Roar Guru
Joined June 2014
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There has certainly been no lack of drama in the league world since the final siren sounded on the last day of September.
It’s been a week since Game 3 of Origin and with pretty much any discussion on the game revolving around post-match drama I figured I’d take the opportunity to remind everyone that a game did in fact take place prior to the awards ceremony.
I’ve been putting this article off for a while now. It has been sitting in my hard drive under various iterations since the Game 1 State of Origin loss for Queensland.
After the retirements of Queensland stalwarts Johnathan Thurston and Cooper Cronk, the state’s first Origin team for 2018 was always going to have a different flavour to it.
Well here we are, nine rounds in and already the football is starting to distract from the true purpose of the early season – providing context to present fans their preferred NSW Blues line-up for Game 1 of State of Origin.
If you’ve been following this series you’ll already be aware which teams have made my all important top five, but now it’s time to place them in order and list arbitrary reasons for doing so!!
Well here we are. With part 1 and part 2 covering teams 9 through 16, it’s time jump into the top eight.
With the bottom five teams established in part one of this series, we find ourselves about to delve into the meat of the season.
‘Tis the season to dress up complete guesswork as research and statistical analysis.
Watching the eighth-placed Cowboys knock out both the fifth-placed Sharks and the fourth-placed Eels in succession got me thinking.
Referee-bashing, it’s existed since the dawn of sport. Yet here we are at the business end of the season and it’s all anyone can talk about.
It’s that time of year again. Queensland have walked away with yet another State of Origin victory and every man and his dog is laying into New South Wales over various perceptions as to why and how they lost.
What just happened? The dynasty was over, Queensland had been weighed, measured and found wanting.
I’m honestly surprised at just how many halves have found themselves in front of Keary. How many premierships does he have to win to get some attention while other halves get heaped with praise for average results.
The Roar's top 50 NRL 2019: 20-11
Now now Barry, I’m sure Drew is just one of the many NRL/Boxing fans that appear in cronological order to reference BigJ articles and support with him in the occasional discussion.
The Roar's top 50 NRL 2019: 30-21
Not sure it’s really worth more punishment. Put it this way, it’s $20k and a weeks suspension more then Sharks players actually recieved for not cooperating with asada and taking a guilty plea for something they were directly involved with (innocent or not).
NRL games can’t get here fast enough
That’s an irrelevent arguement, for every example you bring up a QLDer could bring up a counter example that paints QLD as the victim. It doesn’t prove anything other then what side of the border you side with and which bias you find more palatable.
How many rugby league clubs can fill a stadium with just their own fans?
I agree TB, but going off the information currently available it appears that Hass’s involvement isn’t under question, it’s what he witnessed.
I don’t think the Broncos are wrong to enforce their standards (and I don’t think they really have a choice, you can’t encourage players to not cooperate with the NRL), but by the same token I’m not going to hold it against Haas for his actions if he wasn’t directly involved in anything. Best case scenario here is probably for Haas to cop his punishment and things to move on. I doubt any investigation hinges purely on Hass’s testimony
NRL games can’t get here fast enough
To be honest, I’d be less worried about the police knowing what happened then finding my families dirty laundry all over tommorrows papers given the leaks in the NRLs boat
NRL games can’t get here fast enough
Fair enough, you’re reply deserved a better response then I gave. I get what you’re saying about menbers, but member levels are much less of a marker of support in the NRL then comparible sports. And bums on seats are less relient on success in the NRL then other sports as per your examples as well as the relative lack of support show to certain successful clubs. I personally don’t believe member numbers represent anything other then member numbers in this arguement. But lets leave the conspiracy theories at the door, they undermine your arguement.
Also, what QLD media? There’s litterally one QLD based newspaper and it’s very much under the Daily Telle’s umbrella, everything else we get is the same coverage the NRL gets in NSW.
How many rugby league clubs can fill a stadium with just their own fans?
There was already a list at the end of the season so I’d take this as which players are expected to be the most influencial over the coming season with last years form and their personal ability given some weight in the decision making. The conclusions are up for debate but I’d say that was the goal going off last years list
The Roar's top 50 NRL 2019: 30-21
oh, sorry, didn’t realise you were one of those poeple…
How many rugby league clubs can fill a stadium with just their own fans?
iirc Scott did an article after last years list where he gave his list and reasons for it and the differences between the two lists, so you might get what you’re asking for yet.
When it comes to footy players, even coaches rate different aspects of thier games higher or lower then others would so you have to expect a fair degree of disparity regardless.
The Roar's top 50 NRL 2019: 30-21
Honestly not sure what to think about this story yet. I’m not entirely sure what kind of jurisdiction the Integrity Unit has over non-players so I’m not sure what to think about fining a guy for not giving information on something not involving any players.
As my wife says (not a broncos fan), she wouldn’t trust any NRL department with compromising information on her family and certainly not when it comes to fair treatment.
NRL games can’t get here fast enough
That’s not entirely true mate, he spoke to the Integrity Unit. They just weren’t happy with the level of cooperation he gave (ie, they thought he was withholding some information). He hasn’t actually been accused of anything other then not ratting out his family
NRL games can’t get here fast enough
To be fair, that’s members not fans
How many rugby league clubs can fill a stadium with just their own fans?
To be fair, there are always players that you either rate or you don’t. Collating 5 different lists into one is always going to create annomalies. Take Hunt for example, I’d imagine he finds himself in 30th spot because most of the experts have him in a fairly narrow range around that spot, but when it comes to the souths halves pairing I’d guess that a couple experts had them much higher in the rankings compared to much lower spots (or not ranked at all) from the rest. It is how it is.
The Roar's top 50 NRL 2019: 30-21
Doubt that’s the motivation. Kahu just found himself becoming surplus to requirements. With Boyd, Isaako, Roberts, Bird and Oates there’s not really much room out the back foot the young guys coming though as it is without even looking at recruiting anyone.
Jordan Kahu to make Broncos exit and head north to the Cowboys
The only thing I’m worried about is how much game time he got for someone that was pretty much just covering injuries, hopefully injuries are kinder to us this year
Jordan Kahu to make Broncos exit and head north to the Cowboys
What’s the issue? No contracts were broken, no one got screwed over. It was a good outcome for all parties. This is what contracts are for, to protect the interests of both parties and shape how issues are resolved.
Jordan Kahu to make Broncos exit and head north to the Cowboys
I get where you’re coming from Barry, but if we’re talking purely about bringing the game into disrepute I think things have to put in perspective. When Stewart was punished for that it was because he got drunk at a public event while being the “face of the league”. Do JDB’s actions really compare? What brought the game into disrepute was the accusation of rape, if you take away that no one would be talking about this. Sharing a taxi with an adult woman (I know “teenager” sounds more emotive but lets not try and insinuate things that aren’t there) and another man after leaving a nightclub in the offseason is hardly bringing the game into disrepute, what happened after that is purely accusations. I’m not going to defend JDB (and I’m certainly not convinced of his innocence), but if that’s the standard that we’re going to use to judge what’s bringing the game into disrepute we better be ready to start handing out a lot of suspensions to a lot of players (and administrators).
I also have to say that I’m a bit perplexed by the authors hardline stance here compared to the distinct lack of coverage around the accusations hanging over Hayne’s head all season while at her club. There seems to be a trend at the moment of outrage being more dependent on percieved public sentiments then actual events, and that strikes me as a very dangerous thing.
Stand Jack de Belin down until his case is resolved
Yeah Fats, why didn’t you give out completely irrelevant personal information over the Internet?
On that basis alone your argument is clearly inconsequential and Tim is clearly above criticism. How could anyone compete with such an airtight defence
Who are NRL HQ's least to most favourite teams?
Gotta say Tim, even for one of your annual pre-season click bait pieces, you really phoned this one in. You could’ve at least included a table or something to at least give the impression this article was based on something tangeble, even one of your arbitrary points tallys would have sufficed.
I mean come on mate, the NRL has been propping up your two least favoured clubs for half a decade…
Who are NRL HQ's least to most favourite teams?
For a self proclaimed stats man Tim sure ignores a lot inconvenient information
Who are NRL HQ's least to most favourite teams?
Pedantic? Like latching onto the word “world” as if it’s trying to denote something it’s not. You seem very uptight about a game people don’t take that seriously, not that I don’t appreciate the irony of an obvious troll account getting upset about something someone said on the Internet.
Latrell Mitchell to snub Roosters' World Club Challenge quest as NRL names All Star teams
….um, you guys finished yet? At 40ish comments this whole self-pity circlejerk thing is getting a bit awkward for everyone else.
Predicting the 2019 NRL premiers before a ball is kicked