By Ben Galvin
July 5th 2009 @ 7:19am
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Cowboys overcome injury to down Sharks
North Queensland have overcome the loss of three injured stars – including NSW State of Origin forward Luke O’Donnell – to post a gutsy 24-4 NRL victory over Cronulla and keep their top four hopes alive.
The Cowboys were meant to be celebrating Aaron Payne’s 150th appearance and Johnathan Thurston’s and Luke O’Donnell’s 100th games for [...]
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![If you can’t beat them, join them. So let’s have a Rugby Union Queensland Vs NSW State of Origin series. The notion was floated by John Connolly in his review of the upcoming Super 14 Waratahs-Reds match at the Sydney Football Stadium.
My original reaction that that Connolly was an old Queensland warhorse who was missing the [...] Spiro Zavos: Let’s have a Rugby Union State of Origin](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/union-state-of-origin-beale-horwill-th.jpg)
![The old saying goes that when NSW is strong, Australia is strong. There is some truth in it even today, with both NSW and Australia struggling.
However, in the current Ashes squad, NSW has the best representation: seven out of 16 (44 per cent) are from NSW. That includes both the openers, Simon Katich and [...] Kersi Meher-Homji: A Blues side from the past decade would blitz them all](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/blues-side-blitz-michael-clarke-th.jpg)
![On Sunday morning, having been at the SFS the night before, I was deep in discussion with a fellow football fan about North Queensland’s first victory. Naturally, the conversation turned to Robbie Fowler and his wonderful winner.
The old friend, who isn’t an A-League regular, but knows his stuff, having been brought up in a [...] Tony Tannous: Fowler’s football smarts live on even if his body ages](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/fowler-smarts-th.jpg)
![After a comprehensive 3-0 rout of Ireland in their recent friendly in Limerick, the Socceroos will be out to extend their winning streak when they take on Korea Republic in Seoul.
But without the talismanic Tim Cahill in their midst, Australia may need to find a new match-winner when they run out at Seoul World Cup [...] Mike Tuckerman: Time for some fringe Socceroos to step up](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/time-for-socceroos-th.jpg)
![A week ago, everyone was talking up a two-horse title race between Sydney and Melbourne in the A-League. Yet after the weekend’s results, which saw the top two lose, that idea has been flipped upside down. But we’ve heard this before and that’s the beauty of the A-League, it’s predictably unpredictable.
Indeed, it seems every second [...] Ben Somerford: Unpredictability is the A-League’s biggest asset](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/is-a-league-boring-rudan-ognenovski-costa-th.jpg)
![The news that Sydney FC defender Simon Colosimo looks set to move to the K-League comes as no real surprise. The veteran defender harbours World Cup ambitions, but unless he finds himself a club for the next three months, he won’t be on the plane to South Africa.
Colosimo has been courted by South Korean clubs [...] Mike Tuckerman: Korean football is better than we thought](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/a-fitting-finale-asian-champions-league-th.jpg)
![The great news for Wests Tigers fans this year is that they aren’t playing any home games at ANZ Stadium anymore. The bad news is that these games aren’t being played at Leichhardt or Campbelltown, but instead at the Sydney Football Stadium.
While the Tigers’ decision to step away from the financial bonuses on offer [...] Gabriel Knowles: The home ground disadvantage](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/home-ground-el-masri-th.jpg)
![Kevin Sheedy will coach West Sydney on a three-year appointment that will include the club’s first season in the AFL in 2012. That was the bombshell news delivered by the News Limited press late last night which will have the football world buzzing. The western Sydney AFL project suddenly has wings.
In fact, for [...] Adrian Musolino: Sheedy signing exactly what West Sydney needs](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/sheedy-signing-sydney-th.jpg)
![The new interpretation of the breakdown laws promises to rewind Super Rugby back to the days when tries were the norm, rather than the exception. It’s exciting stuff, despite the risk that the pendulum will swing back too far and we’ll get a return to the bad old days of basketball scores.
Remember the 2004 final?
Brumbies [...] Andrew Logan: Super 14 is bursting with excitement machines](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/super-bulls-dynasty-th.jpg)
![There have been disparaging comments from the usual suspects in the British rugby media suggesting that the Bledisloe Cup Test in Tokyo is a commercially-oriented nonsense. Nonsense to that, I say.
Whenever Australia plays New Zealand at rugby, it is a good thing for the game, for supporters of the teams, for the lucky people who [...] Spiro Zavos: The fourth Bledisloe Cup Test is a good thing for rugby](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/the-fourth-bledisloe-cup-th.jpg)
![What to make of another tumultuous round of A-League action? There’ll be plenty of column inches devoted to dwindling attendance figures, while the thorny of issue of refereeing has once again hit the headlines.
It seems we can’t go long in the A-League without refereeing standards coming into question.
Last season’s Grand Final was marred by an [...] Mike Tuckerman: A-League referees are only human](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/a-league-referees-only-human-th.jpg)
![As 2009 draws to a close, so will end one of the most controversy laden years for NRL off the field. Barely a week seemed to go by without another player being splashed all over the papers for “all the wrong reasons.”
The NRL has steeled itself to get tough on players and clubs in 2010 [...] Steve Kaless: Gambling on matches a risky bet for the NRL](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/nrl-roosters-storm-th.jpg)



