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  • Major track closures spark hours-long delays, massive queues across Brisbane

    Major track closures spark hours-long delays, massive queues across Brisbane

    Brisbane’s northern commuter corridors descended into transport chaos on Monday, when scheduled rail track upgrades combined with an extended shutdown from industrial action over the Easter holiday created widespread disruption that left thousands of passengers waiting for up to 45 minutes in snaking queues hundreds of meters long for overcrowded replacement buses.

    Photographs captured at Brisbane’s Northgate Station on Monday morning show commuter lines stretching roughly 300 meters along the station’s exterior, as travelers waited for shuttle buses to carry them into Brisbane’s central business district. Multiple passengers reported wait times close to 45 minutes before a replacement bus even arrived, with many describing a total breakdown in trip timing that upended regular work and personal travel schedules.

    Joanne McCarthy, one local commuter caught up in the chaos, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that her typical one-hour daily commute swelled to more than two hours on Monday. She added that there was little to no on-site information for passengers about service adjustments, and even alternative ride-hailing options were impossible to access due to the massive backlog of people at the station. “There were no buses there waiting for us,” McCarthy said. “We had no communication whatsoever about what was happening. I was thinking about jumping in an Uber, but you couldn’t even get to the front of the line to get down the stairs to get an Uber.”

    The disruptions are the result of a month-long program of infrastructure upgrades to southeast Queensland’s aging rail network, which TransLink, Queensland’s public transport authority, announced would require major track closures across Brisbane throughout April. The agency initially scheduled bus replacement services for four key stations – Northgate, Bowen Hills, Varsity Lakes and Boggo Road – through Wednesday, but industrial action over the Easter weekend forced Queensland Rail to extend full network track closures through April 30.

    To meet the surge in demand for replacement services, Queensland’s transport department contracted private operator Thomson Coachlines to add extra capacity. The firm pulled in additional buses and drivers from as far as Melbourne, as well as regional Queensland centers including Goondiwindi, Gympie and the nearby Sunshine Coast to reinforce existing shuttle routes.

    In a public statement addressing the extended shutdown, Queensland Rail Chief Executive Kat Stapleton confirmed that rail replacement buses would continue operating at the highest possible frequency alongside regular local bus services to keep passengers moving through the end of the month. “Due to the extension of the closure, rail replacement buses will need to be allocated across multiple closure areas, so some services may run at a reduced frequency,” Stapleton explained. A TransLink spokesperson had earlier advised passengers to reevaluate their travel plans, book trips in advance where possible, and budget for significantly longer travel times throughout the upgrade period.

    The extended disruptions have underscored the strain that critical infrastructure upgrades place on urban commuters in Queensland’s capital, with officials continuing to urge flexibility as work progresses to modernize the region’s rail network for long-term improved service.

  • ‘Most beautiful secret’: Tennis star Bernard Tomic and girlfriend Keely Hannah reveal birth of first child

    ‘Most beautiful secret’: Tennis star Bernard Tomic and girlfriend Keely Hannah reveal birth of first child

    Australian professional tennis player Bernard Tomic, long known for his turbulent on and off-court reputation, has sent shockwaves through his fanbase with a sudden, unexpected announcement: he and long-term partner Keely Hannah have welcomed their first child together, a baby girl named Astara Aurelia Tomic.

    The newborn arrived on Easter Sunday, April 5, 2026, but the couple managed to keep the entire pregnancy and birth completely hidden from the public eye, maintaining a complete radio silence across their social media channels in the months leading up to the reveal. Hannah, Tomic’s partner since 2022, broke the quiet on Sunday, sharing a carousel of tender photos of baby Astara to her Instagram account alongside the caption: “The most beautiful secret we’ve ever kept.”

    A closer look at Hannah’s social media history confirms how successfully the couple concealed their exciting news: she has not shared any public posts to her account since July of the previous year, letting followers remain completely unaware of her pregnancy.

    The surprise arrival marks a new chapter for Tomic, a player who has long been no stranger to off-court controversy alongside his on-court pursuits. The former world No. 17 has weathered public scrutiny of his relationship with Hannah before: during a 2024 ATP Challenger tournament, Tomic made headlines when he retired mid-match after a heated public argument with Hannah that was caught on live tournament broadcast.

    Today, Tomic continues his comeback push on the ATP Challenger Tour, currently holding the world No. 191 ranking as he fights to climb back into the men’s top 100 and earn a return to the upper echelons of professional tennis.

  • ‘You should be a coach’: Jake Trbojevic set to play for Manly after gruesome eye injury, with his future role starting to take shape

    ‘You should be a coach’: Jake Trbojevic set to play for Manly after gruesome eye injury, with his future role starting to take shape

    The Manly Sea Eagles are heading into Thursday’s away clash against the North Queensland Cowboys in Townsville with renewed momentum, as the club’s stunning recent form has drawn comparisons to their memorable 2021 comeback season. At the center of pre-match speculation is veteran forward Jake Trbojevic, who is on track to be named in the matchday squad despite sustaining a grueling eye injury during last weekend’s victory over the St. George Illawarra Dragons.

    Trbojevic was forced to exit the Dragons win early after a hard tackle left him with a deep cut below his right eye, which swelled so severely that the eye closed completely completely. While initial medical checks ruled out any concussion — a key concern given Trbojevic’s history of head impacts — he was unable to rejoin the game due to impaired vision. Posts from rugby league medical observers on social media shortly after the incident raised questions about a possible eye socket fracture, leaving Sea Eagles fans waiting anxiously for updates on his condition.

    The star forward skipped all contact drills at Monday’s training session at the NSWRL Centre of Excellence in Sydney’s Olympic Park, but his presence on the training ground remained critical. Trbojevic stayed on the field to lead warm-ups, walk through tactical drills, and direct younger teammates, signaling his preparation to suit up for the Townsville match. When asked about his availability, Trbojevic confirmed to teammates he intends to play, a commitment his front row partner Taniela Paseka says he fully trusts.

    “He’s told me he’s in, so I’m going to go off that because whatever he says usually happens,” Paseka told NewsWire. “It’s going to be very important to have him in our team this week against a big, physical forward pack like the Cowboys.”

    Beyond his on-field contributions, Paseka says Trbojevic’s natural leadership and tactical eye suggest a successful second career as a coach once he retires from playing. “I reckon he’ll definitely be a coach, and I keep telling him that. I think he’s very good at explaining the game, so I told him ‘Mate, you should be a coach.’ Maybe not a head coach straight away because it’s too big of a job, but he would be an excellent forwards coach focusing on one area of the game. He’s actually thinking about it, and he’s admitted the idea appeals to him.”

    Trbojevic’s expected return is just the latest bright spot for a Sea Eagles side that has undergone a dramatic transformation since a disastrous 0-3 start to the 2026 season. That poor opening stretch cost head coach Anthony Seibold his job, with former Manly playmaker Kieran Foran stepping into the interim head coach role. The shift has already delivered staggering results: Manly has put up 80 points across Foran’s first two games in charge, a far cry from the lackluster performance that saw them booed off their home ground by angry fans in round four.

    Paseka attributes the sudden turnaround to growing on-field cohesion after the squad’s major mid-season shakeup. “It took a while for us to get it right with the chemistry and the combinations,” he explained. “Now that we’ve played a few games together, we’ve figured out what’s working for us and what isn’t. We doubled down on the strategies that fit this group, and that’s paid off over the last two weeks. We’re just building on that week after week.”

    Even with two straight wins under their belt, Paseka says the squad is remaining grounded, taking each match as it comes rather than getting ahead of themselves. “I think the sky’s the limit for this group. As more key players come back from injury, we’ll only get stronger. We’re just trying every week to be present, take it week by week and not look too far ahead. We’re winning at the moment, but we’re still very grounded, if that makes sense, because you don’t want to get ahead of yourself.”

    For long-time Sea Eagles supporters, the current run of form is already bringing back echoes of 2021, a season that saw Manly start with four straight losses before storming through the back half of the year to reach the NRL preliminary final. That turnaround was fueled by superstar fullback Tom Trbojevic – Jake’s brother – who missed the opening of that season before producing one of the most dominant attacking individual campaigns in modern NRL history. Today, Tom “Turbo” Trbojevic is back in top form heading into Thursday’s trip to north Queensland, a parallel Paseka doesn’t deny.

    “I do see similarities to 2021. But like I said, I don’t want to look too far ahead because you’ve got to be present,” Paseka said. “But for sure, that was a great year for us and for Turbo as well. Right now, Turbo’s playing great footy, and that’s a huge boost for all of us.”

  • Mass resignations in Victorian government, as three Ministers quit

    Mass resignations in Victorian government, as three Ministers quit

    Seven months out from Victoria’s November 2026 state election, the state’s ruling Labor government has been hit by a wave of high-profile departures, with three senior cabinet ministers handing in immediate resignations on Monday. The sudden exits come on the heels of former Government Services Minister Natalie Hutchins’ resignation from the frontbench in December, opening up four vacant cabinet positions that the Labor caucus will vote to fill during a scheduled meeting on Tuesday. Premier Jacinta Allan is expected to formalize a full cabinet reshuffle as soon as this week. The departing ministers are Finance Minister Danny Pearson, Health Minister Mary-Anne Thomas, and Skills and TAFE Minister Gayle Tierney. All three will complete their current parliamentary terms as backbenchers before the election goes to poll in November. The mass resignation echoes a similar shakeup ahead of the 2022 Victorian state election, when four senior ministers, including the deputy premier, stepped down from Daniel Andrews’ government just five months before voting day. Each departing minister offered personal reasons for their exit, while reflecting on decades of combined public service. Ms Thomas, a lower house Labor leader and close political ally of Premier Allan, who stepped into the health portfolio mid-way through the global COVID-19 pandemic, cited a desire to step back from seven-day workweeks to spend more time with family, including her 91-year-old mother, and attend St Kilda AFL matches. First elected to parliament alongside Mr Pearson in 2014, Ms Thomas said it had been the greatest honor of her life to serve in both the Andrews and Allan Labor governments. She highlighted landmark women’s health reforms as a signature achievement, noting that abortion rights would always remain protected under Labor governments, adding that “women’s rights are under attack from conservative political forces around the world.” Mr Pearson, who has represented the seat of Essendon since 2014 and entered cabinet in 2020, told reporters he entered parliament in 2014 knowing he would not spend his entire working life in politics, and said he had not yet settled on his next career move. An emotional Pearson teared up during Monday’s press conference, saying he was proud of his work delivering major WorkCover reforms, overhauling the state’s digital public services, and implementing Victoria’s groundbreaking ban on engineered stone, a policy expected to prevent hundreds of future cases of life-threatening silicosis. He lightened the mood with characteristic wit, joking that he and Ms Thomas would occupy the “Nosebleed Section” of the backbench, in a nod to Australian hip-hop group Hilltop Hoods, and quipped “We might be volunteers. I can tell you now our families are conscripts.” Reflecting on his tenure, he added, “I feel an enormous sense of gratitude to have played a bar of music in the great Labor concerto of government.” For Ms Tierney, the departure marks the end of 36 years in elected public office, and nearly two decades in the Victorian state parliament. “For me it is simply time to pass the baton,” she said. Premier Allan paid tribute to the three departing ministers, emphasizing their lasting legacy for Victorian communities. “All three have worked tirelessly, and I thank them for the service. These are friends and colleagues who have served the parliament and the Victorian community for a period of time, and it is now their time to say farewell to their life of public service,” Allan told reporters on Monday. In an official statement, she expanded on her praise, noting each minister had left an indelible mark on the state. She highlighted that Pearson’s engineered stone ban would save lives, that Thomas had steered the public health system through the most challenging public health crisis in a century while always supporting frontline health workers, and that Tierney had spent her decades in office fighting for working-class Victorians. Allan struck an optimistic tone about the upcoming reshuffle, expressing confidence that the vacant posts would be filled by new candidates with fresh ideas. She touted the Labor Party’s internal unity, contrasting it with what she framed as an extreme, divided opposition focused only on austerity cuts. “My Labor team has a unity of purpose that is guided by our values. We can renew and refresh because of this. Unlike our opponents who are extreme, divided and have one solution – to cut,” Allan said. The announcement also included word that Steve McGhie will step down from his role as cabinet secretary, a position he has held since 2022, and Allan thanked him for his service. The opposition has seized on the mass resignations to attack the Allan government, with Opposition Leader Jess Wilson dismissing the upcoming reshuffle as nothing more than rearranging deckchairs on a sinking ship. “What we see in terms of the Premier’s reshuffle in the coming days doesn’t change the fact this is a tired government,” Wilson said. “To shuffle the deckchairs is going to do nothing to actually change the direction of this state. These are the same people who have sat around the cabinet table, who have been part of the Labor Party for a decade. They have overseen the decline of Victoria. The only way to get a fresh start here in Victoria is to change the government this year.” According to preliminary reports from the *Herald Sun*, four sitting Labor MPs have been identified as top candidates for promotion to the vacant frontbench posts. Former Rail, Tram and Bus Union state secretary Luba Grigorovitch, a member of the party’s Right faction, is widely expected to claim one spot. Three remaining spots reserved for members of Labor’s Left faction will be contested by MPs Paul Edbrooke, Tim Richardson, Michaela Settle, and Paul Hamer.

  • Trump says ‘not a big fan’ of Pope Leo after his anti-war message

    Trump says ‘not a big fan’ of Pope Leo after his anti-war message

    A public rift between U.S. President Donald Trump and the newly seated Pope Leo XIV has burst into the open, after Trump publicly declared he is “not a big fan” of the Catholic leader over the pontiff’s repeated anti-war messaging and stance on Iran’s nuclear program. The sharp rebuke comes amid already simmering disagreements between the Holy See and the Trump administration on a range of policy issues, despite both sides moving quickly to dismiss earlier reports of a hostile behind-the-scenes confrontation.

    Trump made his critical remarks to reporters during a press gaggle at Maryland’s Joint Base Andrews on Sunday. The president framed the pope as an overly progressive figure whose policy priorities do not align with global security needs, saying, “He’s a very liberal person, and he’s a man that doesn’t believe in stopping crime.” He went further to accuse Pope Leo of softening his stance on nations pursuing nuclear capabilities, claiming the pontiff was “toeing with a country that wants a nuclear weapon.”

    Shortly after his in-person comments, Trump doubled down on the criticism in a post to his social media platform Truth Social, writing, “I don’t want a Pope who think it’s OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon.”

    The clash follows a series of public disagreements that stretch back weeks. The 70-year-old American pontiff, who made history as the first U.S.-born leader of the Catholic Church, used a public address to thousands of worshippers at St. Peter’s Basilica on Saturday to deliver a ringing plea for global peace. In an unflinching rebuke of modern conflict and power politics, he told the crowd: “Enough of the idolatry of self and money! Enough of the display of power! Enough of war!”

    The confrontation escalated earlier that same week, after the Free Press published a report claiming that a top Pentagon official had delivered a “bitter dressing-down” to the Vatican’s envoy to the U.S., Cardinal Christophe Pierre, during a January meeting at the Pentagon. According to the report, U.S. Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Elbridge Colby told the cardinal that the United States “has the military power to do whatever it wants — and that the Church had better take its side.”

    Both U.S. and Vatican officials quickly moved to discredit the account. The Pentagon dismissed the report as “distorted,” while Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni issued a formal statement saying “the account presented by certain media outlets regarding this meeting does not correspond to the truth in any way.” Both sides have also maintained that the January meeting was cordial and productive.

    Even so, open disagreements between the Holy See and the White House have been on full display for months. The pope has publicly denounced the Trump administration’s hardline mass deportation policy as “inhuman,” and he has repeatedly criticized the administration’s willingness to use military force in global hotspots including the Middle East and Venezuela. Tensions flared most recently after Trump made what was widely labeled a genocidal threat against Iran earlier this month, telling the public “A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again.” Pope Leo swiftly condemned the comment as “truly unacceptable” and called on all parties to return to diplomatic negotiations.

    Earlier this month, the pope did welcome a temporary ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran as a “sign of real hope,” but high-stakes peace talks wrapped up abruptly in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad on Saturday. After a marathon negotiating session, U.S. Vice President JD Vance told reporters that Washington had put forward its “final and best offer” to Iran, leaving the future of diplomatic negotiations uncertain.

  • House prices in two major cities to surge by over $50,000 this year, say Canstar

    House prices in two major cities to surge by over $50,000 this year, say Canstar

    Australia’s long-held cultural ideal of homeownership is edging further out of grasp for millions of prospective buyers, as new property industry forecasts reveal stark divergent trends across the nation’s major urban markets this year. Alongside uneven price shifts, successive cash rate increases continue to squeeze how much would-be buyers can borrow, creating fresh risks for household financial stability.

    Financial comparison site Canstar projects that two of Australia’s fastest-growing capital cities, Perth and Brisbane, will outpace all other major markets in 2026, defying broader monetary tightening to deliver double-digit and near-double-digit price growth respectively. By the end of the calendar year, median house prices in the two cities are set to jump by more than AU$50,000 each: Perth will see a 12.3% rise, while Brisbane will record a 9.7% gain.

    These gains will push median house prices to new unaffordable thresholds for many. Perth’s current median will climb from AU$551,690 to AU$1.11 million, while Brisbane’s median will surge from AU$754,919 to AU$1.26 million, according to Canstar’s analysis. The growth in these two markets has been fueled in large part by investor interest, drawn to Perth’s historically lower relative prices compared to other capitals and increasingly tight rental conditions across both southeast Queensland and Western Australia.

    “Both of these markets are hurtling towards prices that are fast becoming unaffordable for people looking for four walls and a patch of grass,” said Sally Tindall, Canstar’s director of data insights.

    The picture looks very different in Australia’s two largest property markets, Sydney and Melbourne, where prices are projected to dip slightly over 2026. Sydney’s median house price is forecast to drop 0.6%, equal to a AU$2,139 decline, while Melbourne will see a steeper fall of AU$7,829. While even a small price drop might sound like promising news for aspiring first-home buyers, the reality of rising interest rates has erased any potential affordability gains.

    Major Australian banks including ANZ, Commonwealth Bank of Australia and National Australia Bank are already forecasting another cash rate hike in the coming month, adding to the two increases implemented in February and March this year. Westpac goes further, predicting three additional 0.25 percentage point rate hikes by the end of 2026.

    Canstar’s analysis calculates that these hikes have already dramatically cut borrowing capacity for average earners. A single full-time worker on the national average wage has already lost AU$25,000 in borrowing power after the February and March increases alone. If Westpac’s forecast of three more hikes comes to pass, that total cut to borrowing capacity will jump to AU$58,700.

    Beyond worsening affordability, Tindall warned that current market conditions create significant long-term risk for overstretched buyers. “The danger is, people will borrow to the limit, banking on prices continuing to climb. If circumstances change – whether that’s interest rates, job security or the economy – it could leave some households overexposed,” she said.

  • Lost film of French cinema pioneer retrieved from US attic

    Lost film of French cinema pioneer retrieved from US attic

    For a full century, a dented, well-worn wooden trunk passed from one generation of the McFarland family to the next, shuffled between attics, barns, and garages without anyone suspecting the cinematic treasure locked inside its walls. It took the curiosity of 76-year-old retired high school teacher Bill McFarland to finally unpack its secrets – a discovery that has rewritten a key chapter of early film history.

    McFarland had served as the trunk’s caretaker for 20 years, having inherited it from his great-grandfather William DeLyle Frisbee, a traveling silent film exhibitor who brought moving pictures to rural Pennsylvania audiences at the turn of the 20th century. “It was just this trunk of films that seemed too good to throw away. But I had no idea what they were or how to show them,” McFarland told Agence France-Presse in an interview.

    Early attempts to offload the collection hit a snag: after McFarland tried to sell the reels through a local antique shop, the owner quickly asked him to remove them over safety concerns. Nitrate film, the standard photographic material of early cinema, is highly flammable and prone to combustion if not stored properly. Undeterred, McFarland loaded the 10 fragile reels into his car last summer and drove from his Michigan home to the U.S. Library of Congress’ National Audio-Visual Conservation Center in Culpeper, Virginia, where archivists made a stunning find:
    spliced between other reels was a 45-second 1897 silent short by French cinema pioneer Georges Méliès, *Gugusse and the Automaton* – a film thought lost to history for more than a century.

    Méliès, a former stage magician and theatrical showman, revolutionized the art of moving pictures just two years after the Lumière Brothers held the world’s first public film screening in Paris in 1895. He was among the first filmmakers to experiment with fictional storytelling and innovative special effects, and remains best known for his iconic 1902 work *A Trip to the Moon*, famous for its legendary scene of a rocket crashing into the Man in the Moon’s eye. After Méliès attended the Lumière Brothers’ landmark screening, he left inspired to create his own films, cementing his legacy as one of the founding fathers of modern cinema.

    By the 1910s, however, Méliès’ work fell out of public favor as the global film industry’s center of gravity shifted from Europe to the United States. He eventually closed his studio and spent his later years working as a toy seller at Paris’ Gare Montparnasse train station, a chapter of his life immortalized in Martin Scorsese’s 2011 film *Hugo*. Despite his late-life professional decline, his contributions to cinema never faded. “He was one of the first filmmakers,” said George Willeman, head of the Library of Congress’ nitrate film vault. “And one of the first to experience film piracy.”

    Ironically, that widespread piracy of Méliès’ work has become a gift to modern film historians. The director reportedly destroyed hundreds of his own original negatives, melting their celluloid down to be repurposed into raw material for soldiers’ boots during World War I, leaving many of his works surviving only in bootleg copies. The recovered *Gugusse and the Automaton* reel is believed to be a third-generation pirate copy – a rare miracle of survival that brings a previously lost work back to public view.

    The recovered short follows Méliès himself, playing a stage magician who activates a growing automaton that strikes him over the head with a stick. The magician retaliates by smashing the automaton with a sledgehammer, causing it to shrink and disappear through a remarkably precise sequence of jump cuts. “These single frame cuts are really precise for a movie this old, and the gags are timeless,” said Jason Evans Groth, curator of the library’s moving image section.

    The discovery has also opened a new window into the life of McFarland’s great-grandfather Frisbee. A jack-of-all-trades born in 1860 in rural northwestern Pennsylvania, Frisbee grew potatoes, kept bees, produced maple syrup, and taught for three months out of the year. In his free time, he traveled by horse and buggy across Pennsylvania and neighboring states with his traveling “exhibition,” which featured an early Edison phonograph, a magic lantern projector, and eventually silent films. Frisbee’s well-worn pocket diaries chronicle his journeys, with one entry reading, “Gave the exhibition at Garland, $5 receipts, rough crowd” – leaving McFarland to wonder whether the rowdy audience was disappointed by the new technology or simply excited by the unprecedented experience.

    When McFarland arrived at the conservation center with the reels, archivists immediately rushed the highly flammable nitrate reels to a custom-built refrigerated vault, which already holds tens of thousands of films from Hollywood’s golden age, designed to prevent catastrophic nitrate fires. “It finally really registered that I had been…carrying a ticking time bomb,” McFarland joked.

    Preservation specialists spent a full week restoring the film one frame at a time and digitizing it for long-term preservation. Though the reel had shrunk and frayed after decades of storage in temperature-fluctuating attics, it remained in surprisingly good condition. Today, the recovered film is available to view on the Library of Congress’ website, preserving a key piece of early cinema history for future generations of researchers and film fans.

  • ‘Toughest decision of my life’: Cooper Bai explains massive Storm decision and the huge PNG interest that’s about to come

    ‘Toughest decision of my life’: Cooper Bai explains massive Storm decision and the huge PNG interest that’s about to come

    Nineteen-year-old rugby league prodigy Cooper Bai has opened up about the agonizing choice that saw him walk away from a pre-agreed move to the Melbourne Storm to re-sign with the Gold Coast Titans, a decision that already appears vindicated after his standout performance in Sunday’s dominant 50-point win over the Parramatta Eels.

    Still only seven games into his senior NRL career, Bai already displays the physical tools and mental maturity of a veteran front-rower, and has emerged as one of the Titans’ most critical long-term building blocks under new head coach Josh Hannay. The teen talent confirms that backing out of his earlier agreement to join Melbourne was the hardest call he has ever had to make, one that pitted his childhood home against a storied franchise with deep family connections.

    Bai’s father Marcus is a club legend of the Storm from their early championship-winning years, and top club figures including legendary head coach Craig Bellamy and football director Frank Ponissi held extensive talks with the young forward to convince him to make the move south to Victoria. “Those conversations were really helpful to get a different perspective on how other clubs operate,” Bai explained. “But at the end of the day, this is where I’ve grown up my whole life, this is all I’ve ever known. I had to make the choice that felt right for me, and that was staying here with the new coaching group that’s building something new.”

    While Bellamy’s decades of sustained success at Storm made the opportunity to learn from one of the game’s greatest coaches incredibly tempting, Bai says Hannay’s fresh approach and personal mentorship have been transformative for his early career. Under Hannay’s leadership, the Titans have overhauled their defensive structure and clicked into attacking form, notching only the second 50-point game in franchise history against the Eels.

    “Hannay has honestly been a game-changer for me,” Bai said. “He’s drilled me on the core basics of my position, helped me get my mindset right for the physical grind of the NRL, and taught me to start strong from the first minute instead of playing catch-up. As a young middle forward, there’s a lot of external noise, but he’s helped me stay focused on my role and keep improving every week.”

    Sunday’s blowout win has already validated the call for Bai and captain Tino Fa’asuamaleaui, both of whom committed long-term to the rebuilding Titans. “It silences a lot of that off-field noise,” Bai said. “We got to show our home fans what this new Titans brand is all about. We’re not just here to play flashy footy – we’re putting in the hard work to change the culture around this club. I never doubted that staying was the right call. I loved training every day with this group, and I didn’t want to look back and wonder what if I left. I’m young, there will be more choices down the line, but right now this is where I want to be.”

    Looking ahead, the newly approved 2028 entry of Papua New Guinea’s NRL franchise – widely nicknamed the PNG Chiefs – is set to trigger intense pursuit of Bai, who already has two Test caps for PNG and earned hero status among local fans when he featured off the bench in last year’s Prime Minister’s XIII match. Bai says he has no plans to think about future moves for now, but made clear he holds the PNG rugby league community close to his heart.

    “The love and support I get from everyone in PNG is unlike anything I’ve ever experienced,” Bai said with a smile. “It’s such an honor to play for them there. Right now, though, I’m just focused on my time here with the Titans. If opportunities come up later, they come up, but my focus is here right now.”

  • Liverpool seek ‘special’ Anfield night to salvage troubled season

    Liverpool seek ‘special’ Anfield night to salvage troubled season

    Liverpool Football Club enters one of the most pivotal nights in its recent history this Tuesday, tasked with a seemingly insurmountable mission to overturn a 2-0 first-leg deficit against Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League quarter-finals – a result that could not only rescue a deeply underwhelming season but also decide the future of manager Arne Slot.

    Just 12 months after lifting the Premier League title, the Reds have endured a turbulent 2024-25 campaign. Currently sitting fifth in the top-flight table, the club was eliminated early from both the FA Cup and EFL Cup, leaving the continent’s premier club competition as their only remaining path to silverware this term. Their challenge became far steeper after a dominant PSG side outclassed them in the French capital two weeks ago, but wasteful finishing from the Parisians kept Liverpool in the tie, setting the stage for a potential iconic night at Anfield.

    As one of European football’s most successful clubs with six Champions League crowns to their name, Liverpool has a storied history of pulling off miraculous come-from-behind wins on their home ground. The most famous of these recent examples came in 2019, when current captain Virgil van Dijk was part of the side that erased a 3-0 first-leg deficit to beat Lionel Messi’s Barcelona 4-0 at Anfield, a result that propelled the club to its sixth European title under then-manager Jurgen Klopp.

    That legendary night stands as the high water mark of Klopp’s trophy-laden reign, which included three Champions League finals in five seasons. But for the core group of players who featured in that iconic run, Tuesday’s clash could be their final Champions League chapter at Anfield bar a stunning turnaround. Mohamed Salah and Andy Robertson have already confirmed they will depart the club at the end of the season, while Van Dijk and Alisson Becker face an uncertain future, with no guarantee Liverpool will even qualify for next season’s tournament despite five English spots being on offer this cycle.

    For Slot, the pressure could not be higher. The Dutch manager is in the final stretch of his second season at the helm, and his position has been in serious doubt after a string of underwhelming results. Following a humiliating 4-0 FA Cup quarter-final defeat to Manchester City last month, Liverpool supporters chanted the name of Xabi Alonso, the club’s former midfield icon and the overwhelming favorite to take the job should Slot be sacked at the end of the campaign, who left his role at Real Madrid earlier this year.

    A much-needed 2-0 victory over Fulham at the weekend has given Slot and his squad a boost, snapping a three-game losing streak and extending their advantage over the sides chasing Champions League qualification spots in the Premier League. In the aftermath of that win, Slot issued a public rallying cry to Anfield supporters, urging them to recreate the iconic atmosphere that has lifted the club through past crises.

    “This was a massive win not only for the league but looking forward to Tuesday,” Slot told reporters. “Not only for the players but also for the fans. After a 4-0 loss and a 2-0 loss everybody could do with this win. One thing is clear is that on Tuesday we need our fans. There were fans in Paris but we had a very hard time. Anfield has shown many times that it can lift the team to another level and we need that again. Half an hour before the game the players need that support and need to feel it is going to be another special evening.”

    Van Dijk echoed that sentiment, drawing on his experience of the 2019 Barcelona comeback to inspire his teammates. “It’s down to us to be in the best shape possible to make a special evening on Tuesday,” the captain said. “We are at home and we have to show belief that we can do it. It needs a special performance but I’m lucky I have been part of special performances so I will try and bring that across for the team.”

    Even beyond the tie, a second humiliating defeat in as many weeks on home soil would deal a further blow to Slot’s standing with supporters. Another underperformance matching the debacles in Manchester and Paris could prove to be the final straw for the fanbase, putting even more pressure on the club’s hierarchy to make a change at the end of the season.

  • AFL 2026: Darcy Cameron on the age profile of Collingwood’s list

    AFL 2026: Darcy Cameron on the age profile of Collingwood’s list

    As the 2026 AFL season gets underway, Collingwood Magpies star and reigning best-and-fairest winner Darcy Cameron has pushed back hard against growing fan and analyst speculation that the club’s veteran-heavy playing list is the root cause of its underwhelming opening stretch.

    Through the first five rounds of the new campaign, the Pies have only secured two wins, dropping three consecutive matches to premiership contenders Adelaide, the Brisbane Lions, and Fremantle. This underperformance has reignited long-simmering questions about Collingwood’s list composition, with critics arguing the club overrelies on young star Nick Daicos and 400-game veteran Scott Pendlebury, warning that an ‘age cliff’ is imminent for the side that reached two preliminary finals and one grand final over the past four seasons.

    Cameron, however, has labelled these concerns nonsensical. He pointed to Collingwood’s sustained on-field success over the previous four years as evidence that the current group of players remains competitive, even with the advancing age of several key leaders. “I know those guys are getting a little bit older but they’re still performing at a really high level,” Cameron told reporters, doubling down that the narrative of an impending age-related collapse is unfounded.

    Instead of focusing on age, Cameron shifted the conversation to the Pies’ well-documented attacking struggles, particularly in the inside 50, which he identified as the far more pressing issue for the club to address. The Magpies controlled the inside 50 count in their recent loss to Fremantle, but failed to convert that territory into meaningful scoreboard damage. Outside of a win over GWS where coach Craig McRae adjusted the side’s attacking structure, Collingwood has only posted low totals of 78, 79, 65 and 39 points in its other four 2026 outings, leaving the forward line starved of quality scoring opportunities.

    Cameron said the root of the problem lies with the midfield’s ball movement, not the forward group’s ability to convert. The ruckman acknowledged that midfielders, including himself, too often fell into predictable attacking patterns against Fremantle, which flooded extra defenders behind the ball to clog the Collingwood forward 50. “We probably missed a few opportunities in the first half to lower our eyes and not be so predictable,” Cameron explained. “Freo flood a lot of numbers back and we probably played into their hands at times. We just need to create more opportunities to link up with our forwards. We will go back and look at the vision and fix this moving forward.”