Are the Storm up to their old dirty tricks again?

james roberts says hi papi

Melbourne is the NRL's expansion into Aussie Rules heartland so they had to be successful from the start. Much like the Swans and Lions getting help to knock Rugby League off the back page.

Question If the Storm have always played this way how can they be up to their old dirty tricks again? Shouldn't it be "The Storm still using old dirty tricks to bamboozle weak willed referees?" Or "Of course he's injured, these aren't the droids you're looking for. You can go about your business. Move along."

Mate Fifita played the ball properly once and was penalised for it because the action looked strange to the ref. So he went back to playing the ball how he always has and never had a problem since. True story.

The best example of poor sportsmanship is of course the underarm bowling by Trevor Chappell who was following, his brother, Greg Chappell’s orders. The South Australian turned Queenslander Greg Chappell was a great batsman but that doesn’t make them captain material.

Wade Graham was unfortunate the CC could not be used but he should've known the rules. Taking advantage of defenders turning their backs is not poor sportsmanship.

The thing is perhaps Wade wasn’t aware of the what the penalty was for. Besides isn’t it also stated that you can apply Captain’s Challenge when there is a stoppage? The whistle blew which meant it was a stoppage, Wade perhaps unaware of what the penalty was wanted to query it and challenge it. I mean C.Smith had to request what the penalty (J.Bromwich offside of play) was for against the Eels before he requested for the Captains Challenge even after the allowable 10 seconds had lapsed after the whistle. The players are on the field and especially the Captain is organizing his team constantly and while doing that the whistle blows and you expect him to just know what the call was for? He has the right to know what it was for in case he needs to apply the Challenge and I believe that was what Graham was doing. The ref should have went with the six-again call. This would have been a fair call. Graham still is in his defensive line and Raiders getting a new set to attack. The ref blows his whistle, indicating a stoppage but then states you can’t challenge a ruck infringement shows that the Captain Challenge and the Six-again rule needs a big fix.

TB3, Apollo 11 definitely, 13 not so much but haven't given it that much thought!

Was "Houston, we have a problem" one of those significant events? The NASA mathematicians did an amazing job bringing the Apollo 13 astronauts home safely. JFK and Darwin being wiped out by Cyclone Tracy were big and TV shows were interrupted to give us the news and call for personnel of HMAS XXXX to get to Darwin to help the survivors.

That's post-game at Northies

Probably worth noting that these probably aren't Storm's normal training team, given those are health professionals probably still back in Melbourne. Not sure who they'd have on board, but fair chance they might not really know the rules or the players that well. No excuse, but possibly why it might be a mistake rather than deliberate ploy. (Or it's a local lower-grade trainer who was trying to show his 'gamesmanship'.)

Sometimes they even call tails

The amusing analogy from this is that Annesely is saying Melbourne are using this as a ploy . I think most clubs use this as a ploy. Then Cleary says he thinks games are being managed and gets the kitchen sink thrown at him . Stating the bleeding obvious.

The ref allowed Smith the challenge because Smith didn't know what the penalty was for and kept asking. By the time the ref told him, he immediately challenged it. Not sure you can insist the challenge happens in 10 seconds if the Ref doesn't say what the penalty is for until 15 seconds have elapsed.

Pretty typical for the Storm

Oh, I'm way ahead of you mate. I almost posted that comment initially but I didn't want to get banned again on my first day back! :laughing: :laughing: :laughing:

TB3, oops my mistake there, how could I have typed Houston???!!! Only one of the 10 most significant events during my lifetime!! Thanks for the extra information, it's an intriguing topic. Pretty sure Storm were still in the frame though, maybe they were in the drain? Some people say they killed Bambi also.

'One eyed Willie ' ????????

JFK was shot in Dallas and the whole of the Dallas PD turned up at the Texas Theater to arrest the patsy, LHO. They had no reason to ask any questions as they were supposed to kill the patsy as he ran from the back of the TSBD but he walked out the front door. There were some who thought a shot came from the storm water drain under elm street.

Simmo, even the refs themselves get confused half the time, and they have inconsistent interpretations of the rules from game to game. In the heat of the moment it is a lot to expect of players under fatigue. At the end of the day the ref could have screamed out "You can't challenge. Play on". Remember, Graham called for a challenge before the tap was taken. At the end of the day, Andrew Fafita is a massive boof head and he let his club and his teammates down with a self-indulgent rubbish play and suffered the consequences for it. Graham as the captain should not have clocked off. The same goes for the rest of the Sharks side. If they were watching the ball and keeping an eye on Wighton as should have been they would have seen he was looking for a quick tap. It just all felt a bit #sixagain to me. Referees who either got it wrong or failed to communicate their decision or available options to players leaving them confused and disadvantaged. Cummins again looked like a marionette being controlled by his earpiece to change calls and then never explained the reasons behind the changed call. At this time of year it just isn't good enough.