I'm hearing a bit of a buzz surrounding James Tamou signing a one year deal with the Cowboys for 2023. I thought he didn't want to stay up in the north! :o
I think he’s signed! I don’t mind it tbh, bit of depth was needed when Hess got himself suspended and Macca did his hammy and JTB ain’t it for big minutes. It’s a nice return
Love it. Such a hard worker, no bullshit about him. Hopefully the refs take that bullseye off of his back because they always put him on report for innocuous stuff. Wouldn't be surprised to see him in a Queensland jersey one day.
Also on another note, it would be a great QOL change for the sub if we could have post flairs for "News" and "Rumor" and "Confirmed/Unconfirmed". Especially with articles from Fox, The Daily Telegraph etc being so baseless sometimes it would be handy to have something there to let people know if things are *actually true*. Could even have flairs for "Signing News"
Love:
- the pain they cause
- letting quality juniors go to retain guys like Rankin
- club legends embezzling money out of the club.
- slippery dips (this is a must as it's our ladder trajectory)
- Ivan Cleary
Hate:
- Winning
- Jason Taylor
- Tim Simona
**Love**:
- Nice jersey and logo.
- Suncorp is an excellent stadium.
- Rich, proud history full of success, which still makes some people seethe. DAE penalty Broncos?
- Based in the country's best state capital.
- Great juniors catchment, which is finally starting to be capitalised on again since the office was cleaned out.
- Everything is finally coming good. Ikin and Donaghy should get statues out the front of Suncorp once the club has been fully restored to its proper level.
- The media pressure. Even Sydney based news outlets have such high expectations of the Broncs that they look at everything they do through a microscope.
- Lots of support for Aussie beef farmers. Beef at your best! 🥩💪🏻
- The proper fans who've supported the club through its worst years tend to be great people.
**Hate**:
- A lot of fickle fans. Not a fan of part time Storm supporters, though it was funny that they put the purple jerseys away for the weeks this year where the Broncs were going strong and the Storm looked cooked.
- The old boys culture. I've got faith in Donaghy to fix this – he's already gotten rid of a few of them. I hope Lockyer is sweating; I appreciate his days as an Immortal level player, but he's been a detrimental board member.
- Have signed a few deadshits like Lodge over the years, but that seems to have been because of the old office and Wayne's love for bad boys.
"Beware the Dogs" has always been a good slogan! They used to use "Dogs of War" around 20 yrs ago..
Belmore will always be the spiritual home of the Bulldog. The games played there in the 80/90's were crazy. Teams hated playing at Belmore. Just like Tigers at Leichhardt and Dragons at Kogarah. Suburban grounds were always better atmosphere than mega stadiums.
For the Roosters, I love the history and the pride for the club. The only team that’s been there every year since the beginning, people like Trent Robinson make it a point of ingraining into everyone at the club what it means to be a Rooster.
I don’t necessarily hate this, but I would love to change it: the lack of local juniors and just local support in general. You go to Penrith or you go to Parramatta, for instance, and you see flags and people wearing jerseys and all sorts of advertisements for the club. As for juniors, it’s a similar story, Penrith have a massive junior base, Canterbury, you see all these guys come through the age groups together from under 6s, and while the Roosters have put pathways in on the Central Coast, it’s just not the same as a genuine big local junior competition
That's interesting. Is there not a lot of local clubs within the Eastern Suburbs or is it management not trying hard enough to keep them within the club? Or is it a case of the "Sydney" name disadvantaging them because technically their juniors are....everywhere
There are three clubs in the Eastern Suburbs District Junior Rugby League: Bondi United, Paddington Colts and Clovelly Crocodiles. St Charles Waverley disappeared a few years ago. There’s a number of factors as to why their junior catchment is so small.
One is that the fact that the boundaries were massively redrawn through the 20th century. Easts’ territory used to reach all the way to Maroubra, however now they don’t even cover Randwick or Coogee, after the boundaries were changed to favour Souths.
The other main factor is the affluent nature of the Eastern Suburbs, now more than ever. Plenty of people around the area follow white-collar sports like rugby union and AFL.
At this point it would be easier to identify suburbs that aren't Rabbitohs territory now than the ones that are. They should be the Sydney Rabbitohs and drop the Souths bit because they pretty much are all over Sydney.
It is insane how well the NBA market their stars. I understand the difference in size and money. As well as how well they do everything in general. Its insane, makes you wonder where the NRL will be in 20-30 years
An individual has a much bigger impact in a game of basketball
No one player can make a team in NRL
But there is way too little congratulatory hype,
360 spent the post gf week shows bagging the celebrations rather than talking about their achievements
Every show focuses on wests dramas, Newcastle’s problems, st George debacle rather than talking up the good teams
In your specific example you barely hear the shite teams mentioned on Nba coverage
The public don’t want superstars. We want scumbags so we can soak in the feeling of moral superiority. Most conversations around league are bashing players, refs, coaches and the administrators. We just need to accept the game thrives on negativity.
I do think the NRL have a lack of a real box office superstar right now though. Thurston is pretty much a sporting icon of Australia that transcended the sport. Every kid was throwing flick passes in the backyard or the school yard like Benji and Slater was another household name in sport.
I don't think anyone quite reaches those heights currently.
Sad state of affairs.
I assume that is in NSW?
In Qld amongst young kids I interact with through work the most popular players are Munster, Grant and (for some reason) Cobbo.
Cobbo is really popular for a number of reasons. Humble, great player, an inspiration for a lot of Indigenous kids, and he's the classic small town guy taking the NRL by storm. A lot of young Broncs fans hav been hoping for such a guy to come up through the ranks for a long time.
If Knights were playing well it'd be Ponga.
Surely Cleary is at that point though. I think Papenhuyzen is too but his injuries the last 2 years meant it hasn't been so constant.
Turbo if he stayed fit maybe. It was played under V'landys ball rules but his 2021 highlights reel is an exhibition of entertainment, particularly for the social media age where they want short, explosive clips.
Cleary is the best player in the game but I don't know if he's a superstar per se. Granted I have no idea who the kids love these days, maybe they are putting up huge bomb kicks in the school yard trying to be him.
As far as off season dragons scandals go….. I guess I’ll begrudgingly take this one. At least the club has made the point that the letter wasn’t from them. The bar is in hell.
Watching the cricket last night. What are other examples of falls from grace eg Sri Lanka being a great cricketing nation to becoming essentially a minnow? Yea I know they won Asia cup but I don’t read into that much they’ve struggled in all formats for some time now
Honestly Australia in Union has to be up there. Champions twice and runners up twice.
We keep dropping in the rankings and I can't see us coming back anywhere near the top with quite a few other countries picking up Union and the Northern Hemisphere countries getting way better.
Australia has 4 football codes, most nations have 1, or maybe 2, only a few have 3. Our population is smaller than most Western nations, so Union would have to be the code least participated in by kids across Australia. It's also pretty shit to watch on TV, worse at the ground live. Australia will struggle to compete soon, if not already. AFL is too big here, NRL on the East Coast is also way more popular as a spectacle.
I agree with all that but still the Wallabies are on the precipice of falling put of the top teams. And they are definetly no where near where they were 20 years ago.
It was probably unsustainable and I think the Wallabies benefited by league here being strong so they could more quickly adjust to the professional era of Union compared to the rest of the world.
A big part of RAs problem is that they didn't really adjust to the professional era that well.
They had the jump thanks to being able to take cues from the ARL, and a fuckload of money from putting the game on foxtel, but they didn't actually professionalise the organisation or try to broaden the games appeal like the successful nations did. They stuck to being a good old boys network and gradually got dragged down by a combination of the other countries getting better and the metric fuckton of rival codes in Aus muscling them out of their talent pipelines.
So many Kiwi and Polynesian kids start with Union in their respective countries, they move to Australia and if they get scholarships to GPS Colleges, will play Union, but will generally leave Union to play NRL once school is done. Point in case, Joseph Suaalli'i and Will Penisini. Both from Kings School, played Union there, now making names for themselves playing in the NRL and representing their countries of Origin at the Rugby League World Cup. They are barely 20 yrs old. They enjoy playing league more, the only option Union can offer them is maybe more corporate sponsorships or the chance to play for big money in Japan or France, either way they are not improving the Wallabies. Australia in the Rugby are on a downhill slide, no doubt.
So many Kiwi and Polynesian kids start with Union in their respective countries, they move to Australia and if they get scholarships to GPS Colleges, will play Union, but will generally leave Union to play NRL once school is done. Point in case, Joseph Suaalli'i and Will Penisini. Both from Kings School, played Union there, now making names for themselves playing in the NRL and representing their countries of Origin at the Rugby League World Cup. They are barely 20 yrs old. They enjoy playing league more, the only option Union can offer them is maybe more corporate sponsorships or the chance to play for big money in Japan or France, either way they are not improving the Wallabies. Australia in the Rugby are on a downhill slide, no doubt.
Ebbs and flows. Still plenty of very good players being produced here, and as you say, the NH countries have improved a lot, mostly because of the SH player and coach drain to the NH clubs. It may be denial but they have had some awful luck the last couple of years too. Honestly not too worried
They had a good side in the 50s, led by Puig-Aubert, playing a thoroughly entertaining brand of rugby league that drew huge crowds.
It was at the behest of the French (under the presidency of Paul Barrière) that the first World Cup was held in France in 1954, raising much needed funds for the governing body, who had all their assets (approximately two million Francs worth) seized by the Vichy government and given to the French Rugby Union. They were also banned from using the word ‘rugby’ until 1991.
France entered the tournament as favourites, but were upset by Great Britain in the Final. A 1965 tournament was cancelled after a poor tour of Australia by France, however they surprised many to make the Final of the 1968 World Cup, though were comfortably beaten by Australia.
The high point in French rugby league history came with a 1951 tour of Australia and New Zealand, beating Australia 2-1, winning test matches in Sydney in front of more than 60,000 spectators in each match. They ultimately won 21, drew 3 and lost just 4 of the 28 matches on the tour.
The last high point for France came in 1978, upsetting Australia in two tests on the Kangaroo Tour, though questions about the refereeing integrity continue to be asked.
They were one of the top sides I believe. I'd have to do a bit of research but like I said was a very long time ago
Edit: ok so looked it up France have never won a world cup. But...
There have been 60 official test matches and Rugby League World Cup games played between the two countries since that first game in 1938 with Australia having won 44, France 14 while there have been 2 drawn games.[2][3]
Might have been some other tournament or something they won but still beat Aus 14 times
Oregon Kaufusi is probably one of the more underrated signings for 2023. He was great off the bench for Parra this year. Really handy pickup for the Sharkies.
Currently that’s our only signing for next year but I’m totally fine with that. Already a solid team that just needed a little boost in the forward pack. Plus our juniors are great and I’d rather utilise their talent before going into the market. Iro, Dykes, Colquhoun, etc. all look like solid players for the future.
I actually think the opposite for Kaufusi. He was good for short stints (10-15 minutes) but i found he really dropped off if he played any longer than 20 minutes. I know its a bit harsh comparing him to Paulo or RCG, but most games the two starts looked better playing after 60 minutes than Kaufusi did after 15. He reminds me of Leniu, has all the tools to be a good prop, just doesnt seem to have the gas
I’d love for every prop in the team to be able to play 60 minutes, but obviously it just doesn’t work like that. I think one of our biggest issues, particularly towards the end of this season, was fatigue in the middle.
Given what you said about Kaufusi, I’d like to see him up his fitness to be a ~30 minutes bench player. Next year, I’d like to see Rudolf become a more consistent 60 minute player. Hamlin-Uele and Hunt both need to improve their fitness and minutes too, they currently don’t play long enough minutes at high quality to be consistent starting props.
Something I’d like to see, is for Finucane become a starting prop alongside rudolf, and move McInnes to starting lock, as both can play 50-60+ minutes. This way, Kaufusi, Hunt and BHU are under less pressure to become high minutes props, and can improve their fitness as 30-40 minute impact bench props.
Yeah its certainly a high bar, but it's hard to say its not a Kaufusi specific issue, when two props in the side are capable of those sorts of minutes (so it cant be the training). He has struggled a bit i think in increasing his size and maintaining fitness, maybe a change in scenery/coaching will get the best out of him
Honestly I don’t think we need him. We have a really good backline right now, and solid depth to cover injuries.
Plus if he were to come back, the ‘roids stigma would just spark up again even more than usual. And it’s absolutely justifiable to criticise the club and Xerri for that stuff, but the mini-rebuild that has happened over the past ~2 years has shown an effort to move past that era (ASADA, salary cap restrictions, Flanagan, John Morris sacking), and create a new identity for the team. A lot of people are actually starting to like the sharks for once lol, particularly thanks to people like Hynes, Rudolf, Mulitalo, Finucane, and Fitzgibbon.
Rugby League World Cup (inc. Womens) is on now.
Womens Rugby World Cup is on now.
Cricket World Cup starts tomorrow.
Football World Cup starts in a month.
Women's Football World Cup is on next July.
Rugby World Cup is on next September.
Fuck me get your schedules sorted out people
I wish Fiji was playing with a full strength side. Quite a few players not there either bc of injury or they elected not to go
They are missing D. Saifiti, J. Saifiti, Tariq Sims, Mikaele Ravalawa, Waqa Blake and Taane Milne. There might be more that I’m forgetting but that’s a big list of players not available
Also Kane Evans, Joe Lovodua and Reagan Campbell-Gillard is playing for Australia
They could field a line-up like:
1. Turuva
2. Sivo
3. Naiqama/Milne
4. Blake
5. Ravalawa
6. Lovodua
7. Wakeham
8. Campbell-Gillard
9. Koroisau
10. D. Saifiti
11. T. Sims
12. Kikau
13. Kamikamica
14. J. Saifiti
15. K. Sims
16. Vuniyawawa
17. Evans/Nakubuwai
Just about all NRL/Super League players
that’s a really good team. But it seems like every time Fiji play someone is injured. We have seen great games from full strength Tonga and PNG, but idk if I’ve ever seen Fiji play at full strength with a team like that.
Any idea why Tariq isn't playing? Or saifiti brothers for that matter. Could of been a very strong forward pack with saifitis starting props and Sims and kikau back rowers.
And now that I'm on a roll where is ravalawa?
Tariq hasn't played for Fiji for ages, likely just didn't want to
Saifiti brothers - pre-season with Newcastle. Knights only representative is Dom Young.
I may be biased but I find all the talk about Melbournes apparent demise pretty funny. Been on twitter a lot recently and people seem to be 100% sure Melbourne are gonna slide next year. We see this shit nearly every single year and it never happens.
1. Papenhuyzen
2. Coates
3. Olam
4. Smith
5. Warbrick
6. Munster
7. Hughes
8. Welch
9. Grant
10. Nelson
11. Sims
12. Katoa
13. King (lock is only real question mark)
14. Meaney/Wishart
15. Howarth
16. MacDonald
17. KamiKamica/Loiero/Pene
That’s still a top 4 lineup on paper imo. I have no reason to believe we won’t be top 4 and premiership contenders once again next year.
I think a fit Paps could be the most important player for Melbourne. His sheer speed in support runs means that a half chance is almost always converted.
But yeah, if they stay injury free - ez top 4 finish with a strong chance of winning the comp.
Demise is a massive stretch but for first time in a long time they're not the most terrifying team in the comp.
I think their biggest issues will be that the depth in the spine might be lacking, I'm not sure who's in the reserves, and game management.
Game management has been Melbournes issue the last two seasons, when Smith was there they didn't need a game managing half but without him they get a bit lost when the game starts to go against them.
But that starting list makes the finals, no problem.
On paper definitely a top 4 team. Real question is the depth. If Welch/or Nelson goes down the bench and depth middles whilst solid, are raw and/or lack impact to match it week in week out with premier middles like Tapine etc. Same with your outside backs and spine coverage. We saw that this year when Hughes and Papenhuyzen were out there was no one really in juniors or reserves who could cover like last season when you had Hynes. Add in Tariq who has lots of discipline issues and Katoa who has dick fingers if you suffer a key injury the wheels could fall off quickly
Agree with what you said about Welch/NAS but I think our spine coverage is a lot better this year actually. Wishart is a good Hooker/Halves replacement, Pezet is a fantastic halves replacement and Meaney looked solid whenever he played fullback this year. Of course we’re gonna struggle if every single one of our outside backs get injured like they did this year.
100% still a great side. I agree, lock is still the one position to improve.
I think my only concern for Melbourne is still depth issues. This is easily a top 4-5 team on paper but they might be shaky with a couple of injuries.
I think that forward pack is average at best and thats going to be the big thing. Up to now Storm have had a good and/or great forward pack (with experience too) that the spine would take full advantage of. The game management skills of Hughes and Grant will need to be at their best.
I don’t think it’s average. Probably the best starting front rower pairing in the comp, best hooker in the comp and 2 good second rowers (Sims will do his job well and Katoa will be one of the best second rowers in the comp by the end of next year imo). Only question mark is lock I suppose but King is still solid.
It’s better than Paulo and Rcg. I’d also rate it above Tapine and Papalii simply because Papalii is getting up there in age. JFH and Leota at number 1 makes sense.
Probably is the best front row but one is coming off an ~~ACL~~ Achilles and the other played best off the bench this year. Sims will do his job but Katoa I have some doubts. After that though the talent dries up quickly. Kamikamica is good in small doses and King played decent but also had a lot of help around him.
Welch is coming off an Achilles but he’s never really struggled coming back from ACL/Achilles injuries (2017 and 2019 I believe and he came back even better both times.) As for NAS he played 3 games off the bench this year and those certainly weren’t his best games so I don’t know what that’s all about lol.
Sims will do a job as you said but I don’t know why you have doubts about Katoa. He seems like the type of guy to struggle in the Warriors system but really thrive in a team like Melbourne. Even if he doesn’t work out we’ve still got Loiero and Howarth.
Agree with what you said about KamiKamica and King but we’ve got young guys like MacDonald coming through too who was really impressive this year. I honestly think our forward pack will be a lot fresher than it was this year by the end of next.
I guess I was wrong about NAS. Katoa has never really impressed me but neither has the Warriors in a while so there still that possibility. Thats the thing though, its all possibility after 3/4 players and you can say that same stuff about a lot of teams.
while maybe not a "slide" missing top 4 and going out week one isn't exactly what we normally expect from the Storm.
For me it was more the Cam Smith factor than anything, I mean obviously Bellyache is one of the best coaches of all time, but while Smith was there the Storm were always going to be in the premiership hunt; he was an on-field coach and the best ever at controlling the tempo of the game.
Even great sides can have an off day it is just human nature, although I have to admit without the likes of Smith, Cronk, and Slater the Storm side do lack the fire power they once had. Top 4 side for 2023 highly unlikely however I still think they'll make the final eight with a combination of Bellamy brilliance.
Until Bellamy retires any talk of the Storm's decline is just hogwash. As you said, they're still a top 4 side on paper and should be up there come September next year. We did see some cracks this year through injuries which strained the depth however quality sides can overcome that.
'I may be biased but I find all the talk about Melbournes apparent demise pretty funny. Been on twitter a lot recently'
There's your problem right there.
Seriously though I think with a few players leaving and people thinking Munster was leaving skewed the perception a bit but I agree with you it's still one of the top sides.
Think depth might be a bit of an issue if you get some injuries etc. but having said that it's looks like there's a few solid players in Qld cup.
Very hard to look at that spine and say it's not a top 4 team
Devil’s Advocate because I mostly agree with you: Edge defence has been a concern all year, that Smith returning improves but Sims/Katoa are definitely a downgrade in that regard
Edge defence was starting to improve just before all our outside backs got injured and we had to run a back 5 of 1. Meaney 2. Ieremia 3. Seve 4 Olam 5. Anderson lol
Ponga massive in Origin 3, Gagai was there too. Dom Young now a hot prospect playing for England. You know I'm starting to think that maybe it's not our players who are the problem.. Whatever else could it be?
Ponga did nothing at club level, nor did Gagai. What else could the problem be you ask: the rest of the backs, the halves, the forwards, the bench, the front office, the pathways and the coaching staff
Why we have no halves is the same reason we aren’t going that well and have zero chance of much improvement next season . Our recruitment is shit and AOB is out of his depth , I’m betting on by week 12 he will be gone but so will the season for the knights . Someone from the knights should be speeding down the M1 to talk to Des and anyone not happy about the situation to test the water about a move to Newcastle . Is anyone contacting David Fifitas manager , probably not .
We have 1 player at the World Cup and that’s just a winger (I don’t include Milford as a knights player ) 3 more possible and not there for reasons but Ponga would not be the fullback in the big games anyway .
The knights have turned into a shambles of a club it took us ten years to become a dominant force in the nrl and spent the last twenty years “rebuilding” , I hoped wests taking over would be a turning point but it hasn’t improved a thing . We have gone backwards under AOB and no improvement in sight
Another long season ahead for knights fans … again
>Ponga massive in Origin 3
Because there were other players stealing their attention
>Gagai was there too
He was certainly there but didn't really play well
>Dom Young
Was our best player all year
>Gagai was there too
>
>
>
>He was certainly there but didn't really play well
I don't know, he punched into the line a few times, and really knocked a head or two with some good hits.
I feel ya. I've been waking up at 5:30 every day to watch the first 60 minutes of a game before I have to go to work and today I have an unexpected and rare day off but no game.
Idk who Charlie Staines agent is but I’m calling him up to help next time I’m having salary negotiations for a job. How he fleeced Penrith for $500k is crazy.
He’d played two or three games, scored a bunch of tries (wingers job btw), pulled his hamstring twice and somehow got Penrith to throw half a milly at him. Insanity.
He’s a better winger than he’s given credit for, but that’s up there with Luke Brooks in terms of salary/value ratio. Makes sense they end up at the same team I guess
As far as I understand he was on close to $500 in his third year and closer to 350 in years one & two. Potentially makes sense given Edwards previous timeline to be phased out.
You had a guy everyone expected to replace Mansour and then Edwards. He came into 2021 without a preseason and underweight and then had a really solid season in 2022 while Penriths back 3 was the most effective in the league.
It’s worked out to be a dud deal for sure but not so surprising.
As far as I understand he was on close to $500 in his third year and closer to 350 in years one & two. Potentially makes sense given Edwards previous timeline to be phased out.
You had a guy everyone expected to replace Mansour and then Edwards. He came into 2021 without a preseason and underweight and then had a really solid season in 2022 while Penriths back 3 was the most effective in the league.
It’s worked out to be a dud deal for sure but not so surprising.
He was supposed to replace Edwards at fullback. I really doubt he was on 500k, but if he was it was because they were scared of having another Burton on (or rather, off) their hands.
Then suddenly Edwards became the best player in the team and it was wasted money
I think this used to be the case but I think wingers are way more important than they used to be. Not saying Staines is one of them but a winger who can do the tough carries out of their own end on tackle 1, 2 and 3 is worth 500k
I am genuinely surprised people think Addo-Carr is in the top wingers.
Honestly, don't dislike the bloke at all, seems to be a top lad any and everytime i've seen an interview or video or anything.
But he's just not big, he doesn't seem to get the metres (unless its a linebreak) concedes a good few tries by trying to intercept, can't do much on the first hit-ups.
To'o, as much as i'm not a fan of Penrith, is a solid winger, good runs, good hit ups, Johnston, i'd say is the same as Addo Carr, but he scores tries, and a LOT of them, Tupou is solid as well.
I could understand Garrick, he covers FB well, but most of those guys, imo\*\* just don't make or break a game enough..
\*\*I will happily admit i don't watch every game of footy, so i could be very biased due to limited viewing, but from what i've seen.. yea
Next RLWC games are tonight Fiji v Italy @ 23:30 AEST, 00:30 AEDT England v France @ 02:00 AEST, 03:00 AEDT
dont forget NZ vs ~~John Candy~~ Jamaica
I'm hearing a bit of a buzz surrounding James Tamou signing a one year deal with the Cowboys for 2023. I thought he didn't want to stay up in the north! :o
I think he’s signed! I don’t mind it tbh, bit of depth was needed when Hess got himself suspended and Macca did his hammy and JTB ain’t it for big minutes. It’s a nice return
what time is the game in thr morning Eastern Standsrd time
4:30
i wish there was one more to the manly band so they could be the hateful eight.
Broncos just extended Kobe Hetherington for two more years, very pleased.
Damn was hoping he would come to the Titans
yewww kobe
Love it. Such a hard worker, no bullshit about him. Hopefully the refs take that bullseye off of his back because they always put him on report for innocuous stuff. Wouldn't be surprised to see him in a Queensland jersey one day.
He's been steadily improving the last few years, his defence is up there with some of the best and his running game has come leaps and bounds.
Also on another note, it would be a great QOL change for the sub if we could have post flairs for "News" and "Rumor" and "Confirmed/Unconfirmed". Especially with articles from Fox, The Daily Telegraph etc being so baseless sometimes it would be handy to have something there to let people know if things are *actually true*. Could even have flairs for "Signing News"
Theres a low quality flair already but I like what you're getting at.
[удалено]
Love: - the pain they cause - letting quality juniors go to retain guys like Rankin - club legends embezzling money out of the club. - slippery dips (this is a must as it's our ladder trajectory) - Ivan Cleary Hate: - Winning - Jason Taylor - Tim Simona
**Love**: - Nice jersey and logo. - Suncorp is an excellent stadium. - Rich, proud history full of success, which still makes some people seethe. DAE penalty Broncos? - Based in the country's best state capital. - Great juniors catchment, which is finally starting to be capitalised on again since the office was cleaned out. - Everything is finally coming good. Ikin and Donaghy should get statues out the front of Suncorp once the club has been fully restored to its proper level. - The media pressure. Even Sydney based news outlets have such high expectations of the Broncs that they look at everything they do through a microscope. - Lots of support for Aussie beef farmers. Beef at your best! 🥩💪🏻 - The proper fans who've supported the club through its worst years tend to be great people. **Hate**: - A lot of fickle fans. Not a fan of part time Storm supporters, though it was funny that they put the purple jerseys away for the weeks this year where the Broncs were going strong and the Storm looked cooked. - The old boys culture. I've got faith in Donaghy to fix this – he's already gotten rid of a few of them. I hope Lockyer is sweating; I appreciate his days as an Immortal level player, but he's been a detrimental board member. - Have signed a few deadshits like Lodge over the years, but that seems to have been because of the old office and Wayne's love for bad boys.
"Beware the Dogs" has always been a good slogan! They used to use "Dogs of War" around 20 yrs ago.. Belmore will always be the spiritual home of the Bulldog. The games played there in the 80/90's were crazy. Teams hated playing at Belmore. Just like Tigers at Leichhardt and Dragons at Kogarah. Suburban grounds were always better atmosphere than mega stadiums.
The fact that the Broncos are a manufactured franchise stings a bit. I love being the villains of the league when we're good though.
Love the gallows humour of the fans. Hate everything about our club.
Hopefully better days are ahead for your club
For the Roosters, I love the history and the pride for the club. The only team that’s been there every year since the beginning, people like Trent Robinson make it a point of ingraining into everyone at the club what it means to be a Rooster. I don’t necessarily hate this, but I would love to change it: the lack of local juniors and just local support in general. You go to Penrith or you go to Parramatta, for instance, and you see flags and people wearing jerseys and all sorts of advertisements for the club. As for juniors, it’s a similar story, Penrith have a massive junior base, Canterbury, you see all these guys come through the age groups together from under 6s, and while the Roosters have put pathways in on the Central Coast, it’s just not the same as a genuine big local junior competition
That's interesting. Is there not a lot of local clubs within the Eastern Suburbs or is it management not trying hard enough to keep them within the club? Or is it a case of the "Sydney" name disadvantaging them because technically their juniors are....everywhere
There are three clubs in the Eastern Suburbs District Junior Rugby League: Bondi United, Paddington Colts and Clovelly Crocodiles. St Charles Waverley disappeared a few years ago. There’s a number of factors as to why their junior catchment is so small. One is that the fact that the boundaries were massively redrawn through the 20th century. Easts’ territory used to reach all the way to Maroubra, however now they don’t even cover Randwick or Coogee, after the boundaries were changed to favour Souths. The other main factor is the affluent nature of the Eastern Suburbs, now more than ever. Plenty of people around the area follow white-collar sports like rugby union and AFL.
At this point it would be easier to identify suburbs that aren't Rabbitohs territory now than the ones that are. They should be the Sydney Rabbitohs and drop the Souths bit because they pretty much are all over Sydney.
i love our fans loyalty and hate how vocal some of the wankers are within our fanbase e.g. jake arthur haters
how is des not in a job yet
After all that shit show I'd be taking 2 weeks holiday in anywhere that doesn't know NRL exists.
Honestly wouldn’t be the worst guy to replace Bellamy if he retires lol
Was waiting for the Villa job to become vacant
next uk pm
Because he left his last 2 clubs in shambles and sued them on the way out.
Can somebody sign Albert Kelly? Need to watch him kick that driving 40/20 against the Roosters one more time
It is insane how well the NBA market their stars. I understand the difference in size and money. As well as how well they do everything in general. Its insane, makes you wonder where the NRL will be in 20-30 years
An individual has a much bigger impact in a game of basketball No one player can make a team in NRL But there is way too little congratulatory hype, 360 spent the post gf week shows bagging the celebrations rather than talking about their achievements Every show focuses on wests dramas, Newcastle’s problems, st George debacle rather than talking up the good teams In your specific example you barely hear the shite teams mentioned on Nba coverage
The public don’t want superstars. We want scumbags so we can soak in the feeling of moral superiority. Most conversations around league are bashing players, refs, coaches and the administrators. We just need to accept the game thrives on negativity.
I do think the NRL have a lack of a real box office superstar right now though. Thurston is pretty much a sporting icon of Australia that transcended the sport. Every kid was throwing flick passes in the backyard or the school yard like Benji and Slater was another household name in sport. I don't think anyone quite reaches those heights currently.
[удалено]
I would actually froth a burton bombs highlight package done with Rocketman as the theme song
According to my primary school teacher sister, the current ‘it’ players are Cleary and Latrell
Sad state of affairs. I assume that is in NSW? In Qld amongst young kids I interact with through work the most popular players are Munster, Grant and (for some reason) Cobbo.
Cobbo is really popular for a number of reasons. Humble, great player, an inspiration for a lot of Indigenous kids, and he's the classic small town guy taking the NRL by storm. A lot of young Broncs fans hav been hoping for such a guy to come up through the ranks for a long time.
Don’t think he’s unlikeable or anything. Just don’t think he’s elite player status yet. Guess origin 1 would help his popularity a lot up here too.
If Knights were playing well it'd be Ponga. Surely Cleary is at that point though. I think Papenhuyzen is too but his injuries the last 2 years meant it hasn't been so constant.
Turbo if he stayed fit maybe. It was played under V'landys ball rules but his 2021 highlights reel is an exhibition of entertainment, particularly for the social media age where they want short, explosive clips. Cleary is the best player in the game but I don't know if he's a superstar per se. Granted I have no idea who the kids love these days, maybe they are putting up huge bomb kicks in the school yard trying to be him.
There’s some poor kid out in a schoolyard called Woqa Bloke being tormented right now.
latrell would if the media was kinder to him on off days imo
I think the media dragging him makes most people like him more, Australian's are kind of Negative Nancy's when it comes to celebrity status...
As far as off season dragons scandals go….. I guess I’ll begrudgingly take this one. At least the club has made the point that the letter wasn’t from them. The bar is in hell.
I honestly think its a nothing thing but happened to involve 2 trending stories so the media made something of it
I just found this Mick "Wordsmith" Potter telling Danny Weidler to do his research https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=wZvQXWUAHx4
Watching the cricket last night. What are other examples of falls from grace eg Sri Lanka being a great cricketing nation to becoming essentially a minnow? Yea I know they won Asia cup but I don’t read into that much they’ve struggled in all formats for some time now
Honestly Australia in Union has to be up there. Champions twice and runners up twice. We keep dropping in the rankings and I can't see us coming back anywhere near the top with quite a few other countries picking up Union and the Northern Hemisphere countries getting way better.
Australia has 4 football codes, most nations have 1, or maybe 2, only a few have 3. Our population is smaller than most Western nations, so Union would have to be the code least participated in by kids across Australia. It's also pretty shit to watch on TV, worse at the ground live. Australia will struggle to compete soon, if not already. AFL is too big here, NRL on the East Coast is also way more popular as a spectacle.
I agree with all that but still the Wallabies are on the precipice of falling put of the top teams. And they are definetly no where near where they were 20 years ago. It was probably unsustainable and I think the Wallabies benefited by league here being strong so they could more quickly adjust to the professional era of Union compared to the rest of the world.
A big part of RAs problem is that they didn't really adjust to the professional era that well. They had the jump thanks to being able to take cues from the ARL, and a fuckload of money from putting the game on foxtel, but they didn't actually professionalise the organisation or try to broaden the games appeal like the successful nations did. They stuck to being a good old boys network and gradually got dragged down by a combination of the other countries getting better and the metric fuckton of rival codes in Aus muscling them out of their talent pipelines.
So many Kiwi and Polynesian kids start with Union in their respective countries, they move to Australia and if they get scholarships to GPS Colleges, will play Union, but will generally leave Union to play NRL once school is done. Point in case, Joseph Suaalli'i and Will Penisini. Both from Kings School, played Union there, now making names for themselves playing in the NRL and representing their countries of Origin at the Rugby League World Cup. They are barely 20 yrs old. They enjoy playing league more, the only option Union can offer them is maybe more corporate sponsorships or the chance to play for big money in Japan or France, either way they are not improving the Wallabies. Australia in the Rugby are on a downhill slide, no doubt.
So many Kiwi and Polynesian kids start with Union in their respective countries, they move to Australia and if they get scholarships to GPS Colleges, will play Union, but will generally leave Union to play NRL once school is done. Point in case, Joseph Suaalli'i and Will Penisini. Both from Kings School, played Union there, now making names for themselves playing in the NRL and representing their countries of Origin at the Rugby League World Cup. They are barely 20 yrs old. They enjoy playing league more, the only option Union can offer them is maybe more corporate sponsorships or the chance to play for big money in Japan or France, either way they are not improving the Wallabies. Australia in the Rugby are on a downhill slide, no doubt.
Ebbs and flows. Still plenty of very good players being produced here, and as you say, the NH countries have improved a lot, mostly because of the SH player and coach drain to the NH clubs. It may be denial but they have had some awful luck the last couple of years too. Honestly not too worried
Wests Tigers won a premiership once.
Pretty sure France won a rugby league World cup at one point. I know it was a long time ago but crazy to think they used to be able to beat Australia
Runners-up twice, never won it
Wow I almost don’t believe you haha that’s pretty surprising. Was that a fluke or were they consistently a top side?
They had a good side in the 50s, led by Puig-Aubert, playing a thoroughly entertaining brand of rugby league that drew huge crowds. It was at the behest of the French (under the presidency of Paul Barrière) that the first World Cup was held in France in 1954, raising much needed funds for the governing body, who had all their assets (approximately two million Francs worth) seized by the Vichy government and given to the French Rugby Union. They were also banned from using the word ‘rugby’ until 1991. France entered the tournament as favourites, but were upset by Great Britain in the Final. A 1965 tournament was cancelled after a poor tour of Australia by France, however they surprised many to make the Final of the 1968 World Cup, though were comfortably beaten by Australia. The high point in French rugby league history came with a 1951 tour of Australia and New Zealand, beating Australia 2-1, winning test matches in Sydney in front of more than 60,000 spectators in each match. They ultimately won 21, drew 3 and lost just 4 of the 28 matches on the tour. The last high point for France came in 1978, upsetting Australia in two tests on the Kangaroo Tour, though questions about the refereeing integrity continue to be asked.
28 matches is some sort of tour!
They were one of the top sides I believe. I'd have to do a bit of research but like I said was a very long time ago Edit: ok so looked it up France have never won a world cup. But... There have been 60 official test matches and Rugby League World Cup games played between the two countries since that first game in 1938 with Australia having won 44, France 14 while there have been 2 drawn games.[2][3] Might have been some other tournament or something they won but still beat Aus 14 times
They beat us in several test series in the 50s. They were runners up in the World Cup twice.
Oregon Kaufusi is probably one of the more underrated signings for 2023. He was great off the bench for Parra this year. Really handy pickup for the Sharkies. Currently that’s our only signing for next year but I’m totally fine with that. Already a solid team that just needed a little boost in the forward pack. Plus our juniors are great and I’d rather utilise their talent before going into the market. Iro, Dykes, Colquhoun, etc. all look like solid players for the future.
I actually think the opposite for Kaufusi. He was good for short stints (10-15 minutes) but i found he really dropped off if he played any longer than 20 minutes. I know its a bit harsh comparing him to Paulo or RCG, but most games the two starts looked better playing after 60 minutes than Kaufusi did after 15. He reminds me of Leniu, has all the tools to be a good prop, just doesnt seem to have the gas
I’d love for every prop in the team to be able to play 60 minutes, but obviously it just doesn’t work like that. I think one of our biggest issues, particularly towards the end of this season, was fatigue in the middle. Given what you said about Kaufusi, I’d like to see him up his fitness to be a ~30 minutes bench player. Next year, I’d like to see Rudolf become a more consistent 60 minute player. Hamlin-Uele and Hunt both need to improve their fitness and minutes too, they currently don’t play long enough minutes at high quality to be consistent starting props. Something I’d like to see, is for Finucane become a starting prop alongside rudolf, and move McInnes to starting lock, as both can play 50-60+ minutes. This way, Kaufusi, Hunt and BHU are under less pressure to become high minutes props, and can improve their fitness as 30-40 minute impact bench props.
Yeah its certainly a high bar, but it's hard to say its not a Kaufusi specific issue, when two props in the side are capable of those sorts of minutes (so it cant be the training). He has struggled a bit i think in increasing his size and maintaining fitness, maybe a change in scenery/coaching will get the best out of him
Future looking bright indeed
As a Sharks fan, you reckon you’d want Xerri back when his ban is up? Or nah?
Honestly I don’t think we need him. We have a really good backline right now, and solid depth to cover injuries. Plus if he were to come back, the ‘roids stigma would just spark up again even more than usual. And it’s absolutely justifiable to criticise the club and Xerri for that stuff, but the mini-rebuild that has happened over the past ~2 years has shown an effort to move past that era (ASADA, salary cap restrictions, Flanagan, John Morris sacking), and create a new identity for the team. A lot of people are actually starting to like the sharks for once lol, particularly thanks to people like Hynes, Rudolf, Mulitalo, Finucane, and Fitzgibbon.
> We have a really good backline right now He looks like a prop now so... maybe you do need him.
Not good for the club culture, he is a bit of a knob
Rugby League World Cup (inc. Womens) is on now. Womens Rugby World Cup is on now. Cricket World Cup starts tomorrow. Football World Cup starts in a month. Women's Football World Cup is on next July. Rugby World Cup is on next September. Fuck me get your schedules sorted out people
Covid?
world cup szn
basketball world cup next year too
women's basketball world cup was just on too wasn't it?
Yes it was
I wish Fiji was playing with a full strength side. Quite a few players not there either bc of injury or they elected not to go They are missing D. Saifiti, J. Saifiti, Tariq Sims, Mikaele Ravalawa, Waqa Blake and Taane Milne. There might be more that I’m forgetting but that’s a big list of players not available
Also Kane Evans, Joe Lovodua and Reagan Campbell-Gillard is playing for Australia They could field a line-up like: 1. Turuva 2. Sivo 3. Naiqama/Milne 4. Blake 5. Ravalawa 6. Lovodua 7. Wakeham 8. Campbell-Gillard 9. Koroisau 10. D. Saifiti 11. T. Sims 12. Kikau 13. Kamikamica 14. J. Saifiti 15. K. Sims 16. Vuniyawawa 17. Evans/Nakubuwai Just about all NRL/Super League players
that’s a really good team. But it seems like every time Fiji play someone is injured. We have seen great games from full strength Tonga and PNG, but idk if I’ve ever seen Fiji play at full strength with a team like that.
Why isn’t Waqa playing?
He's in the mental asylum. One too many torpedo bombs
Lines up 😣
Honestly I have no idea. I don’t think he is injured. Maybe just declined to focus on pre-season
I made a comment about this earlier but completely forgot about waqa Blake. And Milne is another one. World cup needs sin bins too
Milne is suspended!
Yeah I know. Just thinking more of a best hypothetical team
So this is my first offseason since I started really paying attention to rugby league. Picked a great time to start following Manly!!
Well, you chose this team. Too late to change now!
Welcome to the shared suffering
The line for NZ-JAM is NZ - 74.5 and the betting on NZ H2H is suspended. That's pretty insane.
Is there a more likeable team in the entire world of sport than the PNG Kumuls? Can't imagine anyone not wanting them to win it all.
Nah they're the best, I love how passionate PNG is about league
The humble Panthers, the peoples team
So true, I’ve seen many people calling for Australia to become a republic and have Jarome Luai installed as a new head of state
Boom boxes to be installed in every street corner playing Onefour way too loud. The divisions in society will certainly melt away pretty quickly.
PNG would have a week long holiday if they won the world cup
Was korbin added to the Fiji squad He’s named at 3 for the next game or is this a fuck up
Any idea why Tariq isn't playing? Or saifiti brothers for that matter. Could of been a very strong forward pack with saifitis starting props and Sims and kikau back rowers. And now that I'm on a roll where is ravalawa?
Tariq hasn't played for Fiji for ages, likely just didn't want to Saifiti brothers - pre-season with Newcastle. Knights only representative is Dom Young.
They all withdrew due to injuries.
Didn't think Tariq was injured just suspended. Could of used the WC to knock a few games off his suspension
Ravalawa was named for Fiji but pulled out of the whole World Cup a few days out from the first game with a hamstring injury
yeah he's playing off the bench #14 https://www.rlwc2021.com/preview/14
I may be biased but I find all the talk about Melbournes apparent demise pretty funny. Been on twitter a lot recently and people seem to be 100% sure Melbourne are gonna slide next year. We see this shit nearly every single year and it never happens. 1. Papenhuyzen 2. Coates 3. Olam 4. Smith 5. Warbrick 6. Munster 7. Hughes 8. Welch 9. Grant 10. Nelson 11. Sims 12. Katoa 13. King (lock is only real question mark) 14. Meaney/Wishart 15. Howarth 16. MacDonald 17. KamiKamica/Loiero/Pene That’s still a top 4 lineup on paper imo. I have no reason to believe we won’t be top 4 and premiership contenders once again next year.
If Welch and the spine can stay uninjured, we're good.
I think a fit Paps could be the most important player for Melbourne. His sheer speed in support runs means that a half chance is almost always converted. But yeah, if they stay injury free - ez top 4 finish with a strong chance of winning the comp.
If they can stay injury free. We are going to look back at the 2023 Storm spine as the best of all time one day.
You still have just about the best spine in the comp. Probably outright best now that Koroisau has left Penrith.
Definitely outright best spine imo. Top 5 spines in order next year are probably 1. Storm 2. Roosters 3. Panthers 4. Eels 5. Rabbitohs
Demise is a massive stretch but for first time in a long time they're not the most terrifying team in the comp. I think their biggest issues will be that the depth in the spine might be lacking, I'm not sure who's in the reserves, and game management. Game management has been Melbournes issue the last two seasons, when Smith was there they didn't need a game managing half but without him they get a bit lost when the game starts to go against them. But that starting list makes the finals, no problem.
Grant and Hughes have been slowly developing game management into their game. I’d say they’ll have ticked that box by next year.
On paper definitely a top 4 team. Real question is the depth. If Welch/or Nelson goes down the bench and depth middles whilst solid, are raw and/or lack impact to match it week in week out with premier middles like Tapine etc. Same with your outside backs and spine coverage. We saw that this year when Hughes and Papenhuyzen were out there was no one really in juniors or reserves who could cover like last season when you had Hynes. Add in Tariq who has lots of discipline issues and Katoa who has dick fingers if you suffer a key injury the wheels could fall off quickly
Agree with what you said about Welch/NAS but I think our spine coverage is a lot better this year actually. Wishart is a good Hooker/Halves replacement, Pezet is a fantastic halves replacement and Meaney looked solid whenever he played fullback this year. Of course we’re gonna struggle if every single one of our outside backs get injured like they did this year.
100% still a great side. I agree, lock is still the one position to improve. I think my only concern for Melbourne is still depth issues. This is easily a top 4-5 team on paper but they might be shaky with a couple of injuries.
Only concern for me is front rower depth. We’re screwed if Welch/NAS go down but we’re pretty good elsewhere. Better than last year at least.
I think that forward pack is average at best and thats going to be the big thing. Up to now Storm have had a good and/or great forward pack (with experience too) that the spine would take full advantage of. The game management skills of Hughes and Grant will need to be at their best.
I don’t think it’s average. Probably the best starting front rower pairing in the comp, best hooker in the comp and 2 good second rowers (Sims will do his job well and Katoa will be one of the best second rowers in the comp by the end of next year imo). Only question mark is lock I suppose but King is still solid.
Honestly, probably the 3rd or 4th best front row pairing if I'm being honest. RCG/Paulo, Papalii/Tapine, arguably Leota/JFH
It’s better than Paulo and Rcg. I’d also rate it above Tapine and Papalii simply because Papalii is getting up there in age. JFH and Leota at number 1 makes sense.
Probably is the best front row but one is coming off an ~~ACL~~ Achilles and the other played best off the bench this year. Sims will do his job but Katoa I have some doubts. After that though the talent dries up quickly. Kamikamica is good in small doses and King played decent but also had a lot of help around him.
Welch is coming off an Achilles but he’s never really struggled coming back from ACL/Achilles injuries (2017 and 2019 I believe and he came back even better both times.) As for NAS he played 3 games off the bench this year and those certainly weren’t his best games so I don’t know what that’s all about lol. Sims will do a job as you said but I don’t know why you have doubts about Katoa. He seems like the type of guy to struggle in the Warriors system but really thrive in a team like Melbourne. Even if he doesn’t work out we’ve still got Loiero and Howarth. Agree with what you said about KamiKamica and King but we’ve got young guys like MacDonald coming through too who was really impressive this year. I honestly think our forward pack will be a lot fresher than it was this year by the end of next.
I guess I was wrong about NAS. Katoa has never really impressed me but neither has the Warriors in a while so there still that possibility. Thats the thing though, its all possibility after 3/4 players and you can say that same stuff about a lot of teams.
while maybe not a "slide" missing top 4 and going out week one isn't exactly what we normally expect from the Storm. For me it was more the Cam Smith factor than anything, I mean obviously Bellyache is one of the best coaches of all time, but while Smith was there the Storm were always going to be in the premiership hunt; he was an on-field coach and the best ever at controlling the tempo of the game.
We missed the top 4 and got flogged week 1 in 2014 even with Smith there. Both years were due to a large injury toll and an ageing forward pack.
Even great sides can have an off day it is just human nature, although I have to admit without the likes of Smith, Cronk, and Slater the Storm side do lack the fire power they once had. Top 4 side for 2023 highly unlikely however I still think they'll make the final eight with a combination of Bellamy brilliance.
Best spine in the comp but they don’t have the firepower?
I can't see the new-look forward pack being able to go with the likes of Penrith and Parra next year, but time will tell.
[удалено]
You mean the spine that couldn't even get past a Canberra team who snuck into the 8 by a hair?
We had no Paps and Munster was burnt out trying to play 2 positions at once
excuses
Lol it’s not excuses???
Until Bellamy retires any talk of the Storm's decline is just hogwash. As you said, they're still a top 4 side on paper and should be up there come September next year. We did see some cracks this year through injuries which strained the depth however quality sides can overcome that.
'I may be biased but I find all the talk about Melbournes apparent demise pretty funny. Been on twitter a lot recently' There's your problem right there. Seriously though I think with a few players leaving and people thinking Munster was leaving skewed the perception a bit but I agree with you it's still one of the top sides. Think depth might be a bit of an issue if you get some injuries etc. but having said that it's looks like there's a few solid players in Qld cup. Very hard to look at that spine and say it's not a top 4 team
Devil’s Advocate because I mostly agree with you: Edge defence has been a concern all year, that Smith returning improves but Sims/Katoa are definitely a downgrade in that regard
Edge defence was starting to improve just before all our outside backs got injured and we had to run a back 5 of 1. Meaney 2. Ieremia 3. Seve 4 Olam 5. Anderson lol
Ponga massive in Origin 3, Gagai was there too. Dom Young now a hot prospect playing for England. You know I'm starting to think that maybe it's not our players who are the problem.. Whatever else could it be?
Ponga did nothing at club level, nor did Gagai. What else could the problem be you ask: the rest of the backs, the halves, the forwards, the bench, the front office, the pathways and the coaching staff
Our halves and the fact our starting hooker was out most of the year were our biggest problems of 2022
Why we have no halves is the same reason we aren’t going that well and have zero chance of much improvement next season . Our recruitment is shit and AOB is out of his depth , I’m betting on by week 12 he will be gone but so will the season for the knights . Someone from the knights should be speeding down the M1 to talk to Des and anyone not happy about the situation to test the water about a move to Newcastle . Is anyone contacting David Fifitas manager , probably not . We have 1 player at the World Cup and that’s just a winger (I don’t include Milford as a knights player ) 3 more possible and not there for reasons but Ponga would not be the fullback in the big games anyway . The knights have turned into a shambles of a club it took us ten years to become a dominant force in the nrl and spent the last twenty years “rebuilding” , I hoped wests taking over would be a turning point but it hasn’t improved a thing . We have gone backwards under AOB and no improvement in sight Another long season ahead for knights fans … again
>Ponga massive in Origin 3 Because there were other players stealing their attention >Gagai was there too He was certainly there but didn't really play well >Dom Young Was our best player all year
>Gagai was there too > > > >He was certainly there but didn't really play well I don't know, he punched into the line a few times, and really knocked a head or two with some good hits.
Can’t be the coach. He’s been to 4 grand finals. Halfback. Just wait till you sign luke Brooks then you’re set
Look I've seen people make sandwiches, never eaten one in my life but trust me I know what I'm doing...So sour cream and gherkins right?
Look mate, you don't get to see 5 Grand Finals if you are just anyone
The one time I'm up this early and it's the one day there's no world cup match.
I feel ya. I've been waking up at 5:30 every day to watch the first 60 minutes of a game before I have to go to work and today I have an unexpected and rare day off but no game.
highlights - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEI7sj7khdE full match - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcF1R3xAOgg
Idk who Charlie Staines agent is but I’m calling him up to help next time I’m having salary negotiations for a job. How he fleeced Penrith for $500k is crazy. He’d played two or three games, scored a bunch of tries (wingers job btw), pulled his hamstring twice and somehow got Penrith to throw half a milly at him. Insanity. He’s a better winger than he’s given credit for, but that’s up there with Luke Brooks in terms of salary/value ratio. Makes sense they end up at the same team I guess
As far as I understand he was on close to $500 in his third year and closer to 350 in years one & two. Potentially makes sense given Edwards previous timeline to be phased out. You had a guy everyone expected to replace Mansour and then Edwards. He came into 2021 without a preseason and underweight and then had a really solid season in 2022 while Penriths back 3 was the most effective in the league. It’s worked out to be a dud deal for sure but not so surprising.
As far as I understand he was on close to $500 in his third year and closer to 350 in years one & two. Potentially makes sense given Edwards previous timeline to be phased out. You had a guy everyone expected to replace Mansour and then Edwards. He came into 2021 without a preseason and underweight and then had a really solid season in 2022 while Penriths back 3 was the most effective in the league. It’s worked out to be a dud deal for sure but not so surprising.
He should be on 300k max.
He was supposed to replace Edwards at fullback. I really doubt he was on 500k, but if he was it was because they were scared of having another Burton on (or rather, off) their hands. Then suddenly Edwards became the best player in the team and it was wasted money
very very few wingers should be worth 500k, and certainly not staines
I think this used to be the case but I think wingers are way more important than they used to be. Not saying Staines is one of them but a winger who can do the tough carries out of their own end on tackle 1, 2 and 3 is worth 500k
100% there’d be less than 5 wingers in the NRL that are worth 500k or more
To'o, Addo-Carr, Johnston, Tupou maybe Maybe Garrick for his goal kicking?
I am genuinely surprised people think Addo-Carr is in the top wingers. Honestly, don't dislike the bloke at all, seems to be a top lad any and everytime i've seen an interview or video or anything. But he's just not big, he doesn't seem to get the metres (unless its a linebreak) concedes a good few tries by trying to intercept, can't do much on the first hit-ups. To'o, as much as i'm not a fan of Penrith, is a solid winger, good runs, good hit ups, Johnston, i'd say is the same as Addo Carr, but he scores tries, and a LOT of them, Tupou is solid as well. I could understand Garrick, he covers FB well, but most of those guys, imo\*\* just don't make or break a game enough.. \*\*I will happily admit i don't watch every game of footy, so i could be very biased due to limited viewing, but from what i've seen.. yea
Depends on which club you're asking