Dead In Goal

We break our long offseason, and well, season silence to find out if James has indeed become a Queenslander! Also this week: are Wests the league equivalent of the girl everyone gossips about in high school (8:48)? In our Twitter question: what would most surprise a footy fan about the NRL today if they had been in a coma for 30 years (25:15)? And lastly, a nod to the road Warriors, finally clear to play home games (39:03). 

We begin our 100th episode with a look back at the pod's origins (2:53), which explains why we have a siren open each instalment. Also: we talk Roy Masters' piece on the divergent demographics of the big footy codes (8:41), the chatty resolution to the Brandon Smith signing saga (31:18), and league players you'd most like to have a beer with in our Honesty Session. And with Bathurst looming, we recall James' encounters with motorsport legends (49:31). 

James reports back from Penrith's victory parade (2:36) and says this is the way of the future for all premiership winners, which leads to a question: which club would have the quickest bus route? (9:14) We also talk about fan loyalty and how the NRL's one-year-in-advance contract rules are no help (24:01). The Honesty Session sounds our listeners out on the World Club Challenge (33:11), and we end with Tim Paine, which brings up discussion of James's grave (51:36). 

James descends from the highlands to talk the Panthers' upcoming victory parade (13:33), and why it shouldn't involve mass chaos. Our Honesty Session asks our listeners for their best rugby league gags (29:14), and we end on a discussion of the game's administration, inspired by the Prof (43:31).

To begin this week, James reiterates his disdain for the peculiar theatricality of soccer (1:46). We then get into our main topic: are NRL players properly compensated, which we discuss at length (11:06) before getting to our listeners' thoughts on the subject in the Honesty Session (42:53). Lastly, Andrew Johns, burgeoning legend (55:42).

We start with James' continuing series looking back to 1986 through the pages of Big League (3:05). With the rookie draft hitting the league agenda once again, we get into a highly involved discussion about how talent is distributed across the NRL (19:48), and whether equalisation is really important to the comp. We also recall your most memorable rookies in our Honesty Session (49:47).  

As the offseason takes hold, Dead in Goal begins a new segment which takes us back in time through the pages of James' Big League magazine collection (11:49). Also this week: Jeff declares he will violate his fan neutrality if the Bears make it back into the comp (2:57), and the Honesty Session gets into the rules surrounding wearing your supporter jersey (30:45).

This week, we hail the arrival of the dolphin among the NRL's mascots, and talk why the new Brisbane franchise's symbol is a winner (8:06). As long-time club logo connoisseurs, we also look at image touch-ups at Gold Coast and Wests (27:17). Finally, in our Honesty Session: what would you see in a rugby league theme park? (36:47)

James revels in his Panthers' victory in 2021, and no broken trophy is going to ruin it. Our Honesty Session delves into broken things (19:55), as well as revisit Jeff's proposal for the interlocking trophy. As a premiership-winning fan, James dispenses advice from on high for the Broncos (27:23), and we fondly farewell Benji Marshall (37:44), who could make every league fan feel like a kid.

... but we do love grand final day. Dead in Goal waits nervously with the rest of rugby league fandom to see if the 2021 decider goes off without a hitch, and asks in our Honesty Session for your favourite part of GF day (3:14). We also delve into the match-up and talk why James is not nervous about his Panthers (22:55). And to finish off, we honour another of our favourites, this year's All-Academic team (49:13) – Tommy Turbo winning here too!