THE drug investigation swirling around Australian sport and the situation with Ben Barba attracted most of the attention in the lead-up to this season’s launch, but both issues have highlighted the duty of care rugby league owes to its players. Both situations were poles apart, but equally concerning. We all know the
FOR a bloke who was once overlooked by just about every NRL club, patience has been a virtue for Daly Cherry-Evans. It is just as well, because Cherry-Evans is the first to understand he could be waiting a while before the golden door that is Queensland Origin selection swings open for him.
QUEENSLAND coach Mal Meninga says State of Origin’s new eligibility rules have removed the shades of grey from the annual battle between Maroon and Blue The Australian Rugby League Commission announced in December that from this year, a player will only be eligible for Queensland or NSW if he lived in that
THERE is good news for Queensland fans, and rugby league fans, hoping to see David Taylor fulfill his devastating potential in 2013 – the Coaltrain is getting back on track. That is the assessment of former Maroons captain Trevor Gillmeister, who has taken Taylor under his wing in the early weeks of
THERE are plenty of reasons to feel optimistic about what the new rugby league year will bring. OPTIMISM and confidence are important assets in any field of endeavour, and both rugby league and the Former Origin Greats have plenty of each going into season 2013. Rugby league takes its first steps into
Queensland coach Mal Meninga says he will consult with the Maroons’ senior players about how best to prepare the team for a record-shattering eighth consecutive State of Origin crown. While most NRL clubs are now back into the swing of things with pre-season training, Meninga too is beginning the preparation work to
Under-rated Cowboys winger Ashley Graham finished in a tie with Ben Barba as the NRL’s leading try-scorer in 2012 – and now the talented pair could be in a head-to-head race to make their Origin debuts in 2013. It has been a decade since Graham burst onto the NRL scene with the
Australian Kangaroos team manager Gavin Allen says the game’s best players risk being burnt out by a crushing workload being placed on the NRL’s top-flight stars. Allen, a former top-line prop himself with the Broncos and Maroons, said the game’s biggest assets – its star players – needed to be protected for
Queensland coach Mal Meninga says this weekend’s NRL grand final is the decider that rugby league deserves. After some nail-biting and breath-taking matches over the course of the semi-finals, ultimately it was the teams ranked first and second after the NRL’s minor rounds – the Bulldogs and Melbourne – left standing to
There is a very simple answer to the Sydney wanting to sell off some of Queensland’s State of Origin matches to Melbourne in future. Tell ‘em to get stuffed. You see without Queensland there would have been no State of Origin and New South Wales would have wiped out the old interstate
