You will probably have noticed that the grumbles are starting to grow about Sam Burgess and his decision to not turn out for England’s mid season Test Match against France. The two other English players taking part in the NRL, Gareth Ellis and Mark Flanagan, both play for the West Tigers and both have made…
You probably noticed I didn’t post the lineups for the City vs Country game that will be played on Friday Night at the same time as the Australia vs New Zealand Test match. I haven’t looked at the lineups in any depth, I don’t know where the game is played (I have a feeling its…
Well Australia face the World Champion New Zealand Kiwi’s this Friday night down in Melbourne. It will be the first event held at Melbourne brand new rectangular stadium that will become the home of the Melbourne Storm. Looking at both lineups, I don’t think either team has gone out to experiment too much. Both teams…
Lets start off by saying, I love the Melbourne Storm. I personally hope they can keep their core together, surround them with minimum wage youngsters and come back in 2011 and win the comp. I think they may at least be forced to lose one of their top players, which is unfortunate. As you look…
They were once one of the NRL’s powerhouse clubs. The team everyone else wanted to be like, and yet over the last decade the Canberra Raiders have found themselves having to make do. Struggling with financial problems and unable to attract big name players, the club looked at taking a different direction. Sure it caused…
Its a little ironic that a sport founded on the basis of an open market for players and compensating players for the time and effort they put into the game not finds itself in a position where it tightly regulates what players are worth and shouts down any attempts for a player to earn as…
In 2010 the Melbourne Storm find themselves $700,000 over the 2010 salary cap and that figure is expected to climb over the next few seasons if the Storm were to keep the side they have. David Gallop has already said he will not accept players taking mass pay cuts to keep the side together as…
When Israel Folau exploded onto the Rugby League scene, you got the feeling that he could be anything. A huge center for the Melbourne Storm, he made a name for himself with his high flying leaps, catching kicks from Cooper Cronk, and being an amazing athlete. Ironically because of salary cap restraints, and a desire…
It was the end. You just had to ask the hacks in the media who were quick to point out that they had nothing to play for, no one cared anyway, and we might as well just forget Melbourne, the second largest city in Australia, and look to Gosford, the…..well, Gosford. A funny thing happened…
A salary caps job is to do two things. First and foremost, its designed to stop clubs spending more than they can afford. When the salary cap has not been in effect in sports, you see clubs falling over chasing dreams they simply can not afford. The second thing a salary cap does is even…
Sometimes it can feel like its a bit of a meat market, and while most players make good, sound decisions, others base their decisions on the wrong factors. I’ve always been a big believer on sticking with something good. When the magic is happening, when everything is going great, don’t leave a club for big…
There is something very special about players who play out their entire career at one club. It feel right. You see them come into first grade as a youngster, follow the highs and lows of their career. You see them reach their peak, playing brilliant football, and then they face the battles that come with…
Obviously the Melbourne Storm are under the pump at the moment and you will find a lot of the good old fashioned Rugby League alarmists talking about the complete demise of the club. That would be great for the game, we could then look to expand the comp in 15 years time and wonder why…
The Melbourne Storm have deceitfully breached the NRL salary cap over a total of five years. They over spent $1.7 million dollars over five years that they filtered through a second set of books that they did not submit to the NRL. As a result, the NRL has stripped the Melbourne Storm of two NRL…
After a much publicized world wide search the Rugby Football League has announced that Steve McNamara is the man to coach England into the next World Cup. Damn….. The Rugby Football League have been comical in the way they have appointed coaches over the last decade. Ask yourself this, if the Great Britain/England team was…
When I was four years old, the Cronulla Sharks were my favorite team. The reason was because I liked the Sharks logo, it was cool. In fact my first every footy jersey is a tiny little Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks jersey. When I went to primary school a year or so later, my favorite players was a…
After a terrible start to their season, the Parramatta Eels made a decision that it would cease all contract talks with their off contract players until such time as the team turned things around on the field. The backlash was fairly swift. The players were not happy at all. They were filthy the decision was…
The Gold Coast Titans had a great year last year, but when it came to finals football, they were just way short of the mark. Two major problems showed up for the Titans. First, they didn’t seem to be able to step up and play at a higher level, a higher gear. While great teams…
Sam Burgess is a young player who is already playing Test football for England. He is playing for the Bradford Bulls and basically, he could name his price, and how long he wants to stay there. Want a five year contract? It would be under his nose as soon as the printer could spit it…
Stupidity is a curse that no one asks for. It is a weight that one carries through their entire life. Footballers tend to get a reputation for being stupid. That can unfair in some instances as we have a lot of intelligent players in the game these days. Many run businesses and some excel in…
Over the last 20 years, when ever Great Britain or England have come to Australia to play a series or any kind, it has resulted in failure on an epic scale. That their best tour in that time frame was coming third in a three team competitions, where one of the top two sides lost…
When the machines take over and our robot overlords nuke the entire planet….two things will remain. Cockroaches and The Glorious King Of Rugby League……League Freak! No I’m not closing my web site. What are you, some kind of idiot? As if I am ever going to give up the great fight. You couldn’t kill me…
I don’t need to tell you what a shambolic farce Great Britain and England have been at International level over the last 30+ years. Promises are made, lots of big, bold statements, a big build up, and then, well…we all know what happens. The fact that we are coming off of a Four Nations competition…
I’ve been pretty quiet lately and there is a reason for it. I’ve had other interests in my life take over recently and I just don’t have time to run this web site any more. Its been a good run, but I guess all good things must come to an end. My web site started…
As a football junkie, the Melbourne Storm deadset make me damp every single week. The effort required to get up and produce the goods week after week, year after year, its astounding what they have managed to achieve. Just trying to stay motivated after so many Premierships, so many Grand Finals, and yet not team…
I’m not sure where the push is coming from, I’m guessing lazy journos getting fed “news” from an anxious player managers, but there are been a bit of news recently regarding the future of Sonny Bill Williams. First there was talk he wanted to go back to New Zealand and play for the All Blacks….
The Canterbury Bulldogs have a problem. They have invested a lot of time and money in a player who now wants out of the club. Ben Hannant signed a 3 year deal with the Canterbury Bulldogs after the Brisbane Broncos chose not to offer him enough money. He moved to Sydney with his young family,…
Rightly or wrongly, a variant of a sport was added to the Olympic Games recently when the IOC decided to add Rugby Union Sevens to their program. The move was a big boost for the IRB, who have spent a lot of money to get into the Olympics, which has included making up teams in…
The pass was forward, no doubt about that. The Manly Sea Eagles are filthy about that pass. They have ever right to be as well. It was a mile forward and neither one of the referee’s or touch judges noticed it. Hold on, how did we get here? Go back to last Monday night, and…
On the weekend Gareth Thomas played his first Super League game since switching codes from Rugby Union. As a 35 year old Rugby Union player, there expectations were not high at all. In the whole world there are maybe a dozen people that could play in Super League at 35+ years of age, and all…