News that covers Rugby League in Australia.
In 2015, the NRL was graced with an all-Queensland final that pitted the Brisbane Broncos against the North Queensland Cowboys. The Cowboys had fought intense battles throughout the season with their star player Johnathan Thurston leading the team to NRL glory. While there is no clear-cut favourite, the NRL betting odds should favour these top…
With the NRL All Star game coming up there is a lot of talk that the NRL may be looking to cut the event to help ease the workload on players. The NRL All Star Game is very important for the Indigenous All Star, that is something that can not be overlooked at all. It…
Should Mitchell Pearce be sacked by the Sydney Roosters and deregistered by the National Rugby League? I tend to think a fine and suspension is enough in this case with a warning that one more incident will be the end of his NRL career, but a lot of people feel that is not enough. So…
Sydney Roosters halfback Mitchell Pearce is in a lot of trouble right now after video emerged of him highly intoxicated at a private party. During the video Pearce admits to pissing on the couch of the person that owns the home, before briefly simulating a sex act with her Poodle (Ironically a little bit of…
Anthony Mundine has told The Locker Room Podcast that he believes he was a very similar player to Johnathan Thurston, but more explosive. Mundine said “Thurston was very similar to me but way slower”. He went on to add “I think I had twin turbos. If he had twin turbos he’d be very similar to…
As the National Rugby League continues to negotiate its next broadcasting agreement news has emerged that Fox Sports wants to shake up the current broadcasting schedule by adding an early Friday Night match at 6pm AEST and buying Channel 9’s Saturday Night Game, giving Fox Sports its “Super Saturday” back while moving Channel 9’s match…
Are you a Rugby League fan, or are you just a fan of your club? Do you want to see the best talent in the world on show every weekend in the NRL, or do you only care that your team wins and very little else matters to you? Personally, I’m a Rugby League fan…
Sam Burgess has officially made the decision to leave Rugby Union and return to the South Sydney Rabbitohs. Many will suggest that Burgess’ stint in Rugby Union was a failure. Considering how much money he made in his short stint there, and the fact he walked into the English Rugby Union test team, I find…
Pay Television provider Optus today announced that it had secured the exclusive rights to broadcast English PremierLeague soccer matches today in a deal said to be worth over $50 million. This deal in itself isn’t massive news in Australia as due to the kickoff times of most EPL games the television ratings for them in…
Before the excuses starts let me just say that I’m not a big fan of excuses. Excuses are for people that have failed and that want to come up with some sort of fantasy scenario where they didn’t fail and they were actually successful. When you start making excuses in Rugby League, you basically are…
David Smith has resigned from his position as NRL CEO after three years. An official announcement will be made later on today. The loss of Smith from the NRL’s administration is a blow to the game. Smith joined the NRL three years ago and before he had even officially started the job he was dealing…
Veteran sports journalist Mike Gibson has passed away at the age of 75. Gibson, a very well respected journalist, was known for heading up Channel 9’s Wide World of Sport, and later, The Back Page. He was known for giving reasoned, straight forward opinions and having the ability to look past PR spin and rubbish…
The NSWRL held its awards night last night that is basically the NSWRL’s version of the Dally M Awards. Various awards for NSWRL ran competitions were handed out, and among these awards were those given to New South Wales State Of Origin players for their outstanding performances during the 2015 State Of Origin series. Those…
Fairfax Media is reporting that Nathan Brown will be the next coach of the Newcastle Knights. I’m not sure how I feel about this appointment. While there is a lack of top class coaching talent out there Brown seems to have been one who had a couple of chances to show he could be a…
More than ever before Rugby League finds itself in a battle for peoples time and entertainment dollar. Some people tend to get drawn into the old idea that Rugby League is in competition with other sports for your attention. This simply overlooks the fact that we are all people that are easily distracted by other…
Its a pretty simple question…. If Foxtel were to drop their NRL coverage completely, would you cancel your Foxtel subscription? Vote in the poll below and we will see how the numbers stack up:
Will this season ever end? When the terms of the new Free To Air broadcasting deal were announced I was really disappointed. The NRL basically locked itself into the same season schedule it has right now for a further five years, and I absolutely hate the current season schedule! You could cut an entire month…
It was the most predictable story heading into the 2015 season. At what point would we see the headline “Taylor vs Farah”? To say that the Wests Tigers are a badly run club is an understatement. They are a basketcase. Now to be fair to the Wests Tigers, they have plenty of company. Most clubs…
Who makes up your mind about whether the NRL is doing a good job of running the game? You’re probably a stubborn person that right now is thinking “I do League Freak! No one else is going to make my decisions for me!”. Think about it though, where do you get your information from to…
I know what you are thinking. Who the hell is Stan and what does he have to do with Rugby League? Stan is one of about half a dozen digital content distribution services now established in Australia. For $10 a month you can watch any number of movies or television shows. Its very similar to…
Lets not get too far ahead of ourselves just now. Jarryd Hayne did very well in his first pre season match for the San Francisco 49ers but he still has a long way to go. It was important for him to show the club he had raw athletic talent, and he more than did that….
I love Rugby League because it is an uncompromising collision sport that is difficult to play. It isn’t the sport for everyone. Only a certain type of person wants to play a sport where you receive the ball and have 13 other people looking to drag you to the ground. When you play a collision…
It would be very easy to look at the NRL’s newly announced broadcasting deal with Channel 9 and be blinded by the figures. Channel 9 currently pays $90 million per year to broadcast 3 NRL matches per round, as well as the finals series, and representative fixtures. The newly announced deal that kicks off in…
A bizarre display of gymnastics from New Zealand Warriors’ veteran hooker, Nathan Friend, has captured the imagination of sports fans worldwide. Friend defied his age (34) to pull off an audacious piece of skill during the Warriors’ 28-14 victory over the Melbourne Storm when leaping to claim a Chad Townsend bomb near the defensive line….
It would be very easy to sit back and suggest that what we are seeing happen to the Parramatta Eels right now is the result of terrible management of a club that has been a bit of a basket case for close on 30 years. That would be missing the much bigger picture though. In…
Manly’s Treatment Of Toovey Is A Disgrace The treatment of Geoff Toovey by the Manly Sea Eagles is a disgrace. When you consider the constant infighting at board level Toovey has had to deal with during his time as the Sea Eagles head coach, the injury list he has managed, the loss of talent he…
It is one of the most worn out phrases in the game. You don’t read about the good things that players and club do, you only hear about the bad things. Today is not one of those days. Let me share with you my story and maybe you’ll understand why Canterbury are not only my…
You hear it all the time. Rugby League players are just greedy. They just want to get as much money as possible and don’t care about the consequences of their actions. Let me tell you right now, players have NOTHING on Rugby League clubs who have proven they will happily watch the game being torn…
Like most people, I was pretty disappointed with the crowd the Cronulla Sharks drew at home on the weekend. It was perfect weather for Sunday night football, it was the season kickoff after a few brutal years of off field drama, there were new signings getting their first run for the team, and the Sharks…
Mitchell Moses was very lucky to remain on the field after this high tackle on William Zillman in the Wests Tigers win over the Good Coast Titans on Saturday night. Take a look at the footage and make your own mind up as to whether it was a send off offence or not: Personally I…