News that covers Rugby League in Australia.
When you get to representative level, the players you assemble are the best of the best. Bigger, faster, stronger, more skillful and with more endurance. It is that last asset that I think is seeing the bench rotation at representative level evolve into something different than what we have become accustomed to seeing over the…
After pleading guilty to bashing his pregnant girlfriend in late 2011, Robert Lui has been suspended by the NRL for the remainder or the 2012 season. Lui will be allowed to resume playing for the North Queensland Cowboys next season, who signed him knowing the charges he faced, because if he can go for 12…
Nathan Tinkler formed Hunter Sports Group with the long term goal, according to him, of building a sporting legacy for the Newcastle and greater Hunter region. His first move came 18 months ago when he purchased the Newcastle Jets Soccer club and saved them from folding. Last year though, he claimed his biggest prize when…
When Ben Te’o blasted Matthew Groat last Friday night and knocked him unconscious, I knew what was to follow. Pure hysteria, stupidity and talk of an unfair playing field. The NRL came out just a few days ago to reassure everyone that the shoulder charge was here to stay. That didn’t stop the media from…
Queensland’s winning run at State Of Origin level burns away at me every single day. When I watch games I rate the form of possible Origin players, as well as the Queenslanders. I think that New South Wales are in a much better position than they were say two years ago. Now we know who…
As a Penrith Panthers fan, I didn’t want to see Cooper Cronk leave the Melbourne Storm. Having been talent scouted by the Storm, developed, given his first grade debut and blossomed into a super star of the game at the club, I thought it would have been tragic to see Cronk leave the Storm and…
The Wests Tigers come into the 2012 season as Premiership favorites. They had made a number of big moves in the off season and many felt that they would kick on and go all the way this year after falling just short the last few seasons. Things don’t always follow the script. After starting the…
The NRL Players Association will push for the NRL to fund the cost of having Income protection for players that suffer career ending injuries. This is a good move and one that you would hope is easy to implement and doesn’t cost too much. It is something that we need too. I think of players…
On Wednesday night I sat down at 8:30pm to watch NRL On Fox. Just before the show started, I checked my Twitter timeline and saw a message from Wests Tigers hooker Robbie Farah that said this: Just got ambushed on NRL on Fox. Pretty fired up ATM to be honest and pretty pissed off. Wanted…
When it comes to Rugby League, the rot always starts from the top. How on earth are the Parramatta Eels supposed to succeed on the field when every other level of the club is a complete mess? What makes anyone think that for some reason an entire club can be rotten to the core, and…
The ARL Independent Commission was set up with the goal of being able to stand above self interests and agenda’s and do what is in the best interests of the overall game. In the past, Rugby League administrations have been political beasts. They have had to answer to clubs, who are always out to look…
Every time Johnathan Thurston appears on the Footy Show, he laughs. People love his laugh too. If you’re on Twitter when Thurston is on the Footy Show you will see your timeline light up with people going on and on about it. Last night was a classic Footy Show appearance for Thurston as he got…
Daly Cherry-Evans is a 23 year old halfback that has proven himself in big games, won a premiership with the Manly Sea Eagles and represented Australia. You simply don’t get many young halfbacks that tick all of those boxes. I don’t mean right now in 2012….I mean ever! Right now Daly Cherry-Evans is one of…
There are some really good Rugby League players running around in the NRL. Players that are game breakers. Players that are so important to their club that any sort of injury to them is a crushing blow to their teams premiership aspirations. I can understand when the media focuses on these players. What I don’t…
I always find it very interesting when someone within Rugby League tosses up an idea that is used in another sport, when it is clear they have no idea how that idea is applied in that sport, let alone how it would be applied to Rugby League. The latest idea is the draft, and internal…
When Phil Gould took over as the Penrith Panthers General Manager the first thing he did was pretty cheeky. During a Channel 9 game Gould started calling the club the “Sanyo Panthers”. At the time Sanyo was the clubs major sponsor, and when Gould started calling them the Sanyo Panthers, he somehow managed to do…
I really don’t like doing season previews. They just don’t get me fired up. Still, I know you lot want to see what I’m thinking about the 2012 NRL season so here we are. This season is going to be a close one. The worst team in the comp probably won’t be that bad, and…
Wests Tigers forward Gareth Ellis has been granted an early release from his contract enabling him to return home to England at the end of the 2012 NRL season. Ellis is one of only a few English players who looked to come to Australia and test himself in the worlds toughest rugby competition. He has…
It is a series in which every single game rates as highly on TV as the Grand Final. I would argue that State Of Origin is the most identifiable product that the game has Australia wide. Recent speculation suggest that any television station that wants to broadcast the three game State Of Origin series will…
How good is it to go into a Rugby League season and feel optimistic about the club? Its been a long time for us Panthers fans since we could feel positive towards the club. For so long it was a closed shop. No one was accountable for their behavior off the field or their failure…
It was over 12 months ago that Christchurch was rocked by a series of powerful earthquakes that flattened buildings, destroyed infrastructure and claimed many, many lives. It was heartbreaking to watch. Our Kiwi brothers and sisters got up that morning, and it was like any other day. They went to work not realizing that some…
The Independent Commission has been in place for just a few days and yet we are already seeing a lot of interesting development happen in regards to the next round of expansion for the National Rugby League competition. Already there is talk that Perth may be the venue for the end of season test match…
It is the dream scenario for the National Rugby League, the worst case scenario for Fox Sport and it would be a deal that would change Australian television in a very dramatic way. The Sydney Daily Telegraph article Channel Ten to attempt to snatch NRL broadcast rights from Channel Nine outlines moves by Channel 10 to broadcast…
For well over a decade News Limited was part of the business. A 50% owner of the NRL, heavily involved in broadcasting rights, they had their fingers in all the pies and made hundreds of millions of dollars out of the game. Now, they are no longer at the table when it comes to the…
It took a long time but they finally got it done. The old ARL has been dissolved, News Limited has left the building and now the Independent Commission is finally in charge under the name of the Australian Rugby League Commission. The handover occurred yesterday at Moore Park in Sydney where the new HQ for…
He is off contract at the end of the season and for the last few years, he has been less than enthusiastic about re-signing with the Canberra Raiders. Now, news has emerged that Josh Dugan is facing speeding charges after being clocked doing 105kph in a 60kph zone. On top of this, Dugan was unlicensed,…
This week we saw and interesting court case in which Optus were ruled to not be breaking any laws by allowing its customers to record free to air television programs on a personal DVR and then stream that recording to their mobile devices and computers as early as 2 minutes after that television program started….
In the history of top grade Rugby League in Australia, there are only 16 players since 1908 that have played 300 or more clubs games. Think about that for a moment. For the thousands of players who have pulled on one of the famous Rugby League jerseys of either an NSWRL, ARL or NRL club,…
You’ve waited through the long off season, and now, with the season just around the corner, your team is starting to play trial matches. So how much can you get out of trial games? How much can you take from trail game results? You can do all of the fitness work you like, but nothing…
There is something about Rugby League that really pisses some people off. I can not think of another sport anywhere else in the world that is supposed to justify its existence, as well as its ability to survive long term, despite the fact the tough old bastard has been around since 1895. It is not…