It was an Inner West festival surrounded by a circus, minus the elephant in the room. Zac Lomax was nowhere and everywhere during Parramatta’s 40-6 romp over Cronulla. Notable by his absence amid the nasty legal stoush between club and player, and also apparently forgettable because a full-strength Eels side did not need him to run all over a weakened Sharks side. No Lomax, no worries? It’s definitely not that simple. At least the occasion was joyfully uncomplicated: Henson Park is back, baby, and top-flight footy is better for it. Jets fans and Newtown Beer Footy Food Festival regulars among the almost 9000 spectators know the iconic venue has always been there, but Sunday was 36 years in the making. The upgrades look the goods. Albo took his dog. A van selling choc tops ...

Anthony Albanese surveys the hill at Henson Park on Sunday evening.Credit: NRL Photos

Is Tigers kid Tino the new Coates?

The leap wasn’t quite as long as Xavier Coates’s 6.5m jump for his 2024 hall-of-fame try for Melbourne, but the mechanics of Tino Tavana’s body-bending corner-flag effort for the Tigers on Saturday might be one of the most difficult in recent memory. Haven’t heard of him? Ah, but you would have seen the 21-year-old Narellan junior hovering horizontally in the air, too far outside the field of play and too close to the ground to possibly override his own momentum and ground the ball inside and over the line. Except that Tavana possesses the contortion skills of a pretzel and may have already bagged the try of the season before said season has even started. Indeed, it took something special to upstage Heamasi Makasini’s hat-trick of tries at McDonald Jones Stadium. And even though the Roosters lost 42-26, Rex Bassingthwaighte’s performance looked very much like one of a rookie fullback destined to become James Tedesco’s successor.

Bulldogs bound for Vegas........

© Brisbane Times