Last year while I was back in Australia, I departed the homeland on the weekend of the both the AFL and NRL Grand Finals. Why I planned my departure for the biggest sporting weekend in the country, I still don’t know, but next time I will be sure to look at a calendar before purchasing my tickets. It doesn’t seem that long ago that I was having a great time with all my friends and family back home, but it has been a year and it’s Grand Final time yet again!

In the AFL Grand Final, it’s a rematch of last year’s closely fought battle between the West Coast Eagles and the Sydney Swans in a match where the Swans ended up winning their first premiership (since moving to Sydney) by 4 points. This year the teams have played two extremely tight games, with the Eagles winning their round 15 match by two points and the Swans winning in the first round of the finals by one point. The Swans will be fired up after Adam Goodes won his second Brownlow Medal, and the last time the two same teams played in consecutive Grand Finals (2002 & 2003), the team that won the first Grand Final also won the rematch. I think this trend will continue and Sydney will win back-to-back Grand Finals.

The AFL trophy

In the NRL Grand Final, the Melbourne Storm play the Brisbane Broncos. Melbourne ran away with the Minor Premiership, winning 6 more games than Brisbane did during the regular season, and in their only meeting this year, the Storm beat the Broncos 10-4. Melbourne have easily been the most impressive team during the course of the season and should win Sunday’s match, but Brisbane can never be underestimated and have a knack of rising to the occassion - especially on the biggest stage. However, Melbourne will win their match and their second premiership.

The Provan-Summons trophy

Any athlete who has played competitive sport knows that in the heat of the moment things can be said that are regrettable - especially when the tirade is directed at match officials. I know in my younger days I was guilty of expressing my opinions of what I thought were bad calls to match officials - and this was only in junior competition. So imagine - two weeks left in the regular season, in the dying stages of an important professional game, your team is 2 points down with one minute left, and an official makes a horrible call that costs your team the chance of a potential victory.

How would you react?

For Andrew Johns, the best Rugby League player alive, his reaction was to call the official a f..k..g c..t. Unfortunately for Johns, this was not the first time that he has abused match officials in such a manner and faced a 4 week ban - which meant he would miss the finals series.

Andrew Johns leaves he judiciary after getting off with a light two match ban

What should have been an automatic 4 week ban turned in to a 2 week ban when Johns simply said “I’m sorry.” I must say that I agree with Alex Brown from smh.com.au in this article when he says that Johns was the benficiary of a double-standard. Because Johns is the biggest name in the game, it seems as though Johns received preferential treatment over other players who, in the past, have also been sorry for their actions on the field, but have been shown no leniency when they faced the judiciary. This is a horrible precedent that has been set, which will no doubt come back to haunt them in the future.

Now I don’t believe that players should face any bans for language that is used in the heat of the moment, but the rules are there for a reason and should be enforced. It’s a catch-22 situation because I don’t think Johns should have been facing a ban to begin with, but to bend the rules for the premier player in the league isn’t fair on the rest of the players in the league either.

Thanks go to Jim, who provided me with a link to some interesting Rugby League stats. Included in the stats are a 0-0 draw between Canterbury and Newtown in 1982, and the elusive 1-0 between St. George and Netown in 1973.

How good was Canterbury’s form in 1935? Losing 91-6 to St. George one week, then backing it up the following week with an 87-7 loss to Easts!

Good to see that Sean Hampstead has been dropped as the referee of the second State of Origin game. What is also good is that he realises that his own performance on the field contributed to his demotion.

I wonder if Tappe Henning realises just how bad a referee he is. If not, I read this quote from an ex-South African player who described Henning’s performance in his final match with: “Tappe was awful. He ruined the game.”

Former Wallabies coach, Bob Dwyer, summed it up nicely with: “As it was his last game as a referee, we figured he had tears in his eyes and was suffering restricted vision.”

The article continues on by saying, “When a referee plays the central role in the outcome of a match, it’s never good news. Add on the fact that the side that scored the only two tries of the game lost and you have a clear illustration of the thoroughly unsatisfactory outcome.”

One team’s total points came through 10 penalty goals? Sounds thoroughly exciting. Thankfully, we will never have to sit through another match controlled by Tappe Henning. However, if anyone would like to share some memorable Tappe quotes in the comments section, it should be good for a laugh!

Farewell Tappe, you will not be missed.

I’ve been following Rugby League for as long as I can remember, and considering I’m 25, I think that is a long time (though not as long as some). I also consider myself pretty good when it comes to sports knowledge (of sports that I am familiar with), and I would be quite happy taking on anyone when it comes to sports trivia.

The lowest scoring match (in which points were actually scored) that I can remember is the 1986 Grand Final, in which Parramatta defeated Canterbury 4-2. With all that being said, never have I heard of a Rugby League match being in the 70th minute (of an 80 minute game) with the score at 1-0. I have also never heard of a match being 1-1 after the 76th minute and 2-1 after 78 minutes. After 78 minutes the only scoring came from 3 field goals - that’s unheard of in Rugby League. I remember growing up thinking wouldn’t it be funny if a game ended 1-1, and it almost happened!

The final score ended up being 8-1 with some controversy at the end of the game. Parramatta halfback, Jeremy Smith, was placed on report for allegedly pushing referee, Sean Hamstead, although Hampstead was not aware that any contact had been made. In a previous entry, I commented on Hampstead’s performance in the State of Origin match, which was bloody awful at best. It sounds like he gave another sub-par performance - is he really the best that the NRL has to offer?

The annual Rugby League State of Origin series between the New South Wales (NSW) Blues and the Queensland (QLD) Maroons got underway this week. The series is the highlight of the Rugby League calendar, with the 3 game series played with an intensity and competitiveness that is not matched in any other games that are played - international test matches included. Often teammates end up playing against each other with everything being left on the field at the end of the match. Some of the great hits in League occur during the State of Origin series - here is a collection of them…

I grew up on Rugby League, and it’s one of my favourite sports. I believe that the game is much more exciting to watch than Rugby Union, as it is faster and there seems to be more going on. Wednesday night’s match only confirmed my belief of this. It was a very exciting and fast-paced match, but I noticed a few things that really got on my nerves. Sean Hampstead was absolutely useless as the referee of this match - if he is the best the NRL has to offer at the moment, then the league is in bad shape. Additionally, what is the point of having scrums in rugby league anymore? I think it’s absolutely disgraceful that they even pretend to do them. Half the players aren’t engaged in the scrum like they are supposed to be, and the football gets nowhere near the hooker’s feet. I suggest that either they make the teams do scrums properly or they should just get rid of them all together.

On to the match itself. NSW got off to a great start, scoring 3 tries in the first 21 minutes - with Willy Mason’s try being the pick of the lot - running over 3 or 4 defenders and scoring next to the uprights. NSW took a 14-0 lead into halftime and looked in control of the game. However, Queensland did what has become habit for them in recent years and found a way to come back in the late stages to make a game of it, scoring three times to level the scores with 5 minutes left. With time running out and NSW in position, NSW halfback Brett Finch, who had been called up to the team 24 hours earlier and had scored the first try of the match, took the ball and attempted a 40 metre field goal to break the 16-16 deadlock and watched the ball sail perfectly through the uprights. It was a fantastic finish to the game and kept up the tradition of great Origin games.