Signings, Suggestions & Rumours Discussion

As a Test cricket purist, it’s sad to have watched the monster that is 20/20 take over the game. 20/20 was designed to be faster, more exciting, highlight reel cricket. That’s the direction PVL is trying to take league in. If he stays in charge long enough, don’t be surprised to see him outlaw tackling. Not for safety reasons, but tackling will slow the game down too much. Players taking a ball carrier to the ground takes too long. Maybe we’ll be lucky, and defenders will be able to wrap their arms around the ball carrier and the ref will call held.
May as well just make it a 7s tournament all season if that’s what he’s aiming at.
 
Apparently Brllamy is nothing like what you see in the box. He gets it out there but addresses the players personally a lot different. He can also take a joke and be wound up by the boys. Thats where Madge fails, he cant take a joke and players cant relax and be themselves
Ive heard many players rexalling Bellyaches mega sprays (literally)


• Cameron Munster (2018 Preseason): Bellamy confronted Munster early in his career by showing him a photo of pro golfer John Daly and calling him a "fat f***" because Munster weighed 100 kg—about 10 kg over his playing weight. Munster later shared that he respects the brutal honesty and directness, which cleared the air and built a strong bond.
• Joe Chan & The 2026 Half-Time Bake: During a rough four-game losing streak, Bellamy zeroed in on forward Joe Chan during a half-time dressing room spray, leading broadcast cameras and pundits (like Shaun Johnson) to highlight how the intense public dressing-down drew mixed sympathy and discomfort from teammates like Josh King and Tom Eisenhuth/Heatherington rather than just fear.
• Trent Loiero & Stefano Utoikamanu (2025 Magic Round): Following a tight golden-point loss to the Raiders, unseen post-match footage captured Bellamy giving Loiero and Utoikamanu a furious spray in the sheds over discipline and late penalties.
• Matthew Johns (2013 Inner Sanctum): Matthew Johns recalled an embarrassing moment after breaking a 12-month sobriety when he stumbled into the Storm dressing room while Bellamy was delivering a post-match spray after a loss to Manly. Johns tried to tell Bellamy to ease up and offered a drink to Brett Finch, earning a classic Bellamy "death stare" that cured him of drinking vodka.
• Billy Slater (Retelling Direct Directives): Slater recounted how Bellamy used to relay volatile sideline messages through trainers, telling them to deliver his exact, unfiltered fury word-for-word rather than softening the blow.
• Chris Walker (Social Media Ban Era): Former player Chris Walker joked about the sheer volume of spit during a classic Bellamy tirade, admitting he once brought a raincoat into a meeting because he knew he was in trouble.

 
Ive heard many players rexalling Bellyaches mega sprays (literally)


• Cameron Munster (2018 Preseason): Bellamy confronted Munster early in his career by showing him a photo of pro golfer John Daly and calling him a "fat f***" because Munster weighed 100 kg—about 10 kg over his playing weight. Munster later shared that he respects the brutal honesty and directness, which cleared the air and built a strong bond.
• Joe Chan & The 2026 Half-Time Bake: During a rough four-game losing streak, Bellamy zeroed in on forward Joe Chan during a half-time dressing room spray, leading broadcast cameras and pundits (like Shaun Johnson) to highlight how the intense public dressing-down drew mixed sympathy and discomfort from teammates like Josh King and Tom Eisenhuth/Heatherington rather than just fear.
• Trent Loiero & Stefano Utoikamanu (2025 Magic Round): Following a tight golden-point loss to the Raiders, unseen post-match footage captured Bellamy giving Loiero and Utoikamanu a furious spray in the sheds over discipline and late penalties.
• Matthew Johns (2013 Inner Sanctum): Matthew Johns recalled an embarrassing moment after breaking a 12-month sobriety when he stumbled into the Storm dressing room while Bellamy was delivering a post-match spray after a loss to Manly. Johns tried to tell Bellamy to ease up and offered a drink to Brett Finch, earning a classic Bellamy "death stare" that cured him of drinking vodka.
• Billy Slater (Retelling Direct Directives): Slater recounted how Bellamy used to relay volatile sideline messages through trainers, telling them to deliver his exact, unfiltered fury word-for-word rather than softening the blow.
• Chris Walker (Social Media Ban Era): Former player Chris Walker joked about the sheer volume of spit during a classic Bellamy tirade, admitting he once brought a raincoat into a meeting because he knew he was in trouble.

Yea what you see is what you get with Bellamy
 
The girls desperately need speed, what are the odds of getting jakiya back?
I spoke to her dad last year. She didn’t want to leave. Cowboys offered a multi year deal & Tigers didn’t plus Cowboys gave her an opportunity at fullback apparently Kimmorley said he didn’t see her as a fullback. She still has a couple of year left on her contract with the Cowboys so I can’t see it happening.
 
I spoke to her dad last year. She didn’t want to leave. Cowboys offered a multi year deal & Tigers didn’t plus Cowboys gave her an opportunity at fullback apparently Kimmorley said he didn’t see her as a fullback. She still has a couple of year left on her contract with the Cowboys so I can’t see it happening.
I think she’s pregnant didn’t play this year
 
As a Test cricket purist, it’s sad to have watched the monster that is 20/20 take over the game. 20/20 was designed to be faster, more exciting, highlight reel cricket. That’s the direction PVL is trying to take league in. If he stays in charge long enough, don’t be surprised to see him outlaw tackling. Not for safety reasons, but tackling will slow the game down too much. Players taking a ball carrier to the ground takes too long. Maybe we’ll be lucky, and defenders will be able to wrap their arms around the ball carrier and the ref will call held.

I love Test cricket and hate 20/20 as well, they are different games but I don't see that with the footy.

I think the defence is as hard as it ever was, maybe the start of the season was little overboard but the last thing I want to see are slow rucks (Ala Melbourne) and teams being offside all the time, it just stiffles the game as a spectacle.

I'm an oldie and loved the 80s but I think the footy has be awesome the last few years
 
Its crap because you created so many "what if" scenarios to justify a major change in the game that rarely occur. Keep it simple. You finish the regular season 7th or 8th you are in.
That’s not the way broadcasters and the nrl think mate . The whatifs are about driving revenue and ultimately eyeballs . Simple=same old =same old = boring
 
TLDR: Carr works providing he runs attack and Hodgson is either seconded to defence or moved on entirely.

if you have a look at St George and the way they attacked under Flanagan, he did a brilliant job with the limited resources at his disposal through 2024 and 2025 before they fell off a cliff in his absence in 2026.

2024 was built around Ben Hunt and utilising him as the on ball half that played both sides of the ruck, with Flanagan’s role to be the pass before the pass and get Hunt in the best place possible to create. it worked. Hunt had the most try involvements of any player in the league that year and their attack was passable, despite having backrowers like Raymond Faitala-Mariner and Tom Eisenhuth and blokes like Jack Bird in the centres.

the year after Hunt leaves and in comes Lachlan Ilias and then eventually King-Togia to partner Flanagan in the halves. from my view, the shapes and play calls were actually quite complex, they just didn’t have the ability to execute.

fast forward to 2026 with Atkinson there and they went off a cliff. the denominator? no Carr.

Hodgo’s been moved around a fair bit both at WT and elsewhere. he was actually the defensive coach for Eddie Jones for England and Australia’s rugby union sides, although I will say he wasn’t particularly successful, he has coached it in a high performance environment previously.

ideally I’d like to see the back of him and we bring in someone with a better tactical mind, but if they are intent on keeping him, I’d be moving him to defence so that way we can allow Carr’s strengths to shine.
 
To think the NRL may assist ESL financially is a reflection of the turnaround in the fortunes of the product under Peter V'landys. He deserves praise for this definitely. Rugby league is entertainment these days so we have to adjust to the product. If the game can become a truly national and also international game (in the UK especially), Peter V'landys will be remembered as one of the great leaders of the NRL.

It's all well and good that PVL is bringing record broadcast deals and the like into the game, but at what cost? The product that is the game itself is arguably the worst it has been.
 
As a Test cricket purist, it’s sad to have watched the monster that is 20/20 take over the game. 20/20 was designed to be faster, more exciting, highlight reel cricket. That’s the direction PVL is trying to take league in. If he stays in charge long enough, don’t be surprised to see him outlaw tackling. Not for safety reasons, but tackling will slow the game down too much. Players taking a ball carrier to the ground takes too long. Maybe we’ll be lucky, and defenders will be able to wrap their arms around the ball carrier and the ref will call held.

Commercial success at the expense of the game itself. Anyone who has watched the game for longer than 5 years doesn't like the way it is going.
 
I never said its a shit idea. Ive always wanted 20 teams and 2 conferences, what are you talking about? I said the wild card round is shit.

I would have the conferences decided on placing each year. Odd numbers 1st, 3rd, 5th etc in conference one. Even numbers 2nd, 4th, 6th etc in conference 2.

This keeps the talent fair across the conferences, and doesnt have the same teams always playing each other.
Ok simple misunderstanding on that my bad . I don’t think you can change the conferences like that . It’s hard to build rivalries and ultimately drama if everything changes all the time .
Honestly a division of Tigers, eels, panthers, dogs would be unreal . But 3 of those teams would be in the nrls top 6 supported teams , and other teams having access to the eels , tigers , dogs fanbase would surely be an issue .
I’m pretty confident I’ve got it right though with the balance . The east Sydney teams in one conference , the west Sydney teams in another , although I don’t really like Perth and PNG being in the same conference as that’s hectic travel .
 
The games talent pool bottoms out at 15-16 teams. 17 is pushing it. 18 will be too many. 19 is getting out of hand. 20+ is revenue raising and showing no regard for the quality of the product.

You'd think with the money the game brings in now some of it should be reinvested to ensure there's enough talent coming through to keep the gravy train going and growing.
 
Commercial success at the expense of the game itself. Anyone who has watched the game for longer than 5 years doesn't like the way it is going.
He has the media under the thumb. No one will dare call out his bullshit. The closest I have seen anyone come to criticising him I was think Andrew Moore. Who made sure to preface it with what a good job he was doing, but said “maybe” PVL could benefit having someone beside him telling him sometimes maybe something isn’t a good idea”
 
He has the media under the thumb. No one will dare call out his bullshit. The closest I have seen anyone come to criticising him I was think Andrew Moore. Who made sure to preface it with what a good job he was doing, but said “maybe” PVL could benefit having someone beside him telling him sometimes maybe something isn’t a good idea”

The job he is doing is dependent upon the metrics you're measuring him on. If Moore was saying he was doing a good job in the commercial sense then most would agree. In terms of the quality of the game itself now, I don't think there is many rusted on fans of the game who would agree.
 
I actually have this idea of having a 20 team, 4 conference league.... 5 teams per conference, top 2 teams from each conference make the top 8...
Under this model, how many games each season and which teams play each other every season?
Would the conferences change each year?

I personally would not like the same conferences each year. Apart from being a bit boring, could be an unfair distribution of good vs bad teams
 
It's all well and good that PVL is bringing record broadcast deals and the like into the game, but at what cost? The product that is the game itself is arguably the worst it has been.
I don't disagree with what you have written. I do think about the game in the UK and it dying if the NRL does not intervene. That would be disastrous for RL so I am happy the NRL is in a position to assist.
 

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