In 2010 the Rugby League media in Australia has gone bat shit crazy. Between the formation of the Independent Commission, the Melbourne Storm Salary Cap saga, players demanding higher wages and Greg Inglis deciding he wants to live in Brisbane, the media has basically had a nervous breakdown in this part of the world. You…
Quade Cooper is an Australian Rugby Union player. Yes, Rugby Union still does exist in this country, if only barely. News came out this week that Cooper had held talks with the Parramatta Eels with an eye on switching codes. It came out at a time when he is negotiating with the ARU, and he…
News today that the UK Times has dropped its Rugby League coverage its quite honestly a disgrace. The Times made the decision a few years ago to make a commitment to cover Rugby League. This decision came with great fanfare and was seen as a good sign for Rugby League in the UK. Many hopes…
It comes as a shock, I know, but it is obvious that Australia is scrapping the bottom of the barrel as far as playing talent goes. That is the only conclusion I can come to with regards to the news that Newcastle Knights winger Akuila Uate is looking to turn his back of playing for…
George Riley of the BBC has revealed that the Rugby Football League is likely to strip a Super League license from one of the clubs currently in the top flight and hand it to a Championship club when the next set of licences are handed out. This news will come a a bombshell to a…
I’m a Hull FC fan, and today my team ran up a scoreline of 42-18 against the London Harlequins, despite the fact they were without a few injured players. This season Wigan looks strong, as does Warrington. St Helens are not in top gear, but they are still dangerous. My Hull FC are probably punching…
The administration in Rugby League on both sides of the world right now is a complete and utter shambles. Stupidity, self interest and ignorance are all getting a work out and the lack of a real leader, someone that can push things forward and make decisions, is there for all to see. Anything thats good…
Why do we have a salary cap? Two reasons. Firstly, in the game of Rugby League we need to stop our moronic club administrators from over spending. Pushed by ego, the need to make themselves seem like they are doing their job and therefore, being safe in their own job, administrators have no problems spending…
Well the predictions of doom and gloom over the crowd figure were off the mark but the predictions of a Queensland clean sweep were spot on. While New South Wales seemed to put up more of a fight, the fact is Queensland were not at their rampaging best and STILL managed to come away with…
The International Interactive Rugby League has announced a new competition for 2010-2011, with games to commence in August. The IIRL is the world’s longest running fantasy rugby league community, established in 1997 by Australian Martin Lester and New Zealander Kevin Hare. Unlike fantasy rugby league competitions run by major newspapers, the results of the games are made by a…
Well over the last few weeks I have watched the Soccer World Cup, basically because there isn’t much else on that late at night in Australia. Now Australia were bloody terrible, but I take heart in knowing that at least we are not as bad at Soccer as England is. If you are English and…
Talk is that the crowd for State Of Origin number 3 in Sydney on Wednesday night will struggle to get a big crowd. Ticket sales have supposedly been slow, people are selling tickets on EBay for cheap, and while they are talking about a crowd of 50-60,000, I’m tipping more along the likes of 40,000….
It should have been the type of situation that would have any decent footballer licking their chops and reading for a big game. Facing off against a weakened opponents. No captain, no on field general. Their back forward missing, their best backs missing. All that would be left is a couple of experienced club players…
So if you don’t know who Beau Ryan is, he is a winger for the West Tigers with a fantastic last name. He is a handy player, and he is bloody funny. He has a segment on The Footy Show called “Beau Knows” where he takes a hard look at various things, not only within…
You are probably wondering why I have not listed the Queensland and New South Wales sides heading into State Of Origin three. The reason is, it doesn’t really matter who was named. Queensland have named a very strong side, they have dropped Ben Hannant for Petero Civoniceva. They looked great. New South Wales on the…
This has been coming for some time. The Daily Telegraph in Sydney is reporting that Jarryd Hayne has his nose out of joint over comments made by his coach Daniel Anderson after the weekends loss to the Brisbane Broncos. What Anderson said was the softest rocket you have ever seen: “I think our fullback is learning. He…
When I visited England back in 2006, I was lucky enough to visit Wakefield. Now, I say lucky in the way that, after being to Wakefield, I feel lucky every single day since that I don’t actually live in Wakefield! While there, I saw the stadium the Wakefield Wildcats play out of. It was a…
The Queensland Rugby League team has completely dominated New South Wales in game two of the State Of Origin series, running away with a 34-6 victory. The win gives Queensland a record five series wins in a row, and makes Mal Meninga the most successful coach in State Of Origin history. To say this was…
A harsh, cold dose of reality. The 2008 World Cup was supposed to be a turning point for English Rugby League. It was the competition where reality set it and expectations had been reset. The catastrophic performance of the English side, which saw them barely beat Papua New Guinea, thrashed by Australia, and then easily…
So the report is in, and….wait for it….wait for it…. The Melbourne Storm broke the salary cap by a whole lot! The false outrage today has been a bit ridiculous really. We knew the Storm broke the Salary cap. We knew they had broken it by millions of dollars over the course of the last…
When I first heard that Timana Tahu had left the NSW cap for personal reasons, I was a bit confused. When I heard he had left after being upset at something Andrew Johns had said, I thought it was a piss weak move. It them came out that Andrew Johns had made a racist remark…
Samoa will make an application to the Rugby League International Federation to host a World Nines competition in 2012, an area of the international calender that is seen as a bit of a dead spot in the lead in to the 2013 World Cup. Its a nice idea, and it has seen some within the…
Did you see that? Down in the bottom right hand corner. Yeah, down there. No…not there…over a bit. Oh yeah, that’s the spot! In case you have no idea what I’m talking about, this incredible web site just clicked over to register its 1,000,000th hit! Imagine how sick that makes some people! Its been an…
Brett Kimmorley has had a fantastic career. A Premiership winner, a State Of Origin veteran, a Test player, there are very few things Kimmorley has not won over the course of his amazing career. There is one thing though that I’m sure he would change if he got the chance. Newcastle Knights, Hunter Mariners, Melbourne…
Well no doubt by now you have heard the news. Brisbane Broncos winger Israel Folau has decided to sign an incredible $6,000,000 contract to play AFL for the next four years. Good on him, he must be kicking himself! The AFL is desperate to break into Western Sydney and this is the avenue they have…
The idea has been around for longer than most people think. Hell, its been done before, just not in our lifetime. The Australian Rugby League team, the mighty Kangaroos, taking on the Australian rugby union team, you know, the ones that wear a mustard coloured jersey and don’t win much of anything. The concept of…
A lot of the time when a Super League club appoints a head coach, its basically just giving the job to the next guy in line. Many of the coaches in Super League, the English ones, are bloody terrible. Guys that love the sport, they want to continue making a living out of the sport,…
Where there is smoke, there is usually fire. Only 12 months ago, all and sundry would have told you that the Gold Coast Titans were the gold standard of how an NRL team should be set up and run. A brand new stadium was in place. The local community was behind the team. The club…
In the Sydney print media there is basically two different camps. In one corner you have Fairfax, they own the Sydney Morning Herald. In the other corner, you have News Limited. They own the Sydney Daily Telegraph. They have always been at each others throats in a petty game of back and forth snide remarks….
The Melbourne Storm are in the almost impossible situation where by they have to shed hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of player contracts, that they are 100% committed to having to pay, in order to be under the salary cap for the start of the 2011 NRL season. The Storm tend to have a…