Team of the decade - Fullback.

Ah, the fullback. The first man on the team sheet every single week. But who would you give the number one shirt to, and why? What are the qualities of a rugby league fullback?

The modern fullback's minimum requirement is to begin the counter attack upon receiving the ball from the opposition's kick down field. They obviously need a good set of ball handling skills in order to not drop the high ball. He is also the last line of defence, meaning once the opposition get past this fellow, you've had it so a good tackler is essential. But what makes a great fullback is the way they perform their minimum requirements as perfect as possible, as well as their attacking qualities adding more options to the attacking structure for the half backs to use. The full back can slot into any side of the attacking line next to the second rowers and the centres, so they act as extra option runners or carriers. In effect, the defence can be playing against five three-quarters (If that makes any sense.)

Below are A Tap on the Twenty's four nominees for fullback of the decade, who all possess the key skills to becoming an excellent fullback.


Anthony Minichello
Minichello was one of the reasons I used to like watching Sydney when I was younger. He is always in support of his line breaking team mates and has scored 89 tries in 181 NRL appearances because of his ability to back up the runner. His hard work failed to go unnoticed having represented his country 18 times in test matches, with a further nine tries to his name. His début against Canterbury in 2000 saw him play on the wing for the first few seasons, but the retirement of Luke Phillips in 2003 sparked a career that also saw him represent New South Wales nine time scoring six tries in the position of fullback. Thankfully for Sydney, he has saved that team more tries than they care to think. But despite a reoccuring back injury in recent seasons, he has always been a real asset to the club and a local hero being part of a team that saw him win the NRL in 2002 and become grand finalists in 2000, 2003 and 2004.

Billy Slater
Easily the best fullback in the game currently. Unfortunately for this exercise it does not automatically qualify him for that imaginary fullback spot when you consider half the nominees either are retired or play elsewhere on a more regular basis. Slater is one of the more acrobatic players in the game. Cameron Smith's try is a perfect example of that, when it was Slater who knocked the ball away from the dead ball line for Smith to score. Slater is also one of the few players who catches the ball on the full every single time it is kicked towards him. It was a real pain to see Eastmond's or Thomkins' kicks go straight to Slater every time. Since 2003 when made his début against Cronulla at centre, he was quickly moved to fullback after seven games and has since set the world alight with his brilliance. 

Darren Lockyer
Darren Lockyer spent the early part of his career playing at five-eighth (stand off for us English folk.) This was at the early stage of his playing days at Brisbane in which he spent a lot of time coming off the bench from 1995 until 1997. From that point on he was a fullback, and a fine one too. He later went back to five-eighth at a later stage, but for now we will discuss his performances wearing the number one shirt. He was such a brilliant fullback that when Wayne Bennett moved him to five-eighth, I immediately cast doubt over his selection on the hypothesis that it seemed silly moving a player who has done so well at fullback playing for both his state and country in the number one shirt, to the number six shirt. But as the last line of defence, he was excellent. But he wasn't as flashy as Billy Slater. but equally effective. He would always find the extra yards to begin the counter attack that no other player at the time could. He didn't waste time letting the ball bounce either. He would collect it either on the full, or on the half volley. He always had his body in the right position to collect the kick without wasting chasing it down. A brilliant fullback in his day.
 

Kris Radlinski
Arguably the best British fullback since Jim Sullivan in the 1920s. Radlinski is of Polish decent, but was born and grew up in Wigan for whom he played 332 games for. His international debut came in 1995 for England, and made the Great Britain side a year later. Despite retiring and making a comback, his finest hour was during the 2002 Challenge Cup final, in which he won the Lance Todd Trophy award for his man of the match performance. I'll always remember his tackle on Tim Jonkers ten minutes into the final, when despite being in hospital all week he was passed fit, he managed to prevent what would otherwise have been a certain try for Saints. In his career he played for Lancashire as well, but always gave 100% for whatever side he represented. He demonstrated a brilliant attacking flaire, earning himself 183 tries for Wigan, but only two in an eight year stint playing for GB.

The 2000s fullback of the decade is Anthony Minichello.

Team of the decade - 2000s.

A post on the ever popular Rlfans.com forum on the Warrington board recently posted asked fans to name their team of the decade. Listed were some brilliant forgotten names such as Allan Langer, Danny Farrah, Allan Hunte, Darren Burns and Tawera Nikau. As a Warrington fan myself (I make no secret about it) I couldn't resist a stab at my own Warrington XIII over the past ten years. Below is my selection.

Allan Hunte
Henry fa'afili
Martin Gleeson
Toa Koe Love
Brent Grose
Lee Briers
Allan Langer
Adrian Morley
Danny Farrah
Paul Rauhihi
Logan Swann
Ben Westwood
Tawera Nikau

But then it got me thinking on a wider scale. What would be the team of the decade with regards to the rest of Super League? Even better, what would it be with regards to the rest of the world. On the face of it, it seems an easy task to name 13 players who have amazed, shocked and played outstanding rugby within the last ten year. But it isn't. The scrum half position alone has some wonderful nominees who could be placed there. Andrew Johns, Jonathan Thurston and Stacey Jones to name just three players. There are many more who could be worthy to wear that fictional number seven shirt.

So lets begin at having a stab at it shall we? Over the Christmas and New Year period I shall try to name thirteen of the best payers over the past ten years, starting with the fullback. Below are a list of rules that are being abided to with regards to selection.

A player can be nominated as many times as possible for different positions, but in the opinion of the editor (me) they must have played a significant part of their playing career in that position and not just the odd couple of games.
Players can only feature in the final team once and not in multiple positions, despite being able to be nominated in many.
There is no minimum or maximum number of nominees to each position. If a player is worthy of consideration in any given position, he will be nominated.

Independent commission taking its bloody time.

Ever since Rupert Murdoch put his nose into the Australian game, things seem to have gone badly for the sport overall. News Ltd's interest in the sport sparked the Super League War, crippling the game in Australia and internationally setting it back years behind other sports such as the AFL and rugby union. While Super League and BSkyB's money on the other side of the world proved to be the ressurection what the game and the RFL needed, Super League has been a dirty word down under for the past twelve years. Many Australian fans feel News Ltd took their game away from them. A game based on community values, friendship and raw emotion.

Now after twelve years, News Ltd are willing to do some good for the game and sell their 50% share of the NRL providing the ARL sell their share. As a result a new independent commission is being set up (ironically with David Gallop and Colin Love at the head of it) to repesent the views of all 16 NRL clubs. The ARL is to be wound up and the money News earn from the deal will be pumped back into the game via the media conglomerate's own club, Melbourne Storm.

So finally it seems the game will be handed back to the clubs. The fans can happily wave goodbye to Murdoch and Co, while the clubs get to elect independent representitives to oversea the running of the game on a fair basis. Except, thats not whats happening.

The clubs want a bigger say in the way the profits are split, while ARL are being fussy over nominating two candidates for the new eight man commission. The way I see it, (and read carefully because this gets tricky) they want nominees from the New South Wales Rugby League and Queensland Rugby League and are rejecting News' offer. As a result, the 16 clubs are threatening to walk away from the NRL and set up Rugby League Australia unless the new commission is set up.

This is a blatent example of the way administrators shoot themselves in the foot. A good offer comes along that will eventually see the game being run effectivly for the first time in 115 years and our origina governing body throws out their dummy. No wonder the game is behind AFL and football. What is concerning is the proposed split that could happen on the 18th January next year. It would be the ikin to the Super League War, but with all 16 clubs walking away instead of oly half of them.

All the ARL have to do is nominate two candidates to sit on this new commission. Any two businessmen, or any two human beings. Hell, I'll do if they like. The last thing rugby league needs is another split twelve years after the last one (which may not happen until at least 2013 making it 16 years) and become further behind the AFL whilst it has to rebuild itself again. Its not fair on the players and its even more unfair on the fans who have had to put up with a lot over the last two decades.

Celtic move north.

Celtic Crusaders have dropped the 'Celtic' from their name and renamed themselves Crusaders RL. It was part of a rebranding exersise that has ended up with the club moving away from Bridgend, moving away from Newport and finally they are settled in Wrexham. Wrexham just so happens to be on the other side of  Wales nearer to Rhyl and Colwyn Bay for those who don't know. Its much further away from Cardiff and Swansea in between which the club was originally formed and based.

So why has the club been relocated? Money!

Leighton Samuel has screwed over the town of Bridgend twice now, having owned the original rugby union club until it went bust and Samuel switched codes. But while crys of outrage are heard from Widnes to Halifax and the RFL is slammed for not stepping in and saving the club from embraressment, (which if they had done, the flat-cappers against expansion would be waving their whippets and setting the dogs loose on Red Hall) the deal brokered between Wrexham FC and Mr Samuel has seen the club based in another area of untapped talent and is still classed as an expansion club despite only being 30 miles away from Widnes.

But the club wasn't bought by its new owners to spread the gospel of RL. It was bought to save the struggling Wrexham FC. The statement from the Wrexham chairman went something along the lines of, they couldn't afford to run the football club with only a few thousand turning up each week. He was talking of figures similar to when Celtic were based in Bridgend, averaging 3,000. In fact if you want to be more specific, in Bridgend last season Celtic averaged 3,500. Wrexham have so far in the 2009/10 season averaged 3,200. Considering it would take less time for the majority of teams and fans to travel toWrexham than Bridgend, the new owners must be banking on a lot of away support to raise revenue. I dread to think if the likes of Saints, Wigan and Warrington were to outnumber the home fans whilst invading Wrexham.

But South Wales has not been forgotten in all this. While Super League may be moving up north in the valleys, South Wales RLFC will step into Celtic's old shoes and be based in Neath. The newly formed club will be overseen by a Welsh businessmen, but will consist of board members from Wales Rugby League governing body. They have been admitted into the Championship 1 for the 2010 season, but will not compete in either the Challenge Cup or Northern Rail Cup for this season at least.

It appears they will act as a feeder club to the Crusaders Super League team for the time being, and in my opinion they should not be rushed into applying for a Super league lisence. While it would be nice to see a south Wales side in SL again, they need to develop a bigger fan base than what Celtic did for them not to be forced from their home or go financially broke. An increase in amateur players in the RLC and schools competing in the Champion Schools proves there is an appetite for rugby league in south Wales, and if Crusaders can spread the game like they did in Bridgend and the rest of south Wales then I'm sure Wales can eventually become familiar with rugby league in the end.

A Tap on the Twenty awards 2009.

And so once again another season comes to a close. 2009 has seen us witness some great rugby league, although I feel us pommies were let down by Setanta Sports with the lack of NRL coverage resulting in the Irish company's demise in the UK. However, Super League has provided some wonderful talking points, a few of which will be discussed and reviewd at a later date.

So for now it is time for the second annual A Tap on the Twenty awards. These awards range from the absurd to praising the achievements to these hardened warriors in our own special way. Either way, they still have more credability than the Golden Boot award.

Below are the official awards for 2009.

The unofficial 'Stuard Fielden Award in Extreme Incompetence': Setanta Sports
Chocker of the Year: St George Illawarra
Try of the Year: Cameron Smith V England (Novemeber 2009)
Match of the Year: Australia V New Zealand (Four Nations, week one)
Special Mention Award: Jarryd Hayne (Parramatta, New South Wales & Australia)
Team of the Year: Parramatta
Player of the Year: Brett Hodgson (Huddersfield)

News on the Challenge Cup.

A lot has been made so far of the removal and inclusion of certain sporting events that have been reccommended to the Department of Culture, Media and Sport. England cricket home tests have been included on the recommended list of protected sports for free-to-air viewing, while The Derby and our own Challenge Cup final have been removed.

If this list is approved, then that does not mean that the BBC will drop its coverage, it simply means that when the next TV deal is negociated, Sky, ESPN or any other cable or sattillite broadcaster can bid for live coverage of the final. The other preceding rounds are not already protected anyway.

The inclusion of the Ashes and other home tests has infuriated the England and Wales Cricket Board, and they have spoken against the proposed list. Their reason is that they will lose a lot of money they are relying of Sky for their money from broadcast rights. If Channel 4 or the BBC for example, bid for the rights they are afraid they will not get enough money to fund their grassroots programmes.

from a rugby league point of view, Sky don't need to bid for the Challenge Cup rights. Thery are a profit making organisation and make most of their money from selling TV boxsets. In purchasing exclusive TV rights for Super League and Championship games, they already have every rugby league supporter who can afford Sky or cable television. As an expansionist myself, its important to have the Challenge Cup on free-to-air TV to show the rest of the country what a wonderful game rugby league is. We have the best of both worlds currently in that the BBC will show the Challenge Cup nationally and spreading the game nationawide, and we get Sky's money for Super League.

Anybody who says that Sky must have the Challenge Cup broadcast rights is dillusional.

England 16-46 Australia - Four Nations final.

It has been 37 years since an English/Great Britain side defeated Australia in a test series. After last Saturday's defeat in Leeds, England will have to wait another year at least until they can have another chance to defeat the old enemy from down under.

Leaving Leeds there was a mixed feeling of emotion. On the one hand, for 60 minutes we played like marines. We were able to match Australia in every department. Our backs looked capable of handing the 'superstars' of Greg Inglis, Jarryd Hayne and Darren Lockyer. Even Kyle Eastmond's kicking game made Billy Slater look average at fullback. Then the tide turned against us.

Both teams were constantly trading scores and handing each other the lead for an hour. Sam Burgess' first try showed why South Sydney are signing him up. He was able to dummy both Petro Civoniceva and BILLY SLATER! Even with Eastmond on his side, it was a brilliant try worthy of any future star in the NRL. England piled on the pressure in the ten minutes. When England were on the Australian line again, James Graham's offload found Jonathan Thurston who immediately started the counter attack. Brett Morris finished off the resulting set in the corner.

Peter Fox scored a sensational try from Eastmond's kick which was expected to fall straight into the hands of Jarryd Hayne. Fantastic Mr. Fox outjumped the Dally M Medal winner, who has had an extremely quiet tournament not really living up to the hype generated in Australia.

Australia scored a again with arguably a very contencious try while Jonathan Thurston added a penalty goal just befire half time to take the game into half time 14-10 to the Australians. England were not out of this game yet. They had matched the Australian pack and threatened to tear apart their superstar back line. And things looked promising when Sam Burgess crossed for his second try to edge the hosts into the lead. But then the floodgates opened and Austrlian showed what they have been threatening to do all tournament, but had never achieved. They started to play to their real potential. And boy was it a pleasure to watch.

It was disappointing that England couldn't match the Australian level of fitness and skill. They had tried so hard for 60 minutes and done so well over the past 180 minutes leading up to the Aussie torchure that you couldn't help feel sorry for Burgess, Peacock and Smith at the end of the day.

Australia dominated with a couple of spectacular tries, and some shockers that england should have dealt with. Cameron Smith's try stands out when Billy Slater knocked the ball back allowing Smith to pounce on it. Slater's own try in the corner was demoralising. After some superb scrambling defence on England's line to prevent one try, Slater dived in over from dummy half less than one metre out for a disappointing try to concede.

But at the end of the day, Australia have redeemed themselves after losing the World Cup. They have been the best side in the tournament on the basis they didn't lose a match in the tournament. But they will know themselves that they could have performed better over the course of the four games. They didn't really get out of second gear for a large proportion of the tournament, excelling against England for a grand total of 60 minutes over the two games, and they got out of jail against New Zealand in London during their first game of the tournament. Against France, they were outperformed in the first half, despite fielding a weakened side. But in the second half they stepped up several levels and put France to the sword.

Like I said, deserving winners, but an Australian side at full strength and in top gear will be one that can enilate any team on the planet.

Four Nations final - England V Australia.

"Kyle, who?"

That was Jonathan Thurston's reponse when asked by an in-house journalist if he felt intimidated by Sam Thomkins and Kyle Eastmond before the big show down at Elland Road tomorrow evening. After last week's England performance against New Zealand, this comment will only add to the fire burning within the host's camp and bring the squad together as a group. Ultimatly, its a good thing.

In my opinion, tomorrow will see England be provided with their best chance of winning a test series against Australia since Great Britain's chance against a depleated Australian squad in 2003. Australia look a shadow of their former selves and have failed to get out of second gear on a consistant basis throught the tournament. They scraped a draw against the world champions, they sat back in the second half against England at Wigan, and for half an hour France were the better side last week. Its a worry for Tim Sheens who would have been expected to insert some pride into the green and gold jersey after Ricky Stuart lost the world cup last year.

Looking at the team line ups, England remain unchanged from their 20-12 defeat of New Zealand last week, while Australia bring back two familiar names in Billy Slater and Cameron Smith from the France game replacing Kurt Gidley and Robbie Farrah but with the former being named in the 19-man squad. John Morris misses out in favour of Greg Inglis but only the back row has been changed in the starting 13 from the one that faced England two weeks ago. Luke Lewis replaces Anthony Watmough.

And now for the tired old preview that was issued out this time two weeks ago. England CAN beat Australia if the forwards perform. And for forty minutes in Wigan the English forwards did just that. It was the first half which let the side down massivley. With no Lee Smith or Tom Briscoe on an exposed right wing, the figures of Peter Fox and Chris Bridge provide some defensive stability to stop Greg Inglis and that left win threat in green and gold.

With Australia having not convincingly performed on a consistant basis all tournament, England will not have a better chance to beat the old enemy for the first time in 37 years.

Picture: Uploaded from Wikipedia.org. Contact author if your copyright has been affected.

England through to Four Nations final with Australia.

England and Australia both qualified for the Four Nations final with successful defeats of both New Zealand and Australia respectivly.

France 4-42 Australia
Australia were pretty much assured of a final apperance despite having still not mathematically qualified beforehand. Only an enormous upset from the French and an unpredicted England win over New Zealand could have stopped them from appering at Leeds. But the Morris twins made sure Australia had the chance to avenge their world cup defeat with two tries apiece along with contributions from hat-traick hero Michael Jennings, and Penrith's Luke Lewis.
But Australia still failed to get out of second gear making their consistancy a real worry for Tim Sheens going into the final showdown. The French showed the same grit and determination they had displayed throughout this tournament in the first half, but eventually collapsing due to the fast paced nature of the Australian's, who lead only 8-0 at half time. It was arguably one of the worst Australian performances I have seen in the first fourty minutes despite the lack of big named Aussies in the starting seventeen.

It wasn't a full strength Australian side that stepped onto the field where Super League began all those years ago, but not many players would have made an impression on the coaching staff as Australia were allowed to be dominated by Bobbie Goulding's French side, who have clearly been given a new breath of fresh air by the former Great Britain scrum half after their dismal apperance in the world cup. France can look forward to a bright future with Goulding at the helm. He has installed some disipline and patriotism into the squad and they look like a future threat to any of the 'big three' in future years.

Australia meanwhile must live up to their pre-tournament hype and become the team that threatened to brush aside the competition.


England 20-12 New Zealand 
England were quite good against the current world champions.

Now there's a sentence I didn't think I would be writing this time last week. England looked like a side capable of actually competing with the best in the world. With Kevin Sinfield at hooker and the inclusion of both Peter Fox and Chris Bridge, they looked solid in defence and showed an attacking flair that had been missing up until that point. Even the troublesome half back combinations seemed to work in Sam Thomkins playing in his usual scrum half role, with the usually unimpressive Kyle Eastmond making an impressive performance.

In defence, England prevented New Zealand, and when I say New Zealand I mean Benji Marshall, from making as many yards and closed them down quickly when they looked like creating half a chance. Jamie Peacock still looked unimpressive out of position in the back row, but Morley, Burgess and Graham made up for him in the prop forwards.

England did exactly what they've been doing all tournament. They played no different to how they performed against Australia the week before in the second half, but this time it was done for 80 minutes and the tactics worked. This shows that England can win this tournament if they play in the same manner and style as they have done for the last 120 minutes of rugby.

Get Leon Williamson to referee in Super League.

What a refreshing change to the standard of refereeing we have seen during the international season this year.

New Zealand referee, Leon Williamson, has shown that there are consistantly good referees out there in the world. He has shown in his performance that he has the testicles to make the big calls without the need for video technology for every decision. He showed Jean-Phillipe Baile the red card for an awful stiff arm tackle on Richie Myler when England hosted France in this year's Four Nations opener. He sin binned four players in Scotland's European Cup game against Lebanon. Two players were sent to the sideline for persistant lying on at the play the ball after several warnings, and two for violent conduct.

We have also seen that he can use the 'on report' system the way it was meant to be used, and not as a cop out so the referee can't be blamed for changing the game. David Ferriol was placed on report and eventually banned for a sly elbow to Kevin Sinfield's face away from the view of the referee and Liam Ayoub of Lebanon was put on report for the same offence.

He has the ability to control the big international teams, having refereed both Australia and England despite having never been a senior ref in either Super League or the NRL. His performance yesterday during the France V Australia game showed he is not out of his depth, and as a neutral neutral referee would be the perfect candidate to control the Four Nations final next week.

However, Australia refused both his and French referee Thiery Alibert's services for the England game in Wigan on the grounds that "neither are full-time referees." Englishman Steve Ganson stepped in, but I can't help but assume that this time Shane Hayne will step out onto Elland Road regardless of the fact he is Australian. Its a kick in the teeth for those who believe in the international game and want to see it expand. One factor is the use of neutral referees in all international games that will give the game credability internationally, but this is being handicapped by Australian officials who insist on using referees who they claim to be full-time.

Which is why, if its possible, the RFL should bring Leon Williamson to Super League and become a full-time official. He could fill the remaining gap left after Ashley Klein's departure from this country and the increase of Super League teams from 12 to 14. He would arguably be the most consistent in Super League based on his performance in the Four Nations.

England fightback too late against Australia.

England 16-26 Australia
It wasn't pretty was it?

To summarise the first half from and England perspective, it was nothing short of abysmal. Poor defence, poor organisation and a one dimensional attack thanks to a lack of organisation from both Danny McGuire and Sam Thomkins.

Greg Inglis consistently ran through the England right wing like a knife through butter. Tim Sheens used the obvious tactic and targeted Tom Briscoe on that right hand side, taking advantage of Briscoe's lack of experience. They did it by streaching the England defence, and it looked like they were able to do it on any area of the pitch.

Billy Slater scored what I would consider the try of the game. From a play the ball on the Australian right side,Cameron Smith passed what the players call an 'X ball' (where the recieving player runs behind an option runner, but its timed so to not obstruct the defence) to Thurston, who did the same to Lockyer, who did the same to Slater to score in the other corner.

Once the floodgates opened early on, it looked like Australia would repeat their 52-4 mauling of England in Melbourne last year. Thankfully, Australia decided not to to enflict their wrath and the second half reflected that.

The million pound question has to be, did Australia take their foot off the gas or did England actually play some decent rugby in the second half?

The second half allowed England to throw the ball around a bit more. They were able to get into their opponents half, which Australia prevented in the first half. Eorl Crabtree put his hand up and showed he is a good prop after all, out playing both Adrian Morley and the out of position Jamie Peacock.

Sam Burgess, the worst England forward on the pitch in the first half, improved his work rate and ultimatly scored his try before he deserved it. But it lifted the spirits of both the England players and the fans.

Even Thomkins showed a spark of cretivity and doubled a one dimenstional attack with the help of Kevin Sinfield, and Kyle Eastmond later in the game. Although he didn't have the perfect game. His execution was too slow against the fast paced Australian defence, which meant most of the time he was forced to take the tackle which lost momentum for the English side.

As for McGuire, it was ironic when he was finally taken off that so many fans jeered the Leeds stand off. He didn't show any enthusiasm and looked like he didn't know what he was doing most of the time.

So where now for England?

I firmly believe if the second English side turn up to Huddersfield to face New Zealand on next week. If England can throw the ball around a bit and the halfs are given the space to move around, then England can defeat New Zealand and secure their place in the final at Leeds.

The New Zealand side, whilst good, are very young and may suffer from jet lag and the amount of travelling they will have to face. They looked bery dodgey in the first half against France and looked very exposed.

Its do or die for both England and Tony Smith.

Four Nations preview - England V Australia.

The England line up for their match against Australia is as follows.

Shaun Briscoe
Tom Briscoe
Lee Smith
Michael Shenton
Ryan Hall
Danny McGuire
Sam Thomkins
Adrian Morley
James Roby
James Graham
Gareth Ellis
Jamie Peacock
Kevin Sinfield

Sam Burgess
Eorl Crabtree
Kyle Eastmond
Ben Westwood

Compare that to the Australian team that line up as follows;

Billy Slater
Brett Morris
Greg Inglis
Brett Hodges
Jarryd Hayne
Darren Lockyer
Jonathan Thurston
Ben Hannant
Cameron Smith
Petro Civoniceva
Anthony Watmough
Paul Gallen
Nathan Hindmarsh

(From four of the following)
Brett White
David Shillington
Luke Lewis
Robbie Farah
Kurt Gidley
Trent Waterhouse

They say rugby league is a seventeen man game. Now without disrespecting the Australians, their bench doesn't look as threatening as I first feared no matter who is filtered out. But their starting thirteen is more threatening than when they annihilated England in Melbourne last year.

As I said twelve months ago, England's forward pack can beat Australia on top of their game. Its the English back line I fear will let the side down. Tom Briscoe's nerves must be shaking like a Tickle Me Elmo with the thought of facing up to who was considered the NRL's best player, Jarryd Hayne. With 26 first team apperances and 13 tries, its a complete mis-match in terms of experience when you consider Hayne has starred in 109 NRL and representative games scoring 90 tries in total.

Despite his man of the match performance against Wales, I wish Sam Thomkins all the luck in the world when he faces the four time consecutive State of Origin winning half back pairing of Darren Lockyer and Jonathan Thurston. Thomkins will be buoyed by playing on his club's home ground at international level. But he will have to be on top of his game to even have a chance of out smarting Lockyer or Thurston.

Its a worrying thought that England's 52-4 defeat last year may not have been a one off after all.

Aussies can't have it both ways.

Australia are unhappy with the appointment of Steve Ganson as the referee of their crucial game against England on Saturday. According to sources, ARL Chief Executive, Geoff Carr, refused to accept a neutral referee claiming both the New Zealand and French representatives (Leon Williamson and Thierry Alibert) were not full-time referees.

This left Stuart Cummings (RFL Match Officials Director) with no option but to appoint one of Steve Ganson or Australian, Shane Hayne. He eventually settled on Ganson, no doubt under the pressures of the RFL to select the English referee like Tony Archer was appointed in the corresponding fixture 12 months ago.

But this appointment left the Australian coach, Tim Sheens, in fury after Sheens was disappointed with Ganson's performance in his side's 20-all draw with New Zealand.

So to cut a long story short, the Aussies are not happy they can't have their own way and have their own man in the middle of the pitch. What amazes me is that they can throw their dummy out of the pram, knowing full well they can beat England fair and square in the first place.

This is a prime example of one of the obstacles the international game has to overcome if it is to expand and become more creditable. Neutral referees must be appointed at international level, regardless of the persistent argument that certain referees are not up to standard.

Geoff Carr's excuse doesn't even make sense to begin with, as Thierry Alibert has been officiating full time for two years in the Super League.

This issue, along with player eligibility with players supposedly swapping and changing nations, are two key issues that in the short term the RLIF must address for the international game and its post-2008 World Cup era to flourish to the best of its ability.

Four Nations - Week One.

The first round of the Four Nations has come and gone, and what a weekend it was. There were near misses, heart warming performances and great escapes that would make Steve McQueen blush. There was also relatively impressive attendances to both games in Doncaster and in London, which shows twelve months after the World Cup the hunger for international rugby league was not a one off.

England 34-12 France
The highest crowd for a Anglo-French test match signified the beginning of a new era for international rugby league in the UK. The attendance of 11,529 exceeded anyone's expectations for what are usually one-sided contests. Bobbie Gouling and his team had other ideas and gave the hosts an early Halloween scare when France went  12-4 ahead at half time. Tries from Vincent Duport and Kane Bentley were both converted by Thomas Bosc.

It was a poor first half performance from England by anyone's standards. The half back combination of Danny McGuire and Richie Myler looked one dimensional on the French goal line, and the defence at the opposite end of the field stood solid like a wet paper tissue towards the final moments of the half. It was a stark reminder of twelve months ago in Townsville, when Papua New Guinea went into the half time break leading 16-12 in the World Cup opener.

But thankfully the scriptwriters had included the same ending. England changed a few tactics around and started to play with a bit more flair and creativity. Myler pushed forward in attack and did well to support the line breakers, which he was rewarded with his second try when Kevin Sinfield found he gap on the French line. The game was wrapped up by the English when Ryan Hall intercepted Thomas Bosc's pass out intended for Duport, and the Leeds' winger showed his pace to beat Clint Greenshield to the corner post.

 Despite the strong efforts from France, David Ferriol and Jean-Philippe Baile both faced disciplinary yesterday after Ferriol quite badly elbowed Kevin Sinfield in the tackle eight minutes from time and Jean-Philippe Baile caught Richie Myler with a stiff arm to the jaw. Baile was shown the red card by the New Zealand referee, Leon Williamson while Ferriol's incident was put on report. As a result of the disciplinary hearing, Ferriol will receive a one game ban, excluding him from playing against New Zealand this weekend. Meanwhile Baile is free to face New Zealand despite the serious nature of the offence. I can only assume the panel have given Baile the benefit of the doubt after the centre showed remorse to Myler and apologised as he left the field. The news will make life a bit sweeter for Goulding after the French hooker, Remi Castey, was ruled out of the rest of the tournament with a broken hand.


Australia 20-20 New Zealand
12,360 people saw a thrilling contest next to the home of rugby union at the Twickenham Stoop. In fact, it was one of the best games I've seen all year and it was between the two nations that are most likely to get to the final.

The crowd, made up primeraly of Australian and New Zealand ex-pats based in London, witnessed a young New Zealand side fight toe-to-toe with an experienced Australian side that included almost every big name in the NRL. New Zealand caught Australia napping early when Frank-Paul Nuuausala ran on an angle to Adam Blair's offload five minutes into the game. For me personally, the story of the first half was made by New Zealand's SAS-style of defence. For aproximatly fifteen minutes inside the first half, New Zealand were forced to defend consecutive sets of six on their own try line due to disiplinary errors. When they finally recieved posession, they were guilty of handling errors within their own half. It was a minor miracle Australia didn't put ship past twenty points in that time frame. In the end, Brett Morris finally broke through, but the landslide didn't come and the half time scores remained 6-6.

When Jonathan Thurston stripped the ball one-on-one from Lance Hohaia early in the second half, you sensed that all the luck would go Australia's way. This was not the case, as New Zealand stood up and fought back to lead by six points with five minutes left thanks to Frank Pritchard's try in the left corner. But Australia's never say die attitude over powered the New Zealanders and from Thurston's short kick off, Australia forced their way down field. On the back of a penalty, the resulting set of six saw Australia throw the ball around until Greg Inglis spotted the gap in the New Zealand defense and an offload to Cameron Smith gave Australia the try and the conversion oppertunity they needed to tie the game. Thurston, with nerves calmer than a mountain lake, slotted over the vital goal to earn Australia a point.

If England fail to make the final now, I don't think I could care less so long as both these nations play with similar enthusiasm, passion and skill at Elland Road in a few weeks time.

Four Nations preview.

Twelve months after the World Cup, the biggest names in Rugby League arrive in the UK and France for the start of a rebuilding process for International Rugby League.

If the international game and the RLIF learnt anything from last year's World Cup, its that there is still a hunger for international Rugby League, especially across both Europe and the Pacific.

So with that in mind, France have join England/Great Britain, Australia, and world champions New Zealand in the inaugural Four Nations after the Tri-Nations became an annual success.

With the first game only two days away when England host France at the Keepmoat Stadium, A Tap on the Twenty presents a quick preview focusing on all four teams.

Australia
Despite no longer being world champions after 33 years, Australia will be all out for revenge in order to avenge their 2008 World Cup final defeat to New Zealand when Ricky Stuart's side lost 34-20 in Brisbane. The noise coming out of the Aussie's camp seems to one of vengeance. They want to keep hold of the trophy they won under the Tri-Nations banner when they defeated New Zealand in extra time during the 2006 Tri-Nations final in Sydney. As a result, the bookies only have them at 1/4 to win the tournament.

Despite making one of the biggest errors in World Cup history, Billy Slater is no less of a threat. He will not be looking back that that pass to Benji Marshall that gifted New Zealand a try in the final minutes of the game. He will go about his business as usual like he has done all year for Melbourne.
New to English fan's ear, Jarryd Hayne has been in fascinating form with Parramatta winning the Dally M medal on the back of several perfect performances. As usual, Darren Lockyer, Cameron Smith and Johnathan Thurston all strike fear into English fan's hearts when they have possession with the ball.

Prediction - Group & final winners.


England
Its all change for 2009, and with it comes what could easily be described as fresh meat for our antipodean cousins. Names such as Burrow, Pryce, Senior and Wellens are no more. They are replaced with Tomkins, Eastmond, Hall and Briscoe. Of course, a few names remain in Peacock, Morley and Ellis. But like last year, England's strength came in the forwards who worked exceptionally hard down under 12 months ago, but were let down by the halfs and three-quarters.

Jamie Peacock will lead the side from example again, with Adrian Morley being the other experienced prop forward who will continue to mentor James Graham and the Souths-bound Sam Burgess. Looking at Tony Smith's 24-man squad, the three-quarters pick themselves with Smith, Shenton, Hall and the young Tom Briscoe replacing the injured Sean O'Loughlin. The Headache for Smith must lie in the half backs, with potentially five players to pick from McGuire, Eastmond, Thomkins, Myler and Bridge. For me, the answer lies in McGuire at stand off and Tomkins at scrum half. Eastmond doesn't possess the creative flair to penetrate the Kiwis or Kangaroo defence, while his kicking game is one of the worst I have seen in a Saints shirt for some time. Myler is lacking of match fitness having only played one game against Wales since July, while Bridge can play at stand off or scrum half, he hasn't done so since Tony Smith took over Warrington in March.

Prediction - 3rd in group.


France
Adrian Lam and Papua New Guinea will have sympathy for the French, as the Kumuls were in a similar situation last year and certainly made their mark despite not winning a game. While the 'guinea pigs' are now coached by Bobbie Goulding, his presence and knowledge should provide the same attitude and passion Adrian Lam installed into Papua New Guinea. They still have some excellent individuals, but its only individuals. Thomas Bosc is the stand out Frenchman, while Australian-born Clint Greenshields and James Wynne both qualify for France under the residency rule, (a rule A Tap on the Twenty will assess at a later date.)

Elsewhere France hold Jean-Philippe Baile, Oliver Elima and Jamel Fakir and a large proportion of the Catalan squad that made the semi-final qualifiers losing to Leeds with dignity at Headingley.

I fear if England take this team too lightly, there could be a massive upset on the first day of the competition.

Prediction - 4th in group.


New Zealand
World champions New Zealand will be looking to progress after their famous win against their Tasman rivals by clinching the Four Nations tournament away from them as well. They certinaly possess the squad capable of achieveing such a feat. Their squad is littered with big names in the NRL that have brought plenty of talent to the domestic competition. Wests star, Benji Marshall will lead from behind the pack once again, while World Cup winning captain resumes his role.

Leeds-bound Greg Eastwood will add size and power to an already dominant pack, while Kristan Inu adds flair to the back line. Melbourne power-house Jeff Lima will make the front row indestructable with littel Issac Luke frigtening off opponents with is passionate rendition of the hakka in the hooking role.

Theres plenty of talent in this New Zealand side, because I haven't even mentioned Fuifui Moimoi yet. But I fear they may just finish short.

Prediction - Group runners up & losing finalists.

Part-time Wales perform against full-time England.

It would have been one of the most insignificant upsets in sporting history. For seventy minutes a part-time Wales squad fought toe-to-toe with Super League's finest English players and very nearly succeeded, not for the lack of fitness in the Welsh team.

After conceding 74 points a year ago in Doncaster, the Wales side did their country proud to have limited England's score to less than fifty. They did even better to stay within touching distance, trailing only by eight points after Ian Watson's quick tap from some quick thinking when England were penalised on their own try line early in the second half.

The reason they lost was simply due to the high level of consistency maintained by the English side, which is due to all of its players being full time professionals. The English level of fitness shone in the final fifteen minutes and they ran in 28 points within the final quarter of the game, which was so similar to watching a Super League side take on a Championship team in the Challenge Cup.

But full credit to Iestyn Harris and the entire Welsh squad for giving England a kick up the backside. Its encouraging from an expansionists point of view because it shows Wales are developing, despite the misfortunes of Celtic in recent months. Now what concerns me the most is England's upcoming performance in the Four Nations, and the form of certain individuals who played in this international friendly.

The most concerning of all is Paul Sykes. At full back he was inept at catching the simplist of kicks, with his knock ons giving Wales the ball within England's twenty metres on two occesions.
Admittingly Sean O'Loughlin played out of position in the centres, but even he failed to show his face until his try sixty minutes into the game. Even when he was moved into the loose forward's role, he went missing like a set of house keys minutes before your about to leave.
Richie Myler has an excuse for playing like he did. He hasn't played since July, which makes his inclusion into England's Four Nations squad even more unusual. I think he was played as a chance for him to blow off the cobwebs. I expect him to star in England's opener against France.
As for Thomkins, I would start him at scrum half on Friday. I would start him in the number seven shirt against Australia and I would put him at number seven against New Zealand as well. Yes, it was only a friendly against part-time opposition, but when you consider who else can play in the halfs in that 24 man squad he is easily the best man for the job.

So while Wales can look forward to a exciting European Nations Cup with games against Serbia and Ireland, England will be working hard in preperation to face Australia, France and New Zealand in a weeks time.

A previw on England and the entire Four Nations tournament is coming soon...

Super League Grand Final - The Big Debates.

Was he onside?

That's the big debate that has arose after Leeds clinched their third successive Grand Final victory 18-10 against the team they beat in 2007, 2008 and now, 2009. On a side note however, it was interesting to note the attendance for the match was the lowest in Grand Final history since Sean Long kicked the winning drop goal against Bradford in 2002. Was it the economic recession that has caused such a steep decline, or was it the fans voting with their feet after three straight Leeds-St Helens Grand Finals? But enough about the attendances. We all know Rugby League fans can't complain enough if there's a drop in the number of bums on seats.

The match itself had its fair share of controversy, not least the winning try eight minutes from full time. But like a soap-opera, we at A Tap on the Twenty like to unfold other unimportant plot lines before the big event gets dissected like a frog in a school science class. So instead we'll begin by having a stab at Kyle Eastmond, an action plenty of opposition fans would like a go at for real.

You may remember an article posted last year by yours truly about the amount of young players getting too much hype early in their careers. Well I'm afraid to say that it seemed I was right about young Kyle. He is not the saviour of English Rugby League we all seem to think he is. Pouncing on top of a kick that should have been safely collected by Scott Donald is not enough to be hailed the next best thing. We have got used to the sheer brilliance of Sean Long so much that after he broke his jaw earlier in the season, Eastmond was put in as replacement and flaws were being discovered in St Helens' game plan left, right and centre. If he is an example of the modern day half back, then he has no creative awareness and his kicking game is one of the worst I have seen in a St Helens shirt. If he is the example of a modern day half back in Super League, I bet Darren Lockyer will be smiling like a Cheshire cat on his flight to this side of the world for the Four Nations.

The next point is about video referee decisions, and despite the full use of technology they still can't seem to get a decision right no matter how small. It was a minor event in the Grand Final, but as a newly qualified match official it caused my blood to boil beyond the need for a thermometer. Kyle Eastmond's disallowed try was indeed the correct call. But Phil Bentham ruled that Eastmond was out of play after hitting the corner post, despite his foot being marginally on the touch line five metres beforehand. In which case, Leeds should have been awarded a scrum on the ten metre line. Instead they were given an optional twenty metre restart. A call which has the difference of ten metres might seem small, but when you consider that half the Leeds attacking line would be in the scrum for the first tackle it becomes significant that the attacking side couldn't have full use of all thirteen players.

And finally, the big debate. It wasn't quite in the same league as Jordon Tansey's infamous offside in Cardiff two years ago, but it was enough to cause controversy as Leeds' knowledge of the offside rule seems to be less than that of St Helens' in recent years. It was a good piece of play from both McGuire and Smith. McGuire saw the gap behind the defensive line and the kick was weighed to perfection under pressure. Smith darted from McGuire's right side, collects the ball before immediately side-stepping the scrambled St Helens defence to dive under the posts. All well and good and congratulations Leeds, except if you weren't a bunch of cheats and scored from an offside position.

But like Leeds on the day of the game, Stuart Cummings' defence of his official was solid. Although it did make me spit out half my coffee in disgust when I read about it in Monday morning's trade newspaper. The fact the camera was slightly ahead of play was used as an excuse to give the try. But if Bentham had used the different shades of grass as a marker, he would know there is more of a lighter shade of grass behind Smith than McGuire, before going back to a darker shade on the Old Trafford turf.

But after all the post match talk about being offisde or onside, Leeds were the better side at the end of the day with Kevin Sinfield giving an man of the match performance. But as he collected the Super League trophy, was it just me or did you think there was a hint of "Goodbye Leeds" in his after-match speech?

Who says the lower leagues are dead? We finally have proof they're not.

All season Sky Sports have been broadcasting one game a week from either the Championship or Championship 1 on a Thursday evening. It has generally been the most anticipated game of the round from either league that has been shown. As a result, the enjoyment from watching the Championships has been unprecedented. Take the Grand Final as an very good example of what I'm talking about.

While the skill factor is not as high as that in Super League, the level of commitment and desire to succeed in what is becoming a very creditable and unique competition. Due to the high skill gap between the Championships and Super League, for many players winning this competition will be the highlight of their careers. With increased exposure on Sky Sports, the best may indeed end up playing at Super League level. However, due to the attitude of Super League clubs insisting of producing their own players, which is more cost effective, only a handful will ever move without being part of a club's successful license being approved.

But the problem for the RFL is the capture the public's imagination that the Championships are indeed a creditable competition. Having cut off automatic promotion and relegation (something British sport must have for it to be accepted in this countries sporting society, apparently) then an outsider sees the leagues as nothing more than a feeder competition and a graveyard for ex-professionals. This is an obstacle the RFL needs to overcome for attendances to grow and for both Championships to thrive in the local communities. Only after successfully targeting local areas can a club become ambitious because the communiy is the foundation to growing attendances and regular supporters.

Club Call 2009 - Leeds choose to play Catalan.

Leeds have chosen to play Catalan at Headingley, leaving the biggest game of the weekend at St Helens as the hosts take on local rivals Wigan on Saturday night. To no ones surprise, Brain McLennan and Gary Hetherington chose to play the lowest rank side out of the two preliminary semi final winners, which was the French outfit after they scraped into the play offs in the final round of the season after a dramatic win over St Helens.

But selecting Catalan was not simply down to them being the lowest ranked side. Catalan have to travel from the south of France travelling over 1,500 miles, the fourth time they will have done the trip to the north of England in four weeks. To top it off, the St Helens and Wigan derby is always a fierce contest and the choice to send Wigan down the East Lancs Road and play their closest rivals will tire both teams a week before the Grand Final. Of course, only one can make Old Trafford.

So what will the outcome be come Friday and Saturday night? Well you would think Leeds will walk all over Catalan at Headingley. But as mentioned in the announcement, will Leeds have instantly motivated the Catalan side to prove they are not the worst of the four sides left in the competition? As for Saturday night, its another tough call. Without a doubt Wigan are the form team of the two. But Sean Long can, and has in the past, defeated Wigan single handedly. To make things even more nervous for Wigan fans, this is the last time Sean Long will walk onto the Knowsley Road pitch wearing the red vee shirt.

I'm predicting the Grand Final will host a Leeds V St Helens final.

Leeds and Hull KR dominate Super League Dream Team

Leeds and Hull KR have dominated this year's Super League Dream Team with four players from the 2009 League Leaders, and four from East Hull have been included in the fantasy line up. The league's top try scorer after the regular season, Ryan Hall, is included along side team mates Keith Senior, Jamie Peacock and Kevin Sinfield. Albert Goldthorpe Medal winner Michael Dobson was selected at scrum half with winger, Peter Fox, and second rower Ben Galea the other two robins selected by a panel of senior Rugby League journalists.

A Tap on the Twenty's favourite for Man of Steel, Brett Hodgson, heads the line up at full back with team mate Scott Moore at hooker. Adrian Morley's ten year wait to be included again has ended after his previous selection in 1999. Matt Gidley is the only St Helens player selected while youngster Sam Thomkins is chosen at stand off.

Brett Hodgson (Huddersfield)
Personally, he is my bet for Man of Steel. He has been a key element for Huddersfield all season leading them to a record breaking third place on the Super League ladder and a first Challenge Cup final appearance since 1962. Nathan Brown has brought out the best in the talented full back, while Hodgson has brought out the best in the rest of the team and lead from the back.

Peter Fox (HKR)
After making his international debut against France last year, Fox has developed into a threatening winger. He is there to score tries, which is what a winger is supposed to do. The skill is to be in the correct position to finish off either a team effort, or a chip to the corner. Whatever the scenario, Fox is always on the end of it.

Matt Gidley (St Helens)
Its not been the perfect season for St Helens. Compared to recent years this has been their worst so far since 2003, with no Challenge Cup or League Leader's shield to call their own. Bu despite the misfortune so far, Gidley has been a shining star in what could be describe as a team of burnt out candles.

Keith Senior (Leeds)
Senior has been one of a pair of a centre and winger partnership with Ryan Hall, being responsible for assistance in 13 Hall's tries. Despite his age and his lack of international form, he is still a key member of Leeds' domestic challenge as he has been for the past ten years.

Ryan Hall (Leeds)
A wonder kid at only 21 years of age, scoring 28 tries in 26 appearances. He has always been on Keith Senior's shoulder to finish off a try in the corner and has speed to burn as he tears up the left side of the Headingley pitch. A true and underrated speedster in the modern era.

Sam Tomkins (Wigan)
Another shining star from the red rose county, this time from Wigan. Easily the best young player of the year with massive potential to team up with Richie Myler at international level in the future. Not without his fair share of mistakes, but his hard working attitude and has earned him selection to the Dream Team this time round.

Michael Dobson (HKR)
I bet you won't believe me when I tell you he is only 25, as it seems he has been around for ages. Which is just as well because he is actually only 23 years of age. And after being given his chances at Catalan and Wigan before going back to Canberra, he has been able to take Super League by storm and become one of the league's best Australian imports.


Adrian Morley (Warrington)
After a ten year wait, he his finally back in the Dream Team. Admittedly a different player now than he was back then, his tackling technique has been cleaned up and his misbehaviour has been erased. What Warrington have now is a strong, powerful international prop forward who rarely gives less than 100% in any given game.


Scott Moore (Huddersfield)
He has been very dangerous for Huddersfield this season. Another English youngster who darts from acting half back and can race round marker defenders with total ease. He has made 250 more metres than Matt Diskin from the same position and can execute perfect passes from anywhere on the field.


Jamie Peacock (Leeds)
As ever, the current England captain has been a spectacular member of the Leeds side. Shaped from a similar mould as Adrian Morley, he is everything that Morley is and more. Never giving less than his best, he has proven a point this year afte leading England to a dismal World Cup campaign.


Ben Galea (HKR)
One of the two Hull KR second rowers selected in this team, the veteran 2005 NRL Grand Final winner has showed his experience and ripped opposition defenders right down the middle of the field consistently all year. The Maltese descendant has truly earned his place.


Clint Newton (HKR)
The second of the two selected Hull KR second rowers and its not just NRL winners medals the two players share. They share the same playing characteristics as each other, which is handy for the KR team as if one is having a bad game the other will undoubtedly rise to the challenge. However is both players are on top form, they can be a dangerous combination.

Kevin Sinfield (Leeds)
No surprise for the loose forward selection. He has lead Leeds from the back of the scrum, and his kicking game is second to none. Leeds always have the edge with his goal kicks, as shown against Warrington on their own patch when they scored less tries but won the game by two points in the dying seconds. A valuable member of the team.

An even briefer lookback on 2009

A few things I missed previously. It was great news that we were able to secure the 2013 Rugby League World Cup to be hosted away from Australia. While it was a massive success, the same ingredients need to be applied on this side of the world to develop expansion.

The news that the 2013 tournament will consist of twelve teams, an increase of two on the 2008 World Cup, was greeted warmly by senior member of the trade press. Twelve teams will eliminate the need of a "super pool" in the early stages of the tournament, but I feel this is the wrong option for the RLIF to go in keeping every single game as competitive as possible. The presumed format of four groups of three will mean the big three of New Zealand, Australia and England are separated along with whoever the fourth ranked team are in the RLIF Rankings. Qualifiers will then be dispersed or drawn into the four pools containing one of the major teams.

While the planning is in its very early stage, the news of the possibility that certain games may be used as double headers to attract audiences is very good news. Attendance figures was one of several key factors in the 2008 tournament, with more fans turning up than what was expected to make it a successful tournament. Double headers means that fans will be more inclined to attend, as they will be watching two games instead of one big game in the early stages of the tournament. The like of Australia V Scotland at Warrington might not seem attractive as a contest, but double it up with New Zealand V Fiji no the same day at the same venue, for example, and the punters are getting value for money.

NRL on ESPN.

ESPN will show the final three matches of the NRL finals according to rugbyleague.com.

No announcement has been made, as far as I'm aware, on coverage for the 2010 season. However, ESPN will show both Preliminary Final matches on the 25th and 26th September, with the first match being shown live. The Grand Final on 4th October will also be shown live at 7am.

This comes four months after Setanta Sports went into administration and ceased broadcasting less than 24 hours before the second of this years State of Origin game in Sydney.

While it was nice you could get a live feed via Australian internet provider, Bigpond, it was only a matter of time before the NRL secured a deal with a UK broadcaster to show NRL games. The UK has the biggest TV ratings for NRL games outside of Australia and the league will no doubt have wanted a TV company to show games from this season's competition sooner. But for rugby league fans in the UK, British-born or ex-pats emigrating, this is definatly good news providing you subscribe to the channel.

Video game review: Rugby League Manager 2009

Rugby League Manager 2009 (inc Patch 4)

RRP: £0.00
Creator: Alex Thomas
Website: www.rugbyleaguemanager.com

They say the best things in life are free, but I fail to agree with that statement. The NHS isn't the rousing success it should be. Many experts agree we are letting our children down in state education, and the Lancashire hotpot given away by my local community centre the weekend before Christmas tasted like plastic in boiling water. But of course, there are exceptions to the rule.

I'm not talking about the toilet attendant who gives you a free lollipop if you freshen up during a night on the town either. I'm talking about one of the most addicting series of Rugby League games ever made. Admittedly the 2005 edition of this RL Manager series looked like an 11 year old had made a website and stuck a few hyper links together, it captured your attention for a whole three seconds. But the 2008 edition was a breakthrough, and set the platform for a scheduled 2010 and 2011 release as well as the current 2009 edition. The achievements of RLM2008 is the foundation to the 2009 game.

The presentation is the same similar theme from RLM08, and almost as if you were playing Football Manager. If it worked for Sports Interactive, it defiantly works for RLM09. The same 2D match play returns, which in my opinion is better than Football Manager's early games. It gives you a realistic bird's eye view of the players down below, as opposed to small circles running around a football field on FM. Away from the matches, the menus from RLM08 have been given a nice paint job to look like the entire game is sponsored by Leeds Met Carnegie, otherwise its exactly the same layout. The same list of managerial aspects down the left hand side. The same layout of player's names after clicking a sub-menu. The same female voice when trying to select the club to start your game with. And yet in an obvious way, this game is different.

Other than the layout and presentation of the game, 2009 it a completely different game to its older brother. You are given a lot more options when choosing your team tactics. They are no longer simply broken down into red zone, orange zone, yellow zone and green zone. Each zone has been split into three sections, meaning you can have different pre set tactics for centre yellow zone and left yellow zone. Up to 12 sections of the pitch can be tactically altered depending on where you are with possession. But here's the clever part, you can only plan up to six different sets-of-six tackles, and assign each set of six (labelled Set A, Set B etc) to any of the 12 sections of the pitch. Not only that, of the available set of advanced moves your team learns while establishing cohesion, only one advanced move for the forwards, and one advanced move for the backs can be used in each set of six. The challenge is finding the right move to use on the right part of the pitch while trying to break down the opposition defence.

Another new aspect is you now have more involvement with both the academy an alliance teams. You now have to pick the sides your young protégés will line up in. Of course the more games a young player plays in, the faster he will develop. As a result I myself am developing a fullback that is good enough to allow me to get rid of Richie Mathers. This more limited approach into young player development means I have more choice in selecting what players I need in specific position to nurture. Thankfully, you don't get to watch either the academy or allience teams play. The result is simulated, which means your not spending too much time with the kids, but that leaves more time to focus on the main squad. After all, even the best of the youngsters won't come to you if your first team isn't winning.

Who that team is, is now up to you. The selection of teams to manage is phenomenal. Every team from Super League and NRL, to both Championships and Rugby League Conference. My only critisism up to now is that conference team line ups are not real players. But who has heard of a bunch of amateurs anyway? Not when you can expand you coaching career beyond the domestic game. State of Origin and the now defunct War of the Roses teams are included, as well as eleven national sides including the ten from last year's World Cup. And all of whom allow you to select your own squads from scratch. Don't like Billy Slater? Don't select him for either Queensland or Australia. Think that Kevin Penny deserves an England spot? Put him on the wing. The choice is entirely up to you.

Now I've never been a fan of games being released for the sake of it. Its annoying when games like the FIFA series take their previous year's game, update the teams and release it as the next instalment. Thankfully this game isn't a carbon copy of last years edition. All the good ingredients that made RLM08 a good game, plus some new elements, have turned RLM09 from an good home cooked meal into a appetising plate full Toby carvery dinner. Its nowhere near the standard of The Ivy, but this game doesn't intend to be perfect. What it does is give you an exciting gaming experience full to the brim with teams, features all nicely packaged and presented with a pretty bow on top. I love it.

Graphics - 8/10
Gameplay - 7/10
Sound - 5/10
Presentation - 8/10

Overall - 7.5/10

A brief lookback on 2009.

2009.

Eventful. Exciting. Pleasurable. And not without its fair share of controversy. So in the week leading up to the NRL play offs, its best to go over the highlights of what already has been a busy season so far.

I last left you in the aftermath of Martin Gleeson's transfer to Wigan, with a reported £100,000 plus Richie Mathers. I think its fair to say that for Warrington it was the deal of the century. While Mathers hasn't been the perfect fullback, he has performed above expectation considering what his form was like in Wigan's colours. Gleeson on the otherhand missed several games after their loss to Celtic and has done very little in the cherry and white overall since.

Speaking of Celtic, they're starting to remind me of the fictional Harchester United FC which was the focus of the TV drama series, Dream Team. Still only a baby compared to more established clubs, their catapult to the top flight in such a short space of time has seen them struggle to compete this season. An early Challenge Cup exit and with only three wins to their name in the league (Bradford, Wigan and Salford) they have failed to capture anyones imagination, especially the Bridgend locals if you were to read into their home attendance figures. Not wanted by many in Super League to begin the year with, their implosion will have no doubt put a smile on the fans of many Championship clubs. Espicially the fans of Widnes, Halifax and Leigh.
But the real drama occured in August when it was confirmed that no less than six of their first team players were to be deported on the basis of playing and staying in the UK on the wrong visas. The offence is estimated to have occured during the 2007 season in which Celtic were promoted to what was National League One. Captin Jace van Dijk, Tony Duggan, Damien Quinn, Darren Mapp, Mark Dalle Cort, and John Hannay are all alledged to have played under a working holiday visa illegally, despite this practise being allowed in the past and a UK Border Agency rule change preventing this practise between the 2006 and 2007 seasons. Who is to blame remains a closely guarded secret, which may be a first for Rugby League. This story has a million and one complications, as another semi proffesional club had, before the 2007 season, appealed to the UK Border Agency to let its players play under this type of visa and they were granted permission. This was reported in one of the trade newspapaers. So my own personal opintion of this is that is was an administrative error. Thats not to say Celtic shouldn't face the consequences whatever they may be, merely that they may have been careless in applying for visas for their overseas players.

Rugby League is never short of a scandal, and the Australian's have seen to it they are supplying more than their fair share of bad publicity. Countless players have been accused of assault, rape, disorderly behaviour and being intoxicated in a public place. In my opinion the media seem ot be having a field day with the NRL at the moment, reporting on every player that so much as sips a drop of shandy. And if, as an ex-player, you thought no one would expose the wrong doing you did during your day, you can guess again.
I honestly feel sorry for Matthew Johns. Not only has he lost his day job on Channel Nine, but he has no doubt had to relive memories and rebuild his family over events that have occured seven years ago while he was playing for Cronulla. The woman in question is no doubt cashing in on the story being sold to newspapaers. The original police investigation saw no one arrested or found guilty, so why she had to drag these events up is at this time is anyones guess. Although the timing is suspicious after Brett Stewart, Paul Gallen and others were accused of wrong doing in quick succession. Of course these stories do have consequences. I'm talking about the rumours that Coca-Cola were days away from signing a sponcership deal with the RFL to sponsor the Four Nations. League Express reported that a representative of Coca-Cola's visited Australia when a large proportion of player scandals were being unearthed and he reccommended that the multi-million pound company pull out of the deal. If I were Nigel wood at the time, I would have been furious as the RFL have done nothing wrong before the deal collapsed. Its merely Coca-Cola not wanting to tarnish their company's image by associating themselves with a sport that is in a bad light. But amazingly, I don't blame them for pulling the plug.

Now I think its time to talk about some rugby. Queensland secured their record breaking fourth straight State of Origin series win after game two in Sydney. Although in my opinion the player of the series was New South Welshman, Jarryd Hayne. For a player on the losing side, he was nothing short of sensational. A true inspiration which none of his team-mates wanted to follow. when it mattered, New South Wales were outplayed, out-enthused and showed no desire to perform at their best. Overall, NSW's performances can be compared to their captain's, Kurt Gidley. For two games he was more exposed and targeted than Katie Price's breasts on a nudest beach. And for the life of me, I cannot understand what goes on in a NSW selection commitee member's head. They chose to select both the ageing Trent Barrett and Brett Kimmorley in the halfs, while Peter Wallace and Terry Campese were there on merit what they did last season. For me, Jamie Soward can count himself unlucky not to be selected at five/eigth as he has clearly been the best number six in the NRL and as a result St George Illawarra have won the minor premiership, and are odds on to make the grand final.

But as for the NRL, fans in the UK have had a hard time of it over the past few months. Less than 24 hours before game two of State of Origin, Setanta Sports have the plug pulled on them by the administrators after the broadcaster spent millions of pounds it didn't have on football television rights. A well known internet forum almost went into melt down with fans desperatly trying to find illegal internet links that show the game. Thankfully Bigpond, an internet arm of Australian communications giant Telstra who sponsor the NRL itself, saved the day and showed a legal live feed for UK users only. And it would seem that until a UK based broadcaster is found, Bigpond will continue to show NRL matches live for UK users via the net on the following link; http://www.bigpondtv.com/nrllliveuk

More scandal involving rugby league, but this time it was the UK's turn to suffer the humiliation as Gareth Hock was found to have traces of a substance also found in cocaine in a urine sample he presented to random drug testers. Its not uncommon for rugby league players to take recreational drugs. Even the very best took them during their day, didn't they Andrew? Hock's only mistake was that he got caught and as a result he was banned for two years from playing the sport. However, I fail to understand why a young lad with a promising career in front of him would take such substances knowing he could get caught very easily. The RFL take cheating of this kind very seriously, as a result British Rugby League is one of the most scrutinous testers in the eyes of the World Anti-Doping Agency. There are people out there, not just youngsters, who would give their right arm to play Super League and yet Hock has thrown it all away with flour up his nose.

And finally congratulations must go to Warrington for winning their first Challenge Cup since 1974. Also Huddersfield must not be overlooked, as they have looked true dark horses in Nathan Brown's first season in charge, but on the day Warrington were the better side and such is the romance of the Challenge Cup that the best team on the day wins. Bt its seems to have been a year for unexpected successes. Both St George Illawarra and Canterbury have been fighting for the NRL minor premiership all year and as two of Sydney's most well supported clubs both teams successes have seen attendances rise in the NRL despite all the bad publicity. One only hopes that these two meet in the grand final because that is sure to be an exciting climax to the NRL season, and a match not to be missed.

Murrayfield piss-up.

I don't know about you, but I had a blast in Edinburgh last weekend.

Laziness is a terrible sin - a flashback over the past six weeks or so.

Manly won the World Club Challenge in a very physical game against Leeds. Jamie Peacock, it seems, needs to learn how to control his temper after being sin binned for the second time in the space of three weeks.

Tony Smith took up a rather fancy role at Warrington. He is not officially a coach, but indeed much higher than that in some sort of capacity, despite still calling the shots. James Lowes therefore, is still 1st team coach, despite being under Smith. To cut through the bull, Smith is coach, Lowes is assistant but yet Lowes still has an assistant. Don't ask! Still, its good news in some ways for Warrington, having won three out of the last five league games. A much better record than when Smith joined the club.

Leon Pryce and Stuart Reardon go up in front of the judge who said they may go to jail soon, for the assault of Mrs Reardon and her boyfriend. Stuart Reardon has since left Warrington to go to Hull FC. They like criminals there, you see. Ben Cockayne was also up in court recently for assault.

Canterbury were docked two points for having fourteen players on the field late on during their 28-26 win over Penrith. The fact that the fourteenth man was on the field when the winning try was scored has seen the appeal turned down. Its nice to see that NRL officials are strict on such offences. In Super League over the years, Saints got away with a 13th interchange and Bradford have also felt the need to field 14 men against Warrington back in 2004. Both teams were 'fined'.

Martin Gleeson has felt the affect of Tony Smith's wrath and has moved to Wigan. Richie Mathers and a reported £100,000 go the other way, putting an end to specualtion that Gleeson will move to the NRL. Rumours are floating around Warrington as to who will be next to go. Favourites include Matt King, Michael Monaghan, both Anderson brothers and Lee Briers.

McNamara should walk the plank.

Arghh me mateys!

The call from Bradford fans for Steve McNamara to leave gets ever louder, and to be honest I can't blame them. While for me, Friday's match at Odsal was one of the best games I've been to all year. A comfortable Warrington side brush away any traces of testosterone in the Bradford team as they won the match 58-22. A little weak in the defence, but otherwise fulfilling seeing as we've struggled for most of the year.

But I do sympathise with Bradford fans. Tony Smith is the third head coach we have had in twelve months at Warrington at its increasingly frustrating when you know your team should be playing better than what they are. But for me, Bradford have been on this slippery slope down hill since Brian Noble left. Noble not only had the right tactics, he had the right players and desperately tries to bring Wigan up to the same standard as his Grand Final winning years of 2001, 2003 and 2005.

But the thing that stinks heavily for McNamara, is that he has replaced good players like Stuart Fielden, Shontayne Hape and Lesley Vainakolo with a team of nobody's. Nick Scruton? Chris Nero? Rikki Sheriffe? Who? These players aren't as good as the previous bunch. These players are not play off winning material, never mind Grand Final winning material. And judging from Friday's game, McNamara can't coach them. He can't organise or prepare them. For this reason I have been predicting Bradford will crash and burn for the past three years. Its looking likely I'm finally going to be right.

Nows your time Stevie. Will you sink or swim?

Too many games or too many Easter eggs?

There are times when you think rugby league is like a scratched record, going over the same topics and issues again and again. This time its about the amount of games played over Easter. For people like me who love to watch rugby league, no matter what the game is, it's a wonderful time of the year because there is so much choice. But on the opposite side of the coin, does the quality deteriorate during the second game, and more noticeably the week after?

Jamie Peacock (a player who's team lost both games over weekend) has come out and said that teams play too many games over Easter. In the space of fourteen days they are potentially playing four games, a scenario Peacock thinks is too demanding for the players in what is one of the toughest team sports in the world.

Don't get me wrong. I do feel for the players in this difficult time of the season. I played three games in one week once, and by the end of it I was knackered. Playing at the highest domestic level, I'd imagine that's ten times as hard. But there is a bigger issue here, and that's money and revenue. Especially in tough economic times.

The Easter weekend guarantees every club a home game during the holiday period. Easter is a time when a lot of people are off work and have the time to go down to the rugby. Therefore attendances often increase. Every club wants to cash in on this time of the year. We play in the summer, so cannot cash in over Christmas where Boxing Day and New Years Day are seven days apart. When we get to July and August attendances drop as people rush away on their summer holidays, so Easter has to be the time of year where clubs can guarantee a decent attendance at their ground and watch the cash roll in.

Clubs largely rely on gate receipts and TV revenue to keep them afloat, along with hospitality and sponsorship. Those are the biggest earners. Therefore it makes sense to give each club a home game and make the most of people's free time off work.

What more fun can be had chewing on a cream egg and watching the Lancashire derby?

I love Easter.

Over the period of five days there has been a feast of Easter rugby league action that I for one have tucked into without a moments hesitation.

On Thursday there was the Wigan V St Helens match at the JJB Stadium. Usually saved for Good Friday, this match saw Kyle Eastmond score a massive drop goal to win the game for Saints 19-12.

On Friday I saw three matches played one after another. There was the 207th Hull derby which was won by Hull KR. Hull FC were down 18-4 early in the second half, and fought bravely to come back 18-14. I watched that game at The Willows ahead of the Salford V Warrington clash, in which Warrington played badly, but got to within six points before Ben Westwood scored in the final play of the game. Chris Hicks handed Salford the win after missing the conversion. Finally it was back into Manchester and onto Walkabout for the West Yorkshire derby between Bradford and Leeds. It wasn't a particularly high scoring affair, but a gripping one nonetheless as Bradford shocked the Champions 10-6. The controversy came on the hour when Rob Burrow put in Brent Webb for a try in the corner, only for it to be disallowed. The reason? Brent Webb was in an offside position. I didn't know you could be offside as an attacker, but you can apparently.

The following day I was at Wilderspool as 18th man for Warrington Wizards against Bramley. We lost 18-36 in what was anticipated to be an exciting match.

Sunday was a rugby free day so onto Easter Monday where Castleford defeated Warrington at the Halliwell Jones. Cas played reasonably well and didn't really let Warrington into the game winning 28-6. After 33 minutes of non scoring action, Cas put points on the board first and never looked back. Its business as usual for Warrington. I make no effort to mask my support for the primrose and blue, so it was with great delight that I later saw Catalan defeat Wigan in one of the many familiar pubs surrounding the stadium that evening. Leading 14-4, it was the perfect remedy as Wigan threw the game away and lost 40-24 in Perpignan.

That was a grand total of seven games in a five day period. I'm very happy the Romans killed Jesus!

World Cup 2008. Its over, now move on.

There was no player rift in the England squad during the World Cup. The players have blamed themselves and we head into the next international with a clean sheet. So say the powers that be, but how do we move on from a disastrous campaign that saw England win only one game and perform so badly so three consecutive occasions?

Well for a start, I think if we had played at a reasonable standard we wouldn't be in this mess having a post-mortem. I can't see how, out of three super power nations, that England were expected to reach the final. New Zealand and Australia are two very good nations, and the squad the eventual world champions put out was very different to the one that lost a test series 3-0. So we can't be expected to make the final if we're just off the pace. Except we weren't just off the pace. We were miles away from reaching any sort of credibility. Papua New Guinea came out of the competition with more credibility than England. We were an embarrassment.

And what of the rift between Leeds and Saints players? Its obvious to see that there is tension between the two sets of players. Their match in March was a fine example of players out to, not just defeat the other, but physically hurt them. I haven't seen anything like it for some time. It was one of the most physical matches I have ever seen. Thankfully I was sat in my comfy armchair, away from the brutality and aggression. But anyone who suggests that there is no reift is stark raving mad.

But how do we go about easing tension in the national squad? Getting rid of the dead weight would be a good start. Leon Pryce, supposedly one of the best stand offs in Super League was a dead rubber. Mark Calderwood was nigh on useless. Rob Burrow, Ade Gardner, Paul Wellens and Keith Senior all had terrible World Cups. Its little surprise that five of the six names mentioned come from the two best teams in Super League.

But there's the problem. Week in week out they are the best in the competition. But put the best together and they can't play. Considering the last time they played in an international jersey they were nothing short of disgraceful, its time we shifted some of the senior players out of the national side. Bring in a new generation of talent for the mid season test against France and see how they fair.

We couldn't do much worse than what we did in Aus.

Gleeson to Wigan, Mathers plus £100,000 to Warrington.

Mid season transfers don't happen too often. Thats why when they do its always a news story. The season is in full swing and the press are everywhere, swarming around Super Legaue grounds like there's no tomorrow. The news that Martin Gleeson is to move to his home town club, Wigan, is little surprise considering its been rumoured in the press and on the chat rooms for quite a while now.

It is bad news for Warrington, who must feel Gleeson is unsettled at the club and worth £99,999.99 as there's no way Richie Mathers is worth more than a penny after some of his performances this season.

What Warrington will do with Mathers remains to be seen, but when he steps through the front doors he will see a friendly face in Tony Smith, who coached the full back at Leeds before departing to the Gold Coast. This was at a time when Mathers was a decent full back, so maybe things can change yet for the former NRL player.

But in my opinion, Mathers won't fill the hole left by the England centre's departure in the Warrington line up.

RIP Leon Walker.

The sad news about the death of Wakefield reserve grade player, Leon Walker, has shocked everyone in the world of rugby league.

Leon Walker was playing in a reserve game against Celtic at a venue a short distance from the Bridgend ground. He collapsed and was taken to a hospital in Swansea where he was pronounced dead. The televised match of the final game of round six in Super League was postponed thirty minutes before kick off.

My condolences go to Leon's family and friends at this difficult time.

French rugby league - part three.

Part one was PSG. Part two is the successful Catalan. Now part three sees Toulouse being entered into the Championship, and exempt from relegation. Which you would have to say is a good thing considering they have been thrashed 70-0 in their opening game against Widnes the other night.

I never saw the game, nor have I yet to see highlights, but from various sources across the country that did see the match it appears Toulouse have a lot of work to do to really compete in this league.

What does baffle me though, the exemption of relegation from the Championship. I can understand why Catalan got exemption from relegation out of Super League. The difference between the two is massive, but surely the difference between the Championship and Championship 1 isn't that different. Attendances may drop but not that significantly in France I would have thought. The money would be similar from Sky and other TV deals in France (if any exist.)

Unless they are exempt so they can be given an all access pass to Super League in 2011. Theres one to ponder for a moment.

Challenge Cup 4th round ties.

The ties for the fourth round of the Challenge Cup are as follows:

Wakefield Trinity Wildcats v Leigh Centurions
Halifax v Widnes Vikings
Oldham v Lezignan
Leeds Rhinos v St Helens
Keighley Cougars v Castleford Tigers
Catalans Dragons v Bradford Bulls
Featherstone v Wath Brow Hornets
Hull FC v Salford City Reds
Doncaster v Gateshead Thunder
Harlequins RL v Huddersfield
Barrow Raiders v Wigan
Sheffield Eagles v Dewsbury Rams
Warrington Wolves v York City Knights
Swinton Lions v Rochdale Hornets
Batley Bulldogs v Kells/Hunslet Hawks
Hull KR v Celtic Crusaders

Easily the stand out ties are Leeds V St Helens, Catalan V Bradford, Hull FC V Salford, Harlequins V Huddersfield and Hull KR V Celtic. Five all-Super League ties in total with the biggest and the best being Leeds V St Helens. I for one am looking forward to this fourth round tie more than any other.

A Challenge Cup disgrace!

The Challenge Cup tie between Doncaster and amateur side Queens, had to be abandoned after 61 minutes due to crowed trouble at the Keepmoat Stadium.

Doncaster were winning 16-12 at the point of the abandonment. It was alleged that Queens supporters began the violence, although it is unclear why. Queens have in the past had a dodgy record when it comes to aggressive behaviour from both fans and players alike. The Cumbrian side, if the allegations are true, should be kicked out from future Challenge Cup competitions regardless of whether the RFL force the game to be replayed.

As a general rule, games abandoned after an hour usually let the result stand so Doncaster should take part in the fourth round. But their security and stewards should be looked at closely so that this incident never repeats itself elsewhere.

England coach to take the reigns at Warrington.

Tony Smith has signed a two and a half year contract to be the Head of Coaching at Warrington, starting immediately and before they play the losing World Club Challenge side, Leeds.

Things had to change at Warrington. They have lost all of their opening matches including two massive defeats to Catalan and Wakefield. Their only consolation is the good seventy minute performance against St Helens, where they seemed to filter out and allow Saints back into the game at a stage when they were dominating the game and were on the road to a good start to the season.

But after two demoralising defeats and a losing run that stretches into August of last year, they currently lie last in the table along with Celtic who have yet to win a game.

James Lowes will remain as First Team Coach, essentially Smith's assistant, while Smith has to conduct further duties tied in with his previous contract at the RFL during the remainder of the season.

As for Warrington's future, they have to get their season off to a winning start. A win against Leeds, (ironically the team they last beat at home) who maybe tired and demoralised after Sunday's disappointing World Club Challenge defeat, would be a great way to kick start the new season.