Welcome to Sydney Buddy – try rugby league on for size!

But this was supposed to happen when Folau crossed over,all the Polynesian kids were going to flock to the game,and the club would drag fans over en masse.It did not happen. Let me remind you Jacques,Sydney people like winners.If the Swans are not winning with or without Buddy or Luigi the Unbelievable the crowds will drop off.and you a re suggesting perhaps AFL journos are not blinkered in their approach to rl.From the most blinkered sporting media in the country LOL that worships at the feet of Vlad. Perhaps it says a bit more about the Sydney dailies they are more mature than their Melburnian counterparts,giving all codes a generous helping . Your last last line shows you have done little research on NRL crowds this year the rd 26 game Souths v Roosters drew 59,708 at ANZ more than any Swans game this year.This without the big Crowds pullers Eels,Dragons,Tigers who were well down the ladder.

Hmmm, seems to be a lot of hysteria already about Buddy. From most of the NRL posters I think you have a severe inferiority complex in attempting to talk up your code. I'm an AFL Hawthorn member and believe me, if Buddy gets on a roll in Sydney it will be saturation coverage in the dailies. I also go to some Melbourne Storm games and then after that cross the overpass to watch my team play at the G. From my observations AFL is better to watch live and not on TV, NRL is the opposite, better to watch on TV rather than live. Tim Prentice seems to be an apologist for the NRL and he has a very blinkered view on anything other than NRL, his code of choice. If he had bothered to come to Melbourne for either a Melbourne Storm game or, horror of horrors, be one of 100,007 spectators at the MCG for an AFL Grand Final he may get a better, broader appreciation of the superb athletes playing both codes. Buddy has already won anyway, he took the NRL off the front and back pages in Sydney and has spawned articles that Tim Prentice has just penned. Be afraid Tim, very afraid, The Swans already get more to their games than NRL ever does, Buddy will fill the stadium every round.

Last night's Grand Final was a terrific contest. Better than the AFL GF a week before. In 2012, it was probably vice versa. Generally speaking, to all footy fans, it's best not to criticise what you don't understand. More especially, when you make a conscious effort to never even attempt to understand, let alone appreciate it.

And to think, it could have been basketball!

Unfortunately some of them put their names to paper in the press,in the name of journalism.I will await their admission of error, til hell freezes over ,or the black hole envelopes the earth,whichever comes first. I think trying is the operative word.

The broadcast of that first SBW game was just ... unbelievably bad.

Samual.Some of them end up owning a chain of electrical retail stores such as Norm Provan once did,and he gets around OK(he is after all one of the guys featuring on the G/F trophy). Then we cite the head of that austere world body which we have grown to adore, WADA (John Fahey)played the game for many years and ended up at the Canterbury Bulldogs.I suggest in his 60 he is neither obese nor crippled. Think you need to get out a bit ,there are former players that are obese and there are players not so.There are former players who have arthritic conditions .Obesity is a problem in the community,throughlack of sport. You do realise the Kangaroo coach Tim Sheens is 63 years of age,and is as fit as a bull. Heaven forbid the brick with eyes is now a Senator. Oh and Wayne Bennett in his 60s coach of the Knights former Qld player,and have seen him running along the Bronte paths at times. Please describe in detail the obese condition of the former player David Peachey LOL.He could still play if he so choose,but dedicates his life working for indigenous people as part of the NRL. Your the" older players all seem to be obese",is so typical of people who spend not only little time watching the code,and generalise on seeing a couple of players.Maybe it a Southern thing the uncultured "barbarians"of the North. Perhaps we can argue the current head of the AFL is let us suggest,not of a slim stature,with a couple of extra character chins. And that Dipper chappie ,and Plugger and big Bad Bazz are they now slim jane pretzels? The ancient gladiators were a fit lot,at least they could see the direction from which their opponent was attacking,rather than running around in circles.Apparently they were not rewarded for missing their target.,in all likelihood they would be karkus. Perhaps they(gladiators) were just composed,were well conditioned superb athletes in their own right ,and when freedom was eventually granted, some may have become obese in the southern Areas of Italy and not just the North. I blame the fact we live closer to the equator. Just on a side note,female pariticipation in rugby league is one of the fastest growing segments within the game.They by your definition, must all want to be Ms Spartacus.

It will be forever the F3 in my mind,too many years riding the bitumen.

I thought they renamed the F3?

No, it offers four points for trying to score...

Watched a bit of the NRL GF in Victoria because there was not much else on after the 7pm news before I went to watch the brilliant racing car flick Rush at the cinema. Very impressive the gladiatorial aspect of the players, but the problem I would have playing such a game and to allow your children to play this game is you would wreck your body and be a cripple in your 30s. Is that really worth it? Compare old Carlton player Stephen Kernahan with Block Roach as an example. People can live a long time in the 21st century with the medicines and good foods available. Why would you do it to yourself? What happens to all these blokes after they retire? Are they in wheelchairs or do they someone come out fairly in tact? The older blokes you see that were players seem to be all obese and look like the back end of a bus. Don't know if I would want to end up like that. In summary watching the NRL is a bit like I assume the ancient Romans used to enjoy watching the gladiators fighting in the Colliseum. The northern staters are a pretty macabre bunch.

Colin gets one point for trying but failing.

You can't blame anonymous losers on the internet for trying...

+1

It is fairly obvious you have little interest in the G/F of late and your comment about Folau(who plays a different code) reinforces that view. Recognising cynicism and responding to it, as one does in a debate is par for the course.No offence intended.

Not sure if your being sarcastic about my post? So am I wrong that once upon a time RL GFs were played the Sunday after AFLs Saturday GF? Was Israel Folau playing or does he play for a team that got knocked out? Sorry for him and you if he did, I appear to have offended you.

Nice positive contribution Colin

Partially filled?

Buddy would have missed a sensational match tonight. Oh well, maybe Manchester United were watching from England. Ryan Giggs is a huge RL fan.

It is a terrible article. Sorry, Tim. It would have been a good article if you had not added the AFL twist. I will explain what I mean after 3 points. But first I want to tell you that you are a good writer and you came up with some theoretical and conceptual beauties. 1 I did not know the AFL GF was on. Heard zero about it. Not a peep. No one in my family or amongst my friends even rated a mention of it. Like others, this is purely circumstantial evidence, and is not really a good court-room testimony....is it.....guys....lame 2. All football codes played at their top level are very good. great comment. Guess its what you prefer. 3. People turning up to a rugby league page (trolls) to put the dampeners on rugby league. "Oh, I didn't know it was on" and "Its a bum game" These snide and often subtly or thinly veiled put-downs are what makes viewing sites a chore where you want to read genuine, non agenda-driven opinions. Articles like this just stir skepticism and insecurity. This is done (maybe not in this case so much though) to make unfair and negatively-predetermined assumptions about the sport in question. Its been done by a certain paper for a long time. Its to the point, Tim, that people just need to get a 'whiff' of it, and it turns them off. And thats even when the article is done in the best possible way Now, such articles have been used to stick thorns in league's side in the past, so I can see why there's been a large portion of negative reactions to it. Beyond that I want to tell you this: "Stuff franklin, good on him for coming to sydney, whatever. He'll do what he is going to do, for good old 'Frank' " _ Good notes, not touched on: Interestingly did you know Alesandro Del Pierro is a keen league fan and was glued to tonights match. He's had a bit to do with the bondi boys (i think i recall) and was eagerly anticipating the game. He is watching it with his family. Ricky Martin lives in Bondi and was an interested observer at the game. ___ I would like to say that in the types of articles I mentioned from such papers, they love to use descriptive words in order to paint the game of rugby league a certain way. Its done to promote feelings of inadequacy amongst the fans, feelings of insecurity via comparison (mines bigger than yours), and ultimatelypromote and spread skepticism of the claims that rugby league has made. This level of examination has rarely, if ever, been done about the reporting on rugby league - certainly not by anyone I have read. I am sure the guys and gals at the RL Media Unit are well on top of this though. And thats the effect is has. Its casts skepticism against the claims that the sport of rugby league makes both directly and indirectly. Its what I have brought to the attention of those within the game as well. We are naturally skeptical of claims under nearly all circumstances - but circumstances exist where one can be made to NOT be skeptical - religion, cults, early-stage iphones (haha, for the lolz)...; and there also exists its opposite - propaganda and biased-favored reporting. We are shooting for the middle ground, surely, but its no use putting down the sport. Constant comparisons breed negative and anti beneficial behaviors. Having to fight off trolls who revel in this gets tiring. I for instance would never bother going to the AFL section and put down the game, neither would I go there to offer an "unbiased" opinion. Because I am not a fan. Now, IF you come to the league section and act "unbiased"....this is just a cover-up persona of the true character underneath: one is the same comparison-enabler, and would be reflecting issues of his/herself within. So I say, to all an sundry - we don't need comparison pieces in the sport. They are unwanted. But ultimately the reason is: we want to focus on Rugby League only. We don't want to waste processing cycles in our brains on other things. People either get angry, or they express their [on the internet being impossible not to express it] insecurity to a certain extent (about the issue at least) of the issue in question, which is then passed off as a value-judgement toward the sport or thing (in this case rugby league....as in "So....if that fan thinks that, then I guess the assumption I've made must stand") Its highly* manipulative.