October-November

HEADLINES THIS MONTH n Champion Cowboys n Dave Smith calls it a day n ‘Big Sam’ back to Souths n All Stars revamp n Taupau’s theatrical departure n Farah stalemate continues n Cleary gets the chop n Packer may be sent packing OCTOBER October 4 Fool’s gold Defeated Broncos coach Wayne Bennett labels golden point “unfair” and a “lottery” and calls for full-match replays to decide drawn grand finals. October 5 A captive audience Television ratings figures for the grand final reveal the game attracted a national audience of 4,481,000, compared with 3.9 million for the AFL decider. The NRL audience was the second highest for a grand final behind the 2014 South Sydney-Canterbury clash. October 6 Bad to worse Shattered Brisbane halfback Ben Hunt accepts a one-match ban for his dangerous throw in the grand final. The penalty against Hunt for the 77th-minute tackle on Cowboys centre…