A superstar calls time
Greg Inglis’s career has been an incredible one.
He’s played 39 Tests for Australia, 32 Origins for Queensland and over 250 NRL games for Melbourne Storm and then South Sydney Rabbitohs.
Starting in the centres before moving to fullback in South’s 2014 Premiership campaign, Inglis was an incredible runner of the ball with speed, power and pace.
He must go down as one of the most devastating players to ever grace the Rugby League field.
It feels like the right time for him to call time on his career with injuries taking their toll in recent years.
Up and running on the coast
It was beginning to look like it could be quite a wait for Gold Coast Titans’ first win but thankfully for their fans, they got one and moved off the bottom of the table as well!
They fully deserved their 30-24 win over Penrith Panthers and they were inspired by Tyrone Roberts. Warrington fans might find that hard to believe but he was the stand out for the Queensland side.
Penrith, meanwhile, have plenty of work to do!
Common sense needs to prevail
Referees have, in the past, been criticised for stopping play too often for injuries such as cramp. But in Melbourne’s victory over North Queensland, Cowboys winger Nene MacDonald suffered a horrific ankle fracture after colliding with teammate John Asiata and Josh Addo-Carr of Melbourne.
But despite the best efforts of trainers and physios alike, both referees in the field ignored the situation that was developing in back play and played out a full set before blowing a penalty for a late tackle on Cameron Munster.
North Queensland coach Paul Green labelled it a “disgrace” and he’s got a point. Common sense needs to prevail in these situations. It was quite clear there was a major problem for the PNG star, and in those scenarios, the game needs to be stopped even if the players aren’t in the way.
The referees, Grant Atkins and Gavin Badger, have been dropped by the NRL as a result.
Cameron Smith breaks another record
There was a positive from that game, though. Cameron Smith broke Hazem El Masri’s all-time NRL points scoring record with his six points in Melbourne’s victory.
Smith needed two points to level the record and did so when he converted Will Chambers’ try just before half time.
Then a penalty in the second half secured it. He now sits on 2,422 points.
He was able to share the moment with two of his children who were the ball boy and girl on the pitch when he broke the record.
Another incredible milestone for an incredible player.
Why so surprised?
The community down under is shocked to see how well John Bateman is playing in the NRL. But why should they be?
Bateman had a superb season last year for Wigan and was perhaps unlucky not to walk away with the Man of Steel award.
This surprise shows ignorance towards the Super League competition. We saw it when Tommy Makinson was awarded the Golden Boot with Brad Fittler not covering himself in glory with comments he made at the time.
Bateman’s incredible work rate means he’s a perfect fit for the NRL and if clubs in Australia have their heads screwed on, they’d see there are a lot of other players in Super League that could make the transition.
We’ve just got to hope they maintain their general ignorance so we can keep all our stars in this country!