Rugby League simply does not play star players what they are worth to the game. With the NRL’s salary cap used to keep costs down, keep clubs financially viable and give us a competition that is as even as any competition in world sport, it is difficult to find way in this system to reward…
The 2013 World Club Challenge between the Melbourne Storm and Leeds Rhinos will be played at Headingley Stadium in Leeds. Shocking I know… It was mid October when the same old people in England started talking about trying to play the World Club Challenge in Australia. I wrote that The World Club Challenge Won’t Be…
Former English soccer captain David Beckham is reportedly being shopped around to A League soccer clubs for a ten game guest stint to after he has completed his Major League Soccer commitments in the United States in two weeks time. The 37 year old’s presence would be a huge boost to the A League and…
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…
Lets face it, the off season is boring. With the sad demise of international Rugby League we are left with nothing to look forward to until March when the NRL season kicks off and once again we are all back into being Rugby League tragics. The problem is, its only November. What do we do between…
Parramatta fans hopeful of seeing squad improvement during the offseason will have been pleased with the news that Isreal Folau is set to join the club. However, further news that the Eels are about to pluck Gareth Hock from Wigan Warriors may not appeal to fans so much. Speaking to the Sydney Morning Herald last…
Once upon a time I could name you every single player in the Australian Cricket team. I could name everyone in the NSW Cricket team and even players on the fringes who played Sydney club Cricket. I could name most of the players in other state teams too. It was easy! Then something happened. Cricket…
Ian Schubert, the NRL’s salary cap chaperone, has had some devilishly intricate contracts to review over the years. However, there is one from a different kettle of fish and loaves that stretches his abilities more than most, and with Israel Folau’s return to the land of league imminent, he’s about to tussle with its particulars…
Note: This deal fell through after the NRL salary cap auditor could not give the Eels a ruling on Folau’s true value under the cap. After waiting a while, Folau chose to sign with the Australian Rugby Union. Israel Folau has quit the AFL and will return to Rugby League. Brent Read of The Australian…
Well its that time of the year where we all dress up as our favorite monsters and go from house to house asking for sweets and chocolate. If you are not given anything you are then allowed to beat the home owner to death with sticks. I’m pretty sure thats how it works anyway. I…
Scott Prince will be playing for the Brisbane Broncos next season after securing a release from the Gold Coast Titans. Prince’s contract is for two years and its is an interesting signing by the Broncos because they have Peter Wallace and Corey Norman who play in the halves for them last season. I’ve said a…
The problem a lot of Super League teams are faced with is spending more money than they make. That is the simplistic answer to the financial issues dogging the likes of Salford, Castleford and Hull KR. The salary cap sits at £1.65m. That means that clubs can spend up to that limit on wages and…
For well over a decade now the game of Rugby League in Australia has been crying out for a strategic plan. Something that the game can work towards to give fans, players and various investors in the sport something they can look forward to. Basically the game needed to build towards something, and so today…
It is an issue that fires up a lot of fans and one I think is pretty clear cut. What happens when a clubs finds itself in a perilous financial situation and is fighting for its life. Should a governing body step in and take control of the situation, or should they stand back and let things…
Mick Potter has finally been announced as the next coach of the Wests Tigers after ridiculous amounts of speculation by the media. There were no less than three other coaches who were “signed and sealed” according to some journos, and none of them were Mick Potter. Potter has had stints at the Catalan Dragons, St…
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…
The South Sydney Rabbitohs have announced that they will take on Papua New Guinea in their Return To Redfern clash at Redfern Oval on Saturday 9 February next year. It it one of three pre season games they will play including a game the following week against the Knights in Gosford and of course the…
I always find it interesting to look at crowd numbers in Australia sports because they are influenced by so many different variables. One thing I have never been able to understand is the way Rugby League in Australia looks at crowd numbers, and more specifically, growing those crowd numbers. Considering that Rugby League in Australia is…
Benji Marshall is one of about 5 people within Rugby League today that can win a game all on his own. Forget how his team is playing, forget how far ahead the opposition is, when Benji Marshall is at his best he is simply unstoppable. The 2012 season has been a pretty average one for…
English Rugby League fullback Sam Tomkins has narrowly avoided death after being attacking by a white lion in South Africa. Tomkins, who is part of the English squad that is currently undergoing altitude training incorrectly thanks to the RFL, was taking in some of the local wild life when the vicious animal snapped and almost tore his…
It happens every single year… After a Super League champion has been crowned the attention of the English Rugby League media turns towards their participation in the World Club Challenge. Every single season we hear the same thing from Super League clubs, they all say they would love to play the World Club Challenge in…
You can never have too much of a good thing, expecially when that good thing is me! So this post is all about making sure you are hooked up to the entire League Freak experience! First of all the best thing you can do is bookmark this web site. It sounds simple enough but you…
What a great achievement! Australia managed to beat New Zealand in Townsville 18-10 while being led from the front by a player born and raised in New Zealand who our officials and coaches recruited thanks to the possibility of at least $10,000 for every State Of Origin game he was selected to play in. What a proud moments for the…
I love international Rugby League. I grew up watching test football and enjoying every single minutes of it. I would set my alarm late at night to watch games played over in England, and I still credit the 1994 Kangaroo Tour for giving me the terrible sleeping habits I have today. Then Super League hit,…
The great game of rugby league, saturated in rich heritage and underpinned with a revered history, will forever find itself jousting with the feisty and youthful beast of progression. The sport has been constantly churned through the stamping press of time and subsequently embossed with evolutions like video technology, floodlit night games, convoys of on-field…
The New Zealand Warriors are expected to announce that Matthew Elliott will coach the club for two seasons starting from 2013. This is a disastrous decision that will cost the club players, sponsors and fans. It is a decision that will lead to the complete erosion of any advantages that the Warriors have built over many years of hard…
Well the club seasons on both sides of the world are over, and with no Four Nations to look forward to, I think it is fair to say that the silly season is already upon us. I know, I know, we have some internationals still to play in Europe, but still, lets not ruin a…
My oval-shaped pigskin heart almost flat-lined on the weekend thanks to a Sabbath sans rugby league, but with the aid of an unheralded sliver of light that poked through the vile post-season darkness, I was able to survive and tell my tale today. The saviour smelt like oil and bourbon and aggressively attacked my ear…
If the 2012 season showed us anything it was that a great coach is worth their weight in gold to any club. With top coaches now commanding million dollar salaries, clubs are more than aware that a top coach controls the entire destiny of a club. A coaches performance can make or break a club, not just…