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 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: ' 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 have all completed three full seasons in 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 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 , 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.

For our NRL-based Kiwis who are not competing in the current finals, they will begin training this Wednesday.

There's been talk about which players will or won't be coming on tour due to injury and we should have a better idea this time next week once independent medical reviews are completed on them.

While we are on the subject of UK-based Kiwis, I'd also like to congratulate Vinnie and Louis Anderson and Paul Rauhihi for their part in Warrington's recent Challenge Cup victory.

An important new roleIf media reports are to be believed, the will next season have a full- time recruitment and development officer on their staff. This is a massive step in the right direction. Most NRL clubs already have a dedicated person in charge of recruitment and their role cannot be taken lightly.

At the Storm we have a guy called Darren Bell who spends countless hours travelling around Australia and New Zealand and also viewing video tape in the hope of uncovering the next big thing. Hence we have looked at the possibility of recruiting South African talent. Bell leaves no stone unturned and in the upcoming weeks will have been across to New Zealand a number of times to check out the talent in the National Provincial Premiership.

If there's a footy carnival somewhere, you can be assured Darren will probably be there with a number of other recruitment scouts from other clubs.

In the NRL, which is so competitive, you have to go that little bit further to get one over your rivals. You can't rely on players signalling an interest in playing for you. You have to go out there and find them.

The decision by the Warriors to go down that path can only be good for the club

(Source: Stephen Kearney, Sunday News, 13 September 2009)

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.

If the recent squabbles in European and British football are anything to go by, confirmation has officially arrived that the professional game is now child's play. Clubs, not satisfied to wait until young talent matures, are starting to plunder the cradle. The best British six-year-olds have been hoovered up by the local academies and now attention has turned to more distant shores. There's gold running around in them thar hills.

Chelsea FC clearly thought so when they signed 16-year-old French player Gael Kakuta in 2007, only to be last week fined 800,000 for inducing him to break an existing contract, and banned from signing any new players until January 2011. And they almost certainly had euros in their eyes again last year when they allegedly poached 11-year-old ASPTT Marseille player Jeremy Boga. The French club has mobilised its lawyers.

But it's not just the West London show-ponies under the spotlight. Manchester City was drawn into the crossfire last week after French club Rennes complained to Fifa that Jeremy Helan was induced to breach a pre-contract agreement as a 13-year-old. Cross-town rival Manchester United has been fighting off similar accusations.

Defenders Michele Fornasier and Alberto Massacci, and striker Federico Macheda were all nabbed from under their local clubs' noses by United, who haven't hesitated to defend their position; noting that, unlike in England, players under the age of 18 were not legally permitted to sign contracts in Italy. Oh well, that's all right then. The Italians can only blame themselves for passing such a draconian law to protect the exploitation of minors.

Leeds United chairman Ken Bates, who's recently lost two 14-year-olds to Manchester City, calls it baby- farming. He has a point, although it might be easier to take him seriously if English football wasn't already awash in academies designed to identify their best pre-schoolers. A book released recently in Britain, Every Boy's Dream, talks about a four-year old running around in a premiership club's development squad wearing nappies under his shorts.

The sobering reality? Almost all of these kids will fail. Pressure and expectation will be followed by massive disappointment and educational underachievement. It's been said only 1% of youth trainees ever play football for a living. A minority of the 16-year-olds eventually offered scholarships will make it through to the next step. Of those offered formal professional contracts at 18, it's calculated the majority will not be playing at 21.

The bigger problem, however, is the child-transfer issue. Sepp Blatter, president of soccer's governing body Fifa and never one to utter a moderate sentence when a more extreme option is available, describes it as child- trafficking. His European counterpart Michel Platini is begging the EU to close the loophole. Fifa has also announced plans to examine all international transfers of under-18 players, as well as any initial registration of players in non-resident countries.

Not before time, either. Talented youngsters are now being mined from our communities like precious metals. Those who fall by the wayside are treated as the inevitable tailings and waste. The few who do find favour can look forward to becoming little more than business chattels; commodities to be bought and sold, quitted, or written off like bad debts. Often, they'll be relocated to foreign environments to be hot-housed, thinned, and weeded.

New Zealand might not seem as vulnerable to the trend, but the reality is that we have no immunity. This year's independent report on New Zealand Rugby League raises specific concerns over the number of "very young" Kiwi kids being recruited to play in Australian lower grades, having been lured there on the chance of gaining a contract. It's no different from the issue facing Fifa at the moment; the concerns are largely the same.

"Players as young as 14 years leave to take up NRL contracts, often following poor advice and misrepresentation of the opportunities open to them," noted the authors of the report. "Flow-on negative impacts include family dismantling and kids being taken out of school early."

Many were leaving without the knowledge of the NZRL, or of the pathway options and development opportunities available to them, either at home or in Australia.

You only have to look at collegiate sport in New Zealand to see how warped the priorities have become. In an increasingly commercialised education sector, successful sports teams now double as potent marketing devices for schools; shop windows from which they can promote their so-called best characteristics. No surprises then, that anti-poaching laws needed to be introduced. Even the schools are viewing the kids as currency.

You wonder if any of this will be wasted on those in China and the Eastern European bloc, who might remember the days when the West used to continually denigrate their sporting successes, accusing them of child slavery, and cruel and inhumane training methods. How we used to shake our heads in disgust at the way they exploited their young. And all for the sake of keeping up appearances. These days? It's not quite so easy to take the moral high ground. Whichever way you look at it, the worm has well and truly turned.

(Source: Richard Boock - Sunday Star Times 13 September 2009)

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."

Botherway said he had thought about changing codes since his best friend, who he played rugby with when younger, made the switch four or five years back.

"He's been on at me for years to do it.

"I finally bit the bullet and did it before I was too old and broken.

"I've thoroughly enjoyed it."

Today Waikato travel to Rotorua to take on Bay of Plenty in round four of the Bartercard Premiership, with Botherway coming on to the interchange bench after missing the win over Taranaki with a torn muscle in his lower back.

After playing for the Hamilton City Tigers in the club competition this season, Botherway was stoked when his performances led to a Waikato call-up, revealing "it was always something in the back of my mind".

"It was well into the season before I felt anything like comfortable," he said. "I'm still learning a lot.

"Everyone's been pretty helpful."

Botherway played rugby since the age of four, went through Waikato age-group grades and spent four years playing hooker for the Hautapu senior team, where he was part of two championship-winning sides.

He is now able to compare the two sports and has noticed the major areas of difference.

"There's a lot more running with the ball and tackling," Botherway said of the 13-man code.

"Running with the ball and tackling are the parts of rugby that I enjoyed the most.

"It's the best of both worlds really. The fitness is quite different, running back 10m after every tackle.

"Both have got parts of the game that are tough.

"I think league's a bit harder fitness-wise. The body's a bit sorer after games. There're a lot of gang tackles you're tackled by three or four players. Rugby's more one-on-one.

"In rugby you're defending all over the field. In league you have your own part of the field to defend, instead of running around the field like a headless chicken."

And as far as scrums go nowadays, "it's often quite a welcome breather".

While the onus was on Botherway to make big metres up front, he hasn't felt too much pressure instead describing it as "just pride".

"I'd like to think I've stepped up and done what I've needed to do," he said.

Bay of Plenty, coached by former Kiwis coach Graeme Lowe, are coming off a 52-12 defeat to Auckland and managed just one win last season, but Botherway was aware they'd be up for today's encounter. "They always seem to step up against Waikato. It's sort of a local derby," he said.

"We've been working hard on defence lately. This week we're looking to dominate up front."

Botherway said he wasn't going back to rugby and he would stick with league until his body told him he's had enough.

In other changes to today's lineup, utility back Malcolm Noda debuts from the bench in place of Des Tipene, who drops out of the 17.

Marrin Haggie moves from the bench to start at fullback in place of the unavailable Vaughn Calcinai.

(Source: Aaron Goile - Waikato Times 12 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.

The Sharks need at least one more win to go with their opening-round success against Bay of Plenty to have a realistic chance of proceeding past the qualifying rounds. And the opposition gets a lot tougher in the final two rounds.

Only the most optimistic Taranaki supporter would fancy the Sharks' chances against competition heavyweights Canterbury and Auckland. They are the sides the Sharks face in the final two matches of the round robin series. Sharks coach George Luke is aware of the importance of getting a win in tonight's match, which kicks off at the Porirua Stadium at 7pm.

Luke admitted the Sharks' loss against Waikato was a difficult pill to swallow after his team looked to have the edge 14-10 up with just 20 minutes left on the clock.

"We fell off our game and paid the price," he said on reflection yesterday.

"We had it and should've won it and now we have to work really hard to stay in the competition with a chance of making the playoffs."

The look of discontent on Luke's face was clear after Sunday's match and it would've be a surprise if he didn't fire up at some players in the dressing room after the final whistle. But yesterday he would not point the finger at any particular player or players.

"But I was quite disappointed in the performances of some members of the team without going too much into detail," he said.

"The guys have got to learn if we are to win games then once the foot is on the throat we've got to keep going and finish it off."

Despite the loss against Waikato, Luke said the feeling in the team camp remained buoyant with players looking forward to tonight's match.

Apart from a couple of niggling injuries that were being monitored, the team would mirror the line-up that played Waikato.

"There may be an addition to the bench to cover injury, but we will make a call on that at training tonight."

Tonight's match was scheduled to be played earlier this month, but was postponed after disruptions to Taranaki's travel arrangements.

TARANAKI SHARKS: Rikki Gardener, Zaheer Jeftha, Kam Kamuta, Levi McPhee, Aston Mihaere, Ziggy Tangira, Kimi Makea, Dominic Bartels, Tipene Welch, Jacob Croot, Hemi Rawiri, Anthony Kipa, Corey Balsom; reserves, Taani Prestney, Hamiora McLeod, Rusi Vukula, Beau White. Coach, George Luke; assistant coach, Heydon Healey; manager James Lose. WELLINGTON (from): Sam Patelesio, Bernard Gregorian, Eddie Aukino, Matt Time, James Feaunati, Shannon Hogan, Steve Sutorius, Matt Wanoa, Mike Nathan, Danny Shaw, Charlie Gubb, Jamal Tamaiva, Hemi Kemp, Lazarus Mulu, Anton Wereta, Greig Dean, Bureta Faraimo, Jacob Matautia, Jerome Easthope, James Toala, Pat Matulino.

(Source: Tony Bird - Taranaki Daily News, 09 September 2009)

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.

"These figures represent a significant saving for the ACC and show we are having success in working closely with the ACC to reduce rugby league-related injuries," he said.

Guttenbeil said the NZRL was one of the first national sports bodies to implement specific injury prevention initiatives in partnership with the ACC in 1996.

"This resulted in introducing mandatory use of mouth guards and the outlawing of dangerous tackles seen in the professional game, such as shoulder charges and grass cutter tackles," he said.

"The implementation of the initiatives stalled for a time and rates of injury began to rise dramatically. However, a refocus on this area since last year has led to improved results over the past year."

Guttenbeil said an emphasis on player welfare through the development of the LeagueSmart and First Aid Officer programmes had delivered benefits. The NZRL had also reformed the NZRL Medical Advisory Group, which provides advice on player welfare issues.

"We're very fortunate to have some of the country's leading medical and scientific minds involved. With the Medical Advisory Group in place we're confident we will continue to lead in the field of player welfare."

The NZRL has implemented the LeagueSmart programme across its districts. The programme seeks to empower the rugby league community with knowledge and skills to better prepare players and reduce the likelihood of injuries.

A partnership had also been formed with Netball New Zealand to educate first aid officers to provide primary care services on fields and courts around the country.

"We can no longer rely solely on the likes of St John to provide first aid for our players," said Guttenbeil.

"Educating our volunteers to provide primary care for injuries is essential for the growth of the game.

"We are demonstrating here that community rugby league is a safe option not only for men and women, but most of all for children. With the measures we have in place, it is one of the safest sports they can play."

Guttenbeil said the progress achieved in the injury prevention area over the past year or two was but an indication of the NZRL's commitment to implementing its duty of care to all who play rugby league in New Zealand

(Source: www.voxy.co.nz 09 September 2009)

(Source: Western Leader, date unknown)