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Wests Tigers captain James Tamou says his "heart dropped" when he realised a verbal attack on referee Ben Cummins may have ended his NRL career.
Late in the Tigers' record-breaking 72-6 loss to the Sydney Roosters, Tamou knocked on and conceded a penalty for throwing the ball away in self-admonishment.
He turned his frustrations on Cummins and was sin-binned for dissent in the 79th minute but had his punishment upgraded to a sending-off for calling the referee "f****** incompetent" as he left the field.
Usually calm and collected, the veteran's brain snap was indicative of how frustrating a night it was for the Tigers, who left the SCG having suffered their heftiest defeat in joint-venture history.
"I apologise for my actions towards Ben Cummins," a forlorn Tamou told reporters.
"(The referees) do a terrific job. The frustration got the better of me."
Tamou is set to face suspension and could be referred directly to the NRL judiciary on Sunday morning without having the option of entering a plea.
Melbourne hooker Brandon Smith was referred for calling referee Adam Gee a "cheating bastard" in July, and keen on deterring players from committing similar offences, the judiciary banned him for four weeks.
A two-week ban would rub Tamou out for the remainder of the season but the 300-game prop forward said he would accept any punishment handed down.
"I'll wear the criticism all week. I've got to be accountable for my actions," he said.
"I've let everyone down. I've let myself down. I'm embarrassed.
"I've got four kids at home and that's how they're going to see that their dad acts."
Tamou's contract runs out at the end of the year and he will be 34 by the time the 2023 season begins.
While he is in negotiations to extend his career by at least another year, Tamou said the possibility of his retiring on such inauspicious terms was difficult to swallow.
"I didn't think of that until someone just mentioned it. My heart dropped," he said.
"It would be a tough way to go out of a game that has given me a lot.
"It'd be great to go around again but I'm also a bit of a pessimist. If the time comes to hang up the boots, I'll be a realist and go out and find a job."
Post-match press conferences are not mandatory for NRL captains but Tigers interim coach Brett Kimmorley applauded Tamou for choosing to front the media.
"Jimmy was the first one to put his hand up and say, 'I want to come and do the press conference' and make himself accountable," he said.
"That's says more about the stature of the man than 300 games."
Roosters captain James Tedesco has played for NSW in the State of Origin alongside Tamou and said he felt for his Tigers counterpart, who has led the playing group through a difficult year.
In 2022, the Tigers have endured the mid-season dismissal of coach Michael Maguire, long-term injuries to key players Adam Doueihi, Luke Brooks and Jackson Hastings and will finish the season with their worst win-loss record as a joint venture.
They can likely only avoid their first wooden spoon by winning one of their remaining two games.
"It's probably just a build-up of frustration over the year for Jimmy," Tedesco said of Tamou's spray.
"A lot of (the Tigers) were pretty frustrated with the scoreline and how they were playing."
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The Deloitte Access Economics report, released on Sunday, found Australia's labour market was a stand-out success during the COVID-19 pandemic, as evidenced by the jobless rate falling to a near 50-year low 3.4 per cent in July.
Also positive was the labour force participation rate, which now hovers around a record high at 66.4 per cent.
Report lead author David Rumbens said government spending had buoyed the labour market but warned it was now largely up to the private sector to keep it going.
Mr Rumbens said pandemic-era border closures combined with a tight labour market meant there were now more job vacancies than unemployed people.
"Net overseas migration was positive for the first time since the onset of COVID," Mr Rumbens said.
"More than net 29,000 people arrived in the December 2021 quarter, although that only unwinds around 26 per cent of the net 113,000 people lost to overseas migration over the previous 18 months."
With skilled migration at a fraction of pre-pandemic levels, Deloitte partner Fiona Webb urged Australia to show it was "open for business" by cutting red tape.
This was in the context, the report found, of the economy shifting to a more skilled and knowledge-based workforce, with jobs in the sector forecast to grow around 2.1 per cent or 39,300 workers, yearly between now and June 2032.
"Alongside policy to ensure we are developing the necessary skills for the future within Australia, there needs to be a focus on overhauling our needlessly complex skilled migration system to ensure we can also attract workers with the skills we need," Ms Webb said.
"The highest order priority is to clearly signal to the world that Australia is open for business. Our pandemic-era border policies created a lingering level of uncertainty among potential skilled migrants.
"They want to know they will be able to get in and out of the country without complication and have greater certainty about longer-term options to remain in Australia - that is, pathways to permanent residency."
The report also urged Australia to expand its humanitarian migration program, describing the long-term benefits of doing so as "profound" for both economic and social metrics.
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A teenage motorcyclist has been airlifted to hospital after a two vehicle collision at Tongarra south of Wollongong.
Emergency services were called to the Illawarra Highway near the Green Valley Bike Park after a KTM motorcycle and a utility towing a camper trailer collided at about 4.30 pm.
NSW Police said the 16-year-old male motorcycle rider sustained serious injuries and was treated by NSW Ambulance Paramedics before he was airlifted to St George Hospital in a critical condition.
The 52-year-old male driver of the utility was uninjured and was taken to hospital for mandatory testing.
The accident closed the Illawarra Highway in both directions for over an hour.
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A chlamydia vaccine for koalas could increase the species’ resistance to the potentially fatal disease in a trial in south-west Sydney, which is part of an almost $1.7 million NSW Koala Strategy investment across the region.
Minister for Environment James Griffin said the focus of the vaccine trial is to help protect the species in the south-west Sydney region, home to one of the few growing koala populations in NSW.
“Chlamydia is a serious issue for koalas, leading to blindness, infections and infertility in this precious species. This disease weakens koalas and can make them more susceptible to dog attacks and other threats,” Mr Griffin said.
“That’s why as part of the more than $190 million NSW Koala Strategy and the Cumberland Plain Conservation Plan, we’re investing more than $600,000 towards keeping the Campbelltown koala population free from chlamydia, including through a vaccination trial.
“The NSW Koala Strategy is the single largest investment in any species in Australia, aimed at tackling multiple threats to the species and securing more habitat to protect the future of koalas in the wild.”
Koala carers, Campbelltown and Wollondilly Council and the University of Sydney teams involved in the chlamydia vaccine trial will be able to use a new rapid chlamydia testing machine to minimise the time koalas are in care.
Additional actions in the NSW Koala Strategy to support south-west Sydney koalas include:
- $600,000 for Landcare to support communities to conserve and restore koala habitat
- $140,000 to fund koala habitat restoration in the Campbelltown and Macarthur region to repair koala corridors
- $200,000 for vehicle strike mitigation works, including a koala underpass on Heathcote Road, to protect koalas from the threat of cars
- $146,000 for mapping koala habitat and corridors and for monitoring koalas in Wollondilly.
Member for Wollondilly Nat Smith said the south-west Sydney community deeply cares about its koalas and this funding will be an opportunity for them to become more involved in their conservation.
“South-west Sydney is one of 10 focus areas identified in the NSW Koala Strategy as important koala populations that will benefit from more intensive investment and action,” Mr Smith said.
“Koalas in Wollondilly will be better supported by a $146,000 investment to map their habitat, preferred corridors, and monitor their activity.”
The Greater Sydney Landcare Network will deliver a $600,000 project to educate the community about the health and safety of koalas and support local conservation and habitat restoration.
Greater Sydney Landcare Chair Bev Debrincat said it is proud to partner with the NSW Government as a Koala Strategy regional partner.
“Koalas are an iconic NSW species, and the broader community and conservationists in the area will benefit greatly knowing that this significant population will be well-served by the whole community working together in a co-ordinated effort,” Ms Debrincat said.
The NSW Koala Strategy focuses on conservation actions under four themes:
· $107.1 million for koala habitat conservation, to fund the protection, restoration, and improved management of 47,000 hectares of koala habitat
· $19.6 million to supporting local communities to conserve koalas
$23.2 million for improving the safety and health of koalas by removing threats, improving health and rehabilitation, and establishing a translocation program.
$43.4 million to support science and research to build our knowledge of koalas.
For more information visit www.environment.nsw.gov.au/koala
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