The Grapple: 16 May 2019.

Cheers.

Review NRL Magic Weekend round 9: 4 days, 16 teams, 8 games 1 venue and 134,677 fans saw it all start last Thursday when the Sharks 26 d Titans 18 after Titans led 18-10 at half-time

NRL ladder

Local games:

• No ISC but last Saturday Brayden Torpy proved to be the pivotal difference in Queensland Universities’ hard-fought win over a solid New South Wales Tertiary side, downing the Blues 28-10. The Australian Universities Representative Team to tour to Fiji in October was announced after the fixture with 10 Qld players selected. The touring party will depart for Fiji on 12 October and return 23 October. Based in Suva for the duration, the team will play matches against both the Fiji Universities and the visiting New Zealand Universities, with negotiations continuing for the possible inclusion of a side representing New Guinea Universities. It will be another step along the way in Australia’s preparation to defend its Universities Rugby League World Cup title in England in 2021.
• On Sunday, the Queensland Residents claimed a 42-22 win over NSW in their interstate challenge match. At halftime, Queensland led 22-6 on the back of 23 sets and four tries. Josh Cleeland contributed 18 points in the win.
• The win was set up by a strong first half where the home side got out to a 22-6 lead, with centre Delouise Hoeter scoring an early double.
• Curtain raiser – 11am – National Under 18 final Tweed Seagulls put in an attacking masterclass against the Illawarra Steelers, running in eight tries in total to claim a 48-14 win.

SCGRFL Vantage Homes Cup Div. 1: Round 7

• Beerwah lost to Gympie 26-24-Kainga Turner double for Beerwah and Blake Bella double for Gympie and Jacob Harney 5 goals
• Nambour 32 d Kawana 26- 6 tries to 5; Nambour led 32-4 with 25 to go
• Caloundra lost 40-24 to Noosa-Blake Wilson treble for Noosa
• And in the 1 v 2 Caboolture and Stanley River played out a 26-all draw-SR 5 tries to 4 while Snakes Josh Totoro booted 5 goals; Snakes led 26-10 midway through 2^nd half before try by Ryley Kajewski in the 40^th minute and conversion by Brett Doherty saw SR draw level.
• Maroochydore- bye

Division 2A: Wins to Coolum, Beerwah, Kawana, Caloundra and Maroochydore. Coolum on top by 3 from Maroochydore

Division 2B: Wins to Kilcoy over Mary Valley, Palmwoods/Beachmere 20-all draw and Ynadina over Pomona. Yowies lead by 8 from Beachmere.

Under 18’s: Wins to Gympie, Kawana, Caloundra, Beachmere and Caboolture. Kawana on 25 followed by Beachmere on 22.

Women: Wins to Gympie, Noosa and Kawana. Caboolture- bye. Gympie lead by 3 from Caboolture.

Brisbane RL A-Grade: Magpies 42 d Dolphins 34, Diehards lost to Tigers 28-26 3pm and Panthers 32 d Seagulls 24

SEQ Women: Division 1: Easts lost to Souths 22-10, Wests 24 d Burleigh 16 and Tweed lost 14-10 to Ipswich; Toowoomba – bye. Wests lead by 1 point from Ipswich.

Rugby League news:

• Former New Zealand Kiwi Ferns coach Kelvin Wright has been appointed coach of the premiership-winning Brisbane Broncos ahead of their title defence in 2019.Wright will replace former coach Paul Dyer, who stood down earlier in the year to focus on his full-time role as the club’s game development manager. Wright has an extensive coaching history in New Zealand as coach of the Ferns, Junior Kiwis and an assistant to the Warriors and Kiwis.
• NRL finals will be played at suburban grounds for the first time since 2010 after a policy of Sydney finals being played at either Moore Park or ANZ Stadium was scrapped. Allianz Stadium’s destruction and the opening of Bankwest Stadium in Parramatta is understood to be the driving force behind the decision. It means from this season’s finals series onward, relevant clubs will be given options on where to host qualifying finals. NRL CEO Todd Greenberg said playing finals back at suburban grounds would initially be brought in as a trial.
  • The new policy was one of a raft of changes announced by the NRL while all 16 clubs were gathered together in Brisbane for Magic Weekend.
  • Another notable change was a new matrix that has been brought in to help guide the NRL on how to handle off-field behavioural issues with a measure of consistency, following an admission that Mitchell Pearce’s monster fine and eight-game ban in 2016 was over the top.
• Brad Fittler has left the door open for James Roberts to be picked for State of Origin I despite being axed to reserve grade. Roberts has dropped to fourth centre option at Brisbane after failing to earn an NRL recall this week despite a knee injury to Jack Bird. Visa issues have prevented the 26-year-old from playing with Wynnum-Manly in their away trip to Papua New Guinea this week.
• Penrith is willing to release James Maloney from the final year of his deal with the club to take up an offer in the English Super League. The premiership winner is still contracted to the Panthers until the end of the 2020 season, but it’s understood Penrith is open for the five-eighth to move on earlier if both sides can come to an agreement. If both sides can’t come to a compromise, the club will respect and honour the last year of his contract.
• Big week for the Eels:
  • Brad Arthur- lose by 54 and get a new 2 year deal
  • Clint Gutherson – new 3 year deal so didn’t get to the stage of his offer being  withdrawn
• Brisbane Broncos winger Corey Oates has emerged as a target for a number of leading Sydney clubs with alleged offers from rival Sydney clubs to the tune of $700,000.
• South Sydney prop George Burgess appears resigned to leaving Redfern and breaking up the brotherhood. Before the start of the season Burgess turned down a three-year offer from Parramatta, saying he wasn’t interested in playing for another NRL club yesterday he sounded more open to moving on. Former Rabbitohs coach Anthony Seibold is reportedly interested in luring Burgess north.

Preview local games:

ISC: Round 10:

Sat: Tigers/Seagulls, Devils/Cutters and Pride/Bears

Sun: Blackhawks/Falcons, Magpies/Jets, Hunters/Seagulls and Capras/Dolphins

SCGRFL Vantage Homes Cup Div. 1: Round 8

Beerwah/Stanley River, Noosa/Maroochydore, Kawana/Gympie and Caloundra/Caboolture; Nambour – bye

Division 2 B: all 3 games at Kilcoy on the weekend

Brisbane RL A-Grade: Bye round

NRL: Greg McCallum: Round 10