Roar Rookie
Joined February 2016
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Own & run Beast Mode Personal Training in Canberra. Raiders fan and keen follower of the NFL in the offseason.
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Well, well, well. It appears it is time for a good old fashioned ‘I told you so'. In February this year I wrote an…
The Bunker has been quite the success so far this year. It makes for far more interesting viewing on TV than the previous video…
The Marty Taupau high tackle on Jack Bird has caused quite a bit of division in the rugby league community. Most people are coming…
The New Zealand Warriors will win the 2016 NRL premiership. Apparently. The Parramatta Eels will improve massively this year. Apparently. The Manly Sea Eagles…
With the NRL reducing interchanges from ten to eight per game in 2016, I decided to pull out my crystal ball and make my…
I have never understood the largely Australian phenomenon of arguing about which footy code is the best of the lot. It makes no sense,…
Think back to 2014 in Canberra and remember the malaise surrounding the Raiders football club. Average crowds of under 10,000 per match, prodigal son…
Nothing like a run such as this to get the neutrals excited. Go, Foxes, go!
How long until we declare the Premier League race over?
You’ll find the article is not saying ‘I told you so’, as mentioned in one of the above comments. It is merely using the teams as examples of the excessive media focus on attacking rugby league.
Warriors or Manly as premiers? Really?
Too much pride to admit his forward pack was thoroughly dominated. Penrith’s pack has tonnes of potential, but it was not on show yesterday.
Merrin: We were the better team
I did actually have this same article and opinion planned out prior to round one, so recent results have not effected what I’ve written. The teams themselves are merely examples of seemingly everyone’s disregard of the importance of defence.
Warriors or Manly as premiers? Really?
I think it is strange that the Matildas are not covered as much as the Socceroos. Australia loves success, and they seem to do a fair bit better than the Socceroos. I think in this case it is quite clear that the focus is not on the performance, othwerwise the Matildas would have all the headlines, rather than their recent win in Japan being a footnote on the news.
Cover the sport, not the spectacle
I think considering the dominance of Canberra’s pack the Panthers actually did very well to be in with a shot of winning it. Throw in Segeyaro’s injury and you have to start wondering whether the Panthers were very good, the Raiders poor at capitalising on opportunities, or a combination of both.
Canberra Raiders vs Penrith Panthers highlights: Sezer stars in Raiders win
It just baffles me completely. I’ve worked with plenty of elite, sub-elite, and amateur athletes and have not encountered any who find it difficult to abstain from alcohol in order to optimise their performance.
The celebrating is a big part. I think it is sensible to limit it to two drinks if you are celebrating and still competing in the current season. NRL players need every edge they can get, and the 0.5% performance drop they may have from a slightly slowet recovery phase due to their alcohol consumption could be the difference between winning and losing.
Mitchell Pearce has had his last alcoholic drink
I have never understood how any professional athlete struggles to stay away from alcohol. When your entire livelihood is dependant on your physical conditioning it should not be difficult to pull yourself together and not drink alcohol.
No pity for any athlete in trouble because of alcohol abuse.
They are in a privileged position and need to treat it as such.
Mitchell Pearce has had his last alcoholic drink
Hardly. The storm have Cronk and Smith, and in recent years have also had a very solid 5/8 such as Gareth Widdop or Blake Green. You could hardly call Cooper Cronk the sole playmaker.
NRL contenders and pretenders: Part 4
Very brave to say Manly will do so well with an unproven coach at the helm. I agree that DCE is a class player, but I do not think it will be enough to get them through the season without a hitch. There is also the fact that, given he will be their sole playmaker (as you say), it is certain that teams will line him up for a gluttony of punishment, running forwards at him even more than they run at Luke Brooks and Mitch Moses. There is a very significant chance that he will get injured at some point, and then it may well be curtains on Manly’s 2016 season.
NRL contenders and pretenders: Part 4
I am keen to see how Taylor goes at the Titans with a gift-wrapped opportunity to make a career for himself this season. Seems like a good bloke and has good raps on him.
Young guns set to fire in NRL 2016
As almost unheard of as it is to say, I do not think the Titans will do as badly as most people seem to think. Granted, they will almost certainly miss the top eight, they are something of an unknown proposition, especially in the early rounds. This may help them rack up enough points to warrant 10th to 12th place by the end of the season.
They halves pairing is potentially good enough to win games. Roberts is obviously something of a cast-off halfback, but he has been damaging at times in the past, and the young bloke coming through has some big raps on him. Could cause plenty of upsets, especially as other teams are likely to chalk the Titans up as a win before a ball has even been kicked.
Where are your NRL team's weaknesses?
He is pretty on point about the A-League anyway. Many more exciting leagues to watch and more money for him in China. Pretty hectic lifestyle over there too!
Tim Cahill deserves to be called one thing... Legend
That is also a good point. Has Pocock actually been accepted into a major university or is he just contemplating applying? I have not looked particularly deeply into the story but found this quite an interesting read.
In Australia you seem able to defer almost indefinetly.
To study or play rugby: A first hand story about the David Pocock conundrum
Not a fan of these sort of tackles being let off lightly. Having suffered a serious knee injury myself, and rehabilitated a number of athletes who have suffered similar injuries, I would not wish it on anyone. These tackles can destroy careers, and should be treated as such.
Klemmer downgraded, cops one-game suspension
I think you are being a bit too sensitive about this Hanrahan. If you actually read the article with an open mind you will see it is not telling you that you shouldn’t have free speech. It is telling you that you are wasting your own time attacking other codes. If that is what you want to do then all power to you. But I’m sure you could find more productive ways to spend your time.
But looking at your assumption that I work in a Government bureaucracy shows that you cannot actually be bothered spending two seconds clicking on my profile and finding out that I am in a very different industry, so it appears that you are actually incredibly busy. Good luck with your commenting, and maybe hold back on attacking people’s names over an article. Petty, immature, and counter-intuitive to your free speech argument.
Why code wars are for losers
Your last sentence is exactly the point of the article. Love your sport, support it and stand up for it, but trying to bring down other codes is pointless.
Why code wars are for losers
I think you are misinterpreting the point of the article. It is not saying that people should not be able to express opinions. Of course they should!
And I am as far from being a nanny-statist as it is possible to be.
The point of the article is that spending your time trying to convince someone else that their sport is bad or not as good as your favourite code, is simply a waste of time.
I, for example, spent many years arguing with AFL fans that their sport was soft, boring, and unskilful, and whose opinion did it change? Not one single person!
People like the sports they like and everyone should express their opinions on such, but to try and change someone’s mind is just wasting your own time as much as theirs.
Why code wars are for losers
I can see both sides of the argument, but my opinion is that study will always be option available to him, while professional rugby will not. So many people want to be in his position but do not have the skill, talent, or physical capabilities, and I think this is where the argument against Pocock taking a year off to study comes from.
He is in such a privileged position that so few people find themselves in, and I think alot of people find it strange that he would be willing to put that aside with no certainty of return for something that will always be available long after his rugby playing days are over. After rugby he will certainly have the financial capacity to study full time for years, so it does seem rather strange to take a year off.
Whatever makes him happiest is what he should do in this case and he does not have to answer to the fans, but I think he needs to be absolutely sure before he decides to take a break from rugby.
To study or play rugby: A first hand story about the David Pocock conundrum
I don’t think recruitment will solve enough of the Warriors’ issues to warrant them dominating the competition, as many people seem to think they will do.
One of the Warriors’ biggest underlying issues seems to be an inherent inability to deal with pressure. Whenever they are expected to win, they lose. If they are expected to hold onto the ball, they drop it. If they need two points to win the match and make the finals, they drop the ball with two minutes to play. If they fix their mental game and the spine combines then they can be very damaging, and I think Robson will help alot with that.
If Lolohea is forced to play then I think they will really struggle. He seems way out of his depth in first grade and despite his obvious talent, I think a season in reserve grade while learning from Robson will do him wonders before he takes over next year.
Additionally, how will they fare if their forward pack gets dominated? Johnson, RTS, and Luke can call dominate a game behind a rolling forward back, with Johnson and RTS is particular being adept at broken play, but how will these players perform when their forwards are getting beaten and they have a well structured defensive line in front of them? Time will tell, but I think most people would like to see the Warriors get serious and make another good run.
Can the Warriors make a dent in 2016?
I like the rule in most US sports where players have fixed three or four year rookie contracts, with their pay being unable to rise above a set salary for this time period.
Combined with your idea, this would give clubs a fair chance to hold their youngsters, while also giving them at least three or four years out of their juniors, rather than one or two (Milford, for example).
How the NRL can protect clubs that develop juniors
I think referees should make the call on anything not regarding the touch line, and if they get it wrong then the bunker team can overturn it immediately. Shouldn’t be too difficult.
Will the NRL Bunker really work?
I agree with alnost all of those headlines, though I do not think the Tigers will be as successful as you think.
Brooks and Moses are barely even speedbumps in defence, and still look way out of their depth. I know preseason reviews of them have been good, but they were last year as well.
The NRL’s lack of action on the CEO is quite ludicrous. It should have been sorted already. A role such as this would have had many high quality applicants.
Can you predict the rugby league headline acts in 2016?
As you said, he is no longer the superstar player he was at the Titans, because he doesn’t need to be. He is surrounded by match-winners.
He’ll find his form, no problem.
Why is James Roberts underperforming with the Broncos?