Paul Crawley

[milanja]

They say the gap is big between the good teams, and that two teams have been involved in 17 of the 25 grand finals since the nrl started, but also 12 different teams have won a grand final in that time with only parra,Canberra, warriors and titans missing out, and 3 of those teams have actually played in at least one.

every decade, going back to when league began, two or three teams have always dominated a decade, no difference now.

[Batemans Bay Rooster]

The Morning Star from memory is where those losers like to congregate. I may or may not have been employed by News Ltd in a previous lifetime and sadly may have even worked on the same floor as the late Rebecca Wilson and other well known hacks and alcoholics.

It's the Evening Star.

[dice]

Kenty conflating a couple issues there:
1) 3rd party, ambassador, the rumoured cheap houses offered to players' relatives, etc. That is all true and cheats and loopholes will always exist within a monetary based salary cap in current form. I think the obvious answer is to move away from teams self-determining how much a player is worth. NRL should intervene and say if several teams are willing to pay someone like Cam Smith or Cooper Cronk more than a million then you can't have him on your books for under a million. You can pay him under a million if he desperately wants to play there and accepts a pay cut, but we are deducting $1m from your salary cap for that player. Either that or a points based system which I know will come with its own controversy.

2) The new rules are largely about tackle counts and fatigue. You saw that on the weekend and you even saw it with Roosters getting flogged vs Souths last year (I recall we had to make close to 400 tackles). I personally believe the rules were brought in to kill the Roosters/Storm domination in much the same way the Surrender Tackle interpretation was changed in 2005 to kill the Roosters/Bulldogs dominance. Storm won the premiership due to unintended consequences. They still had the advantage of being able to catch their breath with good wrestling tactics and intentional penalties, they could still control possession, and they had the added bonus of being able to put tiring teams to the sword for short periods of the game. That tells me the people coming up with the rule changes actually don't understand the game.

[bondi paul]

They say the gap is big between the good teams, and that two teams have been involved in 17 of the 25 grand finals since the nrl started, but also 12 different teams have won a grand final in that time with only parra,Canberra, warriors and titans missing out, and 3 of those teams have actually played in at least one.

every decade, going back to when league began, two or three teams have always dominated a decade, no difference now.

Great facts Milanja, the article in question is a fine example of tabloid type sports journalism and on the point of journos I can’t name one excellent Aussie sports writer.

[ROC181]

They say the gap is big between the good teams, and that two teams have been involved in 17 of the 25 grand finals since the nrl started, but also 12 different teams have won a grand final in that time with only parra,Canberra, warriors and titans missing out, and 3 of those teams have actually played in at least one.

every decade, going back to when league began, two or three teams have always dominated a decade, no difference now.

A usual caller yesterday on Talkin Sport said that there is no comp in the world in any sport that has all teams equal in success. There is usually 3-4 teams that can win it...the rest are just making up the numbers. He made a lot of sense.

[Larry Long Balls]

It's the Evening Star.

Thats the place. Sorry been over 20 years.

[The Skeez]

You have come back from your Chookpen hiatus an angry man. Breathe, relax and enjoy the football man. You also blamed poor innocent Paul Crawley for the work of that cretin Paul Kent lol

They’re both Ricky Stuart’s mouthpiece.

Crawley lives in his brothers shadow

[JB_Cloey]

Relax.....

I smile when I read this rubbish.

It just means that they are jealous of us because we have a club has more to spend on better-managed resources which in turn attracts players to play for our club for lower pay.

I am happy to put $10 towards a gofundme page that will buy woke trophies for all the whinge also-ran clubs.

At least I have respect for those clubs who just focus on fighting their way into the 8 (Penrith, Easts B, Gold Coast, Parra - cant think of any others)

[TheLoneRooster]

And Kent has come to these grave conclusions after just one round? Rushing a bit aren't you Paul? Give it until R12 and reassess.

[Tom Verlaine's Ghost]

Everyone should get a trophy too?

Yes. Participation trophies will be given out at halftime during the grand final.

There is also talk that from 2025, every NRL team has to field at least one woman.

[Mickie Lane]

I dont have a problem with people who dislike the Roosters because Im so used to it. From the butcher to the grave diggers everywhere I go people hang sh!t on the Chooks.

[Snapn1]

Man i really love this club! Nobody hates the the shit teams! Of course we are hated! We had the first super star immortal Dally M and continue to have super stars but this time it's Super team,super coach,super co coach,super trainer/agent/ consultant's, super uncle Nick , super SBW/ go get that player sualii take the Lambo LoL , super living in Bondi and then the colours red white and blue the colours of the NZ and Australian flags!

Operate with only 5 junior clubs now

Honestly i would hate the Roosters if i was a Rooster but envy them!

[Jacks Fur Coat]

Yes. Participation trophies will be given out at halftime during the grand final.

There is also talk that from 2025, every NRL team has to field at least one woman.

Don't laugh mate...it could well happen. Will be probably just wearing Oz tags for tackles soon so..

[Johnny Brass]

Crawley is Bennett's biggest cheerleader he wouldn't have had any issue with the exemption if Sualli was still at Souths.
When Keary re-signed with us for less money than he could have elsewhere because he stated that he liked the area , was happy at the club which has great coaching staff and surrounded by great players and a chance at winning comps the usual rumours about brown paper bags came out.
Jerome Hughes re-signed at Melbourne for exactly the same reasons rejecting higher bids elsewhere and it's lauded as a great decision.
We are always going to cop it from the naysayers.
Kent made a great point last night when he said if your a 400 K a year player you would happily accept 350 to play with us or the storm to have a crack at winning comps yet lower clubs probably have to offer 500 for the same player who is just going for the money.
I know I'd rather have someone who is at the club to win than chase coin.

[King Salvo]

The Salary cap is only in place to stop clubs from going into administration basically not evening up the comp.

If Joe Blow wants to play for X for less money he could get elsewhere because that Club is always a finals/premiership contender that's his prerogative.

Not sure why there is this race to bottom socialist mentality that everyone and everything has the be equal which would lessen a sporting comp not strengthening it.

Clubs up the top are there for a reason and are not given any extra money or extra cap allowances to be where they are.

Clubs not in this bracket of teams need to do better with their recruitment , development of players and coaching choices.