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Joined August 2013
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Scott has penned over 3000 articles and is one of The Roar's longest-serving writers, covering a wide range of sports. When he isn't writing about sport, you'll find him umpiring at the cricket, or on the hill at Kogarah supporting the Dragons.
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The NRL’s oldest rivalry will resume without fans and on foreign ground in Sydney’s west when the Sydney Roosters look to ease some pressure against the South Sydney Rabbitohs. Join The Roar for live scores and coverage from 7:55pm (AEST).
The North Queensland Cowboys will need to be near-perfect at home in the relaunched NRL season, and they get the chance to start that on the right foot when they host the Gold Coast Titans in Friday’s early game. Join The Roar for live scores and coverage from 6pm (AEDT).
How good was that? Footy is back. The Brisbane Broncos and Parramatta Eels put on an exhibition of rugby league on Thursday night as the NRL season relaunched in splendid fashion, although the final score, reading 34 points to 6 in favour of the blue and gold, may not tell that story.
The footy is back. The NRL season will relaunch with the Brisbane Broncos taking on the Parramatta Eels in what should be a belter. Join The Roar for live scores and coverage from 7:50pm (AEDT).
Footy is back. It’s a miracle. A living and breathing miracle.
As the days to NRL 2020 2.0 continue to tick down, the revised draw was finally released yesterday, and while some clubs will be thrilled with their run to October, others will be left scratching their heads.
With apologies to Raiders fans, six-again will become the most-used term once again when the NRL season returns in a fortnight.
Anyone who has read any of my columns in the last month will know I have been fairly sceptical about the NRL’s ability to return on 28 May. But it’s looking more and more likely the game will be able to return on that date, albeit without fans.
Already 2020 is the weirdest year a vast majority of the population have lived through, and we’re only in April. So why not throw another spanner in the works and move the NRL grand final to Suncorp Stadium?
Rugby league fans aren’t stupid. No matter how much anyone tries to tell you we will be returning to the NRL on May 28, it just may not happen.
The NRL is going to be back one day. One day soon. While fans hang out for that day, it leaves us plenty of time to talk, to ponder and to twiddle our thumbs.
The announcement felt rushed, but NRL fans around the world can rejoice because footy will be back in just seven weeks despite the coronavirus pandemic gripping the world.
That’s it. We knew it was coming, and earlier this week the coronavirus-imposed lockdown spread to the NRL – and all professional sport in Australia, for that matter.
A new rugby league era was born on Thursday evening at Homebush when the Bulldogs and Cowboys squared off in front of their coaches, some officials, media and 80,000 empty seats.
Coronavirus has gripped the world, but try telling that to the NRL. It’s all systems go, minus fans, for Round 2 of the season and that means The Roar’s NRL expert tipping panel are back on deck to tell you who is winning what this weekend.
The Canberra Raiders will be looking to put the disappointment of a grand final loss behind them and get the 2020 NRL season off to the best possible start when they face the Gold Coast Titans in the nation’s capital. Join The Roar for live scores and coverage from 6pm (AEDT).
There might have only been one try. There might have only been a kicking game and not much else from the two sides in attack. There might have been faulty captain’s challenges. But footy is finally back, and boy does it feel good to write that sentence.
The eyes of the rugby league world will turn to Parramatta on Thursday evening as the 2020 NRL season gets underway, with the Parramatta Eels set to face the Canterbury Bulldogs. Join The Roar for live scores and coverage from 8:05pm (AEDT).
Today is the day. You can’t help but wake up with a smile on your face, because tonight, the NRL season kicks off at what is likely to be a packed Bankwest Stadium as a local derby gets the new year rolling. Welcome to The Roar’s NRL expert tips and predictions for the 2020 season.
Tomorrow night, the 2020 NRL season will kick-off in Parramatta, and now, it’s time to reveal who will be the top two teams come September.
It’s abysmal how bad they are doing, but I pointed out the issues pre-season. You can’t have an inexperienced forward pack and no controlling half to work them around. You can’t have veterans like Boyd who have lost their mojo as the team ‘leaders.’ And then that is all backed up by a coach who honestly, can’t coach.
Their roster was grossly overrated in my opinion. I tipped them for 11th and got laughed out of the building. Turns out that was optimistic.
Eight talking points from NRL Round 8
Absolutely. There is a wrong course. It’s the one my club and your club, are currently on.
Not sure re Moylan. It’s a shame for the Sharks. They finally get their entire spine together and start clicking, then one of them goes down. I do think they let go of the wrong Brailey bro.
Eight talking points from NRL Round 8
Yeah, you’re probably right. Daly was respectful and it’s not fair to lump him in with the other two on this occasion.
Eight talking points from NRL Round 8
Cheers Dutski,
And yep. I reckon referees need to be more stern on it. Put them in the bin, unless it’s the captain asking respectfully and within the rules of the game for a decision to be explained.
Eight talking points from NRL Round 8
So, I’m going to apply a cricket approach here. Heat of the moment isn’t an excuse. Dissent is never, ever acceptable. I’ve had to put players on report for such instances…
Officials do a hard job in any sport, but what made yesterday’s outburst unacceptable, is the on-field referee didn’t even make the call. It’d be like getting an LBW turned down on DRS and then having a go at the on-field official. It just doesn’t work that way.
What AFB did was a blight on the game, but it reminds me of a story from a few years ago where Andrew Fifita had a go at a junior referee. It’s the attitude that carries right up and down the sport. You have to stamp it out, or simply put, you won’t have referees moving forward, because let’s be honest, who would sign up for a career of getting yelled at?
Eight talking points from NRL Round 8
Yeah, Souths could improve. But we have weeks for them to do so, not years.
Eight talking points from NRL Round 8
Cheers Chris,
And yes, look, Manly have been dudded by officials twice, but on the flip side, if you’re good enough, you’ll win games of footy. Take your opportunities and don’t wait till the last play of the game. If a call like that happens in the 40th minute, we don’t sit around saying it’s cost them the game, you look at what the team has done again.
Eight talking points from NRL Round 8
Yeah, it was an absolutely quality game.
Agree though. BJ should have been sat down during that last 20.
Eight talking points from NRL Round 8
Yep,
It’s not the first time I have seen a suggestion like this though. People don’t quite understand how this stuff works.
Eight talking points from NRL Round 8
Probably not unfair. Hard to get a read really. Return to full home and away venues is going to make things interesting.
Eight talking points from NRL Round 8
That would be the biggest Bradbury of all time.
Good news is, you only need to win a minimum of 8 of your next 11 to make the finals.
Eight talking points from NRL Round 8
Yep, it’s hard to credit one specific part of the Eels side at the moment, because you don’t want to take away from the rest of it.
Eight talking points from NRL Round 8
Only have to look at last year to know what a critical loss Tom Turbo is. 4 wins out of 12 without him, compared to 10 out of 12 with him…
And now that record is 4 out of 14 without him. There is a genuine argument that can be made for Tom T being the most important player in the comp.
Eight talking points from NRL Round 8
Going to be very interesting to see how the AFL copes with hubs everywhere for the Melbourne sides… The NRL are very, very lucky. V’Landys had great foresight to get the Storm out of Melbourne early.
But yep, there are some cracking games every week. As much as plenty of teams are out of the race, I can’t remember a game as good as Roosters-Storm.
Eight talking points from NRL Round 8
Form of his career? I’m doubtful about that. I reckon he played this well during the last season or two at Manly, and at other times. He is an absolute gun.
Eight talking points from NRL Round 8
I never said the Dragons weren’t in the same boat 😂
Eight talking points from NRL Round 8
Cheers Eelsalmighty.
Your forwards have been superb. It absolutely doesn’t take away from anyone else. This is a team firing on all cylinders. Like I said, the forwards are building the platform, but without Sivo, Ferguson and co, they may not have the opportunity to build such a good platform.
Bring Brown and Evans back, and this is a side who can go far.
Eight talking points from NRL Round 8
The only thing I can even think of is that they ruled he was already in the motion of pushing when he kicked it but… That’s clutching at straws and then some.
Eight talking points from NRL Round 8
I have to admit, Smith looked better than he has for quite some time when he moved to hooker, so maybe that could actually be part of the plan. Having him doing that relatively fresh against a tiring defensive line? Could work a treat. It certainly flipped the game vs Roosters.
Eight talking points from NRL Round 8
I see your Joey Leilua and raise you an Adam Blair.
Joey Leilua the “worst signing by any club in the NRL era”? Hmm, he may well be