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It's about where I expected Lomani's to land, though maybe a bit light. Koroiduadua is the surprising one for me, striking with the head has an entry point of 6 weeks and there was clear intent there. I guess it's the same ban as Swain's, though I thought there was a fair bit more force behind...

No chance of O'Connor, apparently still weeks away: https://www.rugby.com.au/news/-violence-and-brutality-reds-embracing-road-less-travelled-to-Moana-showdown

Kuenzle is the one I'd look at, but I don't really rate what I've seen from Poolman. I imagine there will be a lot interest in Daugunu and Ripley now, depending on what happens with the rebels. Further afield Guy Porter has been looking to come back to Australia, I imagine the Force will be...

You can see it in New Zealand's PE deal now too, they're scrambling to find more revenue now that the sugar hit of the initial investment is wearing off and they've got a seperate entity taking their cut. That's not to say the private equity investment is always going to come back to bite you...

They've been making these moves well before Les Kiss though, with the challenge series and Saitama games. Reds look to be doing it above and beyond the others right now but the Force, Rebels and Brumbies have also been doing plenty. For whatever reason the tahs are well behind the 8 ball on...

Realistically we might have to for the Wales tests, it'll be hard to get anyone in Europe out in time, at least if they're involved in the post season. Given eligibility that may only leave Phillip and Rory Arnold as available. Rugby Championship will probably be different, but I expect Schmidt...

Nope, still very much in place. I believe the inside line podcast confirmed this last week. Maybe if the Rebels do collapse there will be changes, but all of Schmidt's public statements are that he's picking Australian based players first. It'd only be the big names like Skelton or Kerevi...

Aside from the fact that Schmidt wants to focus on local players, there are still restrictions to the Giteau law and Hockings, Hosea, Douglas and Ha'angana don't qualify (nor do I think they'd be one of 3 picked). Phillip just scrapes in but I would be surprised if he was one of 3.

For mine Valetini and McReight are nailed on. From there I think it's Holloway putting is hand up most at 6, particularly if we want I lineout operator there. From there I'd have Wilson on the bench and be looking at Cale as a Holloway understudy in the wider squad, ideally getting plenty of...

I had not realised that with the changes in structure the final tournament in Madrid is now a "Grand Final" with the top 8 teams competing to be series champions, rather than the previous model of most points takes it. On that note it looks like the Australian Men's result in Hong Kong was good...

Raises interesting questions around the funding breakdown for the rugby equivalent. Northern hemisphere teams with their private owners would want individual team funding, but with everything managed by the national unions down here it's likely they'd want to direct funding through RA and NZRU...

I can't find specifics but it looks like Dolly might be on the final year of his Leicester contract. He'd have to be the option if the tahs want someone longer term, which they might given Porecki must be looking a bit shaky long term with his injury history.

Andrew Ready might be the other one, currently playing pro D2 but looking to do a retirement club season with Easts this year. Playing more minutes than Dolly though, so they'd probably be less likely to let him go.

Not quite yet I think, Edmed played his best game all season against the Crusaders so I imagine the focus will be on repeating that. I would be planning on giving him and Wilson solid minutes off the bench again though. I'd expect Perese comes back into 13, he's probably been the tahs best this...

Yeah, you'd have to think they want to integrate stan into the broadcast even at the free level somehow, with the hope for upgraded subs at the end. Could also be that replays older than a certain amount of time are only available on stan and they run a bunch of extra panel shows or whatever for...

Biggest question for Nine/Stan at the moment is how the olympics will work and how much growth can they drive in stan sport subs off the back of that. At the very least it will be big for the visibility of the platform .

Anderson and De Lutiis both made there return via club footy last weekend so should be available, though I don't expect either to be in the frame for this game.

That, and no real pro or semi-pro comp below supper means most of the players actively pushing for a contract a 23 or younger. Once they finish uni/training and get a start on their actual careers there's not as much time and energy to devote to the rugby. It's also probably not helped by...

She was still at Nine when the original Nine/Stan deal was signed, so I doubt she'll be blind to the financials and challenges.

Alexi Baker set to be nominated for the RA board: https://www.afr.com/companies/sport/ex-nrl-executive-in-frame-for-rugby-aus-board-as-club-tensions-mount-20240402-p5fguv Executive experience with the NRL as Chief Customer and Digital Officer and almost 10 years with Nine in a variety of roles...