Rear Window

A mystery bidder, Gina Rinehart and Brisbane’s missing public artwork

The Hopoate Fingers is Brisbane’s most beloved public artwork. Will it fall into moneyed hands?

Mark Di StefanoColumnist

Dec 6, 2024 – 5.00am

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If rugby league player John Hopoate is known for anything, it’s that he kept jamming his fingers up the bums of opposing players.

In 2001, the Wests Tigers player was suspended for three months after being caught doing it to three different players. And the sheer absurdity of what was coined “The Hoppa” – the act of sticking your index finger upward and … well, you get the picture.

Mark Di Stefano is Rear Window columnist, based in the Sydney newsroom. He previously worked at BuzzFeed, the Financial Times and The Information before joining the Financial Review as a media and tech correspondent.