The ARL Independent Commission was set up with the goal of being able to stand above self interests and agenda’s and do what is in the best interests of the overall game. In the past, Rugby League administrations have been political beasts. They have had to answer to clubs, who are always out to look…
Last night in England the Rugby Football League was supposed to announce all of the venues that would be used for the 2013 World Cup. For what ever reason, that did not happen and in all the confusion about why the announcement wasn’t being made, it felt like the RFL just decided to announce what…
Every time Johnathan Thurston appears on the Footy Show, he laughs. People love his laugh too. If you’re on Twitter when Thurston is on the Footy Show you will see your timeline light up with people going on and on about it. Last night was a classic Footy Show appearance for Thurston as he got…
Last night in England the Rugby Football League was supposed to announce all of the venues that would be used for the 2013 World Cup. For what ever reason, that did not happen and in all the confusion about why the announcement wasn’t being made, it felt like the RFL just decided to announce what…
St Helens officially sacked Royce Simmons today and have appointed Head of high performance Mike Rush as coach. This is a move that came way too soon and one that smacks of a club that has lost all perspective on its true standing within the game. St Helens is facing the stark reality that has…
Daly Cherry-Evans is a 23 year old halfback that has proven himself in big games, won a premiership with the Manly Sea Eagles and represented Australia. You simply don’t get many young halfbacks that tick all of those boxes. I don’t mean right now in 2012….I mean ever! Right now Daly Cherry-Evans is one of…
There are some really good Rugby League players running around in the NRL. Players that are game breakers. Players that are so important to their club that any sort of injury to them is a crushing blow to their teams premiership aspirations. I can understand when the media focuses on these players. What I don’t…
I always find it very interesting when someone within Rugby League tosses up an idea that is used in another sport, when it is clear they have no idea how that idea is applied in that sport, let alone how it would be applied to Rugby League. The latest idea is the draft, and internal…
When Phil Gould took over as the Penrith Panthers General Manager the first thing he did was pretty cheeky. During a Channel 9 game Gould started calling the club the “Sanyo Panthers”. At the time Sanyo was the clubs major sponsor, and when Gould started calling them the Sanyo Panthers, he somehow managed to do…
Last Friday, the 2nd of March, a significant event in the history of the New Zealand Warriors occurred with expatriate New Zealand businessman Owen Glenn purchasing a 50% shareholding in the club. Glenn and current owner Eric Watson finalised and signed of the deal with NRL CEO David Gallop in Auckland on Thursday evening, the…
I really don’t like doing season previews. They just don’t get me fired up. Still, I know you lot want to see what I’m thinking about the 2012 NRL season so here we are. This season is going to be a close one. The worst team in the comp probably won’t be that bad, and…
Wests Tigers forward Gareth Ellis has been granted an early release from his contract enabling him to return home to England at the end of the 2012 NRL season. Ellis is one of only a few English players who looked to come to Australia and test himself in the worlds toughest rugby competition. He has…
So I’m watching Rambo 3, which is my favorite of all the Rambo movies, and I’m thinking about which of today’s current action stars match up with the all time list of the very best action heros. I put this question to my Twitter followers and the responses were varied. It also threw up the…
It is a series in which every single game rates as highly on TV as the Grand Final. I would argue that State Of Origin is the most identifiable product that the game has Australia wide. Recent speculation suggest that any television station that wants to broadcast the three game State Of Origin series will…
How good is it to go into a Rugby League season and feel optimistic about the club? Its been a long time for us Panthers fans since we could feel positive towards the club. For so long it was a closed shop. No one was accountable for their behavior off the field or their failure…
It was over 12 months ago that Christchurch was rocked by a series of powerful earthquakes that flattened buildings, destroyed infrastructure and claimed many, many lives. It was heartbreaking to watch. Our Kiwi brothers and sisters got up that morning, and it was like any other day. They went to work not realizing that some…
Being an MMA fan and a Gamer, its understandable that when I heard UFC Undisputed 3 was coming out I was pretty excited. I had played UFC Undisputed 2010 and it was a very good game, but felt like it was 85% of the way to being a great game. I knew that the next…
The Independent Commission has been in place for just a few days and yet we are already seeing a lot of interesting development happen in regards to the next round of expansion for the National Rugby League competition. Already there is talk that Perth may be the venue for the end of season test match…
It is the dream scenario for the National Rugby League, the worst case scenario for Fox Sport and it would be a deal that would change Australian television in a very dramatic way. The Sydney Daily Telegraph article Channel Ten to attempt to snatch NRL broadcast rights from Channel Nine outlines moves by Channel 10 to broadcast…
For well over a decade News Limited was part of the business. A 50% owner of the NRL, heavily involved in broadcasting rights, they had their fingers in all the pies and made hundreds of millions of dollars out of the game. Now, they are no longer at the table when it comes to the…
It took a long time but they finally got it done. The old ARL has been dissolved, News Limited has left the building and now the Independent Commission is finally in charge under the name of the Australian Rugby League Commission. The handover occurred yesterday at Moore Park in Sydney where the new HQ for…
He is off contract at the end of the season and for the last few years, he has been less than enthusiastic about re-signing with the Canberra Raiders. Now, news has emerged that Josh Dugan is facing speeding charges after being clocked doing 105kph in a 60kph zone. On top of this, Dugan was unlicensed,…
This week we saw and interesting court case in which Optus were ruled to not be breaking any laws by allowing its customers to record free to air television programs on a personal DVR and then stream that recording to their mobile devices and computers as early as 2 minutes after that television program started….
In the history of top grade Rugby League in Australia, there are only 16 players since 1908 that have played 300 or more clubs games. Think about that for a moment. For the thousands of players who have pulled on one of the famous Rugby League jerseys of either an NSWRL, ARL or NRL club,…
The Rugby Football League has signed a three year deal with trucking company Stobart. The deal involved Stobart putting large Rugby League themed stickers on 100 of their trucks and involves no money. In exchange for this the Super League competition will carry the Stobart. This is insane! Nothing against Stobart, they’ve done a great…
You’ve waited through the long off season, and now, with the season just around the corner, your team is starting to play trial matches. So how much can you get out of trial games? How much can you take from trail game results? You can do all of the fitness work you like, but nothing…
Paul Vautin had hosted The Footy Show every single year since 1994. He is the worst host in Australian television history, and that is what makes him so great! In an industry of talentless try hards who have the personality of a wet cardboard box, Fatty is still a breath of fresh air. There are…
There is something about Rugby League that really pisses some people off. I can not think of another sport anywhere else in the world that is supposed to justify its existence, as well as its ability to survive long term, despite the fact the tough old bastard has been around since 1895. It is not…
Today it has been announced that the Sydney Cricket Ground will be upgraded with funding from the Australian Federal Government of $50 million, the NSW State Government tipping in $86 million and the SGC Trust itself spending $50 million as well. This will see the venues capacity boosted from 45,758 to 48,000. Wait, what? That…
So yet again Rugby League is talking about a “super secret meeting” that happened over a coffee in public. The story is that Sonny Bill Williams met with the Sydney Roosters chairman Nick Politis and Channel Nine supremo David Gyngell at “secluded” Circular Quay to all but finalize a return to the NRL for the…