NRL Off season news

[Aucklander]

Kick it off with some nines news.

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Nines to connect with grassroots.

The Auckland Nines will connect NRL clubs with the grassroots of rugby league like never before.

Each of the 15 Australian teams will visit a local club in a ground-breaking initiative that will see players mix and mingle with children and diehard fans. The community venture was announced by Auckland mayor Len Brown at the Manukau Magpies Club in Mangere last week.

 

[Aucklander]

$BW back to Union in 2015. Hopefully he has more luck gaining Olympic Gold than he did a RLWC.

Link

SBW is returning to Super Rugby in 2015 - and could be off to the Olympics in 2016.

Dual-code superstar Sonny Bill Williams has signed a two-year deal with the New Zealand Rugby Union and the Chiefs Super Rugby franchise for 2015-2016.

And the Chiefs have confirmed they won't stand in the way of Williams chasing his Olympic dream in 2016.

 

[Aucklander]

Battle for anniversary test.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/league/news/article.cfm?c_id=79&objectid=11176526
Link

The New Zealand Rugby League hope to stage the 2015 Anzac test in Auckland, during the centenary year of the 1915 Gallipoli landings.

The match has traditionally been staged across the Tasman - this country has only hosted one of the mid-season internationals in the last 15 years - but the NZRL have made a major play to secure the event, which could become a cornerstone of the commemorations of the milestone Anzac celebrations.

 

[moto748]

Hmm...

http://www.wiganwarriors.com/WContent.aspx?id=277

 

[Aucklander]

Tempted?

 

[moto748]

A little. February in the UK is never pleasant.

 

[quickstraw]

Good to see Newcastle Knights not lose their s**t and sack Packer through pressure of public outrage.

 

[Aussie in exile]

Good to see Newcastle Knights not lose their s**t and sack Packer through pressure of public outrage.

There is no excuse for anybody sportsman or not for assault. I hate it when some sports bodies defend the actions of its players for assault and other crimes. If you don't want to do the time don't do the crime.

 

[quickstraw]

There is no excuse for anybody sportsman or not for assault. I hate it when some sports bodies defend the actions of its players for assault and other crimes. If you don't want to do the time don't do the crime.

They haven't defended his actions. No one would defend that.

They are saying "This guy plays footy and has done the wrong thing but if he puts in an appeal and jail term is quashed then we will allow him to play".


No one condones violence or crime but punishing someone by stopping them earn a living i their chosen field isn't going to fix anything. It's not going to take back what happened, it's not going to provide any rehab, and most unfortunately it's not going to prevent other people from doing it.

He needs to be punished. I thought maybe 12 months but not overly upset at 2 years. Stopping him playing doesn't do anything.

 

[Aucklander]

I just can't see the NRL letting him play in the comp again. They've made a conscious effort to clean the game up and this just won't be tolerated.

 

[Aucklander]

In other news, SBW and Brad Fittler to play at the 9s and Jamal Idris to the Panthers.

 

[Aussie in exile]

They haven't defended his actions. No one would defend that.

They are saying "This guy plays footy and has done the wrong thing but if he puts in an appeal and jail term is quashed then we will allow him to play".


No one condones violence or crime but punishing someone by stopping them earn a living i their chosen field isn't going to fix anything. It's not going to take back what happened, it's not going to provide any rehab, and most unfortunately it's not going to prevent other people from doing it.

He needs to be punished. I thought maybe 12 months but not overly upset at 2 years. Stopping him playing doesn't do anything.

I wasn't refrering to the NRL in this case.

 

[Aussie in exile]

In other news, SBW and Brad Fittler to play at the 9s and Jamal Idris to the Panthers.

Brad Fittler's lack of pace at his age will be badly exposed in this tournament

 

[Jatz]

Kevin Walters will become our (Newcastle) halves coach in 2014

 

[Q TRAIN]

He needs to be punished. I thought maybe 12 months but not overly upset at 2 years. Stopping him playing doesn't do anything.

Im not condoning any type of violence , and I do realise that violence does happen in society. That's just a fact.
BUT..... theres different levels.
Getting in a fight at a pub is stupid and if it was the players fault he usually get a bit of a slap on the wrist from the NRL and his club, fair enuff IMO.
But hitting a bloke while he is laying on the ground and then stomping on his head is totally unforgivable and the act of a weak dog.
I couldn't care if he got 4 yrs and was never allowed to play at any level never again.
If somebody breaks into your house and hurts your family , by all means stomp their head into the ground.
But to act like that just cos you get thrown out of a pub and somebody says something you don't like is inexcusable .

 

[Aucklander]

No SBW at the Nines now, but we may get Steve Menzies.

 

[Big Sauce 21]

Yow Yeh to play in a trial match in February. It's been a while

 

[Aucklander]

Yow Yeh to play in a trial match in February. It's been a while

Gee, that's fantastic news. Hope it goes really well.

 

[Druitt Soldier]

Im not condoning any type of violence , and I do realise that violence does happen in society. That's just a fact.
BUT..... theres different levels.
Getting in a fight at a pub is stupid and if it was the players fault he usually get a bit of a slap on the wrist from the NRL and his club, fair enuff IMO.
But hitting a bloke while he is laying on the ground and then stomping on his head is totally unforgivable and the act of a weak dog.
I couldn't care if he got 4 yrs and was never allowed to play at any level never again.
If somebody breaks into your house and hurts your family , by all means stomp their head into the ground.
But to act like that just cos you get thrown out of a pub and somebody says something you don't like is inexcusable .

Makes you feel any better, cause I know it makes me feel better when I think he deserves more time in jail, the prison he was sent to my brother in law works at. And he told me that when he got in there he thought he was gana have a cruisy run because of who he is. But all the guards just refer to him by his number and the rest of the in mates give him garbage all the time. The other day someone dropped his lunch on the ground and everyone just laughed. A very fitting punishment for someone who could have killed someone and seems to have little to no remorse.

 

[Aucklander]

Blues begin SoO preparation

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Desperate to end Queensland's stranglehold on State of Origin, NSW began their earliest ever preparations for the interstate series on Friday - 131 days before the opening game.

In the middle of summer on a day when temperatures in Sydney climbed into the mid-30s, England and Australia continued cricket's oldest feud at the Gabba and the world's best tennis players battled it out at Melbourne Park in the year's first major, NSW coach Laurie Daley called his players into camp in Sydney

 

[moto748]

I'm watching the Prelim Final (?), which I hadn't seen before, between Newcastle and the Roosters.

I've never seen a side get away with so many forward passes as the Roosters.