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2 days ago | 
loverugbyleague.com | Mike Wood |Aaron Bower
Incoming Wallabies head coach Les Kiss has added fuel to the fire over a potential play for Penrith Panthers star Nathan Cleary, detailing he would be an ‘asset’ to the 15-man code. Rumours of a possible shock code switch began last week, after two-time Wallabies World Cup winner Tim Horan suggested Rugby Australia (RA) could be lining up a play for the New South Wales and Kangaroos star.
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1 month ago | 
loverugbyleague.com | Aaron Bower |Mike Wood
Perth Bears will be entering the NRL in 2027 – and the speculation is already well underway about who could be representing the competition’s newest franchise. That speculation isn’t just limited to on the field – with Leeds Rhinos coach Brad Arthur widely tipped to be the man who will lead Perth in their first games as an NRL club from 2027 onwards.
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1 month ago | 
loverugbyleague.com | Ben Olawumi |Mike Wood
Former St Helens ace Lewis Dodd has delivered a powerfully emotive speech to his South Sydney Rabbitohs team-mates ahead of his NRL debut this weekend. Dodd – who came through the youth ranks at St Helens to make 88 senior appearances between 2020 and 2024 – made the move Down Under and joined the Bunnies ahead of 2025, signing a three-year deal. But he has had to bide his time in waiting for his official first-grade bow and has been plying his trade in the New South Wales Cup.
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1 month ago | 
loverugbyleague.com | Mike Wood |Aaron Bower
You’d think picking a team from the best Australian players in an Ashes year would be relatively straightforward. Mal Meninga, over 20 years with the Kangaroos and before that Queensland, has proven himself a pick-and-stick guy. It should be a lot harder to get into his team than out of it. This year, however, might be different. Penrith have provided the bulk of the talent for a long time, but they’re cellar dwellers at the moment. Does that make their players bad now?
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2 months ago | 
loverugbyleague.com | Aaron Bower |Mike Wood
It’s another big weekend of rugby league on both sides of the world – with the NRL and the Challenge Cup taking the focus. And fortunately, there is plenty of action live on TV, with a variety of ways to watch. This weekend, there’s 11 offerings for you on a number of platforms – including Super League+ exclusively showing one of the four Challenge Cup quarter-finals.
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2 months ago | 
loverugbyleague.com | Mike Wood |Aaron Bower
What’s better than a good redemption story? About six of them, because that’s what we had this week with comebacks from injury, suspension, dejection and rejection aplenty. This weekend was played out among sheets of Sydney rain, so perspiration often topped inspiration, but rugby league is like that at times. As ever, we’re garlanding, hat-tipping and giving flowers left, right and centre to the best of the NRL this weekend. Here’s your Love Rugby League team of the week.
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2 months ago | 
loverugbyleague.com | Mike Wood |Aaron Bower
A month into the NRL and we’re already in rugby league bizarro world. Penrith are losing. The Tigers are winning. Daly Cherry-Evans is leaving Manly. What’s next? An Ashes series? A Ryan Papenhuyzen injury cloud? All bets are off. It’s all very weird and wonderful, and that’s before a ball has been kicked. Here’s what to look out for in the NRL. Souths v PenrithThursday night is perplexing: Souths have 2-1 record to the Panthers’ 1-2, but you’d be hard pressed to say they’re in better shape.
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2 months ago | 
loverugbyleague.com | Mike Wood |Aaron Bower
Sometimes, the scientific method is the best way. Without going back too much into high school biology experiments, the idea is simple. You look at something using previous examples, form a hypothesis on what might happen, examine the evidence as it grows, then analyse it to, hopefully, come up with an explanation. Hypothetico-deductive modelling mightn’t be the sexiest way of looking at rugby league, but it’s proven a decent way of looking at the 2025 NRL season so far.
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2 months ago | 
loverugbyleague.com | Aaron Bower |Mike Wood
Catalans Dragons powerhouse Tevita Pangai Jr could be back on the radar of NRL clubs just a handful of games into his Super League career. That’s the view of Australia’s Fox Sports, who have offered a rave review of the prop’s performances in the early part of 2025 – spearheaded by his try against Castleford Tigers last Saturday. Pangai Jr scored an impressive solo try in that win in West Yorkshire, and it has been picked up Down Under.
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2 months ago | 
loverugbyleague.com | Mike Wood |Aaron Bower
The transfer of Morgan Knowles to the Dolphins in 2026, confirmed by both clubs last week, could be something of an inflection point for the England rugby league team. It’s possible that, when they line up against the Kangaroos for the first Ashes Test at Wembley in November, they might have more players with NRL contracts than without.
