Penrith punish rusty Roosters
11 hours ago | Aidan Edgecomb
The decision by Aussie Home Loans to end its sponsorship of the NSW Blues ought to cause real concern to the ARL and the NRL...this is the end of a 12 year sponsorship, one of the longest running in the game.
There will be a temptation for officialdom to write this off as just a change in "corporate marketing". If they do then they are even more in denial than I had thought!
Aussie Homes loans, and its founder, John Symonds, was one of the most outspoken critics when the game's credibility was eroded last year, and again this year, by off field issues involving players, and former players.
At the time the ARL and the NRL played down the concerns...and assured everyone that things were hunky dory!
Not so. On Tuesday the ARL and NRL were told by Aussie that it no longer wished to be associated with the game as a sponsor...resulting in a $1 million annual gap.
It won't be easy to fill it