Fair enough, everyone’s different. To me it looked like the Roosters were playing uphill and only just hanging in on the scoreboard. I know how that sounds given the Panthers didn’t pull away until the 66th minute, but that was my impression watching. It may well have changed things if Todd Byrne wasn’t channelling Rod Wishart a bit eariler…

I do remember Morley being everywhere though. Now if they just gave CCMs to losing players …

You’re right, he didn’t have a good game and turned out to be the Steve Mavin of the Grand Final, which is unfortunate because he has been a stellar performer all year. Brett Stewart giving him a gobful doesn’t auger well for contract speculation though …

Now, what’s this about the 2003 Grand Final? I seem to recall the Panthers being in control the entire match, with the Roosters having less penetration than Samantha’s ill-fated boyfriend on Sex & The City. Remind me of its credentials as one of the great Grand Finals?

That wasn’t the point. The reply to the article was about their resilience in the face of the unknown, which includes the coach and staff and their ability to keep the playing roster focused.

They may well be turfed from the finals, who knows? The NRL have 2wks max to do it, though, and it appears that ASADA are nowhere near as advanced on the NRL investigation as they were the AFL.

Right on the money, and I felt exactly the same – Qld came to play for sure, but the game was over at that point because the referees allowed it to be. Defending for almost the entirety of the first 20-30 minutes kills any side, and not only were the home team given significant benefit of the doubt on 50/50 calls (Maloney’s early ‘strip’, for instance), but Cameron Smith’s strip was visible from the moon. They can’t keep missing this stuff. The difference is quite profound – Qld are enabled keep piling on the pressure, or NSW get the penalty and are immediately attacking the Maroons line, and we settle into an equally placed tussle.

By the way, I wouldn’t blame David Smith for the biff rule at all. Losing 2 players to the bin is fine and manageable. But the idea of sending Tate and Bird is a complete and utter joke. There were two punchers, and only 2 bins required.

The rule is ‘supposed’ to enable the referee to maintain control – they blew it. But they blew it earlier as well by allowing Slater to stay on after what can only be regarded as an intentional elbow. His remarks to Pearce immediately after the event confirm it. It lit the use that a sin bin would have extinguished, just like the Nate Myles-Jarryd Hayne incident in Game 1.

Cast you mind back to the Joey Johns show in the 2001 Grand Final. 24-0 at half-time wasn’t a contest, but by geez was it a spectacle!

Are you denying the effort he puts in?

His efforts on the field are not an issue for me, though there may be off-field issues that are undermining team harmony.

Clearly there is more to this than you or I know.

* not his manager

Well said Titus. It is a constant reminder that there is a pre-existing undercurrent running through our society that needs to be snapped. It will clearly take time.

A little jibe here, a crack there, all serving to remind that someone is inferior, it has always been so, and always will be. We ALWAYS have to be mindful of the context in which comments are made, or actions taken.

I’m not a fan of this remnant of the past, just like I’m not a fan of clobbering my children, or kicking someone when they are down.

Compassion, people. We should all strive to be better.

Personally, I kind of like the Eddie Charlton snooker cue style from short range.

The R&A work in 4s – a homage to the 4-point try in Rugby League if I’m not mistaken. Back when Snead’s croquet style was banned, they changed things within a ‘reasonable amount of time’.

Re Sam Snead’s croquet style, see this article in the 1967 Sports Illustrated, where one sentence captures the idea very well:

“The essence of the rule is that not only does a golfer have to try to sink a putt, he has to look good doing it.”

So when you get an unlikely par and someone says, “They don’t draw pictures on the scorecard”, well, they kind of do!

Interestingly, it also contains this gem:

Gary Player, who has had enough putting troubles to make him try just about everything but the croquet style, says, “I don’t believe you should put a man down to hitting the ball one way.”

And he has been vocal about the broom stick, and supports the current ban! That’s in between asking female journalists to punch him in the stomach so they can feel how hard his abs are.

The link below has some footage, along with the very believable idea that the ban was ‘personal’.

http://www.golfwrx.com/forums/topic/757179-why-did-they-ban-sam-sneads-croquet-putting-style/

Haha … I won’t say you’re right, but you’re not wrong …

Did you notice Inglis mentioning that he has based his fullback play on Slater and Mini? I was shocked, then not really shocked …

I think the extra time Melbourne played and the amount of defensive work the Roosters were forced to do cancel themselves out as far as this week is concerned.

Two things stand out for this game (and round):

1, The Roosters can’t keep allowing teams to dominate possession, especially the Storm. It caught up with them against the Raiders, the Cowboys were close to repeating that (but stuffed it up), and the Storm isn’t the right team to give more than 50% of the ball.

2. The Rabbitohs and Roosters have a golden opportunity to make a break from 3rd and 4th positions this week, especially if the Raiders can knock off Manly (and that is quite realistic). It would be an awesome buffer going into Origin, and almost guarantee a top-4 finish.

Matai’s stiff arm on Burgess was worse to my mind. Intentional upward contact on the ball which, 90% of the time, will cannon into the head.

Just remember the JWH was a Grade 1 – hardly send-off material.

The other unlucky guy this week was Everingham don’t you think?

I was kidding. Of course we will have no such thing. Referees are like goldfish. They’ve already forgotten that you can’t be in front of the kicker at kick off.

They are indeed a blight on the game. They can’t even remember that they’re supposed to make sure the team kicking off is behind the kicker. They started hard in 2013, and then, like goldfish, simply forgot. I can’t remember the Knights being on side on any of their multiple kick offs yesterday.

Another example of a very basic mistake – The Eels were penalised because a Broncos player put his hand on the line getting up to play the ball. Now, unless the rule has changed (unlikely, and there was an almighty stink about this a few years back), that is not out, and it is play on. Legal Aid wouldn’t defend a touchie!

Simple stuff, but too simple for some.

Wow, nice find. I hadn’t seen that.

Not included in the article is the quality of teams he coached. Brian Smith would’ve won premierships with his (near) Origin sides, though his work at Saints was high quality.

As long as they pick the player on the correct side of the field!! 🙂

It’s well known that a great player on the left side of the field can be ineffective on the right. They need to match it up, which is advice they’ve ignored in the past (assuming someone’s name makes them an automatic selection, either on the wrong side of the field or out of position … it doesn’t, and hasn’t worked, even with Hayne).

If they pick Merritt, for example (too early for Jorge), it has to be left wing. There’s a reason Hodges plays on the right, never the left.

I’m with Nathan (below) … Reece Robinson is awesome and would be an asset to the Blues.

Why get points for losing in golden point? You’ve lost the game. No soup for you.

Besides, it opens up an easy way to abuse the system.

And why only 3 points for winning the game? It’s like a penalty for not being able to finish it off in regulation time.

I can’t see any coach agreeing to that.

I understand we all have different opinions on this, and that’s fine, but I agreewith you that there is nothing wrong with a draw. It simpy moves the climax of expectations back to the 80th minute rather than the extra time period. Draws are as exciting as a 1-2 point ballgame where it’s effectively next try wins, either way.

If a draw is that unsatisfying, let the teams play until midnight. Why stop it at all? Clearly that’s ridiculous, but so is golden point (to me)

I also like the old 10 minutes each way in semi finals. A great way to get a result.

Those NRL players you mention weren’t a patch on what Folau is doing right now, and I for one never bought into that hype apart from Rogers (at a stretch), who was an above average performer. Folau is menacing and destructive in a way other outside backs are not, even if he does still have a lot to learn.

Bear in mind that I am not a particular fan of his either for various reasons, so no rose coloured glasses here. It actually irks me that he is playing this well.

The rule states that a player is not allowed to intentionally knock the ball forward to gain an advantage. It’s actually quite a ridiculous rule considering knocking the ball forward leads, more often that not, to a knock-on. And possession in this game is the most important thing, after all, so it’s not a ‘coachable tactic’, so to speak.

We can talk about player depth and coaching staff forever, but here are the things Parramatta need to work on:

Parramatta by the numbers – averages to Round 7:

– Their Penalty Ratio is 0.78, which is the lowest in the competition
– They make 141 Runs/game, the lowest in the competition
– Which is caused by the worst Possession stats in the game, 47.5%
– Metres gained at 1233 is second only to the Tigers (1193 as of Round 7)
– Completions are low, but similar to Manly, Storm and Cowboys … the difference being Possession and Metres gained
– Opposition Completions at an average of 29.1 are the highest in the competition, demonstrating a lack of pressure applied)
– Offloads/game are the lowest of any team, indicating little urgency with the ball either
– Halves tackles, a favourite metric of mine, is the lowest of all teams (6.% of all tackled made), meaning they are not doing enough work to alleviate pressure on bigger men and ball runners
– Total halves runs and kicks are also below par, culminating in less than half the Panthers’ kicks last week (what was their game plan? Play in their own half?)
– Tries against are the highest in the league (obviously)
– Tries against them from kicks are nearly 40% of all tries, meaning they also have a poor aerial defence.

Clearly they need to try something to liven up the desire in the team, which the stats above indicate could be a whole lot better.

They also should stop talking about Hayne at 5/8 and just do it. Somebody needs to threaten the opposition line, and Parramatta are not using him the way the Rabbitohs, Storm, Bulldogs and Manly utilise their fullbacks, which is a complete waste of everybody’s time.

Exaclty Turbo. We shouldn’t even need to talk about time wasting. It shouldn’t be an issue.

Low hanging fruit … exactly. The article above is purely basics, not rocket science. Be nice to see the NRL lay a platform with the basics covered. Then again,Cronulla can’t draw and pass, so …

Just imagine the opportunity this would create in so many areas … increased numbers of spectators attracted by a longer, more fulfilling experience (there’s a tablet for that …), more gate receipts, more food & drink sales, more advertising space … plus the rest.

Dogs, I like the idea of less interchange like you, and perhaps this is one way of doing it … though I still prefer less interchange ‘full stop’. Taking out fatigue as a factor is dragging us closer to NFL!

Less interchange = bigger players. They can carry the extra 10-15kgs because endurance has been reduced as a factor.

I’m not a fan of the 18th man at all, but see enormous value in stripping a team of a player based on foul play where a player is lost for the match – ie. John Cartright looks at the Manly bench when Fa’aoso polexes Harrison, and picks any one of those four to take no further part in the game. Clearly, Toovey would not want Watmough on the bench at that time.

This is a clear, easily implemented deterrent to foul play. Keep it simple, rather than farting around with extra men.

Some coaches will always have players bend rules and create new slowing tactics, figuring the rewards outweigh the repercussions. Let’s call that coach ‘Craig’.

Other coaches will haul their player off the field if they stop to fling their hands in the air for an obstruction, because they realise it could lead to a try and not a penalty. Let’s call that coach ‘Michael’.