SPORT
Players fire up for action Off-season gains shape a near-perfect future for the game, the clubs, the players and the fans, says Tony Durkin
The odd off-field drama aside, has there been a more productive build-up to an NRL season than during the past few months? And on a fair-dinkum basis, the theatre engulfing the players away from the game simply adds to the intrigue and whets our already voracious appetite for kick-off day. Season 2013 has the ingredients to be the best in years. During the off-season, a new CEO was appointed, a $1billion-plus TV deal was struck by the NRL, a sponsorship and digital rights partnership worth more than $100 million over five years was signed with Telstra and a new Collective Bargaining Agreement was reached between the players and the NRL. That financial security shapes a near-perfect future for the game and its shareholders – the clubs, the players, the sponsors and the fans. But let’s face it – we, the rank and file are only vaguely
ACTION HEROES: Melbourne’s Cameron Smith and Brisbane’s Sam Thaiday.
PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES
concerned about those small details. What we want is brilliant on-field action, a competition where we scratch our heads each weekend before filing our tips, and an end-of-season points table that is top heavy. And we pray that our stars keep shining. Cameron Smith, Johnathan Thurston, Billy Slater, Paul Gallen, Greg Inglis, Sam Burgess, Jarryd
Hayne, Brett Morris, Sam Thaiday and Benji Marshall are among a throng of household names who are bound to excite us every week in 2013. They will do it under a new referee regime and boundeby some tweaked rules, all of which will hopefully make the game even more appealing to the millions who watch it from March to October.
Cowboy’s co-captain Johnathan Thurston primed for another great season. PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES
➤ FISHING REPORTS
Dams are full, wet a line Local Fishing Reports Fishing has been good despite the rain. Salt water yabbies and worms have been working the best bait wise. The best lures for cod and goldens seem to be 55mm Stump jumpers and Smak spinners. Coolmunda Dam: Golden perch are being caught on trolled hard bodied lures towards the dam wall and along the old creek bed. Page 18.
Somerset Dam: Bass and golden perch are biting on mask vibes and blades near the bottom at the start of the timber at Kirkleagh. Bjelke Petersen Dam: The dam is still flowing over the wall and fishing has been patchy. Red claw crayfish have been caught in the bays towards the dam wall. Boondooma Dam: Silver perch and fresh-
water jew have been caught on live worms and frozen prawns on the bottom in the cleaner bays and it would be worth setting a few pots for red claw crayfish. Borumba Dam: Bass and saratoga are being caught at dawn and dusk on surface lures around the dam edges and schooling bass located with sounder on soft plastics in the deeper parts.
Coastal: Sand whiting are biting on the making tide along the beaches from Burrum Heads to Urangan and mud crabs out from the mouth of the rivers and creeks. Bream whiting and flathead are biting at the mouth of the Noosa River, in Weyba Creek and Noosa Sound. Send your photos to basstobarra@bigpond.com.
Peter Kerr shows a nice bass he caught at the ABT tournament at Genbawn Dam.