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…
I’ve been very critical of England for a very long time, I’ve give my opinion on changes that needed to be made, and so when those changes have come into being, I shouldn’t be surprised by Englands improvement. England beat New Zealand 20-12 in a good old fashioned test match! New Zealand started well and…
Australia has not been all that impressive but still manage to run out big winners against France, winning 42-4 in Paris. The first half for Australia was very unimpressive, France played well as they have done throughout the competition and the Australian side once again looked disjointed and out of sync. This game really confirmed…
This is a very strange week for all teams in the Four Nations Tournament. Australia is through to the Final, we know that much. We also know that France is no chance of making the final. These two teams play each other while England take on the World Champions in the New Zealand Kiwi’s with…
New Zealand have beaten France 62-12 in a game that was actually pretty close at one point. France showed they can put in a good 60 minutes (Better than Australia ATM!) however their fitness really lets them down and they bled points late in the game against the Kiwi’s. It was a good hit out…
Twenty minutes of easy, untouchable football, sixty minutes of complete and utter garbage. That pretty much sums up Australia’s performance in their 26-16 win over England in Wigan this evening. Australia looked like they would easily rack up the massive scoreline I expected them to in the first quarter of the match. As I predicted,…
Its been a week of hysterical poms and over the top statements as we work into what I call the “48 Hours Of Honest Reflection” that comes following another massive Australian win over a terrible English side. We’ve had all but one Pom in the press doing the cheerleading thing this week, some ridiculous, simplistic statement, and…
On February 13, 2010, at Skilled Park on the Gold Coast the NRL will be showcasing some of the best players in the game. The NRL Indigenous All Stars will take on the NRL All Stars in a fixture that will become a kickoff to the start of the Rugby League season in Australia. Fans…
Have you ever wondered to yourself “I wonder what League Freak is thinking right now?”. If you have, you’re probably a stalker, and you need to get some help. Still, now your stalking has been made easier after I have set up a Twitter account thanks to my assistant who shall remain nameless because, quite…
Australia and New Zealand have fought out a 20 all draw at the Stoop in London. In what at times was a scrappy game, both teams looked rusty at times with New Zealand playing the better football over the course of the game. The Kiwi’s were under the pump early on but in true Rugby…
France have given England a very big wakeup call in the opening game of the Four Nations, leading by 12-4 at halftime only to fade badly in the second half to give England the 34-12 victory. For all of the talk out of Enngland that they have the best forward pack in the world, the…
After weeks of waiting for a good footy fix, the Four Nations is finally here! It has been interesting to see the way the four teams have approched the series in the last ten days. Australia has been quietly confident, but you get a sense of them brooding on that World Cup Final loss last…
A few Internationals games have been played over night and we saw some big scorelines and one major upset. England got off to a very slow start against Wales but eventually won 48-12. I didn’t get to see the match but I’m told it was not a good quality game and Paul Sykes has a…
After months of speculation former Great Britain coach Brian Noble has finally been named the new coach of the Celtic Crusaders. The Crusaders first season in Super League was nothing short of a disaster. On the field they were terrible, off the field they had players sent home with Visa problems, they ended up sacking…
The West Tigers have continued to turnover their playing roster by signing former New Zealand Test prop and former Sydney Rooster Jason Cayless. The Tigers forward pack has been one of their major problems in recent years, it has provided little impact against the NRL’s big guns, so Cayless will be a welcome addition to…
The World Champions have kicked off the international season with a solid 40-24 win over Tonga in Rotorua, New Zealand. The Kiwi’s were made to work hard for their win, only running away with the game in the last 20 minutes. At one point the scores were level at 24 all in the second half….
When they look back through history they will say that this was the moment, this is when nothing was the same ever again. Well, that’s what I’m guessing anyway, after the way Leeds captain Kevin Sinfield carried on about this being an historical Grand Final win! Yes, I watch the game, delayed by only 11…
England have named their Four Nations squad and a few surprised with a few big names left out! Leon Pryce, Rob Burrow, Keith Senior and Paul Wellens are all gone in a side thats very inexperienced at test level. Pryce has been terrible for a while now, playing out of position doesn’t help him. He…
And so we have made it, yes, that time of the year again when the fans of two Super League clubs put so much importance in a game which, more often than not, they have both won and lost in recent seasons. I tipped a St Helens vs Leeds Grand Final before the season kicked…
Well the Australian Rugby League finally got around to naming the Four Nations squad. It shouldn’t be too surprising they took so long to name the side considering it takes the Australian selectors 15 minutes before the end of the Grand Final to come up with the wrong player to give the Clive Churchill Medal…
The New Zealand Rugby League today named their squad for the upcoming Four Nations competition to be held in England and France. The squad contains seven uncapped players and really has a bit of an eye on the future with some very good young talent in the team. The Kiwi’s have been hit hard by…
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…
The Rugby League Ashes series goes back 101 years and to the very heart of the establishment of Rugby League in Australia. For 90 years it was the pinacle of the game. It was THE proving ground. It was where greats become legends, where former greats realised the game had passed them by. It was…
The Melbourne Storm will take the field in their fourth successive Grand Final after a dominant 40-10 victory over the Brisbane Broncos in front of 27,000 fans in Melbourne. The game never really reached any great heights and as I suspected, once the Broncos came up against a real top of the line outfit they…
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…
The Brisbane Broncos will face off with the Melbourne Storm for a place in the NRL Grand Final after seeing off the St George/Illawarra Dragons in Brisbane. The Broncos come out breathing fire and really put the Dragons on the back foot early. With the Broncos forwards stepping up, their star backline was able to…
The Gold Coast Titans were taught a very harsh lesson during the 2009 NRL Final series. A very good regular season means nothing and you can whinge all you like, all that matters is the scoreboard at the final siren. The Parramatta Eels completely dominated the Titans for the full 80 minutes. Their forwards were…
Jason Taylor has been sacked by South Sydney and it was pretty much the only decision they could possibly make.You can’t have your coach being involved in rubbish like that. The appointment of John Lang as the new coach for the next two seasons doesn’t sit real well with me. Lang got into a role…
After being bundled out of the Finals series in what turned out to be a pretty embarrassing year for the club, the Newcastle Knights have found themselves in more hot water. The Knights have been fined $5,000 for strapping on Richie Fa’aoso’s arm that caused abrasions to Bulldogs players in last weeks game at Sydney’s…
When people ask me who was the last real English halfback, I tell them Bobby Goulding. The game was different back then back when Bobby played, but he was a handy players for a short while there. He was creative, he was fearless, he had a swagger no English player today has, and he had…