After all the talk, the criticism, the opinions on team selection, the actual team selection, Mitchell Pearce’s bender, injuries and 11 round of footy, State of Origin is finally here! Some call it the pinnacle of rugby league and I find it hard to disagree. Queensland versus New South Wales. Cane Toads versus Cockroaches. Phil […]...
State of Origin 2014 gets underway on Wednesday. This is meant to be a ‘new Blues’ outfit, going for glory. They have new ideas, a new team and they are looking to break the infamous hoodoo. To which I say: “Who cares?” Every year the game is billed as the same: State against State, Mate […]...
South Sydney secured their first shut-out victory in 15 years to spoil Cronulla hooker John Morris’ 300th NRL game in a 18-0 win at Remondis Stadium on Monday night. Without Paul Gallen and Luke Lewis (both Origin) and Andrew Fifita, Beau Ryan, Anthony Tupou and Todd Carney due to injury, the Sharks’ season of woe […]...
Wayne Bennett, Trent Barrett and Neil Henry top St George Illawarra’s shopping list for a new NRL head coach after Steve Price was sacked on Monday. After taking over at the joint venture from Bennett in 2012, Price’s tenure at the Dragons had come under increasing scrutiny as they stumbled through this season, winning just […]...
Newcastle star Jarrod Mullen has dismissed reports of former owner Nathan Tinkler bombarding him with abusive texts as “friendly banter”. Tinkler’s controversial three year association with the NRL club ended on Friday, amid claims a number of Knights players were the subject of messages branding them “soft”, accusing the club of having “no heart” and […]...
Steve Price’s axing by St George Illawarra on Monday finally ended a reign that never looked like lasting from the minute he replaced Wayne Bennett in the Dragons’ hot seat in 2012. A highly-regarded junior coach, Price was promoted to the top job at the end of the 2011 season and had the uneviable task […]...
Eight straight State of Origin series wins sounds impressive but just wait until Queensland hits top gear. In a frightening thought NSW fans, Maroons skipper Cameron Smith says his side are yet to fulfil their potential. “We haven’t really been happy with the way we have played in the last couple of series,” said Smith […]...
NSW skipper Paul Gallen has laughed off claims from Queensland great Wally Lewis that he’s disrespected the Maroons following last week’s two-headed jibe at the Blues’ team announcement. Lewis laid in to Gallen in Monday’s Courier Mail newspaper and questioned the decision to name Canterbury’s Trent Hodkinson and Josh Reynolds in the halves simply because […]...
The restoration of the old split round is the solution to the State of Origin scheduling dilemma, which saw last Friday night’s blockbuster between Easts and Canterbury reduced to undercard status. A match which should have been a barometer for the premiership hopes of the current competition leaders and last year’s premiers was instead a […]...
The teams have been named, the sledging has started and by the end of Wednesday night, either Queensland or New South Wales will have one hand on the 2014 State of Origin shield. Queensland Queensland’s only major change to the team which was victorious in last July’s decider in Sydney is Roosters forward Aidan Guerra […]...
I wrote on The Roar in August last year that the St George Illawarra Dragons needed to ice Steve Price. Nine months later the Dragons have finally shown him the door, and rightly so. I am not one to blame a coach for players dropping simple balls and missing easy tackles, but this goes much […]...
When Moses M’Bye crossed the line in the early stages Friday night’s match, even the stoutest of Roosters fans would have acknowledged their side would be down 4-0 with a kick to come. What came next however would have shocked and appalled many, but it came as no surprise to me. I estimate that 99.99 […]...
Rising NRL star James Tedesco will leave the Wests Tigers at the end of the season after signing a three-year deal with Canberra from 2015. The Tigers had been desperate to hang onto the off-contract young fullback but could not match the lucrative offer from the Raiders. Tedesco will replace current Raiders fullback Anthony Milford […]...
It’s been a tumultuous build-up to the opening game of State of Origin in 2014, but would we want or expect anything less? From injuries, off-field incidents and suspensions for the Blues, to a fired-up Wally Lewis on the Maroons side, the verbal jabs have been thrown early, often and in a highly competitive spirit. […]...
The 2014 State of Origin series kicks off on Wednesday night with the Maroons gunning for a ninth consecutive series victory. While for the Blues, they will be hoping that 2014 will see the end of eight years of heartache. With Queensland dominating the origin format for nearly a decade, the last two years have […]...
In the tension-charged countdown to the Origin opener, I have thoughts for all players involved but especially for the NSW Blues debutants – Trent Hodkinson and Daniel Tupou. Yours truly only played one State of Origin game. We got hammered, but I still cherish that experience. There is nothing quite like it in our game. It was Origin 2 in 2008 and I got called into the team late (Thursday)...
NSW forwards will be playing for their positions in Wednesday’s Origin, with Andrew Fifita ready to make an earlier than expected return from injury....
WARRIORS star Sam Tomkins has been fined by police and his NRL club after being caught urinating in public on the Gold Coast....
LAURIE Daley admits he made mistakes in his first Origin series as coach but believes his side couldn't be in better shape for game one....
Billy Slater could find himself ambushed under a barrage of short, hanging kicks from NSW in Wednesday's rugby league State of Origin opener in Brisbane....