As Akuila Uate, a Fijian born and raised player who only recently moved to Australia, was selected by the ARL to represent that Australian Prime Ministers XIII against Papua New Guinea, people who took any interest in seeing international Rugby League retain any credibility were up in arms. Having played for Fiji within the last…
A football club is a little bit like a sailing ship. The boat itself is the team. The captain of the ship is like the coach. The rudder is like the CEO and the keel, well, that is like the football board. Everything has its own job, and as soon as something fails, the whole…
Like most teams that miss the NRL Finals series, consistency was the Achilles heel of the Parramatta Eels. After making last years Grand Final, the Eels had big hopes in 2010. They had lost a few players in the off season but they felt they had more than squared the ledger with the additions of…
You are probably wondering why I have not listed the Queensland and New South Wales sides heading into State Of Origin three. The reason is, it doesn’t really matter who was named. Queensland have named a very strong side, they have dropped Ben Hannant for Petero Civoniceva. They looked great. New South Wales on the…
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…
The Queensland Rugby League team has completely dominated New South Wales in game two of the State Of Origin series, running away with a 34-6 victory. The win gives Queensland a record five series wins in a row, and makes Mal Meninga the most successful coach in State Of Origin history. To say this was…
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…
I’m not sure where the push is coming from, I’m guessing lazy journos getting fed “news” from an anxious player managers, but there are been a bit of news recently regarding the future of Sonny Bill Williams. First there was talk he wanted to go back to New Zealand and play for the All Blacks….
The pass was forward, no doubt about that. The Manly Sea Eagles are filthy about that pass. They have ever right to be as well. It was a mile forward and neither one of the referee’s or touch judges noticed it. Hold on, how did we get here? Go back to last Monday night, and…
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…
Well the Rugby League International Federation awards were held last night. I know, I know….I didn’t know they were on either! Look, I’ll be honest with you, I look at this awards list and I don’t really know what to make of it. Does it just take in the international season, I would suggest it…
The Parramatta Eels have booked a place in the 2009 NRL Grand Final with a hard fought 22-12 win over the Canterbury Bulldogs. The game started terribly for the Bulldogs with Luke Patten leaving the field with concussion from an accidental knee and it seemed from there Bulldogs were dropping like flies! David Stagg, Ben…
Watching Jarryd Hayne’s performance over this State Of Origin series has made me think a lot about the players in our game that are natural leaders. The amazing thing about Hayne is that, 12 months ago, he was a very different person. A good athlete, a great player, but off the field he was starting…
There, I said it! Well we all know Parramatta suck, and have sucked for quite some time. So what is there problem? Well the current situation the club finds itself in wasn’t helped by former coach Michael Hagan. He was a terrible coach, a terrible leader and even now having moved on, he is publicly…
In his first season with the Newcastle Knights, Michael Hagan won a Premiership. It was a fair achievement and many saw him as the new breed of coach who would go on to take the game to a new level. The problem was that from that point on, Newcastle got worse and worse to the…
Tim Smith has been seen boozing it up once more with team mates late on Saturday night, despite being banned from Alcohol, after being banned from Alcohol, after being banned from Alcohol! Smith, who has had more chances in the last six months than Keiron Cunningham has had hot meals, is currently under a fictional…
The World Champion Australian Rugby League team has demolished New Zealand by a score line of 58-0. It took Australia about five minutes to kick into gear and once that happened they just looked three classes above New Zealand. The youngest backline in Australian Rugby League history was just oustanding showing power, speed, skill and…
The Parramatta Eels will face the Melbourne Storm next week down in Melbourne after dominating by a scoreline of 25-6 against the Bulldogs in a game that didnt really reach the fever pitch expected before the game. The Bulldogs looked flat right from the kickoff and it took a great pass by Sonny Bill Williams…