Latest news with #StGeorgeDragons
News.com.au
5 days ago
- Sport
- News.com.au
Woolf reacts to Dolphins' record win!
NRL: Dolphins coach Kristian Woolf spoke to the media following their round 14 victory against the St George Dragons.
ABC News
5 days ago
- Health
- ABC News
Letters for Brian offers insight into dementia and life after rugby league
Despite everything she has gone through, Karen Johnson does not hesitate when asked how she feels about rugby league now. She still loves it. Ms Johnson was brought up on the sport as a child, her late husband Brian played professionally for the St George Dragons, and it "paid the bills at our house forever". But she cannot bring herself to recommend rugby league to a child considering taking it up. "The knowledge has been there for a long time that knocks to the head, if you're susceptible to it, can cause CTE [chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a brain disease]," she said. "Getting people to realise that hits to the head, landing on the ground, shaking your brain around is terrifying. Ms Johnson's husband Brian died from Alzheimer's disease, which the family believes was likely caused by CTE. As a coping mechanism while caring for her husband in his latter stages of life, Ms Johnson wrote him letters that she has now turned into a book. Brian Johnson was the 1980 Dally M fullback of the year and, on top of his six years at the Dragons, played a season for Eastern Suburbs and three years in Warrington in the United Kingdom. Even at the height of his career, he dreaded the collisions of the sport. "I'm really pleased to see [the NRL] trying to mitigate the [concussion] risks involved, but I don't think you can stop men and women wanting to play the sports they want to play." Ms Johnson said the diary letters to her husband helped her process the challenges she was facing. "At the time, I probably left the house for about six hours a week and other than that, I was just home caring and it was at the stage where we could virtually not go out," she said. "When he was tucked up in bed, I just needed to talk to him, so when he wasn't there, I was still talking to him like I used to." Brian Johnson died in January 2016. The letters have formed the basis for Ms Johnson's book, Letters For Brian. Rugby league writer Roy Masters said the book was a fitting tribute, an educational resource and a love story. Ms Johnson said that while writing the letters and her reflections on the time had been a cathartic experience, the book also provided an insight into life while caring for someone dying from Alzheimer's disease. "I think people assume that dementia means you can't find your car keys and you can't remember your children's names, but that's not necessarily it," she said. "They don't realise that everything that we do and what we think is intrinsic is memory — how to eat, how to speak, how to read, how to write. "Brian stopped being able to read and if he wanted to write something down and he had objects on his desk, he didn't know which one the pen was." Ms Johnson said she had shared more of her life in the book than she had expected to, but she wanted it to be a resource for people going through the same experience. "People are going to know more about us than I realised, but I kind of wrote it for me," she said. "The interest in it has taken me by surprise and I'm actually surprised at how long it is because people research books, but I just sat and had a stream of consciousness and just wrote it."
RNZ News
14-05-2025
- Sport
- RNZ News
NRL: What's with the Warriors and penalty kicks?
Luke Metcalf kicks the winning drop goal. St George Dragons v One NZ Warriors. Photo: David Neilson/Photosport Warriors v Dolphins Kickoff 5pm Saturday, 17 May Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane Live blog updates on RNZ Sport NZ Warriors coach Andrew Webster insists his team's newfound fondness for penalty kicks has not become a philosophy, merely a situational strategy. Halfback Luke Metcalf slotted two first-half penalties during the Warriors' 15-14 thriller over St George Illawarra Dragons at Wollongong last weekend, before also connecting on the winning field goal with 10 minutes remaining on the clock. The first penalty stretched an early lead to 8-0, while the second put the visitors 14-0 after half an hour, playing with a wind at their backs. Ultimately, those goals proved crucial to the outcome, as the Dragons outscored their rivals three tries to two, yet still lost. Taking the kick at goal represents a double-edged gamble in that a) the kick still has to be successful, and b) you've turned down a possible six points for an easier two. In most circumstances, teams would probably kick for touch in search of a try or, at the very least, build pressure on a tiring defence that may pay dividends later, which seemed to be the Warriors' methodology, as they ground down Manly Sea Eagles and Sydney Roosters earlier this season. In those encounters, they were happy enough to spend set after set on the opposition tryline without scoring, battering away, until the defence finally snapped. Since then, they have relied on late penalties from Metcalf's boot for victories over West Tigers and Brisbane Broncos . They were game-winning kicks in the dying moments, but the timing of the penalties against the Dragons was curious. Photo: Brett Costello "Moment by moment, really," reflected Webster on the decision to kick for goal. "There were some we said no, we wanted to stay down there and put some work into them, but there were other times we said this was the perfect time to do it. "We have a strategy meeting around when we like to do it and when we don't. We just felt, on the weekend, it was a good opportunity. "The first one put us up eight and the second time, it was 14-0, so they had to score three tries to beat us." Webster was satisfied with the outcome. "Definitely, it gave us the chance to kick a field goal. If we don't do it, they scored more tries than us - we scored two, they scored three, so it definitely worked." While the Warriors are winning, it's hard to question their approach, but if Dragons kicker Valentine Holmes had been more successful with his boot - he converted only one of their three tries and also missed a field goal attempt - they might have rued those two lost opportunities to keep the foot on the throat.
