The Grapple: 13 June

NRL: Review Round 13

ISC: Round 13

Games this weekend:

Saturday: Bears/Devils, Capras/Magpies, Cutters/Tigers and Blackhawks/Jets

Sunday: Dolphins/Pride, Hunters/Tweed and as said earlier, match of the round sees Wynnum (2^nd) v undefeated Falcons (1^st)

SCGRFL Vantage Homes Cup Div. 1: Round 11:

• Nambour 28 d Gympie 18-convincing win 6 tries to 3 and leading 16-0 at half-time-Albert Tibe and Paul Mckewin double; Jacob Harney 3 goals for Gympie
• Caboolture 12 d Maroochydore 10- close encounter- Snakes led 8-6 at half time-3 tries and no goals for the Snakes
• Kawana lost 26-8 to SR-Jake Carl hat trick for SR and Brett Doherty 3 goals
• Beerwah thumped Caloundra-Matthew Kidd 10 goals/try- 24 points-leading points scorer in comp
• Noosa-bye-Caboolture- 39;SR- 36; Beerwah- 35; Nambour- 32

Round 12: Gympie/Maroochydore; Noosa/Nambour; Caboolture/Kawana and Caloundra/SR; Beerwah- bye

Division 2A: Wins to Bribie, Nambour, Caboolture 10-6 over 1^st placed Coolum, Kawana over SR and Beerwah d Caloundra

Division 2B: Palmwoods d Pomona, Yandina d Mary Valley and comp leaders Beachmere d Kilcoy

Under 18’s: Kawana -44 points; Beachmere 39 and Maroochydore 32

Brisbane RL A-Grade: Round 10:

• Tigers d Seagulls 34-0-6 tries/5 goals
• Magpies 38 d top of table Panthers 22- 7 tries to 4
• And Diehards 29 d Dolphins 14

Round 11: Panthers/Diehards- 1v2, Dolphins/Tigers and Seagulls/Magpies

Reserve Grade: Beenleigh top of the Reserve Grade ladder by 1 point from Carina

Women’s RL:

SCGRFL: Round 8 last weekend:

• Nambour 14 d Maroochydore 4-Hardy, Bashford and Jeffs tries and Eva Carless goal
• Caboolture 46 d Sth Burnett-Beerwah 4-Dana Kane 3 tries and Latisha Hoek 5 goals; Rhyan Butcher lone try for visitors
• And 4^th placed Kawana d top of the ladder Gympie 16-14-3 tries apiece with Abbey Templeman 2 tries/2 goals for Kawana and Sophia Fisher double for Gympie
• Noosa-bye

Games this weekend:

Sat: Noosa/Nambour and Gympie/Beerwah-Sth Burnett

Sunday: Caboolture/Kawana

Maroochydore-bye

SEQ: Women’s Div. 1: Round 8: Easts 18 d Tweed 4 and Burleigh 22 d Souths 18

Women’s RL:  SEQ well represented in the Qld u/18 team with 14 players from SEQ selected to play in the curtain raiser to the women’s SOO on Friday, 21 June at North Sydney Oval commencing 5.45pm. The match is yet another exciting progression in the female game, providing another representative pathway opportunity for girls to aspire to.

For the Queensland Rugby League, the match brings to fruition a number of years of development work which began in 2017 with the Under 15 Girls Emerging Origin Camp at the Runaway Bay Sports Centre. The team will assemble on the Gold Coast on June 17 in preparation of their game.

Keilee Joseph -SEQ                Lyllian Mikaio – SEQ                                     Tyesha Mikaio – SEQ

China Polata – SEQ                Jessikah Reeves – SEQ                       River Smalley – SEQ

Nakita Tafili-Sao – SEQ         Courtney Tamati – SEQ          Chante Temara – SEQ

Jazmon Tupou-Witchman – SEQ       Rose Vaimili-Toalepai – SEQ

Tiamo Williams – SEQ          Acacia Wulf – SEQ     18^th player: Keisharn Hala  – SEQ

Coach: Ben Jeffries

Kezie Apps will lead a new-look NSW side with seven debutantes named as the Blues look to defend their Holden State of Origin crown against Queensland on June 21 at North Sydney Oval. Player of the National Championships, Tiana Penitani, will make her Origin debut, while Shakiah Tungai, Kirra Dibb, Shontelle Stowers, Botte Vette-Welsh, Takiele Katoa, Shaylee Bent and Millie Boyle have all been included after strong performances in the tournament at Burleigh Heads.

Meanwhile, Queensland coach Jason Hetherington named four debutantes in his 18-player squad to play NSW with South-East Queensland pair Jessika Elliston and Amber Pilley joining Queensland Country representatives Stephanie Mooka and Elle Stitt as fresh faces lining up for their first ever interstate clash. Rona Peters has also been named in the squad after she was previously ruled out of selection contention in April due to past commitments with New Zealand.  Maroons squad: Chelsea Baker, Heather Ballinger, Annette Brander, Brittany Breayley, Ali Brigginshaw, Karina Brown, Jessika Elliston, Tazmin Gray, Stephanie Hancock, Tallisha Harden, Jennie-Sue Hoepper, Chelsea Lenarduzzi, Stephanie Mooka, Rona Peters, Amber Pilley, Elle Stitt, Amy Turner, Meg Ward.

Rugby League news:

• South Sydney coach Wayne Bennett says if Dane Gagai wants to leave the Rabbitohs he can exit the club at the end of the season after reports emerged the Maroons star expressed a desire to leave Souths because he doesn’t have the opportunity to play centre.
• Speaking at South Sydney training on Wednesday, Bennett said he couldn’t guarantee Gagai a positional switch and that if he wasn’t satisfied he could leave at the end of the season.
• Bennett has paired new recruit James Roberts with Kyle Turner in the centres for Saturday’s clash against Penrith at ANZ Stadium, with Gagai named on the wing.
• He said he won’t stand in Gagai’s if the Maroons star wants to leave Souths to pursue opportunities to play centre elsewhere.

• Phil Gould says that the Newcastle Knights should sign Kalyn Ponga to a $6 million contract extension ASAP and the NRL should help. The Knights have reportedly been trying to discuss a contract extension this season, despite the fact that the Queenslander is signed until the end of 2021.
• Ponga, 21, had played just a handful of NRL games when he joined the Knights, meaning his contract was huge for his experience level, but is now low compared to the game’s best players. There are mixed reports of his salary for this season, placing it between $600,000 and $750,000.
• Ponga will be one of the hottest properties in either rugby code for his next contract and the NRL must keep him safely away from rival bidders, Gould said, estimating that he could be worth up to $1.5 million per season under his next NRL deal.
• The NRL have got to assist the Knights in keeping Kalyn Ponga but NRL assistance in recruitment is a fraught subject. A marquee player warchest, to be used at the discretion of the NRL chief executive in “exceptional circumstances”, was announced in 2014 but was never used; partly due to favouritism concerns in assisting individual clubs snare “exceptional” signings.
• Currently, there’s speculation that a rival NRL club is Newcastle’s main concern, should they fail to seal an early contract extension for Ponga. Rival clubs can’t formally extend offers to Ponga until November 1 next year, but may start to circle if negotiations with the Knights stagnate.

• Tigers and Tim Mannah, missed Dallin Watene-Zelezniak-slap in the face for Maguire and have had no luck in attracting offers for Russell Packer and fellow-out of favour stars, including Chris McQueen, Elijah Taylor and Josh Reynolds. Persistent injuries and form issues have dogged Reynolds however since he arrived, limiting him to just nine first grade games in a season-and-a-half. The club is in a difficult position having to deal with a $350,000 salary cap fine on top of having to pay Packer $650,000 a year, about $700,000 for Matulino and Reynolds more than $900,000 a year.
• After taking Under 18 State of Origin by storm in a man-of-the-match performance Brisbane sensation Xavier Coates is set to cap his spectacular rise with an international call-up. Coates is being monitored for a Papua New Guinea debut following his exploits in the Queensland Cup and in the colours of the junior Maroons.

• Seven players from last year’s successful XXXX Queensland Rangers team will back up against the New South Wales Pioneers later this month with coach Glen Dreger back for another campaign as well after overseeing Queensland’s 46-16 win over the Pioneers in 2018. Dreger is excited about the prospect of working with talented Central Crows halves Cory McGrady and Caleb Daunt, as well as exciting hooker Jack Miers who was named player of the carnival following his stunning form with the championship-winning SEQ Green team.
• The annual clash against NSW will be played at Davies Park, the home of the Souths Logan Magpies, on Sunday, June 30, at 11.40am. The Queensland team enters camp on the Gold Coast on June 26.

• The Brisbane Broncos have added five more elite players to their NRLW squad for the 2019 season. Centres Meg Ward and Amber Pilley as well as lock Rona Peters all return after starring in the Broncos’ 2018 Premiership victory, while exciting talents Tarryn Aiken and Amber Hall will be given their first taste of NRLW.
• Aiken is a skilful and speedy young half from Tweed Heads who played for South East Queensland at the recent National Championships played, as well as being a former Australian Touch Football representative.
• Hall is a blockbusting and creative front or back rower who has represented the Kiwi Ferns.
• Ward, Pilley and Peters were last week named in the Queensland squad for the Women’s State Of Origin to be played at North Sydney Oval on June 21.
• The Broncos have now announced nine of their 22-player squad for 2019, after last week’s news that Captain and halfback Ali Brigginshaw, fullback Chelsea Baker, and props Heather Ballinger and Steph Hancock had all re-committed to the Club.
• All those four have also been named in the Queensland squad for the Women’s State Of Origin later this month.
• Expect more player signing announcements over the coming weeks, ahead of the Broncos beginning their NRLW pre-season in August, and the competition kick-off in the second week of September.

• Aspiring junior female Maroons have the chance to learn from their favourite players at a special family-friendly fan day this Sunday at the Queensland Maroons Fan Day at South Pine Sports Complex, Brendale.
• As well as a range of fun activities including a special signing session with all the selected Maroons players, there will also be a registered clinic available where young girls can learn skills from Maroons players such as Ali Brigginshaw, Brittany Breayley and Karina Brown.
• The “train with the team” experience is available to all girls aged between 6-18. The cost for the clinic component of the fan day is $20.
• On the day, gates will open at 11.30am for registration with the clinic with NRL Development staff and Maroons players to follow from 12.30pm to 2.30pm. e on
• A signing session for fans to meet with their favourite players will take place at the conclusion of the clinic.
• For more details – contact NRL Game Development Officer Mia Carter on 0438 378 753 or mcarter@nrl.com.au
• There will be another opportunity to meet the team during their camp, with a special Women’s State of Origin launch to occur at the Brisbane Powerhouse on June 17.