To note: Belinda Sharpe, who made history as the first woman to referee an NRL game in July, has been relegated to the touchlines and will be joined by fellow touchie Phil Henderson there. And that it always a good thing. So while cardboard cutouts and virtual crowd audio was as close as fans got to the live experience, the reboot of the 2020 season should be considered nothing other than resounding success for the NRL. NRL 2020: Brisbane Broncos hosted Parramatta Eels as rugby league resumed in Australia for the first time since Covid-19 shut down the season. As Justin McCurry reports from Tokyo:Less technological but none the less innovative has been the NRL’s own attempt to give off the impression a stadium is full, with fans able to buy $22 cardboard cutouts of themselves, which would be placed in the stands. Yes, L-I-V-E-blog. Another one to watch. The kick-off is scheduled at 10:35 BST. Megan Maurice asked that very question yesterday.Sport! And a man who famously tamed one of Australia’s best ever. That, of course, massively simplifies the process the league has gone through to get to this point – the ups and downs, the barriers hurdled or simply ran around, the bonkers plans that never got off the ground (RIP NRL Island) – but more on all that to come as we count down to kick-off at Suncorp Stadium. More here:Tik-Tok and Instagram have played their part in the build-up to tonight. But some old-fashioned bullocking from the And what an advert for the sport it was. There was a time when the game of rugby league produced players like Olsen Filipaina – garbage collector by day, rugby league player by night. Real, actual, professional live sport! VIEW ALL PARTNERS © 2020 Guardian News & Media Limited or its affiliated companies. Send an email if you wish (mike.hytner@theguardian.com) or tweet @mike_hytner if that’s more your thing. It’s been an, um, eventful couple of months. Walters But it isn’t, it’s not even Anyway, with so few major sports leagues around the world up and running, the return of the NRL presents itself as something of an opportunity to showcase the league’s wares to the world.
Yet, as Nick Tedeschi wrote on these pages earlier this week, “For good or ill, V’landys has bulldozed a path for the game’s return and to label him one of the most omnipotent figures in Australia is not hyperbole. Marshall How good is that?Well, it wasn’t the 58-0 flogging of 2019 but the Eels were no less impressive in putting Brisbane away to shoot to the top of the ladder with a 3-0 record.The ball is again with Parra and the Broncos can do no more than concede a line dropout from the Eels’ latest attacking play. Its animation is down to one incredible, irrefutable fact: footy’s baaaaaack! In the dark initial days of Covid-19, many feared Australia’s winter codes would be done for 2020. Brisbane and Parramatta – the latter who were involved in that final, pre-shutdown game – have the honour of getting things back up and running tonight and, regardless of the significance of the event in its broader context, it should be a belter of a match. Blake Ferguson (knee), Maika Sivo (knee) and Nathan Brown (hip) will all play.The Eels have won five of their past six games against the Tigers.Reserve forward Daniel Alvaro and halfback Jai Field were omitted on Wednesday night while George Jennings and David Gower dropped out an hour before kick-off.Matterson in the middle as fiery battle of the west loomsLuke Garner is out due to a head knock while interchange prop Thomas Mikaele (knee) was ruled out 24 hours from kick-off with reserve forward Elijah Taylor also dropping out of the squad.Oliver Clark has been elevated to the interchange to replace Mikaele. They’re done.Oh, if you were wondering about Alex Glenn’s cut calf, wonder no more.Suspected location of Alex Glenn’s laceration below. MATCH PREVIEW Parramatta's third consecutive premiership was the first treble in the NSWRFL Premiership since St George's domination of the 1950s and 1960s. We’ll have to wait and see how that pans out, but this is the NRL and even more so than usual, the spotlight will be firmly on Gerard Sutton, all alone out there in the middle. Because she’s said it all. They bring up these cliches that put fear into people.“They’ve got no data to show.
We’re approaching kick-off. Leilua