NRL club filthy at Origin coach

What makes the Tigers' gripes with Brad Fittler extra spicy is the club's chairman Lee Hagipantelis is the owner of Brydens Lawyers, which is the main sponsor of the NSW Blues.

The Herald reports he has asked club officials to reach out to Fittler after not having a Tigers player selected to represent NSW since he took over three years ago.

The most recent snub is Dally M winger of the year David Nofoaluma, who missed out on a spot to Josh Addo-Carr and Daniel Tupou.

Watch this space.

The race that stops the nation is just a day away and Aussie punters are feverishly poring over form guides in preparation for handing over their hard-earned cash.

Our expert has Surprise Baby saluting and you can read why here in a full runner-by-runner guide of the race.

If you're more about the off-field colour, check out these memorable snaps of people having a little too much fun from year's past.

Oleksandr Usyk is going to force the issue and demand a fight with British superstar Anthony Joshua after defeating Derek Chisora on Sunday.

Usyk, a former cruiserweight champion, is now the mandatory challenger to Joshua's WBO heavyweight title and is a spanner in the works of AJ's plan to fight Tyson Fury for the undisputed championship.

Joshua (Kubrat Pulev) and Fury (yet to be announced) both have bouts planned before the end of the year but want to fight each other with everything on the line early next year.

But if Joshua fights someone other than Usyk he'll need the WBO's approval – or have to pay Usyk step-aside money – to keep hold of his belt.

Conor McGregor's mooted rematch with Dustin Poirier appears a done deal, but it likely won't be for the lightweight title.

UFC boss Dana White said over the weekend he expects 155-pound champion Khabib Nurmagomedov to fight again – even after the Dagestani announced his retirement following his recent win against Justin Gaethje.

As a result White isn't vacating the belt, so McGregor-Poirier will have to be for an interim title or a number one contender's spot.

Elsewhere, White is having a hard time finding an opponent for New Zealand star Israel Adesanya.

The middleweight champion wants to fight again soon but number one contender Robert Whittaker is heading for some well-deserved time off after back-to-back wins over Darren Till and Jared Cannonier. That left White and Adesanya looking at a tilt at Jan Blachowicz's 205-pound belt, but the light heavyweight champ says he doesn't want to fight until March either.

I have heard that Israel Adesanya wants to face me next. No problem, If you are ready to fight in March, let's do this. Prepare for a some fireworks guys 💥👊#LegendaryPolishPower

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Arsenal won away at Manchester United in the Premier League for the first time in 14 years as Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s penalty earned a thoroughly deserved 1-0 win for the Gunners on Sunday.

United’s run without a home win in the league stretches to six games as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s men sink to 15th in the table.

Starved of the chance to counter-attack by the visitors’ disciplined set-up, United were far from the threat that thrashed RB Leipzig 5-0 in the Champions League in midweek.

Arsenal have struggled for goals of late, but were gifted the chance to win the game by Paul Pogba’s mis-timed lunge on Hector Bellerin and Aubameyang’s first league goal since the opening day of the season moved Mikel Arteta’s men up to eighth.

Victory also ended a run of 29 games without a win away from home for Arsenal against their ‘big six’ rivals stretching back to January 2015.

Elsewhere Southampton held on for a 4-3 win against Aston Villa after leading 4-0 and Everton threw away a chance to draw level with Liverpool at the top of the table by losing 2-1 to Newcastle.

Lewis Hamilton delivered another constructors championship to Mercedes by winning the Emilia-Romagna GP earlier this morning, but he didn't give them long to celebrate.

Hamilton still hasn't signed a contract for next season and, perhaps in a bargaining ploy, said his future in the sport isn't guaranteed after beating home teammate Valtteri Bottas and Australia's Daniel Ricciardo.

"I don't even know if I'm going to be here next year," Hamilton said. "I would like to be here next year but there's no guarantee of that, for sure. There's a lot that excites me of the after-life. So time will tell."

His boss, Toto Wolff, didn't take the bait.

"If he were decide to step out of Formula 1, which I don't think's going to happen and I hope is not going to happen, then I think we're going to have a pretty frantic driver market out there," Wolff told reporters.

"But I think it's the (heat of the) moment, it's the emotions. We are all happy but very tired also."

Lewis Hamilton helps Daniel Ricciardo enjoy a shoey. Picture: Getty

It seems like there's a battle going on in New Zealand over which Kiwi journalist can create the most headlines in Australia during the Bledisloe Cup.

After the New Zealand Herald's Gregor Paul basically called the Wallabies soft, his colleague Chris Rattue has one-upped him by writing "Dave Rennie's Wallaby side is crap" in a piece published after the All Blacks' 43-5 rout in Sydney over the weekend.

"Many of their players are barely test quality, and they have been prepared in an inferior domestic competition during Covid-19," Rattue wrote.

"Having falsely promised so much in Bledisloe I, these Aussies may actually be worse than anticipated which is an absolutely dire place to be for a beleaguered Aussie sport desperate to earn more from better ratings."

It's hard to argue with them after Saturday night.

Brad Crouch's future is up in the air. Picture: Getty

The major news of the AFL's free agency period on Sunday was St Kilda making an official offer to Adelaide midfielder Brad Crouch – and then the league reportedly disappointing the Crows by suggesting they'll only receive pick 23 as compensation if they let Crouch walk.

Adelaide had been hoping Crouch would be considered a band one player, which would have netted them a first-round draft pick in return – and because they finished bottom in 2020 that would have made it pick two.

Surely there’s no one in the @AFL who genuinely thinks the @Adelaide_FC deserve pick #2 compensation for Brad Crouch.

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Adelaide is now considering whether to accept pick 23, knock it back and attempt to bring St Kilda to the trade table – or simply keep Crouch in South Australia.