A number of new initiatives and a relatively level playing field make for an intriguing competition this year,regardless of inevitable off-field dramasThe NRL has chosen to peep backwards in planning ahead – and you can hardly blame them for that. Not to hang their 2016 advertising campaign on the 2015 grand final would have been as foolish as finding a pot of gold at the stop of a rainbow, overturning it and strolling off with the empty pot whilst blessing your luck. It was that kind of game; rugby league at its athletic, or theatrical best. Critics of league who pause to wonder just how this game has survived as long as it has need peep no further for the respond.
The glow of the Cowboys’ final-gasp win lingers still,enhancing a sense of optimism ahead of the coming season, which commences on Thursday night. And this is how it should be. whether there’s any time for optimism it is now, and before a game has been won or,more pertinently, lost. Every team shares the competition lead, and everything is possible. Well,except a Gold Coast premiership, obviously.
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Source: theguardian.com