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Joined August 2011
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Ben Pobjie is a writer and comedian whose promising rugby career was tragically cut short the day he stopped playing rugby and had a pizza instead. The most he has ever cried was the day Balmain lost the 1989 grand final. Today he enjoys the frolics of Wallabies, Swans, baggy greens, and Storm.
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We have to talk about referees. By which I don’t mean that I want to talk about referees, or that we haven’t already talked too much about referees, or even that talking about referees is likely to prove of any particular use.
There’s no use pussyfooting around: rugby league has become soft.
The celebrations had barely even begun at Old Trafford when a sobering note was struck.
As I watched Steve Smith hit his third century of the current Ashes series, I was struck by the similarities between this brilliant modern batsman and another true legend who plied his trade in an earlier era.
Yes yes, very good innings. Yes yes, revived the Ashes. Yes, one of the greatest Tests of all time, what Test cricket is all about, privileged to be living in these times, etc. Fine. But I have one question.
Cricket is an amazing game. After one Test it seemed certain that these Ashes would be the Summer of Steve. With just a few hours of the second Test remaining, Jofra Archer was set to be anointed 2019’s Supreme Being.
You know, I’ve seen New Zealanders do some underhanded things in my time, from hands in the ruck to tricking Greg Chappell into ordering an underarm. But I never thought the deviousness of that nation would ever sink to such depths as it did on the weekend just past.
I will be the first to admit, I do not possess the same level of rugby league knowledge as Ricky Stuart.
How many passes does a rugby league halfback throw in their career? Thousands. Long ones and short ones, quick bullets and looping floaters, cut-outs to wide runners and pop-ups to charging forwards. Passing is a halfback’s trade.
Remember last week when I wrote about how great it was that New South Wales was panicking?
I was devastated when Cooper Cronk announced he was leaving Melbourne.
As his one-time Storm teammate Greg Inglis ends his career in a shower of tributes, Israel Folau seems to be ending his in a shower of a much more prosaic substance. And it’s a shame. A damn shame.
Sport isn’t about feelings or impressions; it’s about cold hard facts.
I’m not sure I’ve ever seen anything in cricket more unlikely than Australia coming back from 2-0 down in the ODI series in India to win 3-2.
A wildcard weekend in the NRL, enabling the ninth and tenth-placed teams to contest the finals? What a great idea!
I learnt a lot from Nick Riewoldt’s bold statements about drugs this week.
As a Storm fan, I’d love it if it was indeed swings and roundabouts, but I can’t see any swings coming our way.
We have to be honest about refs
“Human beings make mistakes” is what I said in the article. What I’m saying is that accepting that human beings make mistakes doesn’t mean we have to be happy with those mistakes, or pretend that those mistakes don’t sometimes lead to unjust results.
We have to be honest about refs
The good thing is that we now know teams have a great last-tackle option when in attack. Don’t risk a kick, just throw the ball into your trainer and voila, six again!
The NRL knew the risks for years about on-field trainers and did nothing
What if…all of the below things are true?
Australia blew the chance to win by their own mistakes AND
The refereeing made Australia’s job much harder by some terrible decisions AND
Australia has problems that need to be addressed AND
There were also positives to take from the game AND
Wales is actually a really good team and it’s not a national disgrace to lose to them AND
Australia still should’ve won?
I mean, just for the sake of argument.
Wales withstand Wallabies' second-half fightback
Well sure…but what’s wrong with cross kicks for wingers?
Wales withstand Wallabies' second-half fightback
You can’t seriously tell me that there were half a dozen Richmond players who had worse games than the majority of the GWS team.
2019 AFL grand final: GWS Giants player ratings
Might be a good idea to have the same writer doing the ratings for both teams. Going on these compared to the Richmond ratings you’d think the game was a close one.
2019 AFL grand final: GWS Giants player ratings
That explains why the Storm’s salary cap has never been investigated and they’ve never been punished for any infringements.
The uncomfortable truth about the NRL’s horrible media coverage
The one thing you can say about rugby union in Australia is that only victories against the All Blacks are lauded in the press. If the Wallabies win against anyone else media focus will be on what Australia did wrong and how unimpressive the victory was.
The uncomfortable truth about the NRL’s horrible media coverage
Given he starts off by telling us he doesn’t know what Walker or Trbojevic were actually sin binned for, not sure we should listen that attentively to this one.
How to overhaul the NRL
We have to assume so
Six talking points from Melbourne Storm vs Parramatta Eels NRL semi-final
I think Eels fans need to accentuate the positive and reflect that they won the finals by 26 points total.
Six talking points from Melbourne Storm vs Parramatta Eels NRL semi-final
A man who does not wish to be sin binned for a professional foul always has the option of not committing professional fouls.
Souths sneak past the brave Sea Eagles on their way to Canberra
The important thing is that nobody in the comments took this all way too seriously. Good work guys.
The Roar’s 50 greatest Rugby World Cup players wrap-up: Who voted for who, team of the top 50, plus best countries and positions
Yep, played under Woz for Newtown, spent some years at Souths, came back to Ryan at the Tigers.
Big Sam should be applauded for standing his ground with the NRL
A second cousin. We’re as proud of his refereeing disputes as we are of his post-footy career as a dodgy builder.
Big Sam should be applauded for standing his ground with the NRL
Stand up, brave hair-puller! Your struggle truly is our struggle.
Big Sam should be applauded for standing his ground with the NRL
The funny thing, Brett, is that like a lot of people here I looked at the side and thought, “Hastings? Really?” Yet when I actually thought about I couldn’t think of a fullback who’d stood out *more* in World Cups, and the fact is that despite Scotland’s lack of ultimate success, Hastings really was one of the long-time institutions when the Cup rolled around back in the day. And just as a player pure and simple he was marvellous.
The Roar’s 50 greatest players in Rugby World Cup history: 10-6
I demand a royal commission!
The Roar's 50 greatest players in Rugby World Cup history: 15-11
Because Chief Wiggum said nuns. It’s a quote.
Why are we allowing the NRL's thugs to play the victim?
“Unless it’s foul play”. Yes. Tripping is foul play. Well spotted.
Why are we allowing the NRL's thugs to play the victim?
I think, to understand a lot of the issues that are being complained about in this list, it might be helpful to think more in terms of vibes. The 50 Top RWC Legends maybe, or The Greatest 50 Players Who Made The World Cup Great. Icons matter, and moments matter. More so, in this context, than which player was better than another on a deep analysis of on-field performance.
This won’t settle everything – maybe Brian O’Driscoll did get in more from a feeling of “he was so good, he MUST have been great in RWCs, right?” But I feel it’s more satisfying an exercise – and I feel more in line with what the judges went for – if thought of in terms of “which players have made this tournament the most memorable?” Rather than “which players were technically the best?”
The Roar’s 50 greatest players in Rugby World Cup history: 10-6
Assuming the top five are who we think they’ll be, the Roar’s all time RWC XV is:
Hastings
Lomu
Nonu
Horan
Campese
Wilkinson
Van der Westhuizen
Dallaglio
McCaw
Pienaar
Eales
Johnson
Leonard
Smit
Du Randt
.
I’m sure everyone will be entirely comfortable with this.
The Roar’s 50 greatest players in Rugby World Cup history: 10-6
Manson’s was indeed inexplicable. Hard to believe Ridge even thought he could get up and go again and get away with it, let alone that Manson would let him.
The worst call in grand final history