Paul Gallen has been a fantastic leader for the Cronulla Sharks. At times he has taken opposition teams on single handedly up front, hitting the ball up without fear, making a million tackles, he has simply never let the Sharks down. At State Of Origin level it has been more of the same. Even as…
The NRL has a responsibility to take over and mentor the Super League whilst clubs could create an alliance or sister club in the UK. Super League is the 2nd biggest market but with the right promotion could be the new golden goose of Rugby League and it really wouldn’t take much of an outlay…
There are no excuses any more… With the NRL raking in around $300 million per season, and putting $40 million in the bank for future projects every year, there are no excuses for Rugby League to lose a single player to any other sporting code. Likewise, there is no reason why the NRL should have…
He is one of the true stars of the game, and yet the Wests Tigers are not convinced that they should pay any extra money to Benji Marshall and finalize a deal that would see Marshall remain a one club player. You get the feeling that if Benji Marshall wanted to head to another club…
In a new feature on LeagueFreak.com I will be putting the games best clubs, best coaches and best players in head to head battles that will be decides by you, the reader. The first edition of League Freaks Friday Night Fights is a great one. An ancient rivalry between two clubs that hate each others…
Game two of the 2013 State Of Origin series was a disaster for New South Wales. Not too many of the Blues players could hold their head high after the 26-6 thrashing Queensland handed them. Two players stood out though… Aaron Woods and Nathan Merritt made their State Of Origin debuts after a groundswell of…
The Newcastle Knights have signed current Hull KR halfback Michael Dobson for the 2014 NRL season on a one year deal. Why? At 27 years of age, Michael Dobson is who he is. We know what he offers as an NRL player and we know that he isn’t about to come back and be a…
With Queensland leveling up the State Of Origin Series midweek attention turns back to the NRL. Round 16 will kick off tonight when the high flying South Sydney Rabbits host the Canberra Raiders. With the Bunnies’ Origin stars named to return both sides are almost at full strength, the most notable omission of course being…
Brad Walter of the Sydney Morning Herald is reporting that the Salford Reds are chasing New Zealand test stars Issac Luke, Ben Matulino and Simon Mannering. The Salford Reds have been linked to a long list of players from both the NRL and Super League recently. Their new owner Marwan Koukash has made no secret of…
In what can only be described as a disgraceful move, the Salford Reds have signed 36 year old forward Adrian Morley from the Warrington Wolves. Morley, who will turn 37 early next year, will joining the soon to be renamed Salford Red Devils in 2014. For what ever reason Salford has been fixated on signing…
Reports that the New Zealand Warriors were interested in signing Leeds Rhinos academy captain Jordan Baldwinson really upset Brian McDermott. The realization that the Leeds Rhinos are just a big fish in a small pond, and that NRL clubs will sign every single player they decide they want from Super League really hasn’t say well…
Game two of the 2013 State Of Origin series was an ambush. Queensland came out breathing fire and New South Wales simply could not stand up to the pressure. In the aftermath of such a complete and utter beat down, its always fun to rate the performances of players from both teams. I tend to…
Centrebet has join the web site as a sponsor and as a result they will be providing odds for NRL matches and representative games for LeagueFreak.com readers. With Origin two now behind us attention is squarely set on the upcoming round of NRL matches. Here are the current head-to-head betting markets for Round 16 of…
Before he had even played first grade football, Mitchell Pearce was being anointed as the next great halfback in Rugby League. The son of former Balmain legend Wayne Pearce, he has the bloodlines of a legend. His size and ability to defend saw people compare him to Andrew Johns. This was timely as Johns career…
Queensland has blown New South Wales off the park in a dominant, devastating display to win State Of Origin 2 by a scoreline of 26-6. The Maroons ran out on the field breathing fire and the Blues simply were not prepared for the onslaught of what can only be described as perfect football. The Queensland…
The Salford Reds have signed 26 year old Junior Sa’u on a two year deal in what is really their first big signing under new owner Marwan Koukash. Sa’u, who currently plays for the Melbourne Storm, is a hard running center or back rower who is about as good of a signing as a Super…
It feels like a long time ago that New South Wales won game one of the 2013 State Of Origin series in Sydney. Unfortunately it didn’t take too long for the Blues to go from being on a high from winning the opening game to having to deal with one crisis after another. With Jarryd Hayne’s…
Betting agency Centrebet has joined the web site as a major sponsor and will now be offering the latest odds for Rugby League fixtures. Centerbet is running a promotion where by if either fullback scores a try, you get your money back! That a pretty good deal considering the try scoring record of both Slater…
Melbourne storm five-eighth Gareth Widdop will not play again this year after dislocating his hip in the Storms 18-12 loss to the Gold Coast Titans. Widdop’s loss is a huge blow to the Melbourne Storms hopes of retaining their Premiership this season. His loss will also have a major effect on England’s World Cup plans…
The Melbourne Storm are currently looking towards the future and tonight we will see a glimpse of that. The Storm will have youngster Ben Hampton making his NRL debut at five-eighth against the Gold Coast Titans tonight. With current Storm five-eighth Gareth Widdop leaving the club at seasons end to join the St George/Illawarra Dragons,…
It wasn’t too long ago that the Australian Cricket team was unbeatable. With the worlds best coaching, the best player development system and the best culture in terms of winning, it was difficult to see any reason why Australia’s dominance over the sport was ever going to be end. When Twenty 20 Cricket came along,…
Daniel Pettigrew gives you a daily dose of Rugby League news via his new podcast which is exclusive to LeagueFreak.com Today Daniel does a wrap up of Round 15 of the NRL season, looks at NSW as they head into enemy territory in QLD, the changes to the Sin Bin rule and a few key…
England v Exiles, what’s that all about? England v NRL rejects more like. Don’t get me wrong Super League has some good Australian / New Zealand rugby league players that either used to play in the NRL and / or could play in the NRL. Unfortunately those players are very few and far between now…
Sam Tomkins is on his way to the New Zealand Warriors to test himself in the National Rugby League. Now there is only one things we need to work out…. Who the hell is Sam Tomkins? Sam Tomkins a a fullback for Wigan who is loved by Rugby League fans across Great Britain. Tomkins in…
Channel Seven has sensationally won the rights to broadcast the 2013 Rugby League World Cup, beating out current Free To Air broadcaster Channel Nine. The 2013 Rugby League World Cup, which will be held in Great Britain, is a huge pick up for the Seven Network and breaks the stranglehold that Channel Nine has had…
The Sydney Morning Herald is reporting that Sam Tomkins will officially announce he will join the New Zealand Warriors in 2014 in a joint statement that will involve his current clubs the Wigan Warriors. Tomkins has been heavily linked to a number of NRL clubs in recent months, with most bulking at an asking price…
When Benji Marshall was last off contract, he could have left the Wests Tigers quite easily. With bigger money being offered elsewhere, Marshall did something really admirable. He re-signed with the Wests Tigers on a long term deal for a lot less than he was being offered overseas. The only thing he wanted was for…
In my living memory as an NRL fan there’s never been a year where the game hasn’t been brought into controversy because of appalling behavior by one (usually more than one) of its players. James Tamou, George Burgess and Blake Ferguson have all found themselves in trouble with the law in a short space of…
We all know that the NRL is better than the Super League – its more competitive, more intense and games are of a higher quality…so they say. However, after reading plenty of books recently where the accomplished facts of other sports have been widely challenged, I’ve been wondering just how much that holds true when we play the…
When Dr Marwan Koukash took over the Salford City Reds, he clearly wanted to do everything possible to make the club a success. It didn’t take him long before he was making changes to the clubs management, including getting rid of the coach to bring in Brian Noble and making changes to the front office,…