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TO: NZRL Staff, Districts and Affiliates and Board FROM: Cushla Dawson DATE: 14 September 2009 RE: Media Summary Tuesday 08 September to Monday 14 September 2009 Wellington rue missed opportunity: A brave effort from Wellington's rugby league team ended in "devastation" yesterday as it was denied by a last-minute Auckland try in a national provincial premiership match at Porirua Park. Clinging on to a 14-10 lead with a man in the sinbin, Wellington's goal-line defence was breached by Auckland halfback William Heta with just 10 seconds left. Five-eighth Cody Walker then kicked the easy conversion for a 16-14 win, leaving Wellington with a one-win, three-loss record. Australian contingent seek French connection: Catalans Dragons' longest-serving Australian players are anxiously awaiting a ruling from the Rugby League International Federation to discover if they can play for France in the Gillette Four Nations series. Full-back Clint Greenshields, hooker or half-back Casey McGuire and centre or stand-off Adam Mogg have all completed three full seasons in Super League with the Perpignan club and hope that will be enough to make them eligible for France. We’ll call on our local heros: WHILE my key focus at the moment is on the Melbourne Storm and the current NRL finals series, I'm also doing a fair bit of work behind the scenes to ensure the Kiwis are ready to roll when the Four Nations gets underway in mid-October. Ahead of this year's May test against Australia, the selectors and I made a decision to leave our UK-based Kiwis out of the squad. The decision wasn't made lightly nor was it made on the basis of their form. It was simply about logistics. Child abuse: AH WELL, I guess it had to happen sooner or later. If it was OK for professional sports bosses to embrace gambling and booze money, to sexualise sportswomen and to stigmatise losing, it was only a matter of time until they started raiding nurseries, sniffing out the most vulnerable young souls to trade on the open market. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang's "Child Catcher" had nothing on these guys. The only surprise is that it took so long for the meconium to hit the fan. League rep thriving after cross from rugby: Aaron Botherway now wishes he played rugby league from an earlier age. The Waikato prop is in just his first season of the sport, after playing rugby union since he was a child. But after following a mate and switching codes, Botherway, 26, has a new-found enthusiasm and is loving the challenge. "I wish I'd done it a few years ago," Botherway said. "I'm just really enjoying it. It was just something a bit different to be honest." Southern zone gets board: The New Zealand Rugby League yesterday named the five directors for the second of seven new zones created to administer the game at regional level. Following confirmation of the Auckland directors last month, NZRL chairman Scott Carter announced that Southland's Rex Capil would chair the southern zone board. The other directors are John Brimble, of Otago, and Canterbury's Carolyn Harkess, Reon Edwards and Craig McGuigan. The zone comprises the district leagues of Tasman, West Coast, Canterbury, Otago and Southland. (Source: New Zealand Herald, 11 September 2009) Sharks need to dive into game: The Taranaki Sharks are desperate to come away with a win against Wellington in a national provincial premier rugby league match at Porirua tonight. The Sharks' hopes of claiming a playoff spot in the Bartercard Premiership took a dive on Sunday when they slumped to a 36-14 loss to Waikato. NZRL's focus on injury prevention helps reduce ACC claims: The New Zealand Rugby League's injury prevention programmes have led to a significant reduction in the number of ACC claims and costs in the past year. The NZRL's community programmes manager Dain Guttenbeil said the initiatives had resulted in a 17 per cent reduction in new ACC claims while new claims costs were down by nine per cent. Wellington rue missed opportunity A brave effort from Wellington's rugby league team ended in "devastation" yesterday as it was denied by a last- minute Auckland try in a national provincial premiership match at Porirua Park. Clinging on to a 14-10 lead with a man in the sinbin, Wellington's goal-line defence was breached by Auckland halfback William Heta with just 10 seconds left. Five-eighth Cody Walker then kicked the easy conversion for a 16-14 win, leaving Wellington with a one-win, three-loss record. With one round remaining Wellington can still secure a berth in the semifinals by beating Bay of Plenty at Fraser Park on Sunday but coach Trevor Clark was nonetheless ruing the one that got away. Auckland are the defending champions and were at full strength for yesterday's match. "It was very much a heartbreaker," Clark said. "It was backs-to-the-wall stuff, we had a man down but that's football. For 79 minutes and 50 seconds we held them. We're still definitely in the mix, we've just got to beat Bay of Plenty next week. The players were pretty devastated but by the same token pretty happy that we should have come away with a win." Wellington's best were hooker Hemi Kemp and 19-year-old wing Bureta Faraimo, who scored two tries yesterday. Clark raved about both. "Hemi Kemp just tackles, he's outstanding every week and Bureta Faraimo has been an absolute revelation the last two games. He's led the hit-ups both games, led the metres gained he's led every bloody thing except for tackles." Wellington's effort was impressive given they were playing their third game in seven days. "That was pretty tough on the boys as well, and we came through it pretty well with our heads held high. They've done really well to cope with the demands there." Wellington's under-18 team had no last-second dramas, thumping Auckland 44-22, but Wellington's under-16s lost 46-8 to Auckland. (Source: Sam Worthington, The Dominion Post, 14 September 2009) Australian contingent seek French connection Catalans Dragons' longest-serving Australian players are anxiously awaiting a ruling from the Rugby League International Federation to discover if they can play for France in the Gillette Four Nations series. Full-back Clint Greenshields, hooker or half-back Casey McGuire and centre or stand-off Adam Mogg have all completed three full seasons in Super League with the Perpignan club and hope that will be enough to make them eligible for France. "I asked the president if I can play and he is still not sure whether we have to have been in the country for three years or have actually played there for three years," said Greenshields. "So we're still waiting on a ruling but I'm keen to play and I think I will be (eligible to). If I can, that's great, if not I'll just have to wait until next year. "If we all get to play it would be a massive bonus for France and be a big thing for us because I haven't played at national level in Australia. I'd love to play for France and especially against Australia." (Source: UK PA, 13 September 2009) We’ll call on our local heros WHILE my key focus at the moment is on the Melbourne Storm and the current NRL finals series, I'm also doing a fair bit of work behind the scenes to ensure the Kiwis are ready to roll when the Four Nations gets underway in mid-October. Ahead of this year's May test against Australia, the selectors and I made a decision to leave our UK-based Kiwis out of the squad. The decision wasn't made lightly nor was it made on the basis of their form. It was simply about logistics. In 2008, Super League stars Brent Webb and Thomas Leuluai made the arduous trek to Australia to play for the Kiwis in the one-off test at the SCG in Sydney. Unfortunately, they had limited time to prepare for the match and struggled once they took the field. We learnt from that and realised it was too big an ask to get UK-based players to fly down to Australia for a one- off test. The upcoming Four Nations, however, is a different story and given it will take place in their backyard, you can expect to see a few Super League players named in the Kiwis squad when the final cut is made. In order to be selected for New Zealand you clearly need to be playing good footy but the fact the Kiwis playing in the Super League are familiar with the conditions over there will certainly help their case in pushing for selection. Obviously, given the Kiwis selectors are based in Australia and New Zealand, it's very difficult to keep track of every single Super League game. We are fortunate enough, however, to have a good network of experts in the UK who can keep us updated on the form and progress of our Kiwis players plying their trade in the northern hemisphere. Just this week, I had a long conversation with former Kiwis coach Brian McClennan now in charge of Leeds. I respect his opinion and was able to get some good information that will come in handy when I meet with the selectors tomorrow night.

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