After ordinary start, meant that Souths were behind once again. But against the form team of the comp Manly, we were not able to recover.

A pleasing sight is the return of players from injury this week. With Falloon making a welcome return for the Bears, and Eddie Pettybourne making his pressence felt at fG with another barnstorming performance.

Congratulations to Beau Chmapion in making his representative debut and Issac Luke once again selected in the Kiwi team.

Rep Season scheduling continues to be a issue for teh fans and the players. NRL games on the weekend are substandard and we again see a test match played before the selection process has occurred. We need to revist the way rep season is planned. We need to establish 4 IRL representative weekends in season where the NRL and ESL do not play matches and all players are released for rep duties. Then play the matches as follows -

WEEKEND 1
Sydney Orign v NSw Country Origin
Brisbane Origin v Qld Country Origin
Euro Cup (England, France, Wales, Ireland) Rd1
Pacific Cup (NZ, PNG, Fiji, Cook Is) Rd1

WEEKEND 2
SOO I
Euro Cup (England, France, Wales, Ireland) Rd2
Pacific Cup (NZ, PNG, Fiji, Cook Is) Rd2

WEEKEND 3
SOO II
Euro Cup (England, France, Wales, Ireland) Rd3
Pacific Cup (NZ, PNG, Fiji, Cook Is) Rd3

WEEKEND 4
SOO III
Euro Cup (England, France, Wales, Ireland) Final
Pacific Cup (NZ, PNG, Fiji, Cook Is) Final

Followed by one in season test match
Year 1 - Australia v NZ
Year 2 - NZ v England, then Australia v England