Blues relaxed on first full day of Origin II camp
Dean Ritchie and Pamela Whaley report from the New South Wales Blue Mountains, where the Blues have entered camp ahead of State of Origin game two.
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News.com.au
26 minutes ago
- News.com.au
Billy Slater drops another staggering Queensland team decision
Billy Slater has made the shock decision to demote Broncos gun Pat Carrigan to the bench for State of Origin Game 2. Just 24 hours after the Queensland coach announced his decision to axe halfback Daly Cherry-Evans, it has been revealed the Melbourne Storm legend is set to make another gigantic gamble by promoting Storm forward Trent Loiero into the starting side. As first reported by Code Sports, Slater on Tuesday said Loiero will start the game playing at lock with Mo Fotuaika and Tino Fa'asuamaleaui keeping their spots in the front row. FOX LEAGUE, available on Kayo Sports, is the only place to watch every game of every round in the 2025 NRL Telstra Premiership, LIVE with no ad-breaks during play. New to Kayo? Get your first month for just $1. Limited-time offer > Slater is also set to make another shock call by dumping Jeremiah Nani to the bench and replacing him in the starting side with Kurt Capewell. Capewell's return sees Beau Fermor dropped from the squad. It has been suggested Carrigan's move to sit on the pine is a tactical shift to stop NSW from getting the upper hand when Blues coach Laurie Daley decides to use his interchanges. However, it has also been reported Slater's decision is a 'kick up the backside' for Carrigan not to get complacent. Slater has started the shadow games early with the under-pressure coach still having the option of making more changes in the hours before kick-off. Slater announced the Maroons squad by alphabetical order on Monday, instead of handing each player a jersey number. The bizarre decision to take Carrigan out of the starting team has left some NRL commentators staggered. The ABC's Zane Bojack posted on X: 'Don't understand Carrigan in bench. 'Surely he swaps with Moe before kick off. Got told it was a kick up the backside for Pat from Billy thinking he has got too comfortable.' NRL Twitter commentator Eden Richards wrote on X: 'QLD could have Carrigan starting at lock and Hors starting at prop but Billy's decided Loiero at lock and Mo at prop is a better option…. I don't get it. 'We are so cooked.' Another fan wrote: 'That's crazy. Carrigan is one of the best forwards in the game. Also, he should be captain instead of Munster'. The Maroons need to win in Perth on Wednesday, June 18, to keep the series alive. Slater has been forced to admit he got it wrong in selecting Cherry-Evans for the series opener with Cowboys halfback Tom Dearden to start in the halves alongside Cameron Munster. The storm five-eighth was on Tuesday unveiled as Queensland's captain. Munster was picked ahead of his Melbourne Storm captain and Maroons teammate Harry Grant as well as Gold Coast Titans skipper Fa'asuamaleaui. The clash in Perth on Wednesday will be Munster's 20th Origin appearance for Queensland, having won the Wally Lewis Medal as player of the series in 2020. Slater also confirmed Canterbury Bulldogs forward Kurt Mann would play his first game for Queensland in a new-look team that has to beat the Blues to force a game three decider to avoid losing a second straight series. Controversial Broncos star Ezra Mam has also been named in Slater's 20-man squad - just three games back from his drug-driving scandal - along with Raiders enforcer Corey Horsburgh and boom Storm centre Jack Howarth. The decision to pick Mam was promptly labelled a 'disgrace' by NRL fans, who felt Slater had lost the plot. Mam will reportedly wear the No.18 jersey as the Maroons' replacement player. Slater insists DCE is not the scapegoat Slater has moved to play down Cherry-Evans axing, denying claims DCE was used as the team's scapegoat for an underwhelming Game 1 showing. 'It's not the case (Cherry-Evans being a scapegoat for Game I loss),' Slater said. 'It's a case of the best person for the position. It is what it is. when you're in this position you've got to think about what's best for the team.' The halfback's axing means the Maroons will need to appoint a new captain for Game 2, with Slater revealing that decision will be made tomorrow. 'We'll make everyone aware of who the captain is tomorrow (Tuesday when teams are named). We've got quite a few club captains, quite a few leaders within the group, I feel whenever you play for the Qld team you're a leader in your own right.' Expected Queensland team for State of Origin II 1. Kalyn Ponga 2. Xavier Coates 3. Robert Toia 4. Valentine Holmes 5. Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow 6. Cameron Munster (C) 7. Tom Dearden 8. Mo Fotuaika 9. Harry Grant 10. Tino Fa'asuamaleaui 11. Reuben Cotter 12. Kurt Capewell 13. Trent Loiero 14. Kurt Mann 15. Lindsay Collins 16. Jeremiah Nanai 17. Pat Carrigan 18. Ezra Mam 19. Jack Howarth 20. Corey Horsburgh
ABC News
36 minutes ago
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Phillips and Pearce's Hall of Fame induction reflects the long fight for women to play footy
There's a poetic tilt to the year that the AFLW will enter its 10th season, as its first former players are inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame. The wider footballing community may have started to take note of the names Erin Phillips and Daisy Pearce when the women's elite competition erupted onto the scene in 2017, but the roots of their impact go far deeper and extend a lot further back than from that first ball up between Collingwood and Carlton at Princes Park. As AFLW analyst and commentator Gemma Bastiani pointed out, Pearce and Phillips represent two very different, but equally worthy versions of women in footy pre-AFLW. "Erin pursued other sports after being told no, Daisy raised the standard of the then-VWFL to force the AFL's hand," Bastiani wrote on X. The timing of the AFLW's introduction being brought forward to 2017 from 2020 meant that Pearce and Phillips got to play at the top level, but its delayed start meant we never really got to see them in their prime. After being forced away from football age 13, Phillips turned to basketball. There, she made herself known on the international stage, becoming a two-time WNBA champion, world champion, Commonwealth gold medallist and Olympic silver medallist. When the whispers came that the AFLW may be forming, she made the courageous choice to follow her first calling. She packed up her family in the US and moved back to Australia for the competition's first iteration in 2017. Externally, she brought gravitas, excitement and, importantly, eyeballs to the competition. Internally leadership and belief in what they were building. She left the game as the most decorated elite women's football player to date: a three-time premiership player, two-time league best and fairest, three-time All Australian, two-time grand final best on ground and two-time club champion. Pearce, on the other hand, carried the weight of being the face of the newly formed AFLW. In 2013, when women's football pioneers were pushing for a professional competition, Pearce was taken by Melbourne with the first pick in the inaugural national women's draft for the first women's exhibition game. She then became a marquee signing for Melbourne and entered the competition a 10-time VWFL/VFLW premiership player with Darebin, where she was captain between 2008 and 2016. In her Hall of Fame speech, Pearce said she carried a weight in those early days of feeling like they had to put on a good spectacle, kick enough goals, gaining enough attention, as the future of women's footy was riding on their shoulders. Pearce ended her speech honouring the ones that came before her, the pioneers who never got to play at the top level. The likes of Debbie Lee, Peta Searle and Jan Cooper. Highlighted in both stories on the night was that they used to run around with the boys as kids, as there were no girl teams for them to play in growing up. "I never wanted to be a boy," Phillips said in her speech. "I just wanted the opportunities that boys had, and that was footy." This is a common story within the first generation of AFLW players, who came from all corners across the country to fight for the right to play and grow the game they love, in the face of fierce adversity and constant pushback. Without those trailblazers, spearhead by Phillips and Pearce, we would not have a 10th season to enter into this year. Now, almost 600,000 women and girls participate in Australian Rules footy across the country.
News.com.au
39 minutes ago
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Corey Munce's career as a horse trainer is flying, despite his dream to be a pilot stuck at the terminal
Ever since he was a kid, a starry-eyed Corey Munce wanted to be a pilot. And although that dream never came to fruition, he's still flying sky-high - only now as a thoroughbred trainer alongside his dad and former champion jockey Chris Munce. 'I am loving it and I wouldn't do it any other way,' Corey said about his first season of training with his dad and Melbourne Cup-winning jockey Chris. 'I love working with him and he's taught me just about everything I know. 'We work extremely well together as a team. • PUNT LIKE A PRO: Become a Racenet iQ member and get expert tips – with fully transparent return on investment statistics – from Racenet's team of professional punters at our Pro Tips section. SUBSCRIBE NOW! 'I sort of struggled with the idea of partnerships and why they're necessary. 'But now I see why because there are two sets of eyes looking at everything and making sure it all runs smoothly, and that's the power of a partnership.' It's easy to see why the affable Corey is loving life as a trainer, with the Munce stable crushing it during this year's Queensland Winter Carnival, and they're not done with yet. Team Munce train the $4 favourite Cool Archie in the Group 1 JJ Atkins (1600m) and also boast $34 chance Payline in the prestigious Stradbroke Handicap (1400m) feature at Eagle Farm on Saturday. It's been a whirlwind introduction to training for Corey, who achieved his childhood dream of gaining a pilot's licence before Covid hit but then struggled to land a job in a cut-throat industry. 'For the life of me that's all I ever wanted to do,' he said about becoming a pilot. 'I always genuinely loved (horse) racing but I wanted to do what I thought was right for me at the time and I achieved that. 'But I found it very difficult to get a job and any pilot will tell you it's the first job that's the hardest (to secure). I couldn't get one so I started working with the horses. 'I've always loved racing but never really knew how to get into it. 'When you're at school and you go to the career expos, you don't see too many horse trainers there, do you? 'That's why it's so prevalent for family members and what-not to go through that system because there's no real avenue to being a trainer. I'm very privileged and lucky that Dad is a trainer.' And did Chris ever put any subtle pressure on his son to head in that direction where early starts on cold winter mornings can make trainers question why they're even in this game? 'Never at all, it was all me wanting to go that way,' said Corey, who turns 30 on June 22 - the day after Ipswich Cup Day. 'There was expectation that I knew everything and I didn't and it's taken me a long time to feel very grounded. 'I never became a trainer too early in my opinion. This was the right timing for me, Dad and the business.' Corey describes the partnership with his 56-year-old father as like 'yin and yang', with him being the cool, collected type and Chris more having the fire in the belly. 'I'm very much the cool one, although maybe not in the early days when I had my moments,' Corey said with a laugh. 'This game is extremely levelling. I read somewhere the other day that winning and losing are both temporary. 'You enjoy the good days but you never get ahead of yourself. We're just having a really good winter carnival. 'I can bet you anything that if you did an average value of horses in stables then we'd be certainly down the bottom which means we're overachieving with the horses we've got.' So what would it mean if Corey can share the exhilarating feeling of winning a Group 1 this Saturday with his proud father Chris. 'I'd probably be a little bit emotional after the race,' he said. 'It'd mean the world to me and to do it with Dad would just be the cherry on top.'
