Next year’s men’s State of Origin is set to be an intriguing battle of first-time coaches after Queensland Rugby League today named Darius Boyd as the man to lead the Maroons for the next two years. Boyd’s appointment comes after Billy Slater stepped down last month.

Boyd represented Queensland as a player 28 times, scoring 17 tries. Much like Billy Slater, Boyd was a fullback with an uncanny scoring ability and made a habit of ruining Wednesday nights for New South Wales fans. Since retiring from the NRL in 2020, he has turned his hand to coaching and coached Queensland’s under-19 side to victory this year.

Boyd’s New South Wales Blues equivalent will be Matt King, who was appointed to replace Laurie Daley after three years as the side’s assistant coach.

£3.3 billion ($AU6.2 billion)
The combined amount of money that English Premier League clubs spent on transfer fees this northern summer, as the window closed yesterday. A transfer fee is the payment one club makes another to buy a player out of their contract early. It breaks last year’s record for the second year running. The most expensive deal was Manchester City’s acquisition of Argentine midfielder Enzo Fernández from Chelsea for a joint EPL record of £125 million ($AU236 million).

“There are no exceptions. If you were to drive for any reason at all, you would go immediately back to jail.”
Judge Darren Steele delivering a warning to golfer Tiger Woods at a Florida courthouse on Wednesday. Woods, who was arrested after rolling his vehicle near his Florida home in March, has had his driver’s licence suspended for five years after pleading no contest to reduced charges of reckless and careless driving. His original DUI charge was dropped as part of the deal, and he avoided jail time.

Mölkky is an outdoor throwing game that originated in Finland in 1996. In Australia, the game is marketed as Finska. The first team to represent Australia at the world championships was the Finskaroos. This year, the Finskaroos secured their best result ever, finishing third in Helsinki.

🏀 The NBA has fined the LA Clippers $US30 million ($AU41.5 million) and suspended owner Steve Ballmer for a year after ruling the club used outside sponsorship deals to pay star forward Kawhi Leonard and circumvent the league’s salary cap. According to the NBA, Leonard has been individually fined $US700,000 because he “violated the circumvention rules by pressuring the Clippers to assist him in obtaining off-court income opportunities”. The Clippers must also forfeit five first-round draft picks from 2029 to 2033. The Clippers have said they “vehemently reject the NBA’s findings” and will challenge them. The NBA’s move comes after extensive reporting on the Clippers and Leonard by sport journalist Pablo Torre, who, with his team, won a Pulitzer Prize for their work on the story. Torre says he has more allegations to reveal.

🏉 AFL minor premiers Fremantle will look to take a step toward the club’s first-ever premiership tonight when they host Hawthorn in Perth. The match is the first qualifying final of the 2026 finals series. The Dockers have had the club’s best season in history with 19 wins but have lost two of their last five matches. Meanwhile, the Hawks finished fourth with 15 wins. The last time these two teams met was in the ninth round, which the Dockers won 88-73. The winner will get a week off and advance straight to the preliminary final, while the loser will take on the winner of this weekend’s elimination final between Carlton and Geelong.

🚴 British cyclist Matthew Brennan won stage 11 of the Vuelta a España, his third stage victory of this year’s race. The 21-year-old beat France’s Bryan Coquard and Belgium’s Jordi Meeus in a sprint finish. Spain’s Enric Mas remains in the red jersey worn by the overall leader, which he took over after Tadej Pogačar crashed out during stage eight. The Vuelta still has 10 days of racing to go.

🏏 English cricket club Hampshire have torn up the signing of New Zealand all-rounder Scott Kuggeleijn before his scheduled debut, after backlash from fans and people within the club. The 34-year-old was signed on a short-term deal for Hampshire’s last four County Championship matches of the season, but the move drew criticism over rape allegations Kuggeleijn faced in New Zealand in 2015. The allegations ended with a hung jury at the first trial and an acquittal at the second. In a statement, Hampshire attributed the reversal to fan and staff feedback.

Only 3% of Australia's medical research funding goes towards women's health issues.

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Alex de Minaur’s opening match at this year’s U.S. Open was delayed twice by rain before he finally beat Italian qualifier Andrea Guerrieri in straight sets (6-2, 6-2, 6-4) to cruise through to the second round.

The sixth seed’s win was the highlight of an otherwise disappointing Day 4 for the Australian contingent in New York.

Here’s what to know.

Day Four at the U.S. Open saw five Australians knocked out of contention.

On the women’s side, Kimberly Birrell, Maya Joint, and Taylah Preston were all beaten in their respective second-round matches. Daria Kasatkina also went down to Spain’s Paula Badosa in an opening-round match that ran across two days after rain forced a stoppage.

On the men’s side, James Duckworth lost his second-round match to China’s Wu Yibing in straight sets. Meanwhile, de Minaur will turn his attention to a second-round match against the Netherlands’ Botic Van De Zandschulp on Friday morning (AEST). The Australian has won all four of their previous matches.

Frenchman Gaël Monfils celebrated his 40th birthday with a first-round win over Paraguay’s Adolfo Daniel Vallejo. The result makes him the oldest man to win a match at Flushing Meadows since American Jimmy Connors managed the same on his own 40th birthday back in 1992. Monfils, who is retiring from tennis at the end of the season, will next face American 14th seed, Learner Tien.

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The police investigation hanging over the Sydney Swans’ season took a fresh turn this week, with Victoria Police issuing their first substantive update in weeks.

On 19 August, five Sydney Swans players — Isaac Heeney, Chad Warner, James Jordon, Nick Blakey and Riley Bice — were suspended by the club for the rest of the season for breaching club standards by staying out late and drinking following the club’s win over Essendon.

The players have also been linked to a Victoria Police investigation, after three women alleged an assault inside a hotel room in East Melbourne in the early hours of Monday 17 August.

TDA does not suggest that any of the players are being accused of sexual assault, only that they have been connected to the police investigation.

Victoria Police confirmed on Wednesday that detectives had travelled to Sydney to interview four men, identified only by age and suburb, with three others treated as witnesses. Investigators say they believe everyone in the room that night has been accounted for, with no one else being sought, and indicated it could be around two months before their next update.

Separately, the Sydney Morning Herald has reported that Bice has been cleared as a suspect and is now being treated as a witness, narrowing the group still under investigation to four: Heeney, Warner, Blakey and Jordon.

Coach Dean Cox confirmed on Thursday that the club’s sanctions are unchanged, saying: “All five will remain stood down from the football club.”

A Sydney Swans statement on Wednesday acknowledged the update from Victoria Police and said: “The wellbeing of those impacted remains of paramount importance.”

It also noted that no charges had been laid and the process “may take some time to run its course”.

While every case is different, the closest recent comparison in the AFL involved Geelong player Tanner Bruhn, who was cleared after the case against him fell apart.

Prosecutors withdrew rape and sexual assault charges in November 2025 when a key witness admitted lying under oath, but getting there took years.

Police did not interview Bruhn until nearly 20 months after the alleged assault in February 2023, and he was not charged for another five months after that. The AFL stood him down from playing at any level in the meantime, and he missed the entire 2025 season.

On the field, the Swans finished second on the AFL ladder this season and are preparing to host two-time reigning premiers Brisbane in a qualifying final at the SCG on Saturday. The winner will earn a week off and a spot in the preliminary finals.