Football codes are uniting against a Health Task Force recommendation that would see advertising during live sport broadcasts phased out during high adolescent/child viewing times and the end of alcohol sponsorship of sport, writes Simon Chapman.
NRL 
Reading between the lines on the NRL-Howard coverage
Once again, Piers Akerman has written a story about a News Ltd investment without once mentioning that his employer has a deep involvement in the issue.
Your Say: Daily Mail readers' feedback: Dangerous ideas
Crikey readers weigh in on Guy Rundle’s Festival of Really Dangerous Ideas, the Indian students report and the possibility of John Howard heading up the NRL commission.
John Howard transforming NRL: there goes the black fan base
Rugby league has been a dying game for many, many years — is John Howard really the man to revamp it? It makes even less sense when you consider a large percentage of the hard-core league fan-base is black.
Can John Howard save the NRL?
The Tele, owned by News Ltd who also co-own the NRL, is reporting that former PM John Howard is a likely contender to head up a new independent NRL commission.
Crikey Says: Why no one watches free-to-air TV anymore
Commercial networks can afford to treat viewers how they like when it comes to sport, because they are protected from competition by the anti-siphoning scheme. No amount of angry fan outrage will see any change.
NRL: A perfect Storm
The Melbourne Storm grand final win “has insinuated a once-scorned code into the consciousness, indeed affection” of their AFL crazy homeland, writes Greg Baum.
Hot Form Charts: The NRL Grand Final edition
It’s a grand final that, not too long ago, would have been about as likely as Darrel Summer’s triumphant return to television. Here is how the Hot Form Chart sees the last game of the season panning.
Why the Parramatta Eels need to win
A victory for the Parramatta Eels over Melbourne Storm this Sunday would be a victory for the rugby league heartland and tribalism over the corporate dollar, writes Chris Seage.
Can Eels weather the Storm?: NRL Grand Final preview
Seven months, 26 rounds of Rugby League, and come Sunday evening it all comes down to to eighty minutes of football in front of a sold out ANZ Stadium crowd.
NRL’s naked truths laid bare by female journos
What’s it like being a female journalist in a sport dominated by sex scandal headlines and mistreatment of women? Rugby League journo Jacquelin Magnay tells how to play the game.
Hot Form Charts: Pies will force Saints to focus
It’s finals time for the AFL. Who will win? We’re here to help.
Hot Form Charts: Damp sheets, penetration and nether regions
No need to rub your eyes, the Form Chart is not on the blink, writes Crikey’s resident footy nerd.
The pain of sports journalists: footy clichés or one word answers
It’s being described as ‘footy’s worst interview ever’: NRL Dragons player Darius Boyd speaks just 28 words in response to eight questions. Naomi Toy imagines Boyd’s future footy cliché filled answers.
Hot Form Charts: History lesson for the Saints and the Pies
The last time an Ashes series went to a deciding fifth Test was 43 years ago, in 1966 — the year St Kilda and the Magpies met in the grand final. The Form Chart has read the tea leaves too, it seems.
A brief history of great sporting code switchers
Rugby League pin-up boy Karmichael Hunt is switching codes to join the AFL’s newest franchise, the Gold Coast Football Club. We take a look at other sporting switch-hitters and whether their big gambles paid off.
The AFL’s stunning Karmichael Hunt recruiting coup
At a tumultuous news conference this morning, Karmichael Hunt confirmed that he has accepted a senior playing contract with the new Gold Coast AFL franchise from 2010.
Hot Form Charts: Hot Form Chart haiku
Let’s hope Craig Wing’s Foxtel fans can live without his top-and-tailing their favourite Marlon Brando documentaries.
Hot Form Charts: NRL ladder top four look set for finals
The week’s predictions for NRL: despite the haywire nature of recent weeks, our top four hold the same positions (in slightly different order) on the NRL ladder and should go on to lock them in for the finals, says Crikey’s resident footy nerd.
Hot Form Charts: Hot tips for the weekend’s NRL & AFL games
In NRL: Manly has bucked Origin personnel issues and early season form to come roaring back to the top of the Hot Form Chart. And in AFL: We will still tip St Kilda and the Cats. You will too.
Hot Form Charts: Round 14 AFL: how’s it looking?
Time to get your tips in with Crikey’s resident footy nerd.
Hot Form Charts: A tough week for tipsters
A tough week for tipsters last week and round 15 won’t get any easier with state of origin duties impacting heavily on the abbreviated series of matches.
Hot Form Charts: Swine flu shows AFL tougher than NRL
Rugby league, battered by violence, drunkenness and sexual assault, is now having the stuffing knocked out of it by the flu just to show that, on top of everything else, Aussie Rules players really are tougher.
