NRL

The initiative is the brainchild of the Melbourne Storm, who are poised to announce on Tuesday a new partnership with Fiji Airways for at least the next three years. Storm officials are hopeful the deal – which includes becoming the club’s new shorts sponsor – will result in a trial match being taken to Fiji in the upcoming pre-season for the first time in the game’s history.

It's down to mother nature whether or not Shaun Johnson will play his 200th NRL match this weekend.

Johnson's wife Kayla is expecting their second child shortly with the Warriors to play the Parramatta Eels on Saturday.

Warriors coach Andrew Webster says the club will support Johnson whether he travels to Sydney to make his milestone match or not.

The 23-year-old was accused of touching the woman's breast without her consent at the Golden Sheaf Hotel earlier this month.

It was an incident that resulted in him being banned from bars in the Double Bay area, and the NRL standing him down from team selection as part of its "no fault standdown policy".

The ABC reports Brown had been charged with five offences; however, this was reduced to two charges of sexual touching without consent which he pleaded guilty to.

He's been sentenced to an 18-month Community Corrections Order.

The issue of fan retention for Super Rugby has been a constant for NZR and SANZAAR for years but after a short injection of numbers immediately after the Covid-19 pandemic, figures have fallen back to alarming lows.

In fact, just 12,000 fans turned up for last week's Super Rugby quarter-final between the Blues and Waratahs at Eden Park.

In contrast, almost 24,000 fans turned up to Go Media Stadium (Mount Smart) the week before for the Warriors' round robin game against the Dolphins.

Playing as well as ever in his 13th season in the National Rugby League, 32-year-old Johnson came up with two try assists, two forced dropouts and 722 kick metres as the Warriors racked up their sixth win of 2023.

"Shaun leads with his voice and he leads with his actions and that's very powerful when a player can do that," Warriors coach Andrew Webster said post-match.

During the Magic Round in Brisbane, the Warriors made a promising start to nail the first points on the board but eventually succumbed to their third straight defeat.

The Warriors dominated the opening stages and were rewarded when prop Addin Fonua-Blake crossed in the 10th minute after halfback Shaun Johnson combined with lock Tohu Harris.

The try followed a break by Warriors winger Dallin Watene-Zelezniak, who was stopped short of the tryline on the previous tackle by Penrith fullback Dylan Edwards and centre Sunia Turuva.

The 30-year-old, who was sin-binned for the 48th minute incident involving Newcastle halfback Jackson Hastings, faces a two-week suspension with an early guilty plea or three weeks if he unsuccessfully contests the charge at the judiciary.

Wighton also faces a $1800 fine with an early guilty plea for a High Tackle (Careless) earlier in the match on Knights fullback Lachie Miller. 

The Australian Rugby League Commission approved the new rule on Tuesday, the same day the Australian Football League was hit by a class action from dozens of former players over alleged damage to their health from concussions.

The new requirement, which applies to concussions diagnosed at training and during games, takes effect from the start of the third round of the NRL championship this weekend.

Two tries from off-season recruit Jaxson Paulo helped the Roosters to their first victory of the season, while it was the Warriors first loss following their first round victory over Newcastle.

After taking an 8-6 lead into the break, the Roosters scored two second-half tries and kicked a penalty with five minutes to go to secure the result at Allianz Stadium, although there will be concern around Brandon Smith failing to play the second half due to a back issue.

Ponga fronted media on Monday for the first time since being captured walking out of a pub toilet cubicle with Newcastle teammate Kurt Mann last August.

The Knights captain insisted that Mann had come to his aid after he fell ill from something he ate, despite his father Andre revealing at the time the pair had been drinking after Ponga purchased a house.

Ponga and Mann were both cleared by an NRL integrity unit investigation and drug test, but questions lingered over Ponga's drinking while sitting out the end of the season with concussions.