sidelined

A fine way to discourage riff raff I’d say. Or could it be a loyalty test in that only true Queenslanders would pay 15 bucks for a XXXX? And what of this game tomorrow night? One that I had almost forgotten about till mentioning it in passing to a colleague at work. Queensland’s focus is [...]

Tabloid newspapers thrive on controversy to drive sales. And not just on the front page. A good old fashioned beat up on the back page is a bonus. As was the case this week with the Daily Telecrap in Sydney spending most of the week talking about a rift between Jarryd Hayne and Eels coach [...]

A coincidence that this year’s Women in League round is on the same time as Julia Gillard becomes Australia’s second female Prime Minister after Jeanette Howard? Maybe but there is a nice symmetry. When I was a young lad, my mum would take me to training, pick me up from training, take me to games, [...]

As a footy fan, you can only admire the breathtaking talent the Queensland side has. If they are not the best Queensland side ever play Origin then they must be close. And the intensity that NSW could not even come close to matching. I watched the game through to the end. Partly to see how [...]

A game already overshadowed by Andrew John’s racist remarks that lead to Timana Tahu leaving the Blues camp. Steve Mascord has written a great piece about the casual racism behind the “average Aussie bloke.” And people elsewhere have pointed out why is there not more fuss over the second word uttered by Johns? Tahu’s actions [...]

We pass the halfway mark of the regular season. The Dragons are the trend setters sitting very comfortably at the top of the table. Premierships aren’t won in June but you can sure set yourself up for one. The Panthers are next much to the surprise of their fans methinks. There seems some expectation that [...]

It seems with concerns over injuries and the judiciary NSW have name 21 players for the intial squad for Origin II. They are: Trent Barrett, Matt Cooper, Ben Creagh, Josh Dugan, Michael Ennis, Paul Gallen, Kurt Gidley, Jarryd Hayne, Nathan Hindmarsh, Jamal Idris, Jason King, Tom Learoyd-Lahrs, Luke Lewis, Brett Morris, Luke O’Donnell, Mitchell Pearce, [...]

I’ve noticed the usual mid season despondency creeping around the traps. Unless you are a Dragons fan it is has been a bit of bumpy ride for most teams (excluding the Storm for obvious reasons). If my memory serves me correct no team has registered more than four wins in a row yet. But if [...]

League has its fair share of idiots but let’s be thankful that Jason Akermanis bats for another code. The AFL can have the homophobic ignoramus. His column explaining why gay AFL players was just a sorry retread of the usual “some of my best friends are gay but…” arguments. My favourite is that AFL players [...]

A training ovals around the city this week, you could hear NRL players learning the words to The Internationale as murmurs about a strike took hold. The cry was heard from the players as they demand fair pay for a fair day’s play plus agent commission. Eric Grothe Jr took to the streets to sing [...]