It all started with over a million people watching the Womens State Of Origin match on Friday Night and ended with over 3 million watching New South Wales belt Queensland. In between those games we saw an incredible festival of international football that still has the whole game buzzing…and we want more! The stand alone…
There are a number of pertinent issues in Rugby League in Australia today that are the result of over a decade of self-interest by the NRL. A lot of these can be quickly and easily rectified through the implementation of a smarter draw. What the NRL needs to do is look back at what the…
In front of over 83,000 screaming New South Wales supporters the Blues have defeated the Maroons 16-12 to level up the State Of Origin series 1-1. It was an unsettled start to the game with both sides looking nervous. New South Wales settled first through and early on had the best of the chances, although…
Australia has State Of Origin. Oh, that was just a stand alone statement. That has nothing to do with these bloody ridiculous “International Origin” games the RFL have come up with because, if their eyes, this shithouse English side is too goo to play against the likes of say France or Wales. As Ian Golden…
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…
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…
Last night in England the Rugby Football League was supposed to announce all of the venues that would be used for the 2013 World Cup. For what ever reason, that did not happen and in all the confusion about why the announcement wasn’t being made, it felt like the RFL just decided to announce what…
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,…
The NRL’s push to have a National Youth Competition for Under 20’s players has seen some very good, well prepared players come into the NRL ranks over the last few years and show they are ready for first grade right from the get go. These young players get a chance to play representative football, but…
Better late then never huh? So I didn’t want to comment on the “International Origin” game until I’d actually seen it. If you were scanning Twitter during the match, you will have seen how much fun I had with the match. In fact I tweeted so much, I got blocked as they were a limit…
There is something about playing for your state or your nation that you so special. The pride, the passion, the drama, the excitement….you just can’t manufacture that. Oh wait, you can it seems! Welcome to International Origin ladies and gentlemen, the Rugby Football Leagues latest bastard creation to try and save its slow decay to…