Roy Masters
Roy Masters is a Rugby League Columnist for The Sydney Morning Herald
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
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.
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.
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.
League
Hot topic: should the season kick off at night?
Roy Masters Islands in the oceans may drown and the Antarctic ice shelf melt but climate change takes on an immediate meaning for coaches when it affects the scheduling of games.
Victorians the big losers in parochial carve-up of Origin fixtures
Roy Masters Rugby league's commissioners were appointed principally because of their independence and business savvy but their recent decisions demonstrate they are simply politicians and as beholden to their...
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...
Tried and proven tactics put a strangle hold on the chain-passing revolution
Roy Masters GIVEN the time-honoured tendency for NRL teams to follow the tactical lead of the premiers, a Canterbury victory in last Sunday's grand final could have led to a sea change in the way the game is...
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.
Not one or two? Your chances are limited
Roy Masters Finishing first or second on the premiership ladder is a colossal advantage under the new finals system.
Dessie's midnight visit pays dividends
Roy Masters A midnight visit to Belmore exactly a year ago convinced Manly's premiership coach Des Hasler he should switch to the Bulldogs.
Getting a tough break in age-old code debate
Roy Masters 'I THINK we've got the crowd,'' former federal treasurer Peter Costello said before the annual AFL finals debate yesterday morning at the MCG.
Politicians insult rugby league by treating it as AFL's poor cousin
Roy Masters Both the Raiders and the Sharks need to win today's elimination final at Canberra Stadium to shore up future support from contrasting stakeholders. Each club has what the other wants.
League's Super fund
Roy Masters WHEN Channel Nine boss David Gyngell let out a sigh of relief at the ARL Commission's declaration it had awarded the Nine/Fox Sports consortium the broadcasting rights, the emission of emotion from...
Why succeeding often means failure
Roy Masters IT'S preferable to be the coach who follows the coach who follows the legend. Just ask anyone who followed Jack Gibson, particularly after his appointments at Eastern Suburbs (two premierships) and...
Blues sold a dummy when junior rules were changed
Roy Masters NSW's long wait for another Andrew ''Joey'' Johns-style halfback may be over … in another 15 years or so.
Out of favour, out of friends
Roy Masters God so loved the world, he didn't send a committee. He sent himself.
Roy Masters
Old tensions surface in great debate over Immortal eight
Roy Masters An historic meeting in Sydney on Wednesday of some of the game's top powerbrokers will decide rugby league's eighth Immortal.
Roy Masters
Arts about face: heading to Hobart while AFL looks the other way
Roy Masters You know the world of rugby league has changed irreversibly when 10 players visit a museum the day before a game and complain the art is offensive, even pornographic.
