Brett White

Brett White is an Australian professional rugby league footballer for the Canberra Raiders, and formerly of the Melbourne Storm of the NRL. An Australian international and New South Wales State of Origin representative prop forward, he has played his whole career to date at the Storm, with whom he won the 2007 and 2009 premierships.

Playing career

Growing up in the NSW high country in Berridale, White started his rugby league career with the Cooma Colts. He was a promising junior and was graded by St. George Illawarra Dragons from school. White was a key member of the Dragon's Jersey Flegg Cup team but leg and ankle injuries halted his progress in 2003 and 2004. With props such as Luke Bailey and Jason Ryles ahead of him, White was unable to make his way into first-grade and he relocated to the Melbourne Storm.

White made his first-grade debut in Round one, 2005, scoring a try against the Newcastle Knights at Olympic Park. At the end of the season he was named the Storm's Rookie of the Year after becoming Robbie Kearns' starting front-row partner. He was a member of the Melbourne Storm team to face the Brisbane Broncos in the 2006 NRL Grand Final, losing 15–8. The next year he was a member of the winning grand final against Manly.

Ben Ross

Benjamin David "Ben" Ross (born 23 May 1980 in Chinchilla, Queensland) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer of the 2000s and 2010s. A Queensland State of Origin representative forward, he played in the National Rugby League for the St. George Illawarra Dragons, Penrith Panthers (with whom he won the 2003 NRL Premiership), Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks and South Sydney Rabbitohs.

Playing career

Ben Ross played junior football for the Nambour Crushers. In 2002, Ross made his NRL debut for the St George Illawarra Dragons in a match against the Melbourne Storm.

Signing with Penrith in 2003, Ross helped to kick the season off to a blistering start after becoming involved in a brawl with Brisbane Broncos captain Gorden Tallis. Ross was on the receiving end of a series of upper-cut punches thrown by Tallis when Brisbane met Penrith in the first round of the year. Both players were sent off for ten minutes and no further action was taken by the judiciary. The Australian Football League (AFL) CEO, Wayne Jackson, used the incident to criticise the rival code which led to cross-border media exchanges. NRL CEO, David Gallop, ordered a policy change which would enable players to be charged for on-field fights.

Rugby league

Rugby league football, usually called rugby league, or simply league, is a full contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field. One of the two codes of rugby football, it originated in England in 1895 as a split from the Rugby Football Union over the issue of payments to players. Its rules gradually changed with the purpose of producing a faster, more entertaining game for spectators. It has been cited as the toughest, most physically demanding of team sports.

In rugby league, points are scored by carrying the ball and touching it to the ground beyond the opposing team's goal line; this is called a try, and is the primary method of scoring. The opposing team attempts to stop the attacking side scoring points by tackling the player carrying the ball. In addition to tries, points can be scored by kicking goals. After each try, the scoring team gains a free kick to try at goal with a conversion for further points. Kicks at goal may also be awarded for penalties, and field goals can be attempted at any time.

Brett

Brett derives from a Middle English surname meaning "a Breton", referring to an inhabitant of Brittany. Brette can be a feminine name.

Surname

Rugby League Week

Rugby League Week (frequently abbreviated to RLW) is the highest selling Australian rugby league magazine, ahead of major competitor Big League. It is published weekly (on Wednesdays) during the Australian rugby league season, which runs from March to late September (roughly corresponding to the southern hemisphere autumn and winter) and has been published continuously since 1970. In 2001 the magazine's name was changed to League Week, to avoid confusion with "that other game for lovers of forward passes, knock-ons, and penalty goals". It reverted to Rugby League Week in 2003. It is currently owned by Bauer Media Group.

Content

The magazine contains news coverage of Australian rugby league, focused primarily on the first-grade NRL competition (previously the NSWRL) but with coverage also devoted to lower-level competitions. There are usually also several profiles of rugby league players in each edition. A number of league personalities, including Mark Geyer, Stacey Jones and Wally Lewis, have regular columns; unconfirmed rumours and miscellaneous gossip are reported in a column written by 'The Mole'.