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About Andrew Stevenson
About Andrew Stevenson
Andrew Stevenson has been a journalist for more than 20 years. He never played league, never coached it and has written about it for only one year. He reckons ignorance is bliss and helps maintain clear focus. When it comes to rugby league his motto simple: he knows nothing about it except what he likes. And what he likes is to watch the slowest blokes (invariably those with the fastest brains) do the scheming to set the fastest blokes (generally unencumbered by works of Sartre or Faulkner) free to run with the wind in their hair. All that, plus a rib-rattling tackle or two.
Sportsmen behaving badly are likely a product of their environment
Footballers getting into trouble may not be entirely to blame, writes Andrew Stevenson.
It's Ben, not Benji, seizing half chance
Dragons skipper Ben Hornby is flourishing at halfback, writes
Andrew Stevenson.
Tigers appropriately attired for the day their season expired
THE Wests Tigers wore black to their own funeral last night. The only question now is when to hold the official wake, after they slumped to defeat at the hands of the table-topping St George Illawarra Dragons.
Morrises find their feet dancing alone
TWO men sharing one body and playing the one game. It's terribly unfair but when few can tell them apart, Brett and Josh Morris are bound to remain a rugby league enigma. Or they were until this year when Josh packed up and left home, moving from St George Illawarra to the Bulldogs, leaving Brett to play on - finally - in his own right.
No wonder he's called Bellyache
Coaching against his Storm troopers at Origin level has its pains,
writes Andrew Stevenson.
Sea Eagles all smiles after shaking off Raiders
IT'S taken them 15 rounds to do it - and even then, only by the
proverbial boarding-house scrape of butter - but Manly finally
reclaimed a spot in the NRL top eight with a 20-14 win over
Canberra at Brookvale Oval yesterday.
Put to the test, Dragons are best
NORTH QUEENSLAND play-ed themselves to within an inch of stealing victory over St George Illawarra at Wollongong yesterday - and then had to watch as the Dragons roared home with two late tries to win convincingly.
Origin and Bowen injury further deplete Cowboys
THE North Queensland Cowboys came into yesterday's game having mined a rich vein of form to win four straight and six from their past seven matches to be sitting fifth.
Walsh turns out to be the kid who just needed half a chance
Moving to Penrith was a good call for Luke Walsh, writes Andrew
Stevenson.
Dragons' Origin Blues sent to quarantine - after posing for photos
ST GEORGE ILLAWARRA players Ben Creagh, Justin Poore and Michael Weyman crossed the invisible line yesterday, stepping from an NRL match and a public flight into two days of quarantine as the NRL continued to grapple with swine flu.
Tigers head south for winter
WESTS TIGERS named the pokey little stand at the south end of Leichhardt Oval after the legendary Keith Barnes, one of Balmain's favourite sons. It was a fitting honour for Golden Boots but, for most of last night's 26-10 loss, the Tigers desperately needed to invoke the memory of someone who could hold on to the ball.
No fright Knights put Dogs off lead
STILL playing their way out of the shadow of the giants of Knights past, the 2009 Hunter vintage showed themselves to be a force to be reckoned with in their own right, claiming a club-record ninth straight home-ground win yesterday.
Miller plays the Obama race card
FORMER Cronulla captain Gavin Miller has cited Barack Obama in his defence of Paul Gallen - under pressure to stand down or be sacked as Sharks skipper for racially abusing Dragons forward Mickey Paea.
After Souths heartbreak, Tigers shoot themselves in feet
FIVE days after they slashed their wrists on the Sydney Cricket Ground in a 79th-minute loss to the Rabbitohs, a patched-up Wests Tigers side kept the blood flowing with a narrow defeat to the table-topping Brisbane Broncos.
Case for the defence: why coaches are ignoring the attacking game
The first plan of attack for some sides this season is to throw a lot of time, most of their effort and all of their willpower into building an impregnable defence. Watch the players flock in to celebrate after a big tackle - an eruption of enthusiasm at least as contagious as when a try is scored.
Bulldogs rebuilt, Sharks demolished
THE old grumpy Bulldogs are so last year. The club management has yet to give up hope of regaining the two points lost for fielding a 14th man against Penrith a fortnight ago but the players and coach are claiming a distinction average this year with three wins from four matches after a comprehensive disposal of Cronulla at ANZ Stadium yesterday.
Specialists' days are numbered
Forget what's on the back of a player's jumper - it only identifies
individuals, not roles in a side.
Not pretty but Eels haven't let games slip
PARRAMATTA'S new-found defensive resolve has kept the team's head above water so far this season, with the Eels notching two wins from three games heading into tonight's clash with the Roosters at the SFS.
Dragons tackle department of defence
FOR a game that had promised so much - a local derby contested furiously for 42 years, played in almost luminous sunshine before a capacity crowd of 20,847, with the former chosen son of the Dragons returning in the colours of the dreaded opposition - yesterday's match at Kogarah did much to disappoint.
Marshall lays down the law, for now
GOING into last night's match, the best the Roosters and Tigers had to show for their seasons was a win over the Raiders. State Premiers have found that a tough ask for many years and generally come home from Canberra with the seat out of their pants.
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