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Of course his manager set it up. But credit to the manager for going the extra yards - getting his man dressed up for the day, turning up at the match and looking like he's in serious discussions, tipping off the photographer, and doing it all a couple of weeks before the NRL season starts so...

Yes, it's SANZAR that makes the rights decisions, so Pulver will have to convince both SA and NZ that the AUst FTA gamble is worth it. The BBL has been great for 10, and it'd be nice if a Super Rugby game went the same way. But it could also go like A-League on SBS - negligible impact as far...

I think we should refer to KB (Kurtley Beale) as playing "2nd five-eighth" rather than 12 or inside centre, since that's obviously Cheika's plan. But I imagine Michael Foley is drawing several circles on the whiteboard around no. 12, to emphasise the channel where everybody from 6 to 13 should be running...

DP.

Drive to a station and ride from there. That was my plan for tonight until foiled by babysitting duties.

Really? The Giants absolutely flooded the market with free tickets, and their home games were a ghost town by the end of last season. The Wanderers have been a revelation in terms of fan-led participation, but there's novelty there - and they made the grand final last season. Let's see how...

Two sporting comps have made the jump from Foxtel to FTA recently - the BBL and the A-League. I get the impression the ratings for the BBL have been reasonable, but the A-League on SBS has made little impact. Hopefully Ch 10 have enjoyed having the BBL ratings, and figure they can make a go...

Keep in mind those examples you've quoted are AFL fans. They're not normal people you know...

Perhaps rugby should just stick with the line "It's Not Rugby League". Perhaps we should just embrace the fact that rugby has more facets, more interest than 5-tackle-kick. League will always have the advantage on simplicity - that's why it was invented.

Goal-kicking seems to cost us at least a game every year, I agree the lack of interest in excellent goal-kicking amongst pro players is strange.

Come now, surely the lure of a match-winning back will prove too strong for one franchise or another. You know he's bad for you, but that ability to find the try-line is just so tempting. Plus you know he'll front up and say how much he's changed, how much loves the city, how he's just looking...

Not that long-term planning has been his strong point, but I can't see that playing for 3 clubs in 12 months would benefit anyone - JOC (James O'Connor), the club he plays with for half a season, the Super club that takes him after he's played half a season already, or the Wallabies who would expect him to peak...

Which was why Link was very clear about saying that he'd only pick players who played a full season of Super Rugby in 2015.

But would it be better if Uni were in a joint venture with other clubs? Their players would dominate the selections. If you want players to have the opportunity to play at a higher level than Shute Shield, you have to let Uni in as a solo venture - otherwise, good Shute Shield players from those...

Yes, it certainly sounds like JOC (James O'Connor) might be angling for a half-season contract or similar, from what Laporte says. Do French teams go for that type of contract? I can't think of a precedent, for a player coming back to Super Rugby from French rugby mid-season. JOC (James O'Connor)'s been pretty durable, but...

Is Bernard suggesting that JOC (James O'Connor) was up to his old tricks in Dublin, getting his team-mates into trouble but disappearing before getting caught himself? More likely he just got his Wallaby drinking incidents mixed up. Not hard to do, this year.

Yes, that's right. The previous rule (and might still be the official policy) was that players had to be contracted to a Super Rugby franchise to be considered for the Wallabies, but that could mean a player who was contracted for the following year - eg Luke Burgess returning from France to the Rebels...

Hey - don't let that level of cynicism about teleworking creep onto the NBN thread, or you'll be in deep trouble.

The problem with any alternative means of showing rugby outside of Foxtel, be it FTA or broadband, is that it cuts the exclusive value of the programming for Foxtel. They are paying a premium for rugby because it drives subscriptions. If Foxtel stop paying that premium for exclusivity, it will...

Thanks P. It will be interesting to see how that holds up as their season goes on. It might well be a cautionary tale for rugby - that FTA exposure is not necessarily the cure-all.