By Doug Conway
September 17th 2009 @ 5:23am
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The year from hell for NRL
Rugby league has enjoyed a marvellous year, apart from all the stories of hotel defecating, public urinating, girlfriend glassing, mate blaming, woman bashing, gang banging, sponsor biffing, player slapping, coach punching, street fighting, binge drinking, drink driving, pill popping, sexual assault, racial abuse, stimulant use, party drugs and defections.
The game itself, the actual playing of [...]
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MarkH said | September 17th 2009 @ 5:38am | Report comment
And all that was the post match functions. Haha
Lewie said | September 17th 2009 @ 8:07am | Report comment
The year looks decidely worse if you’re insistent on dragging up incidents from past years.
Strange.
Matt S said | September 17th 2009 @ 8:14am | Report comment
Hmm, I wonder if we will see an AFL version? The AFL have had two convicted assualts against women (not to mention other incidents), this year so far but according to the media you wouldn’t think so!
Lewie said | September 17th 2009 @ 8:23am | Report comment
there’s a certain Swans star who recently retired to rapturous acclimation from all and sundry in Sydney’s AFL bosom, who has a very dark past regarding an incident with a woman in Adelaide. Information regarding this incident is freely available on the web. There was a Four Corners program thaat went in to great detail. Not that this is ever brought up in the media to remind everyone, as it surely would be if he were a League player.
Perhaps i’m showing sour grapes, but the constant houlier than thou attitude and self righteous spruiking of AFL types against League has worn very thin with me.
Brett McKay said | September 17th 2009 @ 8:18am | Report comment
I don’t really see the point in going through all this again…
Matt S said | September 17th 2009 @ 8:21am | Report comment
Mr Conway, can you answer why the general NSW media don’t mention/write about AFL incidents while in Victoria they are quick to jump on NRL scandals?
Why wasn’t the death of an amatuer AFL player at a game through a brutal punch not mentioned?
2 AFL players were convicted of assaulting (incl. a glassing) women this year not to mention a list of other incidents. Would you like the links? Can we see a story on AFL off field scandals?
I am truly sick of the media and the newsltd lackies who do everything to portray the NRL in a bad light. Didn’t you do enough damage to the game a decade ago?
Sure, highlight players scandals for the good of cleaning up the game buut don’t say the sport is culturally bankrupt or suggest players will be switching to AFL. That’s pathetic! Why would they go to a sport just as problematic?
Michael C said | September 17th 2009 @ 8:59am | Report comment
Why are so many people attempting deflection (i.e. saying, we’re bad, but so’s the AFL). That’s got nothing to do with it.
The Melbourne Media goes the AFL and the Sydney media goes the NRL.
Fact of life.
The main thing re the NRL was not so much what – - but, who and when. The faces of the game, in Stewart and Inglis. Rather like the AFL a couple of years ago when Ben Cousins – the face of the game – hit tough times and gave the AFL a year from hell in 2007 plus a year of angst and debate in 2008, and a year of rebirth in 2009.
Matt S said | September 17th 2009 @ 9:11am | Report comment
Lewie, yes, it is incidents like the AFL case that riles me.
Maybe Mr Conway can enlighten us on why the media totally airbrushed this part of the player’s past?
Brett, why go through this again? because it’s rugby league mate! While AFL scandals are dead & buried the league one’s will keep on coming back. Just ask Matty Johns.
It really makes me wonder if the AFL pay journos for compliance or treat them to an expensive holiday. I read some articles in the Victorian (opps, mean the Age) and after a feel good AFL story there is a disclaimer that the ‘Journalist was a guest of the AFL’. Makes you wonder.
Zac Zavos said | September 17th 2009 @ 10:07am | Report comment
Matt S – a reminder that this article is about the NRL not the AFL. Please don’t use it as an opportunity to bash another sport.
Tiger Town said | September 17th 2009 @ 10:21am | Report comment
Really?
You must have missed the paragaph where the writer signalled the im;ortance of his cobbled article due to “all of this at a time when league needs its most attractive PR image to fight off the threat from two rival codes – the cashed-up, all-powerful AFL and the ever-expanding world game of soccer.”
The writer put league’s instances in the context of other codes, so why can’t the posters here?
Lewie said | September 17th 2009 @ 10:21am | Report comment
isn’t this article “an opportunity to bash another sport”?
AndyRoo said | September 17th 2009 @ 10:38am | Report comment
Yeh why isn’t his year considered a year from hell in the AFL?
Choppy said | September 17th 2009 @ 1:07pm | Report comment
Are you serious Zac? If so, you better go and do a massive search where this has happened throughout the Roar and boy are you going to be a busy man….
Mick from Giralang said | September 17th 2009 @ 1:43pm | Report comment
Matt S: There can be doubt the media takes a harder line on NRL misbehaviour than in the AFL
Kurt said | September 17th 2009 @ 9:29am | Report comment
Geez guys, fair enough that you might be unhappy about these issues being dredged up but not sure why this has to turn into an AFL-bashing exercise. The media in Melbourne gives plenty of attention to behavioral issues with AFL players – at times if you read the Herald Sun you’d believe the entire competition was engaged in a constant Ice and Ecstasy fuelled drug-binge.
So by all means critique this sort of article but don’t fall into the trap of seeing all criticisms of league as an AFL-co-ordinated conspiracy.
Matt S said | September 17th 2009 @ 9:34am | Report comment
Kurt, it wouldn’t be so bad but these AFL scandals don’t get into the broader national media while league one’s make national TV news services, The Australian, A Current Affairs etc. I think we are just sick of league being portrayed as some ‘evil’ while there are better alternatives out there such as AFL, which clearly is not if the media want to throw stones.
I think the Michael O’Loughlin love fest recently is a good indication where the media’s priorities lean-denegrate rugby league where possible, airbrush the AFL.
Kurt said | September 17th 2009 @ 11:50am | Report comment
But what I don’t understand is how when someone on this site writes an article critical of NRL players’ conduct, even if the writer mentions several other sports the immediate response is to bag out the AFL. There are literally hundreds of self-righteous union and soccer supporters on this site who constantly bag out league and about three AFL supporters who range from the ambivalent to the moderately interested and yet you always want to go the biff on us as if we’re the ones behind every single anti-NRL comment!
Mick from Giralang said | September 17th 2009 @ 1:27pm | Report comment
The galling thing about it all is that in the wake of the Matthew Johns’ incident the Swans had the hide to claim that the NRL could learn a lot from them about how to treat women!!!!
Of course this went unchallenged in the media
Matt S said | September 17th 2009 @ 9:50am | Report comment
I suppose it’s easy to make comparisons or bring AFL into the mix because we’re told all too often that AFL is the national game embraced now by Brisbane & Sydney yet we only ever get to see the feel good side of AFL while scandals are just conveniently ignored. On the other side rugby league is portrayed as the minor code in most States yet their scandals make the headlines in these so-called ‘uninterested states’ as quick as you can say ‘crickey’.
One has to wonder.
oikee said | September 17th 2009 @ 10:32am | Report comment
Drama,, Mate this is reality t/v that makes the NRL a cut above the rest of the codes. Everyday i come on this blog to read about this great soap opera called rugby league. There is no stopping this juggernaugt. You can talk about parents who will take their kids to other codes……. B.S…., This sport is only getting warmed up, kids are still lining up to play league.?. At the age of 21 you can become a millionaire in rugby league OZ. K/Hunt is only 22 Jarryd Hayne is only 21.
You can print as many bad headlines as you like, i read them. The NRL should become the “number one” sold rugby comp in the world. It is by far the best rugby comp now, why do you think they can sell the game to international outlets like spike, and now espn. The game is a easy game to sell, easy to understand and has a great crowd following, who totally love the game and ‘bring the audience into the game’ for whats happening on the feild. And the commentators are 1st rate.
The game is brilliant, what happens off feild is everyday issues in life.
To sum up rugby league in 2 words, “freakin arwesome”..
AndyRoo said | September 17th 2009 @ 10:33am | Report comment
It’s a bit unfair to say only 400 players because whenever an U20 player does something wrong that also make the news as “NRL”
Changing the name is window dressing and wouldn’t work in NSW and QLD. People hate such cynical marketing.
It’s the guys that get continual “last chances” that annoy me. It’s a bit hard to make a blanket rule and there is some case for offering redemption, but I think they do have to draw the line somewhere.
Perhaps a zero tolerance (life ban for playing) for people convicted of a serious offence and a two strikes and your out policy for minor convictions. Don’t know how legal such a rule would be but basically if there not fit to get a blue card to deal with kids they shouldn’t be in the NRL.
Those incidents not worthy of police attention are the ones the clubs should be handling with fines or sackings. Really the NRL has to stand up for itself a bit in those regards because some of those stories are more media beat up than something that really upsets fans. In fact because these incidents get blown up so much (like Matt Johns consensual bun) the fans end up feeling a little sorry for him (I know I did by the end of it).
And something proactive like changing the salary cap rules to favor keeping veterens for one year too long rather than cutting them one year early would be a good idea too.
If your going to choose a face for the game (would prefer they market the league as a whole ah lah “Simply the Best”) then choose guys that have been around the block and you can rely on like Kimmorley, Price, Tate and Civoniceva.
Invictus said | September 17th 2009 @ 10:44am | Report comment
This is a comment from a disinterested observer (I have no interest in League or AFL) and pertains to high performance sports in general.
How do high performance athletes think that they can perform at their best and still hit the booze, or worse, during the playing season? Why would they take the chance of being dropped from the run on side, or the team, for poor performance for the sake of getting a skinfull??
I, for one, just can’t understand this attitude.
oikee said | September 17th 2009 @ 10:50am | Report comment
Andyroo, Mate your too sensitive, lets face some facts about league, its the toughest most hardcore game to play. Yes you can be a road scholar and have a degree as some players do, or you might have just received a “get of of jail free” card.
Coming from all walks of life is why rugby league produces the best players. A game where you might not have a penny to your name , at least you can make a name for yourself, the drama is part and parcel of the game.
‘Rage against the machine’ is the best overture for league. No i think rugby league should always percevere with bad behaviour, anything short of murder their is still hope for you, how many times do you see a murderer only getting 20 years, out after 12 for good behaviour.? At least league does give every opportunity for players to eventually come good. Which in real life, some kids need longer than others. Todd Carney, classic case study.?
oikee said | September 17th 2009 @ 11:00am | Report comment
Yes i know this is not a code war blog, but i have just got to tell M.C about a point he mentioned the other day, i think he said that league semi finals are not played outside sydney, well we have one coming up in Melbourne and the other in Brisbane.
Just thought i would point that out to him. Only the final is being played in Sydney this year.
AndyRoo said | September 17th 2009 @ 11:08am | Report comment
Well I guess it’s easier to say sack em all when you don’t know them that’s for sure Oikee. It does mean though that we will foever cop the “superior culture” garbage from the north shore though but maybe we should just do what we can to minimise it (keep the veterens at the club I say).
There are heaps of tales of redmption, Sailor has been a good example, he has been brilliant for the game since coming back.
You see a lot of sports where they have rules like you must have x amount of players under 21/23 we should go the reverse. You have to have x players over 30 in your team
Bulldogs will have a home semi thanks to their win over the Knights. The Brisbane game is this week…. should be sold out by now.
Woody Warambel said | September 17th 2009 @ 11:26am | Report comment
What offence did Jarrod Hayne commit by being shot at?
Kurt said | September 17th 2009 @ 11:46am | Report comment
I’ve often wondered that as well! Shooting at someone – sure, that’s bad, but being in the firing line when some nutter goes chik chik boom?
TammyS said | September 17th 2009 @ 11:56am | Report comment
I agree. I keep hearing how Jarryd Hayne has turned his life around….from what exactly? He was in the wrong place at the wrong time. That could’ve been anyone
oikee said | September 17th 2009 @ 11:50am | Report comment
He was a NRL target for the other codes woody.
Yes the almighty AFL, that is yet to concer Sydney and Brisbane after 150 years. And of course the world game, soccer, yet to breach the australian fortress we call footy. At least rugby league has created the largest rugby comp in the world!!! Bar none.
Just repairing my push-bike tyre.
JimC said | September 17th 2009 @ 12:11pm | Report comment
Matt S
That’s a great point., The attitude of the media is key. AFL media are basically there to promote the game. RL has no such luck. Honesty is better though in my opinion.
In UK football off-field behaviour is gradually improving, partly because of the media scrutiny and subsequent public disgust. AFL and rugby union are just storing up problems with their whitewash approach.
Kurt said | September 17th 2009 @ 10:51pm | Report comment
You have got to be kidding me – whitewash approach? Have you ever heard of a newspaper called the Herald Sun? It’s biggest ever selling edition was when it devoted about half the paper to Wayne Carey and his various shenanigans.
Matt S said | September 17th 2009 @ 12:56pm | Report comment
JimC, totally agree. I am all for transparancy and if thought the media had an altruistic reason for doing the NRL badstuff then I wouldn’t mind so much but they ain’t because league is the only game they are concerned about hanging out to dry.
For all this though rugby league will face the issues and put better steps in place for a better comp in the future and these things are being put into place with the Toyota Cup for example.
The nuffty who wrote this in the Telegraph should realise that people want to read about what’s happening on the field as ratings & crowds indicate. If one wants to read all the negative stuff about rugby league then join all the other yuppies who like less league in their paper when reading the Sydney Morning Herald and the ‘now i feel good I’m not a league supporter’ stories that rag jumps on.
Matt S said | September 17th 2009 @ 1:00pm | Report comment
JimC, so correct. Where does this journo come from writing this rubbish in the Telegraph. If we wanted to read ‘now I know why i’m not a rugby league fan’ stories we could go to that other rag the SMH with their penchant for jumping on any negative league story.
The Daily Telerag should realise people want to read about the onfield stuff as suggested by record attendances & TV ratings. Dragging out an AFL journo is not the way.
Kurt said | September 17th 2009 @ 10:53pm | Report comment
Again with the assumption that this is an AFL plot! Show me the evidence that the author or this article is an ‘AFL journo’? I’ve never heard of the guy, and never seen him write about the AFL on this site.
Choppy said | September 17th 2009 @ 1:11pm | Report comment
Nice cheap shot Doug, you’re well on your way to a job with the Telecrap….
Norm said | September 17th 2009 @ 1:43pm | Report comment
I suspect Doug that you’ve been called a lot of things throughout your life but innovative & original wouldn’t be one of them.
Tiger Town said | September 17th 2009 @ 3:20pm | Report comment
A look around the web reveals Doug writes puff pieces on the A-League and Socceroos, http://www.independentweekly.com.au/news/local/sport/cricket/goodbye-wogball-hello-world-game/1589883.aspx but this today is his first foray into the NRL. His words would have more creditability if that wasn’t the case.
Was this article in the printed edition of the Teleegraph today or just on their website?
oikee said | September 18th 2009 @ 11:56am | Report comment
What is he on about, he is promoting overseas players into a comp which is already weak, they are picking up Has-beens and poor quality players . The super league has done this for eons, and finally has woken up you need to play your own players, inject your own talent. A-league is a basketcase, they will never have good players because they all head overseas once they are discovered.
And his wogball thoery will come back to haunt him once they inject a second Melbourne team. You seen those nutters down there, dancing in the isles, imagine trying to watch a game there. It was like being at a rave party, but without a dance floor, thats boring 20 year old EPL behaviour, something the EPL has gone to great trouble to get rid of out of their fans , and still not succeeded,(milwal)
The writing is on the wall for trouble with this footy code, too many young kids full of adrenilen. Thats how all the trouble starts overseas, youth without a future finding a outlet to explode their frustrations.
Tom Alexander. said | September 17th 2009 @ 3:20pm | Report comment
I think News Limited is partly to blame. In their minds, maybe they believe they can kill 2 birds with one stone by (A) scandalizing the game and in the process making a shit load of cash through their various news media interests etc, and (B) by tainting Rugby League’s image, it may give them more leverage (as half owners of the NRL) in keeping the price low come the next round of contract negotiations (nothing like a cheap deal on a first class product) either way they are raking it in.
GaryGnu said | September 17th 2009 @ 3:21pm | Report comment
That article contributed exactly nothing to the human knowledge base of rugby league.
It recycled two high profile criminal cases (Stewart and Inglis), multiple incidents involving alcohol and ,worst of all, the ramifications of past incidents that played out this year. To then tack on the K. Hunt case and imply the end is nigh for Rugby League is stretching beyond credibility. It sort of reminds me of those pretentious hacks Smith and Wilson, C that claim a superior culture of “their”code makes them so much better than “those” ruffians up north.
I’m surprised you didn’t manage to dredge up the Price v White punch up in Origin III, Doug, and natter on about all the mothers scared to send their sons to a footy field.
This year will not have the disastrous effects you claim Doug. The reason for that is right there at the top your article, the on field action is as good as it has ever been, all the other soap opera stuff will be forgotten just like any other episode of Neighbours or Home and Away is after it is broadcast.
The code has been to hell and back over the last 15 years and is beginning to regain the ground it lost over that time. All this despite the best efforts of reportage like the article produced above.
AndyRoo said | September 17th 2009 @ 3:37pm | Report comment
I don’t think you can say the Melbourne Media is not honest. They do report those incidents in AFL they just don’t harp on about it where as in Sydney we love to endlessly dredge up every bad deed someone has committed. It is probably because we are fragmented in our appreciation for different codes that these stories get momentum in NSW where as reporting an AFL story doesn’t get people fired up.
Reporting a League player mucking creates a bit of friction between the various fans and brings out the Rugby boys tut tutting and such. Definitely attracts the comments on the Telegraph site and there’s only so many times they can run the “most overrated player” stories which also get people reacting. If you look at that particular newspaper it is all about getting a reaction.
I remember when I lived in NSW they actually printed how many people voted in their phone polls.
Ask something important like “Should X be covered by medicare” and you would get less than 100 votes
Ask something about immigration, welfare or muslims and they would break 1000
Probably because it’s AFL first and then daylight second and perhaps the VFL third they don’t have the whole “Joe getting caught drunk is destroying the code” angle so it’s just a case of “Joe’s an idiot” and then they move on.
If the Second AFL team is successful I am sure it will become worth it too do beat up stories on the AFL boys too.
It’s a sign the HAL has a way to go in West Sydney when Cornflake and Ryall don’t get much of a run but the Socceroos Timmy Cahil is worth coping a hack job.
MyGeneration said | September 17th 2009 @ 4:11pm | Report comment
I think you’ll find Doug Conway in the journalists’ dictionary under ‘Hack’.
Greg said | September 18th 2009 @ 1:00pm | Report comment
I’d suggest you’re very,very wrong.
Michael C said | September 17th 2009 @ 4:36pm | Report comment
I think you guys tend to forget, the national based media tends to be Sydney based – -
WITHIN Victoria, our ‘local’ media goes hard on the Vic stories, but, might largely ignore happenings in WA or SA even if AFL related.
The majority of the ‘local’ Melb reporting of NRL is ‘fluff’ pieces in the News Ltd Herald Sun. That’s all okay.
And, now doubt in Sydney, substitute Storm with Swans, and NRL with AFL.
It is just that the ‘comfort zone’ of the Sydney based journos who have perhaps TOO great a ‘national’ profile is going to be around the Sydney happenings and the NRL.
Now – if you guys were to spend a couple of days in Melbourne – tune into Radio SEN 1116 (and we’ve also got Sports 927). These topics (AFL players behaving badly) get done to death via the radio talk back…..and perhaps, just perhaps, that’s diminished the role of news print in running shock and awe stories. The good thing is, any a Fevola is rubbished – there’ll be a whole line up of callers with stories of how he visited their kid in hospital etc and never asked for anything etc etc.
Usual story – many footballers are great with 8 yr olds, but crap with adults.
oikee said | September 17th 2009 @ 4:36pm | Report comment
I have mentioned before, what sponser would be stupid enough to drop out of the NRL? I think Coke-cola did and i have never bought coke sinse,
I now buy Iron Brue, the sponser of the super league series. And V.B of course. Now if your a sponser and see your product now being televised into homes in the US, and UK, Plus not to mention other coverage around the Pacific? Would this not be corparate suicide.?
Just came back to let you know the Broncos Dragons game is sold-out.
50 thousand tickets gone, 3 thousand left with no walk-up tickets available. Parra/Tiatans tickets have sold well also, they should get close to 40 thousand for a out of town team. I think league is dying, its now going to a new level. Not worried about dying, lets die more often, seems to do the world of good.
P.S Memberships gone up 27% this year, the codes on its knees.
Richard Brockhurst said | September 18th 2009 @ 3:35pm | Report comment
RUGBY LEAQUE……”.THE GREATEST GAME OF ALL”
AndyRoo said | September 17th 2009 @ 4:53pm | Report comment
In fairness to Coke they Sponsored the Sevens and it was one two years in a row by the Pepsi sponsored Manly who collected the trophy covered in Pepsi branded gear.
That was when we all learnt about the term “ambush marketing”
AndyRoo said | September 17th 2009 @ 5:04pm | Report comment
“won two years in a row by Manly”
prowling panther said | September 17th 2009 @ 7:43pm | Report comment
bring on da independent commission with the rebranding of the code in the off season
Billo said | September 17th 2009 @ 10:33pm | Report comment
Doug, when writing a piece like this for the Roar you should openly state your agenda.
Based in London, I could very easily write a similar piece on the trials and tribulations of English soccer or, for that matter, English rugby.
Why can’t we all just accept that some young blokes occasionally do dumb things, regardless of who they are or what sport they play. No sport is worse than any other. The only thing that differs is the ability or willingness of a sport to broadcast its own problems.
Greg said | September 18th 2009 @ 1:16pm | Report comment
he didn’t write it for the roar. he wrote it for the national wire service in australia which gets carried around the country by scores of papers (and media outlets like the roar). that would be his agenda.
Matt S said | September 18th 2009 @ 8:07am | Report comment
i think Doug has crawled back to where he came from. The feedback in the Daily Telecrap was just as scathing towards his article but of course had support of a few anti league people, which would have sadly made their day seem less pathetic.
Paul J said | September 18th 2009 @ 8:46am | Report comment
I believe there are only two sizeable issues in Rugby League today and they are not on the field. The footy this season has been fantastic and there are only minor things to clean up – less power to video ref, waiting for rookie on field refs to get more experience.
The first issue is off field behaviour and media saturation of this and the second is how League was badly ripped off on its last television rights deal due to News Ltd’s conflict of interest and only having one free to air network bid for the rights to the game. These problems will be largely solved when Rugby League eventually gets its own independent commission to run the game just as AFL has enjoyed for years.
Firstly player behaviour will improve when we have black and white laws in place set by the independent commission which will remove the 16 clubs with their 16 different sets of standards that we currently have. This will also stop those few players who currently ‘club hop’ every time they have their contract torn up. If a player is suspended from the NRL for 2 or 5 years it will really mean no Rugby League in Australia or New Zealand for that player for 2 or 5 years,
Secondly when News Ltd is gone they no longer will be able to short sell Rugby League to pay TV. Also the NRL has stated they will sell NRL games, State of Origin and Test matches separately to rival networks meaning higher bidding by networks and the added bonus of channel 7 and/or 10 having to soften their stance on Rugby League once they have paid millions to show some of it on their network. Imagine what League can do with that extra cash when it’s TV rights deal is as big as the AFL’s is as TV ratings indicate it should be.
The sooner Rugby League has its own independent commission running the game the sooner the game can reach the heights it deserves, and getting this independent commission in place should be Leagues number one priority. The fact the game has gradually grown from strength to strength over the last 15 years whilst having a News Ltd anchor weighing it down is quite remarkable and shows the resilience and strength of the game. Imagine where the game will be in 20 years time, especially considering the Australian Government has predicted that Qld – “The home of Rugby League” – will be the country’s most populus state by then.
oikee said | September 18th 2009 @ 11:41am | Report comment
Good points Paul, i even heard rumours of the Manly owner, (penn) putting his weight behind a Sunshine coast team. But all that aside, we have 16 really good teams and the market for growth seems to be coming from overseas. Do we need to grow, ? could we grow faster if the game starts taking off on international tele. I like 16 teams because the comp is so strong, i was even cheering for Cronulla this year(after all their problems).
The question is, where do you expand if you could, Wellington seems a must, or at least another team out of NZ, the Bears want back in, that would be a easy option, we need to look at least Perth, and i think Brisbane is alright with only one team, they can play double headers up here anytime if they need to. Even if we went to 21 teams and played each other team once a seaon, that would give us 20 rounds , And then we could use a 3 week span middle of the season for SOO and a mini NRL olympics. Fastest over 1,2 and 4 hundred, Shot put, High jump, drop kicks punts, shoot-outs, weight lift.etc.
Jay said | September 18th 2009 @ 1:39pm | Report comment
I think the league need 4 new team if they are to expand.
Another team in Queensland and the Central Coast Bears are no brainers. We need to protect our grassroots, and it makes sense demographically. Another team in NZ would be great as well. The remaining team should be based in Perth. There has been some very minor development in WA and they have a team in the Jim Beam Cup. They have also produced Daniel Holdsworth and Matt Petereson. Demographically, Perth will grow at a faster rate than Adeliade with many expats from NSW and QLD moving there. They have also a large South African population who may enjoy rubgy league or support it as their second choice of code. Plus the economy is grow as commodiity prices continue to rise.
Michael C said | September 18th 2009 @ 11:48am | Report comment
Read J.Magnay’s article here : Behind enemy lines: life as a woman sports reporter
http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/behind-enemy-lines-life-as-a-woman-sports-reporter-20090918-ftwi.html
oikee said | September 18th 2009 @ 12:37pm | Report comment
Yes i have already read that M.C, as long as the reporters are sexy, i have no issue
I will mention that i watched the last 10 minutes of a NFL game yesterday(which took me nearly 1 hour to watch) and noticed a female reporter on ground doing a running interveiw with a player, It was just a pile of Bollucks, He was uninterested, as he should have been after the game, and she was hounding him. If they are going to report, give the players time and space, breathing space at least.
Throwing a mic at you is not the way to do things, obviously in America they have equal rights, but you could see the tension
on the players face having to do a running interveiw after the game with helmet just taken off.
Jay said | September 18th 2009 @ 1:41pm | Report comment
For some stange reason, I dont mind J.Magnay on the eyes. Perhpaps it is her polite spoken manner which makes her engaging.
Michael C said | September 18th 2009 @ 1:32pm | Report comment
Just on the media coverage -
compare the pair:
both News Ltd papers
DT website “Sports” homepage :http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport
It very much appears as NRL ‘plus’. The top half of the webpage is about 85% NRL.
compare to HS webstie “Sports” homepage : http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport
not one bit of AFL in the thumbnails – - and this is the Melbourne major paper with a packed MCG due tonight and tomorrow night. No AFL photos. Nothing until you get to
Perhaps this shows the NRL – News Ltd vested interest at its best. The DT is effectively a pseudo NRL homepage. This just magnifies the NRL coverage.
And perhaps this illustrates the ‘new media’ new age of NRL coverage in the Sydney market?? Which – it might appear – is very much a different balance than in Melbourne.
Redb said | September 18th 2009 @ 2:21pm | Report comment
Excelllent article right on the money.
As Roy Masters likes to tell us all, RL is a soap opera – well if you live by the sword you die by it. RL scandals sell papers in Sydney.
Sponsors on the other hand abhor them, so whilst News Ltd is keen to manipulate the NRL for its benefit – rollercoaster of bad stories and rejuvenated stories (game cant be killed type stuff) , the sponsors now have club CEOs and Gallop on a hair trigger.
Stop whinging and stop trying to stain other codes. Stop buying papers and fix your own problem.
Redb
Lewie said | September 18th 2009 @ 2:31pm | Report comment
yes, please all head the words of the Mighty Redb.
“What goes on in the AFL, stays in the AFL”.
How dare anyone suggest otherwise.
Redb said | September 18th 2009 @ 2:48pm | Report comment
heed you should.
Ask an NRL sponsor?
The brother in the back sat who constantly blames his sibling always ends up in more trouble
Sure the AFL kid is the blonde blue eyed smart arse, the NRL kid the rough and tumble ranga. Attempting to implicate others as just as bad doesnt work, fix from within.
Aim at the players and coaches in the NRL for your troubles, ask how is that that Arana Taumata is now at his 5th club West Tigers – not acceptable. If the club members had any guts or love for their club they would protest. They don’t.
Redb
AndyRoo said | September 18th 2009 @ 2:52pm | Report comment
Harsh (calling us rangas) but fair point.
If Carney misbehaves again at the Roosters who is going to be shocked?
I hope he has a good year and shows fulfils his potential but if he doesn’t the rooster should be accountable
Redb said | September 18th 2009 @ 2:55pm | Report comment
was thinking the young Fatty Vautin type meant affectionately.
Lewie said | September 18th 2009 @ 2:57pm | Report comment
Did Swans fans protest about O’Laughlin, or did they fete him as some wonderful cleanskin who’s poop doesn;t stink?
Why is that Redb?
You do recall the story don’t you?
Why was no attention paid to it Redb? Should we ask the NRL, or should wer ask the AFL?
Why is the AFL so happy to ignore their own problems Redb?
Why are they so happy to promote their “better values” when something unseamly occurs in the NRL, as they did in the aftermath of the Matthew John s scandal Redb?
Or should NRL fans just suck all that up and ignore it as AFL fans are want to do?
Redb said | September 18th 2009 @ 2:59pm | Report comment
keep punching ranga.
Michael C said | September 18th 2009 @ 3:19pm | Report comment
Lewie – you’re super dirty on O’Loughlin,
but, you don’t like to say just what he did – - and at the time, he was niether charged, interviewed nor considered involved in the alledged assault.
Do you KNOW otherwise? If not, then I’d advise you to leave it alone.
Dave said | September 18th 2009 @ 3:45pm | Report comment
or you could look at the 4 corners transcript
MyGeneration said | September 18th 2009 @ 4:07pm | Report comment
it’s not pretty
Lewie said | September 21st 2009 @ 8:53am | Report comment
So by that reckoning Michael C, please explain why you were happy to highlight Stewart’s and Inglis’ cases above? Neither have yet been convicted of a crime. Bit hypocritical of you, don’t you think?
Alternatively, everyone should feel free to read the Four Corners transcript to make up their own minds:
http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/content/2004/s1100551.htm
Tom Alexander. said | September 18th 2009 @ 3:03pm | Report comment
Magnay is easy on the eyes in a middle aged (MILF) sought of way. And she along with (Roy Masters) atleast tried to defend the game the other week on AFL offsiders. It’s that other crazy bitch Wilson that most RL people can’t stand. She strikes me as a women scorned for some reason. It’s hard to believe that she was actually involved in the promotional side of Super-League as a publicity officer or something similar.
AndyRoo said | September 18th 2009 @ 3:15pm | Report comment
Oops I understand you.
Magnay is the bearer of bad news but someone has to do it. At least it comes accross as fair and researched (i.e. journalism)
R Wilson…. well she is the Daily Telegraph personified.
Redb said | September 18th 2009 @ 3:19pm | Report comment
Magnay makes Caroline Wilson look like an oil painting.
Samantha Lane for mine (Before the game Ch 10) although none of my mates can see it.
Redb
p.s. nice save AndyRoo….. ahh the magic of the edit button.
Jay said | September 18th 2009 @ 5:15pm | Report comment
I think there is a potential Roar article here. Stephanie Brantz on channel nine sports news is not bad either.
Dave said | September 18th 2009 @ 5:17pm | Report comment
she puts on a funny voice but….
Gerry Faehrmann said | September 18th 2009 @ 3:43pm | Report comment
Don’t worry your little selves…the Bulldogs (aka the family club) will be the new Poster Boys…just you watch!
M1tch said | November 4th 2009 @ 3:21pm | Report comment
lol year from hell..
never mind the records for tv and crowds..