Every ship needs an anchor, and for Australian sporting codes it’s the National Rugby League.
A sport with a history so steeped in controversy, a player literally has to shame a pet to get into the headlines. So let us take a moment to sit back, and analyse what 2016 will mean for Australian sports’ meta-joke.
The rise of the mighty Central Gold Coast Titan Bears
Yes, we’ve all been waiting for it – two of rugby league’s biggest ‘its going to happen’ predictions. We finally lose Queensland football’s running joke in the Titans, by merging them with NSW football’s running joke, a reborn and even mightier Bears!
The Central Gold Coast Titan Bears will be a bastion of true economic rationalisation in rugby league – a club playing from Carrara and Gosford with North Sydney Leagues Club emblazoned on their sleeve! Gillon McLachlan, eat your heart out.
Mitchell Pearce will make a triumphant return in Round 4
Sure, his pockets will be lighter and he will be sobered up from a fruitful trip to a rehab centre in Thailand (cough), but the ever persuasive Nick Politis will get his man back on the pitch as quick as you can say ‘double understandably’. However, Todd Carney will be pissed.
Parramatta will reliably crash, burn and probably be docked a point or two
We’ve seen it all before, she keeps treating him like dirt and he keeps crawling back. That’s Parramatta! The Eels are the game from hell’s equivalent of ‘treat them mean, keep them keen’.
We all feel for Parramatta fans, and we all know one. But they’re always there for you – the butt of your vitriolic jabs when your team inevitably fall out of the finals. Sure, your team was awful on the night, but they didn’t change contracts or go over the cap. But god bless them, they’re always willing to climb back on that dud horse.
Billy Slater is getting old… long live Billy Slater!
For his own sake, the Storm’s sake and NSW’s sake, we all hope for Billy’s sake he punches off for the last time. The mind is willing, but the body is getting on. I hope, no I pray that he sees the light and becomes Craig Bellamy’s protégé – and I hope Melbourne see the same. Fear not, however, soon enough, we’ll all be doing the Munster Mash.
Raiders will challenge, but Brisbane will be drinking from Fountains of Wayne
I’ll admit it, I have been wrong all these years. Ricky Stuart has the chops. He and Don Furner have worked wonders at the Raiders since fencing off player’s roofs and banning them from owning pets. Mark my words, fellow Roarers, Canberra will be a driven and competitive side marked by an unpredictable and entertaining style of play.
Once they learn to grind out a hard match, they will be a force. However, it will be Brisbane holding the trophy this year. With Wayne Bennett showing that his class as a coach hasn’t diminished one bit along with a side of both quality and depth, the Broncos will challenge from the offset.
You don’t forget pain like losing in golden [oint – try as Ben Hunt might. #theonethatslippedaway.
Todd Greenberg for CEO
Just you wait for it…
So, what do you think fellow Roarers? Have any steaming hot and miss-guided predictions for 2016? Feel free to reveal them below!
Reckon you can pick the winning team? Build your own dream team with Draftstars daily fantasy and compete on any match. For great odds on the NRL head on over to PlayUp. Imagine what you could be buying instead. Set a deposit limit.
The end of Round 11 might not seem the obvious place to stop and take stock of the rugby league world, but it is…
He shouldn't go so far as to put a broom through the squad and pick a team full of debutants, but the composition of the sq will make or break Madge in his first series as coach.
It’s Wayne’s world and the Rabbitohs are living in it. Again. The sequel is rarely as good as the original and that was definitely…
No other forward in his time came close to his dominance as a ball distributor, and his all-round influence on a game.
Parramatta dropped a bombshell by sacking Brad Arthur, effective immediately, and have conceded they have been trying for weeks to get Wayne Bennett to…
Wests Tigers duo Brent Naden and Justin Olam have been slapped with dangerous contact charges and face missing one week of action with early…
