Cracking start
It was described by NRL.com columnist Leila McKinnon as better than Christmas, and didn’t our players hand out the presents in Round 1? What an enthralling five days of action-packed football. Can you remember a better start to a rugby league season?
Two gripping golden point games, some extraordinary tries in New Zealand and Canberra and an unbelievable finish to the round that saw the Roosters score twice in the final three minutes to dramatically snatch the unlikeliest of victories over bitter rivals South Sydney.
You couldn’t have scripted it any better.
The best thing is that we have another pulsating 29 weeks of NRL to go.
Want to re-live any of the moments from Round 1? Remember you can watch every game in full – or use our smart match replay to view the best tries, tackles and best moments in any game.
NRL taking the world by storm
I mentioned last week that the Knights-Dragons match trended second worldwide, with only Justin Bieber stopping rugby league claiming the top spot.
The NRL continued to break new ground throughout the weekend.
On Saturday, Storm fullback Billy Slater was trending worldwide after his gravity-defying leap in the dying minutes won the game for Melbourne in a nail-biting encounter over the Raiders in Canberra.
While on Monday, the thrilling finish in the Rabbitohs-Roosters clash ensured #NRLSouSyd trended number one worldwide on Twitter. Rugby league is back!
You can join the conversation by using the official match hashtags (they are included in our Match Centre where you can see the latest team lists, statistics, previews and much more).
Also join over 414,000 fans on our facebook page.
Membership booming
Memberships in NRL clubs are at an all-time high and are set to skyrocket over 200,000!
The clubs have combined for a total of over 180,000 members in the game, smashing the previous record set last season (174,709).
It’s not too late to become a member of your club, and receive great benefits such as the best seats, priority on finals and grand final tickets and other exclusive benefits with your club. Click here for more details.
Who would be a coach?
A lot of Dream Team players were hit hard this week by injury or underperforming players. Bankable stars went missing, causing Dream Team players around the globe to scream at their monitors.
Johnathan Thurston scored just 3 points, are you kidding me JT!?! Normally a DT gun, Thurston turned in the worst performance of all fantasy halves in the competition. But he wasn’t the only player to let his coach down in the opening round.
On the plus side, anyone who had Shaun Fensom or Tony Williams were laughing all the way to a massive score after they put up some impressive first-round numbers. This is the time Dream Team coaches scramble around to fix their mistakes and cash in before the head-to-head competition starts in round four.
Okay, I admit it; I’m a Dream Team addict! You can be too. It’s not too late to join and take on your friends, I promise it is a lot of fun.
