{"id":29499,"date":"2021-02-01T19:50:21","date_gmt":"2021-02-01T20:50:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=29499"},"modified":"2021-02-01T23:03:23","modified_gmt":"2021-02-01T23:03:23","slug":"players-axed-amid-chronic-nrl-controversy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=29499","title":{"rendered":"Players axed amid chronic NRL controversy"},"content":{"rendered":"

The NRL has sacked former players from working in The Bunker<\/a>, in a move that is certain to further frustrate fans in 2021.<\/p>\n

After a series of howlers with the red and green buttons by officials, ex-players were brought in to the bunker to add some "common sense" to decision making a couple of years ago.<\/p>\n

But in a further budget-cutting move, the players have been booted out, leaving referees and retired refs to do all the decision making.<\/p>\n

The move is certain to result in more confusion and frustration for fans, with many of the men in the box not having a "feel" for the game.<\/p>\n

Four ex-players – Ben Lowe, Beau Scott, Bryan Norrie and Ben Galea – helped the refs last year and often clashed with them over decisions.<\/p>\n

The refs felt that the players didn't understand the rules, while the players felt the refs didn't use "football sense", adding to the problems between the two groups.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

TIGERS KEEPING TABS ON HASTINGS<\/strong><\/h2>\n

There has been a strong rumour doing the rounds for the past week that talented halfback Jackson Hastings is poised to join the Wests Tigers.<\/p>\n

Hastings has been the star No.7 in England over the past couple of seasons and has been back in Oz during the holiday period.<\/p>\n

Throw in that the Tigers have lost two veteran playmakers in Benji Marshall and Josh Reynolds – and question marks remaining over Luke Brooks – and it seems a perfect fit.<\/p>\n

But I've done some digging and it seems that Hastings is set to see out the second year of his contract with Super League club Wigan.<\/p>\n

After that, however, the classy halfback is likely to be ready to come home – and don't be surprised if the Tigers are first in line for his services.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

SEASONED RAKE JOINS BRONCOS SYSTEM<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Experienced hooker Danny Levi may find his way to the Broncos this year – via the back door.<\/p>\n

The former Manly and Knights hooker had several nibbles from NRL clubs as well as offers to go to Super League.<\/p>\n

But he has ended up agreeing to terms with Broncos feeder club Norths Devils in the Queensland Cup, where he will be a handy asset for coach Rohan Smith \u2014 son of veteran former coach Brian Smith.<\/p>\n

And if the Broncos go through an injury crisis similar to the one that plagued them last year, Levi could find himself getting a recall to the big time at some stage of 2021.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

WARRIORS STILL SACRIFICING FOR GREATER GOOD<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The sacrifices the Warriors made last season to keep the competition going have been well documented – and it's been tough going again already this year.<\/p>\n

With the Warriors training in Tamworth in northern NSW in recent weeks, many of the players haven't seen their families for a month, at a time when they should be spending quality time with their loved ones.<\/p>\n

As a result, coach Nathan Brown has given the Warriors most of this week off before they head to a new camp on the NSW Central Coast.<\/p>\n

It's going to be even tougher for the Warriors this year, with no sign of the NRL allowing them to return home to New Zealand anytime soon.<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0clicking here!<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The NRL has sacked former players from working in The Bunker, in a move that is certain to further frustrate fans in 2021. After a […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29499"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=29499"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29499\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29501,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29499\/revisions\/29501"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=29499"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=29499"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=29499"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}