News that covers Rugby League in Australia.
Canberra coach Ricky Stuart has this week warned fans of the club to expect similar results until the club is able to attract Origin quality players to the squad. Isn’t it his job as coach of the side to attract players of said quality? Isn’t it also his job to turn talented youngsters into Origin…
With last night’s one-point win over a very capable and in-form North Queensland side, the Panthers may have finally silenced at least some of their doubters. I wrote earlier in my 50 random NRL thoughts, the first thought in fact, that I still can’t believe fans of other teams have taken to social media to…
News Limited is reporting that Newcastle Knights back Dane Gagai wants to follow Wayne Bennett to the Brisbane Broncos, even though they sacked him two years ago for disciplinary reasons. Gagai’s move follows a trend of players that want to “head home”, and its is something I have no problem with. If that is what…
I remember once I scratched my knee up pretty bad when I got tackled on the cricket pitch area of a footy field when I was younger. I think Jordan Rapana has me beat though! Rapana is out for the rest of the season after suffering a skull fracture in the Canberra Raiders loss to…
I always find it strange when a coach bans a player from talking to the media. I guess it all comes down to perspective… From a clubs point of view a media ban is a sign of strength. They call the shots. They will say who can and can not talk to the media. Media…
Roy Masters is reporting that Cronulla Sharks players could be offered one month bans by ASADA as soon as this week. Masters writes that bans could be taken during the off season, would would basically only see a couple of players miss the Four Nations and everyone get off with a get out of jail…
Alright, I’ll bite. On Thursday, Daily Telegraph sports editor and NRL provocateur Buzz Rothfield set out his “50 ways to fix the NRL”. As expected they included the usual mix of whinging about refereeing, carping about the costs of attending games and futile plans to retain or lure back star players. However in a piece…
Across multiple press conferences this weekend, coaches of multiple teams took officials to task to continue a worrying trend, that of blaming referees rather than taking responsibility. Let me first say I believe the Storm were very hard done by on Saturday night, particularly with the penalty awarded very late in the game after the…
The Newcastle Knights have announced that assistant coach Rick Stone will take the reigns once again after signing him to a two year deal to coach the club starting next season. Stone was previously the Knights head coach but reverted back to an assistant coaching role when the club signed Wayne Bennett. I think this…
The Daily Telegraph is reporting that a photograph by Gregg Porteous shows Manly Sea Eagles forward Josh Starling allegedly eye gouging South Sydney forward Dave Tyrrell. Take a look at the photo and see what you think: The picture looks pretty damning but I think you have to be very careful when it comes to…
Two Rugby Union writers for the Sydney Morning Herald took a couple of shots at Rugby League today in the aftermath of the NSW Waratahs Super Rugby final victory over the Crusaders last weekend. I didn’t watch the game but apparently it was won by a penalty kick in the dying minutes. Of course, Rugby…
Josh Reynolds had a strange night last night in the Canterbury Bulldogs 41-10 loss to the Brisbane Broncos. Over the course of the second half Reynolds basically started digging a hole for himself that eventually led to him being sent to the sin bin late in the game. Take a look at the video: I…
For those who don’t read Rugby League Week, Jarryd Hayne was voted the best player in the competition by fellow players in the competition. Gaining 30% of the vote, Hayne beat Jonathan Thurston (21%) and Greg Inglis (18%) to the annual award. Given Hayne’s brilliant performances for Parramatta this season, and his unforgettable efforts in…
The Sydney Morning Herald is reporting that the South Sydney Rabbitohs will take part in altitude training in the United States in November in an effort to find a competitive edge over other NRL teams. It is a great idea, but someone should really explain to the Rabbitohs how altitude training works. Basically, if you…
Well, Blocker didn’t hold back on this one! News Limited is running a a story today in which Steve Roach attacks Robbie Farah and calls for Wayne Pearce to be brought in to get the Wests Tigers back on track. Roach claims that everyone is walking on eggshells around Farah in an effort to not…
Robbie Farah’s interview with Phil Gould on The Footy Show is sure to dominate Rugby League discussion over the next few days. So…here it is: Look, this isn’t a black and white issue. There is no right and wrong. I think everyone at the Wests Tigers, the board, the CEO, Farah….pretty much everyone has a…
Greg Inglis has told the Sydney Morning Herald’s Tom Decent that he would rate South Sydney premiership success higher than his personal representative achievements. No doubt Inglis’ feelings regarding his success at representative level compared to winning a premiership with South Sydney will upset people. What will get lost in the discussion is that this…
The real test of the Australian Rugby League commission is whether it has the backbone and foresight to take a whole of game approach to the Rugby League calender. In 2014 the NRL season is set up based upon an old model. When the NRL was first formed it had too many teams and wasn’t…
Over the weekend, much like every weekend, fans of a variety of clubs took to social media to bag the referees, the NRL, television stations and announce that there is a conspiracy against their club. Don’t get me wrong, I am guilty of bagging referees, the NRL and Channel 9 on more than one occasion,…
When the Gold Coast Titans joined the NRL as the competitions 16th club the good will was overwhelming. Even looking past and embarrassing name change from Dolphins to Titans early in the piece, the people of the Gold Coast seemed pretty happy to have a Rugby League team to support again. During their first few…
News Limited is reporting that the Parramatta Eels started formal contract talks with Jarryd Hayne in an effort to re-sign the star fullback to a long term deal. Hayne isn’t off contract until the end of 2015 but rival clubs can start negotiating with him on November 1st under NRL rules. That the Eels have…
Having loaded the Newcastle Knights with an ageing roster that needs completely rebuilt, and then undermining current Broncos coach Anthony Griffin to get the job he wanted, now Wayne Bennett is not doing any favours for the coach he replaced at the Newcastle Knights. When Nathan Tinkler took over the Knights ownership Rick Stone was…
From the moment that the Canberra Raiders committed so much money over so many years to a Ricky Stuart revolution, this moment was coming. As the Canberra Raiders capitulated at home to the New Zealand Warriors in front of job over 7,000 fans on Sunday afternoon you hot the feeling that the green machine was…
For well over a decade the National Rugby League ran on a strict budget. It was a competition that was under funded due to a terrible broadcasting deal that was put together while the game was negotiating from a position of weakness. In 2014 things are very different. The National Rugby League is a competition…
Coming into the 2014 NRL season my feeling was that the Penrith Panthers would be a decent regular season team, but when it came to playing finals football they just wouldn’t have an extra gear. Penrith have had a lot of things go their way in 2014. With a nice draw and no need to…
Bulldogs and NSW five-eighth Josh Reynolds will return for his NRL side this weekend for the first time in seemingly months, and boy have they missed him? The Dogs, on the back of a two game losing streak, have slipped four points behind competition leaders Manly. Although the results and their current ladder position are…
It’s over. After many years that have seen many people within the game of Rugby League doing everything they could to try and help Todd Carney maintain a very high paying career as a professional athlete, it is finally time for Rugby League to wish Todd Carney all the best and leave him be. To…
The current he said, she said drama enveloping the Wests Tigers has provided much fodder for newspapers and sports talk shows as the team’s 2014 season slips away. However there is a different element of the club’s off field performance that should really get attention: the clubs remarkable player retention. First a quick anecdote. When…
Channel 9 reporter Danny Weidler has thrown Wests Tigers CEO Grant Mayer under a bus in a repot filed this evening, claiming Mayer needed to explain why a video on the Wests Tigers web site had been edited to remove praise that Robbie Farah had given to under pressure coach Michael Potter. The inference is…
Unfortunately yesterday’s, and today’s headlines have and will be dominated by the off field problems being experienced by the Wests Tigers. In a result that flew under the radar, the Dragons defeated the struggling Tigers 28-12 to further press the Red V’s finals credentials. I now think it it safe to say that the Dragons…