NRL News
No substitute for Brute Strength

By Peter Roy

Rugby League has evolved a lot in the last ten years with fitness and athleticism more valuable than anything else. Sometimes a good footballer can take a backrow seat to a highly tuned athlete who can play more minutes, make more tackles and be fit for the following week.

Looking at some of the skill and flair of players like Karmicheal Hunt, with his huge step or Benji's hop skip and jump - these are certainly crowd favourites.

As much as this is exciting to watch, nothing gets fans more pumped up or vocal than a massive defensive hit. Even todays fans, who see a more policed game and less physical intent - still love to see the big hits and rough stuff come into play. (Who can forget Ray Warren's famous words "Awwwwww CRUNCH") - it's not just heavy hitting in defence - but also brutal front on aggressive attack is also loved by the NRL fans. A Grothe style run where the tackler gets flattened or Carl Webb running like a wild mad man and knocking defenders over like ten pins.

In the Monday night game in Canberra, as Todd Carney stepped the defence and scored his team's first try - he actually had a teammate push him and tail him over the line. While Carney did well to score a nice try, NRL these days see's a lot of softer stuff such as team mates pushing and driving in offence to help their own player make ground. Sure, they want to help the team in every play - but really, I would be embarrassed if a team mate had to help push me to gain metres? Imagine big Mark Geyer having Steve Carter PUSH him up the field? No way.

Take for example Anthony Watmough. A very talented player and an asset to Manly who pushes through the line well. Compare this to - Anthony Tupou who will smash, fend and bash his way through the defence and lay on an offload for a team mate. Always intense and exciting and much preferred by the NRL faithful.

Well in Round 5 it seems we may have unearthed a player with the bash and barge of yesteryear. Surely it has to be the Tigers new boy Taniela Tuiaki. His run in the second half taking it up the outside and beating 4 or 5 defenders was inspirational. He was like the incredible hulk as he fended half the Cronulla team off like rag dolls. The roar from the 17,500 Campbelltown fans was proof of its popularity, the way this guy is going - they'll need an ambulance to cleanup the aftermath of one of his runs. I didn't expect half the Cronulla team to get up after they were flattened by the runaway train.

Another example is the exciting backs, such as Bowen or Wade McKinnon - these guys have pure speed and quick stepping talent and regularly beat their defenders. When you compare to a Nathan Hindmarsh bash and barge line break, Piggy or Sonny Bill Williams - the heavy, intensive stuff gets the juices of NRL followers flowing.

Guys built like Mack Trucks, Shane Webcke - simply irreplaceable - his loss is being heavily felt by the Broncos as they battle away at the NRL cellar in 2007. And love him or hate him - on his day big Willie Mason has the ability to run over the top of opposite players like a steam roller.

So while the backs are pretty to watch and get the accolades, we all know "the forwards have to lay the platform " so the bacline can look slick.

Imagine being a player, you have the ball in your hand ready to attack, you look up and two metres in front of you is Rueben Wiki charging at you to take yo down, he has steam coming out of his ears and looks like a wild animal. This is the difference between beautiful backs and heavy hitting forwards. The fear factor!

Now I'd be thinking about staying alive , rather take my chances with a beast such as Wiki.

As we make rule changes and try our best to keep the game clean, exciting and fair - we must never forgot - the game cannot be without 'Brute Strength'

	Team	P	W	D	L	B	For	Agn	Pts	Diff
1	Sea Eagles	5	5	0	0	0	110	46	10	+64
2	Storm	5	5	0	0	0	126	66	10	+60
3	Cowboys	5	4	0	1	0	127	98	8	+29
4	Warriors	5	3	0	2	0	114	89	6	+25
5	Rabbitohs	5	3	0	2	0	107	85	6	+22
6	Eels	5	3	0	2	0	111	105	6	+6
7	Gold Coast	5	3	0	2	0	94	96	6	-2
8	Knights	5	3	0	2	0	94	128	6	-34
9	Sharks	5	2	0	3	0	102	62	4	+40
10	Bulldogs	5	2	0	3	0	104	97	4	+7
11	Panthers	5	2	0	3	0	105	107	4	-2
12	Raiders	5	2	0	3	0	113	148	4	-35
13	Broncos	5	1	0	4	0	106	114	2	-8
14	Tigers	5	1	0	4	0	82	96	2	-14
15	Dragons	5	1	0	4	0	64	120	2	-56
16	Roosters	5	0	0	5	0	58	160	0	-102

Titans upset fancied Panthers at CUA

The Gold Coast Titans have grabbed their second win in the NRL with a hard fought 24-22 win over Penrith at CUA Stadium, Penrith this afternoon.

The Titans had to dig extremely deep to fend off a once again fast finishing Panthers outfit.

The Titans, who scored their maiden triumph in round two against Cronulla, recorded four tries against the Panthers, who scored as many while falling to their second defeat of the season.

The visitors crossed for tries through Anthony Laffranchi, Preston Campbell, Scott Prince and Luke Bailey, while Campbell added three conversions and a penalty goal in his first appearance against his former team-mates.

The home side found the tryline via Rhys Wesser, Michael Gordon and Frank Pritchard (2) with Gordon kicking three conversions.

The Titans were cruising midway through the second half when Bailey's converted try saw them stretch out to a 24-6 lead.

However, the Panthers refused to give up and the converted tries to Gordon and Pritchard closed the gap on the scoreboard to just two points with less than a minute to play.

The Panthers tried desperately to find a match-winning try from the subsequent kick-off but the ticking clock and a knock-on saw them fall short.

Both sides will back up on Friday night with the Panthers facing off against Parramatta at home and the Titans meeting Brisbane in their first local derby at Lang Park.

Gold Coast 24 (A Laffranchi, P Campbell, S Prince, L Bailey tries; P Campbell 2 conversions, 1 penalty)

Penrith 22 (F Pritchard (2), R Wesser, M Gordon tries; M Gordon 3 conversions)

The North Queensland Cowboys have continued their unbeaten start to the competition with a last minute 25-24 victory over a gallant Wests Tigers side in Townsville tonight. The Tigers took an early lead through a Daniel Fitzhenry try and looked strong throughout the first half as the Cowboys displayed some uncharacteristic errors and struggled against the determined Tigers defence.

A penalty and a soft try to Robbie Farah opened up a 14-0 lead to the visitors just before halftime, but the Cowboys hit back through Ashley Graham to trail by only 8 points at the break. The momentum in the second half swung wildly as both teams produced some flashes of brilliance, but when Paul Whatuira crossed for the Tigers to open up a 12 point lead with 20 minutes to go it looked like the Tigers would finish off the match strongly.

But someone forgot to tell the Cowboys – an intercept try to Ashley Graham brought the Cowboys back to within 6 points and then it became the Bowen & Thurston show, with plenty of half-breaks and chances to put the Tigers well and truly on the back foot. Matt Bowen then produced two amazing plays to snatch the victory from right under the noses of the Tigers; his 74th minute try to level the scores came from a magical run right through the heart of the Tigers defence, and his 80th minute field goal capped off an incredible night for the Cowboys custodian.

The Tigers had one final chance to score but couldn’t reclaim the lead that they’d held for 70 minutes of the match. The Tigers effort was outstanding and would have brought a victory at almost any other venue tonight. Benji Marshall produced some vintage form and was well supported by Brett Hodgson, Robbie Farah and Chris Heighington.

On the downside, Todd Payten could be in for a judiciary appearance following a high shot on Paul Bowman late in the game. The Cowboys were best served by their usual suspects – Jason Smith, Matt Bowen and Johnathan Thurston.

The loss of Luke O’Donnell midway through the first half with a serious injury could have been a cruel blow to an already-weakened forward pack, but Jeremy Smith and Ray Cashmere put in some strong efforts to fill the void.

Friday Night Football Tonight - NRL News Guide to Rugby League Rnd 2

St George Illawarra Dragons v Newcastle Knights
The Dragons demonstrated last Sunday that there is life after Mark Gasnier, and rallied to post a commendable victory under pressure to the competition newcomers. Boom youngster Richard Williams certainly looked impressive at five-eighth for the Dragons, scoring two tries and demonstrating plenty of composure in the absence of Gasnier, and co-captain Jason Ryles has signalled plenty of faith in his young side.

Meanwhile, the Knights showed tremendous character to bounce back from 24-8 down and proved they are a team that can win without Andrew Johns. However facing a nearly full-strength Dragons outfit without Johns away from home will definitely give the Knights a big challenge. Newcastle are also still without Test hooker Danny Buderus, but Terrence Seu Seu's display against the Bulldogs was more than promising.

Line Ups

St George-Illawarra -Josh Morris, Luke MacDougall, Keith Lulia, Matt Cooper, Wes Naiqama, Richard Williams, Ben Hornby, Dan Hunt, Simon Woolford, Jason Ryles, Ashton Sims, Beau Scott, Ben Creagh
Bench - Adam Peek, Danny Wicks, Corey Payne, Tony Caine

Newcastle - Kurt Gidley, James McManus, George Carmont, Brad Tighe, Adam MacDougall, Daniel Abraham, Jarrod Mullen, Josh Perry, Terence Seu Seu, Adam Woolnough, Steve Simpson ©, Clint Newton, Kirk Reynoldson
Bench - Todd Polglase, Cory Paterson, Matthew White, Daniel Tolar

Missing Players (Injured/Suspended)

St George-Illawarra Dragons -
Matt Head - knee - Round 6
Sam Isemonger - knee - Round 4
Mark Gasnier- pectoral - Season
Brett Morris - broken finger - Round 5
Justin Poore – suspended – Round 3
Dean Young - knee - Round 6

Newcastle Knights -
Andrew Johns - recovery / concussion - Round 3
Paul Franze - jaw - Indefinite
David Seage – knee - Season

Penrith Panthers v The Bulldogs
The Panthers will hope that the return of Frank Pritchard to the starting line-up will give them the added spark they missed last weekend in Cronulla. Matthew Elliott's experience from coaching the Raiders will have taught him to put the result out of the players' minds as they prepare for a visiting Bulldogs side minus Sonny Bill Williams.

Williams will miss two weeks after entering an early guilty plea to a reckless high tackle charge over the Johns incident but the Bulldogs still boast plenty of firepower. Brent Sherwin's half-back replacement Ben Roberts played a mature hand under pressure last weekend and his combination with Daniel Holdsworth will be key on Friday night, and the Bulldogs should cause the Panthers plenty of problems.

Line Ups

Penrith – Rhys Wesser, Luke Rooney, Luke Lewis, Michael Gordon, Nick Youngquest, Peter Wallace, Craig Gower ©, Frank Puletua, Luke Priddis, Joel Clinton, Frank Pritchard, Tony Puletua, trent Waterhouse
Bench – Junior Moors, Nathan Smith, Paul Aiton, Matthew Cross, Brendan Worth

Bulldogs – Luke Patten, Hazem El Masri, Daryl Millard, Willie Tonga, Trent Cutler, Daniel Holdsworth, Ben Roberts, Mark O'Meley, Adam Perry, Willie Mason, Nick Kouparitsas, Andrew Ryan ©, Reni Maitua
Bench - Dallas McIlwain, Chris Armit, Kane Cleal, Jarrad Hickey

Missing Players (Suspension / Injury)

Penrith Panthers -
Shane Rodney - Shoulder - Indefinite

Bulldogs-
Sonny Bill-Williams - high tackle / suspended – Round 4
Brent Sherwin - Ankle - Round 3
Matt Utai- Ankle - Round 3
Corey Hughes - Ankle - Round 5
Brad Morrin - Knee - Round 3

Money or the Box....or NRL

Peter Roy - NRLnews.com

As the NRL season swings into full gear for 2007, much of the talk in the media has been about the Australian Rugby Union offering big money to entice NRL stars into their game.

Discussions recently regarding the futures of Lote Tiquiri, then Timana Tahu and now Eric Grothe - are very similar to several years ago when a Rugby raid netted NRL stars Wendell Sailor, Matt Rogers and of course Lote Tiquiri.

Last year also saw the defection of Ryan Cross and Clinton Schifcofske from NRL to the ARU. Why is the NRL losing so many stars? Is it just the money? Has the salary cap restricted the earnings of players so much they have to look elsewhere? Are players not being tested enough in the NRL? Is the training and preparation too demanding?

To put it bluntly the decisions of the majority of these players to defect to the ARU revolves around money. With players having a career playing period of around 10 years barring major injury, most wish to earn as much as possible in this short space of time. Whether this ideology makes sense depends on who you talk to.

Some believe the players have every right to chase the big dollars, even to the point where they defect to Rugby Union to play a game that may not be as enjoyable, have as much exposure or provide an overall satisfaction equal or better to the NRL.

Players would never admit this publicly for fear of repercussions, however it has been reported that Timana Tahu even stated he thinks the game of Rugby Union is boring. So Timana is happy to take a huge pay paypacket but sit in cruise control and put up with a boring job.

The same is true of the regular workforce, there are many employees in jobs simply for the money - willing to take up a role of no enjoyment what so ever just to collect the big money.

The flip side of this argument is the group that are prepared to find the role that not only remunerates well but is an enjoyable challenge with an ultimate end game.

A few players in this mould are: Steve Menzis, Nathan Hindmarsh, Andrew Johns, Brad Fittler and Craig Gower. All respectable club men who have been chased hard by Rugby Union moles and other international outfits. Sure, these players are on large paypackets - but could have earned considerably more by jumping ship.

While it is a sense of disappointment and frustration when certain players choose the Money over the Box, I believe the ones that leave are only hurting themselves.

The NRL, unlike the ARU has a breeding ground that continues to produce quality juniors. The NRL also has a competition at club level that competes with the ARU at an International Level - and has a quality package of exciting attacking league with close contests between all teams.

So it's 'Tally Ho' to Union Defectors - because the future of NRL is brighter than ever and if you don't want to be a part of it - many others are lining up for the chance, and money isn't their motivator.

Tahu sneaks over and signs with ARU

PARRAMATTA and Australia rugby league centre Timana Tahu has signed a four-deal deal to play rugby union from next season

Tahu, 26, will join New South Wales for the 2008 Super 14 competition after his contract with the Eels expires at the end of the 2007 NRL season.

But he denied that his decision to become the first league player to switch codes since Canberra fullback Clinton Schifcofske signed for Queensland midway through the 2006 NRL season marks a major U-turn little over a month after dismissing the 15-man game.

Tahu, who won the 2001 premiership with Newcastle, and who has played 11 State of Origin matches for New South Wales and five Tests for Australia, said last month that he would not consider playing rugby "as a last resort", claiming he had no interest in handling the ball only "two times in a game".

"I like being competitive and I like to have the ball in my hands," Tahu said at the time.

"That would probably be the most stressful thing; the game's close and you want to do something and you can't even get the ball because they're very structured.

"Being a centre or winger, you touch the ball two times in a game - and I don't really want to be doing that."

Tahu spun a different angle today, saying "a few weeks ago, I was quoted as saying that I wouldn’t switch to union as I would want to touch the ball more than once a game".

"This was a direct quote to stamp out any rumours regarding my interest in rugby," he said.

"I wanted to make this decision on my own, along with my family, and not be influenced by outside forces.

"This is why I have negotiated to join the Australian Rugby Union without the fanfare.

"As you can see, it has been achieved."

Tahu said he "was excited with the direction rugby is taking for the future".

“It was great to see (former Kangaroos teammate Lote Tuqiri) re-sign with the ARU and Waratahs, and I am salivating at the possibility of running alongside him again," he said.

Wallabies coach John Connolly said Tahu’s international experience would be a great addition to Australia's ranks.

"He is a proven try scorer who has played at the highest level in rugby league and will bring a lot to the program," Connolly said.

ARU general manager rugby operations Pat Wilson said Timana’s signing was a major coup for rugby union .

“He plays a position which Australian rugby has identified as requiring further depth, and we also believe the experience and maturity he has displayed at an elite level will benefit younger players coming through," Wilson said.

Waratahs coach Ewen McKenzie said he was excited about the prospect of Tahu joining the side.

"Timana has proven himself an outstanding footballer with an ability to score points," he said.

"He is a proven representative player who could make a big impact in midfield."