The Sydney Telegraph is reporting that Craig Gowers management has been in negotiations with the Canterbury Bulldogs to make a return to the NRL as soon as May this year. You will remember fondly that Gower, after years of off field stupidity, had gotten fed up with the resulting attention that he got for being such a…
Word on the street is that the North Queensland Cowboys have told Graham Murray that they will not re-new his contract that ends at the end of this season. Its got to be a real kick in the teeth for Murray who coaches the Cowboys to the NRL Grand Final in 2005. Still, there have been whispers…
Stephen Kearney has been announced as the New Zealand Kiwi’s new coach. He will be helped along by Wayne Bennett who will take an “advisory role”, what ever the hell that means! This saga has dragged on for so long that quite frankly I’m sure all Kiwi Rugby League fans are over it. Its been…
The South Sydney Rabbitohs have signed a ten agreement with Stadium Australia (ANZ Stadium) to play at least ten games at the 80,000 seat stadium each year. As a sweetner in the deal the Rabbitohs will have their own, personal NFL style change rooms decked out in Rabbitohs colours and paying tribute to the great…
Great news for the West Tigers today as they announced that superstar Benji Marshall has signed a contract extension to stay at the club. Originally Marshall, probably prompted by his manager, had decided to wait until the season got underway to before he held talks with the Tigers. However a change of heart saw Marshall…
Its been coming for a while but now its all official. Wayne Bennett will leave the Broncos at the end of the season. Bennett was contracted to the Broncos until the end of the 2009 season but that contract will be cut short at Bennetts request. It will end a 20 year run at the…
Well the Super League season has kicked off a day before the Australian Cricket One Day series has even started. They love an early start over there! There is a lot of talk about Super League getting unpredictable but the fact is Bradford, Leeds or St Helens have won the last 9 Super League titles. Oh and before that….it was that unpredictable Wigan side that…
Todays NRL stars know they are in the public spotlight. When you earn a few hundred thousand dollars playing a game so many enjoy, you have to expect to be noticed. However there comes a point when the general interest people take in you is overtaken by media obsession, and when it comes to Willie…
The Leeds Rhinos are pushing ahead with legal action over Iestyn Harris’ move to the Bradford Bulls in 2004. Harris was contracted to the Leeds Rhinos when he decided to switch to rugby union. When Harris decided to switch back to Rugby League again, Leeds felt they had a contract in place with him that…
Australian and Queensland Rugby League champion Petero Civoniceva has been named the captain of the Penrith Panthers for the 2008 season. Its a welcome change to have a respected leader as captain of the Panthers after years of having to put up with serial dickhead Craig Gower. Civoniceva is just the type of leader the Panthers need. A consummate professional, a…
While not playing club football and having not been part of test calculations for a number of years, Paul Sculthrope took it upon himself to retire from the test arena. Incidentally I also announced my retirement from Test football soon after along with mickey mouse and the lock ness monster….a sad day indeed. Now it…
When you heard the Titans would have to wait a year before they could make use of their brand new, made for Rugby League Stadium at Robina it was a bit dissapointing. Now……who cares…..its finally here! The Titans Stadium is not complete and boy it looks good. You can see pictures of the Titans new…
Gary Kemble has resigned his position as New Zealands test coach effective immediatly. At the end of the day Gary Kemble put himself out of his own misery and quit as coach of the New Zealand Test side. After a disasterous term as Kiwi coach and with players speaking out against his lack of experience,…
Before I start I just want to ask one question. Does Wayne Bennett actually want to coach New Zealand? We all know the complete disaster New Zealand Rugby League went through in 2007. From issues with the running of the game in New Zealand, to the shambolic performance of the Test side, 2007 was a…
You knew this was coming… The Parramatta Eels have lifted their ban (Ban? What was he banned from?) on drunken idiot Tim Smith and have listed a number of conditions he must stick to including rehabilitation, charity work and other very vague things. Thing is, Smith was already supposed to be doing all of these…
Serial dickhead Tim Smith is all but assured of having his Parramatta contract torn up after being caught drinking just days after being banned for drinking by the clubs after a drunken tirade aimed at a family. Smith has had a number of alleged drunken episodes and has promised to stop drinking a number of…
Matthew Head will join the West Tigers in 2008 and give the 2005 Premiers the halfback they have missed since Scott Prince left the club. Head can be a handy player but he hasn’t really impressed even going back to his days at the Dragons….which to be honest feels like yesterday. The Tigers have a…
To state the obvious, 2007 has not been the greatest year in the history of New Zealand Rugby League. But tonight, December 1, the brighter side of the NZ game was acknowledged and celebrated with the annual awards function held at the Telstra Pacific Events Centre, Manukau, Auckland. Winners from the night were: Lion Foundation…
Well Willie Mason has decided to wait 12 months before he steps into the boxing ring, and I have to say, its a smart decision. Mason was going to be rushed into this boxing gig and he was going to have to do it during off season training with the Roosters. At least by waiting…
Anyone struggling the understand the eligibility rules in Rugby League would be well advised to not read this article, because quite frankly, in outlining the official rules you are going to end up even more confused than you already are! NRL.com.au posted an article regarding eligibility rules that heavily quoted ARL CEO Geoff Carr. You…
Some brilliant news for Rugby League today with the announcement that Matthew Bowen will remain a North Queensland Cowboys for at least the next 4 years. Bowen is off contract at the end of the 2008 season and with his incredible form you would have to think he would have been in high demand by…
Samoa have scored a 38-16 win over Lebanon to secure the tenth and final place in the 2008 Rugby League World Cup. Lebanon tried hard all game and for a while in the second half looked like they were on the comeback trail, but the Samoan side just had way to much fire power. The…
The Sydney Roosters have just about free’d up all the salary cap space they need to sign Australian forward Willie Mason. Roosters lock Ashley Harrison looks set to leave the club and head to the Gold Coast Titans on a three year deal that would give the Roosters some room under the cap to sign…
Great Britain has scored an unconvincing 28-22 win over New Zealand to take a 3-0 series win for the first time since Moses was a lad. As with this entire series New Zealand played well below par and Great Britain did what they needed to score a fairly easy win. Rob Burrow was named man…
Samoa has defeated the United States 54-10 while Lebanon has beaten Wales 50-26 leading towards a great final qualifying game in which the winner between Samoa and Lebanon will secure the last place in the 2008 Rugby League World Cup. Many people expected Wales to beat Lebanon but after watching both teams last week I…
In 2007 New Zealand Rugby League was supposed to be celebrating 100 years of international competition. Instead, it has been brought to its knee’s as a century of incompetence hits a new low and the game in New Zealand becomes a shattered shell compared to the long awaited promise of success. With the Bardercard Cup…
Despite going down 18-16 against Wales, Scotland has secured a place in the 2008 Rugby League World Cup due to having a superior for and against record. Scotland looked the more desperate to win throughout the match but at half time they found themselves down 14-4. Had Wales held onto that 10 point lead, they…
Great Britain has beaten New Zealand 44-0 in a very, very average Test match. The Lions didn’t really do anything special, New Zealand were just nothing short of atrocious. After setting a laughable goal for New Zealand coach Gary Kemble to win at least 75% of his games in change of the Kiwi’s, his record…
Ireland has scored a late penalty goal to secure a 16-all draw against Lebanon and have booked the 8th place in the 2008 Rugby League World Cup It was a close game throughout with a lot of ill discipline from the Lebanese costing them in the end. At one point they were down to 12…
This week NZRL chairmen Andrew Chalmers has launched another scathing attack on the British judicial system. What’s he whinging about? I mean, it’s not like this is anything new. Any Super league fan that has followed the game more than 5 minutes will tell you our judicial system is an inconsistent farce and appears to…