In this week’s Roast, we take a look back at Round 10 – the Heritage Round – with each game accompanied by a memorable previous encounter between each set of teams (as described by the Roast of the day).
Brisbane v. Gold Coast
Yesterday: Round 24 2008, Brisbane defeated Gold Coast 25-21 (guest presented by Bruce McAvaney).
Suncorp Stadium – the old Lang Park – what an amazing ground it is, but more importantly for NRL followers, almost every game played there is top-shelf. This is only the Titans’ second season in the NRL but they have a wonderful rivalry with their older brothers up the road in Brisbane. Brisbane started strongly when Joel Clinton barged over, but Gold Coast dominated the rest of the first half. Can I just say I love Preston Campbell? Sure, he’s no Cathy, but he’s not far off. Preston had a wonderful first half, but he backed up in the second with a broken jaw. Aww gee, what courage, what toughness!
But Brisbane have become experts over the years at holding out the best an opponent has to offer and then coming back with their best and this game was no different. Lockyer guided the ship around but he had important help from Admirals Wallace and Ennis and Gold Coast was sinking fast. Somehow they found a life raft in the form of a surprise try and the game was tied at 20-all.
With under 10 minutes left, the field goal shootout began and gee three of the game’s best battled it out. Lockyer, who won the corresponding match last season, Prince and Rogers (with his surprisingly long boot): with a top-4 spot on the line for Brisbane and death staring Gold Coast in the face if they lose this game, a battle for the ages loomed!! Up stepped Lockyer, who gave Brisbane the lead, but a strip by Rogers gave Gold Coast one more chance and Prince took it to golden point!
Unfortunately for the plucky Titans and heroic little Preston, Lockyer won the game for Brisbane by stepping past the rushing defence and setting up the try for Eastwood. Two years running for Brisbane and Lockyer winning this fixture, but I couldn’t help shedding a tear for Preston and the Gold Coast, so gutsy and just falling short.
Today: Brisbane defeated Gold Coast 28-6. While this game was not decided in the final moments, it was still quite entertaining as Brisbane proved their excellent win over Melbourne was not a fluke, easily disposing of another very talented team. However, Gold Coast was probably due for a flat performance after a tough run of games. This should not detract from Brisbane’s effort though; Queensland would be ecstatic if Thaiday and Folau could replicate their performance from this game and the Melbourne game in the upcoming State of Origin series.
Canterbury v. St George Illawarra
Yesterday: Round 10 2009, St George Illawarra defeated Canterbury 20-18.
Much has been said already about video referee Steve Clark’s abhorrent decision in the game’s final minute to deny the Bulldogs what would have been a famous win, but perhaps the most salient point left unsaid in the game’s aftermath was that allowing Idris’ try to stand would have been the first step in ending the pedantry which has enveloped officials’ decision-making in recent years. There might have been a very minor obstruction on Soward by Eastwood as Patten made the break, but to allow this decision to prevent a match-winning try…it left a bad taste in the mouth of Bulldogs’ supporters and most neutrals.
This was especially the case given the stirring nature of the Bulldogs’ comeback. They absorbed much pressure from the Dragons in the first half (although were let off the hook somewhat by a struggling Dragons’ attack) and slowly forced their way back into the game. They had to endure a questionable sin bin on Kimmorley before continuing the comeback. A memorable finish was building and did eventuate – but not as most anticipated.
However, the Bulldogs have long been beneficiaries of controversial refereeing decisions in big games, the most relevant of which came from Steve Clark – the video referee on Friday night – during his on-field referee days in a controversial semi-final at Kogarah in 1998. St George (note the exclusion of Illawarra here) supporters with long memories (a tautology if ever there was one) would also be quick to note the Bulldogs’ good fortune in their 1985 grand final win, while most rugby league followers would also recall the unease at various refereeing blunders when the Bulldogs defeated Manly in 1995.
But for Steve Clark to help the Dragons out in such a big way: the Tuesday Roast could have been knocked over with a feather when this was realised. It just goes to show that everything with refereeing decisions does even out in the end (assuming you take a sufficient time horizon).
(The other 2 games between these teams at Kogarah were also memorable; a 2006 epic where the rampant Bulldogs forward pack matched up against a potent Dragons attack and an early season match-up in 1999 where the Bulldogs won a tight one with memories of a controversial semi-final loss at the same ground in late 1998 still fresh in the mind of all players and supporters. Kogarah also played host to another tight game between these teams in 1990, where a last-minute try to Cameron Wade and then a sideline conversion by Brad Mackay gave the Dragons a 9-8 victory. In one of history’s more memorable calling-of-a-result-too-soon, a young Tuesday Roast and Father Tuesday Roast heard the cheers of the Kogarah crowd as the Dragons scored the late win ― as they were walking back to the car to beat the traffic.)
Today: St George Illawarra defeated Canterbury 19-6. While the Bulldogs were missing a few regular players, they started this game strongly, jumping to an early lead and threatening to overwhelm their opposition. However, after the blip of losing to Manly last week, the Dragons got back on the ‘grinding out victories’ horse; slowly but surely they got the better of this game and won quite comfortably. Once again, the Dragons did this without a number of important players, highlighting their depth and consistency.
New Zealand v. North Queensland
Yesterday: Round 15, 2004, North Queensland defeated New Zealand 28-26 (in golden point).
Sunday’s action kicked off in Auckland, where the Cowboys came back late and eventually defeated the Warriors in golden point extra time. This result means Siberia has now lost only 1 of its last 7 games – an effort worthy of celebratory golden showers. However, this game was not so much won by the Cowboys as thrown away by the Warriors, who missed 5 out of 6 shots at goal and were repeatedly baited into giving away stupid penalties.
Today: New Zealand defeated North Queensland 22-12. Despite the Cowbores once again sneaking Feral Thurston back early from injury, the major effort needed to back up a Monday night win with a Saturday night win proved far too much. The Warriors jumped to a large early lead and held on for a comfortable win despite a patchy second half.
Canberra v. Melbourne
Yesterday: Round 6 2008, Melbourne defeated Canberra 23-16.
However, the best game of the Heritage Round was played last night in Canberra. The home team (who was missing a host of regular and important players) gave a textbook display of physical rugby league in the first half: they led Melbourne 16-4 at half time. Melbourne should not have been disgraced: few, if any, teams would have survived such an onslaught and while they were not quite at their best, they certainly were not playing poorly, although they should have been concerned at the dominance of Canberra’s Colin Best over their right-side outside backs.
It became apparent in the minutes after half-time that the proud Storm was playing at a higher level, but Canberra was still comfortably in the lead and repelled the Storm’s early efforts. They threatened to put the game out of reach – history shows that once Melbourne concedes 20 points, they are next to no chance of winning – when the aforementioned Best caught a high kick and went towards the corner. But Melbourne’s Billy Slater – who had a relatively poor game to that point – made a great effort to just push Best into touch.
From here, Melbourne’s effort and intensity lifted several notches. Their defence wrested the momentum away from the Canberra forwards, while Melbourne’s attack became more incisive, with Slater assuming a much more dominant role. In addition to moving into dummy half, he constantly looked to exploit gaps in the middle of the tiring Canberra defence.
Slater eventually scored and Melbourne looked a chance of running away with the game: an extremely unlikely possibility in the first half. But Canberra’s effort – and a bit of luck – kept the score at 16-all until a Melbourne field goal. Even after finally assuming the lead, Melbourne’s defensive effort didn’t relent. Canberra was next to no chance of gaining attacking field position, so they gambled with several attacking kick plays, which almost paid off.
When Cooper Cronk finally produced an attacking kick which hit the intended target (and a try for Israel Folau), perhaps the best game thus far in 2008 was decided: a 7-point Storm win. They rarely have had to work harder: who would have thought such an effort would be required against an almost second-string Canberra team?
Today: Melbourne defeated Canberra 17-6. This was another disappointing home game for Canberra (although some of their more vocal supporters enjoyed themselves waving paper currency of various denominations at the Storm players). With so much more to play for, with a home crowd behind them, Canberra struggled against a Melbourne side which played quite well coming off the hiding to Brisbane, but was not at their best. Melbourne jumped to an early lead and was relatively comfortable in keeping Canberra at bay.
Sydney Roosters v. Newcastle
Yesterday: Round 6 2008, Newcastle defeated Sydney Roosters 34-20 at Gosford.
The Roosters’ size and consistency meant they were strong favourites to win their 4th in a row – and, in doing so, send Newcastle to their 4th straight loss – at the historical Rugby League stronghold of Gosford on Sunday.
Once again, Newcastle’s awesome attacking potential was on display: their sweeping passes combined with their above-average speed and size at most positions. However, they were let down for most of this game by unforced mistakes, poor decision making in attack and conceding too many penalties. The less skilful but smarter and more consistent Roosters took advantage and deserved to lead 20-12 at half-time.
The game took a curious turn in the first 20 or so minutes of the second half. Newcastle gradually took control of the game but the scoreboard didn’t change. Almost every time the Knights had the ball, they seriously threatened to breach the Roosters, but a number of tries were squandered due to questionable attacking options. Sure, Newcastle’s second-rowers are skilful, but their supporters (and coach) were understandably frustrated to see them putting in attacking kicks before the last tackle in somewhat normal attacking situations.
But the Roosters’ normally solid game was coming apart at the seams. Their error count was unusually high, meaning they were unable to put any sustained pressure on Newcastle (and therefore unable to give much of a rest to their tiring defence) and they started conceding penalties at important times.
With 12 minutes left, the Roosters looked increasingly likely to hang on, but finally Newcastle’s attack clicked and how: 4 tries in the final 12 minutes. Admittedly, the Roosters tackled themselves into the ground: they barely saw the ball in the game’s final 15 minutes, but it was an impressive end to an entertaining game.
Today: Newcastle defeated Sydney Roosters 32-18. Just over two years since the match described above and Newcastle could still be described as having “awesome attacking potential” (even with Ben Rogers in their team) but all too often, this potential is not realised. However, Saturday night was one of those games where the Knights looked awesome, despite a mounting injury toll and the disruption of an unfamiliar halves pairing. The Roosters clearly miss Mitchell Pearce badly and could struggle to add to their premiership points tally until he does.
Wests Tigers v. Souths
Yesterday: Round 24 2007, Souths defeated Wests Tigers 37-12.
The capacity crowd at Leichhardt for the Tigers v Souths game on Sunday afternoon was not as large as the record crowd for the corresponding fixture in 2005, but those Tigers supporters unable to secure tickets to the game were most likely happy they couldn’t attend. Given what was at stake (for both teams), it was a woeful Tigers effort. Robbie Farah’s injury was obviously a major setback, but their poor attitude and lack of intensity likely wouldn’t have led to victory even if Farah was on the field.
The Tigers’ poor game was in stark contrast to Souths’ brilliant effort. They followed the lead of teams such as Brisbane, Parramatta, the Bulldogs and the Warriors in exploiting their size advantage to thrash the Tigers.
Today: Souths defeated Wests Tigers 50-10. Unlike a number of games between these teams in recent years, this game was fairly low quality from the outset. It was Souths who overcame their poor start and jumped to an 18-6 halftime lead; a similar lead which the Tigers enjoyed in the corresponding fixture last season, but there was no comeback this time. On the contrary, as the passes stuck and the confidence grew, Souths ran away with the game. The challenge for Souths is to back up an exceptional effort like this with another win; the challenge for the Tigers is to score 20 points.
Cronulla v. Penrith
Yesterday: Round 24 2006, Penrith defeated Cronulla 32-28.
First up on Saturday was Cronulla vs. Penno. This game was always going to be hard on the eye, given that both teams have been performing so poorly in recent weeks, but both were still in contention for the playoffs. Both teams started nervously and rarely impressed. Penrith was first to string a few competent plays together and took an 8-nil lead, but they proved just as good giving up tries. Cronulla found the try-line rather easily to take a 10-8 lead to half-time and added 3 more tries in quick succession. Penrith again faded badly and Cronulla finally ended their long losing streak. Wait...Penrith just scored. They scored again, making the score respectable. They scored AGAIN! They're only two points down! It's an old-fashion Cronulla choke! Lance Thompson is now a true Shark. THEY SCORED AG...no, wait, an incredible tackle from Darren Albert knocked the unfortunate Danny Galea into touch and kept Cronulla's slim lead. But now Penrith pushed hard in the scrum and got the ball back!! It's Cronulla's ball again, but Thompson has made another mistake! Preston Campbell with the kick and Penrith score! They're in front! Cronulla got the ball back from the kick-off, but Adam Dykes, in his infinite wisdom, decided running into defenders with the ball on the last tackle was the best option – game over. Congratulations Cronulla – you've now lost in every possible way in this losing streak.
Today: Penrith defeated Cronulla 34-14. On paper, Penrith looked likely to thrash Cronulla; a few minutes of Michael Jennings brilliance could have exceeded Cronulla’s point output in a month. But Penrith has long been notorious for losing when heavily expected to win and the bookmakers had long lost faith in Penrith’s ability to win away from home; they had not been favourites to win in a game away from home since Round 13 2007 and they had lost their last four games as favourite away from home going back to early 2006.
Despite Cronulla having won their last two games at home and showing some signs of being competitive, they were largely overwhelmed by Penrith. This occurred even though Penrith wasn’t quite on their game. Michael Jennings lost interest after a hat-trick and this game petered out tamely. However, Penrith supporters would surely take games like this to the heart-stoppers their games against weak opposition can sometimes be.
Manly v. Parramatta
Yesterday: Round 21 2006, Parramatta defeated Manly 31-18.
Next up, Parramatta hosted Manly. Parramatta was perhaps the most in-form team in the NRL entering this game, but Manly had quietly accumulated a 3-game winning streak, despite missing some important players. Through the first 50 or so minutes of this game, Parramatta's great play looked set to deliver another big win. They had a 24-8 lead and the soon-to-be-missed Dean Widders went within a dropped ball of making it 30-8. Then the game changed significantly, as Parramatta's Fuifui Moimoi was sent off for a nasty high tackle. He flew near the sun of heavy contact with his wings made of explosive play once too often. After Brent Kite was rescued (following the Moimoi tackle) and returned to King Kennedy, King Kennedy was given one wish. King Kennedy's extreme competitiveness made this an easy decision: he wanted everything he touched to turn to gold. For the 5 minutes after Moimoi went crashing into the sea, King Kennedy's wishes came true and Manly surged back into the game with two quick tries. But the Kennedy touch would do no more - not for Manly anyway. The only further gold would come for the blue-and-gold, as a Luke Burt try sealed the win for Parramatta, which disturbed Zorba on the Manly bench.
Today: Parramatta defeated Manly 19-12. This was a danger game for Manly. After a tough run of games over the last month or so, as well as the two games for much of their team last weekend, another game against tricky opposition on the heavy Brookvale track was always going to be difficult. Parramatta is an unknown quantity early in the season, but their wayward focus can often be overcome by a big-name opponent; they looked on their game right from the start of this one. Manly looked unlikely to threaten Parramatta unless Parramatta gave them chances; two of these saw Manly eliminate Parra’s 12-nil lead.
More Parramatta mistakes early in the second half saw Manly deep in attack, but they badly missed Kieran Foran and Trent Hodkinson missed his normal halves partner and was probably still suffering after two games last weekend and took a number of bad options during this game. Parramatta scored rather easily on their next major trip downfield against a rapidly tiring Manly defence thanks to a crafty Luke Burt kick and they held on comfortably for the win. For Parramatta, Hayne was brilliant, Hindmarsh never stopped and Humble helped his team look much less retarded than Kris Keating ever did ― why would Parra want to keep him? Meanwhile, Jamie Lyon was Manly’s best but far too many of his team-mates (led by Watmough) looked as though they were running in soft sand.
See you next week.
Tuesday, 18 May 2010
Round 10: Those were the days - A Heritage Roast
Tuesday, 11 May 2010
Round 9: NRL State of Mind: Doing What Tina Turner, the Hoodoo Gurus & Thomas Keneally couldn’t…?
These are indeed turbulent times in Rugby League. The belated discovery of the Storm’s ongoing disregard for the salary cap, the NRL’s potentially fatal punishment to the Storm and the looming departure of more of the game’s best players to the big-money codes have seen player frustration and disapproval with administration reach levels not seen since Super League days. The possibility of a player strike has been mentioned (probably via the game’s greatest grub Khoder Nasser and his pot-stirring, brown-nosing mate Danny Weidler) but any time Jarryd Hayne strings a coherent sentence together, you know someone’s been coaching him what to say (as well as when to include verbs): the NRL should be quite concerned.
However, until negotiations move beyond embryonic stages for the predicted bumper next round of television broadcast contracts or most clubs (especially the struggling ones) become a lot richer, there is little the NRL can do.
Well, this is not strictly true. The NRL will of course ask the players to be patient (to wait for the broadcast negotiations to start), to be informed (the NRL has ‘opened their books’ to the players at least once before in recent years and may have to again), to think through alternative Storm punishments fully (while the no points this year is very severe, any other punishment which lets them gain points and compete has many more problems, especially down the road) and to think of the cost of leaving for the money (where million-dollar activities can include catching a cold in the outside backs for the Tahs and being an incredible athlete but a sub-par kicker in sports where almost everyone has to kick).
However, the players and their notoriously short attention spans will likely tune out after ‘patient’: something else has to be done in the interim. The game needs an ad campaign to remind everyone just how great the NRL really is, something that even the immature stars of the game can relate to…
NRL State of Mind
Yeah, yeah, I’ma up near Leichhardt back in ‘08
Not two years back but a more momentous date
But the game’s come a long way, far from back in the day
Have a look at the places where we come to play
Leichhardt is still big, but only gets a rare gig
But on a Sunday afternoon, they’re hanging off the figs
Across town at Parra, where they say they matter
The crowd rises as one when Fui batters
Down in the Shire, where they aspire
To sell off the land by the quagmire
You know they can be fun, sometimes they run and gun
I wish I could rap around the post like Ferguson
Over at Brookvale, the home of the Silvertails
The Eagles rock as T-Rex makes them air mail
I love the suburban grounds, they make the world go round
You feel the passion and all of the awesome sounds in…
In the NRL, grassy jungle where dreams are made of
There’s nothing you can’t do, in the NRL
Our grounds will make you feel brand new
Big lights will inspire you, let’s hear it for NRL, RL, RL…..
I gave my love to the burbs, that’s where the game’s birth
But the game today is bout players (like Thaiday)
Like Benji and his sidestep, Hayne and his chip
Idris and his flowing locks, Folau and his leap
Cooper Cronk and his inside ball to Slater
Brett Morris with his pace sayin’ “See you later”
Michael Jennings and his pace lighting up Penny Park
Big Manu the beast always leaves his mark
But the unsung heroes, they deserve plenty of cred
The forwards who work harder for much less bread
Like Big Bull Bailey, he comes to play daily
But then there’s Jason Ryles, or is he a Hayley?
Watmough, Civoniceva, Benny Hannant, Tommy Learoyd Lahrs
When they come together, it’s like a bunch of cars
I love my flashy backs but I love my big pack
It’s all about scoring and knowin who got your back in…
In the NRL, grassy jungle where dreams are made of
There’s nothing you can’t do, in the NRL
Our grounds will make you feel brand new
Big lights will inspire you, let’s hear it for NRL, RL, RL…..
But you know it’s rivalries that make the game not tedious
Not just on the field but also in the media
Also in the boardroom, where ex-players clash
They make dumb arguments trying to protect their cash
First there’s Farah and Mick Ennis
The shifty Leb and Newcastle’s menace
Then there’s J Hodges and Melbourne’s Bretty White
If they meet in Origin, it could be a massive fight
In the media, the hate is deep and it’s been there since Super League
News Ltd Fairfax, Channel 9 Foxtel, 2GB ABC, they all have a story to tell
About the petty dislikes, the needless fights, and the dodging of shrapnel
But at the day’s end, it all moves product, it helps to sell
With the admin, the hate’s a bit more genuine
But everyone seems to hate idiots like Paul Osborne
Except for all the Storm fans who hate Gallop
But where would we be if no-one hated the top dog in…
In the NRL, grassy jungle where dreams are made of
There’s nothing you can’t do, in the NRL
Our grounds will make you feel brand new
Big lights will inspire you, let’s hear it for NRL, RL, RL…..
One hand in the air for the NRL
Bright lights, big dreams and the Big Dell
No comp in the world can compare
Put your lighters in the air, everybody say yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
In the NRL, grassy jungle where dreams are made of
There’s nothing you can’t do, in the NRL
Our grounds will make you feel brand new
Big lights will inspire you, let’s hear it for NRL, RL, RL…..
On to discussion of the abridged Round 9 action, where a fairly routine Friday night gave way to a topsy-turvy weekend of bizarre results.
Everyone expected Australia to win and they did this but a resilient Kiwi defence, the dreary Melbourne weather and a somewhat under-strength Kangaroos line-up meant the final margin was far close than most expected. In the other Friday representative game, City surprised Country in taking a 12-nil lead but Country dominated from here, providing some entertaining tries and expansive play to win comfortably.
There are always injuries from these games which impact upon subsequent club fixtures. The Dragons, for example, missed Michael Weyman noticeably on Saturday night, but the Cowbores and Parramatta would have quietly been happy to watch Luke O’Donnell and Kris Keating leave the City Country game with injuries. Not surprisingly, the Cowbores looked much better without O’Donnell and Parramatta should look far less retarded without Keating against Manly next week.
Without Weyman, the Dragons forward pack was lacking a little, but Manly shocked many with a dominant display. With so many players backing up from Friday night and a difficult draw in recent weeks, Manly playing somewhere near their best looked a long-shot, but they were very impressive. The Dragons fought back to 10-6 but a Darius Boyd turnover started a burst of two tries for Manly early in the second half which ended the game as a contest.
There was a significant element of dé ja vu on Mothers Day. Firstly, Newcastle hosted the Gold Coast in another close game where a controversial refereeing decision had a considerable impact on the game’s outcome. However, this year the tries flowed somewhat more freely due to a combination of freewheeling attack, sloppy defence and some inexplicable mistakes and this year, it was Newcastle’s turn to suffer from the officialdom. The penalty given against Ben Cross for an incorrect play-the-ball when Newcastle was deep in attack was at least as poor as the game-deciding penalty given against Scott Prince in the corresponding fixture last year. But Newcastle had the lead when Cross was penalised and over 20 minutes left to secure what should have been a fairly comfortable win. They have only themselves to blame.
More dé ja vu in the later game, where the team under the pump (Brisbane….last year it was Manly) turned their season around with an impressive win. How powerful is a team’s position on the ladder in determining the success of a player’s backing-up from representative games? Last year, Lockyer and Thaiday looked ancient as Manly ran down Brisbane (who started 2009 fairly well) to score a season-turning win. On Sunday, Lockyer and Thaiday had brilliant games as Brisbane (who has started 2010 very poorly) absorbed Melbourne’s best in the opening 20 minutes then thrashed the Storm.
A letdown for Melbourne was always going to come and in hindsight, we should not have been too surprised it came on Sunday (they were white-hot for most of their previous two games, complacency against a struggling Brisbane side had to be an issue and backing up from Friday night – plus the injury to Cameron Smith – would have made things difficult), but merit must be given to Brisbane for one of the performances of the season so far. As mentioned, Lockyer and Thaiday (especially) were excellent, but their effort and intensity were top-shelf across the park from a very young and inexperienced team.
The icing on the cake (which would have been quite bitter…for both teams) was the dominant display of Israel Folau. He scored two tries, set up another and obliterated his direct opponent Greg Inglis. There was probably a strong justification for not picking Folau in the Australian team, given his patchy form and injury, but at his best, Folau is more dominant than Lyon, Jennings, Hodges or anyone else in contention for the right-centre position. Sure, he is an unco when it comes to kicking the ball and passing is far from his forte, but it will be a major loss to rugby league if/when he signs with another code. His potential is (still) frightening.
The final game of the round saw a much-improved effort from the Cowbores – but if the Roosters were anywhere near their best, or even their average, the Sydney side would have won easily. A high mistake count and a lot of generally sloppy play were seen in the game’s first hour, before the Cowbores secured the win with robust defence late on (in response, the Roosters folded faster than Superman on laundry day). It was hard to not to think of the Roosters and their possibly-gambling-induced capitulation to the Cowbores when these teams last met in Round 26 last season as the Cowbores pulled away to record a convincing win last night, but at least (get the sick bags out) Matty Bowen came back from injury! Ohhhhh Matty Bowen, what a player! He may be only a shadow of what he once was with his artificial knee cartilages, but I’ll always remember him as the overrated player he was 3 years ago!
See you next week.
Tuesday, 4 May 2010
Round 8: Bye from Adelaide
While 8 NRL teams (or, at least, their non-representative players) are about to enjoy their first weekend off for season 2010, the Tuesday Roast enjoyed a bye weekend in Adelaide during Round 8.
Adelaide has a small but loyal core of rugby league followers (who enjoy the one game per season (in most years) played there), the Tuesday Roast spotted rugby league posts on two occasions and even found a pub in the city which was promoting the upcoming State of Origin series, but any full-time return by the NRL to Adelaide (the Adelaide Coopers perhaps?) looks a very long way off.
In any event, it's time for a very brief summary of Round 8's events pieced together from smidgens of information gathered over the weekend:
* Parramatta continued their improvement with a solid win over an understrength Bulldogs. The Bulldogs may not have been at their best but Parramatta can struggle in such situations; they are accumulating enough points now to struggle for a few more months and start their late-season charge.
* The other Friday night game saw Newcastle defeat Brisbane in a battle of the early season strugglers.
* On Saturday afternoon, Canberra's injury-hit squad made the Warriors think a win would be easy. The Warriors woke up to find themselves 16-nil down. Despite a late comeback, Canberra held on for a much-needed win.
* Gold Coast's run of form continued with an impressive win over fellow high-flyers Penrith. Penrith failed to exploit the weary Titan legs after a very tough Monday night game and Gold Coast gave a very professional display in recording a strong win.
* Melbourne toyed with the Cowbores on Saturday night. Their task was made easier by another injury to Feral Thurston (which, rumours suggest, was deliberately inflicted by Melbourne players who wanted Cooper Cronk to be Australia's halfback) but Melbourne's ability and carefree attitude meant they were far too good.
* The final Saturday game saw the Dragons thrash Cronulla.
* On Sunday, a late Braith Anasta bomb and Beau Ryan fumble brought the game to life after 70-odd minutes and gave the Roosters a 12-8 win over the Tigers.
* Lastly, it was another impressive first 50 or so minutes by Manly before another late collapse allowed their opponents a sniff of a chance. However, Souths could get no closer than 8 points on this day.
Tuesday, 27 April 2010
Round 7: Storm Warnings (or Storm Financial Phase 2)
The 2010 NRL season was altered drastically last Thursday when rumours of salary cap rorting by the Melbourne Storm were confirmed. This was a rare event in the usually gossip-heavy world of Rugby League, where the initial buzz was dwarfed in magnitude by the official announcement.
Within minutes of the announcement of the Storm’s fate, there was a huge number of ramifications for a wide portion of the NRL and sports-loving public of Australia and even elsewhere. In this week’s Roast, we will attempt to discuss a small percentage of these and provide some insight as to where the season – and the game itself – may be headed.
For starters, the extreme punishment meted out to the Storm can only be viewed as suitable. To give anything less would have been seen as weak, toadying to News Ltd and bowing to the view that significant punishment would irreparably damage Rugby League in Melbourne. While it may be a lot to ask of their players to play out the remainder of the season for little incentive, if the Storm was allowed to shave $700k from their 2010 salary in the form of pay cuts or moving several players on to other teams/countries/codes, the risk in future years would be that teams would feel little threat from being over the cap early in the season.
This is especially so given how difficult it is for the NRL to find evidence of salary cap rorting and the relatively meagre resources at the NRL’s disposal to police salary cap rorting. If, in, let’s say 2013, a certain un-named team (let’s call them the B Broncos, no wait that’s too obvious….Brisbane B) realises they are well over the cap just before or early in the season and that the NRL somehow has got wind of this, then the solution could quite easily be to cut one or two players, take your points punishment and move on as if nothing happened.
Back to the players, while much has been made of their misfortune (even if they had no knowledge of any salary cap rorting), they must realise they are part of the club, just as the dodgy administrators are/were, just as the honest low-level administrative types are, just as the loyal supporters are. Many rugby league clubs have suffered in recent years from the acts of players, supporters and administrators; when people in one of these groups commits an offence, everyone is affected. When the Bulldogs supporters destroy trains and make people scared on their way home from matches, everyone suffers (through lower revenue from sponsors). When Danny Wicks and Chris Houston are arrested for drug-dealing, everyone in the Knights suffers. Knights’ administrators can’t say to sponsors “You can’t be angry at us, we didn’t deal those drugs”. Similarly, the Storm players can’t expect to play on as if nothing has happened when past administrators have been revealed as massive salary cap cheats. They must suffer along with everyone else at the club. Cameron Smith has been looking increasingly concerned with every media appearance in recent days, but he does very nicely for himself and will continue to do so, regardless of whether the Storm can play for points this season or not. If anyone deserves sympathy, it should be players like Brian Norrie, Ryan Tandy, Todd Lowrie, and Luke MacDougall: older players who signed with the Storm on bargain-basement contracts. The rorts were unlikely to have filtered way down to the lower ranks of the Storm’s starting 17. While cutting these players loose will only make a small dent in the Storm’s reported salary cap exceeding, you can bet some players of this ilk will be asked to leave and may find it hard to sign with a similar team/opportunity as they thought the Storm would provide them.
The Tuesday Roast will be back with more after this break.
Are you a Melbourne Storm die-hard supporter, whose heart has been ripped in two by recent events?
Did Craig Bellamy’s inspirational and defiant prepared speech to the media last Saturday bring a tear to your eye and a warm, fuzzy feeling to your heart?
Did Bellamy’s passion reach out and grab you, despite his tenuous command of the English language, nervous and staccato delivery, abbreviation of words that were never meant to be abbreviated and overuse of cliché? Did he leave you wanting more?
Well the latest offering from News Ltd Merchandise is for you! It’s Craig Bellamy putting his spin on of some of the most famous speeches ever!
Hear Bellamy convey the passion of Martin Luther King… “Oi have a dream that me four little children will one day, at the en of the day, live in a nation where they will not be judged by the colour of their skin but by the content of their crackter….”
Close your eyes and imagine Bellamy in much more of a battle than anything on a rugby league field… “We shall defend our Oi-land, whatever the cost may be, we shall foit on the beaches, we shall foit on the landin grouns, we shall foit in the fields and in the streets, we shall foit in the hills, we shall never srenner…”
Bellamy channels a similarly popular figure from America’s past… “And so, moi fellow Mericans, ask not wot your cunry can do for youse but wot youse can do for your cunry. Moi fellow cizens of the world, ask not wot Merica will do for youse, but wot togeffa we can do for the freedom of man…”
But Bellamy is not just an intense rugby league coach, he also has a softer side… “I stan before you t’day the representive of a family in groif in a cunry in mournin in a world in shock. We are all united not only in our desoir to pay our respects to Doiana but rather in our need to do so. For such was her extrordinry appeal that the tens of moolyins of people takin part in this service all over the world via television and radio who never actually met ‘er feel that they too lost someone close to them in the early hours on Sun-dee mornin…”
Plus many more speeches for any occasion! With Mothers Day approaching fast, I couldn’t think of a better present for mums and contemporary English students alike!
From May 7th, this epic album will be available at all stores, but before then, it will only be available from Melbourne Storm offices at a bargain price of $700,000 divided by how many sales we get! Plus every 100th sale gets to visit the Melbourne Storm marquee – who knows what goodies you might find!
So the more you buy, the cheaper it is and look out for a secret goodie – philosophies we uphold here at the Storm since 2006!
Welcome back. The news of Melbourne’s salary cap rorting has renewed calls to adjust or eliminate the salary cap in the NRL for a number of reasons (to encourage junior development, reward long service, the salary cap is too difficult to police and it is responsible for too much talent being lost to overseas or other codes).
In the current financial environment for the NRL and its clubs (most of who are struggling), a salary cap or some form of expenditure restraint is an absolute must. As a former NRL staffer once revealed to the Tuesday Roast “You need to have the salary cap to protect the clubs from themselves!” The combination of insufficient revenues from the sale of TV broadcast rights, payments back to News Ltd for monies invested during the Super League War and into the Melbourne Storm and a difficult financial environment for many clubs (especially in Sydney) means the salary cap absolutely cannot be lifted; if anything, it probably could be lowered.
However, if the anticipated leap in TV revenue comes from 2013 and some/all of the other factors placing a drain on the game’s revenues can be repaired, there is the possibility of a substantial jump in the game’s revenues. This could come in the form of a much higher salary cap but probably should come in the form of no salary cap but some other form of equalisation amongst the clubs.
The current regime has helped to maintain a strong level of parity across the competition, but it has seen a type of laziness amongst clubs. Teams do not necessarily have to invest in junior development or highly value players who have been at the club for many years. Not to say these areas are not important, but when the best teams or the teams on the rise see their salary bill push up to the value of the cap, there are usually a high number of players off-contract who can largely fill any voids your team may possess.
The logical extensions of this are that experienced players are not as highly valued as they ought to be and roster turnover is higher than it should be: both of these reduce the ultimate quality of the play in the NRL.
In a regime without a salary cap, there would be more scope for teams to dominate over longer periods, but teams would receive a greater return on investment in junior development, would be more able to keep experienced, veteran players and they would have the greater incentive (more often than not) of a great team to emulate and strive to be like. This cannot be understated; in those team sports across the world without a salary cap, or in those individual sports where one man/woman has dominated for years, there is a greater incentive from all within the game to get better, a greater target to aim at, as opposed to a system of greater parity where near enough is often good enough.
Of course, a completely open system would likely to be too problematic; some conditions to make it fairer for small teams are probably needed (e.g. some sort of benefit for those teams with long-standing players). This could come in the form of revenue-sharing from the NRL (and perhaps slightly more revenue to those teams with longer-serving players). However, if the mutterings about the number of other teams rorting the salary cap is close to correct, then perhaps a simpler, more open system of equalisation is needed.
This could be in the form of a points cap, where each player is ascribed a notional points value based on his level of experience, rep game participation, whether he was a junior with his current club and whether he is a long-serving player. Of course, while this system is completely open and the points for each player would be made public, it has its own problems too, such as the method of allocating points for each player. The National Basketball League has operated with a points cap for a number of years now and has discovered complexities which were not evident prior to its implementation.
While much still remains uncertain, one thing does seem clear: there will have to be change to the current system sometime in the next few years. The NRL cannot risk discovering massive rorting by a number of teams; rugby league is noted for its resilience and ability to cope with adversity but surely this would be too much.
On to the Round 7 action:
* On Friday night, the Bulldogs started slowly but put Brisbane away with a 3-try burst early in the second half. In the other game, a surprise comeback from injury by Feral Thurston was not enough to stop the resurgent Eels from making it two wins in a row.
* Saturday’s action saw Penrith overcome the gallant Tigers in a very competitive, but error-riddled game. In the other game, Cronulla made it two in a row at home by starting slowly but ultimately thrashing a pathetic Newcastle side.
* Sunday’s triple-header saw Canberra give up its second straight huge lead at home in losing to Souths, the Roosters were able to stay with the Dragons for 40 minutes but repeating this task proved far too difficult as the Dragons won easily before the still-very-motivated Storm thrashed the woeful Warriors.
* The final game of the round on Monday saw Gold Coast make the most of their luck in the first half to stay close to a rampant Manly team before taking advantage of their late-game tiredness to record a famous win.
See you next week.
Tuesday, 20 April 2010
Round 6: Brought to you by PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, TAB Sportsbet, Centrebet, Sportingbet, Betfair etc. etc. etc….
“This is Brown, he beats one! He’s got the fullback to beat! Good stop, try saving tackle from Coote! He came up trumps…” Jason Costigan commentating Warriors v Panthers on Sunday
Round 6 of the NRL in 2010 had to largely make do with a bad hand as a number of teams struggled after tough Round 5 games and/or a mounting injury toll, but ended on a high after a surprise ace up its sleeve (in the form of another intriguing chapter in the Melbourne-Manly rivalry).
Friday night’s action kicked off with the Tigers in a heads-up battle against the Bulldogs. The Tigers must have felt they were up against a stacked deck; they were missing a number of key players while the ante had been raised for the Bulldogs after their slow start to the season.
A strong start for the Bulldogs and a high Tigers error count made the Tigers’ task that much more difficult; surely if the Bulldogs played their cards right, they would win this one easily. The final score was a fairly wide margin of 20 points but it was a very determined effort from the Tigers when the chips were down: the margin was only 8 points with 7 minutes left.
The second Friday game saw the short-handed Dragons travel to the Gold Coast to take on the Titans. The Titans were coming off an amazing win over Melbourne last week, but even their most ardent supporter would admit they were hit by the deck and sucked out (to an extent) to get the win. When the dealer turned over a 12-point deficit for the Titans early in the second half, the task for them to follow suit and come back again this week was just too tough. It was a very impressive effort from the Dragons; their typically solid, structured performance produced in spades.
Saturday’s action kicked off in Newcastle, where the more-boring-than-normal Cowbores came to town. It was painfully obvious from very early on in this game that the Cowbores were not playing with a full deck: the absence of Feral Thurston, Payne and Nutjob O’Donnell, plus the presence of Ty Williams, meant the Cowbores were taking 2 club-7 spade into battle against Newcastle’s pocket Kings.
But the flop was crazy: 7-4-5 all clubs and somehow the Cowbores were back in the game. However, the turn brought a third King (in the form of Cooper Vuna making a set of tries) and a blank on the river meant the Knights held on for the win.
The final Saturday game saw Canberra travel to Sydney to take on the Roosters. Canberra successfully called Parramatta’s pathetic bluff on the previous Monday night and took a strong hand to the showdown, so much so that they were given a solid chance to make it two wins in a row. But the Roosters were due for a win and their strong effort was helped by a high Canberra error count.
Canberra coach David Furner would no doubt have called a spade a spade at half time, but the Roosters ace in the hole Todd Carney killed his former team. He kept his cards close to his chest after being vociferously booed by Canberra supporters before his first conversion attempt, but he would no doubt have been extremely happy to have performed so well against his former team.
Sunday’s early game was in Auckland, where Penrith travelled to meet the home side. The Warriors had enjoyed a string of wins or impressive close losses so far this season, despite having to shuffle their deck fairly often due to injury, so it was perhaps not a surprise they came up well behind when the cards were put on the table here: they were probably due for a stinker. In contrast, Penrith played their cards right and this worked in spades when confronted by the Warriors’ poor performance. They led 22-nil before the Warriors sat down at the table and won convincingly in the end.
Next up, it was the perhaps-permanently-short-handed Cronulla up against Brisbane. This would have been a top-shelf match-up not even two seasons ago, but the quality of both teams has since been lost in the shuffle. After a few tough weeks, the return of several aces in the form of Folau and Parker, as well as renewed confidence, meant a crushing win for the Broncos.
The final Sunday game saw Parramatta take on Souths. The Rabbitohs were playing with far from a full deck, especially in the forwards, but it once again emerged in this game that their greatest weakness is in their head. They were hit by the deck early on and should have had a convincing lead against the struggling Eels, but when Parramatta upped the ante late in the first half, Souths’ structure proved to be a house of cards. The main culprit here had to be Rhys Wesser, who made a number of fundamental errors in the first half and gifted Luke Burt an easy try after a pathetic effort to chase down a long kick early in the second half.
This game received considerable media attention after a high number of penalties against both teams forced the referees’ hand. The sin-bin bubble was broken first by Cayless, then the other referee followed suit as Champion joined Parramatta’s co-captain. But no attention was given to Daniel Mortimer’s two ‘dog acts’ (pun intended): his failure to own up to committing the offence which was incorrectly attributed to Cayless followed by his dangerous ‘attempt’ to compete for the high bomb, which could have injured the Souths winger. These were hardly surprises though; there is little doubt his father and uncles were involved in far worse than this.
Lastly, Monday night saw Melbourne take on Manly. These teams have been involved in a number of high-stakes battles since 2006, but Melbourne clearly suffered from their taxing game on the Gold Coast last week and failed to bring their A-game in the first 20 minutes after they sat down at the table. In this time, Manly jumped to a 16-nil lead. Manly’s forward pack often comes up trumps, but their ace in the hole this season might just be their new halfback Trent Hodkinson. His demeanour, solid defence and direct running are in impressive contrast to their declining halfback of previous years Matt Orford. While no-one outside of the northern beaches wants Manly to do well, it would be quite funny if the last two teams Orford left (2005 Melbourne and 2009 Manly) went on to have far better years after he left.
Melbourne battled back into the game with a short stack, but their game suffered due to Manly’s trump cards i.e. their ability to anticipate Melbourne’s pet plays and make them work harder than normal to score points. Melbourne had opportunities, but never seriously looked like winning here. Manly’s coach Des Hasler kept a poker face in the post-game press conference, but he would have been delighted at how well his team fared against the premiership favourites.
Until next time, may all your cards be live and your pots be monsters! See you next week.
Tuesday, 13 April 2010
Round 5: Welcome to the Whingeing Pom
In this week’s Roast, respect is paid to the English contribution to our game. Rugby League was born in England just over 100 years ago and it lives on there today. Despite the Super League in the UK being played at a generally lower and less intense standard than the NRL, most English teams enjoy a more loyal and passionate supporter following than their Australian counterparts.
As a tribute to this passion, let’s give a generous Aussie welcome to the newest Tuesday Roast correspondent simply known as Whingeing Pom. I met up with Whingeing Pom at the Oaks in Neutral Bay to dissect the Round 5 NRL action. So sit back, relax, lie back and think of England and enjoy.
“So Pommy, it was another interesting round of NRL over the weekend, although I sense you were not entirely happy with everything that went on?”
“Ohhh you’re not kidding there laddy! I dunno what it is about the NRL but it makes me right peed off, week in and week out like! For starters, that bloomin ol’ geezer Ray Warren. I know he’s an institution down under but bloomin heck, there’s no need to be giving away the score of the delayed game while the live game’s still showin!”
“But he didn’t say the score, Pommy, all he said was that the Gold Coast v Melbourne game was going to be a nail-biter. Nothing wrong with that is there?”
“Don’t be daft laddy! Only a nutter wouldn’t know based on that sorta comment that one team jumps out to a big lead only for the other team to coom baak strong-le! Although I must admit to aving a bit of a kip in the late going of the Dragons Broncos game as the Dragons cruised to the win, I guess I can oonderstand what e was doing like, tryin to men-ten interest. Boot still, very bloomin annoyin especially as I had a tenner on the Storm to win by 13 ploos into the Warriors and Raiders. I tell you, they urd me cursin’ ‘a’f a block away last night when Canberra got the win!”
“I feel your pain, Pommy, it could only have gotten worse when you saw the unlikely nature of the Melbourne loss?”
“Ohhhhh too right son, bloomin eck, if sum git told me the Storm would lead by 12 at half-time and go on to lose, I’d inquire if they’d taken a massive blow to the bollocks you know? And not just a blown lead, but that taam-wasting penalty: I must have missed the Olympic swimming watch that was showing in the stadium there like to tell everyone when those 40 blinking seconds were up! What a bloomin farce that was!”
“Alright mate, calm down. Souths and Newcastle, now there was a game which went pretty much as expected, a strong win for Souths. Isaac Luke with another great game. You can’t have had too many problems this game, old mate?”
“You know what son? I had to listen to most of this game on the radio. The plan was to meet oop at Jim’s place at Pymble, get a few chip butties and pints into us then watch the game. Bugger me tho if it doesn’t make an hour and a ‘a’f to get there from Cammeray tho! Jim told me it only takes 45 to an hour, bloomin blagger e is. I still erd the first 20 minutes on the radio, but you know it’s just not the same innit? Happy for Souths and yung Burgess like but that bloomin traffic…”
“Never mind, Pommy, you didn’t miss all that much. There was plenty of action in the late Saturday games, the exciting Tigers and Warriors both getting up for good wins.”
“Well you know, I was confident about the Cowboys’ chances (joost quiet-le, I still feel a bit uncomfortable tipping the Cowboys tho, sounds like a bit of a…you know…doe-noe if I should say this….a boom bandit name if you ask me) but of course they went out the window when Thurston got urt. Still, it’s surprisin how many teams play better – and how many teams let their guard down – when a big-name player gets urt, I thought the Cowboys still ad a shot like. But then that absolute blooming git O’Donnell threw the game away for them. What an absolute bloomin twat he was! He’s supposed to be an experienced player, then in no time at all, he gives away three penalties and gets himself sin-binned. The gobsh!te was lucky he didn’t get sent off! That was the game then and there like. Well doon, Tigers, another solid game from Gareth Ellis, started off by kneein Thurston in the bollocks to slow him down soom, but despite loosin a tooth and breaking his nose, he was my Man of the Match. Mug of the Match of course to that muppet O’Donnell”
“Not sure too many disagree with you there, Pommy, what did you make of the Warriors’ win?”
“Well as I said before, I thought the Warriors were a great chance in this one, I had them in my original weekend moolti with Storm 13+ and Canberra, but once the Storm lost, I changed tack soomwhat. I took separate mooltis with Bulldogs to win by 1-6 points and total match score between 41 and 50 points. Anyway, the first one looked in danger as the Warriors threw the ball round and led by 12, but I was happy seein the points on the board y’know? Even more so when the Dogs came back and woiped out the lead. For woonce, look was turning my way – or so it seemed. Booger me if that bloomin pillock Kimmorley somehow misses that easy field goal that woulda won the game! I swear he has something against me. It started with my 6-leg multi in 2005 which had Buderus as last try-scorer in Origin woon. Every bloomin extra time ends in a field goal except this woon, when bloomin Kimmorley picked out Matt Bowen perfectly with that intercept pass and Bowen gets last try instead. Cost me $1000 that day he did! Then the Warriors roob salt in my open wound with that late break, kick ahead that Luke Patten foombled and Hohaia scored. I couldn’t Adam and Eve it y’know?!”
“I’m beginning to understand the origin of your name, Pommy. How about Sunday’s action, any thoughts there?”
“Manly polished off the Sharks quite naarsley, an easy win there. What really got my goat about Sunday afternoon though was this was supposed to be an improved Brookvale Oval. Cronulla might have got belted by Manly, but at least they’ve ad soobstantial Government foonds to upgrade their ground. Brookvale is still roobish, little more than a park football ground! I guess that’s what happens when the entire Northern Beaches all vote Liberal at every election!”
“Yep ok, it’s probably best if we don’t hear your political views for everyone’s sake. How about the late game, any views on the resurgent Panthers?”
“No…..joost kiddin hahaha of course I have a view you silly git! Caught some of this game, Penrith looked quite impressive, but the Roosters looked lethargic. I know they’re a yoong team but all these games in the heat have taken their toll. But credit to Penrith for executin their game plan and tiring the Roosters out. I also noticed yoong Coote had a big game and received quite soom recognition for it. Not sure what all the foos was about though, he made a few nice plays, threw a fluky flick pass…not much really. Especially when Penrith had a much better young fullback in Jarrod Sammut. Yoong Sammut was faster, more athletic, a better kicker, more skilful and more confident than Coote….and doesn’t look like he’s 12 years old either! And Penrith had to let Sammut go to Old Blighty to get a game! I moost admit to wondering if Coote’s dad is on Penrith’s committee or something – how else can such an oonspeckTACKular player be so highly thought of?? I just don’t get it.”
“Fair point there Pommy, how about Coote getting man of the match in his debut when he dropped a number of bombs and missed all 4 shots at goal? It was a greater case of missing the obvious than Cronulla with Albert Kelly! Last game was last night and Parramatta and Canberra. Your take Pommy?”
“Well the obvious target in this game was that absolute blagger Mateo. What a lazy sod he is! But Parramatta really shouldn’t be surprised, they were always going to miss Todd Lowrie. Put it this way, Melbourne doesn’t go after dud buys, let me tell you. But what really got my goat was that so-called try to Ben Smith. I know it’s in the rules that he didn’t play at the ball with his torso but it’s joost not right like. Lookily Canberra got the win they deserved but the Smith no-try try could have swoong the game y’know? How embarrassin would it be if a try like that won some team a grand final? Cor blimey!”
On that note, tally-ho….I mean see you next week.
Tuesday, 6 April 2010
Round 4: Easter Eggs
As a special treat, this week’s Roast will be an 8-pack of Easter Eggs. Instead of being chocolate, these Eggs are of the metaphorical variety, but this doesn’t mean they will be any less satisfying as they contain tasty discussion of many of the key issues in the NRL. Another key difference here is that these Eggs are easily found – unless you looked for them on Tuesday that is (sorry guys).
Hornby retires from representative Rugby League – is he serious?!
On Good Friday morning, when most League supporters were looking forward to analysis and prediction of the clash of the best two teams (by some margin) so far this season, the news of Ben Hornby’s decision to make himself unavailable for the season’s representative fixtures instead took up column inches. While frustration would have been ultimately felt at breakfast tables across Australia as this piece of irrelevance was made public, the first reaction had to have been one of hilarity.
Put simply, has a player with less hope of making representative games ever announced his retirement from them? Perhaps delusions of adequacy swept through Hornby as a flash-in-the-pan Brett Kimmorley returned to State of Origin aged 75 last season and made Hornby think he was a chance again. Or maybe Hornby got concussion after falling on his ribs in scoring the season’s opening try at Parramatta. Admittedly, Hornby might have been a chance of selection in the City-Country game, but if such a pointless selection happened, he could have done what Matt Cooper, Eric Grothe, El Masri and several others do (or did) year-in and year-out: make up a minor injury and miss the game.
After the Dragons were soundly beaten by Melbourne on Friday afternoon, it would not have been surprising if it was reported many of their players wished they’d used a similar excuse before this game. While the score-line was often close, Melbourne was well in control for most of the game. Quite frankly, the Dragons should have been embarrassed they couldn’t produce somewhere near their normal level of play when it was needed, and that they looked largely ineffective when they fell behind and rarely threatened the Storm try-line.
For Melbourne on the other hand, Friday was further confirmation how far ahead of the rest of the NRL they are. They struggled at times, although were never seriously threatened, through the first 3 weeks against some mediocre opposition, but when a test loomed, they lifted strongly and executed their game plan almost flawlessly, despite missing a number of highly regarded players.
While Melbourne would have been ecstatic at their performance, much of the media experienced a similar reaction, especially after Billy Slater’s late try and Cooper Cronk’s pass to Slater. Unfortunately, it should not have been a try as Cronk’s pass was noticeably forward to all not in purple or in possession of a Channel 9 media pass. It is understandable why so many chose to overlook the forward pass; this game, while being very well played, was hardly “exciting” for the layperson. But that doesn’t make it right.
Carney’s resurrection continues, but should it be happening with the Roosters?
Unfortunately for the purposes of the above headline and its pun value, the Roosters Broncos game did not take place on Easter Sunday. Of course, this did not mean that Todd Carney’s “resurrection” couldn’t continue. It was another stellar performance from Carney as the Roosters accounted for the struggling Broncos fairly comfortably; Canberra can only have wished they had a halfback an eighth as good as Carney.
With Greg Bird making a similarly strong impression with a new club after a period out of the game for bad behaviour, the question is being increasingly asked whether troubled but highly talented players should be sacked from their club. In such a close competition, Carney and Bird are pivotal players, as the form of Cronulla and Canberra since these players departed indicates. It can be a fine line between satisfying season ticket-holders and sponsors and maximising the chances of winning games; perhaps Carney and Bird would not ever have been able to rehabilitate with their previous club? If so, perhaps compensation from the club to benefit from a rehabilitated star player is needed? You’d like to think rugby league’s crackdown on bad behaviour will mean such questions do not again need to be considered, but it would be naïve to think five years’ worth of vigilance will change an entire culture.
Sharks’ signing Smith shows his true colours
Saturday night’s first game was not one for the archives. One team couldn’t care less, the other team….just couldn’t (for the most part). Throw in the rain and it was probably a surprise the combined score for the game reached 11.
But the game was memorable for Tim Smith’s contributions. He struggled to make much of an impact in general play (although his relatively unknown goal-kicking talents were pressed into service after a season-ending injury to Luke Covell) but he showed he will feel right at home in the Shire. Firstly, a cut meant he had to change his jersey during the game. This normally leads to wolf-whistles from the female part of the crowd, but a Southern Cross tattoo across Smith’s back caught the eyes of the local male redneck population.
Secondly, Smith’s post-game quote to the media (referring to his first-half head clash and its effect on his memory) warmed the cockles (cock…tee hee) of many a Shire yokel’s heart: “I can’t really remember hardly anything”
Cronulla will probably still finish towards the bottom of the ladder this season, even with the signing of Smith, but at least they will be more interesting.
Cowbores try something less boring and (shock horror) become a revitalised team!
A combination of injury and poor form meant the Cowbores had to make a number of changes for their important match against the Gold Coast on Saturday night. Each new player – Shannon Gallant, Ray Thompson and Will Tupou – was making his first grade debut for the Cowbores and for Thompson and Tupou, it was their first grade debut for any club. The exit of Ty Williams, Michael Bani and Grant Rovelli from first grade meant a sizeable void in experience – but would the youthful enthusiasm more than offset this?
The answer was a resounding YES. Gallant was a star in rare appearances for the Tigers in recent years but somehow found himself stuck behind Williams in the full-back pecking order for the Cowbores, despite Williams being able to time his 40m sprint using a calendar. Even more perplexing for the Cowbores is that Gallant plays a lot like their injured star full-back Matt Bowen. FOX’s Andy Raymond reached new heights of on-air diplomacy when he stated “I think Shannon Gallant is a little more in the mould of Matty Bowen than Ty Williams is, with the greatest of respect to Williams of course”. It was hardly surprising that Gallant had an excellent game; hopefully he has a big one this week against the Tigers who stupidly released him late last year.
But Thompson and Tupou also enjoyed very solid debuts. Thompson’s neat no-look flick pass leading to the Cowbores’ first try was almost Benji-like. Rovelli wouldn’t be able to replicate such a pass in 1000 attempts. It was the start of a very confident opening game. Meanwhile, Tupou defended in the Cowbores’ sieve-like right-side defence and was asked to defend in the centre position (despite being a winger) so Williams’ partner-in-slime Ashley Graham could defend on the wing. Amazing! The Cowbores’ right-side defence was much improved.
With much of their dead wood gone, the Cowbores recorded an easy win over the Titans. Who knows how many more talented youngsters from the far north are in the Cowbores’ extremely boring system? This team could be anything as long as Feral Thurston hangs around.
Manly finally shrug off the curse of the penalties
In their first three rounds, the large and somewhat immobile Manly side suffered more so than most when on the receiving end of a number of penalties. While they were far from perfect in a number of areas in their 14-6 win over the Warriors, Manly would have been much happier that a series of penalties to their opposition did not result in a number of tries being conceded. This is especially so given that they had to endure 10 minutes with one less player than the Warriors.
This was one of the better games of the weekend, despite the high number of errors. Both teams are playing quite well and are above the pre-season expectations of many.
(Rampant Raiders + Terrible/Tremendous Tigers) * Sunday Afternoon = Entertainment Plus
It became apparent quite soon into Sunday afternoon’s game at Canberra Stadium that the home team was in a rare mood. This happens every so often (more so usually against high-flying opposition and/or when the Raiders are not expected to win) but when it does, it is almost always a large Canberra win. Rampaging forward runs, crisp ball movement, excellent play-making and strong defence mean field position for whoever is unlucky enough to be Canberra’s opposition is almost impossible to get. Usually, when Canberra cools off, the game is well out of reach.
It almost happened here – on several occasions – but the Tigers did just enough to stay in the game (and received enough good fortune to stay in the game), but once they realised they weren’t out of the game and started to turn around Canberra’s possession advantage, they stormed back into the game. Farah’s decision to throw the long pass deep in the Tigers territory paid off massively (although there was a huge amount in Croker’s knock-down bouncing nicely into Farah’s hands); this made it only 22-10 but it was the turning point. Campese’s unfortunate penalty goal attempt into the post was also very unlucky, but a standard miss or make probably would only have been a small hindrance to the Tigers’ momentum.
In the end, the score-line blew out late; the Tigers were certainly not 13 points better than Canberra, but it was another great game. Not just a comeback, but a well-played game. Phil Gould sounds like a broken record with his love for Sunday afternoons, but there is no doubt games are of a higher quality in natural light and (usually) dry conditions.
Newcastle and Penrith in Easter Monday battle of dumb play
On Monday afternoon, it was another huge comeback, but not nearly the same quality of play. Newcastle dominated the first 20 minutes but failed to score and Penrith took a surprise lead. Newcastle then posted 4 tries as Penrith made a large number of mistakes (errors and dumb penalties conceded) to give Newcastle much possession.
Newcastle’s 18 point half-time lead was then frittered away as routine attacking kicks by Penrith were blundered by Newcastle. MacDonnell’s dropped bomb fell right to Michael Jennings who ran for the corner. A “nothing” mid-field kick led to another set of 6 tackles and then a try, before a Walsh grubber which appeared to be rolling across the dead ball line was ignored by 2 Newcastle defenders and set upon by Luke Lewis. In this time, it was Newcastle’s turn to give away dumb penalties.
Newcastle recaptured the lead when Jarrod Mullen showed Lewis his show-and-go scrum move for at least the fourth time, but Lewis allowed Mullen past him for the easy try. Penrith equalised again when Paulo was the only player to compete for the in-goal bomb kick.
Newcastle’s Scott Dureau almost gave his team back the lead with a brilliant field goal, but before this Penrith ignored several good field goal chances after questionable options by their hooker Iosefa (why was the more reliable Kingston not playing at such a crucial time??). Finally, the tiring Knights could not halt the dummy half runs of Penrith and a rare piece of smart play by former Knight Walsh put Purtell over the match-winning try.
Much drama, a big comeback, some great try-finishing plays, but much dumb play too. Overall, this was a low-quality affair. This is probably a tad harsh; it is only Round 4 after all. If this sort of game happens in Round 24 and both teams are well in finals contention, then there might be more of a problem.
Battle of the HYPED as Souths thrashes the Bulldogs
It took four rounds, but Souths finally displayed something near their potential as they easily disposed of the (briefly) high-flying Bulldogs. The much-hyped Sam Burgess – with Mum cheering him on from Russel Crowe’s box – scored two tries and led the Souths forward pack to a huge win over the short-handed but thoroughly out-played Bulldogs pack.
But one of Souths’ less hyped players also had a very good game – part of his stellar start to the season. What’s more, Beau Champion’s excellent game came against the increasingly favoured selection for the NSW left centre position in State of Origin, Josh Morris.
Of course, part of Champion’s success came due to being set up by John Sutton. The fake-tanned Burgess, Dave Taylor, Asotasi, Crocker will likely continue to command much of the media attention, but Souths’ fortunes will probably be determined more by the performances of Sutton, Sandow and lesser-known players like Champion.
See you next week.
