Latest news with #ex-NRL
Herald Sun
24-07-2025
- Sport
- Herald Sun
2025 FNQRL live stream: Ivanhoes v Innisfail, Round 16
Don't miss out on the headlines from Rugby League Live Stream. Followed categories will be added to My News. With three rounds left in the Far North Queensland Rugby League season, Ivanhoes know every game is must-win. Last year's grand finalists sit a game and 58 points out of fifth-place and trailing Tully and Mareeba in their quest for a finals spot. But coach Josh Parker is returning to the most simple message of all, 'one week at a time.' Ivanhoes will take on Innisfail on Saturday, with the triple header streamed live and exclusive on KommunityTV from 3pm. 'We've gotta get through this week, before we worry about next week or finals,' Parker said. 'We're in semi-final mode right now. We have to win to give ourselves a chance to play finals football.' While this weekend's rivals, the Leprechauns, sit second last with only four wins from 14 games, Parker said he refused to take the former FNQRL heavyweights lightly. Innisfail are coming off a much-improved performance where they pushed fifth-placed Mossman-Port Douglas to the limit last weekend. 'They're at home, and last time we played them they served it up to us for the first 60 minutes,' Parker said. 'It was only really the last bit of that game where we got the best of them. 'They've been pretty unlucky with some injuries this year, plus losing some blokes from their team last year. 'But we know they're capable of anything.' The Knights know the pain of losing past players, watching brothers Regan and Rhylee Herd help propel Atherton into premiership contention this season, while ex-NRL star Josh Dugan hasn't taken the field since their Round 11 win over Southern Suburbs. The A-grade clash between the Knights and Leps will kick off at 6pm, and will be preceded by under-19s (3pm) and reserves (4.30pm). Originally published as 2025 FNQRL live stream: Ivanhoes v Innisfail, Round 16
Kuwait Times
01-07-2025
- Sport
- Kuwait Times
After outcry, ‘world's fiercest' collision sport seeks new markets
DUBAI: Under bright lights and cameras in Dubai, two large men charge at each other down a narrow, plastic pitch, colliding head-on with a bone-jarring thud that sends one of them sprawling. It's the start of a night of thumps, grunts and head injuries at Runit, the rugby-inspired competition that has quickly drawn a social media following and alarm from health experts. The injury-count is high: three of the 12 players are withdrawn with suspected concussion, including a sickening hit that leaves ex-National Rugby League pro Kevin Proctor writhing on the ground. The final ends when Sam 'The Ice Man' Suamili is too dazed to continue, leaving Auckland's Vulangi Olosoni, 26, to celebrate the Aus$200,000 ($130,000) first prize with his overjoyed wife and sister. Organisers have big plans for the Runit Championship League, the brainchild of seven young men from Melbourne who have evolved it from a backyard game to a marketable commodity in a matter of months. Saturday's competition, attended by just a few hundred fans, was backed by several sponsors with a live-stream featuring ex-NRL pro George Burgess, a figurehead for the sport. Its rapid rise has been controversial, however. The event was held in the United Arab Emirates after calls to ban it following trials in New Zealand, where a teenager died playing a copycat version last month. Kevin Proctor receives medical attention after a tackle during the RUNIT Championship League. 'Honourable' According to Lou Sticca, a football agent and consultant promoter who brought the tournament to Dubai, the next stop is the United States. 'It's a contact sport. Americans love contact sport. This is tailor-made,' he told AFP. 'It's two gladiators. It's actually quite honourable. You've got two guys similar size, similar weight. There's a lot of technique,' he added. Runit, which bills itself as the 'world's fiercest new collision sport', is contested on a track 20 metres (65 feet) long and four metres wide. The athletes, typically with a rugby background and the build of a heavyweight boxer, have four runs at each other taking turns to hold a rugby ball. The winner is the man judged to 'dominate' the contest. Two doctors and three other medics were pitchside in Dubai, with two ambulances waiting outside, according to Sticca. The players, mostly New Zealanders, had medical checks including head scans before flying out and will be assessed again on their return, he said. 'We're engaging proper legal experts on concussion and as we grow the sport, we'll get experts in concussion at other sports,' Sticca said. 'We'll do whatever we can to play our part in ensuring the health and safety of our combatants.' 'Unacceptable threat' However, not everyone is convinced. New Zealand's Prime Minister Christopher Luxon called Runit a 'dumb thing to do', while the New Zealand Medical Journal said it was 'engineered for injury'. 'It is a ritualized, high-risk physical collision that poses an unacceptable threat to life and wellbeing,' an editorial said this week. 'As trauma clinicians, we warn unequivocally: Run It Straight is a mechanism for significant acute and long-term injury,' the journal added. Concerns over concussion have prompted new measures in several sports including the rugby codes as scores of retired players report serious health problems. Tania Mayne, a Dubai-based neurophysiotherapist who specializes in concussion, said the science was clear on impacts to the head. 'World Rugby has been so outspoken about how a contact should take place in a match,' she told AFP, referring to rugby union's governing body. 'This goes against everything out there.' Mayne added: 'I would just encourage people not to get involved and read what's out there. There's so much information about concussion in sport.' Chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a progressive disease caused by repeated blows to the head, is known to trigger violent moods, dementia and depression. Injuries from head knocks have also been linked to disorders such as motor neurone disease, early onset dementia, epilepsy and Parkinson's disease. However, Sticca said Runit was being unfairly singled out. 'Any contact sport has got the same issues. It's just that we're only hearing about this because it suits the agenda,' he said. 'We don't care about the critics, we care about the combatants. We care about making Runit a bigger, better sport. Simple as that.' — AFP
Straits Times
01-07-2025
- Sport
- Straits Times
After outcry, rugby-inspired collision sport seeks new markets
Jordan Simi (left) competes against Kevin Proctor during the RUNIT Championship League in Dubai on June 28. PHOTO: AFP DUBAI – Under bright lights and cameras in Dubai, two large men charge at each other down a narrow, plastic pitch, colliding head-on with a bone-jarring thud that sends one of them sprawling. It's the start of a night of thumps, grunts and head injuries at Runit, the rugby-inspired competition that has quickly drawn a social media following and alarm from health experts. The injury-count is high: three of the 12 players are withdrawn with suspected concussion, including a sickening hit that leaves ex-National Rugby League pro Kevin Proctor writhing on the ground. The final ends when Sam 'The Ice Man' Suamili is too dazed to continue, leaving Auckland's Vulangi Olosoni, 26, to celebrate the Aus$200,000 first prize with his overjoyed wife and sister. Organisers have big plans for the Runit Championship League, the brainchild of seven young men from Melbourne who have evolved it from a backyard game to a marketable commodity in a matter of months. The June 28 competition, attended by just a few hundred fans, was backed by several sponsors with a live-stream featuring ex-NRL pro George Burgess, a figurehead for the sport. Its rapid rise has been controversial, however. The event was held in the United Arab Emirates after calls to ban it following trials in New Zealand, where a teenager died playing a copycat version last month. According to Lou Sticca, a football agent and consultant promoter who brought the tournament to Dubai, the next stop is the United States. 'It's a contact sport. Americans love contact sport. This is tailor-made,' he told AFP. 'It's two gladiators. It's actually quite honourable. You've got two guys similar size, similar weight. There's a lot of technique,' he added. Runit, which bills itself as the 'world's fiercest new collision sport', is contested on a track 20 metres long and four metres wide. The athletes, typically with a rugby background and the build of a heavyweight boxer, have four runs at each other taking turns to hold a rugby ball. The winner is the man judged to 'dominate' the contest. Two doctors and three other medics were pitchside in Dubai, with two ambulances waiting outside, according to Sticca. The players, mostly New Zealanders, had medical checks including head scans before flying out and will be assessed again on their return, he said. 'We're engaging proper legal experts on concussion and as we grow the sport, we'll get experts in concussion at other sports,' Sticca said. 'We'll do whatever we can to play our part in ensuring the health and safety of our combatants.' However, not everyone is convinced. New Zealand's Prime Minister Christopher Luxon called Runit a 'dumb thing to do', while the New Zealand Medical Journal said it was 'engineered for injury'. 'It is a ritualised, high-risk physical collision that poses an unacceptable threat to life and wellbeing,' an editorial said this week. 'As trauma clinicians, we warn unequivocally: Run It Straight is a mechanism for significant acute and long-term injury,' the journal added. Concerns over concussion have prompted new measures in several sports including the rugby codes as scores of retired players report serious health problems. Tania Mayne, a Dubai-based neurophysiotherapist who specialises in concussion, said the science was clear on impacts to the head. 'World Rugby has been so outspoken about how a contact should take place in a match,' she told AFP, referring to rugby union's governing body. 'This goes against everything out there.' Mayne added: 'I would just encourage people not to get involved and read what's out there. There's so much information about concussion in sport.' Chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a progressive disease caused by repeated blows to the head, is known to trigger violent moods, dementia and depression. Injuries from head knocks have also been linked to disorders such as motor neurone disease, early onset dementia, epilepsy and Parkinson's disease. However, Sticca said Runit was being unfairly singled out. 'Any contact sport has got the same issues. It's just that we're only hearing about this because it suits the agenda,' he said. 'We don't care about the critics, we care about the combatants. We care about making Runit a bigger, better sport. Simple as that.' AFP Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
The Advertiser
30-06-2025
- Sport
- The Advertiser
Preston's NRLW Bulldogs dream decades in the making
When Tayla Preston became Canterbury's inaugural NRLW signing, her mother went out to the garage and rummaged around for a specific family treasure from 20 years earlier. The last time Canterbury won the NRL premiership in 2004, the Preston family - Canterbury tragics living in Bulldogs heartland - had framed a signed poster of the iconic team. NRL legends Sonny Bill Williams, Jonathan Thurston, Hazem El Masri and Willie Mason were in the team that pipped the Sydney Roosters in a classic grand final that day. Two decades on, the Prestons hung the photo frame back up in the family home as a reminder of what Tayla could achieve blazing a trail with the club's first NRLW team. "We kind of said, 'We'll have to put that up around the house to set a goal'," Tayla Preston told AAP ahead of round one this weekend. "It's pretty cool to be able to look at that. I'd love to be able to lift the trophy up for the Bulldogs one day." Along with the Warriors, Canterbury are one of two new NRLW franchises pushing the competition to 12 teams this season. But for co-captain and playmaker Preston, playing for the Bulldogs is an opportunity many years in the making. She grew up playing touch football and idolising the likes of Josh Reynolds, Trent Hodkinson and Josh Morris as they wore the famous blue-and-white strip. Her brother Jarryd was as keen a Canterbury fan, too, and used to run around wearing a pair of Mason's oversized footy shorts he'd been gifted after a game when the siblings were young. Tayla has since crossed paths with Mason when he's dropped into training for the NSW Women's Premiership team. "I wasn't game enough to tell him we had a pair of his shorts at home. Maybe one day," she said with a laugh. So after a lifetime dreaming of playing for the Bulldogs at first-grade level, Preston is determined to make her chance count. Preston insists a grand final appearance, just like that one from 2004, should not be off the cards for the youthful Dogs roster coached by ex-NRL player Brayden Wiliame. Veteran prop Holli Wheeler, co-captain alongside Preston, and Kiwi Ferns trio Alexis Tauaneai, Angelina Teakaraanga-Katoa and Ashleigh Quinlan will be essential to helping Canterbury realise that goal. "There's no reason why we can't be there on grand final day. We believe we've got the squad to do so," Preston said. "For us it's just about building that legacy and holding those standards really high for the young girls to be able to see there's a proper pathway now and they can play for the club that they idolise too." When Tayla Preston became Canterbury's inaugural NRLW signing, her mother went out to the garage and rummaged around for a specific family treasure from 20 years earlier. The last time Canterbury won the NRL premiership in 2004, the Preston family - Canterbury tragics living in Bulldogs heartland - had framed a signed poster of the iconic team. NRL legends Sonny Bill Williams, Jonathan Thurston, Hazem El Masri and Willie Mason were in the team that pipped the Sydney Roosters in a classic grand final that day. Two decades on, the Prestons hung the photo frame back up in the family home as a reminder of what Tayla could achieve blazing a trail with the club's first NRLW team. "We kind of said, 'We'll have to put that up around the house to set a goal'," Tayla Preston told AAP ahead of round one this weekend. "It's pretty cool to be able to look at that. I'd love to be able to lift the trophy up for the Bulldogs one day." Along with the Warriors, Canterbury are one of two new NRLW franchises pushing the competition to 12 teams this season. But for co-captain and playmaker Preston, playing for the Bulldogs is an opportunity many years in the making. She grew up playing touch football and idolising the likes of Josh Reynolds, Trent Hodkinson and Josh Morris as they wore the famous blue-and-white strip. Her brother Jarryd was as keen a Canterbury fan, too, and used to run around wearing a pair of Mason's oversized footy shorts he'd been gifted after a game when the siblings were young. Tayla has since crossed paths with Mason when he's dropped into training for the NSW Women's Premiership team. "I wasn't game enough to tell him we had a pair of his shorts at home. Maybe one day," she said with a laugh. So after a lifetime dreaming of playing for the Bulldogs at first-grade level, Preston is determined to make her chance count. Preston insists a grand final appearance, just like that one from 2004, should not be off the cards for the youthful Dogs roster coached by ex-NRL player Brayden Wiliame. Veteran prop Holli Wheeler, co-captain alongside Preston, and Kiwi Ferns trio Alexis Tauaneai, Angelina Teakaraanga-Katoa and Ashleigh Quinlan will be essential to helping Canterbury realise that goal. "There's no reason why we can't be there on grand final day. We believe we've got the squad to do so," Preston said. "For us it's just about building that legacy and holding those standards really high for the young girls to be able to see there's a proper pathway now and they can play for the club that they idolise too." When Tayla Preston became Canterbury's inaugural NRLW signing, her mother went out to the garage and rummaged around for a specific family treasure from 20 years earlier. The last time Canterbury won the NRL premiership in 2004, the Preston family - Canterbury tragics living in Bulldogs heartland - had framed a signed poster of the iconic team. NRL legends Sonny Bill Williams, Jonathan Thurston, Hazem El Masri and Willie Mason were in the team that pipped the Sydney Roosters in a classic grand final that day. Two decades on, the Prestons hung the photo frame back up in the family home as a reminder of what Tayla could achieve blazing a trail with the club's first NRLW team. "We kind of said, 'We'll have to put that up around the house to set a goal'," Tayla Preston told AAP ahead of round one this weekend. "It's pretty cool to be able to look at that. I'd love to be able to lift the trophy up for the Bulldogs one day." Along with the Warriors, Canterbury are one of two new NRLW franchises pushing the competition to 12 teams this season. But for co-captain and playmaker Preston, playing for the Bulldogs is an opportunity many years in the making. She grew up playing touch football and idolising the likes of Josh Reynolds, Trent Hodkinson and Josh Morris as they wore the famous blue-and-white strip. Her brother Jarryd was as keen a Canterbury fan, too, and used to run around wearing a pair of Mason's oversized footy shorts he'd been gifted after a game when the siblings were young. Tayla has since crossed paths with Mason when he's dropped into training for the NSW Women's Premiership team. "I wasn't game enough to tell him we had a pair of his shorts at home. Maybe one day," she said with a laugh. So after a lifetime dreaming of playing for the Bulldogs at first-grade level, Preston is determined to make her chance count. Preston insists a grand final appearance, just like that one from 2004, should not be off the cards for the youthful Dogs roster coached by ex-NRL player Brayden Wiliame. Veteran prop Holli Wheeler, co-captain alongside Preston, and Kiwi Ferns trio Alexis Tauaneai, Angelina Teakaraanga-Katoa and Ashleigh Quinlan will be essential to helping Canterbury realise that goal. "There's no reason why we can't be there on grand final day. We believe we've got the squad to do so," Preston said. "For us it's just about building that legacy and holding those standards really high for the young girls to be able to see there's a proper pathway now and they can play for the club that they idolise too."
France 24
30-06-2025
- Sport
- France 24
After outcry, rugby-inspired collision sport seeks new markets
It's the start of a night of thumps, grunts and head injuries at Runit, the rugby-inspired competition that has quickly drawn a social media following and alarm from health experts. The injury-count is high: three of the 12 players are withdrawn with suspected concussion, including a sickening hit that leaves ex-National Rugby League pro Kevin Proctor writhing on the ground. The final ends when Sam "The Ice Man" Suamili is too dazed to continue, leaving Auckland's Vulangi Olosoni, 26, to celebrate the Aus$200,000 ($130,000) first prize with his overjoyed wife and sister. Organisers have big plans for the Runit Championship League, the brainchild of seven young men from Melbourne who have evolved it from a backyard game to a marketable commodity in a matter of months. Saturday's competition, attended by just a few hundred fans, was backed by several sponsors with a live-stream featuring ex-NRL pro George Burgess, a figurehead for the sport. Its rapid rise has been controversial, however. The event was held in the United Arab Emirates after calls to ban it following trials in New Zealand, where a teenager died playing a copycat version last month. 'Honourable' According to Lou Sticca, a football agent and consultant promoter who brought the tournament to Dubai, the next stop is the United States. "It's a contact sport. Americans love contact sport. This is tailor-made," he told AFP. "It's two gladiators. It's actually quite honourable. You've got two guys similar size, similar weight. There's a lot of technique," he added. Runit, which bills itself as the "world's fiercest new collision sport", is contested on a track 20 metres (65 feet) long and four metres wide. The athletes, typically with a rugby background and the build of a heavyweight boxer, have four runs at each other taking turns to hold a rugby ball. The winner is the man judged to "dominate" the contest. Two doctors and three other medics were pitchside in Dubai, with two ambulances waiting outside, according to Sticca. The players, mostly New Zealanders, had medical checks including head scans before flying out and will be assessed again on their return, he said. "We're engaging proper legal experts on concussion and as we grow the sport, we'll get experts in concussion at other sports," Sticca said. "We'll do whatever we can to play our part in ensuring the health and safety of our combatants." 'Unacceptable threat to life' However, not everyone is convinced. New Zealand's Prime Minister Christopher Luxon called Runit a "dumb thing to do", while the New Zealand Medical Journal said it was "engineered for injury". "It is a ritualised, high-risk physical collision that poses an unacceptable threat to life and wellbeing," an editorial said this week. "As trauma clinicians, we warn unequivocally: Run It Straight is a mechanism for significant acute and long-term injury," the journal added. Concerns over concussion have prompted new measures in several sports including the rugby codes as scores of retired players report serious health problems. Tania Mayne, a Dubai-based neurophysiotherapist who specialises in concussion, said the science was clear on impacts to the head. "World Rugby has been so outspoken about how a contact should take place in a match," she told AFP, referring to rugby union's governing body. "This goes against everything out there." Mayne added: "I would just encourage people not to get involved and read what's out there. There's so much information about concussion in sport." Chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a progressive disease caused by repeated blows to the head, is known to trigger violent moods, dementia and depression. Injuries from head knocks have also been linked to disorders such as motor neurone disease, early onset dementia, epilepsy and Parkinson's disease. However, Sticca said Runit was being unfairly singled out. "Any contact sport has got the same issues. It's just that we're only hearing about this because it suits the agenda," he said. "We don't care about the critics, we care about the combatants. We care about making Runit a bigger, better sport. Simple as that."
