Hope you’re right Scott

Not my club and the courier mail just write what they think will be most popular with people. The gc suns would be a lot worse off financially without Gary Ablett. Cherry Evans would have been a big publicity boost for the titans but probably hurt their on field chances by taking up too much cap space. I think edgley will be a better player than Cherry and the Titans will be a better side in 3 years without him.

Sounds good in theory Con. I fully support Dave Smith and the NRL but if he made decisions instantly like you suggest Gould, Politis and co would lobby against him, they already are because they have less control than they once had. The clubs and individuals involved with them need to hold as little political sway over the NRL as possible for it to be effective.

Once channel 9 loses the tv rights the NRL will really make some improvements. Fox sports are showing how the NRL should be presented and I’m sure I’m not the only one who has noticed. Once free to air adopts their methods the NRL will be in a good place.

He damaged a struggling qld club. I hope it isn’t taken lightly.

Your not in the few. Anyone with eyes can see qld are better served without him. He’s never shined at rep level and I see more in Morgan, Hunt and edgley for future maroons halves.

I don’t completely agree Tim but can definitely see where your coming from. In field assistance from a non player robs other players and promotes a game of athletic robots. Ben Hunt would be a gun without assistance because he has instinct but Langers doing the fullbacks job.
I think that the interchanges and speed of the game are creating too many athletic ball runners and not enough intelligent ball players. Inglis even being mentioned as a threat to slater is a bad sign. Him being mentioned as an immortal ahead of thurston is just scary.

Let’s make on field trainers players from the under 20’s side. Eliminates any assistance from behind the line that isn’t the fullback. It also ensures that slater, minichello and Stewart are given their true value to a side. These creative, ball playing fb’s are pure footballers that have a greater positive effect on the quality of their sides attack. Dugan and inglis just aren’t in the same league despite being devastating ball runners.

I don’t know much about Shane Richardson but agree totally with supporting the NRL’s growth.

Sorry that’s already there. Maybe question what I’m not clear would achieve some clarity or just keep throwing stones for kicks. Whatever works for you.

Phil Gould and Nick Politis organised a meeting of the Sydney clubs CEO’s to discuss issues they have with the NRL commission.
I didn’t realise how heavily edited the article was. Thanks for the feed back and here are that meetings concerns.

a) THAT clubs get a say on who is appointed to the Independent Commission;

b) CASH-strapped clubs also want a greater share of the NRL revenue so they are in line with other major sports around the world; and

c)THEY want to know where all the money is being spent.

a) Look what FIFA is. Any direct competitors getting a say only brings about a new aspect of competition and inevitably corruption. Let’s not be naive about this please.

b) Ridiculous and outright insulting. How about investing in grassroots development of footy players as players and also people. This needs the most attention and the most immediate attention. Misbehaviour and the blues lack of a genuine star playmaker since Andrew Johns surely come under the commissions responsibilities.

c) Sounds great and innocent when said like that. In reality if they know where every dollar goes all that will come of it is some media mouthpieces constantly criticising the NRL’s direction. We don’t need more of the bagging that the refs cop. It’s not healthy.

Will he? Because on the last tour in Europe quade started one game and it was with a mostly second string forward pack in front of him. Foley was ordinary but kept starting. Would have helped Foley’s confidence and thus the waratahs. From an outside view I don’t see him straying from the approach he uses at s15 level. If that’s the case we will be lucky to exit pool games and I will have no respect for as a coach because he played it safe when signs we’re indicating that wasn’t enough. The lions coach compared the waratahs to the wallabies, with rep player numbers and wallaby coach. Sure this was mind games but it does indicate the outsiders view in how the wallabies will look at the World Cup. No ones worried except us!

I heard somewhere expansion should happen in 2’s and it makes sense. So I would start Perth and Brisbane brothers. Then 2 years later nz2 and maybe the central coast could be utilised and share the dragons. Not sure what name they could use but surely someone could come up with something. This would give that club bigger crowds, bigger junior nursery and income.
Not sure on how that would work exactly but time spent nutting this out would allow regions to remain involved and hopefully barracking for a better team. Going to a game with a full crowd increases the atmosphere and makes it far more enjoyable. Also looks good on tv and tv companies like that.

Making the Brisbane side regional automatically eliminates a big part of potential fan base. Suncorp is free a lot of Friday, Saturdays and Sundays. I also believe the roar are taking home games to a smaller venue in the near future.
I like the Brisbane brothers bid and see it as being a runaway winner in it’s terms of the type of success possible. Games played outside of Brisbane promote the game in regional qld and also take pressure of suncorp stadium. Also has established grassroots which shouldn’t be ignored. I’d love the NRL to take control of this bid and mold it how they need. It has the potential to compete with the broncos. Wouldn’t be a threat to broncos corporate ties and it’s corporate sponsorship would encompass the whole of qld.

Certainly and they would have more than enough talent which would allow qld juniors and feeder clubs to be aligned with all clubs outside nsw. This would encourage healthy rivalry which all fans love. Also give Sydney clubs unaffected by any changes closer ties to home with fans. Fans whose no 1 side becomes a nsw cup side could potentially see another Sydney NRL fielding a side containing half their juniors. The salary cap will obviously cause player movement but I believe stability upto NRL level should be strongly encouraged.

Sydney clubs constantly raid qld junior talent as well with the number of clubs between the 2 states being lopsided. Junior league comp establishment in NZ would be a good move to increasing the player talent pool available for NRL selection.

The NRL’s expansion into Perth and NZ2 have far better risk/reward ratio than gc suns and or gws. Or western force for that matter. Substantial Junior rugby league growth in NZ is a realistic goal to achieve. I’m not pretending it will overtake rugby but junior rugby stars on the fringe would take advantage of a stronger junior league that could see them play footy for a living. Once 1 or 2 young stars transition to league and make a go of it, the flood gates won’t open but league will begin consistent growth in junior league numbers. This should surely be the ultimate goal of expansion into any new territory.
If and when jarryd hayne, Israel folau and SBW return for their NRL swan song they should play for NZ2 or warriors. These boys league youtube clips are a hit in NZ and they play exciting football that attracts crowds.

With the regulars in the kangaroos side vs NZ they lost the most recent game, won the game before that and the game before that was the World Cup final which was scary how superior Australia actually are. Anyone thinking the kiwis are now the better side are kidding themselves.
Origin 1 showed how big the gap between QLD and NSW is. NSW are picking the most defensive side possible and it’s an awful tactic. Last year the blues jagged a series win through Jarryd Haynes finest hour in game 1. Game 2 was a farce and this success has given them a false economy. They have the talent to pick a side that would do more than threaten the maroons and only improve with time. The blues have a tendency to select players who are more robotic and athletic. These blokes need Brett Stewart and Jamie Lyon type footballers offering the halves so assistance with attacking direction. If NSW put an emphasis on selecting some players with a lot of brains to complement their abundance of brawn their attack would link have the maroons under far more pressure. Attack is the best form of defence.

How was Foley’s performance?

How’s his boot? We really need a super boot fb.

http://www.rugbyleague.com.au/commission/leaguestructure.php

I just skim read this and apparently clubs, the QRL and NSWRL already have a say.

Cowboys. That’s an expensive area to cover when the overwhelming majority of the Brisbane regions talent goes to clubs other than the broncos.

So if the right players are recognised thurston can now be regarded by the media as better than johns Lewis and Lockyer.

I realise it’s direction released. The fact rugby thinks it’s acceptable to have the video ref is the bigger concern over how many degrees the ball in front or behind the line. How can anyone ever be 100% on a call like that. Why put a video ref in a situation were fans watch the same footage he made his decision on. Fans will never agree on close forward pass calls. Rugby league aren’t afraid to adopt a rugby union rule such as contact with the corner post not being deemed out of play. Crickets brought in 2 entirely new forms of the game to accommodate fans desires. Rugby shouldn’t shy away from ‘radical’ changes. There’s so many grey areas of the game that refs interpret differently week in week out. Yet a forward pass for a try gets video ref analysis.

What about Ben Hunt. Last seasons best half excluding Thurston.

The guy delivers the dragons first premiership in nearly a half century and nsw fans still don’t like him. Robinson did it in one year but his team was stacked compared to the dragons side.

NSW are a joke. Souths best were poms and QLDERS. Roosters are half the kiwi side. A Qld coach delivers the premiership no blues coach could. Lucky Manly’s got a few blues so you save face. If I’m being honest it’s pathetic that you think that origin series win was so great. The refs allowed the game to slow to a crawl and we saw the 2 worst origin games ever when it supposed to be the pinnacle of rugby league. What happens when the 3rd game is allowed to flow like every other game?
…………Oh wait

You make some wild remarks. I just read in a rugby blog that you think it’s the defenders responsibility to avoid a head clash in a tackle? You made the great point of graham leading with his head to cause injury and he isn’t alone. Hargreaves elbowed Buderus in the semi final between knights and roosters. His running style was ridiculous. The roosters werent looking to confident before buderus went off.
Who was their coach again?