Think I might have two games mixed up here. Been watching too much NRL. It was the Storm halves who were putting kicks through with Gray in the defensive line. Munster in particular. Sam Walker was doing something similar to the Dragons defence in the earlier game with Sloan often caught out of position. Hope young Chevy Stewart was taking notes on how to position himself at full back.

Young Gray tried hard for the most part but had some terrible lapses. Maybe it was inexperience and sometimes fatigue. He got caught defending in the line time after time – and Walker had the smarts to just kick it through into the in goal to create numerous tries. Why the coach didn’t get him to defend deeper is beyond me. And I can recall a try scored by Coates on the left wing where you could see the shift telegraphed and Gray just trotted across field and was nowhere to be seen when the try was scored. You could imagine a Billy Slater, Dylan Edwards, Clint Gutherson or Jordan Rapana desperately sprinting across to try and cut Coates off before he scored. In fact how many tries were scored where Gray isn’t even in the frame?

That team looks pretty decent

Good point Albo – probably Luai – and maybe have Burton on the bench who can cover the halves and backs. If that’s the case I feel a bit sorry for Nicho as his form has been very good. But he’d be next in line to be picked if Cleary gets injured.

Will be interesting if Jack puts his hand up for Origin. I’d have him at left centre but he can also cover in the halves. Not sure Cody’s form can justify selection this year. He is a shadow of what he’s been in previous seasons. Down on confidence like a lot of the Souths players.

Some interesting choices there. Looks like a very competitive unit. I like Nicho starting and Mitch Barnett off the bench. He’s been a revelation for the Warriors this season. Having both Burton and Robson on the bench might be one too many smalls. You could replace one of them for Utoikamanu or another forward. But if you choose two forwards with big motors maybe you can get away with having two smaller players on the bench. They could be very damaging late in the game.

I don’t think the Blues can afford to have Nicho playing as a utility off the bench. Freddy gave him 10 minutes to cover in the centres in Game 1 last year and he got burnt and then subsequently blamed for the loss and cast aside. He’s either in the starting side or not at all. I think his current form warrants him starting in the halves with Cleary.

And I would have Dylan Edwards over Tedesco at full back. Teddy was in great form earlier this season but was embarrassing to watch against the Storm. If the forwards are dominating he gets more involved but if they aren’t he just ends up hitting brick wall after brick wall. Edwards offers more than Teddy does from what I’ve seen this season.

Savage isn’t even playing at full back Arnab. Mind you he is having a pretty decent season on the wing.

Robbo has left Ricky in his wake in the whinging stakes. Probably due to Robbo being on the receiving end of a few close losses and Ricky managing to chalk up a couple of wins. Would have been interesting to see Ricky’s reaction if they had lost that close one to the Titans.

I can understand Robbo’s frustration with Klein as he came up with his usual list of clangers and a complete lack empathy with letting the game flow. But the poor decisions were happening to both teams. 17 penalties is ridiculous. I’ll be amazed if he isn’t relegated to the bunker this weekend.

Ricky has handled himself pretty well in his pressers of late. Giving his team a serve for the soft loss against the Sharks after giving up an 18-0 lead, defending Kasey Badger after the tactics used by Dessie to slow down the ruck in the game against the Titans, and defending some of the younger players in the team (e.g. Chevy Stewart) after being blitzed by the Broncos in that first half on Saturday night rather than hanging them out to dry. But his nerve and temper is going to be severely tested in the coming months given injuries to key experienced members in the spine.

Can’t see how the Rosters can be ranked 7th. Their form this year has been abysmal apart from beating the Broncos first up in Vegas, beating up a depleted and psychologically decimated Rabbitohs, and finally getting over the Knights which could have gone either way. If they can’t get over the Dragons on Thursday – which is pretty likely given the form of both – alarm bells will really be ringing. I’d have them in 11th spot teetering on the edge.

I’d also have the Cowboys ranked behind the Dolphins, Dragons and Raiders given their poor recent month of form. And it doesn’t get any easier for them facing the Panthers next.

I think we were all shocked at how the Dolphins dismantled the Eels Matt – given their list of outs and the Eels coming off a win I was expecting the Dolphin to struggle. Amazing performance by them. 8 tries in 25 minutes is ridiculous. Imagine the score if Isaako had kicked straight. The Eels well and truly drooped their bundle though.

Along with the Dogs and Dragons the Dolphins are the surprise packets this season.

I guess the Raiders have been a surprise as well but you wonder what will happen in the next few months given Fogarty is out long term and they will miss Rapana for another month or so.

Its weird as I’ve probably watched all those games – I might be watching too much NRL – if that’s possible.

Now that I think about it the game against the Broncos was a high scoring shootout that was fun to watch where the Storm hung on. And the Storm found a way to get over the Warriors in another high scoring game with the Xavier Oates thriller try at the end. I’ve forgotten or I didn’t watch the Penrith game which must have been a pretty dour affair at 8-0.

Storm are very well placed now with those sorts of wins and now the win over the Roosters. Buggers just don’t die. Bellamy is a master coach. I wonder what would have happened if the Raiders board had selected Bellamy instead of Matthew Elliot to coach the Raiders all those years ago. I doubt we would be sitting here celebrating 30 years since the last Grand Final win in 1994!

Fair enough – my bad – getting too old and memory must be failing. They’ve had a lot of close wins and one seems to blur into another so I forget their opponents. They keep winning whoever they play without looking utterly convincing.

Well we are yet to see that – he could well be right

think he might have moved ahead of Sticky – who seems to be supporting refs now – if he wins …

The man is getting desperate. He has a star studded side on paper but they look directionless and rudderless.

Don’t know what to make of the Roosters – particularly from a tipping perspective. Each time I tip them they play like garbage and when I don’t they seem to fire up and find something (against Rabbits, Knights etc). Just can’t get a read on them. They look great on paper but look like a rabble bereft of ideas at times. Maybe I should give more credit to opposition defences or maybe they just aren’t that hard to defend against.

And Manu and Tedesco must be two of the most selfish players in the comp. Looks great for their run metres statistics but doesn’t do a lot from a team perspective when they hog the ball and don’t link up with other players. Teddy was just so frustrating to watch last night – slipping and sliding and going nowhere – the only time I saw him pass was from dummy half. Manu looked far more threatening but again refused to link up with team mates when he was in a position to.

Storm weren’t great but their team first philosophy continues to get them home. Thought Paps and Grant were relatively quiet but Munster and Hughes ran the show pretty well. Agree with Baz that both teams seemed out of ideas in the 20 metre zone and continued to resort to cross field kicks to try and score. There are better attacking teams in the comp for mine – Sharks, Cowboys, Penrith, Broncos, Warriors etc

Interesting that the NRL has now come out and said that Chevy was offside. But they would have awarded a restart – not a penalty and a chance to win the game – if it had been spotted. And that it isn’t the role of the bunker to adjudicate on whether defenders are onside or offside in those circumstances.

I could have sworn that I’ve seen players pinged for being offside in the past trying to charge a kick down and sides have subsequently won after nailing the penalty kick. But maybe the penalty has come from the on field ref and not the bunker. Its probably up to the touchie to spot this as the ref has too much else to look at.

Each to their own DP. Respect your views on draws as I can understand that both teams deserve something sometimes. But I guess each team knows the rules so they should be preparing for strategies to win in golden point. Felt for the Titans as they had given their all in that game.

A few have commented that it wasn’t much of a game but you could sense the Titans were up for the contest and I was never comfortable at the ground with the fact that the Raiders didn’t get much of a lead despite dominating possession. Credit to the Titans defence. Hopefully they get something out of it in coming weeks.

Well we all have our preferences but I think you’ve got it completely wrong on this DPS.
That amazing kick by Kelly to tie the game in the 79th minute gave the Titans a chance to win it. I was actually glad he kicked it as I thought the Titans deserved a chance to win given the way they hung in there and then came back to score two late tries. A draw would have been a complete fizzer.
And a bit sad that you just accept that Chevy Stewart was offside based on what you’ve heard – not what you saw. It was close and could have gone either way. But it wasn’t blatantly offside – put it that way.
The Titans had their chances to win but couldn’t quite nail it. Whereas the Raiders created something out of nothing and did. Needless to say I like Golden Point for the drama it creates.

Yeah Ricky has history BG but I liked the way he stuck up for Kasey on Sunday.

Normally coaches don’t seek each other out for criticism but Ricky didn’t miss after the game.

Gutho rubs a lot of people up the wrong way with some of his antics but you have to love him as a competitor. He’s always giving 100% and obviously hates losing. He reminds me of Jordan Rapana with the way he is always in the contest. He might not be everyone’s cup of tea with his multitude of haircuts and the swivel hip dances after scoring a try. I’d rather have a captain who is in the ref’s face than a silent wallflower. He’s a character who wears his heart on his sleeve. Every team should have a Gutho or Jordy.

Des and the Titans got what they deserved – and he knows it.

So do you want to return to the wrestle and people lying all over players in the ruck?

I thought Ricky got it spot on his comments in the Sunday presser. He said if we go back to where we were he’d be arranging extra wrestling sessions during the week. Which Joe Tapine looked horrified about as he hates it.

Dessie got what he deserved with his negative tactics.

Still over rated for mine.

What is it with Stuey Thomas Baz. I thought you were hard to please.

Can’t agree with you on Golden Point DPS. And I’m sure we’ve had this argument before. Along with the value of the bunker.

Golden point was about the only thing that saved the game between the Raiders and the Titans on Sunday night – where both teams struggled to get any attacking ascendancy.

The whole crowd went through the emotional wringer from likely defeat one minute when AJ Brimson made a break to set up a possible field goal to Foran which was subsequently blocked, to resignation that a draw was about as good as we could get in the next 30 seconds after having a lead in normal time for an hour or so, to my God we could win this after Strange somehow makes a break down the wing to subsequently set up Fogarty’s field goal for the win with 8 seconds left. The whole crowd rose as one as the Raiders plucked victory out of the jaws of probable defeat.

I’d much rather that than a boring draw.