And NSW fans loved him for his epic State of Origin performances.

As such, Tooheys featured a picture of him when they announced they’d be sponsoring the Blues for the next four years.

This sponsorship is pretty controversial in footy- and beer-land. You see, for those who don’t know, VB has sponsored NSW for the past seven years. In that time, the Blues won only one series.

As for Tooheys, it previously sponsored NSW for 13 years  from 1991. The Blues won seven series in that time.

Given this, fans have understandably suggested that Tooheys is a good omen and VB a bad omen.

We can’t say for sure whether VB cursed NSW.  But we do know many NSW fans never really liked Blues jerseys being sponsored by a beer with Victorian heritage.

Thing is though, Tooheys will be a shorts’ sponsor not a shirt sponsor. 

Carlton and United Breweries coughed up $1 million a year to have VB on NSW jerseys. Tooheys will apparently splash out the same amount to be a shorts’ sponsor. 

The new sponsor for the front of NSW jerseys is yet to be named, but some media reports suggest it could be The Star Sydney casino, which is already a “commercial partner” with the Blues.

Grog and gambling, hey? Could there be more fitting sponsors for our state’s esteemed rugby league side? 

Banter about the beer sponsorship came thick and fast on Tooheys’ Facebook page.

Mark McKinley: “You Cane Toads can't even spell beer... that’s why you just have XXXX”.

David Mansfield was much more upbeat: “Bring back the glory days, with glorious Tooheys New!”

Tooheys responded: “That’s the plan mate”.

Mark Lynch wasn’t too kind to Tooheys: “I wouldn't clean me [yes, he spelt it that way] BBQ with that putrid muck”.

Jamie Peters took a more cerebral tone: “A little bit of info here for everyone saying how great [it is] to have a company from NSW sponsoring the team again. VB is owned by Carlton which is owned by Fosters which is owned by a Belgian company. But Tooheys is owned by Lion in New Zealand, which is owned by a Japanese company. And XXXX is also under the Lion banner, so both teams will be supported by the company”.

Bruce Grantham said: “It gets better. The VB blue cans [an Origin promotion] were brewed in Queensland. So you had NSW Blues sponsored by Victoria Bitter brewed in Queensland. No one could script that”.

As far as we knew, the reason FIFA didn’t select Australia to host the 2022 World Cup was because we didn’t grease enough palms. 

But it turns out, there may well have been more to the story.

Former NSW premier Kristina Keneally shared some inside info at a dinner at East Maitland Bowlo last Friday.

Maitland MP Jenny Aitchison, who hosted the event, said the story related to FIFA members paying a visit to our sunny shores to check out whether we had the goods to stage the world’s biggest tournament.

“They were met in Queensland by [former premier] Anna Bligh, then by Kate Ellis who was federal minister for sport in Sydney. Kate took them to speak to Kristina, who took them to speak to [former prime minister] Julia Gillard. Kristina knew we weren't getting the World Cup when she heard one of them say: “Is this whole country run by women?”.

Topics called last week for a ban on the use of sir and madam, except at royal gatherings.

This prompted a discussion among readers about students addressing female teachers as miss in the classroom and elsewhere.

Topics then asked why students shouldn’t call teachers by their first names. We thought we were being a bit radical and original. As it turned out, we weren’t the first ones to think of this.

Bron Rayner emailed Topics, saying “I teach seniors at ASC [All Saints College] Maitland. I hate the term miss.

“Everyone calls me Bron. I respect my students by learning and using their name, so I prefer they use my name.”