Roy Masters
Roy Masters is a Rugby League Columnist for The Sydney Morning Herald
Roy Masters
Whistle-shy referees could affect finals results
Roy Masters It's a truth acknowledged by most rugby league fans that referees keep the whistle in their pockets at semi-final time.
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
Lack of Plan B compounds copycat conundrum
Roy Masters Basically, there are two ways for a rugby league team to use the ball: go through the opposition, or around them.
League
Obstruction rule needs a serious rethink
Roy Masters DANIEL Anderson's black-and-white rules on obstruction are designed to cut out any grey but will leave the NRL red-faced.
League
The good and bad bits of ref chief's new rules
Roy Masters The Roosters were at the second coaches meeting with referees' boss Daniel Anderson, held last week before Thursday night's much-anticipated season-opener between the foundation clubs, while the...
Coaches may face stats kerfuffle
Roy Masters The 2013 NRL season could begin in disarray for coaches and a multi-million dollar law suit for the ARLC if its instruction to management to take the code's statistical service to tender to enhance...
Roy Masters
Conspiracy theorists still looking for strings
Roy Masters Despite a new commission running the game, conspiracy theories about Sydney's rule of the game persist, particularly outside the New South Wales capital.
Coaches, not subterfuge, are the finals X-factor
Roy Masters 'They obviously want an all-Sydney club grand final,'' one NRL club official texted immediately after the Sea Eagles' controversial victory against the Cowboys a week ago.
Canterbury's crafty defence has opposition seeing double
Roy Masters THE Bulldogs have one of the best defensive records in the NRL, preventing the opposition scoring tries from within 20 metres of their own line.
Time to blow whistle on refs rotating jobs
Roy Masters The best result of the semi-finals starting on Friday night is that the number of referees will halve and then halve again the following weekend.
Rugby League
Why Demetriou should be ARL's target
Roy Masters Now that the AFL's No.2 man, Gillon McLachlan, has knocked back the job as chief executive of the ARL Commission, rugby league should pursue the rival code's No.
Roy Masters
Dramatic licence: whistleblowers in danger of playing to script to ensure theatrical finale
Roy Masters Referees risk becoming choreographers, directing the course of NRL games to produce dramatic results.
Origin Legends to fight for future
Roy Masters The NSWRL has threatened to sever ties with the state's Origin Legends association, following the failure of the ex-Blues' body to supply financial accounts.
Roy Masters
Fine line between danger and putting head on the block
Roy Masters When Tom Raudonikis coached Wests in the mid-1990s, he discovered a novel way of motivating his team.
The brain game provides one of many challenges for today's coaches
Roy Masters A neurologist friend tells me there is a part of the brain that actually grows in adulthood.
Loyal servant's departure won't be lamented by all
Roy Masters Less than a week ago, a TV network boss asked me bluntly: ''Who runs rugby league?'' He was seeking answers to the powerbrokers with whom he should negotiate the upcoming broadcast rights.
Roy Masters
How many careers ended because of a ref's wrong ruling?
Roy Masters Watching football these days fills me full of memories. It makes me reflect on the number of legitimate tries in the past that were disallowed and the ones that were awarded, despite them being...
The more things change, the less they stay the same in three decades
Roy Masters David Gallop has held the NRL's top job for a decade but there has been a revolving door in clubland, with a record number of club chief executives and coaches exiting in the past two years.
Roy Masters
Fox pundits' ignorance just isn't bliss for code's tragics
Roy Masters NO NRL season has ever opened with as much will to win from the players and coaches as we witnessed in round one.
Roy Masters
Gallop and commission at loggerheads over billion-dollar baby
Roy Masters Relations between the new ARL Commission and the administration of chief executive, David Gallop, risk becoming dysfunctional, with some commissioners holding private meetings with stakeholders.
