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NRL Editorials - Rugby League Digest

Want to be a QLD Maroons Representative?

January 23rd 2008 05:03
URLQ


MEDIA RELEASE – 18/01/2008


Universities Rugby League Queensland (URLQ) would like to advise that applications are now open for the 2008 Queensland Universities Rugby League team, and is inviting any current Rugby League players attending University, TAFE or a recognised Tertiary institute, to register.


The Queensland Team is scheduled to resume their Interstate rivalry against a NSW Students side at WIN Stadium, Wollongong on Friday May 2. The match will be the curtain raiser for the annual NSWRL City-Country clash, with the current WIN Stadium attendance record of 19,512 set to be smashed ahead of Wollongong’s first City-Country fixture in twelve years.

From that interstate clash, an Australian Students side will be selected to compete in the 2008 Universities Rugby League World Cup, which will be played in Brisbane from July 4 – 16.

Having won 2007’s Interstate fixture in Brisbane 31 - 20, competition for positions in the 2008 Queensland’s Universities Team is tipped to be fierce. Maroon’s players commanded 12 of the 21 player selections in the 2007 Australian Universities squad, and the Queenslander’s will be again primed to dominate selections, given that this year’s Student’s World Cup will be played in their home state.

To be eligible for the QLD side, players must be completing full-time tertiary education within any Queensland University, TAFE or recognised College or Tertiary institution.


To find out more about the QLD team and eligibilty criteria, please click here

For any queries relating to the team, please contact URLQ Chairman Martin Unicomb on 0417 728925.
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Is the Drought injuring our NRL stars?

July 18th 2007 03:05
OPEN FORUM


Wednesday's edition of theThe Daily Telegraph contained an interesting story regarding the high number of injuries sustained so far throughout the 2007 NRL season.

The story states that there is currently 75 first grade players unavailable through injury for this weekend's Round 19 action, with 22 of those players being of representative standard.

Cronulla Sharks coach Ricky Stuart beleives that the evolution in the speed of the game is a mian contributor to the high injury toll, with rugby league analysts such as Phil Gould declaring that the number of interchange players must be culled form the current number of 12, back to 8 interchanges.

Both of these philosphies carry alot of merit, but my cohorts and I came up with another explanation. While this notion may be entirely out of left field, we would like to offer this explanation up for debate -

With the majority of Australia currently in the midst of drought conditions, what are the chances of the lack of moisture in our playing fields, and indeed the current ground maintenance procedures, contributing to the increase in injuries to NRL players, and in particular the rise in knee injuries?

We know that this idea is definately 'out there' in terms of a definitive explanation, but just consider these statistics -

- The Gold Coast Titans currently have the worst injury toll of any NRL club (12 players unavailable), with 9 of those players unavailable through knee or lower leg injuries.

- The total number of players injured through knee or lower leg injuries heading into Round 19 of the NRL season is 34.

- Interestingly, the three Queensland NRL clubs (Gold Coast Titans, Brisbane Broncos and North QLD Cowboys) account for 17 of those 33 players, with 12 of those 17, suffering from knee injuries. Queensland is notorious for their dry weather conditions, with the south-east corner of the state currently under severe level 5 water restrictions.

What do you think - is the drought partly responsible for the rise in leg injuries, or are we barking up the wrong tree?

We would love to hear your thoughts, so please express your feelings in the comment section below.

Cheers,

StephenP
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Name Your NSW Origin Side

June 28th 2007 03:48
Debate has raged throughout rugby league circles this week regarding the safety first approach adopted by the New South Wales Rugby League selectors in their selections fro next Wednesday’s Origin Three dead rubber.

With the Queensland Maroons holding an unbeatable 2-0 series lead in the 2007 Harvey Norman State of Origin Series, Blues selectors had a chance to look to the future in their selection policies, with many believing that this year’s third match would be the perfect chance to blood a number of promising rookies in the pressure cooker atmosphere of Suncorp Stadium.

The fallout from the Blues 10-6 Origin Two loss saw reports that as many as six players would lose their position for next Wednesday’s final bout, with the Sydney media particularly scathing on Nathan Hindmarsh, Brent Kite, Brett White, Luke Bailey, Matt King and Jamie Lyon’s below par performances.

Even Blues selectors Bob McCarthy, Laurie Daley, Bob Fulton and Geoff Gerard put the above players ‘on notice’ before Origin two, in an obvious attempt to inspire the beleaguered team into action. But the NSW selectors backed down on their threats last Tuesday, making only two forced changes for next Wednesday’s Origin Three.

With Braith Anasta unavailable through injury, Blues selectors promoted Greg Bird from the bench into the starting five-eighth position, with Newcastle utility Kurt Gidley slotting into the fourth bench spot. Origin One halfback Jarrod Mullen was overlooked by selectors after returning from injury a fortnight ago, with Storm prop Brett White axed in favour of Sharks lock Paul Gallen.

But the Blues selectors missed a valuable opportunity to take look into the future, with some experts calling for the promotion of talented youngsters Robbie Farah, Dean Collis, Nathan Merritt and Ben Creagh to be thrown into what is essentially a meaningless match.

Below is an alternate team of New South Wales Blues that could have taken the field next Wednesday night, and we would love to hear your selection thoughts via the comments section below. Who do you think should be in, and who should be dropped?

NSW Blues –
Brett Stewart, Nathan Merritt, Dean Collis, Matt Cooper, Jarryd Hayne, Jarrod Mullen, Brett Kimmorley, Brent Kite, Danny Buderus ©, Willie Mason, Nathan Hindmarsh, Andrew Ryan, Paul Gallen
Interchange –Steve Simpson, Ryan Hoffman, Kurt Gidley, Ben Creagh

Cheers,

StephenP
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The National Rugby League?? Why AFL beats NRL in national popularity.

December 23rd 2006 11:53
If the National Rugby League ever hopes to compete with the Australian Football League for the crown of Australia's number one footballing code, than they must seriously consider expanding their competition within the next five years.

The NRL currently encompasses three Australian states and one New Zealand island, but yet still promotes itself as a national footballing league, ignoring the fact that there are four other states that are not represented. While South Australia had the Adelaide Rams, and Western Australia had the Western Reds for a short time throughout the 1990's, the NRL has quite rightly chosen to shore up the games popularity in it's own grassroots regions before expanding nationaly


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A Player Draft for the NRL?

December 21st 2006 11:31
Let's try it again!


With the almost farcial solution to the scrapping of the laughable anti-tampering, mid-season player trade-offs, is it time that the NRL looked at a player draft again


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All NRL Players to undergo Referee's Certificate

December 12th 2006 03:09
In what is an exciting and smart move, the National Rugby League have decided to go ahead with the plan to have every NRL player pass a refereeing certificate.

As was first mooted by us on League.net.au back in October, every NRL player will be required to undertake the basic refereeing certificate next January, as was decided at the annual Cheif Executives meeting in Sydney on the 29th of November


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The Golden Try - Worth a Try!

November 30th 2006 12:01
The Golden Try - Worth a Try!


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Interchange Players

November 30th 2006 11:37
New NRL Rule Proposals - Forward Passes

Every Wednesday from today until season 2007, we here at www.league.net.au will inform you about new rule changes or our ideas for proposed new rules to begin in time for next years NRL season.
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Forward Passes

November 30th 2006 11:27
New NRL Rule Proposals - Forward Passes

Every Wednesday from today until season 2007, we here at www.league.net.au will inform you about new rule changes or our ideas for proposed new ideas to begin for next years NRL season.
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