A couple of articles from Sporting News, the first one is pretty crazy. Imagine if Newcastle had signed GI?! He probably wouldn't have even come to Souths and created his legacy. We certainly wouldn't have won that Premiership in 2014 and we wouldn't be where we are today that's for sure,
Greg Inglis reveals he was snubbed by the Newcastle Knights before moving to the Storm
Greg Inglis says he tried to get signed by the Knights as a teenager so he could be closer to his family, but eventually moved to Melbourne when Newcastle didn't offer him a contract.
The fateful snubbing eventually allowed GI to become one of the greats at the Melbourne Storm and the Rabbitohs while playing 32 State of Origins for Queensland.
Speaking on
The Take with Willie Mason , the retired Maroons great revealed more details about the early stages of his incredible career.
As a teenager, Inglis spent a preseason at the Storm under Craig Bellamy, and looked set on playing for Melbourne permanently.
Still attending Hunter Sports High School at the time though, he says he soon realised playing his top flight footy in Newcastle would enable him to be closer to his family in the Mid North NSW town of Kempsey.
"I signed with Melbourne when I was 14, got my manager at 15, then 16 came and I was like 'actually I don't want to go to Melbourne,'"
he told Mason .
"I wanted to be close to my family. Family was very important to me - like anyone's family.
"By the end of that year, no one had approached me about staying at Newcastle.
"I kept going and saying 'how about Newcastle?' I kept going to my manager at the time who kept inquiring, but he said they can't do anything.
"Mind you, I'd signed a contract for $500 with the Melbourne Storm.
"Newcastle, at that time, was only three hours down the road from my home town.
"I was like 'I want to stay here, I'll be close to my family, I'll be happy.'"
It wasn't as though the Knights weren't on the lookout for young talent, with a couple of club footy teammates already in the Newcastle system.
"I played for Wests - Western Rosellas,"
Inglis said .
"Played for them for the whole year with Lukey Walsh and Jarrod Mullen and they were signed to Newcastle at the time.
"They were playing seven and six at the time (for Wests) and I was playing number one.
"I was like, 'let's just go with this and I'll just try and get with Newcastle and nothing came back."
The rest, as they say, is history.
GI went to Melbourne and won two premierships before adding a third under Michael Maguire at the Rabbitohs.
Meanwhile, the only thing the Knights have collected since then is a few wooden spoons.
An exasperated Mason sums up the recruitment blunder best.
"Joey and myself f***ing just sit there and just argue about who the hell let you go from Newcastle," he said.
"You were right there in our catchment and they let you go. Why didn't the Knights grab you?"
Eels legend Peter Sterling calls for removal of Bunker
Parramatta Eels legend Peter Sterling has called for the bunker to be removed, believing that it has taken the excitement and spontaneity out of the game.
With the competition looking to cut costs, there have been discussions that the multi-million dollar bunker will find itself on the chopping block
Legendary halfbacks Cooper Cronk and Greg 'Brandy' Alexander
pushed for its removal at the start of April, believing that it should be axed in place of a cheaper system.
Sterling agreed with the viewpoint of his fellow halves, believing that the sport should revert back to the video referee.
“I think we could let the bunker go and go back to the video referee,” he said on
Breaking the Game
“In trying to assess what the bunker has given to the game, I also look at what it has cost us.”
Whilst Cronk and Alexander focused their concerns on the economic cost of the controversial system, Sterling believes that the true cost of the bunker lied in its ability to detract from try-scoring plays.
“In any part of the game, the main consideration has to be the fans and the fan to be engaged and wanting to come to watch our game, they been got too excited and entertained but there also has to be some spontaneity," he believes.
“I think the bunker has taken that away from that spontaneity,
“The highlight of a game should be when a try is scored,
“I watch half the crowds now go up and they don't go up all the way because in the back of their mind they’re thinking ‘this will probably go upstairs, I don't want to go up too early.’
“I think that is a real concern for our game."
Sterling also suggested that if the NRL decided to bring back the video referee system, it should be limited to grounding and in-goal decisions, putting the onus back on the on-field officials.
“I’m happy to go back to the video referee but I also want to limit his domain as well," he argues.
“I’m very comfortable if he would only look at things regarding grounding and in the in-goal area.
“Outside of that, I don't want to go back and see what happened at the play-the-ball situation,
“We’ve got four sets of eyes out there, two referees and two touch judges, that should be enough."
