Farmduck

Based on what I saw from L'Angleterre at last year's WC, I can't see the French Femmes beating them. The basics are there. Passing and handling was generally good, tackle technique was good but needs more beef. Kicking was dreadful. I believe it was 29deg in Limoux and both halves got a bit ragged towards the end - perhaps the NRL idea of 30-minute halves might be worth trying. I saw a couple of good RL-thinking bits from Ouest. There was a first receiver running diagonally at the line to draw the A defender wider then an inside pass back to an angled runner. They also did the out-ball-in-ball through the middle of the ruck move. Comparing it with NRLW: much slower, not as much whack in tackles and more basic attack.

FT: West 34 East 14

Here are the teams but no numbers: https://www.ffr13.fr/actualite-a-la-une/match-des-provinces-dorigine-les-filles-visent-langleterre/

Go Wests!! or is it Allons Ouests!!

The NRL has been saddened following the passing on Tuesday of former leading referee Kevin Roberts, aged 76. Mr Roberts officiated in 272 first grade matches in a distinguished career from 1975 through to 1988. He refereed three grand finals (1983-85), six State of Origin matches (1982, 1984-86) and four Test matches (1984, 1986). Roberts was a Life Member of the Eastern Suburbs Referees Association, the South Sydney Referees Association and the NSW Rugby League. As a player, he also represented South Sydney in 13 first-grade games (1960-62 and 1964-65).

In the lead up to the current comp I advocated against having women's teams mirror existing NRL teams. Since one of the most popular whines is "there's too many teams in Sydney," I don't think we should simply translate the same problem over to a new comp. I don't see, in terms of players available, how we can have a strong Souths AND a string Easts. This year's Roosters team is largely made up of players from the Redfern All Blacks team. If Souths had got in instead of Roosters, we would have had virtually the same players in different jumpers. I also can't see a strong St George AND a strong Cronulla. It may have been smarter to give the slot to Cronulla. St George-area girls could have joined Cronulla and South Coast players could aim for a future Canberra team. I would be looking for a 2-team per year expansion. I would also rig the draw to ensure the Warriors got a lot of home games next year. I know it hands them an advantage but these players need to appreciate that, at the current stage, there are important off-field goals which must be pursued.

The relevance of this lies in the finalists: Any expansion in the NRLW needs to be gradual, IMO, because its biggest advantage currently is the high standard caused by concentrating all the available AUS/NZ talent into just 4 teams. Where should the next team(s) be? Here's where the above finalists come in. Crawford PS, Rooty Hill HS, St Agnes, and Chifley College are all in Blacktown which is part of the Penrith District RL. Bass HS is in Bass Hill, in Bankstown. Wiripaang and Hunter SHS are both in the Newcastle area. A strong point in favour of a Newcastle team would be this from the Country RL Look how many teams have nominated for the Seniors: There are also 10 teams nominated for the 18s and 18 for the 16s. Apart from a couple of Central Coast teams these are all Hunter Valley teams. On top of that, the last NSW Senior Women's GF featured North Newcastle v Redfern All Blacks and many of those Norths players signed with the current 4 clubs in this year's NRLW. (Redfern players mainly signed with the Roosters.) So, that's my vote. NRLW 2019 should expand to include Newcastle and Penrith.

The reason the SFS is where it is has nothing to do with anything fan-based. It's there because it is/was owned by the SCG Trust. They weren't able to extend the cricket season because other sports were still playing finals until the end of September. They decided to upgrade the old Sydney Sports Ground to push all the football types off their cricket ground. The Sydney Swines still play there but back in the 1980s I think all the VFL finals were played in Melbourne so cricket could start a month earlier than the NRL GF.

Jake Friend has been charged for the tackle on GI but a guilty plea will get him 75 points and no suspension. Oddly, Slater's tackle on Feki is worth 200 points. Doesn't make any sense to me.

Sydney has a stadium-building-based economy. If we ever stopped building/demolishing them we'd go into recession.

Why didn't the Bunnies even try to run a whole set of 6 at Cronk?

Momorovski try!!!

It's like a camping ground - all tents.

Flake Burgerson!!!!

I'm watching. My dog finally let me have 3" on the edge of the couch and I'm making the most of it.

2 Po in the corner!!!

I'm getting sick of all this warm, fuzzy nostalgia about Allianz. If you went back and found the 10 worst crowds of the last 30 years, I bet 9 of them were at Allianz. So everybody loved it but not enough to go there.

I know it's a bit spammy but I think a lot of people don't read the Women's RL Section so I'll risk repeating this here. Draw and Broadcasting The women's competition will be played during the men's final series and act as double headers with venues and times to be confirmed each Sunday afternoon. Round 1 fixtures were decided on September 2 with the Warriors taking on the Roosters at ANZ Stadium prior to the Warriors-Panthers NRL clash, while Brisbane will host St George Illawarra at Suncorp Stadium before the men's sudden-death clash. Each team will play each other once over three weeks before the top two sides progress to the grand final – played on September 30 at ANZ Stadium prior to the men's NRL grand final. All games throughout the competition will be telecasted live on Channel Nine, Fox Sports and the NRL Live Pass app.

Today;'s game

Here are the highlights from yesterday's game:

FT: Roosters 26 St George 0

Victoria Latu try under the black dot. Good prop barge over from 5m out. Temara finally gets an easy one. 26 - 0 2 minutes left.

Davis claims a try under the posts but knocked on in the kick contest by St George teammate. NO TRY. still 20-0 with 7 mins left.