The Rocket

The full story in today`s telegraph: Full story: https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/nrl/sydney-roosters-will-spend-500k-to-launch-a-team-out-of-los-angeles-for-2025/news-story/3b5b2133cd6cd3768be8c434cb0eef7b?amp&nk=9d2ae4f16633183f77c24eb04a4b0dc3-1718089025 The Sydney Roosters are on a groundbreaking $500,000 mission to break into the United States market with their own team based out of Los Angeles from next year. Billionaire Roosters chairman Nick Politis is leading the charge on the back of interest created from the Las Vegas double-header in March in a revolutionary initiative he hopes will provide the first proper pathway for gridiron players into the NRL. Under the plan a Roosters West Coast Rugby League Academy will be established alongside a team to be known as the LA Roosters to compete in a six-team competition in California. “This is one of the most exciting ventures our club has ever undertaken,” Politis said. “We see this as an exciting long-term opportunity not just to grow and develop rugby league in America but to provide openings for tens of thousands of great athletes that don’t always make it in the NFL or college football. “It is a serious investment into an area where no NRL club has ever been. “Who knows what can be achieved in the long term. There is so much potential. “We are incredibly optimistic as to the opportunities that exist to unearth future rugby league talent.” Politis is rugby league’s greatest visionary, the first man in Australian sport way back in 1976 to become a jersey sponsor with his car company City Ford. He now insists this latest venture into the world’s biggest sporting market will pay off. The Roosters were blown away by the Las Vegas experience earlier this year and the vision of independent commission chairman Peter V’landys to create a permanent footprint in America. The LA Roosters will be made up of part-time players in the Pacific Coast Rugby League competition. Roosters CEO Joe Kelly says the long-term plan is to attract players from the college football system. “There are one million college football players,” Kelly said, “Of those, 10,000 participate in the combine each year, 300 go to the draft and approximately 285 get drafted. “This leaves thousands and thousands of extremely talented athletes that are looking for an alternative once they finish college. “We will become a very attractive second option. And we will be on the ground looking for them.” Kelly has been working alongside Politis on the plan for several months. Their $500,000 comes from the Roosters Foundation, the club’s fundraising arm that is dedicated towards young player development in junior academies and pathways. V’landys loves what the Roosters are trying to achieve. The Roosters will be the back-of-shorts partner for both the men and women USA National Hawks teams and will also be the referees sponsor for the USARL domestic competition. Another $50,000 will go into a development fund for other American clubs to support the growth of rugby league awareness and participation in their region. “Our investment will hopefully accelerate growth and provide the governing body and the players with much needed financial support to create further awareness and interest in the game,” Kelly said. “In turn we are confident participation numbers will grow in the US domestic market. “This whole thing isn’t just about finding NRL players.” The Roosters also see an opportunity to entice rugby union players across to league. “There are conservatively 1.2 million rugby players in the US. They play in winter, league plays in summer so their seasons don’t cross over,” Kelly said. “There is a great opportunity to work alongside rugby and see a transition of players to league in their off-season.”

Yeah, I`m sure absolutely no thought has gone into this at all and you know better.

The problem is you can adapt all you like but the size difference means these things are going to continue to happen and players are going to keep getting suspended and at some point you`d have to question are they worth it. This is all said of course in the light that protecting players heads (brains to be more anatomically precise) is going to continue to be paramount in the game, or put simply, we won`t have a game.

Makes you wonder is there a future for these 6`6" blokes in the game, it`s a long way down to tackle the small blokes like Walsh, especially when things are happening so fast.

Sure he was tough but he was dirty #### as well. Price ended diminutive St. George halfback Mark Shulman`s career in the 1977 GF when he kneed him in the back, Shulman never played again. It was that act that lead to the NSWRL sending word down to St. George HQ that they could let Rod `Rocket` Reddy "off the chain". In the GF replay the following week Reddy was cautioned 5 times in the first 40 minutes with Ray Price bearing the brunt of Reddy`s fury. By the end of the game Price was a bloodied wreck. St. George won 22 - 0. Any word from Pricey on that episode.

This is unequivocally a good thing.

This. Bloody Nine even put in a bid. I think this is largely accepted. If the NRL want to monetize their sizeable viewer figure number advantage in the next broadcast deal then it is going to require either Ten/Paramount put in a bid for the complete FTA/Streaming rights, many say that this may be their only hope of survival as a television station. Likewise whether Nine/Stan will admit the failure of their super rugby gamble and put in a bid for the same complete package. Many argue that this may be the only way that they will save Stan. It will be only then that Foxtel will realise the danger of completing missing out on NRL and the catastrophic effect that would have on their bottom-line, probably send them out of business. Mightn`t even be able to fulfil other contracts they have signed.

Apparently there`s been a massive increase in Touch across Oz last year as well with over half a million registered players nation wide now, with about 150 000 OzTag players registered as well. So we`re nudging 900 000 for the three forms of the game. Crazy numbers. That young Kaeno Kini was picked up by the Titans at a Touch carnival in N.Z., his mum said to the talent scout "but he can`t tackle" apparently the scout responded " don`t worry, we`ll teach him how to tackle". He seems to be pretty home in first grade now.

I think there`s several things feeding into the increase, the crack-down on bad off-field behaviour and the immediate stand-down policy has sent a very clear message to the general public that the NRL are serious about this and the image of the game and the people who play it, and I think the public like that. None of these things would matter so much of course if the on -field product wasn`t so attractive at the moment either.

They can say "it came away from his bicep" all they like, but none of the angles showed whether his hand lost contact with the ball, that being the case the ref`s on-field decision "try" should have been upheld. I think Des may have painted himself into a corner over this though by saying at the press conference , yes the NRL will admit they got it wrong, everybody makes mistakes and we apologise. It left them nowhere to go but back the bunker. On the up-side incidents like this and the one against the Raiders are exactly the sort of thing Des uses to create that us against the world ethos he is famous for instilling in his teams. Titans are on the up.

Like it or not the media is going to make a hell of a fuss if the Bears are readmitted to the NRL, it will certainly be in Nine`s and Fox`s interest too as well.So expect it all over front and back page of News Limited daily rag the Telegraph. It`s going to very hard for the general public not to be caught up in the hype especially once things like the jersey and logo come out. Perth`s original colours not being that much different from the Bears anyway. The Bears` old supporter base will probably add a couple of thousand to Perth Bears away games in Sydney and maybe 10 000 if they make the finals. Personally I`d rather a standalone Western Australian bid with a unique W.A. identity and one of the two bids coming out of Perth has indicated that preference. The good news is that the W.A. Gov`t has said it will get behind whichever bid gets the nod.

Finally, some news out of Western Australia: 'Ticks every box': Why Perth deserves an NRL team | The Canberra Times | Canberra, ACT "Western Australia is ready for a Perth-based stand-alone NRL team and all that is needed now is clear direction from the game's hierarchy about establishing it in an expanded competition. "That is the view of Peter Cumins, chairman of a Perth consortium working with the WA government to realise their goal. "Cumins, also deputy chairman of Cash Converters, told AAP that Perth had the corporate backing, facilities and public support to ensure an NRL franchise on the west coast would be a success. "All we need now is to have some very clear direction from the NRL and be invited to make an application, which we think would be successful, and then we will come along full steam," Cumins said. "We do have a very strong group of people, with money, where we would also be in a strong position to fund a successful team. "I have been involved with this for 15 years, and the reason we haven't gone into full PR mode is because we can't afford another false start." "Cumins was managing director of Cash Converters when the business was the major sponsor of the Western Reds. "Cumins and his consortium are liaising with a working group, appointed by the WA government, that has held discussions with the NRL and ARL Commission. "They have had discussions with (ARLC chairman) Peter V'landys and with Newtown and the North Sydney Bears (as possible partners), but my view is that we want a stand-alone Perth-based team and something that West Australians can get behind," Cumins said. "It ticks every box." "Cumins, whose parents came from Hull and were rusted-on league fans, played more than 300 first-grade games for the Fremantle Roosters and represented his state side. No one understands the landscape of rugby league in the west like he does. "The numbers all stack up because, unlike another team into Sydney, we would be a one-team town," he said. "Western Australia now has a population heading towards three million, and is one of the richest states in Australia with gas, gold and iron ore, so there is a lot of corporate money available." Bring it on.

The Defection of David Fifita from the Titans to the Roosters brought back memories of players whose defection from St. George most stung me. Probably losing Steven Edge to the Eels in 1980 after he had captained us to a GF win in `79 was the one that most surprised and confused me as a kid, Michael O`Connor to Manly was another I remember being particularly disappointed with as well. Interested to hear other stories and your reactions to defections from your team or other teams as well.

I`d love to have NZ2 be the next team into the NRL but the reality is despite the lovely website and much hyped announcements of readiness neither of the bids out of Christchurch make mention of a single sponsor or any sort of investment and talk of plans to fund the venture from crowd-funding are frankly embarrassing.

By coincidence even today I read an article where Andrew Johns was quoted as saying that in the modern game he doesn`t expect halfbacks to fully develop until their late twenties and not dominate until their thirties, once again no explanation though. It also said he believed Cleary was the exception and don`t expect to see many more like him. The subject particularly interests me because maybe it does perhaps offer an explanation for the dearth of consistently quality performing young halfbacks in the game, which is odd because given all the money spent on player development these days we don`t seem to be having any such problem with any other position.

Saw a headline the other day where Phil Gould said that halfbacks in the modern game aren`t going to start to stand-out until their mid to late 20`s. I gather that suggested that the era of young stand-out half backs turning up in their early twenty`s was going to be less likely to happen. I didn`t read the article but it caught my eye and when I went looking for it later couldn`t find it. But given the difficulty we see so many young halfbacks in the comp are having nailing down regular starting spots I would have been very interested in his reasoning. Maybe there is hope for the Tannah Boyd`s, Illias`s, Sullivan`s, Schneider`s, etc. etc.

Sea Eagles to host international Navy game | Sea Eagles The Royal Australian Navy Tridents take on the Royal Navy Brothers (UK) from 5.45pm. Click here to watch livestream coverage of the match from 5.30pm. This will be the eighth time the two sides have met since the first meeting in 2002, with the Royal Navy Brothers holding a 4-3 lead. The match promises to deliver an evening of intense competition and camaraderie, showcasing the best of military sportsmanship on the rugby league field.

It just seemed rather funny given the obvious sincerity in your post. Did cross my mind as well. Thought I better not push it.

LOL.

Brilliant we`ve got the ANZAC Day clash in New Zealand now, that will be another big event game every year. I can`t wait for tomorrow, 3 ANZAC Day matches spread across New Zealand and Australia. All we need now is an ANZAC Day eve clash in the nation`s capital Canberra every year, loads of dignitaries in Canberra at that time of year who would attend and it could be another big annual event game.

He was a grub but a great grub no doubt and one of the great attacking centres. My enduring memory of Hill was in the dying minutes of a match at Brookvale, holding off a Broncos` defender with one arm whilst running about 20 metres to score in the corner to win the match for Manly. Power, speed and determination, always loved watching him play.

I`d almost say the opposite, the quality we`ve had come down over the last forty plus years has led to the arrival of most new players being highly anticipated. If they don`t cut it, all well and good, that happens, but on balance there has been far more high performers than duds and the majority of fans would willingly recognise that.

I think it was in response to @DavidM before the season started when he said he saw no improvement in St. George this year that I stated that Flanagan was a winner and this would be reflected in our results, I recall you agreeing, notwithstanding the obvious bias a Sharks fan would have. Not much I have seen or heard so far changes my view on this, it seems that the players really want to perform for him. Btw, great to see Kyle Flanagan probably playing the best football of his career.

I know it`s Warriors` news, but this is massive for the Warriors` and Kiwi Rugby League in general. The sort of player who will attract other top shelf players to the club. James Fisher-Harris signs with One New Zealand Warriors from 2025 | Warriors " He`s one of the games` elite players, a super tough forward who sets and demands the highest standards. " Andrew Webster Warriors` Head Coach. “It’s a huge signing for us, undoubtedly one of the biggest in our club’s history." Cameron George Warriors CEO. "