Carting it up with Stevo

As we all took stock of which coach had the best insulting one-liners this week, there was a shake up in the Shaky Isles. After promising a thorough review of the current formats of their local and regional competitions, the NZRL announced sweeping changes that will start next season.

The plans involve the dropping of the franchise based Bartercard Cup. In its place will be a more club focused season culminating in a knockout tournament for the successful clubs of the various regions. Once this tournament is concluded a regional representative competition will be conducted in September.

Apart from some fears that players will be playing less representative fixtures than in previous years, the plan has been widely accepted. Supporters of the changes point out that some Bartercard Cup games only attract 50 or so fans while Auckland