by Laine Clark, 19 Jun 2013
The feelgood story of the NSW State of Origin team has also made Queensland strike weapon Greg Inglis happy – for reasons that would wipe the smile off Blues fans’ faces. While stoked South Sydney teammate Nathan Merritt had finally earned a Blues jersey after 10 years trying, Inglis claimed their selection call had played [...]
by Tim Prentice, 19 Jun 2013
Dave Smith, the new NRL Supremo, knows next to zippo about the game and he has forced refs boss Daniel Anderson to bring down an edict that cannot work in State of Origin football. ‘One punch and you’re off’ screamed the Sunday Tele, on page 1 of all places. Well, great stuff Smithy, your knee-jerk [...]
by Greg Prichard, 19 Jun 2013
The problem with people like Blake Ferguson is they think the world revolves around themselves. They make bad decisions without any apparent thought of the consequences and think they can somehow keep surviving. Ferguson and his great mate, Josh Dugan, seem to be tag-teaming in terms of which one ends up in more trouble when [...]
by Nick Campton, 19 Jun 2013
I fired up my laptop at about 9:30AM Monday morning, opened Twitter and flicked on Fox Sports News, just to see what was happening. There was a rumour floating around. A bad one. The rumor was that Blake Ferguson and Josh Dugan were involved in an incident in Cronulla the night before. You need to [...]
by natalieshoebridge, 19 Jun 2013
State of Origin … the game where the hits are harder, the men are bigger, and the tempers are ticking time bombs. From the greats like King Wally and Joey Johns, to the one-game wonders, this is truly the toughest game in Australian sport. I was recently asked what the difference is between an Origin [...]
by Con Scortis, 19 Jun 2013
The reaction to Paul Gallen’s series of innocuous punches has certainly led to a hysterical reaction from some quarters of the game. The erudite and sardonic Eleanor Kite’s (hopefully tongue-in-cheek) opinion piece questioned the future and integrity of the game, while the normally on-the-money Curtis Woodward was lamenting the death of the game as we [...]
by ScottWoodward.me, 19 Jun 2013
What are they thinking? The champion Queensland Maroons were outpointed in the forwards big time in State of Origin I and they have answered their critics by replacing one of their few big men with little halfback Daly Cherry-Evans. I get it they they have dropped Harrison, as he should have gone two years ago, [...]
by Ian McCullough, 19 Jun 2013
Nathan Merritt admits he’d virtually given up all hope of ever playing for NSW before receiving a phone call from Blues coach Laurie Daley on Tuesday morning. The 30-year-old South Sydney winger was called into the team to face Queensland in Brisbane next Wednesday after Blake Ferguson was stood down on Monday night. The Canberra [...]
by Laine Clark, 19 Jun 2013
Queensland coach Mal Meninga says the NRL’s hardline stance on punching came a game too late but is no guarantee that the days of State of Origin fights are over. The Maroons have been quick to rule out retribution in next week’s Origin II in Brisbane in the fallout over NSW skipper Paul Gallen’s game [...]
by Laine Clark, 19 Jun 2013
Playing the loyalty card helped Queensland win an unprecedented seven straight State of Origin series. But with title No.8 on the line in Brisbane next week, Maroons coach Mal Meninga says the time is right to start looking for trump cards. Not that it made the decision to dump veterans Ash Harrison and David Shillington [...]
THE ROAR ON