Up to seven Panthers are in the Origin conversation, so how will coach Ivan Cleary help his competition leaders survive the representative period.

‘Wine mum’ culture spiked during COVID-19 as lockdown forced work and school at home. Now experts are pointing to a darker side.

Fremantle and North Melbourne will play at Optus Stadium without crowds on Saturday night after the West Australian government introduced a lockdown.

Perth is entering a three-day lockdown and a Melbourne airport terminal has been declared an exposure site after a Victorian man contracted COVID-19 in one of the city’s quarantine hotels.

The tug-of-war over Matt Burton is set to blow up, with Penrith’s chief executive urging Canterbury to release the in-form centre from his deal to join the Belmore club next year.

Did you spot the animated artwork on the Brunswick silos last weekend? Projectors in the hands of a growing number of artists is transforming urban facades.

Australia’s minimum wage panel called for feedback on the delayed pay rises it awarded last year, attracting a rebuke from the trade unions.

The week in photos from the award winning Sydney Morning Herald and Financial review photographers.

Sport photographic coverage in The Sydney Morning Herald newspaper

NSW will place a three-day lockdown restriction on anyone arriving in the state from Perth or the Peel region after a new coronavirus case was detected in WA.

India, Malaysia, Singapore and the United States are also lending Indonesia a hand to locate the KRI Nanggala-402 vessel and its 53 submariners.

A woman who helped her boyfriend evade police after he killed an intruder with a samurai sword should avoid prison, her lawyer says.

The Wallabies and Rebels star hasn’t played for almost six months due to concussion but Haylett-Petty is still keen to get back on the field.

The Latrell-less Rabbitohs will look to keep the pressure on Penrith at the top of the ladder when they face the Titans. The same applies for the Eels when they take on the Broncos in the day’s late kick-off.

Jamie Kah is on course to make history, not only as the first female jockey to ever win the title, but also crack the magic 100-winner target.

He hasn’t officially started at Cronulla yet but Craig Fitzgibbon might still have a say in how the club tries to revive their season.

Cronulla players sledged Adam Elliott during a trial after the love triangle involving former teammate Michael Lichaa emerged, and the Dogs forward is not fazed if there’s a repeat on Saturday.

Health authorities are weighing up the risks of global coronavirus hotspots and the number of cases arriving in Australia to decide on more travel restrictions.

The latest coronavirus lockdown imposed on West Australians would impact several big sporting and cultural events planned for the long weekend.

Federal Women’s Safety Minister Anne Ruston said “anything that has the potential to make a difference” would be considered as part of a new national domestic violence plan.

The variant of COVID-19 detected in India is no terrifying ‘double mutant’ but is a sign of how outbreaks anywhere in the world continue to pose a serious threat to Australia.

The US has proven it has returned to international leadership with its climate change summit, while Australia remains a reluctant partner.

Nine people including bystanders and police have been treated by paramedics after a fire in the bedroom of a Waterloo unit where a young boy suffered critical burns.

Western Australia is again facing a snap lockdown after COVID-19 cases spread in hotel quarantine, with the latest including a man who flew to Melbourne and subsequently tested positive.

The news comes after an outbreak was identified at the hotel on Wednesday with the virus spreading among quarantining guests in separate rooms. 

The news outlets being sued by Ben Roberts-Smith have lost their bid to include in a defamation trial evidence of new allegations of serious criminal conduct against the former SAS soldier over his conduct in Afghanistan.

Queensland Senior Constable Brett Forte was ambushed and gunned down by wanted man Ricky Maddison in 2017.

There are a few things inevitable in this world; death, taxes, and now – in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic – we can add ‘panic-buying at the mere mention of lockdown’ to that list.

It is both so wrong and yet so right to be talking to the beloved author about masturbation.

Kings Cross should be revived as Sydney’s neon heartland with bright signage like the iconic Coca-Cola billboard spreading through the precinct under a major plan to transform the area.

Susan Johnson’s latest novel engages the reader with promises, expectations and twists of plot.

Max Whitby is happy to share in the fun of running Masked Crusader in The Everest with his slot partners, who own the exciting sprinter.

The medal was found at Beaumaris beach in 1980 before detective work by one police officer this year saw it returned to the soldier’s family in the lead-up to Anzac Day.

The contemporary art exhibition is held across three Sydney galleries every second year. This year is the best yet - and the Museum of Contemporary Art triumphs.

NRL boss Andrew Abdo warned fans that anyone caught sending abuse to players would be referred to the police.

Tom Berry has nine excellent chances on a strong program that only lacks the two greats, Verry Elleegant and Addeybb.

Life and poetry uncannily entwine on the singer’s new album with Warren Ellis.

The actor-turned-director had no intention of playing the lead role in Land, but circumstances - and the weather - decided otherwise.

The online Prototype series takes a fresh approach to the moving image.

This year the Herald and Age have chosen three debut novelists for the annual best young Australian novelist awards.

Fiona Murphy’s encroaching deafness meant she had to reconsider her identity and her sense of self.

I thought that if I stayed in Sydney I would never be a great writer. But I have discovered there is no place like home.

One of eight excellent books recommended this week, Marco Missiroli’s novel is a subtle novel exploring fidelity in marriage and sexual relations.

In 1973 our artists had begun establishing an Australian identity. Patrick White won the Nobel Prize for Literature and the world gasped at our Opera House.

A cast of convicts performed Australia’s first play at Sydney Cove in 1789. But by the end of the 19th century the heart of entertainment was in the home.

The Miles Franklin winner explores why art for indigenous Australians has always been a form of protest.

Only two thirds of domestic violence protection order breach cases were solved between 2019 and 2020, with police reporting a lower clearance rate on the previous year for the offence in the state’s latest crime report.

The man completed his two weeks quarantine and boarded a Qantas flight from Perth to Melbourne on Wednesday, sparking concerns he may have spread the disease in the community.

Australia may be able to outstrip the goal of reaching net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, Prime Minister Scott Morrison says.

Sven Mislintat has made a career out of finding value in places where others don’t bother to look. Alou Kuol could be his next great success story.