Tag: 2009
A Modern Day Witch Hunt
Moral panic. Mass hysteria. Mob lynching. These are the characteristics of a witch hunt and they have certainly been as prevalent in rugby league circles over the last week as they were in Salem in the late seventeenth century. Nineteen were hanged in Salem, another was crushed to death when he refused to give evidence […]
Fun and Football in the Apple City
Friday night was what we in the business call uber-fun, a rampaging feast of rugby league and regional Australia and rollicking good times that was as successful as it was memorable. It was fun and football in the Apple City and anybody who was caught up in the hit parade won’t quickly forget it. It […]
The Last Stand of the Emperor
It is Sunday night and the clock has just ticked past one o’clock. Dennis Fitzgerald sits alone in his office at Parramatta Leagues Club, at the desk where he has courted patronage and wielded power for over thirty years, and stares solemnly into the dark night. His tie his loose and his top button undone […]
It’s Time to Turn Pro: Some Thoughts on NRL Expansion
The AFL last week announced that they were moving to the Gold Coast, the competition’s seventeenth team set to be located on the sunshine strip from 2011. Attention will then turn to Western Sydney, where reality will stand in stark contrast to the AFL’s belief that it is their manifest destiny to rule the football […]
Existence in the Nanny State
Rugby league is a game played by men. Men with heavy testicles and thick necks with deep wells of courage and a drive that puts even the best merchant bankers and politicians to shame. The athletes who cross the chalk and enter the rectangular battlefield are brave and brutish, skilful and competitive, beguiling and coarse. […]
The 2009 NRL Preview
Rugby league is back. We are at T minus three days and counting. We are officially on the clock. Round one teams have been announced. The game is engulfed in its latest scandal. The tension is palpable, the excitement overwhelming. We need no further introduction. Below, the good oil, all you need to know about […]
Thank You, Scoop Jackson
Bucks parties can tend to get weird and heavy very quickly and the bachelor weekend of my attorney was true to script. Two days of weighty consumption of various drinks ranging from a delicate white wine through to what became known as concoctions (tallboy shots of rum, bourbon, gin, tequila, vodka and red wine, together, […]
The 2009 Fantasy NRL Guide: Words of Wisdom and the Roadmap to Riches
There is no more exciting time of year. Not Christmas. Not Melbourne Cup day. Rugby league is only weeks away and opening night cannot come quick enough. With the footy season so close, it is time for the annual ritual of selecting your fantasy team. It is a critical time of year, one that will […]
Season 2009: Round 30
From The Couch: Grand Final Wrap Up Grand Final Thoughts: Many good judges remarked pre-match how well the Melbourne Storm looked relative to their three previous Grand Finals, noting how the team looked fresher and more focussed. The senior players looked happy and loose. The coaching staff weren’t waging wars through the media. The younger […]
Season 2009: Round 29
From The Couch Tragedy at Homebush: A monumental season came to a painful and nasty end on Friday night for the Bulldogs. The fairytale ended in tragedy. Cinderella was no longer going to the ball. The opening set of the match was something out of a war zone. Fuifui Moimoi was hit by a Ben […]
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