Can we sell him to rugby union?
I was very surprised when i saw that score for the Wests Tigers. 66-18, over the Cowboys. Absolutely noone would have seen this happen just a few weeks ago. lol
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I didn’t see the 66-18 scoreline coming either, considering the Tigers were on the bottom of the ladder just a couple of weeks ago.
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I heard on the radio that Ponga wasn’t picked mostly due to his head issues (and not because of lack of form), but it didn’t appear that way in the NRL article.
I don’t think Tom Trbojevic really deserved to be picked, he’s played 1 good game in 6 weeks.
Good. Ponga needs to take time off from rep footy for his health, and for the Knights sake.
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Agree
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Summary for non-subscribers?
Sport Confidential: NRL will launch 2024 season in Las Vegas, Broncos one of four clubs to play in US
The Brisbane Broncos will kick-off the 2024 season in Las Vegas, spearheading the NRL’s $200 million plan to target US hearts, minds and the lucrative sport gambling market.
The NRL is going to Las Vegas in one of the most significant events in rugby league’s 115-year history.
Sport Confidential can reveal the 2024 NRL season will kick-off in America, with the Brisbane Broncos set to spearhead rugby league’s bold $200 million plan to win over the hearts and minds of US sports fans.
The ARL Commission will ratify a five-year contract with American delegates for NRL premiership matches to be staged in the US until the end of 2028 – starting with a double header next year in Vegas.
News Corp last month revealed plans for the NRL to explore the possibility of staging a double-header in America to capitalise on the nation’s huge broadcasting-and-betting markets.
Now the American Dream is real.
The ARL Commission will give the green light to launching the 2024 Telstra Premiership season in America and only an 11th-hour collapse in talks will prevent four NRL teams playing historic matches in Sin City next March.
ARL Commission chairman Peter V’landys and NRL boss Andrew Abdo returned to Australia a fortnight ago after a fact-finding mission where the high-powered duo met with American delegates.
US stakeholders were highly impressed with the V’landys-Abdo pitch. Now the NRL will proceed with due-diligence, logistical planning and stadium talks to showcase rugby league to 331 million Americans.
A formal announcement on the NRL’s double-header is expected in the next four to eight weeks pending advanced negotiations with American officials.
Abdo declined to comment on Thursday but V’landys told News Corp before his departure to the US that the American market was an untapped goldmine for the NRL.
“This (proposed double header in Vegas) is not a one-off experiment, it is all part of a five-year strategic plan for us to penetrate America,” V’landys said.
People say we have tried this before in America and failed.
“They have never tried it to the magnitude we are going to try it.
“The potential benefits, financially, would be in the tens of millions.
“And if we do it right, it could be in the hundreds of millions.
“There’s significant revenue that could be generated for rugby league in America … and we’re going to explore it.”
Las Vegas’ 65,000-capacity Allegiant Stadium is slated to host four NRL teams next season.
It can also be revealed the Broncos are among the frontrunners to embark on the maiden American voyage.
Broncos chief executive Dave Donaghy said recently that Queensland’s flagship club was keen to be part of the historic venture to Vegas.
“We are certainly open to it and hearing more about the concept and what the NRL’s long-term plans for the US may be,” Donaghy said.
“Subject to aligning with our schedule and planning, I’m sure we would have a level of interest to have a discussion about what an NRL double header in Vegas would look like.
“The game is keeping its cards close to its chest for now, but the one thing we want to provide for our players and staff and fans is really great opportunities.
“If you have the opportunity to play an NRL game at a stadium like that in Vegas, it would be negligent of us not to look at and give it serious consideration.”
Under the NRL’s Vegas plan, four clubs will tour America every year for the next five years.
That will ensure all 17 clubs get a slice of the American pie, with powerhouse clubs such as the Broncos, Melbourne, South Sydney and the Roosters to lead the way as Sin City pioneers.
Super coach Wayne Bennett is a massive fan of the NRL’s idea, saying: “I love Vegas. It’s my favourite place in America.
“There’s a huge market over there and it would be great to see NRL games in America.”
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Given the 18-hour time difference between Las Vegas and Sydney in late February and early March, I think the opening round of NRL season will need to be split across two weeks, with the Las Vegas matches in week one and the rest of the round in week two.
This way, the four teams playing in LV have sufficient time to recover from jet lag when they return to Australia.
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I think the games will be played on a Friday or Saturday night so they can be broadcasted in the daytime in AUS
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Our prime time will be early morning US time (in Feb, Vegas will be 17 hours behind).
Probably have to be Friday or Saturday night in Vegas for live Sat/Sun afternoon into Australia.
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The nature of Vegas makes it quite possibly one of those locations where the local time is kind of irrelevant (depending on the market you’re chasing in the US) - The upcoming F1GP is being run at 10pm local time (5pm AEDT)
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Difference here is that they’ll look at NFL times and copy those. F1, boxing, gambling, etc. will get the spectators no matter when, while this they’ll be wanting people to go to and the best way is to copy what the Raiders do time-wise, give or take a few hours for Australia. Again, these matches aren’t for an Aussie audience, they are for the local gamblers.
Scary scenes during tonight’s Rabbits v Raiders game after a Canberra player suffered a seizure on the field. Play was stopped for an extended period whilst he was attended to and assisted from the field.
The Raiders rallied to win 33-26 against a South Sydney side missing a few Origin players
…
Earlier, the Warriors v Broncos game was stopped on at least 3 occasions due to pitch invasions at Napier, NZ. The Warriors made a late comeback after being down 20-6, but just fell short, with Brisbane winning 26-22
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This error on the NRL website gave me a chuckle!
According to them, last night’s game between Eels and Cowboys was a nil-all draw with 2,249 sin bins! No wonder there was no time to score any points!
(The correct score was Eels 24 d Cowboys 16).
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LOL. We need the two points (the eels). Let us say each player got 8 sin bins in the match (Maximum 80 mins) that would mean each team of 13 players *8 which is 104 Sin bins per side. So that would be 208 Sin Bins if both teams were “fully sin binned” and didn’t play at all.
Has a team ever been sent off in the history of rugby league (or maybe both teams)? Maybe a massive fight. Or is there a minimum number players a team can have on the field before the match is called off? I have to do some googling now 
.
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I remember one game years ago where referee Bill Harrigan kept sin binning players, I think one side only had 10 players left and the score blew out. Harrigan was dropped the following week, the league said that it should have been handled better (not sure what they meant by that).
In 1996, Super League aligned teams forfeited their Round 1 games in light of the original outcome of the ARL vs Super League court case, which went in favour of the ARL.
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