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Reece Robson had another very good game at 9 for the Cowboys, so I think he’d be hard done by not to retain his blue jersey, even with Egan going so well. He has barely had a bad moment for the Cows, let alone a bad game.
NRL Round 5 Talking Points: For a few clubs it’s getting late early, Jennings shouldn't be in league let alone celebrated
My seats are behind the goal posts under the big screen, so no shade, hence my bias.
NRL Round 2 Talking Points: Robberies in the north and south, high shots are back and some good losers
I’d love to see if there is a statistical method similar to the Strokes Gained method in golf to calculate who the mathematically most valuable player is. SG compares players in different parts of play so you can see who gains (or loses) strokes through driving, approach, wedge play, putting etc. League is of course a very different sport, but it would be interesting to compare the objective and subjective methods.
The NBA solution which would fix broken Dally M voting system to avoid more Hammer blows
One thing I hope the NRL does learn from the Knights Cowboys game is to give the Cowboys night games in March before daylight savings in NSW ends. It was hot, hot, hot in the sun for players and fans. The 5:30pm kick-offs matches are ok once we get into Winter, but 4:30pm pre-Easter is brutal for everyone.
NRL Round 2 Talking Points: Robberies in the north and south, high shots are back and some good losers
I think the Cows improve based on James Maloney as attack coach, and hopefully a few of our veterans (Jake and Kyle to start with) moving to QCup as injury reserves. Big Griffin Neame is going to do Payne Haas numbers (per minute, perhaps not his minutes) and lead the pack onto the front foot.
Leaping to finals conclusions: Predicting which team among the nine also-rans can make giant step forward in 2024
Neame’s speed was something I’d not really noticed before, but he looked fast for an enormous unit. While Luki didn’t get the line breaks because of some excellent one-on-one tackling by the Raiders, he was very impressive too. I think it’s very close to calling time for our over 30s. Jason should be able to play a role, but lots of kids can do that too. Chad will probably get most of the season to perform, but Jake, Macca and Feldty should injury reserves. The young blokes are too good to keep back.
Dragons won’t get the spoon but concerns grow at a few clubs, downtown rule worth a spin: NRL Week 2 Trials Talking Points
Letting Wallabies play overseas will reduce some costs, but a national competition without the top players will be financially difficult. Hope you are right.
CONFIRMED: Rebels CEO made redundant and coaches have contract cuts as hopes of Super Rugby survival fade
“Spreading the code around the country is the number one goal of the union, that and finding a means to be financial while doing it.”
How?
CONFIRMED: Rebels CEO made redundant and coaches have contract cuts as hopes of Super Rugby survival fade
You could play one or two rounds of Shield matches and Marsh Cup games in northern Australia in late August and early September. There are excellent facilities for this in Alice Springs, Darwin, Mackay, Townsville and Cairns. These comps are essentially development opportunities for the national squads (Bancroft may disagree) so getting them going ahead of the international season makes sense.
Australian cricket calendar overhaul on the way - shaking up summer to strike right balance between Tests and BBL
Feldty will always be a star because of that try, but his time is up. Valemei to the wing and Laybutt to the centres adds speed and playmaking to the backline. I’d promote Neame to start and replace McLean with Chester too. The big questions are when do we replace Chad, and who with? I’d like to see Duffy, but round 1 seems too soon.
NRL Round 1 predicted teams: North Queensland Cowboys - Pressure on Payten to prove 2022 success wasn't a fluke
Rugby is much more similar to cricket than it is to League or AFL in terms of where the money comes from. Perhaps the professional model should look similar too. The national team/squad players generate and get the bulk of the money, and then there is a ‘Sheffield Shield’ of rugby which is just about development. Can the Giteau law and let our top players go wherever they can make some money. Send our best young props to South Africa for finishing school too.
Super Rugby clubs want a handout? That's a disgrace, the game is already broke
I think our injuries, or at least Payten’s response to those injuries, have been the cause of our issues. At the start of the season, Leilua and Luki were out, and Nanai was unfit. This meant Hess moved to the second row and Jake to the bench. Add in Chad, Hiku and Feldt, and we were really slow. Only Tom, Drinky and Val had any speed, so if they weren’t tip-top, we had no chance. It’s no co-incidence that our good run of wins came when Heilum and Luce were back in the team, and Sammy was on the wing. Losing Val those few weeks ago has turned us slow again, and hence the losses. We have a need for speed!
Grindstone Cowboys: Payten made his name with defence - but it’s their lack of attack that’s holding them back
A lot of commentators are complaining about relative funding of sports, but most of disparity is about the build of infrastructure for a particular purpose rather than a general participant subsidy. The big issue for soccer is that money flows from junior registrations to run national teams, so it’s relatively expensive to play. AFL, NRL and Cricket have the TV deals that mean money flows the other way. The ‘tv’ sports also have money for great government relations people and processes, so tend to get what they want for infrastructure in the long run.
Queensland to celebrate Matildas' legacy with funding boost - but most of it is already going to Rugby and AFL
Only option you can get off the ground is ‘A’ teams for the existing SR sides including Fiji. Perhaps give them related but different names, but totally aligned to and run by the SR club. There must be a lot of contracted players who don’t get much SR time, plus up and coming club players who need the exposure at a higher level. Give the head coaches the time off and let the assistants run the program. If you want to connect to the clubs, perhaps you can play some of the matches at club grounds. I imagine Qld v Force at Sylvan Road would be a hell of a party, it would save on hire fees, and allow kids and fans to connect with the players very closely. Play the comp in September through October (perhaps only one round in 2024) to allow for a break before the SR pre-season.
RA's target of a third tier in 2024 raises a whole heap of questions in desperate need of answers
FA could probably make a good case for a high-performance centre with several fields in partnership with a university – which is basically what the governments (state and fed) paid for in Townsville for the Cowboys – somewhere in Sydney or Melbourne. You can normally persuade governments to pay for capital projects at the right time during an election cycle. I imagine FA would want to employ quite an elite team of coaches, scientists, trainers, etc to staff the centre, and the costs of bringing players in from around Australia (for the juniors) and the world for our senior teams, would really add up. I think there is less appetite for governments to cover those recurring costs, so the FA would either need a new revenue stream or tap the grassroots like always. I guess the time is now to try and get the money to build and operate an Australian St Georges, but they’ll need some luck.
'We don't want to make World Cups, we want to win one': Matildas inspire nation as calls grow for football home to rival England's
The NRL should do some serious biomechanical analysis work on the tackle to work out what changes they could make to reduce concussion risk without changing the contest too much. That may not be possible, but they’ll be at risk of not doing their due diligence if they don’t. I suspect you could bring the tackle height down a smidge to ‘below the shoulder line’ or even to armpit height without making it impossible to stop an offload. I’d also make it so any head contact is a Sin Bin, but make it that the player can come back after a try or 10 minutes, whichever is first.
King Wally's CTE diagnosis shows why league must make major rule changes to protect players from themselves
By my count, Schuster was tackled twice with 0 runs. The comparison with Dearden was stark.
ANALYSIS: Manly might be done - but don't count out the Cowboys after Brookie domination
Thought Val had a tough job with Martin running the inside line and Best the outside a few times. Would have been pure luck to tackle the guy that Walker gave it to every time as Cody’s decision making was so good.
Maroons player ratings: Bad defensive reads, a stupid penalty, a crop-top jersey all added up to dud night for Queensland
Wednesday, Wednesday, Wednesday in three consecutive weeks. Women’s origin on Friday, Friday, Friday beginning the week before. Pacific test Sunday, Sunday, Sunday. No club footy during this period.
You’d end up with extended squads (30 players for all three games?) selected on a Monday, then the Women’s SOO on the Friday, the Pacific Test on the Sunday, and the SOO on the Wednesday. Game two for the women is next, then another Pacific test, then game two for the men, etc.
Could even finish up the following week with an ‘old boys’ charity game or the like so nobody had to back up two days after game 3.
Round 18 Talking Points: Laughable situation with Test schedule unresolved as Origin debate flares up yet again
You might be right Mike, but if so, International league is not going to get out of trouble. IRL must exist in the context of SOO being the NRL’s priority because I don’t see that changing. I don’t know the answer, but I’d be interested in what people think of the question “how can IRL help the NRL?”. It seems like it shouldn’t be that way, but if the NRL hold all of the cards, IRL has to be for the NRL’s benefit (or at least not to their detriment) to get their backing.
International rugby league is dying a death - and it’s Origin that’s killing it
For most of this season we’ve looked slow, and Luki all of a sudden changes that. He allows Hess to go back to the middle where he becomes a mobile front rower rather than an immobile back rower. This speeds up the PTB, so Reece gets out of dummy half, and then Val takes over. This gives Chad the time he needs, so the kicks and decisions are better. Finefeuiaki has some wheels and power too. Hopefully Jeremiah has spent his suspension getting his fitness back. Add in big Jase for JTB and we can make a good run from here.
ANALYSIS: Cowboys spoil Hunt's 300th party while 'bizarre' call from Hook turns up heat on besieged coach
While I’m sure it would take some time for Latrell to become top class at union, I reckon he’d be value from the moment he signed for RA. At 25 now, he would still be at his prime after a few years of development for the 2027 World Cup. He’d also be the biggest indigenous draw card since the Ellas. Much better value than young Joe. If they have the cash, Nathan Cleary would be your top option though.
If RA are happy to pay an average Joe $1.6m, how much would they pay for an actual rugby league star?
The part I don’t understand is the BCCI’s lack of confidence in their pace bowlers. Shami, Siraj, Yadav and Bumrah are top of the class. I think India would still be odds-on if the pitches had some more life in them. Jadeja and Ashwin would come into their own on day three instead of over three, and we’d have great contests. Saying all that, I’ve actually enjoyed watching the challenge of batting there.
India’s 'average' pitches wearing thin, Waugh, Haddin claim umpire gave home side helping hand - Talking Points
I reckon they could have moved the Cows v Milk game to the last one on Saturday night. My seats are in the sun at the QCB, so I’ll melt!
The Roar’s NRL expert tips and predictions: Round 1
Nicho really can’t be your 14 can he? I can imagine him as the 6, and Burton at 14, but not the other way around. Burton could do the Michael Morgan role of playing in the middle for 10 minutes as the 4th forward on the bench and could cover every backline role bar winger.
Wild idea but Blues should actually pick Origin team on form this time around - and that means Tedesco’s time is up