The News Ltd-backed National Rugby League (NRL) is apparently planning to name its coach of the year award after coaching legend Jack Gibson who died last Friday aged 79. Gibson won five premierships, two of them at Easts (1974-75) followed by a record-breaking hat trick at Parramatta (1981-82-83). Without wishing to detract from the super coach’s iconic status, it should be noted that Gibson made his considerable early wealth as an illegal SP bookie. A daring punter in his own right, Gibson followed the nags with his good friend Ken Arthurson, a former boss of the Australian Rugby League (ARL). Gibson’s wife, Judy, is the daughter of the late Joe Taylor, who ran Thommo’s illegal casino in Surry Hills for almost half a century and owned Birthday Card, winner of the Golden Slipper in 1962. Gibson was a great coach and, by all accounts, a good bloke. However, the league hacks at News Ltd shouldn’t get away with turning him into a saint.

NSW minister Frank Sartor is one of those politicians whose websites are stuck in the past. His website lists him as Minister for Science and Medical Research and Minister assisting the Health Minister even though he’s no longer in these roles. There’s nothing about him being Minister for the Arts and it mentions Peter Debnam as Opposition leader.

I wondered how Tiger airlines could afford to sell tickets between Canberra and Melbourne for $39.00, but now I know. Sell the tickets but don’t let the passengers on the plane! My partner and some of her friends attempted to travel from Melbourne back to Canberra with Tiger on Sunday, they were at the ticketing desk 30 minutes before departure, and could see other passengers going through the boarding gate, but the extremely unfriendly Tiger staff wouldn’t give them a boarding pass, and told them to go and buy a ticket on the next available flight, two days hence.

One of the liquor manufacturers who specialised in the cheaper end unbranded RTDs is talking about a new product release in about four weeks — with all of us guessing it is a wine based version to access the preferential taxation treatment that wine gets.

In the wake of the Susan Chandler anti-semitism affair, which Victorian Liberal staffer and former aide to Robert Doyle is fond of referring to mysterious restaurant etc fires, as a “Jewish stocktake”?