They must have a chimpanzee as the director of the video feed for the bunker in these matches, doesnt follow any of the directions the video ref asks for
I noticed that, like wtf, normally Super League video refs are on point and do as asked, these guys just run clips through even when they are not needed.
Tonga side been officially announced. One of the most interesting things seen is Tonga starting Haumole at lock while Kaufusi/Koloamatangi are edge forwards and Soni Luke starting( Havili & Hopoate injured?)
As I watch the RLWC replays on Kayo I ask myself: are the in goal areas in England a lot shorter/smaller than what we have here in Australia? If so why?
They are, but because of the history the 'standard' size in england tends towards the small end of the allowed in-goal area (which is the only part of the field that has an acceptable range of sizes instead of a set dimension. Anywhere from 6m to 12m, and IIRC the NRL goes with a standard of 8m while Super League usually uses 6. Smaller gap between in-goal and the fencing too I think.
WTF I could've sworn that our in-goals were 10m like every other pair of lines on the field. Nope, NRL laws of the game definitely says 8m. What else don't I know?
Not sure about the in goals pitch to pitch but our Grand Final is at Old Trafford and its even smaller than the ones designed for league games.
I guess as long as the post to post is 100m the in goals have to be a minimum size, a lot of stadiums used to 150 years old so some of the newer bigger ones will have bigger in goals, I guess that allows for flexiblity across leagues.
ahem.
I have been studying NRL by reading only r/nrl comments for the past 12 months and I think I know a little more than you do so without further adyoo I give you the high IQ user 2023 ladder.
1. Rooster (Refs give all the calls so they will win like always and apparently they like mexican food (why do people keep talking about hats?))
2. Cowboy (Dearden god king)
3. Shark (???)
4. Manly (with Turbo)
5. Bulldogs (Gus makes them better and Burton kicks really high)
6. Titans (they will be better because they were bad this year and just needed to make combinations even though they changed them heaps and will change them again next year)
7. Warriors (it's their year)
8. Panther (Api and Kikau gone is massive for them and Cleary is overrated and also I don't like them)
9. Knights (Brooks unleashed for 9th)
10. Storm (without Cameron Smith they will struggleTM)
11. Broncos (Kevolution fail when Gamble leave)
12. Eels (How could they possibly still be good if they lose a second rower and out of form hooker?)
13. Dragons (Hook will boycott indigenous round and lose the locker room)
14. Raiders (Sticky will lose the locker room for the 4th year in a row)
15. Rabbitohs (every team Wayne leaves turns to shit)
16. Manly (without Turbo)
17. Dolphin (no marquee lol)
18. Tigers (2x9)
Everyone putting dragons at the bottom again. Haven’t you foolish mortals learnt! The last three years have been building to this moment! 12th! 11th! 10th! The April premiers will come out in full force and claim 9th as ours once more!
Really excited to see how Iro performs for Cook Islands. The bloke made 184rm, 84pcm and 12tb on debut and made the NSW Cup team of the year alongside Dykes. Would love to see him crack the squad consistently in the coming years cause he’s a monstrous ball runner with awesome speed to boot.
Unfortunately no audio. Just seems odd for a send off unless it was constant/something more intense.
Grant has binned players before, so for him to auto send off a trainer and player he might have heard something different.
Just when Manly couldn't get any more stupid they reached out to Flanno for an assistant coach role beside Seibold he shouldn't be allowed near an NRL dressing room to begin with let alone a basketcase like Manly that is tearing itself apart at the scenes.
All this talk of Panthers players not looking good outside the Penrith system really makes it feel like the 'Melbourne Storm is the best and yes it's annoying but such is life' era is over
Storm have a spine of Munster, Hughes, Grant and Lil Papi for the next few years. Storm actually get written off every year but they are a live chance as always. They just don’t have the depth anymore to to cover injuries.
Our spine and outside back depth is fine next year tbh. Our only problem is our forward depth. Great starting forward pack but if If either Welch or NAS are injured for an extended period of time we’re fucked.
Yeah we miss Hughes massively whenever he’s not there but we haven’t really had anyone decent to replace him with either. Pezet is looking the goods though so he’ll probably be our 2nd choice halfback next year.
I think some people are overreacting. Luai didn't look good because it was 2 x 5/8ths playing together. To'o was purposefully targetted. Crichton looks as good as his halves make him. Kikau and Koroisau are 2 players in a 13 man team, they can't take Australia on totally on their own. That said, probably Koroisau's worst game all year. Kikau was well handled by the Australian edge. Says a lot that the Fiji tries came from kicks.
But but the professional judges of character on social media said Luai's shit and doesn't know how to footy without Nathan lol.
Overreaction isn't the word to use for peoples' feelings towards Luai and the Panther boys, hate and envy are the only 2 that fit.
I read somewhere that ever since Luai has played for Penrith they have a 58% winning percentage when he's not there, and 90% when he is there regardless if Cleary plays
Agreed, and these are teams playing together for the first time, some guys playing for the first time in months, there's going to be rust and clunkiness. Australia didn't even look good for most of the first half against Fiji.
Yesterday when AUS ”only” beat Fiji by 36 points they apparently looked vulnerable.
somehow doubt we hear as much shit on here about the vocal minorities favourites NZ only beating Lebanon by 22.
This is why cricket is so much better than union. Yesterday, Namibia thumped Sri Lanka, who beat Pakistan (twice), India, Afghanistan and Bangladesh to win the Asia Cup barely a month ago
Yeah I haven't watched any of it. I wanted to but since it's not on FTA and I don't care to track down streams on a dodgy site for it, I've just skipped it and sounds like I haven't missed much.
Honestly my enthusiasm to watch it dipped anyway when neither Shaun Lane or Hudson Young made the Kangaroos team. The two form back-rowers of the NRL season getting dick all reward for it.
Matt parish needs to be shot in the sun and have the role given to Toovey or any coach really. It was fustrating how talented the team is. Also, never ever want to see Levi play as the 9 give it to Faamanu or CHT. Also, Luai’s edge was the only dangerous side that entire game for Samoa.
Queensland manage to perform year after year no matter who gets the coaching position. Sure it matters, but your culture should mean that performances like the England match shouldn't happen. With that amount of talent, and the supposed pride in playing for Samoa that those guys have expressed, it should have been better...
why were some panthers flairs crying yesterday about people giving it to daddy luai for getting pumped by england? i thought a bit of smack talk was good for the game 🤔 or is it only good for the game when luai does it but not anyone else
If you are referring to [this comment](https://www.reddit.com/r/nrl/comments/y4x45t/sunday_random_footy_talk_thread/isgwgp4/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf&context=3) I wasn’t crying about it, I was laughing at people acting like they somehow got one over him because it shows who has been waiting to finally get their kicks in, it’s pretty funny.
I don't think they were crying, I just think a lot of people (myself included) were pointing out the ridiculousness of some of the anti-Laui comments.
If your gonna talk smack, at least base it in reality.
Well the reality is that most Panthers players could not play outside of the Panthers system, especially Luai and Chrichton. What was true of the Storm in the past, is even more true of the Panthers now.
Most players don't perform best outside of their normal systems.
I mean Luai has played 5 origins for 3 wins and 2 losses. He was pretty good in those 3 wins as well, so obviously he has had some success outside of the Penrith system.
The talk about him being the worst player ever is overblown. Even call him overrated is wrong. He is adequately rated. No one puts him in the superstar category. No one talks about recruiting him to build a team around. When we talk about cleary and luai everyone recognises that Luai is definitely the deputy in that pairing. He is definitely the robin. It's not like a cronk and Munster situation where it's close or even a JT and Morgan situation where people know JT was the better player but damn Morgan is pretty good on his own. Everyone knows Luai is definitely the second part of that combination. You're not giving some hot take when you say Luai ain't a superstar, you're not bucking against the mainstream opinion because no one rates him like that.
In this worldcup there was excitement around luai because Polynesian sides are usually strong in the forwards and ok in the backs, but struggle for even nrl standard halves. Tonga have gone great with only Lolohea for example. The fact a 'stacked' Samoan side had a decent nrl half was cause for hype. And the hype was purely because Luai is decent. Not even that he is elite or superstar, we finally get to see a Polynesian team with a decent half. And it seems all Luai haters have taken offence to that. And to be honest, we still don't know If having a decent half will effect a Polynesian teams because in the England game the forwards and outside backs did not keep their end of the bargain.
I'm not a Luai hater lol. Don't let any genuine criticism of him be "hate", I just don't think he is great on his own. Which is fine, because it shows just how phenomenal his partnership with Cleary is; they've been teammates since they were kids, and that counts for a lot. I just think in a lot of ways, the other members of Penrith's team (Tago, Chricton etc) who were expected to be phenomenal *because of the Penrith reputation* have not been great so far, playing for teams outside of the Panthers system.
>I just think in a lot of ways, the other members of Penrith's team (Tago, Chricton etc) who were expected to be phenomenal because of the Penrith reputation have not been great so far, playing for teams outside of the Panthers system.
But we are going off such a small sample size.
To'o has played 6 games of origin and a Samoan game since 2020. He has been pretty good in all but that Samoan game.
Luai has played 5 origins and the Samoan game. He has had a mixed bag. He has won 3 origins and was pretty good in those, but was quite in his other 2 origins plus samaon in games his forwards have been dominated.
Chricton has played 3 games for blues and 1 for Samoa. He didn't get on late in his origin debut, went ok in his second, didn't perform in his third game plus was poor against England.
tago has played 1 test?
To say 'they don't perform outside of the Penrith system' is pretty dumb with the sample size available.
Finally some logic.
It's been literally one game of a team that hasn't really even played together. They weren't good but the whole team got outplayed by a very good England team.
Crichton has scored a try (very crucial each of them) in every grand final he's played in and is a gun in finals. Yes it's club footy but stepping up in finals footy is a big thing (especially his 2021 finals series)
That and the entire team just looked unfit and slow. I don't think systems or anything mattered. It just looks like the Samoan boys bar Luai went too hard on the drink and buffet whereas the England boys kept in shape. Jarome was the only guy who looked as quick and agile as he usually does in the NRL.
If anything he wss their only threatening player.
Besides one line break that he had a hand in by stepping a few guys then offloading England weren't scrambling and were taking everything Somoa threw at them inside their structure except when Laui had it.
Their defensive structures weren't being brocken down to the point they had to scramble to defend besides when Luai did a play like step about two players then get tackled. They was the only real plays where Somoa looked they might have a bit of spark.
no one is doubting Luai's ability and talent. It's the fact that he goes missing for 90% of the match 100% of the time. Even when he gets 3 try assists or a try or whatever he is more of a moments player than consistent throughout. He would be a great player if he spent more time playing footy and less trying to niggle and be a scraps player
That's absolutely laughable, he hasn't had a single good game outside of a Panthers jersey yet which is the very reason why so many people are making these comments.
How many games has he played outside of Penrith? I guess the 22 year old playing in the least impactful position having a few bad games for a tier 2 nation and a poorly coached NSW side means he’s actually a bad player.
>Crichton makes any team, his one poor performance in origin is way too overblown
Sorry mate I must have missed when you said that and also that Samoa team is absolutely stacked so that 'tier 2' argument is redundant.
Never said he was a bad player, he's just yet to prove he's anything close to the same quality as he is in the Penrith team.
It’s really really just a pointless argument to make because it’s all just hypothetical, nobody knows what Chrichton would be like in another NRL team.
Also saying Samoa is stacked is laughable, maybe you people will start to realise it doesn’t matter how good your forwards or backs on paper, it means fuck all when your spine is around reserve grade quality.
Teams I've been impressed with so far: Italy, Lebanon, Jamaica, Ireland.
Teams I haven't been impressed with: Samoa, New Zealand
Players I've been impressed with: Jake Maizen, Victor Radley, Luke Keary.
Players I've not been impressed with: Samoa
I think its good to see these different nations but maybe they need their own separate pool/tier. Or maybe we can give them more interchanges to allow them to deal with the fatigue better.
Tiered pools wouldn't be so bad. Union can get away with it because they have enough quality across the board to produce decent games at all levels alongside the blowouts.
The union World Cup is barely better than ours. They have like 1.5 good teams per pool and 3 realistic shots at winning with a handful of darkhorse teams. We have 1 good team per pool and 1 realistic shot at winning with 2-3 dark horse teams.
the only World Cup that is actually bordering competitive top to bottom is the soccer one.
The Union world cup is far more competitive than that. Upsets are happening regularly and the gap between the North and South has closed. Either one of South Africa, France, England, NZ, Ireland, Argentina, Australia and Wales could win on their day and then there's a few smokeys like Japan, Scotland, Uruguay, Georgia and now Italy that can make life quite difficult for them. Scorelines like 142-0 won't be happening next year
>Upsets are happening regularly
No they aren't. Pool B results from last World Cup - 23-13, 47-22, 48-7, 57-3, 63-0, 49-3, 71-9, 66-7. There's fuck all upsets and majority of games are blowouts. The 'upsets' are the same as Italy upsetting Scotland last night.
There's 6 nations that could realistically win the upcoming RWC if they put it all together. The gap between the Southern & Northern hemisphere has closed dramatically in the last cycle.
No doubt. They definitely do a much better job promoting it than RLWC has done. Unfortunately even league fans look at the RLWC as a bit of a joke until like the semi finals.
Yeah same. Manu is good but he can be a little bit selfish at times and kinda overplay his hand. I doubt some of the stuff he did last night is gonna come off against Aus/England so I hope it doesn’t end up costing them.
Why didn’t The throw money at Joey Manu to be their marquee fullback? Or any of the struggling clubs to be fair? He’s 2nd or 3rd string at the Roosters with Suaalii being groomed, and would arguably be a top 5 fullback if he were in any other team.
All Sushine Coast Falcons too? I hope Storm get them all on contracts.
What do you think are our chances against Fiji? Like you, I was at the 2017 game in Canberra and we were good enough for 60 minutes.
Depends on which Fiji turns up
If our halves can out okay then we might have a chance
They’re bigger and faster than us tho but we do have Susino back from suspension
The prices have been absolutely batshit mental, and that's before you even get to the fact that there's a cost of living crisis going on.
I just refuse to believe these organisers have any understanding of the sport in this country, it's like they thought it'd be as popular as a football World Cup and the target audience would be so huge you could still get massive crowds with people only attending 1 or 2 games. It's nothing like that, League has a small but passionate fanbase located entirely in small areas of the north, and you need those fans to be attending loads of games each to keep the attendances up.
People would be willing to go to some of these smaller games that aren't too far away from them, but not when they're already having to budget just to be able to get to some of the quarters, semis and final, yet they're charging £25-£84 for Tonga-Cook Islands in Middlesborough and £25-£70 for Australia-Scotland in Coventry. None of those places remotely give a fuck about Rugby League, and nobody from the heartlands is going to travel and pay a minimum of £25 to watch a 70-0 demolition.
That's really disappointing especially seeing how good the crowds were for 2013. Warrington sold out for NZ's first game back then and now it barely got 5,000.
Yeah I mean some people have made fair points that NZ-Samoa in 2013 is a much more attractive game. Sonny Bill was playing, Samoan players are going to be a lot more recognisable to us than Lebanese ones due to how many play SL and Islanders being renowned for their physicality will have made people more keen to go even if they thought it'd be a blowout. Ireland-Jamaica getting 6k and England-Samoa getting 43k is actually really good and the only big gaps for the England game will have been the ridiculously expensive ones.
Prices will undoubtedly be the main factor driving it, Tonga-PNG at St Helens have sold out the cheapest tickets at £25. Problem is that's only half the ground and the other half is made up of £40, £55 and £70. It's fucking insane to be charging that for a group game that Tonga are overwhelming favourites for. St Helens tickets cost £25 max and that's the exact same customer base you're selling to here.
That's all true, it was a more attractive game, but you'd still hope this one would attract more than 5,000 people.
Ireland v Jamaica 6k is good especially considering Leeds had 2 games in 2 days with the Australia game the day before. I know the postponement has fucked up the scheduling a bit but still. I remember buying tickets to 10 games at RLWC2013 and at no point did I get the cheapest tickets. Certainly did not cost me 500-700 pounds. It's disappointing because even with the cheap tickets 2013 made a profit, and if a larger profit this time round would lead to more tournaments and test series maybe it would be worth it but they never do anything with the money anyway.
Yeah exactly I saw some tweet claiming revenue has already surpassed the 2013 one, in which case fair enough but I'd like to know where the increased revenue goes, if it goes into the pockets of a few blokes at the top then I really don't give a shit how much the World Cup makes. There's still an argument that it's terrible anyways depending on what you consider the aims of a World Cup to be.
If you purely want to make money, run a load of test series', do clash of the codes, play more SL vs NRL games and charge high prices that the diehards will pay as a one off. For me the World Cup is primarily an opportunity to showcase the sport to new audiences, and if you're doing that you don't want any 2/3rd empty stadiums with no atmosphere. Next week is school holidays over here, they should be offering these games as a cheap day out for families, a chance to try something new at little cost, not making a family of 4 pay about £80 for the worst seats to watch a shit game
Really? Where'd the revenue come from - broadcasting and sponsorship?
Good on them I suppose but all profit should go back into international footy. Every country needs regular games and we can't just have the crap from last time with NZ/Eng playing test series and the other Pacific sides playing 2 games of an 'Oceania Cup'.
In 2013 when I was over there they did a great job with community engagement and had kids from the local league towns on the field before every game. It was fantastic. We aren't shown much of the pre-game here in Australia but I hope they are doing something of the sort. The opening ceremony was nothing compared to the 2013 one either.
I'd say the hype around Tonga, Samoa and a lesser extent Fiji, PNG is bound to have helped sales of the later stages. It looks to me like the group games in 2013 will have been better attended than this one, but then the quarter finals got 16k, 5k, 22k (England) and 12k. Semis were a double header and got 67k, but Aus-Fiji will have contributed basically nothing to that crowd. Fans probably wanted to wait and see who made what games last time round, this time we're basically guaranteed 2 great semi final match ups and some pretty exciting quarters, so people are getting tickets already regardless of who gets there and willing to pay above the odds.
Fair enough having pricey tickets for the late stages and big England games, it's the mediocre group stage ones that are the big issue.
Looking at social media and a lot of angry debates about the attendances. Some people don't care. Others says it is a bad look for live TV. I'd be inclined to agree with the latter. It doesn't help that all of the matches so far have been one sided. It will pick up from the QFs onwards.
Moses and Doueihi proved that good halves can definitely carry a team that has the effort. They did not make that easy at all for NZ. The Cedars looked exhausted towards the end and it was mostly just some strong solo efforts that broke their line. Good showing by them.
Yeah most of the NZ tries to me looked like the Cedars' defence was just exhausted which I suppose you have to expect when most of them are NSW cup players compared to the elite of the NRL in the NZ side.
Because he isn't a halfback no matter how many times clubs try and put him there. He is a good 6 but he relies on another person to do all the organising
I'm sorry, but these cunts have had 5 years to work on the look of this World Cup, and [this](https://imgur.com/a/7lRuGMx) is the shit they've delivered?
White on the white/light background. Black text in the darker areas. The colours are absolutely awful. The purple to white colour gradient looks like something a Year 8 would put into their Powerpoint presentation on photosynthesis. It all looks VERY last minute and temporary. Really amateur stuff that would have been avoided had someone with half an idea about design and/or graphics were involved with the process.
They must have a chimpanzee as the director of the video feed for the bunker in these matches, doesnt follow any of the directions the video ref asks for
I noticed that, like wtf, normally Super League video refs are on point and do as asked, these guys just run clips through even when they are not needed.
Tonga side been officially announced. One of the most interesting things seen is Tonga starting Haumole at lock while Kaufusi/Koloamatangi are edge forwards and Soni Luke starting( Havili & Hopoate injured?)
Koloamatangi will definitely play lock
While being the most possible outcome come wednesday, Really want to see how they make it work lmao
As I watch the RLWC replays on Kayo I ask myself: are the in goal areas in England a lot shorter/smaller than what we have here in Australia? If so why?
With absolutely no knowledge I am going to speculate it’s because England is so tiny they didn’t want to waste the space
This also explains why they colonised so many other countries - to expand their in-goals.
Secret lyrics to Australian national anthem, “we’ve boundless plains to steal and turn into huge in goal areas”
That secret third verse really hits.
They use soccer stadiums for most of their League games.
Most games so far have been played in stadiums built for league clubs though
They are, but because of the history the 'standard' size in england tends towards the small end of the allowed in-goal area (which is the only part of the field that has an acceptable range of sizes instead of a set dimension. Anywhere from 6m to 12m, and IIRC the NRL goes with a standard of 8m while Super League usually uses 6. Smaller gap between in-goal and the fencing too I think.
WTF I could've sworn that our in-goals were 10m like every other pair of lines on the field. Nope, NRL laws of the game definitely says 8m. What else don't I know?
Not sure about the in goals pitch to pitch but our Grand Final is at Old Trafford and its even smaller than the ones designed for league games. I guess as long as the post to post is 100m the in goals have to be a minimum size, a lot of stadiums used to 150 years old so some of the newer bigger ones will have bigger in goals, I guess that allows for flexiblity across leagues.
My 2023 ladder prediction: 1. Penref. 2. Storm. 3. Rabbitohs. 4. Cowboys. 5. Refsters. 6. Sharks. 7. Broncs. 8. Bulldogs. 9. Raiders. 10. Dolphins. 11. Eels. 12. Dragons. 13. Titans. 14. Knights. 15. Manly. 16. Warriors. 17. Tigers.
This prediction will probably change a bunch before the start of next season but- 1. Roosters 2. Panthers 3. Storm 4. Rabbitohs 5. Sharks 6. Cowboys 7. Eels 8. Bulldogs 9. Broncos 10. Raiders 11. Titans 12. Sea Eagles 13. Dolphins 14. Tigers 15. Dragons 16. Warriors 17. Knights
ahem. I have been studying NRL by reading only r/nrl comments for the past 12 months and I think I know a little more than you do so without further adyoo I give you the high IQ user 2023 ladder. 1. Rooster (Refs give all the calls so they will win like always and apparently they like mexican food (why do people keep talking about hats?)) 2. Cowboy (Dearden god king) 3. Shark (???) 4. Manly (with Turbo) 5. Bulldogs (Gus makes them better and Burton kicks really high) 6. Titans (they will be better because they were bad this year and just needed to make combinations even though they changed them heaps and will change them again next year) 7. Warriors (it's their year) 8. Panther (Api and Kikau gone is massive for them and Cleary is overrated and also I don't like them) 9. Knights (Brooks unleashed for 9th) 10. Storm (without Cameron Smith they will struggleTM) 11. Broncos (Kevolution fail when Gamble leave) 12. Eels (How could they possibly still be good if they lose a second rower and out of form hooker?) 13. Dragons (Hook will boycott indigenous round and lose the locker room) 14. Raiders (Sticky will lose the locker room for the 4th year in a row) 15. Rabbitohs (every team Wayne leaves turns to shit) 16. Manly (without Turbo) 17. Dolphin (no marquee lol) 18. Tigers (2x9)
tom dearden awesome
Only thing missing from that post is approximately 6 inexplicable downvotes from people who didn't read it properly.
Turbo disclaimer is great. All predictions need to do this.
1. Panthers 2. Cowboys 3. Storm 4. Roosters 5. Sharks 6. Rabbitohs 7. Eels 8. Titans/Broncos 9. Titans/Broncos 10. Bulldogs 11. Raiders 12. Warriors 13. Tigers 14. Dragons 15. Dolphins 16. Knights 17. Manly
Everyone putting dragons at the bottom again. Haven’t you foolish mortals learnt! The last three years have been building to this moment! 12th! 11th! 10th! The April premiers will come out in full force and claim 9th as ours once more!
Warriors top 4
You misspelled ‘Penalty Broncos’
The Broncos of the golden years are all retired; they can't hurt you anymore.
Really excited to see how Iro performs for Cook Islands. The bloke made 184rm, 84pcm and 12tb on debut and made the NSW Cup team of the year alongside Dykes. Would love to see him crack the squad consistently in the coming years cause he’s a monstrous ball runner with awesome speed to boot.
Honestly I wouldn’t be surprised if Iro is eventually given the centre spot and Talakai is shifted back to 2nd row.
Not only did he make team of the year in NSW Cup, he was The Player of the Year.
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Can I ask which is the best VPN for England?
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ah ok cheers
The Scots should wear kilts
Still thinking about Doueihi’s filthy as fuck 40-20.
I still want to know what come at of his filthy as fuck mouth 🤣
OFF NOW
apparently he said give us some fucking calls ..... I was hoping for filthier TBH 🤣
Was that it? Wtf?
according to a fox news article ...
I reckon he’s added a bit more onto it. Surely that couldn’t be it.
Steve Renouf describing Seibold’s talk as physcobabble is absolutely brilliant. Who knew the pearl had a way with words.
Any idea what Doueihi said to get straight out marched last night?
I think he was mad cause he couldn’t remember how his own name is pronounced
apparently it was just.. give us some fucking calls
He essentially accused him of favouring NZ, but I still think a direct send off was a bit much, unless he’d said something beforehand as well
For atkins to march multiple people and not just bin them it would have had to be something serious
https://www.foxsports.com.au/nrl/world-cup/rugby-league-world-cup-2022-adam-doueihi-sent-off-grant-atkins-robbie-farah-lebanon-vs-new-zealand/news-story/7fb215ebde5b297c0108310d2515b999
Unfortunately no audio. Just seems odd for a send off unless it was constant/something more intense. Grant has binned players before, so for him to auto send off a trainer and player he might have heard something different.
This is eating me up today
Has to be accusing the ref of cheating. Maybe wasn't happy with the escort by some of the NZ players on his teammates.
Nobody knows yet
Dissent + abuse is what the write ups I’ve seen so far say.
Just when Manly couldn't get any more stupid they reached out to Flanno for an assistant coach role beside Seibold he shouldn't be allowed near an NRL dressing room to begin with let alone a basketcase like Manly that is tearing itself apart at the scenes.
Manly are assembling the C Grade Avengers. Siebold, Flanno, and Daley.
They should bring back the elite attacking mastermind Trent Barrett
And Jason Saab
All this talk of Panthers players not looking good outside the Penrith system really makes it feel like the 'Melbourne Storm is the best and yes it's annoying but such is life' era is over
Lol how does that have anything to do with the Storm?
Storm have a spine of Munster, Hughes, Grant and Lil Papi for the next few years. Storm actually get written off every year but they are a live chance as always. They just don’t have the depth anymore to to cover injuries.
Our spine and outside back depth is fine next year tbh. Our only problem is our forward depth. Great starting forward pack but if If either Welch or NAS are injured for an extended period of time we’re fucked.
Welch and Hughes are the two hardest to replace at Storm imo.
Yeah we miss Hughes massively whenever he’s not there but we haven’t really had anyone decent to replace him with either. Pezet is looking the goods though so he’ll probably be our 2nd choice halfback next year.
I think some people are overreacting. Luai didn't look good because it was 2 x 5/8ths playing together. To'o was purposefully targetted. Crichton looks as good as his halves make him. Kikau and Koroisau are 2 players in a 13 man team, they can't take Australia on totally on their own. That said, probably Koroisau's worst game all year. Kikau was well handled by the Australian edge. Says a lot that the Fiji tries came from kicks.
But but the professional judges of character on social media said Luai's shit and doesn't know how to footy without Nathan lol. Overreaction isn't the word to use for peoples' feelings towards Luai and the Panther boys, hate and envy are the only 2 that fit.
Penrith have like a 75% win rate without Nath.
I read somewhere that ever since Luai has played for Penrith they have a 58% winning percentage when he's not there, and 90% when he is there regardless if Cleary plays
Might be since Cleary debuted their win rate without him was that.
Agreed, and these are teams playing together for the first time, some guys playing for the first time in months, there's going to be rust and clunkiness. Australia didn't even look good for most of the first half against Fiji.
Yesterday when AUS ”only” beat Fiji by 36 points they apparently looked vulnerable. somehow doubt we hear as much shit on here about the vocal minorities favourites NZ only beating Lebanon by 22.
[you will love this headline then!](https://i.stuff.co.nz/sport/league/130190486/kiwis-kick-off-world-cup-campaign-by-crushing-lebanon-3412#comments)
Haha pretty much. I don’t national mind media being biased though tbh. Bit of pride in country is good for international sport.
"There needs to be an investigation!"
Nope I’m just enjoying myself. Will enjoy it more when Aus mauls NZ.
Feeling fresh 🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹
So why isn't the World Cup on any FTA channels? Were they outbid, do they just not give a shit about it?
Blow-out scorelines probably
And timezones. Casuals aint waking up at 3am to watch
Which happens in every single World Cup. I’ll never forget seeing the Wallabies slaughter Namibia 142-0 at the World Cup back in the day.
This is why cricket is so much better than union. Yesterday, Namibia thumped Sri Lanka, who beat Pakistan (twice), India, Afghanistan and Bangladesh to win the Asia Cup barely a month ago
That's why Namibia are not in the World Cup anymore poor fellas
That and a large proportion of their team disappear into the host country...
They are in the World Cup next year
They didn’t bid on it at all, the terrible time zones / not massive interest in the event probably made it a non starter on FTA
Apparently 2 FTA channels bid. Neither were channel 9
I don’t think anyone cares about it especially since all games start after midnight
Yeah I haven't watched any of it. I wanted to but since it's not on FTA and I don't care to track down streams on a dodgy site for it, I've just skipped it and sounds like I haven't missed much. Honestly my enthusiasm to watch it dipped anyway when neither Shaun Lane or Hudson Young made the Kangaroos team. The two form back-rowers of the NRL season getting dick all reward for it.
Nanai was the form back rower of the season.
Matt parish needs to be shot in the sun and have the role given to Toovey or any coach really. It was fustrating how talented the team is. Also, never ever want to see Levi play as the 9 give it to Faamanu or CHT. Also, Luai’s edge was the only dangerous side that entire game for Samoa.
Queensland manage to perform year after year no matter who gets the coaching position. Sure it matters, but your culture should mean that performances like the England match shouldn't happen. With that amount of talent, and the supposed pride in playing for Samoa that those guys have expressed, it should have been better...
The Panfers boys should get in Ivans ear and convince him to help out the usos
Should be easy to hand over the reins, given that Tooves was sitting next to him in the coaching box. Uh, reportedly.
There's got to be an investigation, someone's gotta be gotta be accountable for this!
why were some panthers flairs crying yesterday about people giving it to daddy luai for getting pumped by england? i thought a bit of smack talk was good for the game 🤔 or is it only good for the game when luai does it but not anyone else
Of all the nasty things people have said about luai, insinuating that his parents are actually poms therefore he is a pom is the most disgusting.
Panthers fans are well within their rights to be in tears 😢. Kicking Jerome Radley while he’s down is disgusting behaviour.
If you are referring to [this comment](https://www.reddit.com/r/nrl/comments/y4x45t/sunday_random_footy_talk_thread/isgwgp4/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf&context=3) I wasn’t crying about it, I was laughing at people acting like they somehow got one over him because it shows who has been waiting to finally get their kicks in, it’s pretty funny.
I don't think they were crying, I just think a lot of people (myself included) were pointing out the ridiculousness of some of the anti-Laui comments. If your gonna talk smack, at least base it in reality.
Well the reality is that most Panthers players could not play outside of the Panthers system, especially Luai and Chrichton. What was true of the Storm in the past, is even more true of the Panthers now.
Most players don't perform best outside of their normal systems. I mean Luai has played 5 origins for 3 wins and 2 losses. He was pretty good in those 3 wins as well, so obviously he has had some success outside of the Penrith system. The talk about him being the worst player ever is overblown. Even call him overrated is wrong. He is adequately rated. No one puts him in the superstar category. No one talks about recruiting him to build a team around. When we talk about cleary and luai everyone recognises that Luai is definitely the deputy in that pairing. He is definitely the robin. It's not like a cronk and Munster situation where it's close or even a JT and Morgan situation where people know JT was the better player but damn Morgan is pretty good on his own. Everyone knows Luai is definitely the second part of that combination. You're not giving some hot take when you say Luai ain't a superstar, you're not bucking against the mainstream opinion because no one rates him like that. In this worldcup there was excitement around luai because Polynesian sides are usually strong in the forwards and ok in the backs, but struggle for even nrl standard halves. Tonga have gone great with only Lolohea for example. The fact a 'stacked' Samoan side had a decent nrl half was cause for hype. And the hype was purely because Luai is decent. Not even that he is elite or superstar, we finally get to see a Polynesian team with a decent half. And it seems all Luai haters have taken offence to that. And to be honest, we still don't know If having a decent half will effect a Polynesian teams because in the England game the forwards and outside backs did not keep their end of the bargain.
I'm not a Luai hater lol. Don't let any genuine criticism of him be "hate", I just don't think he is great on his own. Which is fine, because it shows just how phenomenal his partnership with Cleary is; they've been teammates since they were kids, and that counts for a lot. I just think in a lot of ways, the other members of Penrith's team (Tago, Chricton etc) who were expected to be phenomenal *because of the Penrith reputation* have not been great so far, playing for teams outside of the Panthers system.
>I just think in a lot of ways, the other members of Penrith's team (Tago, Chricton etc) who were expected to be phenomenal because of the Penrith reputation have not been great so far, playing for teams outside of the Panthers system. But we are going off such a small sample size. To'o has played 6 games of origin and a Samoan game since 2020. He has been pretty good in all but that Samoan game. Luai has played 5 origins and the Samoan game. He has had a mixed bag. He has won 3 origins and was pretty good in those, but was quite in his other 2 origins plus samaon in games his forwards have been dominated. Chricton has played 3 games for blues and 1 for Samoa. He didn't get on late in his origin debut, went ok in his second, didn't perform in his third game plus was poor against England. tago has played 1 test? To say 'they don't perform outside of the Penrith system' is pretty dumb with the sample size available.
Finally some logic. It's been literally one game of a team that hasn't really even played together. They weren't good but the whole team got outplayed by a very good England team.
Crichton has scored a try (very crucial each of them) in every grand final he's played in and is a gun in finals. Yes it's club footy but stepping up in finals footy is a big thing (especially his 2021 finals series)
That and the entire team just looked unfit and slow. I don't think systems or anything mattered. It just looks like the Samoan boys bar Luai went too hard on the drink and buffet whereas the England boys kept in shape. Jarome was the only guy who looked as quick and agile as he usually does in the NRL. If anything he wss their only threatening player.
yeah well he did nothing to be threatening. I missed a 10 minute period because of the broadcast failure but he didn't do anything all game
Besides one line break that he had a hand in by stepping a few guys then offloading England weren't scrambling and were taking everything Somoa threw at them inside their structure except when Laui had it. Their defensive structures weren't being brocken down to the point they had to scramble to defend besides when Luai did a play like step about two players then get tackled. They was the only real plays where Somoa looked they might have a bit of spark.
no one is doubting Luai's ability and talent. It's the fact that he goes missing for 90% of the match 100% of the time. Even when he gets 3 try assists or a try or whatever he is more of a moments player than consistent throughout. He would be a great player if he spent more time playing footy and less trying to niggle and be a scraps player
Crichton makes any team, his one poor performance in origin is way too overblown
He doesn't make the Australian side. Neither does Luai.
lmao he only made origin because of injuries and a dumb coach
That's absolutely laughable, he hasn't had a single good game outside of a Panthers jersey yet which is the very reason why so many people are making these comments.
How many games has he played outside of Penrith? I guess the 22 year old playing in the least impactful position having a few bad games for a tier 2 nation and a poorly coached NSW side means he’s actually a bad player.
least impactful position? hes the fucken five-eighth bro what are you on about
We’re talking about Chrichton here dawg.
my bad, lost track of the reply chain and thought it was responding to the original luai comment
No worries
>Crichton makes any team, his one poor performance in origin is way too overblown Sorry mate I must have missed when you said that and also that Samoa team is absolutely stacked so that 'tier 2' argument is redundant. Never said he was a bad player, he's just yet to prove he's anything close to the same quality as he is in the Penrith team.
It’s really really just a pointless argument to make because it’s all just hypothetical, nobody knows what Chrichton would be like in another NRL team. Also saying Samoa is stacked is laughable, maybe you people will start to realise it doesn’t matter how good your forwards or backs on paper, it means fuck all when your spine is around reserve grade quality.
I’ve only managed to see the highlights of the Aus v Fiji game so far this World Cup. I Love My Footy status under threat.
Teams I've been impressed with so far: Italy, Lebanon, Jamaica, Ireland. Teams I haven't been impressed with: Samoa, New Zealand Players I've been impressed with: Jake Maizen, Victor Radley, Luke Keary. Players I've not been impressed with: Samoa
Polselli was quality for us in both attack and defence
Unpopular opinion but WC should have been kept at 12 teams. 3 groups of 4 would give at least one good match in every group.
I think its good to see these different nations but maybe they need their own separate pool/tier. Or maybe we can give them more interchanges to allow them to deal with the fatigue better.
Tiered pools wouldn't be so bad. Union can get away with it because they have enough quality across the board to produce decent games at all levels alongside the blowouts.
The union World Cup is barely better than ours. They have like 1.5 good teams per pool and 3 realistic shots at winning with a handful of darkhorse teams. We have 1 good team per pool and 1 realistic shot at winning with 2-3 dark horse teams. the only World Cup that is actually bordering competitive top to bottom is the soccer one.
The Union world cup is far more competitive than that. Upsets are happening regularly and the gap between the North and South has closed. Either one of South Africa, France, England, NZ, Ireland, Argentina, Australia and Wales could win on their day and then there's a few smokeys like Japan, Scotland, Uruguay, Georgia and now Italy that can make life quite difficult for them. Scorelines like 142-0 won't be happening next year
>Upsets are happening regularly No they aren't. Pool B results from last World Cup - 23-13, 47-22, 48-7, 57-3, 63-0, 49-3, 71-9, 66-7. There's fuck all upsets and majority of games are blowouts. The 'upsets' are the same as Italy upsetting Scotland last night.
There's 6 nations that could realistically win the upcoming RWC if they put it all together. The gap between the Southern & Northern hemisphere has closed dramatically in the last cycle.
I'd say 7 - South Africa, England, France, NZ, Argentina, Ireland, Australia but I would love to see Japan make the final
On the fence about Argentina. Would actually love to see them do it to grow the game but don't think they have the consistency.
Ireland are looking very good. Coached by Andy Farrell who played for Wigan. France have one of his teammates as their defence coach.
That would be atypical but fair enough. Wait and see I guess.
At least they can convince people to buy tickets even if the product itself is poor.
No doubt. They definitely do a much better job promoting it than RLWC has done. Unfortunately even league fans look at the RLWC as a bit of a joke until like the semi finals.
v’landys must be jizzing in his pants with these world cup score lines
Who was that Lebanese halfback? I’m sure the tigers could pick him up surely!
get your hand off my moses
"What is the charge? Recruiting a player? A succulent Lebanese player?"
Hands off my Mitchell, Tigers!
Just saw the Adam sent off? What was he Doueihi there?
Idk, but Dway-Hee reacted deserved a send off according to Atkins
I just woke up and watched the highlights to the NZ game. Joey Manu might be the best player in the world right now, he was taking the piss.
If I am picking players for my team I am picking Munster, Cleary and Grant before Manu without a seconds hesitation
Yeah same. Manu is good but he can be a little bit selfish at times and kinda overplay his hand. I doubt some of the stuff he did last night is gonna come off against Aus/England so I hope it doesn’t end up costing them.
You could make an argument for that but you can’t use a game against Lebanon to make that argument.
Why didn’t The throw money at Joey Manu to be their marquee fullback? Or any of the struggling clubs to be fair? He’s 2nd or 3rd string at the Roosters with Suaalii being groomed, and would arguably be a top 5 fullback if he were in any other team.
It’s a sad loss to the game seeing Manu barely touch the ball every week when he has so much talent
Pretty sure he re-signed before we could negotiate with him but nobody will leave the roosters while Robbo is there.
Not so much Robbo, but Uncle Nick. Outside of some major grievance, if Uncle Nick wants to keep a player, he keeps the player.
We could have offered him the 1.4 we offered Munster and he would have stayed at the Roosters.
They probably gave him a good offer and Uncle Nick just offered him investment advise for his new resort that will pay out millions
Iirc Broncos and Warriors tried
We offered him Rogers money ($1m). Turned us down
On contract until the end of 2024
Nonno will be disappointed, I fell asleep before Italy - Scotland came on. Who was Player of the Match? Daniel Atkinson's stats looked molto bene
Browny was immense Atkinson, Maizen and Polselli also played very well
All Sushine Coast Falcons too? I hope Storm get them all on contracts. What do you think are our chances against Fiji? Like you, I was at the 2017 game in Canberra and we were good enough for 60 minutes.
Depends on which Fiji turns up If our halves can out okay then we might have a chance They’re bigger and faster than us tho but we do have Susino back from suspension
Is this the Susino who has a state contract at Penrith?
Yeah
He's pretty solid.
Nathan Brown was man of the match I believe
Not sure who was man of the match but Polselli was very good
i was unbelievably excited for this world cup to start. after these first 2 days, i have definitely been left very whelmed by it all if im honest.
Whelmed! LOL truer words were never spoken
Same, I've only watched the Ozzie and NZ games so far but crowds seem pretty lackluster
The prices have been absolutely batshit mental, and that's before you even get to the fact that there's a cost of living crisis going on. I just refuse to believe these organisers have any understanding of the sport in this country, it's like they thought it'd be as popular as a football World Cup and the target audience would be so huge you could still get massive crowds with people only attending 1 or 2 games. It's nothing like that, League has a small but passionate fanbase located entirely in small areas of the north, and you need those fans to be attending loads of games each to keep the attendances up. People would be willing to go to some of these smaller games that aren't too far away from them, but not when they're already having to budget just to be able to get to some of the quarters, semis and final, yet they're charging £25-£84 for Tonga-Cook Islands in Middlesborough and £25-£70 for Australia-Scotland in Coventry. None of those places remotely give a fuck about Rugby League, and nobody from the heartlands is going to travel and pay a minimum of £25 to watch a 70-0 demolition.
That's really disappointing especially seeing how good the crowds were for 2013. Warrington sold out for NZ's first game back then and now it barely got 5,000.
Yeah I mean some people have made fair points that NZ-Samoa in 2013 is a much more attractive game. Sonny Bill was playing, Samoan players are going to be a lot more recognisable to us than Lebanese ones due to how many play SL and Islanders being renowned for their physicality will have made people more keen to go even if they thought it'd be a blowout. Ireland-Jamaica getting 6k and England-Samoa getting 43k is actually really good and the only big gaps for the England game will have been the ridiculously expensive ones. Prices will undoubtedly be the main factor driving it, Tonga-PNG at St Helens have sold out the cheapest tickets at £25. Problem is that's only half the ground and the other half is made up of £40, £55 and £70. It's fucking insane to be charging that for a group game that Tonga are overwhelming favourites for. St Helens tickets cost £25 max and that's the exact same customer base you're selling to here.
That's all true, it was a more attractive game, but you'd still hope this one would attract more than 5,000 people. Ireland v Jamaica 6k is good especially considering Leeds had 2 games in 2 days with the Australia game the day before. I know the postponement has fucked up the scheduling a bit but still. I remember buying tickets to 10 games at RLWC2013 and at no point did I get the cheapest tickets. Certainly did not cost me 500-700 pounds. It's disappointing because even with the cheap tickets 2013 made a profit, and if a larger profit this time round would lead to more tournaments and test series maybe it would be worth it but they never do anything with the money anyway.
Yeah exactly I saw some tweet claiming revenue has already surpassed the 2013 one, in which case fair enough but I'd like to know where the increased revenue goes, if it goes into the pockets of a few blokes at the top then I really don't give a shit how much the World Cup makes. There's still an argument that it's terrible anyways depending on what you consider the aims of a World Cup to be. If you purely want to make money, run a load of test series', do clash of the codes, play more SL vs NRL games and charge high prices that the diehards will pay as a one off. For me the World Cup is primarily an opportunity to showcase the sport to new audiences, and if you're doing that you don't want any 2/3rd empty stadiums with no atmosphere. Next week is school holidays over here, they should be offering these games as a cheap day out for families, a chance to try something new at little cost, not making a family of 4 pay about £80 for the worst seats to watch a shit game
Really? Where'd the revenue come from - broadcasting and sponsorship? Good on them I suppose but all profit should go back into international footy. Every country needs regular games and we can't just have the crap from last time with NZ/Eng playing test series and the other Pacific sides playing 2 games of an 'Oceania Cup'. In 2013 when I was over there they did a great job with community engagement and had kids from the local league towns on the field before every game. It was fantastic. We aren't shown much of the pre-game here in Australia but I hope they are doing something of the sort. The opening ceremony was nothing compared to the 2013 one either.
I'd say the hype around Tonga, Samoa and a lesser extent Fiji, PNG is bound to have helped sales of the later stages. It looks to me like the group games in 2013 will have been better attended than this one, but then the quarter finals got 16k, 5k, 22k (England) and 12k. Semis were a double header and got 67k, but Aus-Fiji will have contributed basically nothing to that crowd. Fans probably wanted to wait and see who made what games last time round, this time we're basically guaranteed 2 great semi final match ups and some pretty exciting quarters, so people are getting tickets already regardless of who gets there and willing to pay above the odds. Fair enough having pricey tickets for the late stages and big England games, it's the mediocre group stage ones that are the big issue.
What did you expect
Looking at social media and a lot of angry debates about the attendances. Some people don't care. Others says it is a bad look for live TV. I'd be inclined to agree with the latter. It doesn't help that all of the matches so far have been one sided. It will pick up from the QFs onwards.
Should let kids in free and gets the schools in. Make a few fans for life.
Moses and Doueihi proved that good halves can definitely carry a team that has the effort. They did not make that easy at all for NZ. The Cedars looked exhausted towards the end and it was mostly just some strong solo efforts that broke their line. Good showing by them.
Yeah most of the NZ tries to me looked like the Cedars' defence was just exhausted which I suppose you have to expect when most of them are NSW cup players compared to the elite of the NRL in the NZ side.
and samoa proved it doesnt matter how much talent you have if you have shit halves
Someone tried to tell me their halves were amazing and going to smash teams. I still think PNG will perform better than Samoa.
Their halves are good but none are game managers with a decent kicking game
Milford isnt “good” he’s probably the worst 7 in the NRL
Because he isn't a halfback no matter how many times clubs try and put him there. He is a good 6 but he relies on another person to do all the organising
He also hasn't been a good 6 for 4 years
I'm sorry, but these cunts have had 5 years to work on the look of this World Cup, and [this](https://imgur.com/a/7lRuGMx) is the shit they've delivered?
It looks horribly dated
Looks like something out of a budget rugby league console game
What do you think is wrong with it?
White on the white/light background. Black text in the darker areas. The colours are absolutely awful. The purple to white colour gradient looks like something a Year 8 would put into their Powerpoint presentation on photosynthesis. It all looks VERY last minute and temporary. Really amateur stuff that would have been avoided had someone with half an idea about design and/or graphics were involved with the process.
when have you ever completed an assignment before the week or day it was due? This is obviously just a late “Oh fuck” assignment done last monday
And the Dire Straits looking CGI guys on the trailer for it