News that covers Rugby League in Australia.
These are the facts… An independent report was commissioned by the Cronulla Sharks into the alleged use of supplements and peptides in 2011. One of the many conclusions that this report came to was that there was the possibility that there may be a connection between the use of certain peptides and the acceleration of the condition of disease…
Canterbury Bulldogs CEO Todd Greenberg will leave his post at the Belmore based club today and take up a with role the NRL which is being described as Deputy Chief Executive of the NRL. Greenberg is expected to work under NRL CEO David Smith and will probably become the public face of the game. NRL CEO David…
With the City vs Country game now behind us we all turn our attention to the State Of Origin series. New South Wales has lost 7 series in a row. Despite talk of building a winning team we still come into the State Of Origin series with a lot of big questions hanging over the…
When Phil Gould took over the running of the Penrith Panthers Rugby League club he set about the task of rebuilding the club from the ground up. After nearly a decade of poor management the Panthers were a basket case at every single level. Gould looked to bring in a new coach and training staff,…
English born Melbourne Storm five-eighth Gareth Widdop has signed a four year deal to join the St George/Illawarra Dragons from 2014. The deal is said to be for around $500,000 per season. This is the first big name signing the Dragons have made in years. It is also a very brave move by Widdop who…
For over a decade Rugby League in Australia found itself living on a tight budget. The aftermath of the Super League War actually saw salaries shrink considerably. This was followed up by under funding after the game signed off on poor broadcasting deals, and it created a situation in which teams were spending the least amount of…
It is very rare that a terrible coach can manage to win a Premiership. It does happen from time to time (Hello Michael Hagan) but for the most part, the best coaches normally share the spoils. With the NRL salary cap strictly policed and teams not recruiting youngsters from all over the place, the biggest…
Rugby League Week is reporting that Sam Tomkins could find himself playing for the New Zealand Warriors next season. It would be an incredible move for the young Wigan fullback, a brave move. The New Zealand Warriors have the salary cap space to spend to get Tomkins. They also have a coach in place that…
St George/Illawarra Dragons half Jamie Soward has signed a four year contract with the Penrith Panthers started from 2014. I think this is a very good signing for the Panthers. Soward has a fantastic kicking game. He will bring a cool head and Premiership winning experience to the Panthers halves. It has become clear in…
This week we have seen a media backlash against the game in regards to access to players and coaches. In some ways it is understandable. I’ve talked before about the almost paranoid stance the game takes to the media at times, mostly driven by coaches. A lot has been written about Darius Boyd over this…
I can not wait for this weekends clash between the only two undefeated team in the NRL, the South Sydney Rabbitohs and the Melbourne Storm. These are the two teams I tipped to make the Grand Final. So far this season, they both seem to be set to make yet another of my predictions come…
Roosters fans get upset when you say there isn’t many of them. Looking past the trumped up crowd figures or the fact that the club only survives because a handful of rich old men like having a play thing to occupy their time on the weekends now that playing Golf is out of the question,…
In 2008 Sonny Bill Williams walked out on the Canterbury Bulldogs in the middle of the night. He left the club at the worst possible time and he did it without a second thought. He took the most cowardly way out any sportsman could possibly take, and he has zero remorse ever since. In 2013…
Going into the 2013 NRL season you would have been hard pressed to find someone that didn’t have the Canterbury Bulldogs down as one of the premiership favorites. Their less than idea start has horrified some within their fan base and it begs the question, is it already time to start worrying about the Bulldogs…
Not too long ago there was a time where Queensland were considered to be selecting players from a much smaller player pool than New South Wales had at their disposal. Back before Queensland decided to turn its back on born and bred Queenslanders and started selecting players from Papua New Guinea, New Zealand, Fiji, Northern…
The Daily Telegraph is reporting today that the Penrith Panthers inquired about the availability of Wigan fullback Sam Tomkins and were blown away by the price demanded for the youngsters services. After chasing Johnathan Thurston, and missing out, the Panthers now find themselves with over $1 million to spend under the salary cap and yet with no…
The season may only be a month old but already some players have enraged fans by their complete inability to have any impact on their teams performances. Some of these players are highly paid stars while others are has beens that should have been put out to pasture a long time ago. Rugby League is…
An attacking player that is not in possession of the ball is not allowed to obstruct a defender. It is a really, really simple rule that has been over complicated. Do you know who is to blame for that? Coaches. You see for some reason when rules come up for review in Rugby League, we go and…
He was supposed to be one of the games best players, and he was paid accordingly, but Jarryd Hayne has gone missing and I for one am concerned for his well being. Jarryd Hayne used to be the fullback for the Parramatta Eels. A big, athletic player with a lot of skill. He had the ability…
Phil Gould doesn’t like the prominence that the Under 20’s or National Youth Competition gets within Rugby League these days. He has talked about it for years! He feels as though too much emphasis is played on the NYC and that the traditional reserve grade competitions in the NSW Cup and QLD Cup don’t get the attention…
The Manly Sea Eagles are proud of the fact that they are the MANLY Sea Eagles, and everyone else can simply go fuck themselves. That’s fine. Lets face it, that attitude has been very successful for them. I would suggest that the Sea Eagles need to start thinking ahead though. They need to start thinking…
New Zealand Warriors fans are just starting to feel it now… After three straight losses to start the season, Warriors fans are already asking how things could go so wrong so quickly. This time last year the Warriors were starting a new season with a new coach. They had played in an NRL Grand Final…
The Western Sydney Wanderers have had an incredible first season in the A League. A dream season! This time last year the thought of the Western Sydney Wanderers didn’t even exist! Now they sit at the top of the A League ladder, they have built a solid supporter base and on Saturday night they sold…
We now have a number. Today the NRL has announced that ASADA wish to interview 31 current NRL players in relation to the use of performance enhancing drugs. The majority of those players having played for the Cronulla Sharks during the well documented time that has seen the club become central to illegal drug use investigations. There…
Josh Dugan has been has been sacked by the Canberra Raiders. The Canberra Raiders held a board meeting today to discuss the future of both Josh Dugan and Blake Ferguson. It has been reported that neither player showed up to defend themselves. After losing to the Penrith Panthers on the weekend it is like these…
It was only a few weeks ago that the sensational news came through that the Canterbury Bulldogs has suspended Ben Barba indefinitely due to undisclosed off field issues. At the time the Bulldogs refused to break and tell the media what was wrong. They were putting Ben Barba’s health first in a courageous move that was applauded by many within the…
Josh Dugan and Blake Ferguson are two very talented footballers. Both are athletic players that add an explosive element to any team they play in. They both bring a real x factor to the game, they can make something out of nothing. Normally these qualities are something all teams would crave. However when it comes…
Damian Irvine has stood down as the chairman of the Cronulla Sharks this morning as the fallout from ASADA’s investigation into alleged performance enhancing drug use continues. Irvine will be replaced by former Sharks winger Glenn Coleman. I wrote yesterday that the Cronulla Sharks Board Has Done The Right Thing. The Sharks have made all…
It is interesting to see how the tone of the Cronulla Sharks alleged drug scandal turned over the weekend. When the Sharks board chose to sack a number of their football staff and stand down the coach, the decision was received with shock. For the players, the decision was met with anger, and that is understandable. These…
The Penrith Panthers are started their season off with an impressive victory, downing the Canberra Raiders 32-10 at Penrith Football Stadium. The Sunday afternoon heat took its toll in this one, and a glut of possession to the Panthers really kept the Raiders on the back foot all afternoon. The Panthers really had to grind this game…