Moves, Rumours,Judiciary, Injuries ...

[Graham]

Eels have today announced the re-signing of Rory O’Brien until the end of the 2017 season.

Rory joined the Eels this season and made his debut for the Club in Round 14 of this year and has played a total of nine games for the Club so far.

[Graham]

Melbourne Storm have announced the re-signings of five players ahead ot the Sharks R26 game.

Kenny Bromwich, Cheyse Blair, Felise Kaufusi, Nelson Asofa-Solomona and Mark Nicholls have all agreed to terms to remain in the purple jersey.

Bromwich and Blair will both remain in Melbourne until the end of the 2018 season, while Nicholls, Kaufusi and Asofa-Solomona have all re-committed to the Club for an additional year (2017).

[Graham]

St George Illawarra Dragons have announced that Nene Macdonald has agreed to terms on a three-year contract that will see him join the Club next season, until at least the end of 2019.

The Cairns Brothers junior, who can play on the wing or in the centres, is presently under contract to the Gold Coast Titans and has played 43 NRL games to date.

Macdonald, 22, made his first-grade debut for the Sydney Roosters during the 2014 season and has represented the Papua New Guinea Kumuls on five occasions.

The NRL World All-Stars representative (2016) will join the Dragons in November.

[Graham]

Robbie Farah could be headed to Redfern.
Fox Sports’ chief NRL reporter James Hooper is reporting the veteran hooker is on the verge of signing with South Sydney, and the deal could be done by the weekend.
Farah will cut his contract with Wests Tigers short, ending a tumultuous 12 months at the club he led to the 2005 NRL premiership.
Hooper revealed Farah was close to heading to Cronulla but is confident he will instead sign with the Rabbitohs.

[Graham]

Wests Tigers have been notified that Robbie Farah will not be at the club for the 2017 season.

Farah is set to be released from the final year of his playing contract to take up an opportunity elsewhere.

Farah has played 247 NRL games for Wests Tigers since his debut in 2003, was a member of the 2005 premiership-winning team and is a life member of the club.

Wests Tigers members and fans will have the chance to farewell Farah at half time of Sunday’s game against the Canberra Raiders at Leichhardt Oval.

Farah said that he was very grateful for the ongoing support from Wests Tigers members and fans and looked forward to saying farewell on Sunday.

 

[Farmduck]

Needless to say, Farah milks the media right to the very last drop. He even gets up on the Leichhardt score board and gives an interview up there. GTFO loser.

[Graham]

Thorn in Tigers' side.

You'll be better of without him. No good him trying to flannel Tiger fans.

[Farmduck]

Farah climbs Leichhardt scoreboard to remind everyone that it's all about him

[Farmduck]

Robbie Farah will be close to being the highest-paid player in the game next year after the Wests Tigers agreed to foot $750,000 of his salary in 2017.

After giving Farah little option but to leave the club he helped guide to a premiership in 2005, the Tigers will fork out a huge chunk of Farah's $950,000 contract for next year.

 

http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/wests-tigers/wests-tigers-to-foot-750000-of-robbie-farahs-salary-next-year-20160904-gr8cbd.html

[Graham]

I suppose he had an end heavy contract.

Not bad pay for playing with a ball.

The pain is paying him a fortune to play for somebody else.

Crazy!

[Sports Prophet]

Glad he's not coming to the Sharks

[Farmduck]

Jack Reed retires.

 

http://www.foxsports.com.au/news/nrl-finals-brisbane-broncos-jack-reed-announces-his-immediate-rugby-league-retirement/news-story/6af627ddbfb7586d082f5bb987ad764b

[DiddyDave]

Shame for Jack Reed,but that`s footy as they say. 

[Blotto]

from this http://www.bbc.com/sport/rugby-league/37300470  My reaction is  no way Kev, they have a better class of water boy in the NRL (ie Alfie, Matt King etc)!

 

Apart from that it is a school of hard knocks and his age is against him taking that kind of punishment!

[Graham]

Ivan Cleary is still waiting for a coaching opportunity to present itself at an NRL club, saying he’d love to take on a coaching role again.
The 45-year-old former Penrith and Warriors mentor has been heavily linked to St George Illawarra of late, with fans calling for current coach Paul McGregor to be sacked.
When asked on NRL Tonight if he was headed to the Red V in 2017, Cleary replied: “Look, I’ve been saying all along I’m keen to get back into the coaching ranks.
 
“Obviously there’s got to be an opportunity come up or a vacancy and to my knowledge at this point there isn’t any.
“I’ll just sit back, as I said I’m very keen and if an opportunity comes up then of course I’d love to look at it.”

[Farmduck]

from this http://www.bbc.com/sport/rugby-league/37300470  My reaction is  no way Kev, they have a better class of water boy in the NRL (ie Alfie, Matt King etc)!

 

Apart from that it is a school of hard knocks and his age is against him taking that kind of punishment!

I also could have played in the NRL but I didn't. There were many reasons:

• I was hopeless at all sports
• I was 44 when the NRL started
• Nobody wanted to sign me

I have tried to figure out which NRL team would consider signing Sir Kev but I can't. Maybe someone at a club said, "Why don't you come to one of our games?" or "Come to our next training session," and Kev thought they were offering him a contract.

[RabbitRhinoovOZ]

I also could have played in the NRL but I didn't. There were many reasons:

• I was hopeless at all sports
• I was 44 when the NRL started
• Nobody wanted to sign me

I have tried to figure out which NRL team would consider signing Sir Kev but I can't. Maybe someone at a club said, "Why don't you come to one of our games?" or "Come to our next training session," and Kev thought they were offering him a contract.

Do you seriously believe he couldn't have got a start at Newcastle or even South's? I've watched the game for 30 plus year (& SL since 2005) and Sinfield even at 35 is a better player than 90% of the current Newcastle squad and would have done no harm at all at Souths during our horrible run. 

I think us Australians kid ourselves a little in regards to how superior our RL players are, We should remember Kev won a golden boot and led Leeds through an amazing run of success (God forbid they even beat NRL sides) so I recon he could have handled a stint in the NRL .

Edited September 9, 2016 by RabbitRhinoovOZ

[Farmduck]

Rumour on the Tigers forum that Wests have breached the salary cap by about $40K. This is fairly common - most years at least 4 or 5 clubs go over by small amounts. The result is usually just a fine. After all, $40K is less than half the minimum wage for NRL.

 

Usually these occur when fringe players have incentive bonuses written into their contracts. If the club has a bad injury run then these players end up playing a lot more NRL games than expected. Partly it is also due to the way the Salary Cap Auditor assesses these deals. If a player is on $basic + $2K per first-grade appearance and last year he played 5 first grade games, the NRL says this bonus amount is $10K for this year.

 

Josh Aloiai hadn't played NRL before this year but ended up playing all 24 games. Ash Taylor at the Titans probably wasn't even in their starting 13 until Kane Elgey was injured and Taylor played about 20 NRL games.

[Farmduck]

Michael Ennis claims that his post-game clap was aimed towards the Cronulla fans in the crowd. This pic clearly shows the Sharks fans in their traditional lime green outfits:

 

[Saint Toppy]

Any news in the Aussie media about Titans prop Luke Douglas ?

Was told this weekend that Saints have offered him a 2 year deal to come to SL next year.

[Graham]

Only thing I could find was on Love Rugby League Site:
 
 

Luke Douglas could be wearing the red and white of St Helens next season.

Saints have approached the Scottish international about a move to Douglas has played 260 NRL games for Titans and Sharks

The 30-year old Australian also played four Tests for Scotland in the 2013 World Cup
He is expected to be part of the Bravehearts squad for the upcoming Four Nations.

 

Edited September 12, 2016 by G Las D

[Graham]

Melburnians have rallied behind their rugby league team like never before, breaking attendance records at AAMI Park in recent weeks.

Saturday night’s Qualifying final against the Cowboys marked the first time in history Storm had played three consecutive home games in front of more than 20,000 fans.

A crowd of 21,333 turned out to see the men in purple defeat the reigning premiers, setting up a home preliminary final at AAMI Park next Saturday night.

That attendance backed up the 24,135 against the Sharks in Round 26 and 20,263 in the previous week against Brisbane.

Another big crowd is expected on Saturday 24 September as Storm aim to book a place in the 2016 NRL Grand Final.

[Graham]

Penrith bench player Zac Hardaker is desperately hoping rumours of two NRL clubs chasing him are true – or he could be headed home to a very chilly reception.
Reports coming out of the UK this week indicated up to six clubs, including two from the NRL, were interested in the speedy utility back.
But his phone is yet to ring.
"Before I came out I was talking to five or six NRL clubs that wanted me," Hardaker said.
"They had discussions with Leeds about the fee but the club did not budge.
"That's the only thing that stops me from coming here (fulltime) at the moment.
"I understood that before I asked for the release.
"It's all about putting myself on the list so everyone knows I am up for moving and I want a new challenge. That's where it sits now. Nothing has changed."
Due to the salary cap, Leeds would have to drop their asking price considerably before any NRL club would even consider making a move for Hardaker.
But there doesn't appear much of a future for the 24-year-old at the Rhinos.
He said: "I've not really spoken to Leeds so I don't know where they stand on it and if they really want me back or they are not too bothered, I am not quite sure.
"I just feel like I'd benefit from a fresh start, a fresh team and different regime."
Panthers boss Phil Gould expects Hardaker to return home to Leeds.

Edited September 12, 2016 by G Las D

[Farmduck]

"Due to the salary cap, Leeds would have to drop their asking price considerably before any NRL club would even consider making a move for Hardaker."

 

I think they mean "due to the transfer fee." Hardaker might get $300K at an NRL club (about £170) which wouldn't trouble too many clubs but who would want him? More importantly, who would pay a transfer fee on top? Whatever your opinion of Ratboy, he may have killed off transfer fees in NRL forever. Hardaker came as the "next Sam Tomkins" which wasn't a great marketing line.

 

To be fair, we haven't seen much of him in NRL but is he better than T-Turbo? Dugan? Moylan, Munster, Latrell, Tedesco, Coote, RTS, Hayne, Boyd ..... Hell, based on cost and potential, would you even take him over Bevan French?

 

It has nothing to do with Aussies having no respect for the quality of English players - yes, I'm talking to you, Rabbit Rhino. It's a simple fact - he's not better than the FBs that most clubs already have but he's going to cost more. That's why nobody wants him.

[Graham]

But if Leeds don't want him back and nobody can afford him, something will have to give.