Once upon a time I could name you every single player in the Australian Cricket team. I could name everyone in the NSW Cricket team and even players on the fringes who played Sydney club Cricket. I could name most of the players in other state teams too. It was easy! Then something happened. Cricket…
Ian Schubert, the NRL’s salary cap chaperone, has had some devilishly intricate contracts to review over the years. However, there is one from a different kettle of fish and loaves that stretches his abilities more than most, and with Israel Folau’s return to the land of league imminent, he’s about to tussle with its particulars…
Note: This deal fell through after the NRL salary cap auditor could not give the Eels a ruling on Folau’s true value under the cap. After waiting a while, Folau chose to sign with the Australian Rugby Union. Israel Folau has quit the AFL and will return to Rugby League. Brent Read of The Australian…
Well its that time of the year where we all dress up as our favorite monsters and go from house to house asking for sweets and chocolate. If you are not given anything you are then allowed to beat the home owner to death with sticks. I’m pretty sure thats how it works anyway. I…
Scott Prince will be playing for the Brisbane Broncos next season after securing a release from the Gold Coast Titans. Prince’s contract is for two years and its is an interesting signing by the Broncos because they have Peter Wallace and Corey Norman who play in the halves for them last season. I’ve said a…
The problem a lot of Super League teams are faced with is spending more money than they make. That is the simplistic answer to the financial issues dogging the likes of Salford, Castleford and Hull KR. The salary cap sits at £1.65m. That means that clubs can spend up to that limit on wages and…
For well over a decade now the game of Rugby League in Australia has been crying out for a strategic plan. Something that the game can work towards to give fans, players and various investors in the sport something they can look forward to. Basically the game needed to build towards something, and so today…
It is an issue that fires up a lot of fans and one I think is pretty clear cut. What happens when a clubs finds itself in a perilous financial situation and is fighting for its life. Should a governing body step in and take control of the situation, or should they stand back and let things…
Mick Potter has finally been announced as the next coach of the Wests Tigers after ridiculous amounts of speculation by the media. There were no less than three other coaches who were “signed and sealed” according to some journos, and none of them were Mick Potter. Potter has had stints at the Catalan Dragons, St…
With the Salford City reds currently await a winding up petition hearing and the recent spate of big clubs going bust, it begs the question, what does the future have in store for Rugby League in England? Last season we saw one of the biggest clubs in English RL History, the Bradford Bulls arrive at…
The South Sydney Rabbitohs have announced that they will take on Papua New Guinea in their Return To Redfern clash at Redfern Oval on Saturday 9 February next year. It it one of three pre season games they will play including a game the following week against the Knights in Gosford and of course the…
I always find it interesting to look at crowd numbers in Australia sports because they are influenced by so many different variables. One thing I have never been able to understand is the way Rugby League in Australia looks at crowd numbers, and more specifically, growing those crowd numbers. Considering that Rugby League in Australia is…
Benji Marshall is one of about 5 people within Rugby League today that can win a game all on his own. Forget how his team is playing, forget how far ahead the opposition is, when Benji Marshall is at his best he is simply unstoppable. The 2012 season has been a pretty average one for…
English Rugby League fullback Sam Tomkins has narrowly avoided death after being attacking by a white lion in South Africa. Tomkins, who is part of the English squad that is currently undergoing altitude training incorrectly thanks to the RFL, was taking in some of the local wild life when the vicious animal snapped and almost tore his…
It happens every single year… After a Super League champion has been crowned the attention of the English Rugby League media turns towards their participation in the World Club Challenge. Every single season we hear the same thing from Super League clubs, they all say they would love to play the World Club Challenge in…
You can never have too much of a good thing, expecially when that good thing is me! So this post is all about making sure you are hooked up to the entire League Freak experience! First of all the best thing you can do is bookmark this web site. It sounds simple enough but you…
What a great achievement! Australia managed to beat New Zealand in Townsville 18-10 while being led from the front by a player born and raised in New Zealand who our officials and coaches recruited thanks to the possibility of at least $10,000 for every State Of Origin game he was selected to play in. What a proud moments for the…
I love international Rugby League. I grew up watching test football and enjoying every single minutes of it. I would set my alarm late at night to watch games played over in England, and I still credit the 1994 Kangaroo Tour for giving me the terrible sleeping habits I have today. Then Super League hit,…
The great game of rugby league, saturated in rich heritage and underpinned with a revered history, will forever find itself jousting with the feisty and youthful beast of progression. The sport has been constantly churned through the stamping press of time and subsequently embossed with evolutions like video technology, floodlit night games, convoys of on-field…
The New Zealand Warriors are expected to announce that Matthew Elliott will coach the club for two seasons starting from 2013. This is a disastrous decision that will cost the club players, sponsors and fans. It is a decision that will lead to the complete erosion of any advantages that the Warriors have built over many years of hard…
Well the club seasons on both sides of the world are over, and with no Four Nations to look forward to, I think it is fair to say that the silly season is already upon us. I know, I know, we have some internationals still to play in Europe, but still, lets not ruin a…
My oval-shaped pigskin heart almost flat-lined on the weekend thanks to a Sabbath sans rugby league, but with the aid of an unheralded sliver of light that poked through the vile post-season darkness, I was able to survive and tell my tale today. The saviour smelt like oil and bourbon and aggressively attacked my ear…
If the 2012 season showed us anything it was that a great coach is worth their weight in gold to any club. With top coaches now commanding million dollar salaries, clubs are more than aware that a top coach controls the entire destiny of a club. A coaches performance can make or break a club, not just…
“I was with Ray until the end.” Sam Haron wasn’t anyone special or significant to the greater public. He was an average person enjoying his life. In 1933, he managed to begin the greatest dream of his life, to tour with the Australian Rugby League Kangaroo’s to England, on board the S.S. Jervis Bay as a Rugby…
The Leeds Rhinos have defeated the Warrington Wolves 26-18 to take out yet another Super League title. The game wasn’t all that great in terms of quality but English fans seemed to enjoy it. Both teams had their chances to go on and win the game but at the end of the day Leeds experience…
So here we are again, back to Old Trafford to completely fuck up Manchester Uniteds FA Cup run! Some years it is hard to chose who is going to win the Grand Final, and this is one of those years. On one side you have the Leeds Rhinos, a team that looks completely busted. They…
You always have to watch these media types, they will give you one side of the story, but leave out the other. Earlier this season the NRL put out a set of guidelines that teams needed to follow that outlines how much time NRL players and coaches should spend being available to the media and…
The title says it all really. Not again. Not again as the Bulldogs who, in my opinion, were certainly the cream of the crop throughout the season came crashing back down to Earth after audio of someone within the club calling out abusive comments to a media contingent. Compounding the matter, the comments were of…
The Melbourne Storm are the 2012 Premiers after defeating the Canterbury Bulldogs 14-4. The Storm came into the Grand Final in great form and simply looked to be playing on a completely different level to the Bulldogs. In a game that was dominated by brilliant coaching by from both sides, the execution the Storm showed in attack…
So here we are, Grand Final week and in a few days time lives will be changed. As a fan this whole week reminds me of 2003 when my Penrith Panthers made the Grand Final. I was never nervous at all, just confident.I enjoyed that entire season and I wouldn’t change a single thing about…