ruled out of the upcoming State of Origin series opener.

    Prop forward Payne Haas, widely regarded as the best forward in global rugby league, was forced off the field in the first half of Saturday’s clash after suffering a knock to his knee. Early assessments from club medical staff ruled him out of the remainder of the match immediately, and follow-up scans conducted in the days after the game confirmed the worst-case scenario: a full tear of his medial collateral ligament, classified as a Grade 3 MCL sprain.

    Medical experts confirm the injury will not require surgical intervention, as the MCL has strong natural healing potential. Haas will instead wear a locked knee brace that can be adjusted to different ranges of motion to support optimal recovery, according to sports physiotherapy specialists. Current projections place his recovery timeline at 6 to 8 weeks on the sidelines, which will see him miss the opening State of Origin match between New South Wales Blues and Queensland Maroons scheduled for May 27.

    The injury is a double blow for the Blues, who already lost Manly Warringah Sea Eagles superstar Tom Trbojevic to a hamstring injury last week. Trbojevic is also expected to miss up to two months of play, leaving the interstate representative side severely depleted ahead of the annual series.

    For Brisbane, Haas’ injury is just the start of a grim medical update released by the club on Monday. The defending premiers already entered Saturday’s match with a lengthy injury and suspension list: star fullback Reece Walsh, playmaker Ben Hunt, hooker Blake Mozer, winger Grant Anderson and five-eighth Billy Walters were already sidelined with injuries, while hardworking lock Pat Carrigan is still serving a one-match suspension that will keep him out of Brisbane’s next fixture.

    The new round of injuries leaves Brisbane incredibly thin on the ground for their upcoming Friday night showdown against the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs. In addition to Haas, the club confirmed three more key players have picked up significant injuries in the Campbelltown clash. Center Kotoni Staggs was diagnosed with a plantar fascia strain, while winger Jesse Arthars suffered a tear to his interosseous membrane. Both players are currently working with Brisbane’s medical team to map out their rehabilitation and confirm potential return-to-play timelines, which have not yet been finalized.

    The most serious of the new injuries is prop Corey Jensen, who underwent scans after Saturday’s game that detected a pulmonary embolism. Jensen remains hospitalized for treatment, and while his recovery timeline is still unclear at this early stage, the club confirmed he is expected to miss at least several weeks of competition as he recovers.

    The full extent of Brisbane’s injury crisis has left the NRL community shocked, with the defending premiers facing one of their most challenging stretches in recent memory as they navigate a stacked schedule without nearly half of their starting side.