1. Tomkins to Wigan?.
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| Sam Tomkins |
As discussed
in last weeks column it has now been confirmed that England full back Sam
Tomkins will leave New Zealand Warriors at the end of the 2016 season and
return to the UK. Even though Tomkins has admitted he has nothing definite
lined up it appears that everyone thinks it is nailed on that he will return to
Super League, although some media types have a belief that if he does he is not
guaranteed to return to his former club Wigan Warriors. I think this is rubbish
and I would be genuinely shocked if he returned to another Super League club –
if he did he would lose a huge amount of respect from Wigan fans and I don’t
think this is something that he will want to do – he loves the club too much
and will not want to be seen as just a mercenary who is chasing the money. He
has confirmed that he will not be playing rugby union next year and I would put
money on him replacing Matty Bowen as the Wigan Warriors full back next year, a
mpve that will probably see the retirement of the outstanding Bowen. I don’t
think the Kiwis will be too upset as they have pre-empted this decision and
signed New Zealand international Roger Tuivasa-Scheck on a bumper 3 year
contract from Sydney Roosters worth A$800,000 per year.
2. Canberra have got a star
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| Elliott Whitehead |
Just after
the Tomkins announcement came the news that Catalans Dragons English
international forward Elliott Whitehead has signed a 2 year deal with the
Canberra Raiders in the NRL. I am gutted about this as he is a player that I
enjoy watching and it would have been great to see him in the red and white of
my team Hull Kingston Rovers. I would have liked to have seen him stay in Super
League but if he has the desire to try his hand in the premier competition in
the world then good luck to him – I believe he has the skills and athletic
ability to be a success in Australia aligned with a strong mental attitude that
will ensure he succeeds. He had an outstanding 2014 season in which he finished
as the leading try scoring forward in the competition and made the England Four
Nations squad. Undoubtedly he should have been given far more game time than he
did and lost out to Joel Tomkins – a decision which I found ridiculous.
Whitehead will join fellow England international Josh Hodgson in the Australian
capital and hopefully he will settle in as well and as quickly as Hodgson who
has impressed everyone with his performances in the green of the Raiders.
3. Chase banned for 7 games for ‘cowardly ‘tackle’
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| Rangi Chase - 7 game ban |
4. James Graham banned for 4 matches
On to
another ‘tackle’ now that has caused controversy on the other side of the world
and this time I have to say that I cannot agree that the James Graham challenge
on South Sydney half back Adam Reynolds was illegal. The Good Friday match
between Canterbury Bulldogs and the Rabbitohs was a tight and physical affair
and the Bulldogs led 17-16 going into the final 2 minutes of the match. Graham
had made a tackle and saw that the Rabbitohs had set up for a drop goal to
level the match and charged at Reynolds in the hope of putting the kicker off.
It is clear from the video that Graham’s head was down and he was not aware of
the position of the kicker and just wanted to exert as much pressure as
possible to ensure his side won this massive match in front of a 40,000+ crowd.
Reynolds got the kick away but the pressure from Graham worked and the attempt
was well off target – however, Graham hit Reynolds standing leg and it appears
Reynolds has suffered a nasty knee injury. The Rabbitohs trainer was already on
the pitch and Graham
immediately called him over to look after Reynolds and
received a mouthful from the trainer which seems to have put Graham in a bad
mood instantly. The fact he was penalised for the challenge added to his rage
as he knew the Rabbitohs had a simple goal kick to take the lead with not much
time left. For what it’s worth, I don’t think the challenge should have been
penalised – Graham did not intentionally attack the standing leg of Reynolds
but his momentum took him through and he made contact with the leg at a
vulnerable moment. Players get injured in every match whether it’s from an
intentional challenge or not and we do not penalise based on injuries. It is a
shame that a player of Reynolds calibre will be missing from the game for a
while but I do not think Grahams challenge was illegal. Graham was obviously ‘pumped’ because of this
decision and it’s ramifications and he has a huge amount of passion but that does
not excuse his actions towards referee Gerard Sutton. Along with team mate
David Klemmer he harangued and verbally abused the referee continuously using
foul language and pointing and warrants a ban for these actions. His actions
helped to incite the Bulldogs fans who were already furious at losing the game
in such controversial circumstances and they started throwing bottles at the
officials as they left the field, leading to one of them slipping and breaking
his collarbone. Graham is the captain of a great club and quickly issued an
apology for his actions in the aftermath of the game but I think this all
stemmed from a challenge that was unfortunate for Reynolds but one that should
not have been penalised – however, Graham’s subsequent actions ensured he
deserved some censure. You can see the manic end to the match at the link below and make your own judgment:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34meqI68iJw |
| Angry Jammer |
5. New Zealand to play Leeds
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| Hull and NZ legend - Gary Kemble |
Leeds Rhinos
announced recently that they will take on the New Zealand tourists on Friday
October 23rd as a warm up for the Kiwis prior to the three test series
against England and to mark the 125th anniversary of the Headingley
stadium. I think it is very poor that they are playing this match to celebrate
a stadium (however old and great it is) when 65 miles up the M62 Hull FC are
marking the 150th anniversary of this founder member of the Rugby
Football League. I know the 1st Test will be held at the KC Stadium
9 days later and they probably want to spread the games around a bit but this
is an important anniversary and Hull FC have a lot of history with Kiwi players
including current New Zealand coach Stephen Kearney. In the mid 1980’s they
signed New Zealand internationals James Leuluai, Gary Kemble, Dane O’Hara and
Fred Ah Kuoi and these players have become legends of the club and are fondly
remembered 30 years later and in more recent times they have signed Kiwi
captains Richard Swain and Kearney amongst others. I know the club have plans
for a celebration to coincide with the 1st Test but I think it would
have been very fitting to award this tour match to Hull FC to mark their
anniversary (and I’m a Hull KR fan)!!
6. Brad Thorn retires
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| Brad Thorn |
It was
announced this week that Brad Thorn will retire from professional rugby at the
end of this season at the age of 40. I have not really followed the career of
Thorn and was surprised he was still playing, but I’ve done some research and
this guy must be the greatest cross code player of all time. When we think
cross coders we primarily think of Sonny Bill Williams in the modern age,
Wendell Sailor, Matt Rogers, Lote Tuqiri and Jason Robinson a bit further down
the line and I always hark back to Jonathan Davies and Martin Offiah going back
to the 90’s. But all of those mentioned played in the backs (although SBW was a
RL forward) and it is very rare for a rugby league forward to succeed in a
rugby union pack. But Thorn has. Thorn was born in New Zealand but relocated to
Australia with his family at the age of 8 and player junior rugby league played
in Queensland. He was signed up by the Brisbane Broncos and played 200 games for
the club in two spells (1994-2000 and 2005-2007) winning Super League and World
Club Championship titles in 1997 and 3 Premiership titles in 1999, 2000 and
2006. He also played for Queensland in 14 State of Origin games and represented
his adopted Australia in 8 Test Matches. In Rugby Union he made 59 Test Matches
appearances for the legendary New Zealand All Blacks which included winning the
2011 World Cup, he won two National Provincial Championships in New Zealand
with Canterbury, the Super 12 competition with Crusaders and the European Cup
with Leinster and thus became the first player to win a Super 12, European Cup
and World Cup. Thorn was a hard working consistent back rower in league and he
made the transition to lock forward in union without too much trouble. He is
currently seeing out his stellar career in England with Leicester Tigers and
will finish up at the end of the season. He may not be as high profile as SBW
or Sam Burgess but there is no doubt both is those will struggle to have a
career as successful as Thorn’s. Below are some highlights of Thorn's rugby union career:
A bit of
extra time thinking:
Talking of
Sam Burgess and he will make his first starting appearance at flanker for Bath
at Newcastle Falcons this week. All of his previous 1st team
appearances have come at outside centre and it is a big move to put him in the
pack although he does have the size and athletic ability to play in this
position. It’s a much more technical game when you play in a RU pack and it
will be interesting to see how he gets’s on. It’s probably pretty clear now
that he won’t make the England World Cup squad and we’ll see if that affects
his short term plans as a lot of clubs will be looking at him for next year if
there is a hint of a chance he might turn his back on rugby union.
Congratulations
to Leeds Rhinos legend Kevin Sinfield who became only the 4th player
in the history of the game to break the 4,000 point barrier after legends of
the game Neil Fox, Jim Sullivan and Gus Risman. Sinfield is now on 4,011 points
and will go past Risman’s 4,050 points to go in to 3rd place on the
all time list before he retires at the end of the year.
A few
rumours flying about at the moment including the potential of Gareth Widdop and
Mickey Paea signing for Leeds Rhinos in 2016. I don’t think there is a chance
of Widdop moving to the Rhinos as they probably
could not afford him, he is under contract at the Dragons and the Rhinos
have a readymade replacement for Kevin Sinfield in youngster Liam Sutcliffe who
was outstanding whilst Sinfield was out injured recently. Paea is coming to the
end of his 2 year contract at Hull FC and has history of going to the highest
bidder. At the end of 2013 Hull KR offered Paea a contract extension but he
went over to the darkside of Hull for more money and hasn’t that been a
successful move?? ;) The Rhinos are losing Jamie Peacock and Kylie Leuluai at
the end of the year and are on the look out for props.
Warrington
Wolves are struggling at the moment and have lost 4 games in a row and there
half backs are being constantly criticised. The rumour is that they will make a
major play for Melbourne Storm, Queensland and Australia half back Cooper Cronk
for 2016 and beyond. They have a millionaire backer in Simon Moran and if Super
League brings in a Marquee Player rule then anything is possible. The final
rumour is of a player going the other way with Todd Carney pushing for a
release from Catalans Dragons to return to the NRL with the club that sacked
him just last year, Cronulla Sharks. Both of these would be major moves if they
came off.
You can
follow me on Twitter @sharpster69.
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