Phil Lutton

Leader: Being captain will make Darius Boyd "push even harder".

Boyd completes 'remarkable' turnaround as he takes Broncos captaincy

Wayne Bennett was so confident in his choice he told Boyd a year ago that the mantle would be his once Corey Parker left the game.

Atmosphere remains uneasy as NRL chiefs want movement on salary cap

The Auckland Nines may be a pre-season party but tensions are high around a vital CEO meeting as clubs continue to press for information on the salary cap for 2018 and beyond.

Fitter: Jarryd Hayne plans to be in top form for the start of the new season.

Leaner Jarryd Hayne not the finished product as star fullback lines up for Nines

Titans coach Neil Henry will unleash Hayne in the two-day tournament in Auckland but said his prized addition had tailored his pre-season to ensure he was firing for round one in March.

Fresh controversy: James Roberts has been banned from the Emerging Blues camp.

Roberts cops Blues ban after booze ban

James Roberts has been banned from attending this weekend's Emerging Blues camp, despite the NRL having insufficient evidence to sanction the troubled Bronco over his latest off-field incident.

Long time in the making: The moment Gal had been dreaming about.

The good, the bad and the ugly of the 2017 NRL season

It might only be mid-January, but the first outrages of the year have been committed and that means league is officially back. Phil Lutton gives us his fearless predictions for the season ahead.

Last stand: Johnathan Thurston says this year will be his last for Queensland.

Walters, QRL, yet to be told of Thurston's impending retirement

The Maroons great says he will bow out of Origin and rep football in 2017, although Queensland Rugby League bosses are yet to get the memo.

ARLC chairman John Grant is talking but the NRL clubs aren't listening.

Clubs continue hardball with Grant, ARLC

Furious NRL clubs are continuing to give John Grant the silent treatment as the Australian Rugby League Commission boss was forced to cancel proposed meetings.

Jarryd Hayne is the face of a Titans team on the rise.

Grant can't escape suffocating funding row

ANALYSIS

The ARLC chairman took deserved pride as the Gold Coast unveiled their new home base but has been left perplexed by some of the relationships that have unravelled over the past week.

John Grant: "This whole thing is hugely disruptive."

NRL clubs have given up their independence, says Grant

The ARLC chairman says clubs must leave the herd mentality behind and return to the table, while also questioning why the NSW Rugby League has taken the opposite stance to its Queensland counterpart.

Not going anywhere: ARLC chairman John Grant.

Defiant Grant tells clubs to play the ball, not the man

Embattled Australian Rugby League Commission chairman John Grant has ruled out standing down despite NRL clubs calling an emergency general meeting in a bid to oust him.