A lot has been made in the media of Israel Folau playing Union, Sonny Bill possibly going back and Benji Marshall having a whinge etc but also finding a way to keep and attract best and brightest stars to the Greatest Game of All. Now most people suggest raising the cap or as Andrew Johns…
He is one of the most marketable players in the game. When he is in form, there is no doubt Benji Marshall is also one of the best Rugby League players in the world. With the Wests Tigers ridiculously questioning whether they should upgrade the contract of the best player in their lineup, the NRL…
The Sydney Roosters have re-signed Sonny Bill Williams through to the end of the 2014 season according to the Daily Telegraph. Williams made a smooth return to the game and has managed to avoid the injury problems that have plagued his career in the past. Over the last few weeks in particular Williams has looked…
There are no excuses any more… With the NRL raking in around $300 million per season, and putting $40 million in the bank for future projects every year, there are no excuses for Rugby League to lose a single player to any other sporting code. Likewise, there is no reason why the NRL should have…
He was a great Rugby League player, one of the best in the world. He was offered an impossible amount of money to switch to AFL. Now, after just 13 games, Israel Folau has walked into the Australian Rugby Union test team, his form making it impossible for the ARU to offer his position to…
The British and Irish Lions Rugby Union team is currently touring Australia. While Rugby Union in Australia might be a small sport that struggles to get a share of the spotlight, crowds have been good for their tour matches as Rugby Union fans come out of the woodwork and support the game. Steve Mascord this…
Confirmed: Its is now official, Craig Gower will join the Newcastle Knights for the remainder of the season. Daily Telegraph journalist Dean Richie has tweeted that current London Broncos halfback Craig Gower is “almost certain” to join the Newcastle Knights within the next few days. This news comes just days after it was revealed that…
He was a superstar at the Melbourne Storm who moved to the Brisbane Broncos on the first big deal of his career. He was a walk up start to the Queensland and Australian Rugby League teams and he looked to be set to have a record breaking career in the game. The AFL came knocking…
Wowsers. What a collector’s item of sparkling goal kicking from Luke Walsh last night! The Penrith halfback’s spotless 11 from 11 was a magnificent showcase of accuracy from sideline to sideline, not to mention a perfect accompaniment to the razzle dazzle being served up by the Panthers on the CUA turf against a porous Warriors…
For over a decade Rugby League in Australia found itself living on a tight budget. The aftermath of the Super League War actually saw salaries shrink considerably. This was followed up by under funding after the game signed off on poor broadcasting deals, and it created a situation in which teams were spending the least amount of…
There are two types of British Rugby League players. The first type are the ones that like to play make believe that they are something they are not. They talk a good game, but at the end of the day their goal is to be the most famous person in their local pub. Now, that…
The Daily Telegraph is reporting today that the Penrith Panthers inquired about the availability of Wigan fullback Sam Tomkins and were blown away by the price demanded for the youngsters services. After chasing Johnathan Thurston, and missing out, the Panthers now find themselves with over $1 million to spend under the salary cap and yet with no…
Do you remember the first time you heard what had happened? It was a fantastic story. The type of story I’m sure you didn’t believe until you watched the news that night. The Canterbury Bulldogs poster boy and one of the biggest named in the NRL had got on a plane and left for France,…
The City of Sydney. Much like the other filthy and overpopulated municipalities of this earth, it has always had its fair share of the faceless melancholia and alienated futility that any confined human-squash is famous for. However of late, one locale of ye olde convict hub is bluer than it’s ever been, and to pinpoint…
He is regarded by many as being the best player in Super League, and although under contract with Wigan for a few more years there is a general feeling that he is already looking at a move away from the club in the not too distant future. So, will we ever see Sam Tomkins playing…
If you’re a winger in Rugby League and you want to command super star money, you’d better be a bloody good player. While Akuila Uate is a damaging ball runner, the 2012 season started to show the flaws that come up when the best in the game start to put you under the greatest of…
When Israel Folau reached out to the Parramatta Eels and told them he wanted to come back and play Rugby League for them, it put a number of different elements onto an eventual collision course that ironically would see Folau decide to turn his back on Rugby League once again, Folau’s decision to turn his back on one of…
Today David Campese has got himself in a bit of trouble by voicing an opinion. After hearing that the Sydney Morning Herald had sent Georgina Robinson to cover the Australian Rugby Union team’s tour of Europe Campese made a controversial tweet and referenced former Sydney Morning Herald Rugby Union writer Greg Growden who was one of many…
You don’t know him, I don’t know him, but Dave Smith just stepped into the highest profile sports administration job in Australia. Having watched the press conference announcing David Smith as the new NRL CEO a few things came out of it for me. Firstly, Smith, a Welshman based in Sydney in his role in…
The Daily Telegraph in Sydney is reporting that Benji Marshall will ask for an immediate release from his contract with the Wests Tigers to take up a deal to play Rugby Union in Japan. This was always going to happen in the wake of the move by the Sydney Roosters to sign Sonny Bill Williams…
I have just sat down and watch the press conference in Sydney in which the Sydney Roosters announced that they had signed Sonny Bill Williams to a one year deal. The contract has yet to be forwarded to the National Rugby League and there is some concern about the way it come about, with no…
With the Salford City reds currently await a winding up petition hearing and the recent spate of big clubs going bust, it begs the question, what does the future have in store for Rugby League in England? Last season we saw one of the biggest clubs in English RL History, the Bradford Bulls arrive at…
Do you remember the Australian Rugby Championship? Chances are you don’t. Basically it was a club competition the ARU set up in the hope that they could establish a third tier of Rugby Union in Australia that wasn’t a decaying relic that the various club competition dotted around isolated areas of the country have turned…
When the Australian Rugby League Commission announced it had signed a billion dollar broadcasting deal I reckon the happiest person in Australia was Israel Folau. When Faolau was offered well over a million dollars to play AFL he simply had to take the money. It was around three time more than he could have hoped to have received in Rugby…
With Rugby League in Australia now predicted to generate an average of $270 million dollars per year the game administrators have an opportunity to do something they have not been able to even think about for a very long time. Building a legacy. While clubs grants will be raised along with the salary cap, Rugby…
Sonny Bill Williams has revealed that he already regrets his decision to return to Rugby League and if he had his time over again, he would never have agreed to join the Sydney Roosters three years ago and would stay in Rugby Union. As it stands right now Williams has a stint in Japanese Rugby…
I don’t need to hear from Rugby League coaches any more. Coaches are cheats and liars. The don’t care about anything other than winning their next game. They have no interest in what is best for the game overall, they don’t care about their opposition, in fact they really don’t care about their players either….
It is one of the questions I have been asked the most over the last few days. With the financial crisis in Super League seeing three of the competitions 14 clubs fall over in the last 12 months, people realize that something has to give, and it is probably the ability of Super League to…
Bradford Bulls fans have woken up to the news this morning that their club could be dead and buried within a fortnight. The Bulls released a statement today pleading with fans to donate £100 each to save the club. They claimed they need to raise around £1,000,000 to survive and £500,000 just to survive through…
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…