@ Mary Konstantopoulos

So if you were accused of professional misconduct are you barred from practising law until you have had your day in court? Is someone in your profession penalised BEFORE an accusation is proven? I’m curious.

“Some of the players don’t seem to need my help putting our game’s name through the mud.”

But you do love to roll in it when the first mud is thrown without any proof, just hearsay and speculation. I haven’t seen you write anything damning about the women who straight up lied to get their 15 mins of fame and defame footballers who where innocent of any wrongdoing (i.e. Brett Stewart, Ben T’eo, Shaun Kenny-Dowall and Semi Radradra).

What about St Kilda schoolgirl Kim Duthie who in 2011 lied about having a sexual relationship with Ricky Nixon (St Kilda)?

Kim Duthie tells The 7pm Project ‘everything I’ve just said I’ve lied about’

Kim Duthie last night went on TV to repeat claims she never had sex or drugs with Ricky Nixon, only to bizarrely admit off air she was telling more lies.

In an interview onThe 7pm Project on Channel Ten, Ms Duthie said she had made up a story about her relationship with Nixon, denying taking illicit drugs and having sex with him.

Asked why, she replied: “You know. You know. I can tell already that you know – that everything I’ve just said I’ve lied about.”

https://www.couriermail.com.au/sport/afl/i-made-the-ricky-nixon-scandal-up-says-st-kilda-schoolgirl-kim-duthie/news-story/459105e0c6b157fbb9c0c92a6bac2385?sv=9bc9460582ad511e4d3f1fd9460e877d

This comment was removed at the poster’s request.

“Sharks aiming for top four under new coach John Morris”

No pressure there then for the rookie coach. Talk about unrealistic expectations from a club gutted by off-season controversy who may still need to shed a player or two.

The Sharks won’t be finishing in the top 4 IMO and if things go pear shaped in the shire after the fallout of Flanagan and the salary cap scandal the Sharks could even miss the top 8.

I still think the Raiders vs Tigers 1989 GF and Knights vs Manly 1997 GF are ahead of 2017 and 1999. The controversial finish of the Storm’s first title in 1999 took the gloss off. Not disputing that it was a penalty try though.

Three magic plays by Kyle Feldt in the last 90 seconds of that game was the reason the Cowboys won the 2015 GF IMO.

Poor “old mate” liked this comment because he took you literally. Like me, irony only confuses the “Angry Eagle”. Best to do a “Western Suburbs Magpies” and keep things black and white. LOL

Now THAT’s comedy! Bahahahahahaha

It took you 3 days to say something and THAT was the best you can come up with? You better hope your “Steel Dragons” are a little better prepared over the off-season than you are.

As for Rusty and the Rabbitohs caps, just think of the people who he has gotten to wear the Souths brand… Tom Cruise, Oprah Winfrey, Snoop Dogg, Ben Affleck, Christian Bale, Greg Norman, Eva Mendes et al. Have your Dragons enjoyed that kind of international exposure?

Yes, Rusty has done more to promote the game internationally (beyond the tri-nations, Australia, England and NZ) than anyone else associated with the game or any other club. He has even been behind getting several pre-season games played in the US and promotes these as well.

What has Doust ever done for the game other than let your best players get poached by other clubs and lose the best in-house developed coach (Jason Demetriou) the Dragons have produced in decades.

Kogarah to Wollongong bypassing Cronulla and Sutherland is a BIG step to carry your soul down south don’t you think “Guru”? If you keep insisting on throwing stones your glass house will come crashing down. Talk about selling your soul, the Dragons were officially the FIRST first joint-venture club in 23 September 1998. You jumped BEFORE you could be pushed. No heart, no fight. You just choked and rolled over like your team does each year. YOUR beloved Dragons (as you remember them) no longer exists! MY Rabbitohs still do. By rights, your team should be referred to as the St George Illawarra Steel Dragons YOUR Dragons are now a part of history while my club is still creating history.

Have you been to Redfern oval lately? There is NO capacity to stage football games and ZERO ability to support traffic and parking. South’s hand was forced when families moved west and south-west of Sydney and left Redfern and the surrounding suburbs to the yuppies and their renovated terrace houses now worth upwards of $1 mill. For there to be any chance of Souths returning to Redfern oval the council would have to grant permission for the aggressive reclamation of Redfern park and the housing neighbouring the Leagues club. It simply isn’t going to happen. Moore Park would be another option but the costs would also be prohibitive and add to the traffic congestion that already exists in the area especially when games are also being played at Allianz Stadium or the SCG.

Irony confuses me mate but I will pay that effort, particularly “under the ripped off name of his brother’s fictional character”. Bravo! Mind you I WOULD be posting under another profile name altogether if censorship due to my nonconformity to adhere to rigid Guru dogma had not silenced my original profile. This name was meant to be temporary and clearly to take the piss and engage in banter but as John Lennon once wrote, “Like is what happens while you’re busy making other plans”.

Btw, I am not joking about my original take on the NRL national expansion plans and there being too many teams in Sydney that get in the way of this. I have posted numerous times on this site, Zero Tackle and The Warren over the last 3 years. Keep up the clever posts though, this site needs a boost in irony and dry wit and more subtle delivery of a lampooning comment without relying on a sledgehammer.

@ Forty Twenty

The thing that most people forget about the Rabbitohs demise (or because this happened before they were born) is that there were a number of major contributing factors that undermined South Sydney’s competitive edge when they where at the top the game in their dominance over the late 60’s and early 70’s.

Firstly, South’s accountant at the time embezzled a huge sum that left the club practically bankrupt and disappeared somewhere in Argentina! Souths had committed to building the car park for their Leagues Club which then became a “white elephant” and went unfinished until Crowe took over in 2006. This obvioulsy impacted the success of the Leagues club along with the exodus of South’s players and the club’s reversal of fortunes in the NSWRL competition as a result.

With little money to pay players there is little surprise that an mass exodus of Rabbitohs talent lead directly to their reversal of fortunes. The Rabbitohs lost a whole team of Australian internationals between 1971 – 1978 (12 in all as Tom Mooney never played for Australia). Souths lost 3 Australian internationals in ONE year (1972). Not surprisingly BOTH Easts and Manly played in the Grand Final that years with Coote, O’Neill and Branighan appearing for the first time out of their familiar cardinal and myrtle.

South Sydney’s loss of Australian rep players (1971 – 1978):

Michael Cleary (Easts in 1971)
Ron Coote (Easts in 1972)
John O’Neill (Manly in 1972)
Ray Branighan (Manly in 1972)
John Sattler (Wests Brisbane in 1973)
Denis Pittard (Eels in 1974)
Elwyn Walters (Easts in 1974)
Tom Mooney (Manly in 1975) – not an international rep player
Eric Simms (retired after 1975)
Bob Grant (retired after 1975)
Bob McCarthy (Bulldogs in 1976)
Gary Stevens (Bulldogs in 1977)
Paul Sait (retired after 1978)

With no money at the club to attract quality new signings or retain the South Sydney junior talent developed by the club, Souths became a feeder club for other richer clubs like the Roosters and Manly.

“Since 1970 Manly has won 8 titles and played in 15 deciders while Easts have won 5 titles”

But how many titles have the Roosters won since 1975? Only ONE in 2002 (note: I don’t count 2013 and 2018 when the Roosters were clearly over the salary cap by between $2 mill – $4 mill).

So exactly HOW have South Sydney made the NRL a “less healthy” competition?

Currently, the Rabbitohs are the ONLY club that promotes the game overseas with any success because of Russell Crowe’s efforts as an unofficial NRL ambassador. The Rabbitohs also regularly take games to Perth and also Cairns and were responsible for taking last years Charity Shield game to Mudgee. WHAT have the Dragons done to expand the game to rural NSW or to other states?

The Rabbitohs also have the largest membership support base in the NRL, although the Broncos sometimes edge South’s out as they have the whole state of QLD to get behind them (see link below) and the Rabbitohs have the largest membership support by FAR of the 9 Sydney clubs. In fact, more than DOUBLE the Dragons or the Roosters!

Rabbitohs (27,001)
Dragons (12,226)
Roosters (11,532)

In fact, the Rabbitohs are one of the ONLY clubs that currently run at a profit and are one of the most financially viable teams in the competition. Unlike other clubs, Souths have not had any 1st tier breaches of the salary cap (and just one minor 2nd tier breach).

Sources:

2019 NRL Membership Tracker

https://leagueunlimited.com/news/32567-2019-nrl-club-membership-tracker/

https://www.nrl.com/membership/

Love him or hate Russell Crowe has done more for the game abroad then Greenburg, Politis, Gould, Fittler and Johns combined. He has raised the profile of the sport in the US and has given the game a celebrity face to identify with (also true of Hugh Jackman to a lesser extent because he is less involved in promoting the game).

Not true. You can’t just generalise like that. I went to a public boy’s school (“Clevo” – aka Cleveland Street Boys High) in the centre of Sydney and we played Rugby Union over Rugby League (although I played Rugby League on the weekends and was a South’s junior). We also played against other public schools like Matraville, Randwick Boys High, North Sydney Boys High.

In fact, the ONLY private school in our zone (Phillip zone) was Sydney Boy’s High and although they were often a strong side, Clevo, Matraville and Randwick used to dominate them when I was playing. So much so that Clevo, Matraville and North Sydney Boys High were the last 4 teams in the NSW inter-schools state knockout (the Buchan Shield) back when I was playing and Clevo also made it through to the final 4 of the Buckley Shield (the NSW inter-schools state knockout for Rugby League) the year before.

I think it is more a case of a fondness for the game after having played it at school (regardless of whether you went to a public or private school). I have always had a passion for Rugby League over all other sports although I did follow RU and AFL for a while and I still follow the NFL.

By the way, this story is a little late. Along with AngryEagle47 I have been saying this for the last 3 years. Only now that “Joey” Johns and “Freddie” Fittler put their names to the idea they all want to get on board. Hilarious! If they had an original opinion it would probably kill them.

Yes, there ARE too many teams in Sydney and the expansion of the game to make it a truly national competition is being held back by this. Hence the sudden push for “the Don” Nick Politis to buy up premierships in the last 5 – 6 years to try to make the Roosters relevant to the evolving competition even though the administrative framework and the farcical interpretation of rules (that are long overdue for an overhaul) are destroying any chance of the game projecting a professional image or offering consistent value for money to attract a wider audience when both AFL and soccer are doing a much better job of selling themselves and their product and not shooting themselves in the foot in the process.

Personally, I think that is why the Rabbitohs have invested so much into Perth for more than a decade. It’s their “Plan B” just in case Politis tries to pull the rug out from under the club again. But if it comes down to money this time good luck trying to outspend James Packer and Russell Crowe “Uncle Nick”.

Funny but over a week too late with that line. I read it on Zero Tackle on the 13th January…

suechi
January 13, 2019 at 6:16 pm
Napa out for a month!
1st video = 3 week suspension for leading with the head
2nd video = 1 week suspension for continued hands in the ruck

Canterbury investigating second explicit video of Napa

“The biggest difference is those “dumb blokes”… got eaten by said Sabre-Tooth”

LOL, very funny. Proof of what you get when you get in the way of evolution and natural selection… dumb human beings!

Bahahahahahaha, just quietly I was no angel either when I was their age but I was careful about what I did in public and my career wasn’t on the line like theirs is so smarten up boys before the media (todays analogous reference to a Sabre-Tooth) catches up with you. Then your guts will be on display for others to laugh over just like in the days of Fred Flintstone and Dino.

You take the bait every time like a fish yet you call yourself a goose… or is it a moose. So which is it… are you a man or a “moose”? LOL

That explains why I clearly remember Ese’ese. Cheers.

It may have been a nothing story but it speaks volumes for McGuire’s lack of character to take a cheap shot in a light no contact training session against a teammate. I haven’t heard any reports of it happening elsewhere.

I think Hess would be well advised not to drop his guard or turn his back on McGuire at training.

Perhaps you research the facts before you shoot your mouth off. I’m not about to do your homework for you and look up every link for every Roosters signing. I have p posted these many times in the past on ZT so do some reseach. As for Crichton however have a look at this.

The $2.7 million deal to lure Angus Crichton to Roosters

It was the three-year deal worth $2.7 million that blew away South Sydney. The Sydney Roosters paid an extra $600,000 over three seasons to lure star backrower Angus Crichton away from Redfern.

Note: $1 million dollars in 2019 and $850K for the following two seasobs 2020 and 2021.

https://amp.theaustralian.com.au/sport/nrl/the-27-million-deal-to-lure-angus-crichton-to-roosters/news-story/9bd2dd153ccec95e137c1816ac80054e

Sam said he actually only grabbed Willie’s thigh and not his willy. Perhaps the target was not to the expected scale, perhaps it was a reckless accident but it WAS a bad look and definitely unnecessary. Has Sam ever done anything like that since? No.

What about Sam Thaiday grabbing and torquing and twisting James Tamou’s broken taped thumb? He didn’t even attempt a tackle. He just wanted to injure him and get him out of the game. How do you rate that?

Also the Broncos, primarily McGuire, Gillett, Thaiday and Blair were trained to grab a players jersey and fall across the back of their legs in an effort to injure the player and force them out of the game with a ankle sprain or knee injury. How do you rate that also?

What? Because it was Funaki instead of Ese’ese? The player was still blindsided and not expecting a full contact shot. No McGuireis a grub and there have been plenty of on-field examples of his grubby tactics, particularly for QLD in SOO which is why he has been targeted by the NSW forwards.

I’ll take your word for it Emcie
but he sure had a head like Ese’ese from memory.

He hit his own player when the play was over and the player had relaxed. It was WAY over the top and from memory it was from behind but either way he was blindsided. Coward play from a true grub.

Multiple independent news sources have confirmed in 2019 these are the figures for the following players ON THE CAP:

$1.1 mill (Tedesco)
$1 mill (Cronk)
$1 mill (Crichton)
$850K (Cordner)
$650K (Keary)
$650K (Friend)
$500 (Morris)
$500K (Hall)

Mitchell and Manu in the region of $450K upgraded.

South’s highest paid player’s are Greg Inglis and Sam Burgess who are both on $850K ON THE CAP (not counting TPA’s).

“GI was very good . His YouTube highlight reel would have nothing on Mitchell however”

Are you seriously suggesting Latrell Mitchell has a greater career highlights reel tgan GI? If so every player, former player and commentator in the game would laugh themselves senseless at that suggestion.