Roar Guru
Joined March 2014
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Lover of rugby league, with aspirations to write professionally about the greatest game of all
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Since 1999, 18 of the 25 grand finals have been won by a team with the week off.
Every so often, the bottom two teams are drawn to meet in the final round with the loser taking the unwanted wooden spoon.
Success followed Ron Coote wherever he went; in his 15 seasons in first grade, he played in nine grand finals, winning six.
Sitting third on the ladder with seven wins from their past nine matches, the best attacking record by some distance (30.71 points per game,…
The number of individual redemption stories by New South Wales players in 2024 intertwines perfectly with the series comeback as a whole.
It’s not hard to find rugby league’s toughest forwards when looking back through history. From the likes of Ray Stehr, Noel Kelly and John…
Ever since their ill-fated merger with the Manly Sea Eagles at the end of 1999, the North Sydney Bears have harboured desires to return…
As the continuing uncertainty of the latest COVID-19 outbreak affects Sydney, one thing has become certain: the National Rugby League must relocate before it’s…
Mitchell Moses is among the most maligned players in rugby league today. When he’s on, he is praised as one of the most entertaining…
Season 2020 has been one like no other for the NRL. We’ve seen the competition suspended for two months, teams spending months living away…
There are few sporting teams in the world with a history like the Wests Tigers, a joint venture that was formed by two struggling…
At the beginning of the 2020 NRL season, a lot of people rated the Parramatta Eels as premiership favourites. They started the season in…
There has been a lot of discussion over the future of Sydney’s stadiums following the New South Wales government’s backflip on the ANZ Stadium…
Jackson Hastings is just 22 years old, yet he may not get another chance to play in the NRL. The Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles are…
On Wednesday, talented young outside back Moses Suli was released by the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs, the second club to release him in the space of…
No team is happy when they are beaten. Every coach has their complaints with the result, especially in finals footy. Obviously, there were some…
State of Origin is a wonderful spectacle. It's the greatest sporting rivalry in the country, and a physical, entertaining battle to watch. However, after…
On Wednesday afternoon, news filtered through from Canberra that their star half Blake Austin had a broken hand and would likely miss the remainder…
NRL season 2016 has seen more refereeing controversy than any other in the code's 108-year history. This is largely due to the bizarre rulings…
Years from now, 2016 will be the year remembered for the death of the penalty try. Just a few instances of this were Round…
I basically just went through the ladder from every season, then checked the final round results of years when the bottom 2 were close to see if there had been a Spoonbowl.
This year's final round shootout for the wooden spoon is nothing new: Rugby league's history of 'Spoonbowls'
It would be remiss of me not to mention arguably the finest footballer to hail from the Northern Rivers in Joe ‘Chimpy’ Busch.
A fisherman on the Clarence by trade, he was born at Maclean and played barefoot for Harwood Island before being discovered by Dinny Campbell during a rep game in Grafton. He eventually moved to Sydney, join Easts and quickly rose through the ranks to play for NSW and Australia, controversially denied a try that would have won the Ashes in 1929-30. He also had stints at Balmain and in England.
In 1992, he was rated no. 20 in RLW’s greatest ever players, and was named in the ARL Hall of Fame as one of the 100 greatest players of the century, along with another player in this team, Vic Armbruster
Of Giants, Rebels and sausage rolls: The Northern Rivers all stars
Wayne Pearce played for Balmain, a team that no longer exists in its original form. Paul Carter has been sacked by several different clubs and Nathan Cleary was signed by the Panthers when his father was coaching there
Why not a father-son rule in the NRL?
The 2016 Knights lost 22 games, not 25. In 24 games, they won 1 ( round 6 v Wests Tigers), drew 1 (round 3 v Canberra Raiders) and lost the rest
Another ten rugby league records that will never be broken
The 2016 Knights lost 22 games, not 25. In 24 games, they won 1 ( round 6 v Wests Tigers), drew 1 (round 3 v Canberra Raiders and lost the rest
Another ten rugby league records that will never be broken
Here’s a remarkable fact about the 1925 season: the Rabbitohs were so far in front of everyone else that the season was called off early and Souths were awarded the premiership by first past the post (as it was in those days).
Another ten rugby league records that will never be broken
There wasn’t a lot of quality grand finals in the 2000s. My list would be:
4. 2001
3. 2009
2. 2002
1. 2005
The top four NRL grand finals of the 2000s
Chicago Bears used the bear mascot long before North Sydney. VFL clubs Footscray and Collingwood adopted the bulldog and magpie as their mascots long before Canterbury-Bankstown and Western Suburbs did. Rams was ripped off from the NFL. The Western Reds mascot comes from the red kangaroo of Western Australia. The Roosters mascot is believed to have originated from the symbolism of the rooster with the rising sun in the east. An eagle is still powerful even if it isn’t from the sea. And most notably the word ‘rabbitoh’ is what the South Sydney players yelled out when selling dead rabbits in the days where players worked regular jobs during the week.
Most fear and laughter-inducing team names ever
As much as I would sooner see Canberra or Cronulla win, there’s no escaping the fact they have two of the best players in the game (Cronk and Smith) with the experience of playing in and winning the big games. They are still trying to win back the other premiership they lost in 2010.
POLL: Who will win the 2016 NRL Premiership?
The main issue with moving the GF out of Sydney is simple. While people in Brisbane will most likely turn up to a Grand Final no matter who is playing, if it is Cronulla v Penrith (for example) most of the fans of those clubs live in Sydney and won’t be able to go to Brisbane.
The NRL grand final belongs to rugby league, not NSW
Many of the players mentioned in this article either committed their indescretions at other clubs or under different coaches ( mainly Brian Smith). Since Trent Robinson took over at the start of 2013, the Roosters culture has been cleaned up considerably. There are plenty of other clubs that have much more toxic cultures
Do the Roosters have a culture problem?
When the Roosters played Souths the Rabbitohs didn’t turn up until there was fifteen minutes left and the next week Souths conceded four tries in 20 minutes after leading 40-0
No more conspiracies Cowboys, this time you actually lost
The poor old Bears. When they weren’t bring beaten in preliminary finals, they were being beaten in Spoonbowls instead. I’d like to think Perth will be an improvement for them.
This year's final round shootout for the wooden spoon is nothing new: Rugby league's history of 'Spoonbowls'