Fantastic write up Jason,

I thought Lions Den never lived up to it’s hype imo, they also produced Guy Mezger and Tre Telligman, both of which are also fantasic fighters. But with the exposure of Ken and his school into the ufc fairly early on, (i dont know) they seemed to plateu in the mid 90’s, while the other camps that began to appear began to evolve and dominate for their own periods. Honestly thought Frank took the right step forward when he opened his school with Maurice Smith and Brian Johnson (the name of which eludes me atm), but from memory they had a couple of pretty decent well rounded guys.

For some reason back then i had an attraction to the nomads such as Evan Tanner, drifting between small camps and the larger camps such as Miletich and Team Quest (who Randy actually owes alot of his success to). Never brilliant at one perticular style but a tonne of heart, went hammer and tong where-ever the fight took them.

Hope to see more aricles from you in the future.

I have to admit i do have a soft spot for Idris. He is a strangle player. He often looks goofy, uncoordinated, like at any moment he’s about to trip over himself and despite his lumbering style i think he’s deceptivly fast, but that said he gets results damn it. He is still only young but i believe he has a good platform and with the right work ethic (and i believe Moore is just the man to instill that in him) i think he could be a very good player in the future.

I felt sorry for him last year, there was no need for that photo to be published. I think people forget he’s still a kid, remember he’s still got 3-4 years for his body to fill out, he could turn into a monster.

Julie, whether the players get payed any money at all firstly relies on the survival of their club and the competition. There very well may be a less restrictive ways to create an even competition but i’m yet to hear one, in fact for all the times i’ve heard complaints in regards to the salary cap i’m yet to hear a SINGLE alternative suggestion except for getting rid of it all together.

No salary cap would result in the league bottlenecking into maybe 3 or 4 superclubs that are far more financially superior than the rest, taking a stranglehold on the games best players. This could also force other clubs to spend money which they dont have to attract players they could never afford in the first place or pay their players much more than they’re worth to aviod being poached by other clubs.

These players dont get paid peanuts, nor are they subjected to an artificial limit, they play for a sum which is contractually agreed apon with the club. If they are not happy with how much they’re payed in the NRL they have the option to go to super league and demand more money, they have the option to go to French Rugby and demand more money or they have the option to go pusue a career in another field that may be able to satisfy their financial needs.

I must that i do find it confusing sometimes, on one hand each week over the last fews years i’ve heard fans comment happily on how close the competition is, how hard it is to predict these days and praise how lucky we are to see the quality of play we’re priviliged to witness from these teams from week to week. On the other hand every now and again the ugly phrase “salary cap” rears it’s head and people spit in disgust at how it is an unfair system that penalises successful teams.

At this stage it is a necessary evil im afraid and no matter who we support, we’re all in the same boat. It was not that long ago that we were worried about the mere financial survival of some clubs due to the economic crisis, im still a firm believer that had the salary cap had not been in place some these clubs would have gone under.

For me personally the salary cap is not the problem, greed is. When i hear about guys like Thurston and Mason bring up RU and Super League as a leverage in their payment negotiations, they should be handed their suitcases and shown the door. I guess what im trying to say is that the salary cap not only gives us an even competitive competition, it also helps stabilise the competition financially as a whole.

Great point on the ATO, if they get involved this could really blow up into phenominal proportions. It seems they went to great lengths to cover this up, i wonder if they prepared for that situation.

Good article Alan. I have to admit when the Storm were able to buy Brett Finch mid last season (even if it was for cheap), it got me seriously wondering how they were fitting under the cap, i’ve had similar queries of other clubs over the years. I dont think its doomsday for Melbourne at this stage, but as you mentioned it is a damn big hill they’re trudging up. Melbourne owe alot to it’s fans and will some how have to go to great lengths to show they are appreciated and wanted, i think a public apology to their fans could be a good first step, from there im not sure at this stage.

Spot on mate.

You’ll get no tears from me scott, what about the Parramatta and Manly supporters that lost the chance of a premiership when they lost to a Melbourne squad that was over the cap.

The reason why Mundine doesnt get the respect that you say he’s earned, is simply because he hasnt earned it. He has never backed up any of his many, bold, public statments. The fight in which he takes over the world has always been just two fights away and it’s been the same story for atleast the last five years.

The only boxer that Mudine has beat who actually held a world title belt was Daniel Geale, who held the IBO middleweight belt, every other title he fought for was vacant. His victory over Geale had controversy surrounding it, after an investigation the IBO ordered Mundine to rematch Geale, he instead dropped a weight-class to avoid Geale and take on little known Medley. After back peddling for 12 rounds against Kessler, he avoided a rematch with him.The Green victory is the only shining light in what is otherwise quite an ordinary fight resume.

He may be a great promoter here in Oz, but on the international scene he is a very small pebble and very little known. The fact that he continues to fight 2nd/3rd tier fighters, ducking others and still promoting himself as the greatest boxer in the world, to me is a cop-out for the Australian public that pay to see him. Glorifying him because he is better at promoting himself, whilst less known/more accomplished Australian boxers go under the radar of the Australian public, sorry thats a hard cookie for me to swallow.

Mundine had great boxing skills, speed, talent, a public image, contacts in the boxing world and he let that all go to waste.

You obviously missed my point completely.

Pfft what a silly comment. Manly stepped in and had assualt charges dropped from Watmough after he hit a sponser. Once again the only punishment was a fine issued by the club.

As for you’re other comment i’m sure every RL junior is dreaming of being Justin Timberlake while out on the field. The reason why guys like Marshell and Hindmarsh are so praised by the RL community is not only because of their ability on the field, but they are excellent excellent role models for kids to look up to. They carry themselves well and do their club and fans proud.

There was a news piece about mid-last year on Watmough, he was explaining how his youngest son was being bullyed at school because the other kids had heard of his off-field antics, Watmough has since done alot to clean up his image. To say kids arent influenced by their RL heroes is nonsence.

Surprised how many people are rationlising this, if he’d hit a little kid or run over an old lady while over the limit you guys would be screaming blue bloody murder, regardless of the “circumstances”.

I think the point is that the author is trying to make here is that most clubs have now taken a zero tolerance to these kind of incidents, no matter what their current position in the copetition is. Manly in recent times have flatly refused to suspend some of thier better players, especially when they’re in a form slump. There is more than one example of this in recent times.

Players are contracted to a code of conduct and can be punished if they breach this. Why should Williams be exempted from suspension? If he played for any other club in the comp that would have been the first course of action and then copped a fine to boot.

Finch was quite happy to blame the ref in his post-game interview but the fact is the entire 2nd half was all the Titans. Big metres up the field combined with repeat sets, relentless smothering defence and little mistakes. Very impressive performance by the Titans. Melbourne must be disappointed but most other teams would have succumbed to the pressure and been trampled by the Gold Coast, i think they can take away the fact that despite so little ball it was only the two penalties that proved the difference in the end.

On current form i think the Morris twins are the only certainties at this stage to be selected for the Blues, possibly Hayne and Creagh too.

The Eels are reknown slow starters, so i hope we pick up in a few rounds time, but as a fan it’s quite frustrating. Growth Jr has been head and shoulders our best player this year, Inu has done much better than Tahu thus far so its a shame he’s missing a spot. I think in the case of Hayne less is more, he is not a halfback. Hayne should never be the first option kicker within the opposition 20, i would give my left arm just to see Mortimer or Robson grubber behind the line for a try or repeat set, with so many handling errors any set we can get is gold.

Indeed, in recent years i cant recall any team having an easy night against a fully fit Melbourne squad come finals times. These are two of the most ultra-competetive teams in the comp, i have a feeling they’ll meet somewhere in the finals.

Well what can you say? Melbourne faced the most physically dominating team in the comp and took them to school. It should be very interesting when these two clash again.

It’s good to hear the junior comp coming along well, i’ve been wondering when the first bunch of Victorian bred players would start filtering through the ranks. No-one can deny that Melbourne seem to have created a good culture down south, something they have gradually built on top of since their induction.

One key to attracting young kids and supporters to Melbourne RL is familiar faces and loyalty. The likes of Slater, Inglis, Smith and Cronk (even Belamy as a couch) have been clubmen since starting in first grade and for me at this stage i find it hard to imagine any of these players ever packing their bags and moving to another club. When a club shows loyalty to it’s players, it’s often rewarded with loyalty from players and fans alike.

Looking at the next say 20 years though, especially with the new RU club starting there, i can see some good players starting to emerge from down south. Will Mebourne ever break ties with it’s Qld Cup feeder clubs and become a fully self contained Victorian team?

Ryan seems to be the forgotten man the last few years, he’s never let the Blue’s down in the past and he would be an excellent captain.

The author did make a point that these players would go down in history behind some of the greats, but despite that they can do things on the field that no others can thus far equal. They do these things with such freakish regularity that they have proven themselves to be genuine articles and no fluke.

At this moment of time in every game of backyard footy there will be a Marshell and a Hayne on the field and the kids will be attempting the Marshell step and fick pass, the Hayne chip over the top and regather, the mircale plays that kids dream they pull off when they’re big day comes. Specifically these two atm have bridged a certain gap between backyard and professional RL.

The Tigers/Eels match last year was possible the best game of footy i’ve ever seen, it was explosive and exciting. I feel priviliged to witness some of the footy these two teams have produced over the last few years.

I also havent watched the Channel 9 show either for many years, that boat has long sailed. Matty did a decent job last night and it was good to see some nerves. He does have a tough gig considering:

1) It’s on the same night as it’s Channel 9 rival.
2) It’s shown at a more family friendly time of 7:30pm, so he’s had to tone down his comedy to an extent.
3) I dont think he can show any footage of NRL matches on his show.

Good guests, had a bit of a chuckle, i’ll prolly tune in for the next few episodes.

Good write-up.

Roosters have proven in the first two rounds that they can score plenty of points, but this weekend i feel their defence will have to improve dramatically. They lead the Tigers by 22 points in the 2nd half last week but only won by 8. I trust Brian Smith will bring them in with a solid game plan though.

As for the Doggies i dont think there’s any shame in getting a good touch-up by the Dragons this early in the season, no team is at their level atm. The key to a Bulldogs victory is as you mentioned discipline, cut down on the silly penalties and handling errors and points will come. Hannant Vs Ryles should be a good contest and head to head i feel theres too much skill and experience in the backline for the Roosters to handle.

My money is on the Dogs, but should be an entertaining game. Good time for both teams to step up and make themselve’s noticed.

Completely agree with your most of assessment there, many of the wrong players were crucified for the first two games and too many many were wrongly praised for the dead rubber victory. IMHO i think Kimmorley would be a great captain, but i think Campese is a great shout if he gets the opportunity. Both players lift when they’re needed, both can get players to rally behind them and both players lead by example with great tenacity.

I say that with a big IF he gets the opportunity, Blues selections over the last few years have been shocking and at times confusing to say the least.

No neither will play origin and yes it’s waaay too early to be making such bold predictions. Both the Rabbitohs and Tigers literally self destructed in their respective games with the Roosters. Not trying to take anything away from them but i havent seen anything that special from the Roosters, or the players mentioned performances.

I think this will be put into perspective this weekend when they play the currently struggling Bulldogs.

I think you’ve summed it up very well there Brett, i agree with all the points you made in that post.

Just a question for you guys in regard to some of the previous discussion, as the rules stand now why was the delivery bowled to Warner not given a wide if the off-stump was still dictated from his left-handed stance?

The situation certainly has created some grey areas, it’s good to see some healthy debate on the subject. I’m surprised no-one has brought up the fact that Warner was almost dismissed employing this tactic. That is the main reason why it didnt bother me too much. I honestly believe that the more this tactic is employed, the more batsmen we’ll see throwing thier wicket away in an unnecessary and embarassing fashion, much like the reverse sweep.