Facing the loss of three key players heading into 2008, the Brisbane Broncos have been making a lot of noise about the need to bring in salary cap concessions for players that have been at a club for over 8 years. The NRL currently allows a $100,000 concession for long serving players, but like most…
I remember once there was a train of thought that players would not want to play for the Melbourne Storm. With the option of Living in Sydney, Brisbane or North Queensland and playing at clubs with bigger crowds on offer, who would want to go and play in dreary old Melbourne and play in front…
You know…I couldn’t have put it any better than the Sydney Morning Herald did in reviewing the game. So I’m going to let them take over for a moment: MITCHELL Pearce scored a miracle try right on full-time to get the Roosters home in his first meeting with Craig Gower since their infamous flare-up at…
The National Rugby League has shown interest this week is having a second team based in Brisbane to take advantage of the booming crowds of the three Queensland based NRL sides. The Broncos, Cowboys and Titans are the top three drawing teams in the NRL and as Sydney clubs struggle to increase crowd numbers surely…
As many of you know the RLFans forum is down at the moment and it has left many of you with hours and hours of time on your hands. Thankfully, I am here to make sure you and your miserable life doesn’t come to a complete end. Visit the totally uncensored League Freak forum! Enter…
Victorious Queensland coach Mal Meninga has called for a Queensland heavy Australian Test side when selectors sit down to pick the national team at the end of the year. After winning the last two Origin series and the last four Origin game, Meninga’s call is common sense but definantly needed in the day and age…
In an ironic move by the New Zealand Rugby League considering the name of the Test is the ANZAC Test, the NZRL has said that the 2008 game will be their last mid season test against Australia because they are unable to compete with the World Champions in the fixture. Despite the fact the game draws big…
Craig Wing will join the South Sydney Rabbitoh’s from 2008 on a four year contract that will see him play in his preferred halfback position. Wing was a Souths junior and was forced to leave the club for arch rivals the Sydney Roosters when South Sydney were kicked out of the NRL competition. When the…
It was April 19th when the Rugby League International Federation (See ARL and RFL) made their big, flashy media announcements in regards to the 2008 World Cup. The draw was released, we found out the number of teams taking part and that the final would be played at Brisbane Suncorp Stadium. Since then…..nothing. Not one…
After the announcement that Jason Smith would finally retire at seasons end the North Queensland Cowboys management has moved switfly to sign a replacement. Young Manly five-eighth Travis Burns will join the Cowboys in 2008 on a three year deal thats see’s him head back to his home state. It’s a great move for all…
Young Panthers five-eight and former Australian test prop Joel Clinton will line up for the Brisbane Broncos in 2008 as the club has all but secured the Penrith pair to cover the loss of some of their own stars due to salary cap constraints. Having lost Brent Tate this week to the New Zealand Warriors…
Broncos center and Queensland and Australian winger Brent Tate will leave the Brisbane Broncos and join the New Zealand Warriors next season after signing a three year deal. Tate will add much needed experience, consistancy and impact to the Warriors backline. Tate’s brother-in-law Steven Price is the captain of the Warriors and it will be…
Clint Newton has asked for, and received a release from the Newcastle Knights after a “falling out” with new Knights coach Brian Smith. Newtons gripe seems to be that he wasn’t offered a contract for next season and as he told Fos Sports “Everyone wants to feel wanted and that’s been the biggest thing for me…
After a dominant display for Queensland in the first State Of Origin, and an even more dominant display in the Cowboys win against the Bulldogs just two days later, Jonathan Thurston is in the form of his career. On a night when channel 9 commentator Ray Warren was comparing Cowboys fullback Matthew Bowen to the…
The Cronulla Sharks have withdrawn their offer to halfback Brett Kimmorley in a week when the Shraks re-signed his halves partner Adam Dykes. The Sharks did have an offer on the table for Kimmorley but after recently upgrading the contracts of a number of players the club has seemingly shown the fomer Test halfback the…
Manly sometimes halfback Michael Monaghan has signed a four year contract to play for the Warrington Wolves after gaining an early release from his contract with the Manly Sea Eagles. Monaghan wanted the opportunity to play halfback on a full time basis and while his form was good for the Sea Eagles, he was never…
We all know the farce that the 2000 Rugby League World Cup turned into an no one wants to see a repeat of that. The sad fact however is that 2008 is shaping up to be more of the same. A rule allowing Australian players to play for teams other than Australia an it have…
Over the last few months you will have noticed The Official Site Of The King Of The Internet: League Freak has been changing and growing. Now its time to make sure you know some of the new and fantastic and exciting additions that have been made. All of it is brilliant, I mean, its all my work…
You will go for many years to see a team play worse than the 2007 Penrith Panthers. The worst team I have ever seen in my lifetime was the Western Suburbs Magpies of the late 1990’s. To be fair to the Magpies, the club didn’t have much money and just didn’t have the cattle to…
Every off season NRL coaches are invited to attend a forum with the NRL to talk about issues within the game as far as rules go. This lets coaches be involved in the decision making process and get their points of view across on anything from game scheduling to rule interpretations. Wayne Bennett doesn’t attend…
Loud mouthed Dragons five-eight Richie Williams has been dropped to Premier League this weekend and Dean Young had been given the number 6 jersey by coach Nathan Brown. Young, who is returning from injury, is a good utility player, but much better playing at hooker or lock. Brown said Williams was dropped to work on…
Nathan Merritt has taken his omission really well by claiming that the reason he was not selected in the side was due to racism. Merritt appeared in Channel 9 News in Sydney this week and had this to say: “I’m not too sure what it is, maybe it’s a Souths thing or it’s a racial…
I am one of Brent Tates biggest fans. He is a whole hearted, gutsy players who decided to play on with a neck injury that would have seen most other players retire. He always produces the good no matter who he is playing for and against the best of the best at Origin and Test…
After learning that they had been put in the “Group Of Death” the PNGRL has blasted the IRLF for not consulting them, or anyone else when it comes to the World Cup format and draw. There has even been talk about withdrawing completely from the World Cup and setting up their own competition with Pacific…
The Canberra Raiders can hold their head high today knowing they are proving all their critics wrong. The Raiders headed to Penrith this weekend without halfback Todd Carney and it seemed no one was willing to give them a chance of upsetting Penrith at home. Canberra had other ideas. The Raiders dominated the match and…
As time goes on, I’m starting to become a bit of a fan of Braith Anasta. He came into first grade under so much pressure for so many reasons. He was high profile from game number one in first grade and he has achieved so much already in such a young career. However that hasn’t…
Its been an agenda for a while now and for some stupid reason it persists despite the fact that on field results prove it would be a disaster! Now Jamie Lyon mentor and close person friend Noel Cleal Has told the Sydney Morning Herald thats Lyon is up to the job of playing five-eight for New South…
Much has been made of the short preperations both Australia and New Zealand had in the leadup to the ANZAC Test in Brisbane last Friday night. There has been calls for players to be stood down from the preceeding club game, calls for Test matches to be played as stand alone events on a weekend…
Australia’s 30-6 win in Brisbane may not have been the best Test match in recent years, but both sides will have taken a lot out of the match. For Australia, Karmichael Hunt and Brent Tate showed that selectors did well to show them loyalty but other players failed to step up to the next level….
The Canberra Raiders came into season 2007 as red hot favorites to win the wooden spoon, but after a number of impressive performances against more fancied rivals, the Raiders are showing the rest of the competition that they will be no easy beats this season. One very welcome change from last season has been the…