I was glad when Levi left Manly and was surprised to see him first choice hooker at the Raiders. He’s gone better than I thought but I think he’s missing something to be a good first grader.
The dropped ball when a try was on was probably viewed as bad luck and it was probably linked to his steam running out but it’s a bit of a reflection on his capabilities as well.

The strength of a teams roster is starting to show a bit more now the dust is settling.

Some teams with weaker rosters can look like champions at times but they can’t keep it up typically.

Watching the Chooks give the opponents a smacking then seeing the herd of talent they had in the crowd watching the contest is pretty sobering. I’m hoping they fade away but if they get a good run with injuries for the remainder I’m fearful they will mount a serious tilt.

It’s often said the best players have more time and watching Hynes play it’s got a fair element of truth. Any player can be harassed and controlled though with a rushing dominant defence. The Pennies have been doing it for half a decade now.

I commented a few days back (my response wasn’t published somehow) about the ruling of loose carry when Sivo knocked the ball out of Saabs hand on Friday night. It was then claimed that the ruling was correct because Sivo hit Saabs hand and not the ball. I’d encourage punters to take the time to look at a replay before debating an issue like this, which I doubt happened.

Manly won but it doesn’t mean they should ignore blatantly incorrect calls when reviewing things. In some games they matter , a lot.

If the ruling was correct then the Eels were possible denied a match changing try assuming the ref and co missed the forward pass which isn’t uncommon. Arthur didn’t blow up about this? Why? Because he knew the ruling was wrong.

Brutal Manly emerges now and again and we look like champions but then the intensity goes the other way and we look pretty average.

I didn’t know Brooks was as tough as he is. Very skillful as well.

I wish the bunker would stop using this ”loose carry” crappola to justify the wrong call.

I think it was Saab who picked up a ball from the ground cleanly and as he was doing it an Eel came in and deliberately played at the ball and knocked it forward from his grasp which is a knock on.

I wonder how many injuries DCE and Brooks have had between them over their careers?

They’re always fit and in good order which is a big bonus for us compared to recent history.

The Eels were a strong opponent tonight which is pretty common for teams which have been badly smacked the week before.

The thing I like about Brooks is if he’s not starring he is happy to do what’s required and plays a steady role.

I’ve got a feeling our outside backs need to be a lot more aggressive in defence. It’s all a bit passive and it’s not working that well. I can see someone putting the dreaded 50 on us if we’re not careful.

Milne was probably hoping for a harsher ”punishment” as well.

Have a look at Coates try to see how effective it is when wingers and other backs stand really deep.

If there is a bit of space it becomes a walk in the park compared to these stuttering runs you see often from wingers. A kick would have been effective as well.

The Storm were great of course but their centres are very ordinary compared to other top teams. Wighton looked way more dangerous in a team beaten by 50 plus. It might not matter but it could.

I don’t know if the lighting was a bit average but poor old coach Webster looked like he’d aged by 13 years in the press conference.

God knows what D.W.Z is trying to achieve by leaving his opposing winger unmarked at exactly the wrong time on a few highlights I saw. It’s not understandable.

The crunch time is starting to hit a few teams now with Saints getting smashed and the Warriors losing at home to the Titans.

I find it strange as well.

His ”failures” seem to be ignored but every other coach gets full scrutiny when things don’t go well. The excuses or reasons why the Knights didn’t do well are valid but the same excuses are also valid for other coaches.

Manly for example have had nothing but problems for a decade with a probable superstar jailed , another player dying, their best player constantly injured , AFB doing the bolt, now Schuster ……… yet the coaches get both barrels.

He’s got a great reputation with most players and this helps recruitment which in turn helps him to win. I read a quote from him a long time back where he was clear that coaches should be judged on title wins. By that standard he’s been well back in the pack for a long time.

I was only wondering about him the other day and what he was up to.

Sad news and a big shock. Half a century used to be a fair innings but it’s not these days.

Six teams have won titles in the last decade.

Selective use of stats at it’s finest B.G.

Several other teams went close also.

The big thing in general for new coaches is getting the timing right either by accident or design.

Teams like the Dogs and Tigers have been building rosters for a fair while now and at some stage a coach was going to arrive when the rosters potential was starting to show. Walters at the Broncos is a good example. It’s been widely claimed he isn’t much of a coach. What he’s showing is that you don’t have to be a super coach to do well . Cleary is a great example of a coach getting his timing right in the end.

If the Pennies titles are a lot to do with Cleary then he is proving himself to be vastly superior to Bellamy and Bennett. I doubt that is true.

Flanagan is an example of a coach making a difference I believe but the jury is out on where he goes from here. Very few coaches like him repeat past glories because they never get the quality of cattle.

People complaining about the same teams dominating has been a regular topic for a fair while. Nobody is saying it’s been happening since the eighties.

Coupled with the complaints about the same teams dominating are the complaints that the top teams are stuck there because players will go to them or stay for less bickies. Same reasoning for the bottom teams being stuck. They have to pay overs.

I don’t agree that that reasoning and history backs my claims. If I’m shown to be wrong then I’ll accept that. It’s already been proven wrong however in recent years with the complaints of the Storm and Roosters dominating which were common. It’s yesterdays fish and chip wrapper. The Pennies have changed that.

Try telling anyone in 1986 that the Eels and Dogs would win two titles between them up until now. There is a fair chance the Chook and Storm dominance is already over. Time will tell.

The thing about dominance in the NRL is that it’s depicted as the same old teams on top all the time.

It’s just not true. The Pennies have had one era of being dominant and that’s now. The Roosters had a dominant spell in the mid seventies but were in the wilderness for decades after that. The Broncos and Raiders were dominant in one era and so were the Eels. The list goes on.

The Storm have bucked the trend to a fair extent but it’s not as if they’ve been too dominant.

Which teams dominate next? It’s been assumed that the Pennies keep on rolling on but I wouldn’t bet on it. The idea that poorly run clubs are that way permanently is not true either, things change. The reverse also applies. The Dogs and Broncos looked to have the world at their paws and hoofs a while back but they went down the spout………for a while.

I don’t think the domination of the Pennies is a bad thing at all. It’s a nice change from the narrative that it was close to impossible to win two in a row in the modern era which was rife not that long ago.

The main thing to me is that the club you follow has a fair chance to come good if they get it right and I believe that’s the case. The Broncos haven’t won a title for ages but they’ve come from the spoon to almost winning it in a short time. It’s similar for a lot of grand finalists and title winners. The Pennies were struggling not long ago as well.

It was virtually impossible to be any lower than Manly early this century. The club didn’t have the money to spend the cap and got to pick players after the newly returned Bunnies had a crack at them. Within a few years the club was in the eight and then winning titles. Most of the other powerhouse clubs were left in their wake.

Something similar could happen to any club now.

Did I hear his name mentioned somewhere as a likely SOO player this year?

His timing is pretty shabby whatever the case.

It’s got a nice dose of comedy about it.

Saints have done well , very well.

It shows once again that none of the apparently weaker rosters are as weak as they seem. Get the defence right and run hard and you’ve got the start of a team which can compete. It enables the better players to show their potential as well.

The hardest part is to keep it going. Teams like the Knights , Manly and the Cows have looked like champions at times in the last few years but go back to the land of chumps just as quickly as they left it.

It will be claimed that coach Flanagan will keep it going and it will be interesting to see if he can.

Lomax for captain/coach?

Ted is playing way better than last season but appears to be past his best.

I’m not sure about the Chooks but there was a strong case to select someone else for NSW last season. All this talk about never knocking a champion is a bit on the flimsy side. Turning a blind eye is daft.

Big Jack should quit and take on fellow cave man Curtis Scott in the ring.

I wonder if Pongas foot injury is related to his hip strain after changing the way he moves to compensate?

You’d think Garrick would have been raring to go after an extended break but he was very average.

He seems pretty bright but watching him come in and leave Kelly with fresh air makes me wonder what’s going thru his mind. He was up too far , planting his feet and brain and bingo , off goes Kelly.

DCE had another one of those games where he wasn’t the wise head he should be but a player almost determined to make errors. You can see it in his persona at times.

I don’t get why he didn’t drop a few kicks in behind the defensive line line instead of the predictable highish bombs which the Titans gathered uncontested and ran back to where a short attacking kick would land anyway.

Leading the way was Jurbo , Waddell and Paeseka . Turbo was great but looks a touch unhappy about something. Probably carrying an injury or two.

The two points and a probable lack of injuries is what this game was all about. Maybe it’s a season where every team is bad at times. The Pennies weren’t so great against Manly a few weeks back.

Winning Origin is nice but give me an NRL title any day over a SOO series win.

If NSW don’t ”get” Origin then you could also claim that the QLD club teams don’t ”get” the NRL comp.

The NRL premiership is the big prize in world Ruggba League.

Manly were very poor against Saints a few weeks back but it disguised how strong Saints defence was. Even when we did string some good play together we weren’t creating chances.

I’ve noticed Flannagan junior has been taking on the line with plenty of show and goes this season but I can’t remember him doing much of that in previous seasons. Why?

”Run first” has been bagged for being too simplistic but I don’t think it is. It can change the trajectory of a half and his team.