Slater hails debutant Toia as ‘world class centre'
Billy Slater has been full of praise for Robert Toia, selected to make his Origin debut after just ten NRL games.
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News.com.au
41 minutes ago
- News.com.au
James Cummings accepts offer to train in Hong Kong from the 2026-27 season
James Cummings will withdraw his application for the famous Leilani Lodge stables at Royal Randwick after accepting an offer to train in Hong Kong. Cummings flew to Hong Kong on Tuesday and will later this morning front a press conference in which the Hong Kong Jockey Club will confirm the trainer will move there for the start of the 2026-27 season. It's a real coup for Hong Kong racing to secure one of Sydney's most outstanding trainers. Cummings' tenure as Godolphin's private trainer comes to an end on July 31. It is understood he may take a 'sabbatical'' from training before he moves to Hong Kong next year. It is unclear whether Cummings will continue training Godolphin's Group 1 stars Tom Kitten and Zardozi and boom rising three-year-old filly Tempted for their spring carnival campaigns later this year. Cummings has been reconsidering his future since Godolphin Australia made a bombshell announcement recently it is moving to a public training model from August 1. The trainer had lodged an application to take over the vacant Leilani Lodge stables at Royal Randwick. The Australian Turf Club board of directors are due to meet this week to discuss which trainer will be allocated the 60-boxes at Leilani Lodge where Bart Cummings trained so successfully for more than 40 years. An original Hall of Fame inductee, Bart Cummings prepared some of his greatest champions out of Leilani Lodge including Saintly, So You Think, Beau Zam, Shaftesbury Avenue, Sky Chase, Campaign King, Dane Ripper and many others. The nation's leading trainer, Ciaron Maher is clear favourite to be given the keys to the Randwick stables which have been vacant since James's father, Anthony Cummings' licence to train was revoked earlier this year. James Cummings is only 37 years of age and has already trained 52 career Group 1 winners including two with his legendary grandfather, Bart. To put this achievement into context, Bart Cummings and Tommy Smith didn't train their 50th Group 1 winner until they turned 45. Chris Waller may rewrite all the training records but he didn't get to 50 big race wins until he was 42. In fact, the only other trainer to reach 50 Group 1 wins before the age of 40 was Lee Freedman who was 38. Cummings has been Godolphin's trainer since 2017 and has been hugely successful for the global racing and breeding giant, preparing 48 Group 1 winners for the 'Blue Army' and more than $200 million prizemoney. Anamoe has been Godolphin's best horse during the Cummings era winning nine Group 1 races including the 2022 Cox Plate and earning Horse of the Year honours in 2022-23. "IT'S ANAMOE'S GEORGE RYDER!" The champion did it tough today to win his 9th Group 1! @mcacajamez @JamesCummings88 @godolphin — SKY Racing (@SkyRacingAU) March 18, 2023 Cummings trained a Golden Slipper quinella in 2019 with Kiamichi and Microphone, and the winners of the Golden Eagle (Colette, 2019), Doncaster Mile (Cascadian, 2021), Epsom Handicap (Hartnell, 2018), Tancred Stakes (Avilius, 2019) and two Golden Rose s with Broadsiding (2024) and Bivouac (2019). The champion trainer also enjoyed tremendous success for Godolphin interstate preparing the winners of the All Star Mile (Tom Kitten, 2025), two Australian Cup s (Cascadian 2023, 2024), three Newmarket Handicap s (Bivouac, 2020, In Secret, 2023 and Cylinder, 2024), two VRC Oaks (Zardozi, 2024 and Willowy, 2021), two Caulfield Guineas (Anamoe, 2021 and Golden Mile, 2022) and the Stradbroke Handicap (Trekking, 2019).
West Australian
44 minutes ago
- West Australian
Utoikamanu moves to make Origin mark after 2023 tease
Stefano Utoikamanu spent two years feeling so teased by 12 minutes of State of Origin that it prompted the front-rower to uproot his life and move to Melbourne. The one fresh face in the NSW team for Origin II in Perth next week, Utoikamanu has every right to feel like he is making his debut again. The 25-year-old played his sole Origin two years ago, playing 12 minutes for the Blues in their game-two loss that surrendered the series at Suncorp Stadium in 2023. It was enough time for six touches of the football and seven tackles, but hardly enough for the prop to feel like he'd been able to make his mark in the Origin arena. "I've thought about that a lot," Utoikamanu said. "I didn't really get a real taste of getting in there. I played 12 minutes and it's pretty hard coming off the bench, you've got to make an impact. "If you don't make an impact there's not really any point you being out there. "I'm happy I get another opportunity to go in there and show them what I can actually do. That first time I felt like I didn't do what I needed to do." Utoikamanu said he had "chilled" as a footballer since his Origin debut, having also represented Samoa since. But he has also made no secret of his desire to get back in a Blues jersey. It was a big part of the front-rower's thinking when he moved to Melbourne from Wests Tigers at the end of last year. Utoikamanu says "it's hard to say" if he would be playing this week had he stayed at the Tigers, as one of only two men to feature in Origin while at the club since 2018. Regardless, the Auckland-born talent knows the Storm move has helped, where he is now playing under NSW coach Laurie Daley's new adviser Craig Bellamy. "Coming to the Melbourne Storm has helped me a fair bit in trying to get back into this arena," Utoikamanu said. "It was one of the things I looked at when I was going to leave the Wests Tigers. "I feel like the Melbourne Storm have such a good system, and being in it now I'm happy I made the move. "There's a system there that's made a lot of players get better. A lot of players go there and become better, there's a lot of teams you can't say that (about). "Melbourne's one of those teams that when you go there you have to do the hard work, but when you do the hard work you're going to become a better player."
News.com.au
an hour ago
- News.com.au
Stefano Utoikamanu vows to make biggest impact possible for NSW after being recalled for game II
It's impossible to say whether Stefano Utoikamanu would have played State of Origin this year if he'd stayed at the Wests Tigers, but what he does know is that the move to Melbourne made him a better player and gave him a chance to win back his spot in the Blues team. Utoikamanu was in the squad for the series opener but will come off the bench in game two in Perth next week after starting prop Mitch Barnett was ruled out for the rest of 2025 with a serious knee injury. The injury has opened the door for Utoikamanu to revive his Origin career after he was given a taste of it in 2023, with his failure to be reselected allowing him to activate a clause to leave the Tigers at the end of last year to move to the Storm. 'It's hard to say. The Tigers are going better now than we were last year, so I wouldn't know,' he replied when asked if he'd be in the team if he was still at the Tigers. 'It was one of the things I looked at when I was going to leave the Wests Tigers. I feel like the Melbourne Storm have such a good system, and being in it now, I'm happy I made the move and happy to be here. 'There's a system there that's made a lot of players become better. A lot of players go there and become better, and there are a lot of teams you can't say that (about). 'Melbourne's one of those teams that when you go there you have to do the hard work. But once you do the hard work, you're going to become a better player.' Utoikamanu has produced fairly similar stats at the Storm to what he was doing at the Tigers, with the front-rower seeing the game differently under coach Craig Bellamy, who ripped into him after a couple of costly penalties at Magic Round. Plenty of people feel that Tigers prop Terrell May deserves to be in the NSW side, and the numbers suggest it should be a matter of if and not when he gets the chance to put on the jersey. But May will have to watch on as the man he replaced at the Tigers gets a second crack at it two years after his 13-minute cameo off the bench where he struggled to make an impact as the Blues were blown out in Brisbane. Reece Walsh and Jarome Luai were sent off that night as Utoikamanu came on five minutes before halftime, had six runs and was then dropped for the dead rubber. 'I've thought about that a lot,' he said. 'I didn't really get a real taste of getting in there. I played 12 or 15 minutes and it's pretty hard coming off the bench because you've got to make an impact. If you don't make an impact then there's not really any point you being out there. 'Coming off the bench you should be fresh and looking to give your team a bit of energy, especially in Origin. That's a big role to have coming off the bench and that's something I'll be looking to do in this game. 'I'm happy I get another opportunity to go in there and show them what I can actually do. That first time I felt like I didn't do what I needed to do. We lost that game, so I'm happy I get to come back, be around this group and show everyone what I can do.'
