The NRL could have killed off Rugby Union in this country years ago if they were more ruthless, including setting up pathways and opportunities and convert their juniors, putting a team in Perth when the Force were originally booted from Super Rugby a few years ago and formulating a plan for cap exemptions to recruit Union players years earlier. Unfortunately V’landys was too busy picking fights with the AFL rather than putting Union out of its misery and increasing the talent pool for rugby league.

An unlimited salary cap wouldn’t help the Tigers. The culture and attitude within the club from the front office all the way down to the janitors closet is exponentially, critically woeful.

I’m no longer convinced Melbourne will finish in the top four, especially with Papenhuyzen out for the rest of the season and double especially if they lose to an in-form Souths next week. Starting to think Souths might jag a top 4 spot even with the toughest draw, as long as Latrell stays fit, but I’m also thinking Brisbane will go well at the backend. I think the Chooks will make it… probably at the expense of Manly which is the only change to the top 8 I can see from this point. How good is it to have top four and top eight spots all up for grabs, probably until the last round?!

Didn’t work well for those boys tonight.

Gilbert needs to shoot out of the line and bury Luai into the Lang Park turf.

Imagine the uproar if Nadal’s QF opponent went on to win Wimbledon after LOSING his QF match. Sorry, but Fritz lost. Kyrgios won his way to a semi-final appearance fair and square. And if he claims the Wimbledon title, it’s because he won the final fair and square. It is what is is.

I would relegate QLD and NSW Cups to third-tier and state governing bodies to focus solely on grassroots and junior development. State comps to continue providing pathways for PNG and Pacific Island teams and players. Introduce a national reserve grade as second tier. Each club fields two teams in reserve grade and first grade on game day (matching draws). 40-45 player rosters and they still keep their feeder clubs in the state comps. Sell streaming rights of reserve grade comp to Stan or whoever and use the broadcast money to fund the comp, increased cap and extra club expenses (I know, financially it’s more complex and harder than I made it sound). We’ve seen a few late bloomers debut in the NRL in their mid-late 20s in recent years, but it should be a lot more. A competitive national reserve grade comp held in high regard will ensure less players are not lost to the game if they haven’t made it to first grade by their early 20s, thus ensuring there is enough talent to sustain an evenly competitive first grade competition and potential expansion. 2 competitive games on game day. Might take a while to increase interest but with the right marketing and success of a national reserve grade comp, fans will eventually learn to love both. The game as a whole has to continue to grow and evolve. I think a national reserve grade comp with national coverage would be a huge step in the right direction. And the NRLW comp should run separately to the NRL comp. Oct-Feb perhaps? They deserve their own spotlight and would give us rugby league all year round.

“Obviously still injured”… considering it was public knowledge that he was going to have to be needled up for the next couple of months, of course he’s obviously still injured. It was merely a case of the Cowboys doing an absolute number on him. But Adam is too smart and lower teams won’t have as much success shutting him down. He’ll be fine.

I see your logic but IMO, Mam is a real x-factor, he has silky skills, he’s very quick off the mark and last night proved he’s a ball of energy in defence as well. Kevvie should keep faith with the kid now, he’s the long term halves partner for Reynolds. I’d look at Gamble as the #14. He could play dummy-half or even come on playing a link role from the middle-third. And the team chemistry and glue you speak of, well that’s Reynolds role as the halfback. He just had an off game last night… but if Reynolds misses anymore games, they don’t lose that chemistry and glue if Gamble is the replacement.

Bruh… he trains and plays on the wing every week. What exactly did you expect? When the time comes for Kevvie to switch him to #1 jersey permanently, and he begins training fulltime in the position, he will develop the skills and responsibilities of the fullback role. But from what I saw last night, the kids potential is through the roof and it’s only a matter of when he becomes one of the elite fullbacks in the comp.

They wouldn’t be sitting where they are on the ladder without Reynolds contribution on and off the field, but they are also winning games without him. There is a level a resilience and defensive resolve we haven’t seen from the Broncos since 2016, and that is where Kevvie deserves all the credit. He has taught the players what it means, and what is required from them every time they put on that Broncos jersey and the players have finally understood, and bought in.

Best centre in the world, IMO. But I also think centre is his third-best position. His skillset is often wasted at centre… one can only wonder what he could have achieved if he went to another club to play fullback or five-eighth.

I get most of the arguments to shift Origin to Sunday’s, or Fri/Sat permanently. But when it comes to broadcast value, and looking at it purely from a business perspective, Wednesdays are perfect. The spotlight is solely on rugby league as Origin doesn’t clash with other sports. You lose a chunk of your audience playing Origin’s on weekends as it would clash with AFL fixtures when we’re trying to grow the game in non-NRL states, and Origin is the only time the AFL folk tune in to watch rugby league. And from a personal perspective, I hate weekends with no NRL. I get people would like to see rep rounds with internationals, but again when it comes to broadcast value, rep round didn’t come close to the ratings NRL games draw. For me, I’d rather watch Origin on Wednesday’s followed by a round of NRL. The only thing I’d change is the start time to a 7:30pm kickoff. Then after the GF, bring on the internationals in during the lull period between footy and cricket seasons.

What? Who said he would be disregarded? I’m saying the choice should be his.

No we wouldn’t. Jase played for New Zealand. The whole tier 1 ruley thingy’s still stand.

Which to my point, they can nominate which state and country they wish to play for when they sign their first NRL contract. If Luai wants to play for NSW, where he was born and Samoa, to represent his heritage, he can and should be able to.

No they closed that loophole because NSW had biggest collective meltdown in rugby league history over the Inglis saga 😛

Yeah but it doesn’t really matter what you think does it? Me and a few rural towns you reckon? 3.5 million nation/s wide tuned in for game 1. State of Origin is the NRL’s biggest draw and biggest money maker with respect to broadcasting. They are they only rugby league games non-rugby fans tune in to watch. The showpiece event for the NRL, regardless of what Zozza from NZ thinks.

The solution is simple. When a player signs an NRL contract, he/she nominates Qld or NSW if eligible, and which country they want to play for if eligible.

State of Origin is the NRL’s showpiece event. It’s not a “tryout” for the Kangaroos anymore. State of Origin and International football should be completely separate, for the sake of international football. Why shouldn’t Jarome Luai play for NSW and Samoa? He’s eligible for both and it’s good for the game. The only issue is playing international games during Origin. Scrap rep round, international footy should always and only be played in Oct/Nov during the lull period between footy and cricket seasons. Time for rep football to evolve and move on from this ridiculous backwards thinking.

It’s just what I read. They’re adding gold to differentiate from the Dragons, which is their own decision they’ve made out of respect.

Red and white. Same team colours. Especially when the Dragons wear their Steelers alternative. Bit of gold to differentiate is really no big deal

Manchester United, Real Madrid, Los Angeles Lakers, Dallas Cowboys, New Yankees… they aren’t just sporting clubs, they are global brands with supporters from all over the world. And what do they all have in common? A geographical identity of course. As big as these franchises are, they will always be proud to represent their core group of local (home) supporters and would never take away their sense of ownership of their team. The Dolphins go against this logic in their attempt to “not alienate” anyone by alienating everyone, especially their local fans in Redcliffe/Moreton Bay. If they want to be a ‘national brand’, fine. But you achieve that through community engagement, taking home games to Suncorp, Sunshine Coast, Central Qld and other parts of the country and most importantly, on-field success. Moreton Bay Dolphins is fine. Start from there and build your brand.

The gold is to differ them from the Dragons I believe

Sign the petition for ‘The Dolphins’ to include a geographical name eg Moreton Bay Dolphins, North Brisbane Dolphins, Redcliffe Dolphins etc as part of it’s identity, and to give their core group of supporters in the Moreton Bay and Greater Brisbane regions a sense of ownership, pride, belonging and Peter V’landy’s favourite word, “tribalism”…
https://chng.it/FZDfK9b9

I see only one path back to the NRL for the Bears and that’s to attempt to merge with Manly again, but learn from past mistakes with the Northern Eagles and manage it right. Brad Fittler suggested it a year or 2 ago. The Penn family could use the extra financial help. Manly need to expand and grow their brand beyond the northern beaches and they could use the Bears to grow their catchment to include the North Shore, North Sydney and the Central Coast. Bring in new fans, 2000+ current Bears members, inherit the Bears junior nursery, new corporate opportunities, use the Bears as their local feeder club after their deal with the Roosters expires. Manly shouldn’t give up too much though, stay at Brookvale and keep the team colours but I’d call the team North Sydney Sea Eagles to be inclusive of the Bears catchment. Give up 1 seat on the board for Florimo. Essentially Manly would run the club but this time with conditions to protect the Bears best interest. For the Bears, they get “North Sydney” in the name, brand recognition in the top grade, direct pathways to the NRL for their juniors and financial benefits from corporate partnerships, sponsorships, memberships and ticket sales. Maybe play 1 home game at North Sydney Oval. It might sound stupid, but the reason why the merger didn’t work before was poor management and the tribalism and hatred between both clubs at the time, which simply isn’t there anymore unless you’re from an older generation, but its not about the past, it would be about the future. Any league fan born after the mid-90s wouldn’t know anything about the Bears-Manly rivalry, its a thing of the past. It would be easy to say mergers don’t work, but the Tigers and Dragons are still going after 20 years despite their struggles. The St George Dragons, Illawarra Steelers, Western Suburbs Magpies and Balmain Tigers are all still a part of top flight rugby league, but the North Sydney Bears aren’t? A “North Sydney Sea Eagles” merged club would have the biggest catchment in Sydney with a combined population of 1.2 million people (North Sydney, North Shore, Central Coast, Northern Beaches).