Rugby League News

The Dolphins are a strong contender for the premiership, with limited time to capitalize on their current talent.

The Australian

The dazzling Dolphins have blown their cover.

They are not a team on the rise any more. They are a magnificently well-balanced, harmonious and supremely fit team who can win a premiership.

But it needs to happen this year because in the immediate future they may not get a better chance.

Unless you are Penrith or Melbourne, premiership windows stay open, on average for just a season or two in the NRL (ask the Canberra Raiders) before your blossoming talents which you signed at a bargain price get cherry picked by other clubs offering more cash and you have to regroup for another challenge.

If you don't have luck with injuries you can't win.

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Benji Marshall's responsibilities at Wests Tigers are reduced as the club seeks a coaching director and assistant to support him.

The Sydney Morning Herald

Benji Marshall's all-encompassing powers at the Wests Tigers are being diluted, with the club advertising for a coaching director and senior management taking charge of the search for an assistant.

The Tigers have conceded Marshall needs help in his stressful role as the head coach of a prominent Sydney NRL club. It's a smart move.

Marshall was rattled by the drama caused when Adam Doueihi stood himself down from a match against the Raiders in July after the coach moved him from halfback to lock. The pair have since publicly made up, but Marshall admitted at the time the situation was impacting his family life and said if it continued, he would walk away.

Marshall can't just pick one of his mates to be a senior assistant. Chief executive Shaun Mielekamp and general manager Pat Richards will head a committee to select a replacement for defence coach John Morris, who left the club this week after three seasons.

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Cronulla's Braydon Trindall and Nicho Hynes overwhelmed North Queensland with aerial attacks in their NRL elimination final at Allianz Stadium.

The Canberra Times

North Queensland found themselves buried under a Cronulla aerial assault off the boots of halves Braydon Trindall and Nicho Hynes in their NRL elimination final.

Even the crowd at Allianz Stadium started to goad Cowboys fullback Scott Drinkwater with loud cheers late in the game every time he steadied himself under a high ball.

From the moment Drinkwater dropped the first Trindall bomb in the second minute of play on Saturday, it was going to be a tough night for the visitors. 

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