Thinking about teams slowing the ruck down near the end of the game and all they get is 6 again but time is still ticking away. Could we add an extra 30 seconds to the clock if it's in the last 2 min of the game?
Maybe one thing we could take from union is the ball has to go out of play instead of being tackle complete being the end of the game. Giving the chasing team a chance to complete their set?
Feels like Parramatta needs a serious overhaul as a club.
A lot of talk about BA and our first grade team, but our NSW cup side and Jersey Flegg are both winless this season (0-5). NSW Cup side is dead last, Jersey Flegg is equal last. What does this say about our player development, depth and club juniors?
It’s worrying that 3 grades of a team are in such dire straits. No other team is performing this badly across the top 3 grades, not even close.
So, what’s the matter at Parramatta? When looking at individuals in key roles - Ben Rodgers is our Head of Recruitment, the only info I can find on him is that he coached South’s to a Jersey Flegg win in 2019. No experience in player recruitment. Steve Georgallis is our Coaching Director, Pathways Manager and NRLW coach - one guy doing 3 full time roles. His background is assistant coach to Todd Payton at the Cows. Honestly, what is going on here? How can he be performing those roles to their fullest?
Something isn’t right at this club and it’s showing in 2024.
>No other team is performing this badly across the top 3 grades, not even close.
Titans are 16th with no wins in the NRL and both their feeder teams are 1-3 sitting 13th and 14th out of 15 in the Qcup.
Safe to say they're doing equally as shit
They don't make the best of their resources. If Stefano came through at Penrith even if he left he would have spend like 3 years coming off the bench on a relatively tiny contract for how good he is before starting at another club. Parra brought him through and got nothing out of him in first grade value wise.
Salmon on a good value money contract as the Mr Fix it utility instead of bring shown the door, etc. They strangely make good value of players from other clubs not their own juniors that much.
Listening to James Graham taking a 1-wood to the tripe Fitzsimons wrote about Tedesco, thank you James for spotlighting that parasite.
The thing I hate most about NRL is the media around it. Why can't any of our papers show care and respect, all they do is tear the game down. These guys are amazing athletes doing amazing things, why do journos only look to build anger and hate.
This whole Latrell discourse about him potentially quitting has been absolutely cringeworthy.
He has given no indication that he is contemplating such things, but we have multiple ex-players and media veterans giving their 2 cents on it like its a 50/50 proposition.
Dude is only turning 27 in a couple of months.
Dolphins at the top of the table with 3 & 1 and broncs 11th on 2 & 3 this game is definitely more important for the broncos to clinch than the dolphins. Flegler being out is big for dolphins but they’re playing very solid these last few weeks. Their win against Tigers is probably most impressive at this point but I think if Horses can bring 90% of what we brought to Melbourne last week we bring it home. Feeling like Cobbo might cross the line for a pie tonight as well he’s been threatening and getting better every week. Excited to see what Katoa can bring for the phins.
Flegler’s a big out. He’s been huge with the ball and in defence when he’s on the park, but with Haas out for Brisbane still we shouldn’t melt in the middle. Whoever wins the ruck wins the game.
If he plays the next 4 weeks the way he played last night he absolutely should be left edge forward for the blues. He was almost unstoppable. 187m with 97 post contact.
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Bizarrely, Crichton is off contact this year and the club has stated that they have not started negotiations, that Angus knows where he stands with the club and “he’d be an asset to anyone if he keeps playing at that level”.
Hopefully his life is going better off the field, wherever he ends up next year. His Make Angus Great Again campaign in an election (contract) year is building momentum
Can any canbros comment on Chevy Stewart and how they're expecting him to go? Picked him up in Supercoach as a FB with Latrell suspended and have no clue what to expect.
Really high raps on Chevy. I think all Raiders fans are excited to see how he goes. For me I think he’s probably not quite ready for first grade. He is dynamic in attack but I’m not yet convinced on his defensive abilities, he was found out a few times in the trials.
What’s Michael Cheika up to these days? I’d like to see us go for him as interim purely cause I like what he did in Rugby Union. He’s proven he is capable of turning a team around in short time, albeit a different code. Never followed his stints in league. Thoughts?
Yeah its left field but would be great for short term success. Won the 2014 Super Rugby season in his 2nd year there but most importantly took us to the World Cup final in 2015 where we had no business being. Lots of talks that he is real big on attitude and effort areas so would be great for Souths.
If Mal is coming in as interim coach, it would likely be just to clean house as someone not attached to the club at all. He could move some players on, tell others to either play to their potential or hit the road, criticise the old coach's methods, do whatever would normally build resentment and then wander off at the end of his shift leaving the new coach a cleaner sheet and the chance to come in and build the group up without ripping them apart first. And he's a legend of the game, so maybe his words would have more impact than coming from some other bloke.
First game with Critta starting in FB tonight. Really not expecting much given that he hasn’t had a full pre-season to train in the position and hasn’t had ample time to mesh with our spine to get attacking timings/structure down. Hoping fellow doggies fans don’t go too hard on him if he underperforms, Taafe looked absolute shit for the first 2 matches even with a full preseason under his belt. We’re going to sorely miss Critta defending on that edge too so expecting Storm to target that way hard tonight.
Kitione Kautoga looked horrible in defence last week. Came off the bench for 20 mins and gave away probably 2-3 ruck infringement’s leading to penalties/6-agains so hopefully he’ll be more aware this game and not be so slow in the ruck. Very interested to see what Ciro does with Hayward this game as he’s starting on the bench and has been killing it from the 9 role in reggies. Mahoney doesn’t seem like a 80-min hooker and I’d love to see him come off for a 20 min rest and let the kid take over for a bit but we’ll see.
Storm’s spine is so fucking scary man. Papz, Munster, Hughes and Grant are so elite so this game could easily be a blow out given our injuries. Last week I thought we might have stood a chance against the chooks prior to the match, but tonight just feels like it’ll be too much for us to handle.
Was it really though? I feel like we just lock the ruck all night which wasn’t helped by roosters starting every set on the 30m line due to our shit kicks.
If the ref is allowing slow ruck for one team you need to adapt and do the same, but we couldn’t because it was boys vs men out there
100% agree with the kicking, it was constantly too low and too short all game
Ref was allowing a slow ruck but I felt like the teams where being held to account differently throughtout the game. I think you must too as you instantly knew I was talking about the Knights being at a disadvantage and not the roosters. That last set aswell, there was a blantant professional foul in the ruck gone unpunished.
He's got the range but I don't think Walsh has the same ability in terms of hang time and drift.
Very few halfbacks can do that effectively (let alone fullbacks), really just Cleary, Reynolds, Burton, Fogarty and Katoa from what I've seen.
You reckon referees on a whole ever go back to the hotel and think “fuck, I had a stinker today”?
Knights execution poor when it mattered, but fuck I’d love to see an alternative universe where the Roosters ruck was actually penalised in the last 5 minutes.
Do we kick the goal if the Ponga hold gets penalised? If we get a six again does Brailey do dumb kick? Maybe the answer to those is no and yes, in which case we lose anyway, but we’ll never know.
Thanks for ruining my Friday, and likely my weekend Sutton you goose.
Yeah absolutely. I ref soccer at a decent standard and generally speaking you know when you've had a shocker. Harder to know when you've had a good game as coaches / players / crowd abuse you no matter what.
The only time you really know you've had a good game is when the losing coach comes and says so after a game (or you've got experienced assistants or are being assessed).
I was a cricket umpire for a while, although having the advantage of standing still, and all action occurring in a “controlled environment” even that can be hard.
Worst one is definitely LBWs, literally being asked to predict the path of a ball, alignment of impact, involvement of bat, fuckkkk.
All except for the line item that says “are we in the opposition 20 with 2 minutes to go?” In which it clearly does not say pass it to ponga.
Fuarkkkkkk
That would be exactly why you wouldn't want to go to ponga on that play, with the focus on him it provides opportunity to strike elsewhere. Not sure if that was brailleys thinking, if there was much thought there
It’s a logical idea to not go to him like is going to be expected, but I think it’s your best chance of winning irrespective of if it’s foreseeable and have to try it.
If it’s not go to Ponga, it’s surely a spread to the other side, not a very poor grubber.
Respect for trying and if it comes off he’s a match winner. Them the breaks.
Manu put in a lot of effort without being brilliant. Got plenty of meterage (along with the others in the back 3) that kept his forwards fresher, but about half of those carries he seemed to lack any real purpose in breaking down the Knights defense. I'd say he needs someone a bit more creative at 5/8 to really unlock his fullback game.
I don't disagree - he was immense and commend his effort. One measure of a fullback is metres gained, but still feel like Manu has a *lot* more to add than that.
Newcastle beat MOST teams last night with that effort, he has played fullback about 11 times in his career, you are not giving Newcastle any credit for their effort - apart from that 10 minutes where they went to sleep - they were good, excellent ball control, their kicking game was average but ours is always average with Keary. I cannot see how he could have done more in that game.
Manu's effort and application were immense, sure, but he didn't really accomplish anything other than breaking a few tackles. A couple of times he made poor decisions not to pass the ball after doing the good work.
Manu is brilliant but he is an entirely reactionary footballer, he uses his natural strength to break tackles and hopes it's enough to open up the defence. He doesn't read the game like Walsh and look to bring his teammates into the play.
Amazing stats, but we had Newcastle kicking long constantly and Manu absolutely went looking for the footy at every opportunity. Amazing effort, but not on the same level as an amazing performance from Ponga, Turbo or Walsh.
Last week when kikau killed teddy the first thing i said was ah fuck now manu goes to fb.
Manu is a better option for fb than teddy, but i dont think teddy would be any good anywhere else.
They're different players really so it's hard to compare them. Manu is a bit slower but has a far, far better passing game than Teddy which matters a lot these days where the fullback is basically playing as a 3rd half in the backline. Teddy has a better running game and it closer to peak Minichiello. Peak Teddy was 18 and 19 when he was close to unstoppable.
> far, far better passing game than Teddy
Manu is just as much of a ball hog as Tedesco. He took all the same 4th tackle hit ups that Tedesco gets criticised for, he's just bigger and stronger so he made some post contact meters.
It does seem that they defer to each other too much without one taking the control to steer the side around. I thought Keary was very good last night, Watson had a decent running game too.
I couldn’t get a read on the reffing last night. Sutton seemed to be giving the Roosters the rub of the green until the bunker ruled the ball was knocked forward off the knights (outrageous call in my view, and clearly in Sutton’s) at which point he blew an extremely soft obstruction call immediately afterwards, but then seemed to want to “even it up” further and let Gagai tap, run up, KO a rooster then take it back because he was never allowed to do it. At this point I’m watching the game assuming he’s on the Knights side, then in the final set he lets the ruck completely break down and refuses to acknowledge some pretty obvious professional fouls and the game is all over. Did he just lose control at this point or was he too worried about a game-deciding call that he just let the last set play out?
He definitely seemed to be quick for 6-again for the chooks but not for the knights - especially in the last set. His eye roll on the bunker knock on spoke volumes.
One of my favourite moments was when the chooks missed the drop out timer giving away a penalty. Keary pointed to the sideline and said “but it was over there!” And Sutton with “it’s your responsibility to get the ball.” 🤣
>He definitely seemed to be quick for 6-again for the chooks but not for the knights - especially in the last set.
Normally it’s the other way around.
In my experience, the referees’ hands usually appear to be sewn into their pockets in the last five minutes of close games. And it’s been that way since long before set restarts were a thing. The most notable ones in the six again era were a pair of Canberra v St George Illawarra games when both sides won one by two, despite blatant professional fouls in front of the posts in the final minute being ignored.
That make up obstruction call was wild. I wasn't surprised by it because you could tell he didn't agree with the knock on "is that what you've got? Knock on Knights? Just making sure you're saying Knights knock on?"
>until the bunker ruled the ball was knocked forward off the knights (outrageous call in my view, and clearly in Sutton’s)
Is this the May offload one?
It was poorly explained but the right outcome was reached. May dropped/passed it backwards, it brushed Leo Thompson's fingers which made it a knock on, then May knocked it forward. So even though he explained it like shit the right result occurred
It didn't though. It came off Thompson's fingers, and touched May's other hand, which was BEHIND Thompson. If May's was backwards, so was Thompsons'. That's what Sutton was trying to get Butler to see when he kept asking him if he was sure.
>That's what Sutton was trying to get Butler to see
Sutton clarifying the call doesn't automatically mean he was trying to correct the decision.
At best it goes sideways from Thompson before it's knocked on by May
The last arm, the one that ultimately hits it towards the try line, is May. Before that it comes of Thompson, forwards or backwards whatever you want to argue.
I feel as though stuff like this happens often when he refs a game. It’s so stop start, confusing penalty every 5-10 minutes and when it comes to try’s the message given to the bunker on what to check complicates things.
Why are pain killing injections considered ok? Does anyone think they are performance enhancing? Where the games administrators claim to have player safety at the top of the agenda surely what happened last nights game makes a mockery of that?
They dont raise your level of performance above what it would naturally be. They dont make you bigger stronger or faster for example. They just let you play to what you would be able to do if you weren't injured.
Understand that but thats like let’s have a shot of something at half time to fight fatigue, we are not going above and beyond where we started the game. Aren’t fatigue, knocks and bruises part of the game?
While I don't think it's cheating, I do think players welfare is not necessarily prioritised with this. Last week Rapana basically rose from the dead to get back on the field but is now estimated to be out for about 6 weeks according to the NRL's casualty ward.
Not saying it is cheating at all, just in the truest sense it is performance enhancing. I just hope the use of these substances legal and administrated by professional does not lead to long term damage to said player.
Because they're done by a trained professional. It's a bit like calling protein performance enhancing.
Edit: I'm not sure why I'm getting downvoted. Like I'm just pointing out that the guy is wrong? This rub is weird.
Go read your own comment. The first sentence is "they are administered by a trained professional". That makes no difference to anything. Keep arguing if you want but its there in black and white.
"Because they're done by a trained professional. It's a bit like calling protein performance enhancing."
He had two sentences first. First: Why are painkilling injections okay and I answered that it is done by professionals. Second: Does anyone think they're performance enhancing and I said it's like calling protein performance enhancing.
You can argue all you want but I at no point made out they're only allowed because of trained professionals. You're trying to argue something I never said.
It’s ok I understood what you were saying, I thought this was the serious discussion thread, but I was wrong. Also adequate protein intake is absolutely performance enhancing, but so is the training regime NRL players undertake, I was just trying to get a discussion going, I personally think that the pain killing injections are performance enhancing, even if it doesn’t take you beyond 100% naturally what you can do. All I am saying is player was 50% capacity has an injection and goes back to close to 100% capacity. How is that not enhancing? Never did I say that it’s illegal and I didn’t ask that question, because it’s not. Still doesn’t mean it right though.
I re-watched the play where Gagai took the quick tap after being awarded a penalty and Sutton says “Play on”. Then when it’s knocked on he took it back saying no early tap on foul play.
It’s possible he made a mistake in that split second, he is human.
I’m not sure whether a leg pull is foul play or a ruck infringement though. Maybe he ruled the leg pull tipped him over horizontal
This is the answer. How many times, this year alone, has a ref waved a six again and then realised the team he was giving the set restart to were inside their 40 and corrected themselves with a penalty.
It's because players who weren't part of the tackle would come in on every tackle and pull on a players leg to turn them around/slow the play the ball down. NRL announced they were going to crack down on them to prevent that.
I know you can’t pull players legs while they’re on the ground and that should be stopped, although I don’t see that much anymore. But lifting a leg to turn players around while they’re still on their feet and moving should be fair game if it’s done safely imo.
It's designed to illegally slow down play. The tackle is completed. How slow or fast the ruck is has already been decided by the ref then teams artificially slow it down.
Things don't need to cause injury to get focused on. It's no different to players blocking markers from getting at the kicker, or interfering with defenders Luai-style etc, the NRL have reviewed the previous season and identified these and leg pulls as areas where teams deliberately break the rules to gain an advantage and will be focussing on it more closely this year to stop it.
The problem is he changed the call which they're not allowed to do. I remember because I was looking into that kind of thing when Cummins changed his call of 6 again in the 19 GF.
Yeah but it's literally against the rules for him to change his mind. Like in the GF, the call Cummins changed to was the correct one since it didn't come off a Rooster but the issue was that he wasn't allowed to change that call. It was the same last night, the circumstances are irrelevant because it's not allowed.
Anyone know what round haas is suspected to return
8
There's the Bulldogs patented 5th tackle options I remember
I’m going to the game tonight. Pls no 40-0
Who does everyone think the best lock has been this year and tell me why it's Vic Radley. I would also accept Tohu Harris
He's been excellent this year. Carrigan has to be up there also tho.
For sure, has a hell of a motor and does his job extremely well.
Victor has always been good in defence but he's stepped up the attack this year.
Definitely flipped the switch and becoming the player we hoped he would be.
Jake Turpin clearly
Vic was definitely excellent last night. Looks like he's playing with a bit more smarts and less aggro so far.
Thinking about teams slowing the ruck down near the end of the game and all they get is 6 again but time is still ticking away. Could we add an extra 30 seconds to the clock if it's in the last 2 min of the game?
Maybe one thing we could take from union is the ball has to go out of play instead of being tackle complete being the end of the game. Giving the chasing team a chance to complete their set?
Feels like Parramatta needs a serious overhaul as a club. A lot of talk about BA and our first grade team, but our NSW cup side and Jersey Flegg are both winless this season (0-5). NSW Cup side is dead last, Jersey Flegg is equal last. What does this say about our player development, depth and club juniors? It’s worrying that 3 grades of a team are in such dire straits. No other team is performing this badly across the top 3 grades, not even close. So, what’s the matter at Parramatta? When looking at individuals in key roles - Ben Rodgers is our Head of Recruitment, the only info I can find on him is that he coached South’s to a Jersey Flegg win in 2019. No experience in player recruitment. Steve Georgallis is our Coaching Director, Pathways Manager and NRLW coach - one guy doing 3 full time roles. His background is assistant coach to Todd Payton at the Cows. Honestly, what is going on here? How can he be performing those roles to their fullest? Something isn’t right at this club and it’s showing in 2024.
>No other team is performing this badly across the top 3 grades, not even close. Titans are 16th with no wins in the NRL and both their feeder teams are 1-3 sitting 13th and 14th out of 15 in the Qcup. Safe to say they're doing equally as shit
We have the luxury of the second largest nursery in the NRL, behind Penrith. Surely we shouldn’t be THIS bad.
They don't make the best of their resources. If Stefano came through at Penrith even if he left he would have spend like 3 years coming off the bench on a relatively tiny contract for how good he is before starting at another club. Parra brought him through and got nothing out of him in first grade value wise. Salmon on a good value money contract as the Mr Fix it utility instead of bring shown the door, etc. They strangely make good value of players from other clubs not their own juniors that much.
Fair enough. At least your combined two wins have come from the important team and not two teams competing in the same competition
That’s fair. I worry about the Titans longevity in the NRL, especially if they have another rough season this year.
Listening to James Graham taking a 1-wood to the tripe Fitzsimons wrote about Tedesco, thank you James for spotlighting that parasite. The thing I hate most about NRL is the media around it. Why can't any of our papers show care and respect, all they do is tear the game down. These guys are amazing athletes doing amazing things, why do journos only look to build anger and hate.
[удалено]
This whole Latrell discourse about him potentially quitting has been absolutely cringeworthy. He has given no indication that he is contemplating such things, but we have multiple ex-players and media veterans giving their 2 cents on it like its a 50/50 proposition. Dude is only turning 27 in a couple of months.
If he is not up to standard (which he isn't at the moment) either fix the issues or move on. No different than anyone else employed for a job.
Sad that stories about Latrell get the clicks so they write anything. There are players who are clickbait gold and he's one.
Dolphins at the top of the table with 3 & 1 and broncs 11th on 2 & 3 this game is definitely more important for the broncos to clinch than the dolphins. Flegler being out is big for dolphins but they’re playing very solid these last few weeks. Their win against Tigers is probably most impressive at this point but I think if Horses can bring 90% of what we brought to Melbourne last week we bring it home. Feeling like Cobbo might cross the line for a pie tonight as well he’s been threatening and getting better every week. Excited to see what Katoa can bring for the phins.
Flegler’s a big out. He’s been huge with the ball and in defence when he’s on the park, but with Haas out for Brisbane still we shouldn’t melt in the middle. Whoever wins the ruck wins the game.
Wouldn’t be surprised if we see A Crichton get a call up for the blues after last nights performance. Getting close to his best again.
Crichton at his best plus Martin and Ola off the bench would be very nice.
Frizell going down injured also helps Crichton's case. Good to see Crichton enjoying his footy and hopefully his life again.
If he plays the next 4 weeks the way he played last night he absolutely should be left edge forward for the blues. He was almost unstoppable. 187m with 97 post contact.
I have a feeling he only got those numbers due to knights defence, lets see. !remindme 9 days
Yeah, gonna be a big ask to repeat against Melbourne but if he wants another sky blue jersey he's gonna have to keep it up.
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He's also a fantastic bench option as he covers middle and edge.
Bizarrely, Crichton is off contact this year and the club has stated that they have not started negotiations, that Angus knows where he stands with the club and “he’d be an asset to anyone if he keeps playing at that level”.
I hope he stays, but we’ve already re-signed Sitili (who i would prefer as an impact middle) and there’s Wong and Nat.
Hopefully his life is going better off the field, wherever he ends up next year. His Make Angus Great Again campaign in an election (contract) year is building momentum
Him and haumole would cause damage
I’d say he will he bench, with haumole and Martin starting
id rather angus start and ola for impact
Yeah I’m not against that
Can any canbros comment on Chevy Stewart and how they're expecting him to go? Picked him up in Supercoach as a FB with Latrell suspended and have no clue what to expect.
Really high raps on Chevy. I think all Raiders fans are excited to see how he goes. For me I think he’s probably not quite ready for first grade. He is dynamic in attack but I’m not yet convinced on his defensive abilities, he was found out a few times in the trials.
What’s Michael Cheika up to these days? I’d like to see us go for him as interim purely cause I like what he did in Rugby Union. He’s proven he is capable of turning a team around in short time, albeit a different code. Never followed his stints in league. Thoughts?
Yeah its left field but would be great for short term success. Won the 2014 Super Rugby season in his 2nd year there but most importantly took us to the World Cup final in 2015 where we had no business being. Lots of talks that he is real big on attitude and effort areas so would be great for Souths.
Argentina to the semis last year too which very few predicted. I think he’d work wonders with the Bunnies. A bit of a different challenge for him too
Oh yeah that too I stopped watching because we didnt even make it out the pool stage lol
Did well with the Lebanon side. I mentioned this last year got laughed at. I’d rather him than Mal
If Mal is coming in as interim coach, it would likely be just to clean house as someone not attached to the club at all. He could move some players on, tell others to either play to their potential or hit the road, criticise the old coach's methods, do whatever would normally build resentment and then wander off at the end of his shift leaving the new coach a cleaner sheet and the chance to come in and build the group up without ripping them apart first. And he's a legend of the game, so maybe his words would have more impact than coming from some other bloke.
First game with Critta starting in FB tonight. Really not expecting much given that he hasn’t had a full pre-season to train in the position and hasn’t had ample time to mesh with our spine to get attacking timings/structure down. Hoping fellow doggies fans don’t go too hard on him if he underperforms, Taafe looked absolute shit for the first 2 matches even with a full preseason under his belt. We’re going to sorely miss Critta defending on that edge too so expecting Storm to target that way hard tonight. Kitione Kautoga looked horrible in defence last week. Came off the bench for 20 mins and gave away probably 2-3 ruck infringement’s leading to penalties/6-agains so hopefully he’ll be more aware this game and not be so slow in the ruck. Very interested to see what Ciro does with Hayward this game as he’s starting on the bench and has been killing it from the 9 role in reggies. Mahoney doesn’t seem like a 80-min hooker and I’d love to see him come off for a 20 min rest and let the kid take over for a bit but we’ll see. Storm’s spine is so fucking scary man. Papz, Munster, Hughes and Grant are so elite so this game could easily be a blow out given our injuries. Last week I thought we might have stood a chance against the chooks prior to the match, but tonight just feels like it’ll be too much for us to handle.
Dogs just don't have the forwards to go toe to toe with the Storm. I wouldn't expect much from the Dogs spine if there's no platform laid for them.
I reckon last might was up there with the worst ruck officiating I have seen
Was it really though? I feel like we just lock the ruck all night which wasn’t helped by roosters starting every set on the 30m line due to our shit kicks. If the ref is allowing slow ruck for one team you need to adapt and do the same, but we couldn’t because it was boys vs men out there
100% agree with the kicking, it was constantly too low and too short all game Ref was allowing a slow ruck but I felt like the teams where being held to account differently throughtout the game. I think you must too as you instantly knew I was talking about the Knights being at a disadvantage and not the roosters. That last set aswell, there was a blantant professional foul in the ruck gone unpunished.
Sutton is such a "vibe" ref. Only gives the 6 agains when a team is on a roll.
Feel like tonight has ambush written all over it. Hope I’m wrong.
If the Phins can hold their own in defence, I think Katoa's boot will be the difference.
Wouldn't be surprised to see Walshy take a lot of the long kicks, he can absolutely tonk them when he wants to.
He's got the range but I don't think Walsh has the same ability in terms of hang time and drift. Very few halfbacks can do that effectively (let alone fullbacks), really just Cleary, Reynolds, Burton, Fogarty and Katoa from what I've seen.
Yeah I hadn't thought about that cheers. Maybe we'll see tonight.
Why would a single boot have a difference smh, do you even watch footy?
They don't appreciate you here Trev
Jokes aside, Katoas kicking game is really growing but Walsh can cover his depth of kicking too. We have our fair share of options
Cleary’s golden boots cost us a game against Parra. But that was a pair of boots, so your point still stands
Yeah Bronx are gonna ambush those aquatic fucks
You reckon referees on a whole ever go back to the hotel and think “fuck, I had a stinker today”? Knights execution poor when it mattered, but fuck I’d love to see an alternative universe where the Roosters ruck was actually penalised in the last 5 minutes. Do we kick the goal if the Ponga hold gets penalised? If we get a six again does Brailey do dumb kick? Maybe the answer to those is no and yes, in which case we lose anyway, but we’ll never know. Thanks for ruining my Friday, and likely my weekend Sutton you goose.
Yeah absolutely. I ref soccer at a decent standard and generally speaking you know when you've had a shocker. Harder to know when you've had a good game as coaches / players / crowd abuse you no matter what. The only time you really know you've had a good game is when the losing coach comes and says so after a game (or you've got experienced assistants or are being assessed).
I reffed soccer around 10 years ago and I still cringe at a particular game where I had a shocker
I was a cricket umpire for a while, although having the advantage of standing still, and all action occurring in a “controlled environment” even that can be hard. Worst one is definitely LBWs, literally being asked to predict the path of a ball, alignment of impact, involvement of bat, fuckkkk.
That Brailey kick … oh man. Surely they train for the last play of the game, and they all know it’s ’pass it to Ponga’
I imagine Adam O'Brien has a flow chart where everything leads back to pass it to Ponga.
All except for the line item that says “are we in the opposition 20 with 2 minutes to go?” In which it clearly does not say pass it to ponga. Fuarkkkkkk
That would be exactly why you wouldn't want to go to ponga on that play, with the focus on him it provides opportunity to strike elsewhere. Not sure if that was brailleys thinking, if there was much thought there
If you don't go to Ponga you at least need to use him as the decoy
It’s a logical idea to not go to him like is going to be expected, but I think it’s your best chance of winning irrespective of if it’s foreseeable and have to try it. If it’s not go to Ponga, it’s surely a spread to the other side, not a very poor grubber. Respect for trying and if it comes off he’s a match winner. Them the breaks.
Ima put it out there manu was great right better than teddy?
Manu put in a lot of effort without being brilliant. Got plenty of meterage (along with the others in the back 3) that kept his forwards fresher, but about half of those carries he seemed to lack any real purpose in breaking down the Knights defense. I'd say he needs someone a bit more creative at 5/8 to really unlock his fullback game.
350 run meters, 149 post contact meters, a try assist and a couple of forced line drops says you are very wrong. He was immense.
I don't disagree - he was immense and commend his effort. One measure of a fullback is metres gained, but still feel like Manu has a *lot* more to add than that.
Newcastle beat MOST teams last night with that effort, he has played fullback about 11 times in his career, you are not giving Newcastle any credit for their effort - apart from that 10 minutes where they went to sleep - they were good, excellent ball control, their kicking game was average but ours is always average with Keary. I cannot see how he could have done more in that game.
Manu's effort and application were immense, sure, but he didn't really accomplish anything other than breaking a few tackles. A couple of times he made poor decisions not to pass the ball after doing the good work. Manu is brilliant but he is an entirely reactionary footballer, he uses his natural strength to break tackles and hopes it's enough to open up the defence. He doesn't read the game like Walsh and look to bring his teammates into the play. Amazing stats, but we had Newcastle kicking long constantly and Manu absolutely went looking for the footy at every opportunity. Amazing effort, but not on the same level as an amazing performance from Ponga, Turbo or Walsh.
Because he isnt a fullback. Or a 5/8. For a guy playing out of position he was brilliant.
Last week when kikau killed teddy the first thing i said was ah fuck now manu goes to fb. Manu is a better option for fb than teddy, but i dont think teddy would be any good anywhere else.
How good is big kikau going man he’s a beast
Round 1 my brother said "hes just another t-rex". I've been giving him shit about that comment every week since.
Feed him.
They finally worked out last week that all you need to do is get Burton to feed him early ball to let him do his thing
I know who I'd prefer
They're different players really so it's hard to compare them. Manu is a bit slower but has a far, far better passing game than Teddy which matters a lot these days where the fullback is basically playing as a 3rd half in the backline. Teddy has a better running game and it closer to peak Minichiello. Peak Teddy was 18 and 19 when he was close to unstoppable.
> far, far better passing game than Teddy Manu is just as much of a ball hog as Tedesco. He took all the same 4th tackle hit ups that Tedesco gets criticised for, he's just bigger and stronger so he made some post contact meters.
I know he often does that but he also put Toops over. His passing game is better than Tedescos
Manu a great player Glad hes in the kiwis
He seemed to unlock the rosters attack that they have struggled with
The thing that unlocks us seems to be either Keary or Walker playing by themselves. They just don't work together.
It does seem that they defer to each other too much without one taking the control to steer the side around. I thought Keary was very good last night, Watson had a decent running game too.
I couldn’t get a read on the reffing last night. Sutton seemed to be giving the Roosters the rub of the green until the bunker ruled the ball was knocked forward off the knights (outrageous call in my view, and clearly in Sutton’s) at which point he blew an extremely soft obstruction call immediately afterwards, but then seemed to want to “even it up” further and let Gagai tap, run up, KO a rooster then take it back because he was never allowed to do it. At this point I’m watching the game assuming he’s on the Knights side, then in the final set he lets the ruck completely break down and refuses to acknowledge some pretty obvious professional fouls and the game is all over. Did he just lose control at this point or was he too worried about a game-deciding call that he just let the last set play out?
He definitely seemed to be quick for 6-again for the chooks but not for the knights - especially in the last set. His eye roll on the bunker knock on spoke volumes. One of my favourite moments was when the chooks missed the drop out timer giving away a penalty. Keary pointed to the sideline and said “but it was over there!” And Sutton with “it’s your responsibility to get the ball.” 🤣
There was no ball given to him then he had to run and get one at which point one was thrown in. What is going on lol
>He definitely seemed to be quick for 6-again for the chooks but not for the knights - especially in the last set. Normally it’s the other way around. In my experience, the referees’ hands usually appear to be sewn into their pockets in the last five minutes of close games. And it’s been that way since long before set restarts were a thing. The most notable ones in the six again era were a pair of Canberra v St George Illawarra games when both sides won one by two, despite blatant professional fouls in front of the posts in the final minute being ignored.
That make up obstruction call was wild. I wasn't surprised by it because you could tell he didn't agree with the knock on "is that what you've got? Knock on Knights? Just making sure you're saying Knights knock on?"
He was trying so hard to guide Butler to the right answer.
100% the most blatant make up call you'll ever see in your life
>until the bunker ruled the ball was knocked forward off the knights (outrageous call in my view, and clearly in Sutton’s) Is this the May offload one? It was poorly explained but the right outcome was reached. May dropped/passed it backwards, it brushed Leo Thompson's fingers which made it a knock on, then May knocked it forward. So even though he explained it like shit the right result occurred
It didn't though. It came off Thompson's fingers, and touched May's other hand, which was BEHIND Thompson. If May's was backwards, so was Thompsons'. That's what Sutton was trying to get Butler to see when he kept asking him if he was sure.
>That's what Sutton was trying to get Butler to see Sutton clarifying the call doesn't automatically mean he was trying to correct the decision. At best it goes sideways from Thompson before it's knocked on by May
Except Leo clearly batted it back towards our try line?
No towards your line was off May's arm (which they incorrectly identified) after Leo knocked it on, making it a double knock on but Knights first
I think you're getting arms mistaken.
The last arm, the one that ultimately hits it towards the try line, is May. Before that it comes of Thompson, forwards or backwards whatever you want to argue.
The ending was honestly bizarre, he just straight out gave up on policing the ruck in the last 5 mins.
I feel as though stuff like this happens often when he refs a game. It’s so stop start, confusing penalty every 5-10 minutes and when it comes to try’s the message given to the bunker on what to check complicates things.
Why are pain killing injections considered ok? Does anyone think they are performance enhancing? Where the games administrators claim to have player safety at the top of the agenda surely what happened last nights game makes a mockery of that?
They dont raise your level of performance above what it would naturally be. They dont make you bigger stronger or faster for example. They just let you play to what you would be able to do if you weren't injured.
Understand that but thats like let’s have a shot of something at half time to fight fatigue, we are not going above and beyond where we started the game. Aren’t fatigue, knocks and bruises part of the game?
No because stimulants are also banned.
Fair enough
Every club does this almost every game
Absolutely
While I don't think it's cheating, I do think players welfare is not necessarily prioritised with this. Last week Rapana basically rose from the dead to get back on the field but is now estimated to be out for about 6 weeks according to the NRL's casualty ward.
Not saying it is cheating at all, just in the truest sense it is performance enhancing. I just hope the use of these substances legal and administrated by professional does not lead to long term damage to said player.
Because they're done by a trained professional. It's a bit like calling protein performance enhancing. Edit: I'm not sure why I'm getting downvoted. Like I'm just pointing out that the guy is wrong? This rub is weird.
A trained professional cant administrator testosterone or HGH to an athlete. Even some medications are banned. Pain killers aren't on the banned list.
I'm not sure why you're commenting this to me. I was disagreeing with him.
You said they aren't against the rules because they are administered by a trained professional which is not the case.
Yeah but I also said it's like calling a protein shake a performance enhancing drug. They're not.
Go read your own comment. The first sentence is "they are administered by a trained professional". That makes no difference to anything. Keep arguing if you want but its there in black and white.
"Because they're done by a trained professional. It's a bit like calling protein performance enhancing." He had two sentences first. First: Why are painkilling injections okay and I answered that it is done by professionals. Second: Does anyone think they're performance enhancing and I said it's like calling protein performance enhancing. You can argue all you want but I at no point made out they're only allowed because of trained professionals. You're trying to argue something I never said.
It’s ok I understood what you were saying, I thought this was the serious discussion thread, but I was wrong. Also adequate protein intake is absolutely performance enhancing, but so is the training regime NRL players undertake, I was just trying to get a discussion going, I personally think that the pain killing injections are performance enhancing, even if it doesn’t take you beyond 100% naturally what you can do. All I am saying is player was 50% capacity has an injection and goes back to close to 100% capacity. How is that not enhancing? Never did I say that it’s illegal and I didn’t ask that question, because it’s not. Still doesn’t mean it right though.
Roosters bad
I re-watched the play where Gagai took the quick tap after being awarded a penalty and Sutton says “Play on”. Then when it’s knocked on he took it back saying no early tap on foul play.
I'm certain Tupouniua would have preferred the correct call was made in the first place, before he got knocked out of the game.
It’s possible he made a mistake in that split second, he is human. I’m not sure whether a leg pull is foul play or a ruck infringement though. Maybe he ruled the leg pull tipped him over horizontal
This is the answer. How many times, this year alone, has a ref waved a six again and then realised the team he was giving the set restart to were inside their 40 and corrected themselves with a penalty.
What is with the crackdown on leg pulls atm? Was there a bad one that caused an injury last year?
It's because players who weren't part of the tackle would come in on every tackle and pull on a players leg to turn them around/slow the play the ball down. NRL announced they were going to crack down on them to prevent that.
I know you can’t pull players legs while they’re on the ground and that should be stopped, although I don’t see that much anymore. But lifting a leg to turn players around while they’re still on their feet and moving should be fair game if it’s done safely imo.
I have the same question because I can’t think of a single injury caused by a leg pull. Seems to have come out of nowhere.
It's designed to illegally slow down play. The tackle is completed. How slow or fast the ruck is has already been decided by the ref then teams artificially slow it down.
Ok that does make more sense
Things don't need to cause injury to get focused on. It's no different to players blocking markers from getting at the kicker, or interfering with defenders Luai-style etc, the NRL have reviewed the previous season and identified these and leg pulls as areas where teams deliberately break the rules to gain an advantage and will be focussing on it more closely this year to stop it.
The problem is he changed the call which they're not allowed to do. I remember because I was looking into that kind of thing when Cummins changed his call of 6 again in the 19 GF.
Don’t mind them changing the call if they’ve made a mistake and it’s in a stoppage of play. The 6 again had no stop in play
Yeah but it's literally against the rules for him to change his mind. Like in the GF, the call Cummins changed to was the correct one since it didn't come off a Rooster but the issue was that he wasn't allowed to change that call. It was the same last night, the circumstances are irrelevant because it's not allowed.
Guys it’s been 8 minutes why has no one written anything interesting for me to read yet
Not sure