2013 NRL - Official Discussion Thread

[TRF_melon]

Huge news for the cowboys.....Thurston has signed on until 2017 with the club

http://www.cowboys.com.au/news-display/JT-to-remain-a-Cowboy-until-2017/69689

Bugger...I was hoping he would come to the Broncos.

Good on him for re-signing with the Cowboys though, he obviously would love to deliver the Cowboys their first premiership. They have retained the likes of Tamou and Winterstein already and with any luck, Matt Scott too which will certainly help.

The only issue I see is at hooker and also fullback if Winterstein is not there. Bowen can't play forever!

 

[Amobokoboko]

Games and teams for this week, enjoy

Teams for round two
Eels v Bulldogs, Thursday
Eels
1 Jarryd Hayne, 2 Ken Sio, 3 Ryan Morgan, 4 Jacob Loko, 5 Cheyse Blair, 6 Joseph Paulo, 7 Chris Sandow, 8 Mitch Allgood, 9 Matt Keating,10 Tim Mannah,11 Reni Maitua, 12 Ben Smith,13 Matt Ryan. Interchange: 14 Ben Roberts, 15 Darcy Lussick, 16 Fuifui Moimoi, 17 Kelepi Tanginoa
Bulldogs
1 Steve Turner, 2 Drury Low, 3 Josh Morris, 4 Krisnan Inu, 5 Sam Perrett, 6 Josh Reynolds, 7 Kris Keating, 8 Aiden Tolman, 9 Michael Ennis (c), 10 Martin Taupau, 11 Tony Williams, 12 Josh Jackson, 13 Greg Eastwood, Interchange: 14 Dene Halatau, 15 Dale Finucane, 16 David Klemmer, 17 Tim Browne, 19 Mitch Brown
Dragons v Broncos, Friday
Dragons
1 Gerard Beale, 2 Brett Morris, 3 Chase Stanley, 4 Matt Cooper, 5 Jason Nightingale, 6 Jamie Soward, 7 Nathan Fien, 8 Dan Hunt, 9 Mitch Rein, 10 Michael Weyman, 11 Tyson Frizell, 12 Ben Creagh (c), 13 Trent Merrin. Interchange: 14 Bronson Harrison, 15 Leeson Ah Mau, 16 Matt Prior, 17 Cameron King, 19 Jack Stockwell
Broncos
1 Corey Norman, 2 Josh Hoffman,3 Jack Reed, 4 Justin Hodges, 5 Lachlan Maranta, 6 Scott Prince, 7 Peter Wallace, 8 Josh McGuire, 9 Andrew McCullough, 10 Sam Thaiday (c), 11 Alex Glenn, 12 Matt Gillett, 13 Corey Parker. Interchange: 14 Ben Hunt, 15 Ben Hannant, 16 Mitchell Dodds, 17 David Stagg, 18 Scott Anderson
Cowboys v Storm, Saturday
Cowboys
1 Matthew Bowen, 2 Ashley Graham, 3 Brent Tate, 4 Kane Linnett, 5 Antonio Winterstein, 6 Johnathan Thurston (c), 7 Ray Thompson, 8 Matthew Scott (c), 9 Scott Moore, 10 James Tamou, 11 Gavin Cooper, 12 Glenn Hall, 13 Dallas Johnson. Interchange: 14 Rory Kostjasyn, 15 Ashton Sims, 16 Tariq Sims, 17 Jason Taumalolo, 18 Clint Greenshields.
Storm
1 Billy Slater, 2 Matt Duffie, 3 Will Chambers, 4 Justin O'Neill, 5 Mahe Fonua, 6 Gareth Widdop, 7 Cooper Cronk, 8 Jesse Bromwich, 9 Cameron Smith (c), 10 Bryan Norrie, 11 Tohu Harris, 12 Ryan Hoffman, 13 Ryan Hinchcliffe. Interchange: 14 Jason Ryles, 15 Lagi Setu, 16 Siosaia Vave, 17 Junior Moors, 18 Slade Griffin
Warriors v Roosters, Saturday
Warriors
1 Kevin Locke, 2 Glen Fisiiahi, 3 Dane Nielsen, 4 Konrad Hurrell, 5 Bill Tupou, 6 Thomas Leuluai, 7 Shaun Johnson, 8 Sam Rapira, 9 Elijah Taylor, 10 Ben Matulino, 11 Steve Rapira, 12 Simon Mannering (c), 13 Todd Lowrie. Interchange (one to be omitted): Jacob Lillyman, Feleti Mateo, Sebastine Ikahihifo, Pita Godinet, Ben Henry.
Roosters
1 Anthony Minichiello (c), 2 Daniel Tupou, 3 Michael Jennings, 4 Shaun Kenny-Dowall, 5 Roger Tuivasa-Sheck, 6 James Maloney, 7 Mitchell Pearce, 8 Jared Waerea-Hargreaves, 9 Jake Friend, 10 Sam Moa, 11 Aidan Guerra, 12 Sonny Bill Williams, 13 Frank Paul Nuuausala. Interchange: 14 Daniel Mortimer, 15 Martin Kennedy, 16 Mitchell Aubusson, 17 Luke O'Donnell, 19 Boyd Cordner, 22 Dylan Napa.
***ans v Raiders, Sunday
***ans
1 William Zillman, 2 Kevin Gordon, 3 Brad Takairangi, 4 Jamal Idris, 5 David Mead, 6 Aidan Sezer, 7 Albert Kelly, 8 Luke Douglas, 9 Matt Srama, 10 Nate Myles, 11 Greg Bird, 12 Ben Ridge, 13 Ashley Harrison. Interchange: 14 Dave Taylor, 15 Luke Bailey, 16 Ryan James, 17 Beau Falloon, 18 Luke O' Dwyer.
Raiders
1 Reece Robinson, 2 Sandor Earl, 3 Jarrod Croker, 4 Jack Wighton, 5 Edrick Lee, 6 Josh McCrone (c), 7 Sam Williams, 8 David Shillington (c), 9 Shaun Berrigan, 10 Dane Tilse, 11 Josh Papalii, 12 Joel Thompson, 13 Shaun Fensom. Interchange: 14 Matt McIlwrick, 15 Joel Edwards, 16 Brett White, 17 Tom Learoyd-Lahrs, 18 Mark Nicholls
Tigers v Panthers, Sunday
Tigers
1. Tim Moltzen, 2. Matt Utai, 3. Blake Ayshford, 4. Chris Lawrence, 5. Marika Koroibete, 6. Benji Marshall, 7. Jacob Miller, 8. Jack Buchanan, 9. Robbie Farah (c), 10. Keith Galloway, 11. Braith Anasta, 12. Liam Fulton, 13. Adam Blair. Interchange: 14. Matt Bell, 15. Ben Murdoch-Masila,16. Aaron Woods, 17. Eddy Pettybourne, 18. Joel Reddy
Panthers
1 Dean Whare, 2 Josh Mansour, 3 Wes Naiqama, 4 Brad Tighe, 5 David Simmons, 6 Lachlan Coote, 7 Luke Walsh, 8 Sam McKendry, 9 Kevin Kingston (c), 10 Tim Grant, 11 Sika Manu, 12 Lewis Brown, 13 Nathan Smith. Interchange: 14 James Segeyaro, 15 Nigel Plum, 16 Clint Newton, 17 Jeremy Latimore, 18 Adam Docker
Sea Eagles v Knights, Sunday
Sea Eagles
1 Brett Stewart, 2 Jorge Taufua, 3 Jamie Lyon (c), 4 Steve Matai, 5 David Williams, 6 Kieran Foran, 7 Daly Cherry-Evans, 8 Brenton Lawrence, 9 Matt Ballin, 10 Brent Kite, 11 Anthony Watmough, 12 Justin Horo, 13 Jamie Buhrer. Interchange: 14 Richie Fa'aoso, 15 Joe Galuvao, 16 David Gower, 17 Jesse Sene-Lafao, 20 Tom Symonds.
Knights
1 Darius Boyd, 2 James McManus, 3 Dane Gagai, 4 Anthony Quinn, 5 Akuila Uate, 6 Jarrod Mullen, 7 Kurt Gidley (c), 8 Kade Snowden, 9 Travis Waddell, 10 Willie Mason, 11 Beau Scott, 12 Chris Houston, 13 Jeremy Smith. Interchange: 14 Tyrone Roberts, 15 Neville Costigan, 16 Robbie Rochow, 17 Alex McKinnon, 18 David Fa'alogo
Rabbitohs v Sharks, Monday
Rabbitohs
1 Greg Inglis, 2 Nathan Merritt, 3 Dylan Farrell, 4 Bryson Goodwin, 5 Andrew Everingham, 6 John Sutton, 7 Adam Reynolds, 8 Jeff Lima, 9 Issac Luke, 10 Roy Asotasi, 11 Chris McQueen, 12 Ben Te'o, 13 Ben Lowe. Interchange: 14 Nathan Peats, 15 Michael Crocker (c), 16 David Tyrrell, 17 George Burgess, 18 Jason Clark, 19 Justin Hunt.
Sharks
1 Michael Gordon, 2 Jonathan Wright, 3 Ricky Leutele, 4 Matthew Wright, 5 Beau Ryan, 6 Todd Carney, 7 Jeff Robson, 8 Andrew Fifita, 9 Isaac De Gois, 10 Ben Ross, 11 Luke Lewis, 12 Wade Graham, 13 Paul Gallen. Interchange: 14 Chris Heighington, 15 Jon Green, 16 John Morris, 17 Anthony Tupou ,18 Jayson Bukuya,19 Sam Tagataese, 20 Chad Townsend

 

[Amobokoboko]

Bulldogs - Eels gotta love Thursday eve footie

Bulldogs open the score.Try Jackson. Second Try Bulldogs (Brown). Common Eels show some skills!!!

Try Parramatta (Ryan) !!! Second try Eels (Blair).

Try Bulldogs ( Reynolds) Lovely long run try, 4th try Bulldogs (Perret)

Second try Blair for the Eels

Boring second half with no tries, lots of handling errors but a brilliant Sandow, pity the Eels lost.

 

[LittleGuy]

Very pleased with the Eels so far even though they didn't get the result today...2nd half was very intense and physical Bulldogs just holding on, a tale of two halves to be sure.

 

[Amobokoboko]

Convincing win by the Broncos. Tomorrow D-day Roosters vs Warriors. I reckon it will be a hard game for the Warriors.

 

[Amobokoboko]

Games on, first try roosters. Good game so far.

 

[Amobokoboko]

Both teams playing with a tight defense resulting in a very low scoring game. I hope the second half becomes a bit more lively with lots of tries.

 

[Amobokoboko]

Another try for the Roosters. Third Try Roosters and now Johnson opens the score for the Warriors. 4-16. Second try Warriors by Godinet. Warriors are chasing. Try Tupou. Change to equal the game.

Another loss for the Warriors. Johnson has cost them the game by missing 2 conversions. I reckon it's drama all over again at Eden park

 

[LittleGuy]

Glad I picked the ***ans ALL OVER the Raiders at half time getting a little embarassing out there.

 

[Amobokoboko]

Added the highlights of the Sea Eagles - Knights game and the Tigers - Panthers game.
Will add the ***ans - Raiders highlights as soon as they are available. Enjoy.

Good comeback from the tigers after last week.

 

[Amobokoboko]

The games for round 3:

Looking forward to the Eels- tigers games and the sharks- Warriors
Thursday March 21Storm v Bulldogs

Friday March 22Wests Tigers v Eels

Saturday March 23***ans v Sea Eagles
Roosters v Broncos

Sunday March 24Sharks v Warriors
Panthers v Rabbitohs
Raiders v Dragons

Monday March 25Knights v Cowboys

 

[LittleGuy]

Storm vs. Bulldogs could be my game of the weekend. Warriors really need to rebound as do the Eels.

Edit: Sorry that should have said "as do the" Eels....tired I make these mistakes.

 

[TRF_melon]

Some of this week's fixtures could very well be nail biters....not necessarily because of the quality of play in a couple of cases, but in all how close it could be! Raiders vs. Dragons; Knights vs. Cowboys; Roosters vs. Broncos.

I'm thinking Rabbitohs, Sharks, Sea Eagles and Storm should have relatively easy wins but I don't really know how I feel about Tigers vs. Eels...both equally as terrible at the moment.

For the Roosters vs. Broncos match, I honestly feel the decider will be whether or not Justin Hodges plays. Whilst he has been named in the line up, I wouldn't be surprised if the Broncos play the safe card and rest him because of his hamstring scare last week. He's a magnificent player but he is getting older now and is quite injury prone so I think they really do need to ensure he is 100% before playing him because in the past they have been a bit over eager and perhaps have brought him back too early.

 

[Amobokoboko]

Robbie Farrah signed a new 4 contract deal with the Tigers and will finish his carrerr with them. Apparently big $ are involed. But a good sign by the tigers and good for Robbie to stick to the club.

 

[Amobokoboko]

Good comeback by the Doggies but the Storm secured a good victory

 

[Amobokoboko]

Great 70 m try by Marshall today.

 

[LittleGuy]

Good comeback by the Doggies but the Storm secured a good victory

Too bad the Bulldogs took so long to get their heads into the game, ended up making my bru pick bang on though which pleased me.

Tigers looking good today only caught the highlights.

 

[TRF_melon]

Despite all the mistakes, highlighted by the Eels horrendous completion of sets in the first half, last nights game against the Wests Tigers was mildly entertaining.

Mind you though I have a burning desire to have a good ol' mini rant about a couple of players...

[/RANT]
CHRIS ****ING SANDOW. That bloke is a genuine grub. Hearing him speak makes my skin crawl. Not only can't he speak with out saying "ummm" or "ahhhh" between each mispronounced, half spoke word, he'll throw in five incorrectly recounted cliches in each sentence. BUT! My main gripe with him is his tackling. Now don't get me wrong - I have noticed his defence has improved markedly since the early days at the Rabbitohs, however he goes for the shoulder charge far too often which is a low percentage play, especially for a little fella like him. Mind you though, when he pulls it off, he is probably the best hitter pound for pound. Don't forget though, the shoulder charge has been banned for the 2013 NRL season. He went for no fewer than three shoulder charges in the first half, with one effort causing him to merely bounce of Koroibete - I'd be surprised if Koroibete even noticed him there. His final shot was actually pretty decent which was further enforced by a well timed second man in. Why did the referees do nothing about it?

Referee rant - I thought the enforcers of our game were going to have a more commonsensical and 'non-brainfart' year, however the non-policing of the shoulder charge ban and the abysmal call of obstruction in the Storm/Bulldogs game is quite simply unacceptable.

What about Jarryd Hayne?! This bloke has all the talent in the world and I'm sure he's a decent bloke, however on the field he acts like a nine year old. How on earth is this bloke captain of an NRL team? He argues EVERY SINGLE CALL even when his team is blatantly in the wrong. He can't take anything on the chin. It goes beyond arguing - he bloody well whinges. It's setting a terrible example to all the aspiring sportsmen and women as well as validating the attitudes of brats who are playing sports. He should not be captain. Unfortunately there is no one else really appropriate for the job.
[/RANT]

 

[LittleGuy]

Despite all the mistakes, highlighted by the Eels horrendous completion of sets in the first half, last nights game against the Wests Tigers was mildly entertaining.

Mind you though I have a burning desire to have a good ol' mini rant about a couple of players...

[/RANT]
CHRIS ****ING SANDOW. That bloke is a genuine grub. Hearing him speak makes my skin crawl. Not only can't he speak with out saying "ummm" or "ahhhh" between each mispronounced, half spoke word, he'll throw in five incorrectly recounted cliches in each sentence. BUT! My main gripe with him is his tackling. Now don't get me wrong - I have noticed his defence has improved markedly since the early days at the Rabbitohs, however he goes for the shoulder charge far too often which is a low percentage play, especially for a little fella like him. Mind you though, when he pulls it off, he is probably the best hitter pound for pound. Don't forget though, the shoulder charge has been banned for the 2013 NRL season. He went for no fewer than three shoulder charges in the first half, with one effort causing him to merely bounce of Koroibete - I'd be surprised if Koroibete even noticed him there. His final shot was actually pretty decent which was further enforced by a well timed second man in. Why did the referees do nothing about it?

Referee rant - I thought the enforcers of our game were going to have a more commonsensical and 'non-brainfart' year, however the non-policing of the shoulder charge ban and the abysmal call of obstruction in the Storm/Bulldogs game is quite simply unacceptable.

What about Jarryd Hayne?! This bloke has all the talent in the world and I'm sure he's a decent bloke, however on the field he acts like a nine year old. How on earth is this bloke captain of an NRL team? He argues EVERY SINGLE CALL even when his team is blatantly in the wrong. He can't take anything on the chin. It goes beyond arguing - he bloody well whinges. It's setting a terrible example to all the aspiring sportsmen and women as well as validating the attitudes of brats who are playing sports. He should not be captain. Unfortunately there is no one else really appropriate for the job.
[/RANT]

That call was AWFUL!!!! It wasn't even close to the line being run and wasn't even obstruction anyway simply a pants on head moment by the referee.

 

[TRF_melon]

That call was AWFUL!!!! It wasn't even close to the line being run and wasn't even obstruction anyway simply a pants on head moment by the referee.

Unfortunately Little Fella, the new referees boss has put his foot down for the 2013 season with regards to offensive obstruction which may have stemmed from the banishing of the "benefit of the doubt" rule. It's a joke because it was merely a knee-jerk reaction as a result of referees not being able to weigh up the circumstance with the applicable action (context) to determine whether or not an infringement was made. More often than not, having the opinion of more than once official made things worse.

So what they've done is more or less said - "Not matter ****ing what, this is what's going to happen, no matter if it's clearly a ludicrous decision!". (Note: This is likely not to be an actual quote, but I certainly wouldn't be surprised if it infact is and I'm almost certain it's what is going through their heads).