The long-awaited opening game of this year’s World Cup provided many highlights – unless of course you are a Toa Samoa supporter and were horrified as your team threw in the towel.
Unfortunately for the bleary-eyed viewers, things were going swimmingly for England. Wane looked pretty happy with the proceedings, which meant he failed to provide us with anything controversial footage to spice up the coverage.
For me though, the biggest highlight of the game was ‘Coach Cam’. For those of you who missed it, ‘Coach Cam’ is a fixed camera placed just in front of English coach Shaun Wane’s desk in his coaching box, and every now and then during the game we were provided with some fascinating up-close footage of Wane, and his reaction to the game unfolding in front of him.
It did however provide us with a great opportunity to count Wane’s generous allocation of nasal hair, take a stab at his current shirt size, and wonder about the inadequacies of dental health care in England.
An absolute winner in my view, THE find of the RLWC, and I can’t wait to see ‘Coach Cam’ – and its variants – become a regular part of NRL broadcasts in Australia. Just think of the possibilities.
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Belly Cam
Just three feet from Craig Bellamy as he becomes apoplectic as the Storm kick the ball out on the full for the third time in the first half.
Sticky Cam
Watching Ricky Stuart have an absolute meltdown on the sidelines as Jaeman Salmon scores the winning try in golden point to eliminate the Raiders in week one of the 2023 finals.
(Photo by Mark Nolan/Getty Images)
Hook Cam
Tightly focused vision on Anthony Griffin as Dragons fans look for signs of intelligent life.
Rainbow Cam
Zooming in on an unsuspecting Anthony Seibold and the dozen or so Manly greats gathered behind him with knives in their hands.
If the NRL want to go one better, all they need to do is add sound to the images, although that will likely result in most games being broadcast after children have gone to bed.
While they’re at it, they could also consider some ‘Coach Cam’ variants, such as ‘Bunker Cam’, where viewers are treated to a live feed directly into the control room so we can actually watch the bunker officials playing “rock, paper, scissors” in real-time in response to a captain’s challenge. We could also have ‘Judiciary Cam’, where we can watch a live stream of Nelson Asofa-Solomona and Jared Waerea-Hargreaves spinning the chocolate wheel to determine their latest fine.
Bring it on I say. What do you think? What other opportunities are there?
Tez
Roar Rookie
Yeah fair enough, maybe I'm just old school and remember the world cups played between Oz, France, England and NZ. I'm not much into manufactured teams where the game is not played. I have no issues with Samoa, Tonga or PNG (even if the game is not actually played in Samoa and Tonga) but Lebanon, Greece, Italy, Cook Islands ..... yeah Nah
Tony
Roar Guru
I've enjoyed most of the games I've watched so far Tez, and it seems that a lot of the players are seriously invested in it, particularly those from countries like PNG, Greece and Lebanon. Let's see how it pans out. :happy:
Maxtruck
Roar Rookie
Would have thought Ryan Matterson could have got a start with some team in the WC, surname suggests Scottish ancestry?. Could have rubbed out his 3 match ban for next year
Robbo
Roar Rookie
Yes mate - the satire is fine but its important that we don't lose sight of the behaviours that are displayed and the examples that they set, which are then normalised and brought into the homes and streets of our towns and cities. Grown men need to learn to control themselves. The TV channels are also to blame. For example, they love to show footage of players binned or sent off if they are having a tantrum in the tunnel or the shed. Nothing wrong with a conscience, we should be evolving as men. Hashtag thingy 'it ain't weak to speak' and all that .....
Tony
Roar Guru
Have you heard of satire?
Robbo
Roar Rookie
Yes but would you like your daughter to marry a young man....perhaps a rugby league fan, who behaves like that when anything doesn't go his way? Its a solid point and I stand by it. If someone started kicking chairs around in the same room as you, I reckon you might look at it differently
Tez
Roar Rookie
Off top[ic I know mate, but is anyone remotely interested in this world cup? Bugger me if every fringe first or reserve grader in the NRL has a squad spot. Yeah, nah I have not a skerrick of interest.
Nat
Roar Guru
Gold!
Adam
Roar Guru
Or that stupid effort tracker
Tony
Roar Guru
:laughing:
Phil
Roar Rookie
Probably the closest he's come to it was when Nathan Brown said Wayne was thinking with his little head instead his big one when at Newcastle.
Tony
Roar Guru
I wonder what it would take to get a Bellamy style reaction out of Bennett?
Phil
Roar Rookie
...............and then we have Wayne, expressionless, motionless..................I'll have Bellyache and Ricky any day.
Bernie
Roar Rookie
i know i do. Ch9 would have no trouble with advertisment revenue, sponsored by Swisse or whoever makes Valium, they'd be all over it.
Tony
Roar Guru
Great suggestion Bern. A montage of meltdown and disappointment. :happy:
Tony
Roar Guru
But that's where the entertainment is. Who doesn't want to see Bellamy ripping a door of its hinges, or Ricky rearranging the chairs in the dressing room? :happy:
Robbo
Roar Rookie
Couldn't agree more. If we are going to have footage of coaches boxes then there should be consequences for any aggressive behaviour or inability to control oneself eg. throwing or kicking things, banging fists on tables and general inability to control oneself. Its a dreadful example for kids and the coaches need to recognise their responsibility to the game when they are on the telly. Frankly no other workplace tolerates it
Bernie
Roar Rookie
innovative as ever Tony. i think perhaps they do the cam every match on the 1st year rookies, and then a time-lapse highlights at seasons end. watch Ciraldo and that-other-bloke-i cant-remember at the Worriers expression go from hope, expectation & smiles R1 to crushing disappointment, exasperation & a why why why visage by R20.
Tony
Roar Guru
And add audio? :happy:
kk
Roar Pro
HY, The Team understanding Seibold may be akin to being forced to learn 'Finnish' which has no future tense.