By AAP
December 24th 2009 @ 3:26am
View The Roar's top rugby league writers.
NRL Tipping now live on The Roar. Join now.
Love new art, fashion, music? Check out Aussie site which unearths all things cool and creative.
Related coverage
Gallen deals with frustration at Sharks
Cronulla forward Paul Gallen has admitted to having major frustrations at the Sharks, but says he will be there at training when the NRL club’s players return next month.
In an unusually frank club statement, Gallen says the last 18 months at the Sharks have been “difficult” and he has been “disappointed” and “frustrated”.
The Test star [...]
This article is over 2000 days old and has been trimmed.
Get Australia's best NRL opinion emailed daily.
Like this content? Buzz it up!
Free Email updates:
Our daily emails are only sent if there is content for the sport or that author. You can subscribe to multiple daily emails; or get the daily Roar email with all our content in it. We value privacy. More...

(2)
![Troy Taylor was one of the feel-good stories of the draft. Nabbed by Richmond at pick 51, the 188cm teen from the Northern Territory had made it to the AFL despite his troubled past. At the beginning of last year, it would have looked like an impossible dream.
As The Age reported prior to the draft: [...] Michael DiFabrizio: Troy Taylor a work in progress, on and off field](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/troy-taylor-th.jpg)
![To a mixed response, FFA Chairman Frank Lowy revealed this week he wants to introduce an A2-League in the “not too distant future” allowing for promotion and relegation in our top flight. And while the idea shows ambition, it’s totally premature in the Australian market.
In Wednesday’s address, Lowy outlined several plans for the game, including [...] Ben Somerford: Lowy’s A2-League proposal is premature](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/lowys-A2-league-minniecon-th.jpg)
![The irony wasn’t lost on me. Less than a week after writing about some immediate points for resolution in the world of Test Cricket, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) made an announcement that will undoubtedly have a major impact on the future of … one-day cricket.
Did I say Test cricket last week? Surely [...] Brett McKay: ECB forces One-Day cricket rethink](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/ecb-forces-one-day-cricket-james-hopes-th.jpg)
![With The Ashes reaching its unfortunate but typically thrilling crescendo in London in the early hours of Monday, and Sri Lanka’s two Test series with New Zealand due to wrap up by month’s end, Test cricket now takes an extended break until Australia and the West Indies resume hostilities in Brisbane in late November.
So while [...] Brett McKay: What can be done to keep Test cricket alive?](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/what-can-be-done-th.jpg)
![Last year’s Hong Kong Sevens revealed the prodigious rugby talents of James O’Connor. This year’s Under-20 Junior World Championship revealed the equally prodigious rugby talents of Aaron Cruden, the captain of the winning New Zealand side.
It would not be a surprise if the All Black selectors gave him a run in the New Zealand squad [...] Spiro Zavos: Aaron Cruden, New Zealand’s latest rugby star](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/aaron-cruden-th.jpg)
![We often assume media interest is a barometer of a sports’ popularity. If it’s not at the forefront of priorities for newspaper editors and newsroom producers, then it must not be important and entertaining enough to warrant sufficient media and public interest.
But that logic, in my mind, is flawed.
Rather, it’s the media that is dictating [...] Adrian Musolino: The media dictates the popularity of sports in Australia](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/lleyton-hewitt-th.jpg)
![One of the highlights of Sydney Tests is the dinner hosted by The Australian Cricket Media Association (ACMA) to present the Australian Cricketer of the Year Award at Sydney Football Stadium.
This year’s winner was Shane Watson. Brad Haddin was the winner last year and Mitchell Johnson the previous summer. As this was a Silver Jubilee [...] Kersi Meher-Homji: Watson named Australia’s best by the media](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/australian-cricket-watson-th.jpg)
![I’m still shaking my head in disbelief at the astonishing attack on Football Federation Australia made in New Zealand’s Sunday Times yesterday. In the article, writer Simon Plumb implores readers not to “hold your breath waiting for an annual Socceroos-All Whites clash – the arrogant Aussies don’t want to know about it.”
“Despite agreeing to a [...] Davidde Corran: Arrogant, irritating Aussies are New Zealand’s best hope](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/new-zealand-all-whites-th.jpg)
![As is his nature, the quiet and humble Stephen Larkham has been playing a significant role as one of the world class rugby players plying their skill and helping shape the future of Japanese rugby.
In this interview I did with him the other day, Stephen shares his insight into all things Japanese, including the [...] Todd Louden: A conversation with Stephen Larkham](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/larkham.jpg)
![Over 100,000 will gather in Adelaide’s CBD today to watch Lance Armstrong, Cadel Evans and their pro-cycling buddies – impressive for a city with just over one million inhabitants. Adelaide, so often derided by its eastern seaboard brethren as a backwater has, in fact, contributed much to the wider Aussie sporting landscape, be it cycling, [...] Adrian Musolino: Australian sport owes much to little old Adelaide](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/adelaide-tour-down-under-th.jpg)
![It is early days, but on the evidence of a number of the matches in the first round of the Super 14 tournament, the new rulings have been a great success.
We need the referees, especially those in South Africa, a rugby nation that has a history of assaulting referees, to stick with their convictions and [...] Spiro Zavos: The new Super 14 rulings should be worldwide](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/mark-gerrard-th.jpg)




John Ryan said | December 27th 2009 @ 12:47pm | Report comment
The major frustration Gallen has is like the Bourbons he learns nothing,given the amount of problems he has had if I were he I would keep my head well down and concentrate of playing football
John said | January 2nd 2010 @ 2:04pm | Report comment
Time was that footballers could go out and have fun and nobody bothered them. Johnny Raper would go out on the sauce until the early hours of Saturday morning then play a blinder on Saturday afternoon.
Nobody worried about this ” role model ” rubbish. The biggest problem the game has now is a CEO who looks like he has not touched a football since he left school.