Weekly news wrap: 24 January 2020

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A quick look at what's made news this week in the rugby league world.

Captains crowned

Both the Dragons and Broncos confirmed their new on-field leaders this week - on Monday, St George Illawarra elevated hooker Cameron McInnes to the role of captain, while Brisbane on Friday surprised many when Alex Glenn was given the gig.

Gordon to return

After talk of former Bronco Corey Parker and ex-AFL star Nick Davis lacing up the boots for February's NRL Nines tournament in Perth, this week the Titans confirmed recently-retired fullback Michael Gordon would hold off on his post-footy career by another few weeks to participate in the two-day event.

UK pre-season nears its end

There are just a handful of games left in the pre-season up in the northern hemisphere. Matches continue over the next few days as Super League, Championship and League 1 sides refine their lineups and tactics ahead of season kickoff in just a weeks' time.

Check out the full results here as well as fixtures for upcoming matches.

Reynolds controversy rears its head

During the week Wests Tigers hooker Josh Reynolds was again embroiled in controversy when a 'viral video' did the rounds on social media, appearing to show him embroiled in a verbal alteraction with a woman who was filming him inside his home.

On Wednesday, the club released a statement regarding the circulation of the video and reiterating they would not be commenting further, given the ongoing court case relating to domestic violence charges levelled at Reynolds in December.

Nines jerseys

This week has seen a wide-ranging release of jerseys from NRL clubs ahead of the 2020 NRL Nines tournament in Perth. At the time of writing this article, only Brisbane, Manly and Newcastle had yet to make their designs public. Have a look at all the jerseys released for the tournament as well as the NRL season proper here.

Unhappy Dogs call for review

Reports surfaced on Friday that Canterbury CEO Andrew Hill will ask the NRL to re-assess injury compensation relief in the salary cap after the Belmore club was limited to just $350,000 in their 2020 cap for the long-term injury of key half Kieran Foran.

Foran sustained the injury while representing the New Zealand team internationally at the end of last season and the Bulldogs' boss is keen to see clubs who lose players to injury when they're on duty elsewhere better compensated in situations where they lose a player for a significant portion of the season.

Levi to Manly, Lee to Storm

Player movement ramped up again in the last week after a fairly quiet start to the season (Latrell speculation aside...).

Last Saturday, Penrith upgraded Matt Burton to their top 30 squad, then on Tuesday the Newcastle Knights released hooker Danny Levi, who was confirmed as a new Sea Eagle on Friday.

Elsewhere, Melbourne Storm confirmed Brenko Lee would join the club's NRL squad after spending the off-season with feeder club Easts Tigers. Lee was released by the Titans at the end of his contract in 2019.

Overseas, Leilani Latu has joined Warrington after being released by the Titans.

Check out the full list of player movements for 2020 here.

Storm legends to be immortalised

Evergreen hooker and record-holder extraordinaire Cameron Smith and former teammate Billy Slater are set to be recognised at Melbourne's AAMI Park home ground with statues.

The statues are an initiative of the Storm and the Victorian Government and should be unveiled in the precinct before the end of the 2020 NRL season.