NSW

Soward's Blues team: Why Cleary shouldn't be picked yet

All things being equal with injuries and form, Cleary is going to be there for the next 10 years.

But for me, Cameron Smith's retirement press conference on Tuesday told us everything we need to know about Origin. The Queensland captain, who has more experience in the interstate arena than anyone else in history, spoke about how draining each campaign can be.

For a 20-year-old halfback, it's unfair to bring him in off, at best, two weeks' game time and preparation, which starts this Thursday against his old man's Wests Tigers side.

NSW set to rival Queensland for Indigenous representation

While the Origin teams aren't named for another three weeks, there are more players of Indigenous heritage under genuine consideration for Blues selection than in any previous series, with the possibility of a three-quarter line-up featuring Blake Ferguson, Latrell Mitchell, James Roberts and Josh Addo-Carr.

Wade Graham is expected to be selected if fit, while Tyrone Peachey is in strong contention for a utility role, and Jack Bird and Nathan Peats are incumbent members of a Blues team which last year fielded more Indigenous players than the Maroons for the first time.

NSW series win within reach: Fifita

For he and 16 other NSW teammates – 13 of which are yet to experience a series win – the opportunity could not be any more perfect with the Blues fielding an unchanged line-up for the first time in over two decades.

While much of the talk heading into State of Origin II has centred around how Queensland are going to contain Fifita and the Blues forward pack in a bid to level the series, the man himself has other ideas. 

Vivid Sydney uses sounds, touch to bring light festival to vision impaired people

Vivid transforms landmarks across the city using light, colour and sounds and attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors each year.

But making the spectacle accessible for people with limited or no vision is a challenge, particularly when it comes to what is arguably the highlight of the show, the lighting of the sails at the Opera House.

Fifita's stunning off-field generosity

The 27-year-old is a true believer - that what you give comes back to you - and makes time every week for the youngsters he coaches while also making regular pilgrimages to hospitals and the like to help in any way he can.

Fifita also believes it's important to never forget where you came from and his time growing up in poverty in western Sydney and some tough times after deciding to make the trek out to Griffith as a 16-year-old have paved the way for his current determination to always give back wherever he can.

Skin-whitening uptake sparks concern among Australian dermatologists

"Chinese people like whitening, [they consider it] beautiful — whitening and brightening because it's good," she says, smiling.

The smile is genuine, as Amanda is a fan herself.

"I use this one in the morning and at night … it can make your skin look very healthy, very clear," she says.

"It's very popular."

And this popularity is on the rise with the market for skin lighteners projected to reach $US23 billion ($30.5 billion) by 2020, according to market intelligence firm Global Industry Analysts.

Woman endures months of unnecessary chemo treatment after being wrongly diagnosed with cancer

The case was revealed in the latest annual report from the NSW Health Care Complaints Commission.

The report did not name the hospital in which it occurred, but the ABC understands the woman received treatment in the private sector in 2014-15.

The report said the woman was told she had stage four liver cancer by a surgeon who looked at her CT results, but did not order any other tests.

The surgeon referred the patient to an oncologist who recommended six months of chemotherapy without doing further tests.

Pick Tedesco for Origin, not me: Morris

Morris – one of the heroes of NSW's 2014 series win – would have been an absolute certainty for all three games this year if fit but has only just returned from a long-term knee injury and would have just two games under his belt in nine months if picked for Origin III.

Speaking after his hat-trick heroics in his return game against Brisbane on Saturday night, Morris shut down any talk of an Origin recall.

Frizell makes immediate Origin impact

While Queensland have quietly ushered in the next generation of the Maroons over the past two Series the Blues can take heart from the fact that many of their best performers inWednesday night's 26-16 loss are in their maiden Origin series.

Words Phil Gould used to inspire Blues

Speaking with long-time Balmain, NSW and Australia teammate Steve 'Blocker' Roach for the New South Wales Rugby League's 'Turn Back Time' series, Elias opens up on the difficulty of breaking into rugby league as a diminutive youngster of ethnic background in the early 1980s and the coaches who influenced his career along the way.