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Australia's track cyclists have bulleted to three triumphs in London's Olympic velodrome in a golden start to their Commonwealth Games campaign.

The men's sprint team and the women's pursuit quartet both roared to record-breaking triumphs on Friday.

It came after the remarkable Paralympian Jess Gallagher and her sighted pilot Caitlin Ward kicked off the gold digging at the scene of the 2012 Olympics by earning Australia's very first gold of the Games in the tandem blind and visually impaired sprint.

Still, though, amid the flag-waving, there was a sense of frustration about the end of an era as Australia's flagship men's pursuit foursome failed to make the final at the Games for the first time ever.

They had to settle for a bronze, after winning the race for third against Wales, but a four-medal start at least ensured Australia were in pole position to dominate the track program as they have in the last seven editions.

The evergreen Matt Glaetzer put the seal on the evening, picking up his fourth Commonwealth gold as he brought home the men's team sprint title with a hammering of England's trio after dazzling work from his lead-off man Leigh Hoffman and powerhouse Matt Richardson.

"It really does mean extra for me," said Adelaide's Glaetzer, reflecting on a terrific comeback after needing surgery to fight thyroid cancer and suffering injury woes.

"It's been a tough couple of years but I knew I was capable and wanted to deliver some more medals for Australia."

The trio set a new Commonwealth Games record of 42.042 seconds, after also setting a new mark of 42.222 in the qualifying ride.

Gallagher, at 36, smiled that she was "getting better with age" after she and Ward won their final two races to nil against Scotland.

Already the only Australian to win a medal at the summer and winter Paralympics, she added: "To think I can have an impact on others, inspire them to chase their dreams - whatever part of life - that's an honour for me, very humbling."

Minutes after her win, Georgia Baker, Sophie Edwards, Chloe Moran and Maeve Plouffe blitzed their pursuit final, clocking 4:12.234 to easily beat a New Zealand team, who were effectively down to three competitors because of an earlier injury to one of their key riders, by 5.750.

"Definitely the start of a new era," beamed Baker, the elder stateswoman at 27 next to Edwards (22), Moran and Plouffe (23), predicting that "definitely, we could be world record breakers."

The big shock came with the men's pursuiters, as the Australians had won gold or silver at every edition since the event was added to the Games program in 1974.

Indeed, it was only four years ago the squad broke the world record in Brisbane.

But the new-look, inexperienced quartet of Luke Plapp, Josh Duffy, Conor Leahy and James Moriarty could only qualify third-quickest on Friday morning behind fastest qualifiers New Zealand, who went on to beat England in the final.

There were a couple of near-misses for Australia too with the women's team sprint trio of Kristina Clonan, Bree Hargrave and Alessia McCaig losing their bronze medal ride-off with Wales.

And James Wootton and pilot Luke Zaccaria posted the fastest time in the men's tandem 1km time trial, only for the next three teams to edge them out of the medals.

Scottish great Neil Fachie won his fifth Games gold medal, combining with pilot Stewart Lewis, with Wales second and England third.

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Image: Adam.J.W.C., CC BY 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons (image for illustration purposes only)

Ivan Cleary is resigned to the fact his son Nathan could miss the rest of Penrith's regular season through suspension but warned that the Panthers star would come back with a point to prove.

The Penrith halfback could be missing for his side's build-up towards the finals after being sent off for the first time in his career on Friday.

The Panthers are one win from clinching the minor premiership but are now staring at an extended period without the 24-year-old after he was dismissed in the first half of their 34-10 defeat to Parramatta.

Nathan was sent off for a spear tackle on Eels playmaker Dylan Brown and will await the adjudication of the NRL's match review committee on Saturday morning.

Luckily for both players, Brown did not suffer a serious injury to his head or neck.

Owing to a previous charge earlier in the season, Nathan could miss the Panthers' five remaining regular season games if hit with a grade-three charge.

"I think all the boys know if they've been in that position they'd feel the same," said Ivan.

"I don't think he meant to do it. He's done a fair bit for our team over the years.

"I know Nat pretty well and this will fuel his fire for later."

The Panthers are already without five-eighth Jarome Luai and face tough assignments against Canberra, Melbourne, South Sydney, the Warriors and North Queensland.

Much of the attention will shift to Sean O'Sullivan, who will be tasked with guiding the Panthers over the coming weeks.

Ivan will be hoping Nathan is shown some leniency by the NRL, given he wasn't the only Panthers player involved in the tackle which contributed to the out-of-control throw on Brown.

"Nat was underneath and Liam Martin at the top, and Fish (James Fisher-Harris) was going to come in too," Ivan said.

"Nat took his base away and probably lifted a little bit too much.

"We would expect that point for the guys at the top to control that part of it but there was no control there and that's how it ended up where it did."

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Image: https://www.flickr.com/photos/naparazzi/, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

The country's chief medical officer has upgraded the federal response to monkeypox in the wake of the World Health Organisation listing the disease as a global emergency.

Monkeypox has now been declared a communicable disease incident of national significance.

The declaration means the response to monkeypox will have national coordination in order to assist states and territories with outbreaks.

The declaration also means monkeypox will require national policies, interventions, public messages or resources to assist affected areas.

There have been 44 cases of monkeypox so far in Australia, mostly from returning international travellers.

Chief medical officer Professor Paul Kelly said work was already underway to ensure a quick response to the disease.

"Although I have declared monkeypox to be a communicable disease incident of national significance, it is far less harmful than COVID-19," he said in a statement.

"There have been no deaths reported during the current outbreak outside of countries where the virus is endemic.

LIVE: Media briefing on #monkeypox, #COVID19 and other global health issues with @DrTedros https://t.co/cmzoAvg6C7

— World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) July 27, 2022

"Monkeypox is also not transmitted in the same way as COVID-19, and is far less transmissible."

The national incident centre has been activated to help provide coordination to deal with monkeypox.

Prof Kelly said most cases of monkeypox have been among people between 21 and 40 years old, and among gay and bisexual men.

"Although monkeypox is not usually considered a sexually transmissible infection, physical contact with an infected person during sexual intercourse carries a significant risk of transmission," he said.

"Intimate physical contact such as hugging, kissing and sexual activities represent a risk of infection, with infectious skin sores being the likely mode of transmission."

Rashes involved with monkeypox usually start on the face before spreading to other parts of the body, including the palms and hands and soles of feet.

Other symptoms include fever, chills, body aches, headaches, swollen lymph nodes and tiredness.

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