Many happy returns to Australian Rugby League.

The best domestic competition in world Rugby League kicked off last week when South Sydney faced rival team Sydney Roosters. It was no coincidence that two of the Australian founder clubs (Roosters then being Eastern Suburbs) were to begin the centenary season down under. It was all smiles and jubilations as the two teams got stuck into each other like flour and butter. However, the injury to Craig Wing saw fans up in arms about the legality of tackling from behind. Wing was left with a dislocated shoulder after Riley Brown’s shoulder charge knocked it out of its socket. Now while this caused a stir, I stood back and looked at the tackle on a well known video sharing website. Having seen the footage that was broadcast on Channel Nine, the two Roosters’ players are about to complete the tackle when Brown hits Wing. Wing is crouched down attempting to get down and play the ball, but the only parts of his body touching the grass are his feet, added to the fact he is still moving trying to get to the ground. Therefore Brown’s tackle is legal, even if it is completely unnecessary.

The reason the NRL is the best in the world is due to brilliantly executed tries and humungous tackles. There is no finer example of huge hits than Josh Perry’s tackle on Ben Ross in the Manly V Cronulla match at Brookvale Oval. The tackle knocked Ross out cold and the Cronulla player missed the rest of the game with the possibility of missing at least one more. Perry however, did not come out of the tackle lightly. As Perry attempted to tackle Ross, both players clashed heads which is actually why Ross was knocked out. Perry came out of it with a nasty cut above his eye that was running with blood. In that match, Manly lost despite taking the lead. There was no real reason for them to lose it except Cronulla wanted to take the two points back to their beach. They basically played the better rugby after Ben Ross was taken from the field.

It was business as usual at Suncorp Stadium. Not for Brisbane, but for Penrith. They took the wooden spoon last year and look favourites to take it again after their abysmal performance against Wayne Bennett’s side, where Cory Parker broke the club record for the most number of goals scored in a single match. The second rower scored ten from ten beating Darren Lockyer’s and other former players’ record of nine from nine. Petero Civoniceva played against his old club for his new club and was the only Penrith player who had a half decent game.

Billy Slater’s hat-trick within twenty five minutes formed the foundations of a Melbourne win in their first home game since their Grand Final victory against Manly back in October. Played at the Telstra Dome in front of just over twenty thousand (making the overall attendance for an opening NRL round another record) who saw New Zealand Warriors fight until the death. The score line may actually look flattering to the New Zealand side, who had Steve price ruled out for eight weeks, as they struggled to compete with last year’s Premiers. Controversy was avoided just before the second half kicked off as Melbourne failed to return onto the pitch when the Warriors did, making the away side wait for the restart. New Zealand eventually made Melbourne wait for the kick off as they retreated to the sideline for a drink just as the home team walked out of the tunnel. The delay meant there was a half time period of just over eighteen minutes.

As it is Easter this week, Setanta Sports have delivered us English fans of the game a treat. There will be a double header on Saturday 22^nd March with Penrith taking on Canberra at 06:30 GMT, and Newcastle hosting Manly straight after until 10:30. As for the Sunday game, well no one seems to know. Setanta say they are showing Canberra V St George Illawarra (tough week for Canberra) while another site says SKY NZ will show New Zealand V Parramatta at a completely different KO time. Seeing as only one of those fixtures is right, I’d put my money on it being NZ V Eels. 02:45 GMT start, KO fifteen minutes later. But don’t hold me on that.