Dragons fans will tell you the finish to Sunday’s game against the Raiders was a square-up after what happened in Wollongong earlier in the year, but the NRL is adamant the officials got the call right to not award St George Illawarra a penalty from 15m out which would have sent the match to golden point.
The Dragons were down 24-22 when Mathew Feagai broke into the clear, only to be chopped down close to the line as time was about to expire.
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The winger tried to get to his feet, but was held down by Corey Harawira-Naera and the ball then came free just as the referee blew his whistle, leaving the Red V with virtually no chance of making the finals.
Players were incensed that they weren’t given a penalty, and they were left to rue a shocking captain’s challenge at the start of the second half which meant they couldn’t send the play to the Bunker to have it reviewed.
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The Dragons’ Jack Bird was furious with the decision. Picture: Mark Nolan/Getty ImagesSource: Getty Images
It brought back memories of the farcical finish to the game at WIN Stadium when the Green Machine weren’t given a penalty when down 12-10 because the referee had called full-time.
However, NRL head of football Graham Annesley said the decision on Sunday was the correct one and that the Dragons would’ve been doubly disappointed even if they still had a challenge up their sleeve, because time had expired before the second movement by Harawira-Naera which pushed Feagai off his feet.
“The ball is not in play,” he said.
“There’s no possibility for the ball carrier to get up and play the ball in order to get another tackle.
“Regardless of any infringement that might take place by the defender – other than foul play – it’s irrelevant because the ball hasn’t been brought back into play and the referee can’t extend the play for a technical infringement to award a penalty.
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“They could’ve mounted a challenge had they had one left because the game is not finished at this point, even though time has expired and the referee has blown his whistle to indicate that he’s stopping play.
“He hasn’t at this point blown his whistle to say it’s full-time, so although the game could not have continued because of that technical infringement, it would not have prevented the Dragons from asking for a captain’s challenge.
“However, they would have lost the captain’s challenge because time had expired and we couldn’t restart the game for a technical infringement.
“It’s all very, very precise in terms of what can and can’t happen, and it needs to be that way because you can’t have another tackle after time has expired if the ball’s not already in play.”
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The incident was similar to the wild finish in Townsville a few weeks ago in that the Dragons would have technically been challenging the decision to end the game, just as the Cowboys did to snatch victory from the Wests Tigers.
“Not only could we not have restarted play because the tackle had been complete and hadn’t restarted, but we also couldn’t have restarted play because they’d knocked on in the ruck,” Annesley said.
“They would’ve been challenging the referee’s decision to stop the game in order to call full-time, similar to what happened with the Wests Tigers.
“They would’ve effectively been saying, ‘No, you can’t call full-time because we want to challenge what’s just happened.’
“But had they had a challenge and had it taken place, the Bunker would’ve had no choice but to deny the challenge because of not only the lost ball, but also play had not recommenced before time had expired.”
It was one of those weekends in the NRL, with a number of murky decisions.
Annesley said the Bunker made the right call to award a try to Bradman Best because the contact on Adam Reynolds wasn’t enough to prevent the try.
But he did concede the bunker got it horribly wrong at the SCG when Sam Verrills strolled over even though teammate Matt Lodge clearly held Griffin Neame back in the scrum.
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Sam Verrills celebrates a try which shouldn’t have been awarded. Picture; Cameron Spencer/Getty ImagesSource: Getty Images
“The contact caused Neame to do a 360, and Verrills has gone past,” Annesley said.
“It happens very quickly in real time, but I think there’s enough on this in replay that the Bunker had the opportunity to look at.
“There’s enough of a hold after the ball is out of the scrum to say that that would be a breach of the rules, and in normal circumstances, would result in a penalty to the Cowboys.
“However, in this particular case, it wouldn’t have resulted in a penalty to the Cowboys because of the off-side at the scrum, which was the first offence.”
Heavy spenders Chelsea have already been busy during the transfer window, and are almost certainly not finished despite spending €186.59m ($A270m) so far.
According to reports, the club are reportedly prepared to sign both Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Frenkie de Jong from Barcelona, as well as Wesley Fofana from Leicester.
Chelsea have already signed Raheem Sterling, Kalidou Koulibaly, Gabriel Slonina, Carney Chukwuemeka and Marc Cucurella in their squad overhaul.
World-class striker Aubameyang, a former club captain of London rivals Arsenal, would represent the latest in a long line of superstar strikers to have joined Stamford Bridge – although many have struggled to make their mark.
Indeed, Chelsea’s number nine jersey has been worn by so many flops in recent years that coach Thomas Tuchel revealed that no-one will wear the number this season.
“It’s cursed, it’s cursed, people tell me it’s cursed … nobody wants to touch the No 9,” he said.
But it’s not just the number nine jersey that has been a curse at Chelsea. Dating back to the end of the last century, many of Chelsea’s big-name attacking signings have failed to make their mark.
Here are some of the great Blues flops of the modern era.
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CHRIS SUTTON
Transfer fee: £10m ($17m AUD) from Blackburn in 1999
Playing record: One goal in 28 Premier League games
Chelsea reached deep into their pockets to lure Sutton to Stamford Bridge from relegation stricken Blackburn, for what was then a club record fee.
The striker had signed from the Rovers, where he starred alongside Premier League icon Alan Shearer, after they placed second-last in the 1998-99 season.
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But the former England international had a forgettable debut campaign with the Blues, scoring just one goal from his 28 Premier League appearances.
Sutton’s sole contribution on the scoresheet came in a 5-0 thrashing of English giants Manchester United, which was a highlight in an otherwise quiet tenure in London.
His season went from bad to worse when he failed to make Chelsea’s bench for the 2000 FA Cup Final against Aston Villa, which the Blues won 1-0.
Sutton was a one season flop at Chelsea, though, after securing a transfer to Scottish giants Celtic.
ADRIAN MUTU
Transfer fees: €22.5m ($32m AUD) from Parma in 2003
Playing record: 10 goals from 38 games
Mutu began his Chelsea career in fine form, scoring four goals from his first three appearances for the giants of English football.
Playing in front of new fans for the first time, the Romanian scored the winning goal on his club debut against Leicester City.
But drama ensued as his relationship with Jose Mourinho reportedly reached its boiling point, with Mutu facing backlash from his manager after he claimed to be injured.
Chelsea later fired the striker after he tested positive for cocaine use in 2004, and was suspended for seven months.
Although he was not at the London club anymore, Mutu failed another anti-doping test in January of 2010, as reported by the Guardian.
Mutu, who also wore the number seven jersey at Chelsea, was handed a nine-month ban for that incident.
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ANDRIY SHEVCHENKO
Transfer fees: €43.9m ($63m AUD) from Milan in 2006
Playing record: Nine goals from 48 Premier League games
Chelsea splashed the cash once again to sign Ukrainian Andriy Shevchenko, who became the biggest signing in English football at the time.
Shevchenko, who was 30-year-old when he moved to London from Milan, was handed the number seven jersey under decorated coach Jose Mourinho.
But he failed to live up to the hype, scoring just 14 goals from 51 games during his first season with the famous London club.
Andriy Shevchenko had a forgettable spell with Chelsea.Source: AP
Shevchenko was loaned out to AC Milan, the club he’d signed from, during the 2008/09 season after failing to hit his stride at Stamford Bridge.
As reported by The Guardian, manager Carlo Ancelotti believed that Shevchenko was the fourth best striker at the club, just three years after he secured his record transfer.
Shevchenko was left out of Chelsea’s squad for the 2009/10 Champions League, and later returned to Dynamo Kyiv.
FERNANDO TORRES
Transfer fees: £50m ($85m AUD) from Liverpool in 2011
Playing record: 20 goals in 110 Premier League games for Chelsea
Fernando Torres rose to footballing stardom during a successful stint at Liverpool, where he truly embodied the phrase ‘human highlight reel’.
Torres had already made his name in Spain, after being handed the Atletico Madrid captaincy at just 19 years of age.
The Spaniard left Madrid for Liverpool, although he’d return to the club at the back end of his career, and quickly proved himself to be one of the most exciting players in England.
Fernando Torres struggled to find some form after completing his move to Stamford Bridge. (Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images
But drama struck early in 2011, as Torres completed a sensational transfer to Premier League rivals Chelsea.
The Blues again broke the British transfer record for a reported fee of £50 million, as the striker completed a mid-season move sent shockwaves throughout the league.
Hollywood couldn’t have scripted it better, though, as Torres made his club debut for Chelsea after Liverpool.
The Blues lost that 1-0 and maybe it was a sign of things to come, as Torres went on to score just 20 goals in 110 Premier League appearances for Chelsea.
But while he failed to fire, these big money moves are all about making an impact when it counts, and Torres did that in the biggest competition that world football has to offer.
While he was far from an overwhelming success at Stamford Bridge, Torres did score a game sealing goal against Barcelona in a Champions League semi-final.
Chelsea went on to win their first ever Champions League crown in the 2011-12 campaign, beating German powerhouse Bayern Munich 4-3 on penalties.
MOHAMED SALAH
Transfer fee: £11m ($18m AUD) from Basel in 2014
Playing record: Two goals from 13 games
Mohamed Salah has cemented his legacy as a Premier League legend after a stellar career with Liverpool, but his career in England wasn’t always so successful.
The ‘Egyptian King’ made just 19 appearances for Chelsea, before he was loaned out to Fiorentina just 13-months after moving to London.
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Salah’s two best Premier League games in Blue came in a 6-0 win over rivals Arsenal, where he scored, as well as a promising showing against Stoke.
Salah was later loaned out to Roma, before securing a permanent move to the Italian capital soon after.
But the scintillating winger really took his career to the next Liverpool after he secured a well-known transfer to Liverpool.
Not only has Salah tasted success in both the Champions League and Premier League with the Merseyside club, but he’s widely considered to be one of the best footballers on the planet.
In fact he’s become so popular, the Economist revealed that more than one million Egyptians spoiled their ballots by trying to vote for Salah during the presidential election in 2018.
With many noteworthy individual accolades on the football field to speak of as well, Salah is certainly another gem that Chelsea failed to cherish when they had the chance.
ALVARO MORATA
Transfer fees: Around £60m ($103m AUD) from Real Madrid in 2017
Playing record: 24 goals from about 72 games
After impressive spells with European giants Juventus and Real Madrid, Morata was brought into the club as a replacement for Diego Costa.
Costa, who won two Premier League titles and scored 59 goals for Chelsea, returned to Atletico Madrid after being told he was free to look elsewhere.
Morata was another striker who had the weight of the world on his shoulders when he moved to Stamford Bridge, due to the hype surrounding his arrival.
But the Spaniard failed to make an impression on the scoresheet, scoring just 15 goals in his 48 games.
After initially signing for the club on a five year deal, Morata was eventually loaned out to Atletico Madrid on an 18-month deal.
Atletico signed him on a permanent deal later, although he was loaned out to Juventus soon after in September, 2020.
TIMO WERNER
Transfer fees: €60m ($87m AUD) from RB Leipzig in 2020
playing record 23 goals in 89 appearances
Werner was one of the hottest properties on the football transfer market as European giants came looking to sign the star striker after an incredible spell at RB Leipzig.
During his four years at the German club, Werner scored 90 goals and had 40 assists from 156 competitive games.
Liverpool were also believed to be in the hunt for his signature, before he completed an expensive move to Chelsea on a five-year deal.
But the German quickly fell out of favor at Chelsea, having scored just 23 goals in 89 appearances.
With Chelsea reportedly looking to sign some strikers in the ongoing transfer window, the 26-year-old left the club and returned to RB Leipzig.
ROMELU LUKAKU
Transfer fees: £97.5m ($167m AUD) from Inter Milan in 2021
Playing record: 15 goals in all competitions from 44 games
Belgian Romelu Lukaku may have had a fairly expensive price tag to his name last year, but that didn’t stop Chelsea from making another mind-blowing investment in their future.
Once again, the Blues broke their transfer record to sign the striker from Italian giants Inter Milan.
Romelu Lukaku was a marquee signing for Chelsea, but he failed to make his mark on the scoresheet. (Photo by Clive Rose/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images
With their Champions League glory still fresh in the minds of football fans, Chelsea managed to lure the powerful striker back to Stamford Bridge on an incredible transfer.
Despite their European success, Chelsea had come fourth in the Premier League the year before, but this signing was widely considered to be a difference maker.
Many believed that Lukaku could fire for the Blues after a previous stint at the club earlier in his career, before more well-known and successful stints with the likes of Everton and Manchester United.
But it was a disastrous return to the Premier League for Lukaku, who scored just eight goals before completing a loan move back to Inter Milan – and leaving the number nine jersey vacant.
Knights superstar Kalyn Ponga looks set to be stripped of the captaincy after a video emerged of him being kicked out of a toilet cubicle with teammate Kurt Mann.
The video came to light on Monday morning, sparking Ponga’s dad, Andre to claim the 24-year-old was “sick in the toilet and his mate went in to help him” while out celebrating “an exciting house purchase.”
Although, Fox League’s James Hooper suggested that wasn’t the real story, telling NRL 360: “You might have to get Pinocchio out again, we aren’t believing that fairytale are we?”
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Newly signed football manager Peter Parr will front the media on Tuesday and News Corp Journalist Phil Rothfield believes it could be the end of Ponga’s reign as captain.
“I think it’s a really, really bad look and I know the Knights are really concerned about the PR side of it and the culture side of it,” he told NRL 360.
“Do you know how serious I think it is, I think he will be stripped of the captaincy over this.”
Ponga was announced as co-captain alongside Jayden Brailey in February, however with the latter missing for a lot of the season Ponga carried the responsibility himself for the first 16 rounds.
Hooper agreed that “it’s a bad scene” and urged the Knights to come down hard on Ponga given prop David Klemmer was stood down for an on-field incident involving a trainer.
“If he’s had concussions, commonsense tells you he should be (on an alcohol ban), certainly Kurt Mann (who is injured) is supposed to be on an alcohol ban,” he said.
Put asked to leave toilet cubicle | 00:16
“They tore strips off David Klemmer for swearing at a trainer on the field, I’d argue that this is far more detrimental in terms of negative headlines for the club and if they’re fair dinkum they’ll read the Riot Act tomorrow morning , Peter Parr will front the media and he will say ‘enough is enough, this is the line in the sand moment, we’re not going to tolerate this sort of jibber anymore.’
“Off the back of that I think both of them are going to have to be issued breach notices and fines. Because if they’re going to breach David Klemmer and fine him for something that was trivial on the field with a trainer, you can’t cop this.”
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However Paul Kent fears stripping the captaincy could have the opposite effect and believes the club should “demand” Put “lifts his standards.”
“I would say to him ‘you’re the only guy at this club that can lead us out of trouble and we’ve paid you the money you deserve, you’re a senior player and an Origin start…’ and I would oblige him to start leading them out of the woods,” he said.
“If you’re going to spend that money on a player you’ve got to get a return out of him. The way to get the best out of Kalyn is not to banish him, not to sack him from the captaincy.
“I’m not excusing it, I would bring him in and give him the Riot Act but I’d say to him ‘you’re the guy mate’ and I would demand that he starts lifting his standards and he takes his teammates with him.
“If he’s got any sense of decency inside of him as a player from a football point of view he will respond to that.”
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Braith Anasta agreed.
“As much as he’s taken the mickey, this guy holds the key to success… you’ve got to get this blokes in your hip pocket,” he said.
“Kick him in the ass but say ‘this is it mate, this is your last chance.’ They should do some in-house stuff over the next 24 hours, teach him a lesson, scare the you know what out of him and go ‘c’mon mate.’
“If you just sack him as captain you start to lose your key player.”
Australian cricketer Marcus Stoinis has sparked fury after seemingly accusing Pakistan paceman Muhammad Hasnain of having an illegal bowling action during the Southern Brave’s seven-wicket loss to the Oval Invincibles.
Stoinis top-scored for the Brave on Sunday evening, dismissed by Hasnain for 37 (27) after sharing a 55-run partnership with Captain James Vince for the second wicket.
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The 32-year-old all-rounder attempted to slap a 142km/h short delivery down the ground, instead gifting England’s Will Jacks a regulation catch at mid-off.
But as Stoinis made his way towards the pavilion, he implied the 22-year-old’s bowling action was illegitimate by miming a chucking motion – a not-so-subtle jab at his recent suspension from the sport.
In February, Hasnain was found guilty of having an illegal bowling action after a Big Bash League umpire reported him during the Sydney Thunder’s victory over the Adelaide Strikers.
Hasnain underwent biomechanics tests in late January, with the findings from the Lahore University of Management Sciences confirming his action breached the ICC’s 15-degree limit for elbow extension.
The Pakistani quick has since been declared fit to bowl again after undergoing remedial work, and Stoinis could face disciplinary action for the misdemeanour.
The Age’s Daniel Brettig tweeted: “This is poor. There’sa system in place to regulate bowling actions and it doesn’t include publicly questioning your opponent’s integrity.”
The Times’ Elizabeth Ammon posted: “Wonder if Stoinis will be in trouble for this implication.”
Stoinis is not the first Australian cricketer to accuse Hasnain of chucking; During last summer’s second Sydney Smash contest at the SCG, Sixers captain Moises Henriques yelled, “Nice throw, mate” to Hasnain after he unleashed a bouncer.
“Right from the first game he played and through to the tournament, it seemed that there was a few question marks there,” Henriques told reporters at the time.
“I didn’t have the protractor out.
“I guess from my point of view, we already knew it had been reported. I feel like the umpires are a little bit hamstrung in terms of what they can actually do on the cricket field, because they’re so worried about backlash and public opinion.
“I could definitely argue that what he was doing was not in the spirit of the game.
“And I also agree that possibly I got a little bit emotional and frustrated and I was a bit overt with my comments out in the middle. But you know, I called a spade a spade and that was my opinion.
“From afar, he seems like a good kid… hopefully he can get that action right and pass the test and hopefully he can have a long career.
“As long as he’s playing within the rules of the game that everyone else has to abide by.
“Good luck to him. It looks like he could have a long future if that all gets sorted.”
Hasnain has represented Pakistan in eight ODIs and 18 T20Is since making his international debut in 2019, taking 29 wickets at 33.68.
The Invincibles chased the 138-run target with 18 balls to spare on Sunday, thanks largely to a blistering century from Jacks – the second hundred in the competition’s short history.
The 23-year-old smacked an undefeated 108 off 48 deliveries at The Oval, clearing the boundary rope on eight occasions.
Hasnain finished with figures of 1/27 off 15 deliveries, while Invincible teammate Reece Topley claimed 3/24 to help restrict the Brave to 6/137 from their 100 balls.
Elsewhere, Australian superstar Glenn Maxwell scored an unbeaten 43 (25) and snared a wicket in the London Spirit’s victory over the Northern Superchargers in Leeds.
The Brave will next face the Manchester Originals at Southampton’s Ageas Bowl on Friday morning AEST, with the first ball scheduled for 4pm.
Panthers fullback Dylan Edwards admits that Latrell Mitchell looks like he’s going to have an impact “every time” he gets the ball, ahead of their crunch clash on Thursday.
Mitchell has been in sensational form for South Sydney since returning from an almost three month injury lay-off against the Eels in early July.
The 25-year-old has been as his rampaging best with 42 tackle busts in just seven games, as well as 10 try assists, and four tries of his own.
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But his best performance of the year may have come against the Eels on Friday night, where he ran for an incredible season-high of 211 meters.
Rival fullback Edwards, who is a chance to return against Mitchell’s Rabbitohs on Thursday, was full of praise for the former Origin star.
“It looks like something’s going to happen every time he touches the ball,” Edwards said on Sunday Night with Matty Johns.
“(He’s) Pretty hard to tackle at the moment.”
South Sydney have made the most of Mitchell’s stellar form, winning six of their last seven to rise up the NRL ladder.
That one loss came in a golden point thriller against Cronulla, with Mitchell missing multiple field goal attempts that would’ve handed his side a key two-points.
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But Matty Johns still wasn’t convinced by the emerging premiership contenders, comparing them to a “nice Sunday drive” on his SEN radio show last week.
Johns believed that the Rabbitohs needed to maintain a higher level of intensity for 80 minutes, but his wish became a reality on Friday night.
“I’ve been waiting for this for South Sydney, an 80 minute effort and they certainly did it,” Johns said.
Crucially Cody Walker found his best football. The crucial thing for Cody is watching how he played his football game, is that Cody had more of a focus on the middle of the field if that makes sense.
“Linking with (Damien) Cook when Cook took off, rather than just trying to create numbers for his outside men.
“It was a performance where Cody just focused on Cody, and I thought that brought his best football out.”
Five-eighth Cody Walker scored two tries and forced two dropouts during what was one of his best games in Rabbitohs colors in recent memory.
Walker scored the opening points of the night after a clever link-up play with hooker Damien Cook caught Parramatta napping.
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Later on, the 32-year-old was in the right place at the right time as the ball fell to him, and allowed him to double his try scoring tally for the night.
Eels great Nathan Hindmarsh thought that Walker’s brilliance along, with Mitchell’s dominance, helped spur Souths on to a win over a “lethargic” Eels.
“Latrell playing back at his best, and then he can dominate the edges like he did on the weekend, so that leaves Cody with the opportunity to do what he does around the ruck,” Hindmarsh said.
“They just had tried. They had more intent than the Eels did, the Eels looked lethargic at times, well most of the time to be honest with you.
“Souths had this in them. They did it to the Eels earlier on in the season, they’re a dangerous side South Sydney.
“For me the disappointing thing for the Eels (was) not to score any points.”
While Souths would need an incredible win, and for the Storm to lose, to move into the top four, a win on Thursday will have a crucial say on how the ladder shapes up at the end of the season.
While Melbourne currently occupy fourth spot, they have three tough games to play against finals hopefuls Brisbane, the Roosters, and then the Eels.
However, it doesn’t get much easier for the Rabbitohs who have their own dates with destiny against the Cowboys and Roosters to finish the regular season.
An Australian class action law firm is taking on a subsidiary of Toyota over concerns that the carmaker faked data so that it could receive tax breaks from the government.
Bannister Law announced on Monday that it is investigating Hino Motor Sales Australia, which manufactures trucks and buses sold around the globe and is an affiliate of Toyota.
Hino has sold an estimated 860,000 vehicles with the promise of having low exhaust emissions and good fuel economy when the data had actually been faked.
Bannister Law said it was trying to see if Hino had breached the Road Vehicle Standards Act 2018 and the Motor Vehicle Standards Act 1989 and is considering launching a class action.
It comes just a few days after revelations from earlier this month that Hino Motors had falsified emissions data on some engines going back almost 20 years.
The truck-maker said an engine data falsification scandal had started as far back as 2004 and not in 2016 as previously admitted.
Globally, it’s understood there are 26 different engine types impacted by the tampered data, and 860,000 vehicles have been caught up in the scandal altogether. At least 39,000 Hino vehicles have been sold in Australia from 2012 to 2021, but it is unclear if all or just some of them were falsely represented to customers.
Hino had to recall 47,000 vehicles made between April 2017 and March this year over the data scandal. An additional 20,900 will be recalled in the near future.
Bannister Law is calling for all Australians who owned or leased a Hino vehicle at any point between 2004 and 2021 to register in an online form.
It is so far unclear which truck models were impacted by the scandal.
Just three days ago, to US law firm, Lieff Cabraser, started a class action against Hino over the same concerns.
“Lieff Cabraser is investigating reports that Hino Motors and majority Hino owner Toyota Motor Corporation (the Japanese parent of Toyota North America) have publicly admitted to intentionally cheating on their bus and truck vehicles’ emissions,” the legal company stated.
The case has been brought to the Southern District of Florida and the firm confirmed it was seeking more than $5 million in damages.
In March this year, Hino announced it had discovered widespread tampering evidence dating back to September 2016 and engaged an independent committee to investigate.
But in early August, that committee came back with a damning report that found the malpractice stretched back as far as 2004.
Investigators stated in their findings: “Hino cannot escape the determination that it made a false report.”
It was also discovered that a tax reprieve was a key motivator behind the malpractice.
Hino “aimed to achieve the fuel consumption standards in order to be eligible for tax preferential treatment but failed to achieve its goal, and thus, it engaged in misconduct by intentionally adjusting the calibration values of the fuel flowmeter in order to meet the specification values required. for application,” the report also stated.
Data was also falsified by measuring “the idling fuel flow quantity before the fuel flow quantity was stabilized and engaged in misconduct by intentionally selecting advantageous fuel consumption data”.
The findings, led by committee chairman Kazuo Sakakibara, claimed employees were not offered “psychological safety” and were “unable to change” due to the company’s past successes.
Representatives at Hino said the scandal was brought on by an “environment where engineers did not feel able to challenge superiors”.
Hino’s president Satoshi Ogiso apologized to reporters after the report’s bombshell findings, claiming the company’s management took its responsibilities and public image seriously.
Mr Ogiso said he received a message from Toyota president Akio Toyoda, who reeled at the scandal, accusing Hino of betraying the trust of company stakeholders.
In a statement, Hino said it “deeply apologizes for any inconvenience caused to its customers, shareholders, investors and other stakeholders”.
“Hino is currently investigating the impact of these matters on its earnings and will disclose any updates as appropriate in a timely manner,” it added.
News.com.au has contacted Hino for comment.
Bannister Law won the recent class action against Toyota for DPF issues and also won cases against Volkswagen and Audi. It is currently conducting a class action against Mitsubishi.
With Port Adelaide’s prison bar guernsey out of bounds, skipper Tom Jonas has declared he’ll be happy to beat Adelaide in whichever guernsey he’s given on Saturday night.
Club chairman David Koch has been fighting a losing battle to gain permission from Collingwood for Port’s players to don the fabled prison bars in their home Showdown at Adelaide Oval.
But winning, not his wardrobe, is on Jonas’s mind in a natch that matters no matter when it’s played in a two-team town, more so given the Crows won the first stoush in 2022.
“It would be nice to wear the prison bars, but that’s a decision that is well beyond me,” Jonas said on Monday.
“I’ll run out there and beat the Crows in whatever they want me to wear.
“Certainly, we were on the wrong end of it last time and we want to make amends for that, for sure.
“I don’t think there’s any such thing as a dead rubber when it comes to a Showdown. There’s a huge amount of pride on the line.
“Essentially, there’s bragging rights around the state and you can walk around with your chest puffed out.”
The clash of cross-town rivals could be Robbie Gray’s farewell match, with the five-time Showdown Medal winner mulling retirement.
The four-time All-Australian, who was rested for the 84-point thumping of Essendon, has played 15 games this season to take his career tally to 270 but has been hampered by persistent knee problems.
Jonas remains unsure which way the 34-year-old is leaning as he considers his future.
“Robbie is a very private person,” he said.
“He’ll make the decision that’s right for him at the right time.
“I’m sure that he’s consulting all of the people that are important in his life.
“As far as I’m concerned, he’s an absolute champion of our club … he’ll do what’s right for him and the club at the right time.”
The Power bounced back into form in emphatic fashion against the Bombers, with the lopsided victory at Marvel Stadium snapping a four-game losing streak that dashed finals hopes.
While pleased with the performance, many fans will be left asking why Port was unable to perform at the same high standard more consistently in a season that started with premiership aspirations.
“There’s a lot of factors that go into that,” Jonas said.
“We’ve played some really quality sides in the last four to six weeks and Essendon are probably at a similar point in their season where you’ve got to find motivation and I think we had a great purpose and that made a huge difference.
“We got a good run on and played some exciting footy.
“Why we haven’t been able to do that consistently is the question we’ll be asking ourselves over the pre-season.”
The 52nd meeting of Adelaide’s AFL rivals will bring both clubs’ seasons to a close, but there is no shortage of motivation for each side despite the lack of a finals angle.
The Crows, who will take the momentum of a three-game winning run into the clash, famously claimed Showdown bragging rights earlier this season when Jordan Dawson kicked the winner after the siren.
When the current history of Hollywood gets written, April 19, 2022 will go down as the day that everything changed.
It should have been a routine earnings call during which Netflix co-CEO Reed Hastings took tech and business reporters through the company’s latest figures. Instead, Hastings revealed that the company had lost hundreds of thousands of subscribers for the first drop in numbers in 10 years.
The revelations immediately set off something of an earthquake from Wall Street to Los Angeles, with $75 billion in value being wiped off the company’s value in 24 hours.
Why this matters are the consequences this precipitous, stunning reversal in fortune could have for two people about 450km south of Netflix’s headquarters, in the wealthy enclave of Montecito.
In the course of that one earnings one call, not only did the streaming giant’s once-unassailable hold on the entertainment industry come unstuck, but so too did the supposedly cashed-up future of Harry and Meghan, Duke and Duchess of Sussex, start to look much less certain.
Monday marks 712 days since the world learned on September 2 2020 that the newly self-emancipated Sussexes had signed a reported $US140 million ($A197 million) deal with Netflix via no lesser news outlet than the New York Times with the story trumpeting the duo’s “new Hollywood careers”.
But today, those “new Hollywood careers” have yet to actually take off while once mighty Netflix has lost more than $US200 billion ($A280 billion) in value (yes, billion with a ‘b’) this year.
Nearly two years on from all the self-contributory ballyhoo of September 2, 2020, the landscape for both the titled duo and the streamer has significantly shifted beneath them all.
Will – or even can – the Sussex/Netflix marriage survive?
Not only have the fortunes of Netflix lurched wildly since 2020 but so have Harry and Meghan’s.
At the time the deal was announced, it seemed like the most obvious and logical pairing: Two of the most famous people in the world would worthily churn out documentaries or some such; inreturn; Netflix got to tout the fact that they had a real life Duke and Duchess on their books. Harry and Meghan would get squillions; the company would reap the rewards of the PR coup of the decade.
However, the royal duo are not exactly the sizzlingly-hot property they were back then now are they?
More than 30 months have passed since Harry and Meghan absconded from a life of stifling royal duty for the greener pastures of California and that lucrative embrace of corporate America.
In that time they have managed to ink a series of headline-making deals, including also with Spotify, the coaching company BetterUp and with Ethic, a fintech asset manager, along with launching their charitable foundation and undertaking a seemingly never ending parade of photo opportunities. .
On paper it sounds like it’s been a whirligig of achievement and just the sort of industrious self-starting that America was founded on. Except … what have they actually achieved?
Yes, they have made a series of donations to causes ranging from the World Food Kitchen to helping fix a women’s shelter’s roof after a storm which reflects their generosity and hunger to help others. Kudos. But writing a check here and there is hardly the sort of work that will ever see them make the long list for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Sadly, for two people who seem to truly care, there is not one issue, not one cause they have really moved the needle on since they embarked on this new life of theirs.
More importantly for their Netflix and Spotify paymasters, they have failed to genuinely set themselves up as leading voices of the day. They might do their darnedest to sell themselves as inspiring leaders but the proof is in the flaccid pudding that was the lackluster turnout to Harry’s recent UN speech from him.
The international community was hardly turning up in droves to hear him speak while Washington has largely ignored them.
Meghan’s cold-calling of senators about paid parental leave last year went down about as well as a gluten and dairy-free scone at a Buckingham Palace garden party and the Duchess has yet to emerge as any sort of powerplayer ahead of the midterm elections later this year.
In late June, the former actress took part in a conversation with feminist pioneer Gloria Steinem for fashion after the horrendous quashing of abortion protection, saying: “Well, Gloria, maybe it seems as though you and I will be taking a trip to DC together soon.”
Nearly two months on, the Duchess has yet to turn up inside the Beltway.
The bottom line is this: Harry and Meghan have proven totally unsuccessful at making themselves matter in the corridors of power in Washington, New York, Silicon Valley or Los Angeles.
The magic dust of their royalty has largely dulled in the last two years and the novelty factor has worn off. So too has their deal-making momentum seemed to have waned with them not having announced any other venture since July 2021 last year when it was revealed Harry was busy working on a memoir.
Things might look different today if in the last 712 days the Sussexes had been churning out series after doco after one-off specials for Netflix, but as we all know, that is not the case. The company has only ever publicly announced two Sussex projects: Harry’s documentary about the sporting event for wounded armed services personnel Heart of Invictus (an amazing initiative he started years ago as a working member of the royal family) and an animated children’s series from Meghan called Pearl.
In early May it was announced that Netflix was axing the Duchess’ show as part of a much bigger cost-cutting move, with numerous high-profile projects canned as the streamer dramatically tighten their belts.
Then later the same month came news that the company was about to get, as Page Six put it, their “pound of flesh” from the duo with the revelation that Harry and Meghan were already filming something called an “at home” docu series which has a hint of the ignominious about it. (More recent reporting has suggested that Netflix wants it to air before the year is out.)
Potentially hundreds of millions of dollars are riding on this docu series for the self-supporting, private jet-flying, polo-loving Sussexes.
If it turns out that the Duke and Duchess are TV gold, if they are about to demonstrate that they are binge-worthy stars who can pull in streaming viewers globally, then their US careers are set. Get another polo pony! Hell, buy seven.
But, if they fail to live up to the hype and the rhetoric? The huge sums being touted and all those lovely millions supposedly coming their way could dry up faster than a Californian lake.
(And it’s not as if their docuseries is likely to feature much royal access given that Harry and Meghan were embarrassingly sidelined by The Firm when they were in London for the Platinum Jubilee.)
Netflix is clearly a very patient company when it comes to their superstar recruits. Take Barack and Michelle Obama who signed to Netflix and Spotify after they left the White House.
However, this week, Harry and Meghan will break the Obamas’ track record of the 716 days which elapsed between their Netflix deal being announced and their first marquee project starring one of them, coming, being released. (And in the interim they had released two children’s shows and produced two documentaries, one of which won an Oscar.)
Harry and Meghan might have titles and the Buckingham Palace Wi-Fi password but that is not enough of a distinction for big companies to merrily tip millions into their bank accounts for the chance to work with them. They have to actually do something to provide themselves.
They can’t just hope they can coast along on the whiff of a mothballed HRH here forever more.
Since that earnings call in April, Netflix has laid off hundreds of staff and made the drastic decision to finally introduce advertising to the platform. Can the company still afford to carry big name stars who don’t deliver on their books?
Just how much patience and faith will this newly humbled Netflix have for their yet-to-perform big-name hires?
To some degree, the same goes for Spotify too here.
In April, Meghan’s first outing for the audio giant called Archetypes was announced, promising a “groundbreaking” series would launch during the northern summer. With only weeks to go before autumn begins, again, the clock is ticking.
Daniela Elser is a royal expert and a writer with more than 15 years’ experience working with a number of Australia’s leading media titles.
Sydney FC has added further English Premier League experience to its squad with the signing of attacker Joe Lolley.
Lolley, 29, made six appearances for Huddersfield Town in the 2017-18 Premier League season.
Since then he has spent the past five seasons in the second-tier English Championship with Nottingham Forest, helping then gain promotion the Premier League for the 2022-23 campaign which started this month.
However, having been deemed surplus to requirements at Forest, he grabbed the chance to move to Sydney FC, where he will team with another ex-Premier League player in former Everton, Manchester City and Sunderland midfielder Jack Rodwell, who joined the Sky Blues last week after a season with Western Sydney Wanderers.
“I’m extremely excited to be joining Sydney FC,” said Lolley, who has signed a two-year deal with his new club.
“I know there’s a lot of expectation to win every season, which is a great challenge,
and they’ve got a fantastic plan in place to do that, which really attracted me to
make the move.
“I really appreciate the intent shown by the club in bringing me to Sydney.
“The club expects to win and I’m looking forward to getting on the pitch with the lads
ahead of the season starting in around eight weeks.”
Sydney FC coach Steve Corica said Lolly had “proven quality at a high level in England”.
“He is the type of player we were targeting and we had to be patient to secure him,” Corica said.
“He brings a goal threat with his ability to cut inside and can also pick a pass.
“He’s got great energy, an amazing ability to carry the ball and works hard for the
team.
“Fans love him because he gives his all and I know he was hugely popular at
Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag reportedly canceled a planned day off for his players and forced them into a humiliating running exercise as the fallout from the shock Brentford defeat continues.
Ten Hag, who oversaw a successful pre-season but has endured a nightmare start in the Premier League, was helpless as he watched his side capitulate at the Brentford Community Stadium.
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It was United’s second straight defeat after the opening day loss to Brentford and consigned the Red Devils to the bottom of the Premier League ladder for the first time in 30 years.
And according to The Telegraph’s Jason Burt, ten Hag was furious with what his team served up against the Bees and ordered his team to come to the club’s training ground for a punishing extra session.
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“With United not playing again until next Monday, at home to Liverpool, ten Hag had intended to allow his squad not to report to their training HQ, Carrington, for a recovery day,” Burt wrote.
“Instead, having told the players that their performance was ‘shocking’ and agreeing with the post-match analysis that they had played ‘like kids’ ten Hag demanded a response with an intense training session which, surprisingly after a game, included an element of running.”
Over the course of 90 minutes, United ran 95.6km as a team while Brentford chalked up 109.4km.
The shocking margin was another element of ten Hag’s brutal punishment, as Burt claims the Dutchman forced his players to cover 13.8km throughout the training session conducted in 30-degree heat, “exactly the distance they collectively ran less than the Brentford players during the game .”
With a clash against bitter rivals Liverpool on the horizon, things could get much, much worse before they get better for ten Hag and Manchester United.
