Its not too often I post Youtube videos on the site but I had to show this one off! This Billy Slater Trubute video was put together by a Twitter follower of mine called Andrea. Andrea is a massive Billy Slater fan and her Twitter user name is actually @SlaterLover. You can follow here on…
Rugby League simply does not play star players what they are worth to the game. With the NRL’s salary cap used to keep costs down, keep clubs financially viable and give us a competition that is as even as any competition in world sport, it is difficult to find way in this system to reward…
The Melbourne Storm are the 2012 Premiers after defeating the Canterbury Bulldogs 14-4. The Storm came into the Grand Final in great form and simply looked to be playing on a completely different level to the Bulldogs. In a game that was dominated by brilliant coaching by from both sides, the execution the Storm showed in attack…
So here we are, Grand Final week and in a few days time lives will be changed. As a fan this whole week reminds me of 2003 when my Penrith Panthers made the Grand Final. I was never nervous at all, just confident.I enjoyed that entire season and I wouldn’t change a single thing about…
No one gives a stuff about teams that lose in the semi finals. They get so close to being in the Grand Final, and yet they are not even a footnote in history when it comes down to it. This week we have four teams all with stories to tell about their journey to get…
The first week of the NRL Finals series kicks off this weekend and it is shaping up as the NRL marketers dream. There are so many big match ups in the first week of the finals and the new finals system should make things easier for fans to follow too. The NRL captains call was…
Game one of the 2012 State Of Origin series was a very interesting game for a number of reasons. I personally didn’t think it was the highest quality game, I think neither side played at their best, but both probably learned a lot from that first game and I think both teams will be thinking…
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…
So here we are, the last weekend of big NRL games for the season. I say the last weekend of big games for a reason. Next week, next week is more than a big game. Next week will be life changing. We are now down to four teams and I have to say, I liked…
Last season felt like most of the competition was in transition and only a couple of teams were really primed for a real shot at the title. This season we have a number of different clubs ready to roll. The Storm are looking for redemption. The Dragons are looking to prove it wasn’t just a…
So the Dally M’s were held last night and before I list the results, I need to get something off my chest. I’m not real sure how relevant the Dally M’s are any more. First of all, this is an award that has recently been won by Todd Carney and Matt Orford, but has never…
Queensland has wrapped up its 6th straight State Of Origin series win with a 34-24 win over New South Wales. Lets face it, the scoreline flattered New South Wales. I’ve never seen an opening half an hour to any Origin match like the one I saw in this game. Things just went Queenslands way. The…
If you wanted to see why the Melbourne Storm are the best Rugby League club in the world, you just had to be watching the television on Saturday afternoon. It started with their Under 20’s team. The Melbourne Storm is the team to play for if you are a youngster looking to make a name…
Reports today in the Sydney Morning Herald and Daily Telegraph have linked a number of high profile managers with the Melbourne Storm salary cap scandal. It has been alleged that managers signed off on two different documents, an official NRL contract, and a second contract that gave their clients, the players, the added extras that…
They are the only awards that really matter. They don’t conform to a points system. They don’t just focus on one part of the season. The King Of Rugby League kick in from the very first trail game of the season and judging ends only after the last major game has been played. Players and…
Just when you think the international season is crap, along comes an incredible Four Nations Final and it leaves you wanting more! I’ve been lucky enough to attend three of the best Rugby League test matches of the modern era. The 2006 Tri Nations Final that Australia won in extra time, the 2008 World Cup…
Australia has looked very unconvincing despite an easy win over an England side that is just totally out of their depth, winning by a scoreline of 34-14. The refereeing and touch judging was terrible in this match, but for all the whinging you’re likely to hear, it didn’t effect the result. Australia looked very impressive…
Well the predictions of doom and gloom over the crowd figure were off the mark but the predictions of a Queensland clean sweep were spot on. While New South Wales seemed to put up more of a fight, the fact is Queensland were not at their rampaging best and STILL managed to come away with…
This has been coming for some time. The Daily Telegraph in Sydney is reporting that Jarryd Hayne has his nose out of joint over comments made by his coach Daniel Anderson after the weekends loss to the Brisbane Broncos. What Anderson said was the softest rocket you have ever seen: “I think our fullback is learning. He…
So the report is in, and….wait for it….wait for it…. The Melbourne Storm broke the salary cap by a whole lot! The false outrage today has been a bit ridiculous really. We knew the Storm broke the Salary cap. We knew they had broken it by millions of dollars over the course of the last…
The Melbourne Storm are in the almost impossible situation where by they have to shed hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of player contracts, that they are 100% committed to having to pay, in order to be under the salary cap for the start of the 2011 NRL season. The Storm tend to have a…
The Australian Kangaroos have beaten the World Champions New Zealand Kiwi’s 12-8 in torrential rain at Melbourne’s AAMI Park. It was the first game played at AAMI Park, Melbourne’s brand new rectangular pitched stadium, and the rain thrashed down for the full 80 minutes. The pitch itself must have been incredible to take the battering…
Lets start off by saying, I love the Melbourne Storm. I personally hope they can keep their core together, surround them with minimum wage youngsters and come back in 2011 and win the comp. I think they may at least be forced to lose one of their top players, which is unfortunate. As you look…
Its a little ironic that a sport founded on the basis of an open market for players and compensating players for the time and effort they put into the game not finds itself in a position where it tightly regulates what players are worth and shouts down any attempts for a player to earn as…
In 2010 the Melbourne Storm find themselves $700,000 over the 2010 salary cap and that figure is expected to climb over the next few seasons if the Storm were to keep the side they have. David Gallop has already said he will not accept players taking mass pay cuts to keep the side together as…
It was the end. You just had to ask the hacks in the media who were quick to point out that they had nothing to play for, no one cared anyway, and we might as well just forget Melbourne, the second largest city in Australia, and look to Gosford, the…..well, Gosford. A funny thing happened…
Sometimes it can feel like its a bit of a meat market, and while most players make good, sound decisions, others base their decisions on the wrong factors. I’ve always been a big believer on sticking with something good. When the magic is happening, when everything is going great, don’t leave a club for big…
The Melbourne Storm have deceitfully breached the NRL salary cap over a total of five years. They over spent $1.7 million dollars over five years that they filtered through a second set of books that they did not submit to the NRL. As a result, the NRL has stripped the Melbourne Storm of two NRL…
As a football junkie, the Melbourne Storm deadset make me damp every single week. The effort required to get up and produce the goods week after week, year after year, its astounding what they have managed to achieve. Just trying to stay motivated after so many Premierships, so many Grand Finals, and yet not team…
Feels good man, feel’s real good. Australia has blown England off the park in the Four Nations Final in Leeds by a scoreline of 46-16. The fight half was a beauty, with both teams swapping the lead for the entire 40 minutes. Australia were under pressure early, giving away stupid penalties, and had to hold…