When the little fire symbol pops up next to one of your pieces on ‘The Roar’, you know you’ve struck a chord.

In this case, I channeled years of reading ‘the NRL must do this/that/the other’ to get crowds back on social media and message boards into my own personal take on the issue – in short, that life is short, there are competing priorities to juggle every weekend, and sometimes (gasp!) rugby league isn’t at the top of them.

Some readers skimmed most of the content to flame away in the comments, holding up the occasional throwaway line to question my dedication to the greatest game of all. Most took it as a lighthearted look at the realities facing professional sporting leagues.

As I write this update, from New Delhi in February 2019, I now live 16 hours by passenger jet from my nearest NRL game and would give anything to go to one. (And in fact, I have – my now wife and I flew into Sydney for 36 hours to go to her first Canberra Raiders game in September 2016, the day Joey Leilua threw a reverse flick pass and the Raiders ran riot at Leichhardt. Good. Times.)

But I stand by what I wrote. Have a read over on The Roar now.

Share: