Rugby League

I was at that same double header when the Knights played the Dolphins and yeah the action did feel a bit far away

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Tonight’s Eels v Raiders in Darwin will mark the end of Parramatta’s 12-year partnership with the NT Government.

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Western Australia premier Roger Cook has offered renewed hope of salvaging the Perth Bears concept, describing the last-ditch talks with the NRL as “positive”.

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You are a curse- they won the ‘battle of the seabreeze’ yesterday in Perth against Manly :slight_smile: They must have felt some relief that the mad hatter with the funny radio wasn’t in the crowd.

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The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Well done Tigers, sure the kid is probably being a little greedy at knocking back a new contract with more than 18 months to go, but why were the Tigers even considering it? The player transfers and contact system in the NRL is broken and needs a nuclear bomb applied to it.

Agreed - it’s a shambles. You should not be able to forecast moves 18 months in advance.

I would like to see a free agency window that opens at fulltime in the NRL grand final for the next season, with no moves allowed before then.

Also wouldn’t be against a mid-season window for immediate moves, if done right.

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I don’t think money was the issue for Galvin, moreso that he didn’t think Benji Marshall was the right coach for him… which I found to be somewhat ironic since Benji is the only head coach (apart from Bellamy) who played most of their careers in the halves (as Galvin is).

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I don’t know whether there is a “good” outcome when it comes to this - the alternates also come with significant issues and it feels like its only a matter of time before someone decides to legally challenge the frameworks that have been put in place for these professional sports around player movements.

Make it so players MUST give their current clubs first bite of the cherry 6-8 months out from expiry and if they cannot agree a deal at that point, allow them to negotiate with any clubs from that point out.

If they wish to negotiate any earlier - it can only be with their current club.

Everyone else doesn’t get that luxury, and to be frank, I’m a little bit at the end of my tether with the greed of modern athletes. I don’t care if you have to work your guts out for 10-15 years, that’s a you problem. I do that at the moment and I get treated like shit.

Benji got lucky with getting Luai. But he is also still wet behind the ears - dropping Galvin is a poor move. I know how Galvin feels actually - it’s being done to me as we speak, and I suspect there’s a whole bunch of bullshit behind it.

Maybe Galvin will be the straw that breaks the camel’s back?

Were you offered $1 million per year too? :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

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That would be considered a “out of court settlement” which would never happen for a multitude of reasons I won’t go into here. It’s when your boss decides to punish you for their own ineptitude. Benji, for better or for worse, has a 18-19 year old who is going great guns, but is being punished for testing their worth on the open market because the Tigers till have the ghosts of Pascoe and Hagipantelis hanging around like a really bad smell. He has to manage him better than this.

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Crowd record broken today at Bulldogs v Rabbits

65,305

A record for a standalone regular season game.

Shame it’s not a more even contest with the Bulldogs keeping the Bunnies scoreless so far.

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If only the NRL had more regular season blockbusters that can attract crowds like this more often.

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Maybe on Queensland Labour Day (First Monday of May) they should hold an annual match between the Broncos and the Dolphins at Suncorp and when a second NZ Team is added, an annual Matariki Kiwi Derby.
The stadiums they would play at may not have the capacity of Accor, but would attract a good crowd nevertheless.

The Bulldogs kept the Bunnies scoreless for the whole match, winning 32-0.

Exceptionally big crowd at Accor Stadium.

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A rare occasion where they’ve manage to outdo the AFL on crowds.

Unfortunately PVL too invested in diplomacy with the PNG mess to get that going. Big opportunity in NZ.

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A huge, and impressive, crowd for the Bulldogs Souths game. And that score-line was impressive in itself.

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