The FRONT ROWROUND 5 2021 VOLUME 2 · ISSUE 5 Birth of the 'Dirty Reds' A look back at the start of the Glebe rugby league club LOCK IT DOWN DESPITE CONCEDING ONLY 16 POINTS IN FOUR ROUNDS, PENRITH'S KURT CAPEWELL SAYS THE PANTHERS CAN IMPROVE THEIR DEFENCE INSIDE: NRL Round 5 program with squad lists, previews & head to head stats, Round 4 reviewed LEAGUEUNLIMITED.COM AUSTRALIA’S LEADING INDEPENDENT RUGBY LEAGUE WEBSITE THERE IS NO OFF-SEASON 2 | LEAGUEUNLIMITED.COM | THE FRONT ROW | VOL 2 ISSUE 5 What’s inside From the editor THE FRONT ROW - VOL 2 ISSUE 5 Tim Costello From the editor 3 Some great news through in the 24 hours before we published Feature Kurt Capewell 4-5 this week's edition of The Front Row - the Australian and New Feature The Birth of Glebe 6-7 Zealand governments agreed to a travel bubble which should see the Warriors able to play home games at Mt Smart Stadium in NRL Ladder & Stats Leaders 8 Auckland from June! Fingers crossed everything works out. GAME DAY · NRL Round 5 9-25 This week - Paul Jobber sits down with Kurt Capewell while LU Team Tips 9 Andrew Ferguson recounts the history of the Glebe club. Some THU South Sydney v Brisbane 10-11 great reads - check them out. Happy reading! FRI Warriors v Manly 12-13 Penrith v Canberra 14-15 Just in: this morning we heard the sad news that one of rugby league's SAT Gold Coast v Newcastle 16-17 great characters - former Wests and Newtown legend Tommy Raudonikis has passed away after a long battle with cancer. We'll have Canterbury v Melbourne 18-19 more on this champion of the game in next week's edition of The Front Sydney Roosters v Cronulla 20-21 Row - but for now we would like to extend our symapthies to all who SUN Wests Tigers v North Qld 22-23 knew him well. Vale Tommy. Parramatta v St Geo Illa 24-25 NSWRL Teamlists 26-29 Knock-On Effect NSW Cup R5 26 The FRONT ROW U21 Jersey Flegg Cup R5 26 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Harvey Norman Women's Premiership R5 26 Ron Massey Cup R5 27 We’d like to thank RugbyLeagueProject.org for their support and use of various statistics throughout this publication. Sydney Shield R5 27 U19 SG Ball Cup R7 28 Magazine content originally appears on LeagueUnlimited.com © 2021 U17 Harold Matthews Cup R7 29 unless otherwise noted. U19 Tarsha Gale Cup R7 29 Interested in advertising with The Front Row or LeagueUnlimited.com, QRL Teamlists 30-31 or just want to provide feedback? Intrust Super Cup R3 30 Contact us by email - [email protected] BHP Premiership Women's R1 30 Cover image: Kurt Gidley and Danny Buderus. Courtesy: Knights media U19 Harvey Norman Women's R5 30 U21 Hastings Deering Colts R1 31 MANAGERS Steven Williams & Coby Delaney U18 Mal Meninga Cup R5 31 EDITOR Tim Costello NRL Round 4 Wrap 32-35 CONTRIBUTORS Paul Jobber Match Centre: NSWRL results 36 Andrew Ferguson LU Player of the Year Standings - Round 4 36 Robert Crosby Super League, Championship, Challenge Cup 37 Justin Davies Josh Robertson NRL Match Review & Judiciary - Round 4 37 Hamish Parker 2021 NRL Draw 38-39 Adam Huxtable Andrew Jackson Jason Hosken Sam Bourke Emile El-Azar LEAGUEUNLIMITED.COM | THE FRONT ROW | VOL 2 ISSUE 5 | 3 FEAR FACTOR CAPEWELL SAYS RUTHLESS PANTHERS CAN STILL IMPROVE THEIR DEFENCE PENRITH are focused on creating a defensive line to be “If you can have good defence it can slow things up feared. for you and it’s going well at the moment.” That’s enough to send shivers down the spine of most Quietly-spoken fullback Stephen Crichton will have of the Telstra Premiership as the Panthers prepare to an important role to play in organising the defensive face the Raiders on Friday night. line on Friday night. Ivan Cleary’s men have only leaked 16 points in Despite the absence of Dylan Edwards, Capewell was four games – but they’re certainly not content with confident his replacement was up to the job after an averaging a measly four points per game. impressive performance last week. They know defence wins premierships and second- “It’s a pretty big role in a footy team these days rower Kurt Capewell admitted during the week that (because) fullbacks organise a lot of the defence and opponents would soon think twice about taking them then they’ve got to be on in attack,” the second-rower on. said. That’s if they weren’t already taking notice of the “I think he handled the pressure really well last week.” Panthers’ lofty perch on top of the ladder. While the Panthers respected the fifth-placed “Having blokes like ‘Fish’ (James Fisher-Harris) Raiders they were not overly focused on what Ricky coming out of the line at you, they hit with a bit of Stuart’s men would bring to BlueBet Stadium. force,” he said. “They’ve got some really good players and have some “We just want to be really reliable and consistent in good runners of the ball so our defence will have to our defence and I think what we’re doing so far is be on,” Capewell said. working well so we’ll continue with that.” “We prepare ourselves to play the best we can every The Queensland State of Origin representative week no matter who the opposition is. couldn’t attribute their steely resolve without the football to anything specific in the pre-season. “Part of being ruthless is that it doesn’t matter who you play, you’ve got to play to your standards and “The more you do it the better you’re going to get and we’ll prepare to do that this weekend.” with the rule changes, everything is a lot faster,” he said. 4 | LEAGUEUNLIMITED.COM | THE FRONT ROW | VOL 2 ISSUE 5 WORDS: PAUL JOBBER IMAGE: PANTHERS MEDIA LEAGUEUNLIMITED.COM | THE FRONT ROW | VOL 2 ISSUE 5 | 5 THE BIRTH OF GLEBE WITH THE 'DIRTY REDS' BACK IN MODERN NSWRL AND STANDING ALONE THIS YEAR, RUGBY LEAGUE HISTORIAN ANDREW FERGUSON LOOKS BACK AT HOW THE CLUB WAS BORN... WORDS: ANDREW FERGUSON On January 9, 1908, a meeting at the Glebe Town Hall containing the Metropolitan for the Wallabies, scored the opening try that gave the Wallabies a 3-0 lead. During Rugby Union’s best side, Glebe, their officials and board members, politician Henry the second half, he suffered a very heavy knock to his shoulder which forced him Hoyle and businessman James Giltinan lead to the iconic club deciding to switch from the field. In typical Burdon style, he returned to the field 17 minutes later. codes and join the breakaway Rugby League for the upcoming season. Great Britain went on to win the game 17-3. The club’s decision to switch codes was the catalyst for Balmain, South Sydney, For Burdon though, it was the start of an extended lay off from playing and from Eastern Suburbs, Newtown, North Sydney and Western Suburbs to also abandon work. He would return for the following season. His injury, like in sport today, was the MRU and join the Rugby League. It was just as integral to Rugby League’s birth just an unfortunate risk every player took when they ran out onto the field. as the procurement of star player Dally Messenger. However, Rugby Union was strictly amateur which meant players were not paid The story behind Glebe’s decision is very closely and heavily linked to the rise of to play. Nor were they financially supported if their Rugby Union injury prevented professional Rugby in Australia. them from working. In 1899, Glebe board member Lewis Abrams was made President of the MRU for its On July 14, 1906, Glebe hosted Auckland City at the Sydney Cricket Ground. In a debut season in 1900. Abrams was an Alderman for the Glebe Council from 1893 til hard-fought match, Glebe trailed 11-8 with 10 minutes remaining when Glebe’s 1898. He was also Secretary of the Glebe Cricket Club from 1892-1900, President of George Riddell and Auckland’s George Little collided heavily when they both the Glebe Bicycle Club and Secretary of the Glebe Free Trade & Liberal Association. attempted to kick a loose ball. The collision saw both players suffer an horrific broken leg each. The sight of the injuries was so severe that the referee and players Abrams was largely responsible for the introduction of what was called ‘electoral agreed to call the game off early and the injured players were sent to St.Vincents cricket’, which was essentially the residential rule which would later be used in Hospital. Coincidentally, the same two players collided with each other in a game Rugby Union and Rugby League for many decades. Abrams was also a key man just 12 months prior which resulted in both of them suffering broken collarbones. involved in the creation of the MRU in 1900. The Glebe club decided to hold a benefit concert to raise funds for both players. In 1900, the MRU announced that clubs from Sydney University, Eastern Suburbs, Glebe officials asked the NSWRU to support their campaign; however the request North Sydney, Glebe, Newtown, Western Suburbs, South Sydney and Balmain would was declined because the Union would not support any activity that gave players field teams in all three grades of competition. Glebe was one of the first teams money for their involvement in Rugby Union. Glebe went ahead with the fundraising entered into the competition as it was seen as “a stronghold of sport.” and managed to raise £45 for each player (approximately 3 months wages).