Roar Rookie
Joined March 2012
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Sports tragic, Best sporting moment: 1971 Sydney Colts rugby Grand Final (we won!) most memorable matches: 1989 and 1997 RL Grand Finals, Socceroos v Japan (world cup 2006) Favourite teams of all time: Gt Britain RL touring team 1962, Wallabies Grand Slam team 1984.
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After making through the summer doldrums with no rugby league to watch, the NRL is finally back. [Painting by James Brennan] Having followed the…
All this chatter about merging/relocation is destructive in itself. By merging South Sydney and St George you would probably alienate thousands of fans of those two great clubs. Was nothing learned from the Super League War? Apparently not. But if it absolutely had to happen, then I’d de-merge Wests Tigers, keeping Wests Magpies in the Macarthur region and send the Tigers north to Brisbane. Next, let the Central Coast re-birth the Bears in the old black and red. The idea of sending the Sharks to Perth is problematic in that the additional costs involved would be a huge economic burden on already stretched club budgets.
A controversial opinion on NRL expansion
Nick, I am afraid your logic doesn’t stack up with what’s actually happened with league’s attendance figures over the years. I use the rugby league tables website to find stats on attendances and I found the following. In 1970 Australia’s population was around 12.2 million and now it’s roughly double that, 25 million. (I use national figures because Brisbane and Melbourne now play in the NRL).
Now according to RLT back in 1970, the average attendance for H and A games was 11,015. By your reasoning that should have now grown to roughly double, along the lines of population growth to about 22,000 per game. But, it hasn’t. Last year’s H and A attendance numbers were 15,260, an increase of only 4,245 per game. So those numbers suggest that even if Adelaide’s population was to have increased by a third, it is reasonable to surmise that attendance numbers would not rise accordingly.
By the way, I’d love to see the Bears resurrected at NSO. And Balmain (the team I followed for nearly 40 years). The Wests Tigers “partnership” should be dissolved with the Magpies rebranding to the Macarthur region of Sydney (as another Roar writer has previously suggested) and the Tigers should go to East Brisbane. The Broncos should not be allowed to continue their domination of the Brisbane market any longer.
Relocation is madness. Bring back the Bears
Just a slight correction for you, Fred de Belin was Jack’s grandfather, not is father. The years Fred played didn’t seem to fit if compared to Jack’s, so I checked it. Fred would have had to have been about 70 when Jack was born, not an impossibility mind you, but unlikely.
Rugby league history: The all-time great alphabet teams – Letter D
“He is certainly the best hooker I’ve ever seen.” Given the fact that Cam Smith has played most, if not all, his career in the era of “bendovers” (scrums?) I would wager that Smith has never actually hooked for the ball in a scrum in his life. Great player to be sure, and a terrific ambassador for the game in Melbourne, but you cannot compare him to those who’ve hooked for the ball in the days when scrums were contested.
If the Sharks title isn’t stripped then the Storm must get theirs back
The fact that Shute Shield teams like Easts don’t regularly draw big crowds is irrelevant to my response to Max, TWAS, as you would well know. He made a rather inaccurate statement, I was just setting him straight.
Time for administrators to wake up on failing Super Rugby: Wessels
Wait a minute Max. I think you’ll find well over 3 – 4,000 go to Woollahra Oval for the annual Easts v Randwick match. I’ve travelled down to Sydney from Qld for that match and I’m pretty sure that your 750 figure is well and truly covered.
Time for administrators to wake up on failing Super Rugby: Wessels
This got me thinking. If the AFL had never evolved in Australia, ever, just think who may have taken up football. Assuming these players were coached from a reasonably early age then how would a team of these players stack up, given their height, weight, body shape, athleticism and attitude to succeed in sport:
GK: Jeremy Howe, Jordan de Goey or Alex Rance
Defenders: Steele Sidebottom, Jaeger O’Meara, Eddie Betts, Andrew Gaff, Paul Puopolo, Adam Saad
Midfielders: Tom MItchell, Joel Selwood, Gary Ablett Jnr, Charlie Cameron, Patrick Dangerfield, Dyson Heppell or Josh Kelly
Forwards: Isaac Smith, Lance Franklin, Orazio Fantasia, or Dustin Martin
Reserves: Choose from – Dayne Zorko, Dane Beams, Mark Blicavs, Jeremy McGovern, Nic Naitanui, Taylor Adams, Zach Merrett. (among others)
There is a preponderance of speed, agility, co-ordination and athletic prowess in this team as well as the ability to use both feet in many cases. How many would have made it big? Who knows but one thing is for sure, given their AFL abilities, they would not have left anything in the tank trying to make it to the top of world football. Comments anyone?
The Socceroos are not as good as we like to think they are, and that’s okay
I think you owe Peter Handscomb a public apology. Did you mean Cameron Bancroft? If so, say so publicly.
If the Perth pitch was ‘average’, the MCG is diabolical
“the players who play our game receive more training about respectful relationships through a variety of programs than any other profession.” The fact that they have to have training in itself is a sad indictment of those who play the game. What on earth has gone wrong with our society?
#TimesUp NRL – we need to make a stand
“The national high performance plan will also be bolstered by the establishment of a fighting fund to support the recruitment and retention of identified youth talent. ” (R. Castle) A fighting fund? What’s happened to the millions already spent? Not enough? And as for the “high performance”. Well, we all know how well that’s been working don’t we? Really, there’s no point looking for talent to identify if no-one is playing the bloody game!
Cheika survives the axe as Rugby AU bring in Scott Johnson as director of rugby
In regards to both cricket and rugby, is it just me or does anybody else see the massive correlation between the results of our respective national teams in those sports and the administrations’ approaches to the club level? In both cases it would seem that when the clubs are forgotten and left to basically fend for themselves, it tends to lead to national team results that are, shall we say politely, less than desirable. At least cricket has the Sheffield Shield which has traditionally been the proving ground for our test players. Why it should be left to founder is beyond my understanding as it has produced world-class players time and time again. And as for high performance units in both sports? Do not get me started on them. My only comment about them would be that they are the greatest waste of money ever and should be disbanded immediately.
Howard the last domino who must fall
Tim, good article! I would suggest that if the NRL is only concerned with rugby league as a business, then that’s where fans can hurt them. Stop going to games. Stop watching on TV. Stop buying memberships and overpriced jerseys and other paraphernalia. If TV stations become aware that ratings have dropped alarmingly, they will soon pass on a message to those who are supposed to run the game. When the hip-pocket nerve has been well and truly crushed, only then will action be taken. Lasting change can be effected, but some short term pain will be necessary I am afraid.
Fans should stop wasting their time asking the NRL to lift their game