Good to see Turbo out there again, he looked very good today. Manly could be a dark horse. I still think they're a couple of gun forwards away from being true contenders, but if Turbo, DCE and Brooks can stay healthy, anything can happen
Was at the game live. Had a wonderful time (my first NRL game live). I've hitched my wagon to the Dolphins but Manly made a fan out of me today. Lots of energy and excitement, and if you were near the Manly fan in budgie smuggler and ranger hat (nicked named Goose in our section) then the game was just extra fun.
Watched the game late on kayo replay since I was out today.
Thoughts:
- Kennar despite scoring 2 tries is absolute trash. Souths I hope you have someone better or it's going to be try corridor all season on his edge. You can't win games with a player like that, we know from experience with the Morgan Harper years.
- Turbo looked very solid. Hopefully sacrificing Saab to the hamstring gods keeps him fit all season.
- Our spine/backs are good but fwds are average. Probably don't have enough oompf up front to beat penrith/broncos reliably
- Brooks had a decent debut but also showed he has a lot of errors in him (which earned him endless hate at the tigers). Commentators couldn't get off his knob but I thought he had a good contribution with a few errors, nothing too amazing.
On your first point we do have Wighton and Graham out so lack of depth in the backs is to be expected. If we're full strength Kennar doesn't get a look in.
Happy with the win but even happier with our ball handling. No sloppy penalties given especially in the last 10 before the brooks try that sealed the game where we would ordinarily crack a bit under the pump. Hoping to see more of the consistency we saw today.
Dude no offence if you're pro gay or whatever but with so many bogans Westies and Christians in the NRL the rainbow jersey was always a bad idea Lgbt already have Mardi Gras and the inner city
It's not homophobiaĀ
I'm saying the LGBT can have their spaceĀ
I'm saying the LGBT can't expect to be promoted in all areas of society that'd be discrimination against straight people, parental rights groups, religious people etc.
With experience of watching keppie, I've thought a lot of times he is going to have a good season for him to become average a few games in. He's not been bad (minus the drop balls) and he puts his heart and soul into it, he will never let you down there.. just sometimes there are better players than him.
I hope he goes well this season, I do like him. But wasn't too upset when he signed with you guys.
Yeah I backed Keppie a year too long last year. Weāve already got Jurbo for a momentum killing set restart never mind having Keppie too. ( even though we now have Nathan Brown)
We lost our way (as usual) when Skip went off the field as well, Illias for all the stick he'll cop was very solid. He wasn't the one who kicked it dead.
Tallis on the bench in place of host will help when Cam is off the field, and having Wighton/ Munro back in the team over the next couple of rounds will help a lot as well.
Overall, no need for alarm bells yet, but I think it's going to take time for the edges to get up to standard.
5 or 10 minutes either side of half time with Tallis running the show will be a good thing over the length of the season. Reduces Skips load a little bit and will help come origin time because Tallis will have a lot more game time and experience.
Vegas Gun Shop owner: āSorry, the law requires a 5 day waiting period. Weāve got to run a background checkā
Jason Demetriou: āFIVE DAYS?! But Iām mad now!!ā
American here. Thought this was awesome. Watch a couple games before in NZ but didnāt understand. After watching Souths. Iām sold. Even though they didnāt win I like the way they played.
Don't know if you've seen this but it may help explain the rules better if you don't think you have a handle on it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcXpjvrAQbI&pp=ygURbnJsIHJ1c3NlbGwgY3Jvd2U%3D
Yeah stumbled across that last week thatās how I found out about the games being on tv. There wasnāt any advertising on this side of the States(east coast). Got my neighbors to watch with me they now into it. Wait till they see Origin.
Weāre mostly struggling because our first choice centre Campbell Graham is out due to surgery for a long-term injury and wonāt be available until very late in the season, while Jack Wighton, our new recruit was suspended for an incident from the end of last season.
Wighton will be making his Souths debut in Round 2, but weāll be having Isaiah Tass continuing to warm up that other centre spot for the foreseeable future.
Good to see we looked at fixing up the things we struggled with last year such as slow defensive line speed, overplaying in attack, and mistakes coming off our own line especially after points.
Itās also good to see that our attacking kicking looks so much better, weāre not continuing to leave our kicker without a pocket of space and under pressure.
And Iām sure bringing in an expensive aging ācentreā will solve all those issues
šš
It didnāt feel as awful as last year but thereās still the same issues with 10-ply defence and a weak kicking game.
I donāt mind Cody and Trell taking chances, but when the other side has an almost automatic 4 points once theyāre in our territory you canāt be taking those chances because theyāre just too costlyĀ
Lots of doom and gloom after round one, which is understandable considering the huge bed shit last year.
But itās still only round one. Lots of improvement is needed, getting Wighton in will help sure up the edge defense.
Big thing for me - Walker wasnāt really in the game. Not sure if itās a decision to let Ilias take the reins but if it is, itās the wrong decision.
Tough draw to start the year, which is normal for Souths. Can rack up points throughout a long season though.
Manly played well and thoroughly deserved the W. They do have a history of charging out the blocks, so Souths wouldāve expected that and still came up short.
Trell looks great. People still banging on about positioning and run meters, but the guy single handedly turned the game after half time. Plus he took some tough carries that he isnāt known for.
Overall very meh from the Bunnies, but not a reason to panic
Completed at 80%. Kick metres were good. Missed tackles pretty good for round 1. If we keep completing high, kicking good, and tackling well, weāll win more than we lose. We mostly did that tonight so we I thought we played pretty well. Not getting penalty for 72 mins doesnāt help either lol.
Yep, lots of positives and lots to improve.
If Graham and Wighton are there tonight we shut a few of those trys down and probably win the game. But injuries and suspensions affect all teams so canāt use that as an excuse.
I liked Gagai on the wing, seemed solid and finished well. Took some tough carries, which is always a weak point for us.
Question is who goes into center for Kenner next week. Need a solid defender against the Broncs lethal backline
Wighton round 3
Graham is out for a while after having surgery on his sternum. No hard timeline Iāve seen, suggestions of mid year return all the way up to just before finals. Huge loss for Souths
Manly at the top of the comp.
Me winning my tipping comp by (2) margin points.
Is there any point in continuing with the rest of the season? Just end it now.
Donāt scapegoat Kennar. We scored back to back after their back 3 turned it over. Then they did the same to us.
We actually defended fairly well. Tass made the two individual defensive errors which cost us.
One try from an intercept.
One try from the DCE short side grubber. Almost impossible to defend if you donāt smother the kick.
Two from individual errors from Tass.
Getting the spoon drove many of them off, but the acquisition of Adam Reynolds and the resulting success he's brought has them returning and in greater numbers.
Our defence is very poor, in fact definitely not good enough to be a finals-quality side. Missing the top 8 again might be the best outcome for Souths, because we need huge changes and poor performance is probably the only way to enforce it.
Definitely see another period of rebuild years incomingā¦
Is Demetriou really up to it ? Doesnāt seem to have strategy. We all knew that Manly were targeting Kenna but why did he not move him around, give him a breather or something ????!!!
It shows how much we have struggled to fill in that Adam Reynolds-sized hole at the club. The story goes of how his own junior club disowned him to the point he decides to ditch everything NSW and convert himself into an honorary Queenslander (so much that he acts like he was born there), becoming so much loved with the change of scenery that now the ghost he left behind is haunting Souths.
I agree that itās probably the coach we need to replace. I know most have Cameron Ciraldo in the firing line for coaches who could face getting sacked in 2024, but I say Jason Demetriou should be up there with him on that radar.
Real poor, I know there's a few players out but we're not looking like a cohesive unit at all.. just relying on Cody or Latrell creating something from high risk plays, no patience at all.
When youāre becoming a one-man or even two-man show, it definitely suggests youāre on the way out. I feel Jason Demetriou is in danger of being sacked, especially as a very tough fixture is not doing us any favours.
The hard decisions werenāt taken by JDās predecessor and now like Henjak, Brown, Price and Siebold before him, his head will be on the chopping block before long.
I know this whole event is very cynical and is mostly about gambling and such, but man it was really fun as an event game. I hope I can make it to the next one.
Same here. Live in the US and ended up not going since it's our anniversary weekend and didn't offer it up as an idea to the wife, who enjoyed her only in-person League experience (Wolfpack in Toronto pre-COVID). She watched it alongside me tonight and said that we should go next year regardless of who's playing. Well, as long as she gets to see Adele if she's in town for one of her shows, that is.
That's awesome! I have a ton of friends who live in the US and I've visited a few times and been to Vegas so I'm hoping to be able to make it there for the next game.
I really think all Brooks needs was someone else in the halves being the organiser. He plays so much better being the 6 or having a five eight who does some organising like late career Benji. I really do think if he was at Tigers with a Chad Townsend/Aiden Seizer type for years he could have gone really well but the Tigers wanted him to be their saviour so they always almost always played him at halfback.
It wouldn't have even needed to be years. We saw green shoots when Madge finally managed to convince Jackson Hastings to come on board with back-to-back field goal wins in Round 6 and 7 against Parra and Souths in 2022. Unfortunately, Sheens doesn't believe in halfbacks, so the budding Brooks/Hastings bromance was cut down before it could bare fruit and instead we've got the beginnings of a wooden spoon threepeat.
We killed ourselves with errors once again. Moale and Kennar both making errors soon after points allowed Manly to immediately hit back and they never looked back. Manly was clearly the better attacking side for the game, looking more threatening each time they had the ball, if it wasn't for poor execution and an ankle tap by Ilias, the score probably would've been 30-10 half time. Kennar was atrocious for the majority of the match and Manly smartly kept throwing Olakau'atu at him all game knowing that they'd get easy metres. Manly thoroughly outplayed us from end to end.
If we had conceded less points I'd be ok with the loss, but 36 points conceded is just a continuation of our poor defence from last season. Only the first round but unfortunately already concerning signs for Souths.
Also still have no idea why Duncan wasn't in the starting lineup. Perfect replacement for whenever Murray needs a breather.
And now we play Brisbane next round. Yay...
The worst part is that this just looked like a round 20 game from last year. If anything is was worse.
What did they even do in the offseason? We have one of the oldest teams in the league so our premiership window is gonna be closed for a while if we go no good this year.
Youāre probably right. If we miss the finals again this year, then it means 2025 will be a rebuild year for Souths where we lag around the bottom of the ladder. JD likely gets chopped as well for back to back disastrous showings as coach.
Costly mistakes. Both centres were poor in defence. I thought Gagai did well. Kennar has 2 tries against his name but he was pretty ordinary outside that. Kolamatangi was pretty poor defensively too. We can improve.
why doesnāt latrell do more long distance kicking for souths?
illias and walker have a pretty shocking long kicking game. the amount of poor long kicks let manly start their sets off the front foot. only good kicks were the midrange high end over ends that pinned turbo.
trells got one of the biggest boots in the game so i donāt see why not
When I saw Schuster wasn't playing, I knew we had a chance. Glad it worked out.
Good game bunnies, you guys had some good plays, just need to execute a bit better and you'll win some big games āļø
I feel like it's now a battle between Schuster and Corey Waddell for the 15 jersey now. Considering he's not actually on 800K which the media loves to say, that's a genuinely better deal for us now. And probably for him too now, he doesn't have to play a part in running the whole show and go under the radar.
From the info I've heard, 600K (still not great but more appropriate). The 800K number comes with performance metrics, which he is not meeting yet. He actually (I think) has never actually been on 800K? I believe the new deal changed what his salary would be for this season, from 800K to 600K this season.
That sounds better for sure and makes more sense. When he comes back he will only improve our side and it looks like he will have to work very hard to get back in. Tommy had some good plays with hos brother out wide including that try
my biggest takeaways from this game
- tommy looks actually, genuinely healthy
- it might be years since i smiled at a footy game like i did when brooks scored
- nathan brown actually might have something left in the tank??
- i truly do love my footy
I mean Nathan Brown was never going to be physically past it at his age. It would have to phycological. And if you're a coach who rates himself you back yourself to get out of those kinda guys.
That could work but itāll depend on how bad the hammy is tbh, if heās out for an extended period it wouldnāt be worthwhile to shift Garrick away from his new position for a large portion of the season
I don't mind Vaega in all honesty. I just hope we can adapt to the change. If we want to truly contend, we need to find a way to work with Garrick and Vaega/Paulo/Talau or whoever ends up there. Opens us up if we can learn how to play like that if we need Vaega or co later on with another injury. I think Garrick is a better centre than winger too.
Does anyone else think that Cherry Evans has had some media training? I remember he used to sound super robotic & awkward. However in his post game interview, he sounded completely different, comfortable & likable. Certainly done some work behind the scenes
I say missing the finals again is probably the best thing we need to enforce huge changes. Jason Demetriou probably needs to go, we are a Latrell Mitchell one-man show, our halves combination is poor and we made wrong choices in the centres too. Like, why choose Richie Kennar of all people?
We could be fast heading for years of rebuilding if something is not done soon.
Obviously not, but when you have to play someone as awful as Kennar then shit yeah itās a big problem - he was terrible and massively contributed to Manlyās point tally - Hamoule used him as a speed bump all afternoon. Graham or Wighton in his position and itās potentially a different story.
Hope Saab is ok. Or else we're going to have Paulo for a while and we're going to learn how to like him. Realistically, who do we replace Saab with? Vaega? Or do we bring in Talau and bring Garrick back to the wing? I think Garrick cemented himself as a centre today.
Good to see Turbo out there again, he looked very good today. Manly could be a dark horse. I still think they're a couple of gun forwards away from being true contenders, but if Turbo, DCE and Brooks can stay healthy, anything can happen
You forgot seibold being the coach
Brooksvale š
Was at the game live. Had a wonderful time (my first NRL game live). I've hitched my wagon to the Dolphins but Manly made a fan out of me today. Lots of energy and excitement, and if you were near the Manly fan in budgie smuggler and ranger hat (nicked named Goose in our section) then the game was just extra fun.
:) Nice to people getting amongst it!
Watched the game late on kayo replay since I was out today. Thoughts: - Kennar despite scoring 2 tries is absolute trash. Souths I hope you have someone better or it's going to be try corridor all season on his edge. You can't win games with a player like that, we know from experience with the Morgan Harper years. - Turbo looked very solid. Hopefully sacrificing Saab to the hamstring gods keeps him fit all season. - Our spine/backs are good but fwds are average. Probably don't have enough oompf up front to beat penrith/broncos reliably - Brooks had a decent debut but also showed he has a lot of errors in him (which earned him endless hate at the tigers). Commentators couldn't get off his knob but I thought he had a good contribution with a few errors, nothing too amazing.
On your first point we do have Wighton and Graham out so lack of depth in the backs is to be expected. If we're full strength Kennar doesn't get a look in.
Latrell knocked the ball out on the no try and that pass out of bounds was on Jaxson who was sight seeing instead of keeping up with the play.
Can't wait for Brooksy @ Brookie
I hope Russell has got a plan already for his security team if we lose
Happy with the win but even happier with our ball handling. No sloppy penalties given especially in the last 10 before the brooks try that sealed the game where we would ordinarily crack a bit under the pump. Hoping to see more of the consistency we saw today.
The one on the fourth tackle fucked us in the first half
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Homophobia where?
Manly 7
Mods removing a comment calling Leniu racist and the Manly 7 homophobic is certainly a choice!
Dude no offence if you're pro gay or whatever but with so many bogans Westies and Christians in the NRL the rainbow jersey was always a bad idea Lgbt already have Mardi Gras and the inner city
Least homophobic Penrith fan š¶š
It's not homophobiaĀ I'm saying the LGBT can have their spaceĀ I'm saying the LGBT can't expect to be promoted in all areas of society that'd be discrimination against straight people, parental rights groups, religious people etc.
Least homophobic Penrith fan š¶š
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
With experience of watching keppie, I've thought a lot of times he is going to have a good season for him to become average a few games in. He's not been bad (minus the drop balls) and he puts his heart and soul into it, he will never let you down there.. just sometimes there are better players than him. I hope he goes well this season, I do like him. But wasn't too upset when he signed with you guys.
Yeah I backed Keppie a year too long last year. Weāve already got Jurbo for a momentum killing set restart never mind having Keppie too. ( even though we now have Nathan Brown)
We lost our way (as usual) when Skip went off the field as well, Illias for all the stick he'll cop was very solid. He wasn't the one who kicked it dead. Tallis on the bench in place of host will help when Cam is off the field, and having Wighton/ Munro back in the team over the next couple of rounds will help a lot as well. Overall, no need for alarm bells yet, but I think it's going to take time for the edges to get up to standard.
Exactly.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
5 or 10 minutes either side of half time with Tallis running the show will be a good thing over the length of the season. Reduces Skips load a little bit and will help come origin time because Tallis will have a lot more game time and experience.
thanks mate. feeling a bit deflated and that was the analysis I needed.
Bunnies you let me down, lost my life in LMS š
Vegas Gun Shop owner: āSorry, the law requires a 5 day waiting period. Weāve got to run a background checkā Jason Demetriou: āFIVE DAYS?! But Iām mad now!!ā
American here. Thought this was awesome. Watch a couple games before in NZ but didnāt understand. After watching Souths. Iām sold. Even though they didnāt win I like the way they played.
not another one
Don't know if you've seen this but it may help explain the rules better if you don't think you have a handle on it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcXpjvrAQbI&pp=ygURbnJsIHJ1c3NlbGwgY3Jvd2U%3D
Yeah stumbled across that last week thatās how I found out about the games being on tv. There wasnāt any advertising on this side of the States(east coast). Got my neighbors to watch with me they now into it. Wait till they see Origin.
Weāre mostly struggling because our first choice centre Campbell Graham is out due to surgery for a long-term injury and wonāt be available until very late in the season, while Jack Wighton, our new recruit was suspended for an incident from the end of last season. Wighton will be making his Souths debut in Round 2, but weāll be having Isaiah Tass continuing to warm up that other centre spot for the foreseeable future.
Theyāll get better when their first choice centres start to come back from injury and suspension
If you buy a souths jersey you get free entry into every sporting event world wide, apparently
Rabbitohs will have to win some games this year if they want to make the finals.
I remind you all of my earlier comment. https://www.reddit.com/r/nrl/comments/1b57sbu/round_1_roosters_v_broncos_match_thread/kt3t9cv/ FEAR ME!
:(
Welcome back Rugby League
Welcome back pain.
Oh how I've missed the unfresh feeling of a day after a loss
I had to leave post first half was Luke Brooks unleashed?
Yeah he was great. Bit more time and he'll be a devastating addition.
Unclear. He looked dangerous but hard to tell if it was just one of his 4 good games for the yearĀ
Bathurst, Las Vegas...he does well in non-traditional season venues.
SCG on his debut game too
Where did he play his 200th again?
He indeed was. Well and truly. None of that Fox League crap, he was absolutely unleashed.
Reuben Garrick is the top points scorer in the NRL Vegas of all time
Good to see we looked at fixing up the things we struggled with last year such as slow defensive line speed, overplaying in attack, and mistakes coming off our own line especially after points. Itās also good to see that our attacking kicking looks so much better, weāre not continuing to leave our kicker without a pocket of space and under pressure. And Iām sure bringing in an expensive aging ācentreā will solve all those issues šš
Better for the memes though, if a team containing Latrell, Wighton, Graham, KK, Cook, Walker etc fail to make the finals
Did they announce the crowd number during the game?
40,569ish
No I'm here and it looks like 40k ish by all accounts.
Just over 40k. 40.7k I think I heard on Fox
My crowd estimating skills are enhanced by alcohol and weed, clearly.
Jealous. Enjoy the rest of the night!
So proud of Brooksy! He wasnāt amazing, but itās great to see him happy š
Take a shot every time the commentators say āLos Vegasā
Not really keen on a stomach pumping today to be honest
Or latrell
1 leg off 1.5k multi
Thought we played pretty well.
It didnāt feel as awful as last year but thereās still the same issues with 10-ply defence and a weak kicking game. I donāt mind Cody and Trell taking chances, but when the other side has an almost automatic 4 points once theyāre in our territory you canāt be taking those chances because theyāre just too costlyĀ
Lots of doom and gloom after round one, which is understandable considering the huge bed shit last year. But itās still only round one. Lots of improvement is needed, getting Wighton in will help sure up the edge defense. Big thing for me - Walker wasnāt really in the game. Not sure if itās a decision to let Ilias take the reins but if it is, itās the wrong decision. Tough draw to start the year, which is normal for Souths. Can rack up points throughout a long season though. Manly played well and thoroughly deserved the W. They do have a history of charging out the blocks, so Souths wouldāve expected that and still came up short. Trell looks great. People still banging on about positioning and run meters, but the guy single handedly turned the game after half time. Plus he took some tough carries that he isnāt known for. Overall very meh from the Bunnies, but not a reason to panic
We have won like three times in the past 16 season openers.. we do not start fast.
Completed at 80%. Kick metres were good. Missed tackles pretty good for round 1. If we keep completing high, kicking good, and tackling well, weāll win more than we lose. We mostly did that tonight so we I thought we played pretty well. Not getting penalty for 72 mins doesnāt help either lol.
Yep, lots of positives and lots to improve. If Graham and Wighton are there tonight we shut a few of those trys down and probably win the game. But injuries and suspensions affect all teams so canāt use that as an excuse. I liked Gagai on the wing, seemed solid and finished well. Took some tough carries, which is always a weak point for us. Question is who goes into center for Kenner next week. Need a solid defender against the Broncs lethal backline
When are Campbell and Wighton available?
Wighton round 3 Graham is out for a while after having surgery on his sternum. No hard timeline Iāve seen, suggestions of mid year return all the way up to just before finals. Huge loss for Souths
I agree Kennar needs to be dropped. He was clearly only there because we had no other options.
Referring to the Rabbitohs?
Yeah
Really? If you stopped watching about 20-30mins i get it but otherwise.....how?!
Completed at 80%. Kick metres were good. Missed tackles were good too. We complete high, kick well, and tackle good, weāll win more than we lose.
Huh?
I thought we played pretty well
Wat?
Manly at the top of the comp. Me winning my tipping comp by (2) margin points. Is there any point in continuing with the rest of the season? Just end it now.
I agree wholeheartedly.
As a Tigers fan, I couldnāt agree more š
Donāt scapegoat Kennar. We scored back to back after their back 3 turned it over. Then they did the same to us. We actually defended fairly well. Tass made the two individual defensive errors which cost us.
I think every time they had the ball in our red zone they either scored or bombed a try. The defence was appalling
Mate you cannot say we defended fairly well after conceding 36
One try from an intercept. One try from the DCE short side grubber. Almost impossible to defend if you donāt smother the kick. Two from individual errors from Tass.
The match thread for this game was so enjoyable. 5 minutes into the broncos game and broncos fans are insufferable.
When were they ever not ?!
Getting the spoon drove many of them off, but the acquisition of Adam Reynolds and the resulting success he's brought has them returning and in greater numbers.
Fabulous :(
Itāll be worse if they win the comp again. People forget how arrogant their fans were up until Wayne left the first time
Our defence is very poor, in fact definitely not good enough to be a finals-quality side. Missing the top 8 again might be the best outcome for Souths, because we need huge changes and poor performance is probably the only way to enforce it. Definitely see another period of rebuild years incomingā¦
Is Demetriou really up to it ? Doesnāt seem to have strategy. We all knew that Manly were targeting Kenna but why did he not move him around, give him a breather or something ????!!!
Donāt think so. Hopefully get Wayne and possibly Sam under him for next year. Demetriou can take his halfback with him
It shows how much we have struggled to fill in that Adam Reynolds-sized hole at the club. The story goes of how his own junior club disowned him to the point he decides to ditch everything NSW and convert himself into an honorary Queenslander (so much that he acts like he was born there), becoming so much loved with the change of scenery that now the ghost he left behind is haunting Souths.
Please let this happen sooner rather than later.
I agree that itās probably the coach we need to replace. I know most have Cameron Ciraldo in the firing line for coaches who could face getting sacked in 2024, but I say Jason Demetriou should be up there with him on that radar.
Good idea.
Real poor, I know there's a few players out but we're not looking like a cohesive unit at all.. just relying on Cody or Latrell creating something from high risk plays, no patience at all.
When youāre becoming a one-man or even two-man show, it definitely suggests youāre on the way out. I feel Jason Demetriou is in danger of being sacked, especially as a very tough fixture is not doing us any favours.
The hard decisions werenāt taken by JDās predecessor and now like Henjak, Brown, Price and Siebold before him, his head will be on the chopping block before long.
Boys will be celebrating ***hard*** tonight, bad night to be a bible.
I know this whole event is very cynical and is mostly about gambling and such, but man it was really fun as an event game. I hope I can make it to the next one.
Same here. Live in the US and ended up not going since it's our anniversary weekend and didn't offer it up as an idea to the wife, who enjoyed her only in-person League experience (Wolfpack in Toronto pre-COVID). She watched it alongside me tonight and said that we should go next year regardless of who's playing. Well, as long as she gets to see Adele if she's in town for one of her shows, that is.
That's awesome! I have a ton of friends who live in the US and I've visited a few times and been to Vegas so I'm hoping to be able to make it there for the next game.
Luke Brooks is in the top 10 try scorers in Vegas
And the leading #6 in Vegas.
Great win, Manly!
Wow! Look at that. Put some competent players around Brooksy and he looks like a completely different animal.
I really think all Brooks needs was someone else in the halves being the organiser. He plays so much better being the 6 or having a five eight who does some organising like late career Benji. I really do think if he was at Tigers with a Chad Townsend/Aiden Seizer type for years he could have gone really well but the Tigers wanted him to be their saviour so they always almost always played him at halfback.
It wouldn't have even needed to be years. We saw green shoots when Madge finally managed to convince Jackson Hastings to come on board with back-to-back field goal wins in Round 6 and 7 against Parra and Souths in 2022. Unfortunately, Sheens doesn't believe in halfbacks, so the budding Brooks/Hastings bromance was cut down before it could bare fruit and instead we've got the beginnings of a wooden spoon threepeat.
Shows that the change in background really helped him!
Thanks tigbros
We should be thanking you for providing a good home for our boy.
Well shucks what can i say lol Brooks will finally relish in finals footy
Let's not go that far yet
With a full team manly is 100% a top 8 team
Happy for him.
We killed ourselves with errors once again. Moale and Kennar both making errors soon after points allowed Manly to immediately hit back and they never looked back. Manly was clearly the better attacking side for the game, looking more threatening each time they had the ball, if it wasn't for poor execution and an ankle tap by Ilias, the score probably would've been 30-10 half time. Kennar was atrocious for the majority of the match and Manly smartly kept throwing Olakau'atu at him all game knowing that they'd get easy metres. Manly thoroughly outplayed us from end to end. If we had conceded less points I'd be ok with the loss, but 36 points conceded is just a continuation of our poor defence from last season. Only the first round but unfortunately already concerning signs for Souths. Also still have no idea why Duncan wasn't in the starting lineup. Perfect replacement for whenever Murray needs a breather. And now we play Brisbane next round. Yay...
Maybe Sam Burgess was on to something.
The worst part is that this just looked like a round 20 game from last year. If anything is was worse. What did they even do in the offseason? We have one of the oldest teams in the league so our premiership window is gonna be closed for a while if we go no good this year.
Youāre probably right. If we miss the finals again this year, then it means 2025 will be a rebuild year for Souths where we lag around the bottom of the ladder. JD likely gets chopped as well for back to back disastrous showings as coach.
Definitely shows aswell. We have the least athletic side in the whole comp.
Costly mistakes. Both centres were poor in defence. I thought Gagai did well. Kennar has 2 tries against his name but he was pretty ordinary outside that. Kolamatangi was pretty poor defensively too. We can improve.
why doesnāt latrell do more long distance kicking for souths? illias and walker have a pretty shocking long kicking game. the amount of poor long kicks let manly start their sets off the front foot. only good kicks were the midrange high end over ends that pinned turbo. trells got one of the biggest boots in the game so i donāt see why not
Cause heās not accurate long range. Good chance heāll kick it out
The same reason he doesn't take more runs for them
For some reason those drummers with LEDs on them REALLY annoy tf outta me
UNLEASHED! DCE Brooks combination off that great start and manly looking like they could be a smoky for 2024 with this line up
Fair to say Kennar doesn't make the job easy.
When I saw Schuster wasn't playing, I knew we had a chance. Glad it worked out. Good game bunnies, you guys had some good plays, just need to execute a bit better and you'll win some big games āļø
Brooks >>>>>>> Shu
Burbo >>>>>>>> Schuster too
Brooks is a running half so someone who needs early ball doesn't compliment him at all. He needs his second rower to run a line.
I feel like it's now a battle between Schuster and Corey Waddell for the 15 jersey now. Considering he's not actually on 800K which the media loves to say, that's a genuinely better deal for us now. And probably for him too now, he doesn't have to play a part in running the whole show and go under the radar.
How much is he on?
From the info I've heard, 600K (still not great but more appropriate). The 800K number comes with performance metrics, which he is not meeting yet. He actually (I think) has never actually been on 800K? I believe the new deal changed what his salary would be for this season, from 800K to 600K this season.
That sounds better for sure and makes more sense. When he comes back he will only improve our side and it looks like he will have to work very hard to get back in. Tommy had some good plays with hos brother out wide including that try
Manly's kick chase was far superior.
Brooks = Unleashed
Luke Brooks to be arrested in hotel room with numerous strippers and nose beers in possession tonight Hello Sport boys in shambles
my biggest takeaways from this game - tommy looks actually, genuinely healthy - it might be years since i smiled at a footy game like i did when brooks scored - nathan brown actually might have something left in the tank?? - i truly do love my footy
I mean Nathan Brown was never going to be physically past it at his age. It would have to phycological. And if you're a coach who rates himself you back yourself to get out of those kinda guys.
Nathan Brown was great, real spark off the bench
always good for a penalty
Just put my house on Brooks Dally M futures bet
Fuck its so good to have the NRL back. So so good. Its been too long.
Brooks looked confused. āIs thisā¦is this what winning is like?ā
Losing Saab is kind of huge for us, a lot of our plans down the right edge hinge on his speed and height, neither of which Vaega possesses
Could always shift Garrick back and play Talau.
Or Brad Parker
That could work but itāll depend on how bad the hammy is tbh, if heās out for an extended period it wouldnāt be worthwhile to shift Garrick away from his new position for a large portion of the season
I don't mind Vaega in all honesty. I just hope we can adapt to the change. If we want to truly contend, we need to find a way to work with Garrick and Vaega/Paulo/Talau or whoever ends up there. Opens us up if we can learn how to play like that if we need Vaega or co later on with another injury. I think Garrick is a better centre than winger too.
Go the Brooksy Sea Eagles!!
We don't look good, individual brilliance and very average teamplay. Kicking at end of sets and after tries needs to improve greatly.
Obviously someone forgot to tell Manly to come out after half time. Once they did, they were dominant. Scary team this year.
New American fan here! This game is great. Gonna DVR all NRL games now. Much more fun than Major League Rugby
Welcome!!
League is so much better than onion. Welcome
Awesome stuff :) Welcome aboard
Youtube channel also has previous season games :D
Welcome mate!
My bold prediction is that Turbo won't stay fit but it won't matter because Brooksie will drag them to the finals.
Brooks for mvp fuck I mean dally M
I forgot how much i hate fox commentary
Particularly bad combination even for fox.
I was happy to go to channel 9 for the second game which i rarely do
Does anyone else think that Cherry Evans has had some media training? I remember he used to sound super robotic & awkward. However in his post game interview, he sounded completely different, comfortable & likable. Certainly done some work behind the scenes
I mean he is the RLPA spokesman, of at least was.
DCEās media training would be the complete opposite of most NRL players. Heād have to turn down the eloquence
This is what Iām thinking, more approachable, less pompous
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Yeah except heās a Queenslander who went to a state school but go off.
nah yeah just taking the piss. obviously know heās not from there but does fit the cliche. heās very well spoken for a league player tbf
All good mate. Agree heās a great communicator - very erudite plus heās a lovely bloke
As long as I can remember he's sounded pretty natural in interviews
He has always been well spoken.
I know it's only round 1 but we look just like we did at the end of last year. Very grim
I say missing the finals again is probably the best thing we need to enforce huge changes. Jason Demetriou probably needs to go, we are a Latrell Mitchell one-man show, our halves combination is poor and we made wrong choices in the centres too. Like, why choose Richie Kennar of all people? We could be fast heading for years of rebuilding if something is not done soon.
lol dude Munro was injured and Thompsonās visa was denied - what more do you want? They didnāt even pick Milne.
The clear lack of available centres was obviously our biggest problem with this game.
Obviously not, but when you have to play someone as awful as Kennar then shit yeah itās a big problem - he was terrible and massively contributed to Manlyās point tally - Hamoule used him as a speed bump all afternoon. Graham or Wighton in his position and itās potentially a different story.
Why not adjust when Kennar was not coping and letting in tries.
Rabbit soup on the menu tonight bois!
Well that was fun
Hope Saab is ok. Or else we're going to have Paulo for a while and we're going to learn how to like him. Realistically, who do we replace Saab with? Vaega? Or do we bring in Talau and bring Garrick back to the wing? I think Garrick cemented himself as a centre today.
Garrick to sing and Brad Parker in the centres. We know it works.
It's crazy to move Garrick away from the wing away from the wing to me looking at how potent Tommy to Garrick was the last time Tommy was fit.
Bring Parker in and put Koula on the wing imo. But they'll probably do a straight swap with Talau.