Membership Drive

I wonder why it has taken rugby league so long to focus on building membership. Before now they relied heavily on poker machines and strong leagues clubs. Now leagues clubs are blaming pokie taxes from the state govt on their ability to hold up the ailing clubs. Meanwhile at the other end of the Hume Highway some AFL clubs are boasting memberships topping 50,000. Granted Melbourne people are more sports crazy but i feel like that is no excuse. Too many people love a sport here in Sydney yet are unwilling to part with some cash in support of their chosen club. Personally I have bought social memberships to both the Sydney Swans and Parramatta Eels, and when the new GWS team comes into the AFL I will part with some cash there too because it's important to show support by buying a membership.

Although I have my favourite football code and nothing would please me more than everyone jumping on board with an AFL club, what is more important is that people show true support for their team and buy a membership.

A Mere Thug

I got up early on Sunday morning (25/10) to watch the rugby league test match between Australia and New Zealand.

Something I don’t understand is how Paul Gallen has become an automatic selection at representative level despite performing below par at club level in a team that only just scraped themselves off the bottom of the ladder. He must be the most overrated player in the competition.

In the match there was an incident with New Zealand hooker, Isaac Luke, which confirmed to me that he is more interested in the biff than playing the game. It was minor in the context of the match was unnecessary. He is not a good player, rather a pure thug. I’m even embarrassed that he came from a local club, Wenty Magpies.

Surely there are better players than Gallen that deserve selection next year.

Out of the Woodwork

It is obvious to me that a lot of Parramatta Eels fans have come out of the woodwork since their recent success in the second half of season 2009. I admit it, I am one.

Their grand final appearance exceeded the expectations of even the biggest diehard fan.

With the influx of many new or returning fans sometimes the diehards can feel threatened and upset as they have been their through the bad times only for thousands of blow ins to jump on board and place extra demand on coveted finals tickets.

I understand this reaction. I felt it in 1996 when the Sydney Swans had a similar near fairytale season. In the long run though, who cares??

Most important is surely the club, the game and the community.

Anyone walking around Parramatta in September would have thought they were in a different place that that of months earlier. The general vibe was so positive. Shop windows decorated in blue and gold, streamers crisscrossing Church Street, banners adorning the town hall. It united everyone in the Parramatta area, especially the CBD. On top of all that, Peter Wynn’s Score has never done better business.

Hopefully most of these new or returning supporters stick around and perhaps join the Blue and Gold Army, as I have done.

Fans Are To Blame

The Cronulla Sharks in the National Rugby League appear in dire straits. So bad is their situation that a complete relocation seems the only means of survival. This situation should be devastating to all in “The Shire” yet we haven’t really heard a peep from that direction. Possibly because the locals know that it is their fault.

The Sharks haven’t been able to get crowds anywhere near the 13,000 they need to break even. Instead have had to be content with around 8,000. The Sharks aren’t going too well so far this season, as if to confirm my point about fair weather fans in Sydney.

The fact is that if you want your team to survive then you need to get behind them. Put your money where your mouth is; show up to games, by a membership, whatever it takes.

The NRL Grand Final

Manly 40 defeated Melbourne 0

Pre Game Entertainment
I really enjoyed the entertainment. For a grand final you really need bands that can rock it out, and you can't get much better than The Living End and Jon Stevens fro Noiseworks. It was very colourful with groups of dancers representing all 16 teams. The fireworks for The Living End was absolutely amazing.

Amazing to see a navy helicopter land on the middle of the field. Such a great display of precision control in the cockpit.

First Half
very tight, could have gone either way at any time. Israel Folau was proving damaging on the right side. He was just so hard to tackle. Manly got the only 2 tries in the first half. Both were very fortuitous.

Second Half
No one saw that coming. Expecting to see Melbourne fight back hard. Instead Manly had their measure and put on consecutive tries in quick time. I was flabagasted yet happy for Manly and all their fans that surrounded us.

Presentation
I thought Matt Orford would have won the Churchill Medal, but I have no qualms about the eventual winner.

Kevin Rudd was there but he always looks out of his depth when he is attending sporting events. He managed to get the obligatory boo's for political leaders.

Beaver Fever
Probably the main reason for supporting Manly. I loved watching him play, especially at State of Origin level. He was always very reliable and versatile. A player that definately deserved to go out on a high.

Rugby League In Crisis

You know that something must be going on when the NRL Footy Show talks seriously about their sport for one and a half hours with few ad breaks.

It was stated that the SBW exodus will be a catalyst for change. A change that has been long overdue. What those changes will be is hard to say. At the moment everyone seems to be willing to pass the responsibility for change into the hands of NRL CEO David Gallop. A job that no one wants as the drastic measures that may need to be taken would include a reduction in teams and the relocation of others.

The ramifications could be huge. I'm not the best fan of league as I got into AFL in a big way after the Super League war of the mid 90's. But i know for sure that if the Parramatta Eels were to disappear from the competition that my interest in League will become non existent. I'm sure there's more die hard Eels supporters that would do the same. Take away their team and the game just doesn't do it for them anymore.

NRL Caught Napping

Blacktown City Council is building a stadium in the Olympic Park Precinct. Local rugby league clubs are now disgusted by move, taking their disappointment out on the Council. Rooty Hill Dragons club secretary, Don Milides, was quoted in the Daily Telegraph,

“They are building up another code while letting down a code that has supported them for years.

Anger that is misguided if you are to take the word of Blacktown Mayor, Leo Kelly.

"They (NRL) have been sitting on their hands," Kelly said. "A lot of the supporters like the old traditional teams like Balmain and Western Suburbs have switched codes and are now following AFL, strangely enough. We've had negotiations with them (NRL). They've retreated to their north shore bunker and we are waiting for them to come back."

So while the bleeding hearts of “Rugby League Heartland” bleat and moan about an AFL infiltration, their ruling body continues to be caught “sitting on its hands.”

Bloody Queenslanders!!!!

Somehow they always manage to steal a try from nothing, a little dummy and a simple pass and Billy Slater is in with 10 minutes to go. We just never looked likely of crossing their line. Some comment.

• If Nate Myles' spear tackle on Ben Cross is not worthy of a send off then we shall never see another send off ever in the game of Rugby League. Tony Archer left his manhood in the change rooms at half time because that was time for him to make a big call. The stage was set, the worst tackle I have seen in a long time, a blue, only for things to cool down and Archer weakly crosses his arms to say it is on report. I think that if Cross had stayed down with serious neck damage then the result may have been different.
• I thought Mick Crocker had a hard head, it takes a lot to rattle him. But he got rattled tonight by the oblique spheriod in projectile motion. As in not an opposition player but the ball as it left Mitchell Pearce's boot. Surely to be the only thing amusing from a NSW point of view.
• Too many NSW players did not perform. I am referring to Jarryd Hayne, Joel Monaghan, Braith Anasta. Wake up fella if you want to be there next year.
• Tries from kicks, a huge beef of mine. What is declared highly skillful in Rugby League is regulation in my main game of Aussie Rules. Anyone can jump over a stationary opposition player. What is skillful in League is being able to move the ball through the hands and bamboozle defensive lines. Pearce and Anasta just didn't have it and resorted to kicking the ball to the wings where well protected Queenslanders such as Slater, Inglis and Folau caught with ease and advanced in metres.
• Only after Queensland scored with 10 minutes to go did NSW finally decide to throw the ball around a bit in an effort to score. But it was all too little too late.

Points To Proove

Interesting to hear the controversy that usually follows the selection of a New South Wales or Queensland State of Origin team. This year is no different with the omissions of Braith Anasta and Scott Prince in their respective teams Five-eighth positions. Some might say that Brett Finch was a bit stiff not to get the halfback spot for NSW.

Those unfortunate not to be selected usually use that as motivation to go into the next game for their club with exceptional vigour. They have a point to prove and it is always interesting to see who is able to successfully make their point and who fails.

I was watching tonights game between Parramatta and Sydney. Parramatta were clear favourites based on the fact that 4 of the Rooster's starting forwards were unavailable due to S of O commitments. Brett Finch should have dominated, disappointingly he didn't. Braith Anasta had a Man of the Match performance to send notice to NSW selectors.

Parra Divers

I find it funny that Parramatta Eels players are being labeled as divers after last weeks Preliminary Final clash against the Melbourne Storm.

The Jared Hayne incident got most of the attention. Apparently he deliberately went to ground to try and milk a penalty. But hello he was hit in the head with a forearm. Last time a checked the forearm is a relatively hard part of the body and would do more than sting once impacting upon the skull.

The other incident was with Nathan Cayless you pulled a pectoral muscle after having his arm hyper extended by a tackler. Yes, Rugby league is a contact sport but No, grabbing someone by the arm and wrenching it away when the player is already on the ground is surely, at the very least, poor tackling technique, and at the most, mere thuggery.

And the Strom players have the hide to claim they are being victimised by other clubs.

I have another reason to cheer for Manly

Unfair Finals System

I find it very ironic that Rugby League commentators are displaying concern over the unfair nature of their finals system (The McIntyre Final 8). A specific example this year was how can the 6th place Bulldogs lose in week one and have a second chance against 4th place Parramatta in week two. Luckily results went the way they should and the Bulldogs were consequently eliminated by Parra. In years gone by teams haven't been so lucky. St George were once eliminated after week one despite finishing the season in 5th place.

The irony lies in the fact that the AFL abandoned the McIntyre Final 8 many years ago for exactly the same reasons. One or two years later the ARL (now NRL) take it up. Did they ignore the AFL's concerns with the system?

Mark Geyer on the NRL Footy Show apparently knows better than everyone else as he proclaims "find a better system...there isn't one." Mind you, he strikes me as the type who would shrug off anything the AFL does (or any other sport for that matter) as not as good as Rugby League.

The AFL has a much fairer Final 8 system where the top 4 play each other and the bottom 4 play each other. That way the bottom 4 have to win to stay alive. At least we had some sense from, of all people, Paul Vautin. He actually stated that the NRL needs to adopt the same system that the AFL has in place as he thinks it is much fairer.

Thanks for your common sense Vautin. Pull your head in Geyer.

The New Coach Phenomenon

How come all of a sudden teams start winning after the demise of their previous coach and is replace by a fresh faced caretaker??

The prime example in Brad Fittler with the Roosters in the NRL. Under Chris Anderson the Rooster could win to save their lives. Everything they touched turned to mud. Then Anderson succumbs to health issues and relinquishes the position. Since the Fittler has led the Roosters to three wins in a row and they are on a new lease of life.

So what is it that makes the players start performing to their potential? It might be a reflection on Chris Anderson's coaching but I'm not too sure about that, although I do think he was a bit past it and shouldn't have put his hand up for the job in the first place.

Rather it's as if the players take it as boot up the bum because they are usually somewhat responsible for they sacking or early resignation of a coach. A reality check that says he's lost his job, if I don't start performing then I could be next.

Watch the Bombers now that Kevin Sheedy won't be coached past this year. They will play above themselves as they want to send him off on a high.

Anderson Quits

Chris Anderson has just quit as Sydney Roosters coach citing health reasons.

If health reasons are prohibiting him from finishing this season then he shouldn't have taken the job in the first place. If my memory serves me correctly he had issues with his heart while on tour with the Kangaroos, to the point of collapsing suddenly.

If you have problems with the ticker then it would be advisable not to start coaching a team that is struggling, as it will always be a difficult task and will put more strain on your health. It is hard enough with a healthy body to be a successful coach. Finally Anderson has come to the realisation that it is a job for a younger person. Luckily for him that Brad Fittler is waiting in the wings.

So I guess good on Anderson for finally seeing what is most important in life and giving the game away.

Gower Treason

So Craig Gower is planning to not only to switch codes, but also to switch countries. No big deal right? Well not necessarily. A lot of people would agree that this would be a good move for him after all the dramas he has had from the media this year. However, he went on radio proclaiming that he isn't going anywhere, instead he will see out his current contract with the Panthers. That was Sunday with 2gb's Continuous Call Team. By Tuesday Gower has changed his tune and he is now heading to France to play Rugby. His decision to seek a release is exacerbated by the release of emerging five-eighth, Peter Wallace, to the Broncos. Now the Panthers have no halves combination and have to start from scratch. That could take years to develop a tight unit in the play making division. They have unproven players there at the moment, some of whom must take this opportunity to step up and show how good they are. St George recruit, Richie Williams, would be a prime candidate. Unfortunately I see some tough years ahead for the Panthers and their supporters.

Changing Mid Stream

I have never liked seeing players signing with other clubs before the season is out. The most recent examples of signings have been:

• Craig Wing from Sydney Roosters to Souths
• Joel Clinton from Penrith to Brisbane
• Peter Wallace from Penrith to Brisbane
• Mark O'Meley from Canterbury to Sydney Roosters

I can only speak from personal experience here. I played with Baulkham Hills juniors in the Sydney AFL for five years. Midway through my last season in U/18's I knew I wasn't going to be there the next year. My performance dropped as my heart wasn't at the club anymore, it was already looking forward to the next year with a new club.

I can't see how these footballers are able to put in their all when there is no future for them at that club. What if things aren't to well? How do team mates react to the one who is going elsewhere, jumping ship it may be called.

Penrith have dealt with this in a way by dropping Wallace to reserve grade and promoting their latest recruit Richie Williams from St George.

That's the other thing. I have never seen so many players change clubs mid season and play first grade straight away. Granted there have only been 2 or 3 but previously I have never seen any, so that a 200% + increase on previous years.

Dollars On His Mind

The Daily Telegraph today reports that the Broncos Warhorse, Petero Civoniceva, has been "axed". Of course this just means that he has not renewed his contract past this season. The headline is mellowed even further when they add that he rejected the Broncos first offer. Instead he will upwards of $400,000 a season in the English Super League. Civoniceva is reportedly "shattered by the reality that this would be his last season at the club." He's shattered yet he rejected their offer. You can't do that and expect to get away with it. I'm sure he is already on good money and was offered something similar to extend his time with the Broncos. But he saw dollar sign and a healthy retirement.

You could say how sad it is that there seems to be no room for loyalty in sport any more. But on the flipside, if Civoniceva had a big enough sense of loyalty he would have taken whatever the Broncos were offering.

So don't shattered Petero. You wanted dollars, now you will get them by the pound.

Just A Tad Premature

Two months ago I proclaimed I was on the bunny bandwagon. I still believe they on on the up and up but right now the are stagnating. They have found it difficult to score points, and we all know how important they are if you want to win a match of anything.

At their height there was uproar at Nathan Merritt's omission from the City Rep side. He drew the race card and was told that if he just keeps doing what he has been doing he will be noticed by selectors. Well guess what? He hasn't done jack all since, not an addition of one single try. That is why he wasn't selected, nothing to do with the fact he is aboriginal. His consistency and work rate is the issue.

Jason Taylor is a genius, but perhaps we all have to be a bit more patient with the bunnies, especially the players.

Origin Series Loss

While I am disappointed that New South Wales lost the series tonight, I am able to look at the loss philosophically and say that we probably didn't deserve to win.

There was a lot of ordinary in the play from both teams where only one or two players proved the difference. Cameron Smith was that difference along with playmaker Johnathon Thurstan. Their awareness around the rucks created the go forward and made plenty of easy metres up the guts.

No one really stood out as playing badly in the New South Wales team. There were just plenty who were very unspectacular. Braith Anasta disappeared, I don't think he took a kick for the whole game. Jamie Lyon proved that he didn't really deserve his place with a lacklustre performance. Brett Kimmorley while working very hard lacked flair in attack. As a result they never looked like breaking the Queensland line. Their only try was a soft dive from dummy half.

I don't think the selectors will make wholesale changes for game three, despite a few not really showing they deserve it. Not even Jarrod Mullen, even though he is the next big thing in rugby league. Let him start afresh next year with a brand new series.

Now for the dead rubber which arguably shouldn't be played now that the series is won. The players say they are playing for pride. It needs to be more than that for clubs to potentially lose their star players for the business end of the season.

On The Bunny Bandwagon

The South Sydney Rabbitohs have changed their fortunes in a short space of time. They have a renewed enthusiasm, they are winning, and as a result they have captured the imagination of a lot of Rugby League supporters.

I am an AFL fan primarily, and in the League I am an Eels supporter. But I am firmly jumping on the Bunnies Bandwagon for 07 and perhaps beyond. They will be my second team, as I can’t conscionably desert my first team, the Eels. I may even buy the jersey of my new second favourite Rugby League team if they are cheap enough at Peter Wynn’s.

A few things led to their turn around:

• Rusty and Holmes a court taking over – amid lots of controversy, instigated mainly by the archaic previous administration who were still stuck on the dark ages
• Getting Jason Taylor as coach – should be at Parra but they made the stupid decision to sign their new coach before last season started. Since they signed Michael Hagan, the then current coach Brian Smith quit the club and Jason Taylor took over as caretaker coach. The Eels came from nowhere to almost make the finals. A lot of the credit for this revival went to Jason Taylor
• Signing some big names – Roy Asotasi, David Kidwell, David Peachey, Dean Widders, Jeremy Smith
• Keeping their young stars – John Sutton, Joe Williams, Nathan Merritt
• Getting them decked out in Armani suits – it has to feel good to be in a good quality suit
• Booting the Bunny cheerleaders – in its place comes a drumming ensemble that I haven’t yet experienced for myself.

However, the Bunny’s now have a tough few weeks ahead of them after they came back to earth with a thud courtesy of the awakening of the slow starting Bulldogs. It will definitely be a test of their mettle. This week they come up against a Knights team in moarning over the sudden end to the career of Andrew Johns. I suspect it will be hard to get on top of a team inspired to give their all for their former captain.