A fan's goodbye to NRL CEO Dave Smith

Shall miss you oikee - we may not have agreed often, but you have made a lot of sense lately - although I suspect it will be a hiatus and you shall return more contrary than ever.

Scrums. Bring back a decent scrum and I could get interested in league again. Please, Dave Smith, give us a proper old fashioned scrum not this group hug crap that currently exists.

Ray Thompson's jaw is all the evidence you need mate. Plus Goodwin getting hit in the head from Pritchard. Greg Inglis on Dean Young last year

The refs are killing the game. Ask Toovey. Unless you win , it is the refs fault. Backed up by all the ex-players, they all say Toovey is right. Look, Manly and Toovey wont save the game, because all they care about is Manly, the game has got to stop catering to Manly, and to be fair to Mnaly, , the little clubs, stop catering to areas that cant grow, while we have cities vacant, countries vacant, and we wonder why we are losing fans and viewers. I keep telling you, fans are sick of powerhouse clubs suffering while little club like Cronulla, (see it is not just Manly) littel clubs are being propped up only to cheat. The code is losing the floor, because it is trying to cater to chitlings, while our powerhouses are being killed off. I will say it again, no code in the world would allow this to happen. Even in the animal world the weak is killed off. Its law, lets obey law. hehe. Change and somebody in charge of change, needs to make change. before its too late. Either that or let the code split. It is now up to Smithy.

+1

The quality the last 2 seasons have been terrible. I have watched RL my whole life, never had a problem, but now half the games aren't worth watching. It's all wrestle and bomb. That's it. Boring. The only problem is that the AFL is even worse. Just as boring and twice as predictable. Never been into soccer but watch out I won't be surprised if it really takes over

the greatest post

The game today whilst it has its faults ,is a far better game IMO than the past.I have been following it for decades unlimited to 6 tackle rules. The biff had to go,and the shoulder charge has gone (big deal).Have a look at the shoulder charge by Snowden on Thomson of the cowboys which left him with a broken jaw. Those who say it should be retained ,remind me of the ones, who suggest owning a gun is OK ,its the person behind it,when things go wrong. More kids playing the game than ever before ,so you lose some and appears you gain a hell of a lot more. I gave Union away years ago ,especially after embracing professionalism after hypocrically bagging rl for doing so for 100 years,and judging by the Walls of late,the pedantic refereeing and the lack of tries ,feel justified.Tried to watch AFL ,just for me fast disorganised chaos. Each to his own ,as the saying goes.It would be a boring old world if everyone had the same taste.Liz Hurley would be unattached.

Good luck with going to watch rugby if you think it's better reffed Oikee. Did u not see the Bledislie in Wgtn?It was disgraceful and I'm an ABs fan.

They lost me years ago. About 1990-95 really. Born into a league household, played it for 15 years, tragic Bulldogs fan, lived, breathed and dreamt about rugby league. I couldn't even name more than 3 current Camterbury players. My heart and mind is a million miles away from League. My allegiances are now with Union and AFL. League today is completely unrecognisable to the game i grew up with. It has become an uninspiring, artificial farce. It is not for me.

I like Oikee. I have no interest in his parochialism (or any other's for that matter) though I do recognise the validity of what he says. And what is he saying? I believe he is calling for national professionalism. Imagine if soccer in Australia had remained as the NSL. The A-League would never have emerged if the local suburban clubs had kept their influence. There are some differences but I think that, in general, Oikee is right to see something similar with rugby league, at least in regards to potential. But conspiracies to keep the Queensland based teams down? Come now Oikee, there doesn't need to be a conspiracy for stupidity andd shortsightedness. Human nature is just fine for that.

Yep like it or hate it the shoulder charge will not be returning, but the game is still plenty tough, get to a preseason trial game and sit on the sideline at one of those country grounds and listen to the hits, they would break an untrained body clean in half.

The shoulder charge is dead. Tonight Kade Snowden put one on Cowboy Ray Thompson and broke his jaw. Was quite bloody. I would still like to defend the shoulder charge but would struggle to after seeing this hit. For breaking someone's jaw you have to get at least 10 weeks.

Johnno are you kidding most NFL players are not really involved in high impact collisions and those that are only take a handful of hits a game.They wear helmets so facial cuts, head clashes, broken jaws etc while not unknown are much less of an issue than in our game. Also their is no great requirement for gutbusting aerobic fitness as the game stops all the time and players are constantly rotated.Also the season is much shorter they only have sixteen regular season games.

They wear full body armour in NFL and Ice hockey, there are no body on body collisions like there are in league. and I didn't realise UFC was a TEAM SPORT.

Call me a dinosaur. I don't care. Reynolds' hit on Jason Clark was a great hit. Period.

Yeah because rugby league is so soft now they get rid of a shoulder charge and suddenly it's a fame for whimpy that is somehow less tough than every other sport on the planet. What a joke!

NFL is tougher the hits are way more physical, as is ice hockey and UFC.

5 new fans who prefer a hybrid game of tag and touch fooyt, than a real physical ferocious contact sport only for the brave. Go and watch basketball if that's what you want.

Shoulder charge or no shoulder charge the NRL is still the toughest gig in team sport anywhere on the planet.