Many people tend to forget he actually started his career at the Bulldogs and won a premiership with them in 2004 before he became a Cowboys legend.
On the two occasions that he won a premiership, he denied premiership farewells for Brad Fittler (Roosters) and Justin Hodges (Broncos) in 2004 and 2015 respectively.
Hodges was also a part of that Roosters team in 2004.
Fox never even showed the Warriors vs Knights one, instead choosing to talk about the Roosters win.
While I tend to agree with @OnAir’s assessment about the performative nature of the ceremonies - to not show the NZ one, which was on ANZAC Day and the only one in NZ is a tad distasteful IMO
Yes i noticed that.
Yeah too busy brown nosing one of the glamour clubs
Per the Broncos ASX Announcement
— sportsindustry (@footyindustryAU) April 29, 2025
As a result of the NRL expansion, the ARLC have confirmed $4 million will be payable to the seventeen existing NRL Clubs. This amount will be paid in five instalments, with the initial payment of $1.75 million in April 2025, and others payable… pic.twitter.com/PmHimfYKvP
There’s been more board room bloodshed at the Wests Tigers ownership group Holman Barnes with chair Julie Romero ousted in a heated meeting on Tuesday night.
Fox Sports understands an upset Romero was over-thrown as chair of the Holman Barnes Group at the meeting with Dennis Burgess now appointed the new chairman of the dysfunctional Wests Tigers ownership group.
The latest board room bunfight for the Holman Barnes Group comes off the back of three previous directors being over-thrown on New Years Eve last year and hit with combined bans of up to almost 15 years.
The Holman Barnes Group are the majority owners of the Wests Tigers NRL club with the fresh board room shake-up coming while Wests Tigers CEO Shane Richardson is overseas in the US on a fortnight’s annual leave to attend a family wedding.
#EXCLUSIVE Queensland’s hopes of securing a fifth NRL team are alive according to Peter V’landys. In a wide-ranging interview, the ARL Commission boss reveals details on the return of the Bears, the future of Magic Round and more.
— The Courier-Mail (@couriermail) April 30, 2025
Read all the details: https://t.co/THdVmP6qPk pic.twitter.com/Sov2eRK5ZF
Central Queensland is fertile ground for the new NRL franchise. Premiership matches have been played in Rockhampton and Mackay in the past.
(I also think the Dolphins need a geographic name to reflect the team’s location - Redcliffe / Moreton Bay)
I’d like to see a bid from Ipswich get up - would capture fans out west including toowoomba. Having bid for the licence that eventully became the Phins, they can learn from that failure.
in other league news, i was on lunch and saw quite a few tourists in town with various league shirts on. seems magic round is binging them up here
I always thought the Dolphins were Redcliffe but just not named as such and it was a prominent club from the Q Cup being promoted to the NRL. So if a Central Queensland team comes in would be a case of promoting the Capras or would it be a case of staring from scratch?
technically the Dolphins is seperate to the Q Cup team.
I am a Phins member and its made clear that membership to the Redcliffe Dolphins (either Leagues club or Q Cup) is serperate to the NRL team.
they didn’t get promoted out of the Q Cup - they still field a team there too, its just they now have another team to field in first grade.
The reason the Phins won was due to the facilities they already had, along with the cash behind the bid. One of the conditions the NRL insisted on was no geographic name. they want the Phins to be a team for the north - the sunshine coast and northern suburbs and calling them Redcliffe would supposedly hinder this. i would expect in the next 5 years for the Redcliffe name to be added
they wouldn’t take the capras and slap them into 1st grade. they would be worse than the titans (and thats saying something) - they would definitely allow them to build a specific first grade team
I didn’t know that.
So when the new Perth team enters the competition, will it simply be called the Bears?
nothing has been announced, but i stongly suspect this will be the case, primarily due to the fact that if they were the Perth Bears they would not draw a crowd in sydney whereas if they just used the Bears name, the old North Sydney supporters would come out
Teams with names just look better. Besides, regional pride.
Bring back the South Queensland Crushers, alongside the Gold Coast Giants, Chargers and Seagulls 
The Warriors haven’t had their location in their name for several years, which shits me (along with the Dolphins).
“It is understood the NRL prefers a name such as the Perth Bears or WA Bears to give the 18th team a bona fide geographical link to the region in which they will be based.
That is a different approach than the one the ARLC took with the Dolphins, who were prevented from using Redcliffe in their name when they joined the competition in 2023.”
Monday Night Football is a premium product in the NFL and V’landys said MNF could return to the NRL from 2027 onwards.
The pending admission of the Perth Bears will give the NRL nine games per round, and V’landys says the extra match could see the code expand its weekly schedule from Thursday to Monday nights.
The NRL staged Monday Night Football for a decade from 2007-16 before axing it from 2017 amid concerns over player workloads and short turnarounds.
But V’landys says the addition of two new franchises by 2028 could lead to the resurrection of a Monday timeslot, with Perth’s time zone giving League Central some scheduling flexibility.
A 20-team competition, in conjunction with Monday Night Football, could see the number of rounds cut back to 19 or 20, creating more latitude for State of Origin and Test football.
