Rugby League: State Of Origin Game 1 2026

They're calling the result of last night's State of Origin match between New South Wales and Queensland the biggest comeback in Origin history. Queensland were running away with it until Kalyn Ponga was sent off for making head contact with a New South Wales player. This dropped Queensland down to 12 men for the rest of the game. New South Wales made a storming comeback and snatched the win in the dying seconds 22-20.

However, I think this perfectly illustrates how referees are having too much influence on the outcome of matches. The fans pay to see 13 against 13, not 12 against 13 for a long period. Mismatches ruin the spectacle. Personally, I think all games should stay 13 against 13, just that any player sent off must stay off for the remainder of the contest. 

Currently, one misdemeanour and the game is ruined. 

https://www.news.com.au/sport/nrl/state-of-origin-game-1-live/live-coverage/2f4c15cc4857e3047744c4b0454d1553

Revamp Rugby League

Rugby League in England is going through a tough time. Meanwhile, in Australia and New Zealand the game is resurgent. At the NRL level, games are sold out, and amongst youth, youngsters are on waiting lists trying to get into teams, and clubs are crying out for coaches.

Looking at the game in the North of England, there is a lot of history and passion there, no doubt about it. Moving to playing during the summer has been a big benefit. Games are now played in pleasant conditions, fans want to watch and players are not having to wade through ankle deep mud. Whoever came up with the idea was a genius.

I read somewhere that the NRL is making a takeover bid for Super League in England. As part of that, the games would have to move back to winter. Don't do it England, because if you do, you'll be consigned to the minors forever  (or is that miners...boom boom). The NRL see the competition on the TV and want to close it down, simple as that.

Better still, I have a few tentative suggestions for bringing life back to games in England:

1. Play over four, 20 minute quarters.

2. Introduce 2 point drop goals from anywhere (not the NRL two pointer from beyond the 40m line).

3. Scrap the 40:20 rule (largely due to the above, and what is explained below).

4. Only insist that the sixth play-the-ball must use the ball if play has not progressed 20 metres (this is like NFL, where you keep possession if you make yardage). If the team with the ball makes 20 metres, the referee calls tackle restart. 

5. Have two referees and scrap video referral.

6. Stop being ridiculous about how you define a knock-on. 

7. Score tries 5 points, conversion 1 point, penalties and drop goals 2 points.

8. Start the game and second half with a place kick-off, not drop-kick, and quarters restart from where play ended at quarter time.

9. Allow unlimited interchange, but have 5 players on the bench.

10. As a curtain-raiser, play women's Rugby League Nines.

11. Have a player draft, centralise player salaries with the cap at one million pounds per team. The local team becomes a licensee promoting the game.

12. Get rid of the 10 player overseas quota. This is nonsense as you can have an Englishman move to Australia at a young age, learn the game there, then return in their late 20's and be considered an import. Just scrap it, and have anyone of any nationality legally living in the UK able to play. 

13. Extra time is 10 minutes, with only a try immediately ending the match, otherwise the match ends in a draw if the score is still locked after extra time with no tries.

14. Scrap yellow cards. 13 players are on the field the whole time, but anyone sent from the field is excluded for the rest of the match. Teams only go to less than 13 when they run out of players on the bench.

Think about it; these suggestions would open up the game, reward effort both defensively and on attack, and make the contest fairer.

Super Bowl LX

I watched maybe 45 minutes of Super Bowl LX, and was lucky to see many of the scoring plays. Basically, I'd never go out of my way to watch such stuff, but I was following the winter Olympics at the same time, so did change channels from time to time. 

This was some of the worst football of any football code I've seen. How can anyone watch such rubbish? This was worse than rugby union, which has gone down the same road of incentivising less play while trying to look good doing it. For examples of football sports that actually play foot-ball, try rugby league or soccer. With these, the ball is in play almost continuously.

The big problem with American football for me is players being allowed to throw the ball out. In all other football codes that's not allowed. In soccer, you throw the ball in from out of bounds, but throwing it out is hand ball and a penalty, likewise in rugby it is also a penalty. The game is foot-ball, you kick the ball with your foot, if you want the ball out, you must kick it out. 

For the first time I saw the kick-offs where no-one can move after the ball is kicked, which is counter-intuitive, and looks silly. The ball has been kicked, but everyone waits like a field of pansies. And the scoring team kicking off is also silly, they tried this in rugby league and it failed back in the 90's. There is talk of bringing back some version of this again, but it's a bad idea, the scoring team usually receives the kick off in other football codes. To explain the thinking behind this, it prevents the team scored against ending up perpetually trapped in their own half. It is counter to the spirit of the game and would be very boring to watch, which American football is actually, very boring.

Anyway, back to the Winter Olympics for me, where athletes actually compete and do not stand around comparing their tutus.

All Blacks Coach Sacked

Scott Robertson has lost his job as coach of New Zealand's rugby team, the mighty All Blacks. It was to be expected. He hadn't measured up as the team at times looked disjointed and lacking direction, and they could just collapse at critical times. During his tenure, the All Blacks won 74% of their games played, which is similar to the amateur era, and well below what is expected of a fully professional outfit. As pro's they're expected to win more than 80% of all matches played. 

Personally, I think the rot began even before Robertson took over. That's because he was announced as the next coach before the incumbent had even taken his team to the 2023 World Cup. That they made the final was a truly incredible achievement when you consider that the coaching staff had no job after that final game. That coach, Ian Foster, is due a major apology. If he's available, he should be offered his old job back.

Then, Robertson chose Scott Barrett as All Blacks captain. That job is more important than that of prime minister in NZ, but the problem was that he's not good enough to keep his position on the field. So the team was always down one lock, effectively, while the team was often going backwards. 

On a wider note, and something rugby pundits fail to mention, is that rugby worldwide is undergoing a cash crunch. That's because sponsors are leaving. Rugby does not bring the audience that sponsors require. This year, they've suspended the Rugby Championship and instead, the All Blacks will do an old-fashioned tour of South Africa to rekindle interest and no doubt bring in some revenue. I think this cash crunch must have something to do with this coaching change. 

What sports are prospering right now? Rugby League is very popular, and in NZ the numbers entering the game at the junior level are so strong, they are struggling to find coaches for them all. Motorsport is also back, and athletics is once again very popular. 

And one last note: in 2023, the Rugby World Cup blew it by rigging the final. That was the last time a truly global audience tuned in to see a rugby game, and many were sitting down in front of the TV to watch for the first time. Many of these viewers know sports well, just not rugby. What they saw was a travesty, clearly rigged, and they started switching channels halfway through - that early. Since then, the audience numbers have plummeted. People have got better things to do than watch nonsense WWE-type stuff.

Update: I made this comment on YouTube, and quite like the way I worded it, so adding it here as well:

What went wrong? Scott Robertson coaches the game in a two dimensional way, while the game is at the three dimensional level these days. Steve Hansen understood this and managed his team superbly, and he had an answer to everything the opposition was going to come up with. Ian Foster, his understudy, carried this legacy on and did well, making the 2023 RWC final which was rigged (convince me I'm wrong) and so not his fault that it was lost. Robertson was a regression to predictable operations which most opponents could counter. Hence, the loss to Argentina in Argentina, and the capitulation to South Africa in Wellington. On a wider note, I'm pretty sure David Kirk (Chairman) is looking at the bottom line and realising sponsors are not interested in an All Blacks side that does not win ALL the time. It's about eyes on the screen for sponsors and these days there is a lot of competition, with rugby well down most people's priority list (NZ audience numbers are not significant). We have soccer resurgent, League is back big time with matches sold out, the NFL coming back after its woke-fest etc. When you look at this big picture, people are not tuning in to see a group of grown men do a dance and then look indecisive and, well, a bit soft. Sorry Kiwi fans, time to grow up and put your big knickers on, you're not going to be given a free pass because you look cute.

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/sport/584112/disposable-razor-scott-robertson-dumped-as-all-blacks-coach

Rugby League: NZ Warriors Victims of Racism

What I suspected all along turns out to be true. The New Zealand Warriors are the victims of racism in the NRL, read about this incident:

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/league/114635053/former-warriors-coach-mark-graham-reveals-racist-slurs-by-referee

Note that the NRL's main concern is how the slur came to be heard. That about sums things up.

But I think it goes further than referees calls. The Australian teams don't want all the talent stacked into the one team, in this case the Warriors. It turns out all the top talent is Maori or Pacific Island, and their natural home is in the Warriors. What I think happens is the Warriors get dumped on regularly so they never look good and so the talent moves to the other clubs, thus spreading the ability around. If the Warriors were allowed to win, they'd be fully stacked and the others'd have no chance.

Oh and for you statisticians, the research has been done on this and the Warriors never get a chance. It comes down to when penalties are awarded and on what part of the field. Early in games the Warriors are penalised when hard on defence or attack. This means the Warriors are put under added pressure. Then later in the game the referees make things look even by giving the Warriors simple penalties anywhere on the field, long after the game is already decided.

NRL: New Zealand Warriors

What has happened to the NZ Warriors? All of a sudden they're winners. It's the age of complete turnarounds. The Warriors used to be a team that played for 60 minutes, then collapsed in the last 20 minutes of every match. This was so predictable that I made good money betting against them. If they did manage to win then I'd simply double up for the next week and bet against them again.

But I wouldn't bet against them this season, now they look a completely different team. Whatever they've done at the Warriors, someone needs to bottle it. They'd make a fortune.