Super League News
And the winners are the Celtic Crusaders and the Salford City Reds. As you can imagine there have been all sorts of reactions but this is pretty much what I expected to happen. The Crusaders are the first Welsh Super League club and have had a major amount of support by the RFL to get…
This pretty much sums up Super League this move… The Huddersfield Giants have signed St George/Illawarra Tampons coach Nathan Brown to a three year deal. Brown, who’s long reign at the St George/Illawarra has been nothing short of a tragic mess, has shown nothing at all to suggest that he would be a good coach…
I was going to let this slide but comments today from Wigans moron of a coach, Brian Noble have tipped me over the edge. Six weeks ago Tim Smith came out and say he had bipolar disorder. It was so bad that he needed to walk away from the game and get his life back…
And they reckon they are cutting imports…. In a week where young Bulldogs player Cameron Phelps headed to England, now Queensland and Australian back rower Michael Crocker has announced he will join Hull from next year on a three year deal. Crocker has an amazing winning streak going at the Melbourne Storm but he has…
Well its just a matter of going from one farce to another when it comes to English Rugby League. This week came news that Hull FC had fielded an ineligible player in their last two Challenge Cup Ties. Forward Jamie Thackery signed with Hull FC, from Leeds on March the 27th, two weeks after the…
This week has seen a tug of war between the NZRL and Super League clubs over the availability of two players for the upcoming Test match in Australia next week. Leeds fullback Brent Webb and Wigan halfback Thomas Leuluai were both selected by the NZRL. They were the only two Super League based players selected…
When the sole purpose of a club seems to be to draw attention to itself by being a circus act or a punch line in a joke, then you know it doesn’t belong in Super League. Sure, I’ve been critical of clubs in the UK before for being complete and utter shit, but with Castleford,…
St Helens have “captured” the signature of Penriths Tony Puletua in what is a huge relief for Penrith. Penrith has been looking to offload Puletua for about a year now because of his poor, inconsistant form and his big contract. Puletua is contracted with Penrith until the end of 2009 and while no other NRL…
Rugby League has a history of clubs messing about with some cheap and tacky stunts, but at the end of the day the vast majority are harmless, quickly forgotten and in some rare cases, even fondly remembered for their “out there” ideas. In signing former sprinter and convicted drug cheat Dwayne Chambers, the Castleford Tigers…
We all love a good laugh at the Poms, and they seem to love giving us material. Seriously, someone could put together a whole web site that does nothing but take the piss out of them…. Today we had three of the best. First of all, good old Leon Pryce. When God was handing out…
Well the Super League season has kicked off a day before the Australian Cricket One Day series has even started. They love an early start over there! There is a lot of talk about Super League getting unpredictable but the fact is Bradford, Leeds or St Helens have won the last 9 Super League titles. Oh and before that….it was that unpredictable Wigan side that…
The Leeds Rhinos are pushing ahead with legal action over Iestyn Harris’ move to the Bradford Bulls in 2004. Harris was contracted to the Leeds Rhinos when he decided to switch to rugby union. When Harris decided to switch back to Rugby League again, Leeds felt they had a contract in place with him that…
While not playing club football and having not been part of test calculations for a number of years, Paul Sculthrope took it upon himself to retire from the test arena. Incidentally I also announced my retirement from Test football soon after along with mickey mouse and the lock ness monster….a sad day indeed. Now it…
As many of you know I have always been against the high number of imports in Super League. I have fought with countless people over the effects of imports on the British game….and now that fight is about to end. I’ve come to the conclusion that Super League is no longer a British competition. The RFL and its…
Anyone that had read my opinions in recent years knows I am 100% behind the Franchise system that Super League will have in place from 2009. Promotion and Relegation does not work and that can be seen in the financial position of a number of National League clubs who have gone broke trying to gain promotion. However,…
Leeds have run out 33-6 winners over St Helens to claim the title of Super League Champions for season 2007. After a slow start in which they were completely dominated by St Helens in the early going, Leeds jumped out to an 8 point lead after a penalty and a quick try against the run of play….
With the announcement that Super League would be moving towards a franchise system and scrapping Promotion and Relegation, we have seen a number of lower grade teams in the UK making a big song and dance about why they deserve to be in the final Super League lineup. Among those were the Widnes Vikings. You’d…
Well its that time of the year again when the Poms get together and star showing the world how little they know about Rugby League. After a great season in which he was head and shoulders above his team mates and any other player in the Super League competition, Trent Barrett has NOT won the…
Well Stacey Jones has done it again. Rugby League serial quitter has quit once more. After signing a contract extension for the Catalan Dragons to play on in 2008, Jones has waited until the worst possible time to chance his mind and leave the club up the creek next season by announcing his retirement from…
The success of the Catalan Dragons is already paying off with Barcelona Football Club taking note of the interest surrounding the clubs first appearance in the Challenge Cup Final and the media and local interest it has gathered. The Catalan region, which includes Barcelona, has been buzzing over the Dragons in recent weeks, so much so that…
St Helens have beaten the Catalan Dragons 30-8 on the games return to Wembley stadium. It was a very nervous, error filled performance by both sides in a game that lacked intensity. The Dragons stuck close through the first half but heading into the second half St Helens started to pull away from their French…
Does three decades of losing make people crazy? Can you bring up a generation of sports fans that are so ill informed that they don’t realize what they are seeing is the death of their own game? After decades of being on the wrong end of beatings at International level, the British game has taken a stand and…
Wigans loss in the Challenge Cup Semi final has had some immediate and massive ramifications with Wigan chairman Maurice Lindsey announcing that he will be stepping down from his role at the club at seasons end. Lindsey even to this day is still the most powerful Rugby League administrator in the game and like him or not, he makes…
The Catalan Dragons have scored an historic 37-24 win over Wigan in the Semi Finals to become the first French Rugby League clubs to ever make the Challenge Cup Final. Not even the sin binning of Stacey Jones late in the game could stop the Dragons as they outclassed a Wigan side that didn’t look…
The RFL has handed out a piddly four point penalty to Wigan after the club exceeded last years salary cap by an enormous £222,314. The RFL could have imposed a penalty of between 6-12 points but it seems a £222,314 is only worth four points. That means to qualify for the maximum penalty a club…
The second last placed club in Super League, Hull KR have made a decision that shows everything that is wrong with the British game. The club has put in a massive offer for Australian Test player Matt King. The deal is subject to them avoiding relegation this season and just shows the mindset of British clubs…
With so many Australia, New Zealand and Pacific Islands players in Super League you have to wonder what would happen if the RFL managed to make a real decision in regards to the number of Imports in Super League and force many of these players to head back home. There is no doubt that there are a…
Manly sometimes halfback Michael Monaghan has signed a four year contract to play for the Warrington Wolves after gaining an early release from his contract with the Manly Sea Eagles. Monaghan wanted the opportunity to play halfback on a full time basis and while his form was good for the Sea Eagles, he was never…
It was a perfect start by Huddersfield, the type a start a coach would even ask for because it was so ridiculously good. Leon Pryce kicked the ball back, set after set on the St Helens line, a try, keeping St Helens under non stop pressure. However the signs we’re there early on that Huddersfield…
So Im over here in Pommyland and the Challenge Cup is on this weekend. Great, I can go to my first Challenge Cup….in Twickenham….to see St Helens….take on Huddersfield…. Ummm…no. I think I’ll be saving my money on this one and going to a Challenge Cup Final next year that will hopefully provide some type…