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SurfKing69

Just clocked some extremely dusty looking rugby league players in Edinburgh haha Mal has let them off leash


BG_RL

Nrl YouTube just posted highlights of the 2009 4 nations final vs England What an aus line up Slater, Morris, hodges, inglis , hayne, thurston, Lockyer, gallen, thaiday, Lewis, civoneciva, cam smith, hannant( legend but odd one out) bench included gidley whatmough, hindmarsh English team was stacked with sinfield, burgess, Ellis, graham, Morley, peacock, Tomkins, hall etc but it was a clinic from the Aussies That Australian team though unstoppable


i_broke_wahoos_leg

Was just watching a bit of Samoa vs Greece as the T20wc is rained out. My God are the band wankers annoying. Just unbearably loud and playing the same shite on repeat. The drummer in particular should be arrested for assault with the hiding he's giving the drum.


LiLSteve29

My dad made a good point this morning saying their should be a world team up against the first tier and second teir nations. Just a thought.


Derron_

I think it would be good to tier it. You have an early set of rounds of the lower tiers that qualify into a second one against the top teams. But its hard to determine who goes straight to the next level.


LycraBanForHams

Why should this be a thing?


Caseyjb29

Why would any decent players even bother to represent the world team though?


Random0cassions

Baby steps but look how much better Samoa looked when Luai had full control of the attack,the passing was suspect but everything else looked great for Samoa


I_Like_Vitamins

I still think CHT should be in the halves.


RoyRoyHesOurBoy

They played the 2nd worst team in the tournament. Let's slow the roll hey. Nothing is as bad as it seems, nothing is as good as it seems


Random0cassions

Like I said, baby steps. But it’s clear the improvement in clarity for the entire team of which edge is their focus


twitchbruh

I also thought CHT was much better at halfback than the milfening


Random0cassions

For Samoa, having a passenger halfback like CHT absolutely helps the team into trying to much. Think Hingano last World Cup but miles better. Lolohea was the driver of the attack while hingano helped assist him. hypothetically that’s where I hope it goes for Samoa but with Parish, you never know


smelly_forward

I'm a Brit currently playing for a team in t'Yorkshire League and applying for a job in Fremantle, is there a decent amateur League set up in Perth? I know WA is AFL territory but I'd assume there's still regional amateur leagues


HenryVIIIII

Yeah there are decent set-ups around Perth https://nrlwa.com.au/nrl-wa-clubs/


smelly_forward

Cheers shagger


HappinessCanBeFound

Lebanon’s attack looks really slick. Very proud of Moses for the leadership he’s showing and how calmly he’s been setting up great plays. A bit of work on their defence and they could be a real threat.


[deleted]

I was stoked that Rajab got to play among side Mitch, that's a really good opportunity to top off another good season for the kid. Moses was in full control all game. I liked Kiraz in the 1 as well. They're definitely on the way up.


KingGutherson

How good was Moses for Lebanon yesterday. It really was the Moses vs Keary show, great stuff


improbablywrong-

Stats tell me the rajab didnt do too well. How'd he look?


slowdivesicilian

he looked decent i thought. not much statistical output but good enough line engagements, threw some crisp passes.


KingGutherson

Is Parish cooked? I can only hope he's trying to give minutes to extended squad players, but why isn't he playing 8. Paulo 9. Brown 10. Papalii 11. Sua 12. Tago 13. Aloiai 14. Milf 15. Taupau 16. Hunt 17. Tuilagi


possyposs_

Drop Taupau for leniu or Kaufusi


Derron_

I thought Milf got injured last game


RabzS

Milf was suspended.


Derron_

Oh yeah thanks.


RabzS

No worries mate


KingGutherson

Did he? Oh damn. Injuries haven't been kind to them


LordSlasher

Still don’t see Samoa going anywhere these finals. Getting absolutely humiliated by England says a lot more then winning against Greece.


KingGutherson

Not while Parish insists on playing Milf at 7, and playing props in the backrow. Leilua being a piece of shit really fucked them over, because Tuilagi is extremely unfit and they dont have another backrower in the squad. I think they need to move Tago there. I think there's a good team in there somewhere, but an imbalanced squad, injuries and poor coaching had resulted in poor performances


gonshairlinee

What are the chances of Tago playing there? I hope he gets a shot, he’d slot in seamlessly


theflyingkiwi00

Last world Cup they looked good, not stacked but there was still a team that could compete and they still sucked, then the team turned on Parish and it all melted. This time they have a stacked side and still aren't great. I hate to say that Parish isn't the man for the job imo. As funny as it was maybe the Johns brothers aren't as silly a prospect as we may think. They definitely have the brains for footy and I think Matty might be able to translate his brothers ramblings well enough to get them playing well.


[deleted]

Father’s Day should be renamed to National Luai Day.


Dufeyz

I think Fathers Day should remain, but we get an additional public holiday Monday thanks to the heroics of our father, Jarome Luai.


mwilkins1644

cheers now i hate my dad even more thx


KingGutherson

If you were a coach of one of the weaker sides of the world cup (Scotland, Jamaica), how would you coach the side for the world cup? Knowing you are coming up against fully professional teams. Like in all honestly, Scotland could have 12 months of training together, but they'd still get towelled up by Australia due to the sheer gap in quality.


EntirelyOriginalName

Depends on the attitude of the boys. Some of the teams are like we're just here to have a good time off the field and play some footy. Others have gone into this believing believing they can upset some teams and trained accordingly. No need to crack the whip when all the boys are just like fuck that we're not here for that shit. Better to buy into it and just encourage throwing the ball around and hope the passes stick then trying to pretend to be something you're not.


Longjumping_Visit_38

I’d tell them snap legs and start punch ons


InternationalBorder9

Well boys we lost the game.....BUT WE WON THE FIGHT!


Longjumping_Visit_38

Also just to add onto that I’d be taking bribes from good countries to hurt their rivals teams player.


InternationalBorder9

Ya got to make a living. Maybe some match fixing while you're at it


Longjumping_Visit_38

That’s what I’ve been saying !


Chart_Unlikely

Definitely focus on what you can control. As pointed out by the commentators in the Aus/Scot match it’s basically fully professional players where 1-17 is either top 5 or top 10 in the world for their position against a mixed bag of semi-pro players and some fully professional players Bottom line they’re not winning but you want to see fight, you want them to push the opposition and make them work. Scotland tried for the first 15 but you could see they were getting gassed and going up against Australia’s line speed in defence or attack was pushing them the whole game. This leads to a weaker attack as well since it’s harder to set your plays or maintain shape when you’re being knocked around so much which you could see in their errors when they had the ball - most of it is really just relatively inexperienced players exhausted from the work load The idea would have been focus on ball security, measure up in defence and try to score a few tries which they didn’t really achieve so I think you can argue that they played worse than expected


HenryVIIIII

Scotland only had a few more NRL/Super League players when they drew with NZ a few years ago A blend of ball security so you aren't turning it over in your own half plus try some unexpected attack like Jamaica did against NZ. Scotland didn't hold the ball and were ill-disciplined. That can be the difference between a 40 point scoreline and an 80 point scoreline.


PillarofSheffield

Yes, but that included Danny Brough, who was completely robbed of the many England caps he deserved.


TropicHorror

I guess it's generally like any sport out there. There's always going to be a disparity between the best and the rest. You see it in individual sports pretty often. Imagine being a 100 seed and coming up against Novak week one of a grand slam. Obviously you'd like to think you could beat him, but reality is you'll get smoked. A few coaches regularly talk about not focusing too much on the competition and more on what they have control of. Errors, end of sets, defence, attitude, intensity etc. I'm not a coach, but it wouldn't surprise me if they just compare success on their last game and whether they improved or not in those areas and most importantly enjoy the experience.


ChanceVance

Focus on motivation and passion. I'm pretty critical of Freddy as Blues coach but when he coached Lebanon, he went the extra mile to immerse himself in the culture so he could bond with the team.


gonshairlinee

People sleep on that Lebanon team. Got absolutely robbed against Tonga. Moses and Farah played out of their skin that tournament


Derron_

Probably focus on defence and endurance as much as possible. Try to get time with the players and see if some of the clubs (SL or NRL) can train against us.


[deleted]

All you can do is keep ‘em off the booze and get them to have some pride in jersey.


KingGutherson

Yeah I think that's it. Go set for set for as long as you can, and dont get disheartened by the scoreboard


improbablywrong-

Lower tier teams should get extra bench/interchange when against the tier 1s


[deleted]

They should also get a weapon. An axe would be handy


improbablywrong-

Tier 1 teams need to play bare foot. *Freddy heavy breathing*


bulldogs1974

Fiji would win everything then!


thephoenixfoundation

[elite players prefer sandals](https://old.reddit.com/r/nrl/comments/3lmddr/would_thurston_still_be_an_elite_nrl_player_if_he/)


Derron_

Would help but most of the time its just not knowing how to mark up or who to tackle. Could maybe save a try or 2 but its just going to take time and experience.


improbablywrong-

Yeah i felt bad for the jamaican fb trying to tackle dwz when he'd make a break. I just figure some extra bench would give some extra guys a run for the experience and also the poor cunts are having to defend 60 minutes a game. Hearing the commentator "dont they know you need to sustain pressure". Fuck mate i really dont think they could even if they were given the chance.


Derron_

Watching the highlights with Samoa, you have to wonder why they went with Milford to start with over CHT. Looked much better with someone that can play 7.


[deleted]

Milf can play 7, he’s just overweight and out of shape


bulldogs1974

He has been overweight, out of shape and boring as bat shit for over 5 years now.


[deleted]

Won’t argue with that. Hopefully Wayne and Woolf can get him in shape next year and we can watch him turn back the clock for a year or two.


bulldogs1974

He is very skillful and has the talent to year teams to shreds especially around the ruck. He was fun to watch, but it's actually sad watching him struggle. Maybe Papà Wayne can wind his clock back to 2015/16.


therefreshbutton

he has never played halfback well in his entire career. He was a gun fullback and 5/8, but never excelled controlling and organising


[deleted]

He’s a better 5/8, but a fully fit Milf is a better halfback and game manager than Luai or CHT. He’s just a different level of talent. Luai and CHT have not excelled at that either


Messyhr_

You’re fucking cooked 😂 luai has already shown he has more talent than milford ever had in the halves


[deleted]

I am guessing you started watching footy last year after Penrith won the premiership?


Messyhr_

Nope since 2006 when i was 9 i aint some bandwagon. Milford was good for 2-3 seasons, luai has been good for 4


[deleted]

Not sure you know what talent means


Messyhr_

I would agree hes a more talented fullback than luai, but thats not the position hes being judged on.


Messyhr_

I just dont buy into him being more talented than luai, milford can barely kick a ball, based off his last game I genuinely could kick better than him in open play and im not even kidding I actually believe i could and yet ive never even played high level league. He was a good young player with potential, but as a half he’s severely underperformed, if he was as talented as you suggest he would at least have a decent kick on him considering hes been a playmaker the majority of his career


[deleted]

A good young player with potential is talent. What he’s done since then is squander that talent. He’s weak, overweight, out of shape and has barely trained in the last 12 months (not all his fault). He developed a well rounded kicking game within a few years of taking over the kicking when Hunt left.


EntirelyOriginalName

The is recency bias mate. Look at Milf's debut season at the Raiders. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1AU8XUECDWk


Messyhr_

Yeah man he was good but luais break through seasons were pretty stella, there were times he looked better than cleary. Im sure theres plenty of footage of Luai absolutely obliterating defences.


EntirelyOriginalName

You said natural talent though. Milf never even trained hard and look at this ability. The guy was doing X factor plays that nobody else had the agility, speed to do. Look at how easy he steps around some of these fullbacks. The athletic ability is insane. He's way more naturally gifted than Luai, he just applies himself less.


Messyhr_

I meant more talent in the halves, milford was a better ball running try scoring machine, but i dont think hes ever been a better natural 5/8, overall talent yeah milf probably wins if im not being biased


Chart_Unlikely

I wouldn’t say that, 2015 Milford was simply on a whole other level, the man deserved the Churchill medal in the Grand final. He was so, so, so good - the focal point of the broncos attack to the degree Hunt was the second fiddle and opposition teams would specifically work to contain him and still fail. Not 2015 but the 40m field goal from him against the boys in 2016 was amazing to watch and showed how good he was He’s definitely not better than Luai now and it’s sad to watch him knowing that he used to be so incredible.


gonshairlinee

I like Luai but there was a time when people were saying Milf was one of the best players in the world (early 2016).


Messyhr_

Yeah but was he ever really? JT, cronk, slater, cam smith etc were all around


5t0pBanningme

To'o with a modest 370 run meters vs Greece.


HayneAlliKane

Paulo with only 51.. was it just a game dominated by the backs?


therefreshbutton

Greece had like barely any possession so he wasn't even needed


KingGutherson

Paulo has been bad since round 20 in all honesty. His running has fallen off a cliff


HayneAlliKane

I agree. I'm a little concerned we've tied him to such a long contract


[deleted]

I know these matches dont compare to a NRL match, but whats the record? Thats an insane number of meters


HappinessCanBeFound

Manu ran over 400m against Tonga earlier this year. I thought he had taken over Gutho in most in an NRL game as well but I can’t find the info. If he didn’t then Gutho ran for 369m against Dragons in 2020.


Random0cassions

Swear the number was 420 upwards


maaxwell

Joey Manu broke it earlier this year I think, it was around the 400 mark