Roy Masters
Roy Masters is a Rugby League Columnist for The Sydney Morning Herald
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
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, 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.
Roy Masters
Queenslanders will rebel if Johns becomes Immortal
Roy Masters The rumblings from the Deep North began early in the week when some of Queensland's Former Origin Greats (FOGs) became convinced former NSW halfback Andrew "Joey" Johns was to become rugby league's...
Grant defends crackdown on shoulder charge on finals eve
Roy Masters ARL Commission chairman John Grant has defended the decision to take tougher action on the eve of the finals against tacklers whose shoulder makes contact with the head of an opponent as Cronulla's...
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.
War looms over top job
Roy Masters ANOTHER rugby league civil war is on the distant horizon unless the ARL Commission appoints a football person as its chief executive.
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.
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...
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.
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
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.
Roy Masters
One-time foes united on plan for two stadiums to cover all codes
Roy Masters In a ''back to the future'' strategy, two long-term rugby league administrators have combined to rationalise the use of NSW government-controlled stadiums, possibly leading to the return of the...
