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NRL opens season with storylines to clear rugby league’s clouds | Angus Fontaine
Another summer of scandal off the pitch makes way for on-field intrigue lined up early by the league in 2022
Like a kid grinning through a new year’s school photos with two black eyes, men’s rugby league returns this week for its 115th season. Typically, there is as much conflict off the field as on, with players suiting up for new clubs against old ones, old rivalries resuming and fresh feuds between coaches and clubs in headlines and on sidelines. And before NRL stadium turnstiles can spin, the doors of the courts will be busy with numerous outstanding legal cases involving former and current players, not named in this article, still to be resolved.
But the NRL knows that when you are going through hell it pays to just keep going. Hence, the feel-good stories: the $500,000 fighting fund for flood victims for starters. Then there’s Canberra’s Harley Smith-Shields receiving a hamstring donation from older brother Jesse to save his career and Roosters coach Trent Robinson signing until 2028. League’s fastest man, Tolu Koula – he runs the 100m in 10.58s largely thanks to parents who both represented Tonga at three Olympics – has signed a three-year deal with Manly.
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