I’ve thought about writing this Saturday Night but it was not until now that I decided to go ahead due to the sensitive nature of the topic. Last weekend the NRL put on its Women In League round. Teams wore pink, charities were given much needed publicity and thousands upon thousands of dollars were raised…
When an NRL club signs a highly paid player to a long term contract, they are taking a risk. It doesn’t matter who that player is or what they have done in the past, committing so much money to one player and hoping that he is still performing at a high level at the end of that deal is…
The Sydney Morning Herald is reporting that Penrith Panthers prop Mose Masoe will join St Helens in 2014. Masoe, who joined the Panthers in the off season from the Sydney Roosters, is one of the biggest players in the game today and a player I rate fairly highly. he has good mobility for a big…
Another day another sportsman being investigated for comments made on Twitter. A day after the Ben Te’o alleged assault case surfaced young cricket Chris Lynn is in hot water for tweeting about the woman at the centre of the allegations. This just a day after David Warner was fined for his comments made on twitter…
The South Sydney Rabbitohs only informed the NRL of assault allegations leveled against Ben Te’o last night, despite having said they knew about the allegations five weeks ago. This news comes as the NRL looks to establish an independent investigation into these allegations via the NRL’s own Integrity Unit. NRL CEO David Smith played a straight bat to reporters…
South Sydney will take no action against back rower Ben Te’o after allegations of domestic violence were made against him by Brisbane woman who will be the subject of a Channel 9 interview later tonight. The incident is alleged to have occurred on Friday the 19th of April after the Australia vs New Zealand test…
Brent Tate looks like he will retire as a North Queensland Cowboys after re-signing with the club through to the end of the 2014 season. With the re-signing of Jonathan Thurston soaking up a huge amount of the Cowboys salary cap space, the club is starting to look at where it can save a bit…
The New South Wales State of Origin side is set to be named on Sunday night and it seems everybody is talking about who should be selected. Some players are automatic selections (i.e. Gallen, Jennings) whilst other spots are extremely up for grabs (i.e. five-eighth, bench). In something that is sure to spark much feedback…
The NRL has announced that it will introduce a 30 second time limit on the formation of scrums in an effort to speed up the game. There will also be a change to the time limit currently applied to line drop outs, with the limit dropped from 40 seconds down to 30 seconds. These changed…
Eric Grothe Junior burst onto the scene as a young, strong winger for the Parramatta Eels. Sharing the name of his famous dad Grothe has been in the spotlight since an early age and having played Origin for NSW 3 times and representing his nation it’s fair to say Eric has embraced it. Since retiring…
He is a relative newcomer to the sports betting industry and yet somehow Tom Waterhouse has found himself the figurehead of a movement against gambling in Australia. How did it get to this point? Why have so many people turned on Tom Waterhouse? Where did he go wrong? Tom Waterhouse is a 30 year old…
Last night’s game between Manly and Melbourne reignited the debate on whether or not golden point is a good idea. Twitter lit up with arguments saying it’s the most exciting way to decide a winner whilst others were saying it’s nothing but the penalty shoot-out of rugby league. Personally I would much rather it be…
Even during the exciting Green Machine days I never thought I’d say I really feel for the Raiders and their fans. No this doesn’t have anything to do with their defeat at the hands of the Sharks on the weekend but has everything to do with the man who led the Sharks to victory, Todd…
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…
The Federazione Italiana RFL (FIRFL) look set to create international rugby league history after announcing their Italia Azzurri XIII National Team will play their first International against a ‘Rest of the World’ team named the Barbarian Warriors Rugby League. The international will be played at Stadio campo da Rugby Dan Giorgio in Palmi, Reggio Calabria…
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…
The New Zealand Warriors are a club with a lot of talent. That they sit in 15th place on the NRL ladder with just 2 wins in their 10 games this season is a disgrace. Last night it all culminated in an embarrassing 62-6 loss to the Ivan Cleary coached Penrith Panthers and with former Warriors player…
Dear Panthers Fans, In my season preview I without hesitation (ok a little hesitation) predicted that the Penrith Panthers would run away with the Wooden Spoon in 2013. A few weeks later in my thoughts on the wooden spoon I again said the Panthers would finish last due to the lack of a genuine game…
The National Rugby League will celebrate its annual Women In League round this weekend. On face value it is a great concept. A round of football that allows us all to focus on the contributions women make to Rugby League at all levels of the game. Then there is the fact that someone like Robert…
In an exclusive, League Freak has obtained a copy of an email that proves the decision by Matt Cecchin to send-off Jared Waerea-Hargreaves against Manly on Monday night may have been the pre-conceived actions of a raving madman that were inspired by a directive from above. The email, sent on Sunday from senior official Shayne…
It’s fair to say that the Penrith Panthers have been extremely busy in the player market so far in 2013. They have publicly chased Australian 5/8 Thurston as well NSW 5/8 Todd Carney and although they came up short in both efforts, media reports indicate they came within a whisker of securing each. After a less than…
Benji Marshall has been named on the Wests Tigers bench for Friday nights game against the South Sydney Rabbitohs with Liam Fulton taking his place at five-eigth. It comes at a very interest time in Marshall’s career. At 28 years of age, these should be Benji Marshall’s best years. This should be the time when…
The Salford City Reds will change their name to the Salford Red Devils next year in a move that I think will help them in terms of marketing. It is part of an overall re-branding of the club that is long over due. In related news, I just bought the domain name SalfordRedDevils.co.uk Seriously, click on it…
Since being fined and having his contract almost torn up a few weeks ago, Blake Ferguson has come back into the Canberra Raiders side and been in some decent form. One the weekend Ferguson tore the Newcastle Knights apart in a display that saw him dominate the entire outcome of the game. Ferguson broke the…
Rugby League coaches never lose games. Ever. There is always something that gets in the way of a Rugby League coaches perfect plan to take down the opposition. Injuries, suspensions, the terrible schedule, the rep season….there is always some reason why a coach didn’t manage to get the win. Of course, the most obvious reason coaches…
Right from the get go I want to let anyone reading this article know that I was born in Penrith, I was raised in Mt Druitt and I went to high school in Blacktown. I’ve lived my entire life in Western Sydney so I think its fair to say that I understand the people of Western Sydney….
The crowd of 7, 803 at Centrebet Stadium to see the home side Penrith take on the World Champion Melbourne Storm capped off a poor weekend of crowd attendance for the NRL. This week saw figures of: 12, 117 at The Titans vs. Dragons game 10, 453 in Canberra to see the Raiders belt Newcastle…
Right now there is a lot of talk about restructuring the Super League and Championship competitions. Some of the idea’s on the table seem alright. Others are completely ridiculous and should not even be up for consideration. The problem with all of the options being put up for discussion right now is that they do…
Rugby League’s worst kept secret is now out, Josh Dugan is officially a Dragon. My first reaction was ‘geese the Dragons are desperate’ but on second thought I realised it was only a few short weeks ago someone asked me if I’d take Dugan at the Sharks and I said I would consider it. The…
Injury prone and more trouble than he’s worth. It is not exactly the type of description you’d expect to hear about a player who, at his best, is a walk up start for the New South Wales State Of Origin team. At just 22 years of age Josh Dugan finds himself at a cross roads….