Roy Masters
Roy Masters is a Rugby League Columnist for The Sydney Morning Herald
Rugby League
NRL plans for worst on drugs
Roy Masters Defaulted grand final and internal draft to reinforce ranks of any club stripped of players.
League
Pet peeve: NRL clubs make mockery of memberships
Roy Masters Rugby league has an ignoble history of creative counting - fictitious crowd figures, salary cap manipulation, exaggerating injury tallies, even miscounting tackles.
NRL considers nightmare scenario
Roy Masters A defaulted grand final and an internal draft to reinforce the ranks of any club stripped of players because of doping sanctions are among the contingency plans the NRL has drawn up in response to...
Battle stations: Egos, intrigue complicate the bidding for NRL radio rights
Roy Masters The battle for next year's NRL radio rights is akin to the game itself: a clash of super-sized egos, with many detours and dummies, ruled by uncertain officials, with the result not certain until the...
Ad nauseam: NRL, with an eye on the clock, looks at commercial potential
Roy Masters Rugby league fans will soon be sitting on the horns of a TV dilemma: if they want to see their stars in action, they must watch more commercials during games.
Roy Masters
Higher plane: Immortal status beckons for Billy Slater, NRL's Mr Natural on and off the field
Roy Masters Billy Slater has moved up a couple of floors in the department store of rugby league history, past the Unforgettables and on to the Unsurpassables.
NRL set to pocket $1.2b as Fox, Nine bid for TV rights
Roy Masters FOX SPORTS' joint bid with Channel Nine for NRL broadcasting rights is set to reap the code $1.2 billion, which is triple the current agreement.
NRL to reap $1.2b from TV rights deal
Roy Masters RUGBY LEAGUE is guaranteed a $1.2 billion broadcasting deal, with monopoly pay-TV network Fox Sports declaring it won't be beaten for the five-year rights.
It's tough to wrestle with stats: NRL's top teams have balance just right
Roy Masters Super coach Wayne Bennett is in unfamiliar territory with the Knights, the legendary premiership winner having one of his worst starts to a season in his 26 years in the top grade.
How the NRL can sell the pieces of its puzzle
Roy Masters THERE are myriad options for NRL rights bidders. They include: free-to-air and pay TV; flexible versus fixed game schedule; live or delayed broadcasts; the sale of separate properties, such as State...
League
Too many players cashing cheques their abilities can't match
Roy Masters There are too many footballers playing NRL each week not up to standard and too many receiving money their experience or talents don't justify.
League
Dragons hope to hit a home run with promotion - not spark a bunfight
Roy Masters It was a baseball match at Yankee Stadium that drove the Dragons chief executive Peter Doust to derive some reward from having his balls kicked.
ACC report lays bare corruption threat
Roy Masters An alarming increase in the use, seizure and arrests for illicit drugs is the central finding of the Australian Crime Commission's annual report released today, with significant implications for...
League
ASADA wants access to mountain of ACC evidence
Roy Masters Cronulla players are likely to be still arguing with the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority this time next year, when Essendon players will have already served their suspensions.
League
Team spirit: how Blues can reach Origin nirvana
Roy Masters When NSW coach Laurie Daley finalises his team after this weekend's NRL round, he will try and include as many fit players from the Blues 2012 Origin squad.
Show Me The Money
Wests Tigers board rift could spill on to the field
Roy Masters IF EVER the title of this column is appropriate to an issue in sport and business, it is the impasse at Wests Tigers.
LEAGUE
Stars and young hopefuls growing apart
Roy Masters The recent deaths of two young players raise questions about the disconnect between an NRL team and its feeder teams, compared with the days when there was strong mentoring by senior players across...
League
Daylight separates quick and dead slow
Roy Masters With the top four NRL teams threatening to break away, the challenge is to bring them back to the pack.
LEAGUE
When it comes to money, not all clubs are equal
Roy Masters THE AFL has a future fund and the Rugby League Commission plans one, seeking $200 million in savings over the life of the new broadcasting contract.
Masters
Turning Judas on teammates only way to mitigate bans
Roy Masters NRL and AFL players guilty of doping infractions have almost no chance of escaping without sanction, and will be required to inform on a teammate or a member of a club's football department to...
