Focusing on Australia.

When I set this blog up, I intended it to cover all aspects of Rugby League. That includes foreign domestic competitions whenever any news should wind its way into my ears. But so far I have been increasingly taking any news from foreign competitions with a pinch of salt before turning the page in the League Express and start worrying about other things. This is especially true in the case of the NRL this year. So as Setanta Sports finally decide to show three regular season games for the first time this year in the build up to State of Origin II, I think its time I did a brief round up of how things are looking down under, starting with State of Origin II.

So it seems the Queensland selectors took my first piece of advice, drop Karmichael Hunt. Hunt has been selected to come off the bench for the maroons, probably to replace Billy Slater who somehow manages to keep the full back jersey. Steve Price meanwhile, is in for Carl Webb and a shuffle in the three-quarters means Darius Boyd is replacing Justin Hodges. But the big news is Darren Lockyer will play at five-eighth, however there is currently doubt over the fitness of Johnathan Thurston. Scott Prince has been drafted in as, what Mal Meninga calls “a safety net”.

South of the border, New South Wales were no doubt gutted to hear Jarryd Hayne will miss the second match and probably the series. Hayne received a three-match ban on Wednesday, which means he will have no chance of proving himself for selection in the lead up to the final match. Melbourne winger Steve Turner has been brought in to replace the Parramatta three-quarter. However the good news neutralises the bad, as Mark Gasnier was cleared to play centre for the blues after a hamstring scare. In the forwards, Craig Fitzgibbon starts at prop while Steve Simpson and Kurt Gidley will be benchwarmers for the second match. But after all of that I cannot see a blues victory, as the combination of Lockyer and Thurston will split the blues defence like an office paper shredder.

On the field, Sydney Roosters have had an impressive season after missing out on the play offs for the past two seasons. Brad Fittler showed last year his capabilities to be a coach guiding the Sydney side to a rather improved run of form compared to Chris Anderson’s. He has carried this on and managed to guide them to third place after seven games. Melbourne and Manly continue to dominate the head of the league ladder as well, just as they did last year but with more competition. Gold Coast have been the surprise form team this year in only their second season. Just missing out of the play offs in 2007, at one stage of the season they were leading the pack until a badly timed loss to Cronulla dropped them into joint second. Cronulla themselves were another side going strong in the early rounds of the competition, but never improved on early success slipping down a little before catching up with four other sides on sixteen points. Before the season started North Queensland were my tip for Grand Final glory. This seems to have been a mis-judgement as they are second to bottom above South Sydney, who are once again facing the wooden spoon after reaching the play offs last year for the first time since 1989.

Off-field its not good news for the Sydney clubs. NSW government has imposed new taxes, which are starting to cripple the leagues club’s income. Added to the factor of other laws such as a smoking ban and other similarities that are affecting British pubs in this country. League clubs are such a major source of income for Sydney based clubs due to the high amount of competition for supporters, as there are many different teams and sports going on in Sydney. Apart from the nine NRL clubs, there is the AFL’s Sydney Swans, Super 14’s New South Wales Waratahs, Sydney FC participating in the A-League and the New South Wales Blues in cricket. Although the last two are played in the Australian summer, it is still a burden on spectator’s pockets. So what do the Aussies do? Relocate a few Sydney sides? No. Do you not remember the ambitious idea Super League had in 1997? The three expansion clubs didn’t go down too well in Perth, Adelaide and Auckland. Melbourne came after the Super League War and, with league official’s brain in gear after successful attendances in State of Origin matches played at the MCG. But apart from stints eleven years ago, the ARL hasn’t really tried to expand the sport further apart than the eastern states. If the NRL were to relocate, the ARL has to start playing State of Origin matches in Perth, Adelaide and Darwin first, before setting up a club to locate there on a regular basis. But this is a complex idea for the stability of NRL clubs, whoever and wherever they may be. Not necessarily a solution.

Many happy returns to Australian Rugby League.

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

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

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

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

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