I'm not after sympathy as my experience was nowhere near as bad as Will's as it wasn't unprovoked or a coward punch. I never threw a punch and it was all over in about six seconds. It's what happened afterwards that scared me. I got up, shook myself off and walked home thinking well, that's over and just forget about it. Was I ever wrong.

That week I started getting headaches so I went to the doctor and had X-rays. I had a 10mm bleed on the brain. The doctor said no footy and no work for six months. That hit me harder than the geezer who hit me.

I'm the first one to laugh and see the lighter side of life and especially love taking the mickey out of myself, and never take myself too seriously. Anyway, I started having mood swings and my emotions were all over the place and it started affecting my family.

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It got that bad that I had to go and get professional help. It almost ruined my marriage, I had thoughts of suicide, revenge, I was angry, depressed, jealous, couldn't sleep, couldn't eat, was always looking over my shoulder, avoiding people, bursting into tears for no bloody reason and all these other issues.

It cost me about $6000 from loss of income, seeing a shrink and my other medical bills. This went on for years but I gradually came good with help from my family and friends. These days I have learnt to walk away, keep my mouth shut and avoid people that do these things as they obviously have issues and listen to people who have experienced these things.

I hope Will and his family come through this horrific attack and I wish them the best for the future.

The Andrews Labor government must match a NSW fodder transport subsidy that's making it harder for drought-affected Victorian farmers to source feed.

From July 1, drought-affected farmers in NSW can access up to $40,000 more in subsidies to transport hay and feed, both from NSW and from interstate. The NSW subsidy is making it even harder for drought-affected Victorian farmers to get fodder when they need it most. Some will debate the efficacy of subsidies but at a time when fodder is in high demand and supply is dwindling, we can't afford to leave Victorian farmers unfairly disadvantaged.

Labor's Agriculture Minister's excuse for refusing to act is that Victorian farmers can access up to $3500 in cash grants instead. I just don't see how that compares. While NSW has this subsidy in place, the Andrews Labor government has no choice but to match it and make sure drought-affected Victorian farmers aren't left behind.

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