News that covers Rugby League in Australia.
News Limited is reporting that Michael Ennis will accept an invitation to check out the Canberra Raiders this week as he look for a new club in 2015. Ennis is off contract at the end of this season and it is pretty clear the Canterbury Bulldogs are looking to move in a different direction for…
Andrew Webster of the Sydney Morning Herald has an interesting followup to a story he wrote earlier this week. There is some good news to come out of it too! Ray Hadley has for the first time publicly stated that he does not want to take over from Ray Warren when Rabs finally hangs up…
Now that Nathan Tinkler has given up control of the Newcastle Knights Wayne Bennett is effectively allowed to leave the club under the terms of the contract he signed. When Bennett joined the Knights, his contract was with Hunter Sports Group, not the Newcastle Knights themselves. The deal stated that if Tinkler left as owner…
News Limited is reporting that a phone owned by Newcastle Knights owner Nathan Tinkler was used to send abusive text messages to players, many of whom were not being paid by the club. Tinkler, who will not be owner of the Newcastle Knights for much longer, is fast becoming one of the most hated people…
Forget passion, talent wins State Of Origin games. While some selections are already leaking out for NSW I’m going to ignore them and post the team I would select. A few players are injured and some are suspended. That means that no NSW team anyone selects is going to be ideal. That being said, this…
Ah Women In League Round. The chance to put on a few free lunches, make a few token gestures, and hope that it is enough to distract the wider community in regards to the terrible attitudes some within the sport have towards women. After all, what better way to sooth the concerns of women than…
The Sydney Morning Herald is reporting that the Parramatta Eels are once again looking to sign Israel Folau, and that there is a slight possibility that Folau may switch back to Rugby League before the 2015 Rugby Union World Cup. The Eels had Folau wrapped up early last year but the NRL dragged its heels…
Coach Wayne Bennett and fullback Darius Boyd are among those at the Newcastle Knights who have not been paid thanks to Nathan Tinkler and his Hunter Sports Group. A lot of people have been critical of Boyd’s form this season, but if he isn’t being paid, I can completely understand why he would have better…
Cast your mind back to the early days of Nathan Tinkler’s interest in the Newcastle Knights. You couldn’t go a couple of days without some former Newcastle Knights player saying what an amazing opportunity it was for the club to sell the farm to Tinkler and his Hunter Sports Group. Tinkler played his purchase of…
News Limited is reporting that the Gold Coast Titans are ready to make an official offer to former NRL player turned AFL star Karmichael Hunt. I’ve always felt as though the Titans were favorites to snare Hunt’s signature if he returns to the NRL. The Titans could slot him straight in at fullback if he…
The following is an official statement from the National Rugby League: The NRL said it would take whatever action is necessary to protect the players and staff of the Newcastle Knights whose wages had not been paid today. The NRL learned today that Newcastle Knights, controlled by Nathan Tinkler’s business group, had failed to pay…
His club form hasn’t been great, his form at State Of Origin level over the course of his career has not been great, and now Mitchell Pearce is dealing with an off field issue. There is a lot of speculation that Mitchell Pearce will not be selected in game one of the 2014 State Of…
The National Rugby League has cleared NRL Head Of Football Todd Greenberg of any wrong doing in the Ryan Tandy betting case. There has been allegations that Greenberg has been made aware that Tandy was betting on football games when Greenberg was the CEO of the Canterbury Bulldogs. The NRL investigated these claims and found…
State of Origin footy is almost upon us once again, accompanied by the speculation, or lack thereof, in regards to who will be picked. With the squad selections being announced next week, I’ve decided to take this opportunity to put my twenty cents in. The Maroons’ dominance has stretched to eight straight years and, as…
This is a really strange one… The Sydney Daily Telegraph is reporting that Laurie Daley has accused Ray Hadley of trying to get NSW assistant coach Matt Parish sacked because Parish is having a relationship with Ray Hadleys estranged wife. Ray Hadley has denied he tried to pressure NSWRL types to sack Parish but it…
The Sydney Morning Herald is reporting that Tim Sheens will go ahead with his legal action against the Wests Tigers in an effort to receive the full amount of money he believes the club owes him after they sacked him at the end of the 2012 season. The payout Sheens is after is reported to…
When the New Zealand Warriors lost Ivan Cleary to the Penrith Panthers because they didn’t want to commit to him long term it was a terrible mistake. As a replacement the Warriors signed Brian McClennan who didn’t even see out his first season at the club before being replaced by interim coach Tony Iro. The…
The Daily Telegraph claims it has proof that the Canterbury Bulldogs were negotiating with Des Hasler to leave the Many Sea Eagles with a year left to run on his contract, and that the club was willing to pay for any legal costs an early exit from the club would leave him with. Why any…
The Sydney Morning Herald is reporting that five of the current Cronulla Sharks squad will be sent show cause letters by ASADA that will basically force them to fight against a possible drugs suspension. With a number if the original 17 players that ASADA had focused on having moved on to other clubs and in…
The Sydney Morning Herald is reporting that ASADA is ready to hand show cause letters to up to 17 players from the 2011 Cronulla Sharks team. There is the possibility that this process will begin as early as this week. These show cause letters would not mean players would automatically receive bans. They will however…
It is with a very heavy heart that I write that Reg Gasnier has passed away. Words can’t explain what an amazing player Gasnier was. That his impact on the game spans generations, and yet he retired at the age of 28, shows how brightly his star shone on the game of Rugby League and…
News Limited journalist James Hooper is reporting that the New Zealand Warriors have made a massive offer to Manly Sea Eagles centre Steve Matai. He is reporting that the deal is worth $2.5 million over 4 years. The Warriors have been splashing the cash recently, their huge deal to get Sam Tomkins from Wigan was…
It is pretty clear that Karmichael Hunt is looking to return to the NRL in 2015 and right now it looks like the Gold Coast Titans are favoured to sign him just ahead of the Brisbane Broncos. Hunt’s manager took less than 48 hours to toss his clients name up in the media after the…
I would stop writing about this sort of thing if Mal Meninga would just chill out, look how many series he has won as the Queensland Maroons coach, and started enjoying life a little rather than being so angry about things. In the latest round of “Things Mal Said” Mal Meninga has claimed that New…
The National Rugby League has released details about the long overdue salary cap overhaul that will bring the salary cap rules up to speed with the current pressures that clubs and players all face today. A lot of the changes that are being made are really just to clear up some grey areas of the…
Benji Marshall’s future remains up in the air after Canberra Raiders became the latest team to insist they were not about to sign the 29-year-old former Wests Tigers star. Marshall is looking for a new NRL team after enduring an ill-fated stint in rugby union, featuring in only six matches for Auckland Blues before deciding…
Imagine the headlines… New South Wales selects Sonny Bill Williams in game one of the 2014 State Of Origin series. I think the entire country would go into a meltdown. International eligibility rules state that after a World Cup, the most important international tournament we have, every single player is allowed to switch nations. I…
Since making his first grade debut in 2008 with the Canterbury Bulldogs Jamal Idris has been haunted by one word. Potential. Idris has played for three different clubs over the course of his career and showed huge potential at all of them. This potential saw Idris play representative football in his first season, a trend…
Passion is a powerful emotion, but it does not give you the right to slander a mans reputation. Earlier this week Paul Kent made some comments that I didn’t agree with at all. I’m going to post exactly what he said so there can be no confusion. “I tell you, the NRL needs to go…
There a great article posted on the Fox Sports web site that show a total of 48 players have either been suspended or injured coming out of the last round of NRL games. Its a great read and really shows that players and clubs have completely brushed this representative round of football in a dramatic…