I'm a bit late here (something my wife has never accused me of), and had previously posted this elsewhere when the ASADA stuff first broke. But it was so fucking good I thought you should all see it too, you lucky buggers:
The game (loigue) is an ordinary product at best, but it features the most over active commentary in sport, constantly striving to convince their audience that it was "unbelievable" and that "you can't DO that!" whenever the ball touches three sets of hands in one move (especially in the first four hit ups).
They claim union has too much kicking, when they're the ones to guarantee you a kick every 6 phases. Most of their tries come from kicks FFS because the simple aim is to grind up for five then see what happens.
The players are homogenous except for the halves, and the skill levels are dire due to the limited nature of the game. Particularly in defensive alignment where any team could break through if they attached two wide of the ruck, because no-one bothers to come up knowing the forwards will own the first few tackles.
It's completely unsurprising that the NRL is now riddled with controversy, because by and large the organisation will whore itself to anyone or anything.
And the clubs are even worse, along with channel nine - look at the shit they're putting up with in the name of SBW
It can definitely scale heights, but by and large it's poor, and the commentators trying to make out it isn't just make it even more unpalatable.
The Clubs, and the NRL, hang a few wicker men up for burning every so often, then let the stars do what they wish. Israel Folau was a golden child when he was coming back from AFL, but as soon as he signed with rugby, they started the articles about just how he and his contacted club go about dodging the salary cap with real estate deals and trust funds.
The only compass they've got is the one pointing towards money.