Welcome to the 2011 Rugby Union World Cup. The last World Cup in which Australia will compete as anything other than a minnow. You see, Rugby Union in Australia has a problem. It is a game that prides itself on retaining its supposed class superiority and this has seen the game remain marginalized across the wider Australian…
David Gallop has the toughest job in sport. He is the leading figure in a sport he is not the leading figure in. He is an administrator who only took up the job as NRL CEO until the powers that be found someone who could take up the role over on a longer term basis….
One day……one day, the game of Rugby League in Australia will be run by an independent commission that is set to streamline the administration of the sport. Backed by the riches that are expected to come from a billion dollar broadcasting deal, the game finally see’s a chance to do a number of things it…
It was a very interesting first week of the NRL finals and we saw a clear divide between teams in all four games. The top two teams won their matches and get a week off. The bottom two teams are done for the season. That is how it was supposed to be! So lets have…
What a difference a year makes. This time last year Todd Carney was riding high after the best season of his career. He talked about the way he had turned his life around, how he had seen the error of his ways and how he would never let his his team mates, his friend and…
Last season felt like most of the competition was in transition and only a couple of teams were really primed for a real shot at the title. This season we have a number of different clubs ready to roll. The Storm are looking for redemption. The Dragons are looking to prove it wasn’t just a…
Rugby League at its highest level is a male dominated industry. You only have to go back ten years and anything from female journalists to female board members were just about unheard of! Thankfully, times are changing, to the point where we have even moved on from the forced, token female presence. Now we are…
So the Dally M’s were held last night and before I list the results, I need to get something off my chest. I’m not real sure how relevant the Dally M’s are any more. First of all, this is an award that has recently been won by Todd Carney and Matt Orford, but has never…
Its time for me to confront this issue. Sam Tomkins is not the most well liked player in the British game. For all of the accolades people throw in his direction, he still is not well liked at all by British Rugby League fans. Just recently the BBC’s George Riley wrote a piece titled Why boo…
Jack Reed is like a gift from the Rugby League Gods. Reed is a 23 year old center for the Brisbane Broncos. This time last year, he didn’t think he had much of a career ahead of him as far as Rugby League went. Perseverance paid off though and today he is a top performer…
Rugby League is the only sport I know of where events that happen in and around the game can all be linked to its ultimate demise. Such was the case in the fallout of Friday nights brawl between the Melbourne Storm and the Manly Sea Eagles. The first fight was not bad, but nothing spectacular….
I started reading League Freak a couple of years ago and the main thing that attracted me to the site was the laconic and straight-to-the-point attitude of the author, which is evident when he covers the issues that affect rugby league. People within the game can so often be found on the fence but some,…
The other day I sat down to watch a press conference in Brazil where the UFC were promotion their first big event in the biggest country in South America. UFC President Dana White said that it had been a long time coming, and would mark the start of regular events in Brazil, which provides some…
Imagine being a St George/Illawarra player over the last few seasons. You are trying your guts out but its plainly obvious that you don’t have what it takes to win a Premiership. Hell, for nearly a decade the club has been there or there abouts, and they always fall short. So much so that the…
No doubt you have all read about the blowup this week by Phil Gould after some squiggles he wrote on a piece of paper at a recent meeting between all NRL club CEO’s and Chairman was “leaked” to the media. Gould felt like it was a personal attack on him by “someone” at the NRL…
You have to wonder where a club is at when, after a number of terrible performances, they feel like the best thing to do is to have everyone stop drinking alcohol for the next two weeks to try and lift their game. Imagine in your work place if things were going well and the prevailing…
When the Parramatta Eels went out in the last off season and signed Carl Webb, Paul Whatuira, Chris Walker, Chris Hicks and Reni Maitua off the scrap heap, I was certain it was all going to work out just fine for them. I was certain that by signing all of these player who were in…
I’ve been saying for some time that Rugby League in Great Britain, and Super League in particular needs fixing. In 1996 Rugby League in Great Britain was given a whole lot of money to help try and form an elite club competition that would provide broadcasters with a nice amount of content they could show…
Phil Gould wrote an article on the weekend about junior Rugby League in western Sydney that basically went along the lines of, the AFL is a juggernaught, we are doing nothing to stop them, we need to spend more money, the sky is falling…..you get the picture. It has caused a lot of headlines and…
The NRL’s National Youth Competition for Under 20’s player get a lot of critics, and I’m not really sure why. I’ve always taken the opinion that, I don’t care what the results are in junior football, the main thing is that the kids are playing Rugby League and having a bit of fun. That should…
Am I the only one getting sick to death with the way the media keeps trying to manufacturer Rugby League stories lately? If you have been on the League Freak Juggernaut for long enough, you know I don’t like to stuff around. I like to get straight to the point and not mess about. I’m…
Canberra, Newcastle, Brisbane, Townsville, New Zealand, Melbourne and the Gold Coast. These are the names of teams that have come into what we these days call the NRL over the course of my lifetime. The presence of these teams have been nothing short of vital to the survival of the club I support in Sydney,…
In a stunning turn of events, the Wrexham Crusaders have withdrawn their license application to the Rugby Football League, meaning they will drop down a division to the Co-Op Championship next season. This decision means that the team that was heavily favored to be axed from the competition next season, the Wakefield Wildcats, have earned…
When Petero Civoniceva come to the end of his last contract with the Brisbane Broncos, he was the best prop in the game. He expected to be paid, and the club had always preached loyalty and told him that pay day was coming. It never happened. Petero didn’t want to leave the Broncos, but in…
I always find it funny when Super League Imports talk up the quality of Super League and its players. The vast majority of the time I think its just about knowing who butters your bread. Other times I think it just comes down to a player or a coach trying to convince themselves that they are no…
The Sydney Daily Telegraph is reporting that NRL clubs bosses are looking at a number of initiatives that are supposed to make the NRL season run a little bitter. From what I can see, it looks like club bosses have no only out smarted themselves, but also added a dose of self interest into the mix as…
Yesterday at a gas bagging session that was nothing more than an excuse for some of sports power-brokers to have an expensive lunch and hear themselves talk, Channel 9’s boss, David Gyngell, said that Rugby League could not expect to get anywhere near what the AFL got because put simply, the game didn’t have enough…
Rugby League holds 73 of the most watched 100 programs on Australian Pay Television. It is an industry that was formed on the foundation of Rugby League in this country. Today, Roy Masters has written an explosive article in the Sydney Morning Herald titled Clubs’ ploy to abandon Foxtel to get rights value. Go and read…
Starting a new football team, and expansion team, is all about good will. You have to convince the governing body of the sport that they really need you in the competition. That the area you are going into has room for growth, and their presence will will be a welcome addition to the established competition…
This morning Kevin Moore boarded a plane with his Bulldogs side in preparation for Friday nights showdown with the New Zealand Warriors. Not long after arriving in Auckland, Moore announced that he would stand down from the position of Bulldogs coach with immediate effect. Assistant coach Jim Dymock will take over with many suggesting that…