CrushersForever

A timely reminder of just how weird the Salford shirt is.

Spirit of Gary Schofield leave this man! The power of Christ compels you!

If you look at the matches from the 1994 Kangaroo tour, while they're less scrappy, I don't think you could go so far as to call them "sanitized". I think the mid-90s was a turning point, because the game went properly full-time professional then. Even in Australia, the majority of players still had jobs up until then.

Not to go on Schoey on it and start pining for the past, but there were some great Australian players running around in the 90s and early 2000s who could interchangeably play loose forward or stand off, like Jim Dymock, Jason Smith, Greg Florimo and Jason Croker.

I think the prize should be a tour of the offices. I have it on good authority that John gets about the place in a paddle boat on a river of chocolate.

The idea seems to have been drawn from the popularity of the NBA in the early 90s, and particularly from Michael Jordan being so synonymous with number 23. But it never seems to have really taken off in Superleague, and doesn't even seem to be much of a thing in the NBA nowadays.

Sounds like someone hasn't contracted Cougarmania yet...

I can't think of any other players since Carney who have gotten full-time contracts. But there have been a few who have gotten part-time contracts, particularly with Sheffield and Coventry.

This is the internet forum of record!

Carney originally signed with Gateshead. He began playing with Dublin Blues for fun, and got picked for the Ireland Students side. Presumably someone from Gateshead was scouting the student matches.

Oooooo, lovely. What type?

He seems to have a great attitude: completely unpretentious and eager to learn. I think he'll really make the most of his time with Canberra. https://www.rli.ie/news-details/10059082/

Then nickels and dimes.

The Mormons have always been keen in proselytising in the Pacific islands, so there's a significant enough proportion of the Samoan population at least that is Mormon. It's the only connection that I can think of.