5 rounds into the 2013 season and it looks like it’s a three horse race for the Minor Premiership in the form of Melbourne, South Sydney, and Manly. Newcastle, Roosters and Cowboys fans would argue that their sides are well within the running but general consensus is that the top 3 sides are a class…
An attacking player that is not in possession of the ball is not allowed to obstruct a defender. It is a really, really simple rule that has been over complicated. Do you know who is to blame for that? Coaches. You see for some reason when rules come up for review in Rugby League, we go and…
Phil Gould doesn’t like the prominence that the Under 20’s or National Youth Competition gets within Rugby League these days. He has talked about it for years! He feels as though too much emphasis is played on the NYC and that the traditional reserve grade competitions in the NSW Cup and QLD Cup don’t get the attention…
The 2013 NRL season is going to be an interesting one to watch simply for the fact that the game finally has enough money to do things it hasn’t been able to do in well over a decade. How this changes the way the games administrators make decisions is anyone guess right now. Will we…
When the season kicks off, everyone feels like they have a chance of winning the NRL Grand Final. Soon after though, reality starts to set in and teams that started off with high expectations find themselves on the wrong end of too many scoreboards. So who were the most disappointing teams in season 2012? Obviously the level…
With Ricky Stuart making the decision that he would stand down from his post as New South Wales coach we have seen a lot of maneuvering among potential replacements over the last few days. Brad Fittler, Laurie Daley and Trent Barrett have all be mentioned at the top of everyone’s list of candidates along with…
Luke Lewis has asked for, and received an early release from his contract at the Penrith Panthers sighting a desire for a new challenge at another club. Lewis is a local junior and has played for the Panthers for 11 years. He was stripped of the club captaincy earlier this year in a move that…
Earlier this year on Twitter Phil Gould was answering questions put to him by Penrith Panthers fans and tried his best to convey the terrible position the clubs previous management had left the club in in regards to the salary cap. Gould didn’t beat around the bush either. He basically said that the club was…
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…
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…
Well its that time of the year again when Santa going on the worlds largest break and enter spree. We don’t mind it because he leaves presents. Now, Santa spends all year making a list. Then, he checks it twice. He want to find out who’s naughty and who is nice. Personally, I think the…
If you follow me on Twitter, you will know that this is something that I have brought up a few times and I am not happy about. As of today, the Penrith Panthers do not have a captain, CEO or a major sponsor. Earlier this week The Daily Telegraph looks at the latter in an…
It was a fantastic week of Rugby League and one that will be remembered for some time. The Warriors vs Tigers game was fantastic. The Broncos vs Dragons game was even better! There were so many great stories as a backdrop to these games as well. It is what makes this time of the year…
No doubt you have all read about the blowup this week by Phil Gould after some squiggles he wrote on a piece of paper at a recent meeting between all NRL club CEO’s and Chairman was “leaked” to the media. Gould felt like it was a personal attack on him by “someone” at the NRL…
When the Parramatta Eels went out in the last off season and signed Carl Webb, Paul Whatuira, Chris Walker, Chris Hicks and Reni Maitua off the scrap heap, I was certain it was all going to work out just fine for them. I was certain that by signing all of these player who were in…
Phil Gould wrote an article on the weekend about junior Rugby League in western Sydney that basically went along the lines of, the AFL is a juggernaught, we are doing nothing to stop them, we need to spend more money, the sky is falling…..you get the picture. It has caused a lot of headlines and…
Am I the only one getting sick to death with the way the media keeps trying to manufacturer Rugby League stories lately? If you have been on the League Freak Juggernaut for long enough, you know I don’t like to stuff around. I like to get straight to the point and not mess about. I’m…
When Petero Civoniceva come to the end of his last contract with the Brisbane Broncos, he was the best prop in the game. He expected to be paid, and the club had always preached loyalty and told him that pay day was coming. It never happened. Petero didn’t want to leave the Broncos, but in…
On Sky Sports Radio this morning Peter Peters has revealed that there is unrest among the Penrith Panthers playing group. Players are said to be unhappy with the way Steve Georgallis was overlooked for the Panthers coaching position, with Ivan Cleary signed to coach the Panthers from the beginning of next season. This isn’t the…
Earlier this year the Gold Coast Titans announced that they had signed their coach, John Cartwright, to a five year contract extension that would see him coach the team until some time just after the ice caps have melted and we all live in under water cities. It was a move that raised a lot…
The New Zealand Warriors have called a press conference for Wednesday where it is expected that they will announce that Ivan Cleary will leave the club at the end of the 2011 season and take up the vacant coaching role at the Penrith Panthers next year. When people asked me who I wanted to coach…
Phil Gould was named the Penrith Panthers “general manager” with much fanfare a number of weeks ago. Soon after his appointment, Matthew Elliott was told he would no be the clubs coach beyond this season and the clubs CEO decided to “retire”. Then things went quiet… That all changed yesterday when Gould must have decided…
The Penrith Panthers needed someone who knew Rugby League. They needed someone that knew the club needed rebuilt at all levels. They needed a guiding hand, and yet, they also needed someone who wasn’t worried about results at first, they just needed to re-establish the club. To make things right again. It doesn’t matter what…
I’m not going to talk about how good of a player Darren Lockyer was. If you have eyes in your head, you could see what he did. You don’t need me to talk about how good he was! Last season there was a lot of talk that the Brisbane Broncos wanted to groom Lockyer to…
The administration in Rugby League on both sides of the world right now is a complete and utter shambles. Stupidity, self interest and ignorance are all getting a work out and the lack of a real leader, someone that can push things forward and make decisions, is there for all to see. Anything thats good…
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…
In a great game of football the Melbourne Storm cemented their place as one of the most dominant teams of the modern era by beating the Parramatta Eels 23-16. The sellout crowd of 82,538 saw a classic Grand Final with momentum changes, precision play, rampaging runs, a great comeback and a cool as you like…
I know, I know…..I apologize! We all know it should be me, but because far to busy and important to take up the role, I thought I should force my opinions onto the like of you, ya know, kind of like what I’ve been doing for the last 11 years. I’ve said for a long…
Penrith assistant coach Matt Adamason wants a witch hunt conducted at Penrith to hunt down and punish players who allegedly want him out of the club, sick of his attitude towards them. Adamson is furious at being undermind, an ironic twist for any Panthers fan that knows enough about the club. Adamson publically came out…