By Wayne Heming The one thing Valentine Holmes has always been great at is scoring tries. It’s not a bad asset to have when you are a professional rugby league player. Holmes, who put his budding rugby league career on hold in 2019 to have a crack at breaking into the lucrative NFL, has made
By Wayne Heming An Australian side dominated by Queensland Origin players will clash with a powerful New Zealand side at AAMI Park in Melbourne on Saturday as a dress rehearsal for the Pacific Championship final the following weekend. Both countries have already qualified for the final at Waikato’s FMG Stadium in Hamilton with the Kangaroos
Twenty-one players, including 12 Queensland Origin stars, have been selected in Kangaroo coach Mal Meninga’s Australian squad for the six-nation Pacific Championships which kick-off on Saturday. The 12 Maroons in the Meninga’s squad are Patrick Carrigan (Brisbane), Daly Cherry-Evans (Manly), Selwyn Cobbo (Brisbane), Lindsay Collins (Roosters), Reuben Cotter (Cowboys), Tino Fa’asuamaleaui (Titans), Thomas Flegler (Brisbane),
By Wayne Heming Brisbane-born journeyman Chris McQueen has called an end to his first-grade rugby league career at the age of 36. Fog#175, McQueen has blown the whistle on a career that included a drought-breaking NRL Premiership with South Sydney in 2014 and six State of Origins matches for Queensland. He was a member of
By Wayne Heming FOG#148 Johnathan Thurston has joined such rugby league luminaries as Dally Messenger, Clive Churchill and fellow Queensland legends Arthur Beetson, Wally Lewis, Allan Langer, Mal Meninga and Darren Lockyer in the Sport Australia Hall of Fame. Thurston joins sporting icons such as the first male and female inductees in 1985, cricketer, Sir
By Wayne Heming Sunday night’s grand final extravaganza featuring 2023 standouts Penrith (1st) and Brisbane (2nd) promises to be one of the most exciting climaxes to an NRL season in many years. The anticipation has been building for the past two months with Penrith eyeing off a rare premiership three-peat and Brisbane threatening to break
By Wayne Heming Billy Slater will continue to guide Queensland’s State of Origin fortunes until 2026 after agreeing to a three-year coaching extension with the Queensland Rugby League today. A proud Queenslander, who represented his state 31 times, Slater understands what wearing the Maroon jumper means to all Queenslanders and what it should mean to anyone
It’s down to four and as most tipsters predicted, they are the four clubs that occupied the top positions on the NRL ladder following 27 rounds. It took 408 games or roughly 544 hours, give or take a few golden point games, for one of the tightest NRL competitions in years, to sort out the
The FOGS join the rugby league community today in offering their deepest condolences to John “Cracker” McDonald’s family following his peaceful passing overnight, aged 79. McDonald, born and educated in Toowoomba in 1944, was a beacon of Queensland rugby league as a distinguished player, coach, and charismatic administrator. He served as Chairman of both the
In this episode of Life After Origin, we catch up with FOG#106, Jason Hetherington, for an enlightening and entertaining chat about his career and life after rugby league. The “Bushy from Baralaba” lived up to his reputation as a dry and at times deadpan character, speaking openly about a number of topics, including his own
