Opinion

There’s a fire in Jack Della Maddalena that drives him to not just succeed, but to do so in a spectacular fashion. Winning the title by knockout would validate his hard work and showcase his skill and power.

PAUL MURRAY: At some stage, the Liberals need to cauterise the gender wounds which are now routinely inflicted on the party by its political opponents as being anti-women.

JUSTIN LANGER: Being ‘dropped’ by the nation would be incredibly hurtful, but politics like sport is not for the faint of heart.

WATCH: In Newsworthy, Ben O’Shea discovers Pope Leo XIV put Trump, Vance on blast in historic social media posts, and MAGA is losing it. Plus, the BIGGEST losers from Albanese’s Cabinet reshuffle revealed.

BEN HARVEY: Being leader of the opposition is always the worst job in politics but especially so after the caning we saw on the weekend. 

MITCHELL JOHNSON: Kagiso Rabada’s secret drug ban has the hallmarks of something we might see in the AFL and cricket can’t let it happen again.

EDITORIAL: Not once did Adam Bandt accept so much as a skerrick of responsibility for the result which has seen the party he led for five years lose three quarters of its Lower House seats.

RICHO’S TOP 10: I have my say on the Rioli saga, Freo’s dramas and my favourite player of the week — but I have to get THIS off my chest.

MARK RILEY: In the post-apocalyptic gloom of Sunday morning, a bunch of current and former Liberal advisers shared their views over WhatsApp on the enormity of what had just happened.

KIERSTEN DUKE: After suffering a thumping loss in the Origin opener Queensland need to tackle a glaring deficiency in their game if they are any chance of sending the series to a decider.

EDITORIAL: It’s time for Nine chair Catherine West to come clean on the $700,000 hush money the network paid a witness in the Ben Roberts-Smith case.

PARMY OLSON: Tech companies should explore ways of designing products that help rather than hinder mental development — and it’s time to have a broader conversation about creating healthy boundaries with AI.

JENI O’DOWD: The perks of working from home are real, but so are the downsides. From isolation to career stagnation, the cracks are starting to show — and we need to talk about it.

Harvey gives a brutal history lesson to the MPs vying to replace Peter Dutton, revealing statistics which suggest the new Federal Opposition Leader will never see inside the Lodge except as a visitor.

EDITORIAL: The Liberals have been left a rabble. The result has exposed the folly of the party for not properly examining the reasons why it lost the 2022 election. It glanced inward and carried on.