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Joined September 2018
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Tough one this year as I think some of the top teams have gone slightly backwards for 2020 when it comes to rosters. Both GF teams are weaker on paper. Souths have lost a lot of cattle in the forwards, Manly are lacking in the hooker department depending on how Levi fits in. Storm lost a few outside backs and Croft. Sharks have lost some grunt in the forwards also and have no real home ground advantage. Only the Eels and Broncs have really strengthened their teams. A couple of decent ins for Parra in the forwards, but I’m just not convinced on their whole side, and if they lose Moses at any time, they are toast. Brisbane will benefit from Croft, but is he enough. Plenty of talent in their backs, and if their young forward pack fires, they would be unbeatable. But just how well are they coached and can they produce every week.
To the other teams, some new coaches to help GC and Knights I believe. Knights may surprise a few teams this year. I think the Cowboys are on the way up also, and if their forward pack goes forward, then their backs will do the job. Penrith, still not sure about. Couple of handy signings but no Maloney. I don’t rate the Tigers as their squad just isn’t good enough and I think they will finish lower than 9th this year. Merrin won’t be enough to save the Dragons, especially with a few injury concerns to start the year. It is going to be a really long year for the Warriors also. They will struggle to avoid the WS. And the Doggies will upset a few teams but don’t have enough cattle to really threaten.
I’m thinking very similar to last year but the Cowboys and Knights may push up and the Sharks and one of the green teams may slide down. But anything could happen as we all know and it is a very long season. Enjoy 🙂
Predicting the 2020 NRL top eight
I’m curious to know why Jake T stayed on the field after that tackle. Not a Manly or Storm fan, and I love the brothers from a talent point of view. But Cotric got sent off a couple of weeks ago for a very similar tackle. At least 10 in the bin for that, considering Hughes had to leave the field for a HIA. Dare I say the word ‘consistency’. The refs do put the whistle away once it is in field goal time. Cheers.
Manly stun Storm with golden-point win
First game of the season, and at the Storm’s home ground. And have never lost an opening game under Bellyache, the odds were alsways stacked against Brisbane. Other than missing the retirement of Slater, it was business as usual for Melbourne. The Broncs on the other hand have a new coach, lost rep player McGuire, and had two gun players coming back from long term injury (Gillett & Bird).
The good thing was that the refs let the game flow. Great to see compared this time last year.
All the stats wold suggest that the Broncs put a fair effort in. I believe there were 5x players who ran for 100m plus, and plenty of tackles and tackle busts.
Two things that probably made the difference. One was losing Roberts so early in the game, limiting Brisbane to 16x players for the majority of the match. Hard work so early in the season. The 2nd and most obvious thing was the kicking game by both teams. Melbourne killed it here, continuously pinning Boyd down in the corners. Brisbane were woeful in this department. They just haven’t got a decent tactical kicker in their side. At least Milford pulled off a few decent tackles 🙂
The Storm nearly blew it also. They should have put the Broncs to bed in that first half, but instead let them back into the game. I’m not sure Bellamy will be that happy, even though they had a win.
Not a bad game to start the season and I especially liked the Bromwich dummy on Boyd 🙂 Cheers.
Melbourne storm to victory in NRL season opener
I like the guessing games. The loss to Samoa was a big one, and if you want to go a few years further back to late 2009, didn’t the Wobblies lose to Scotland. November, I believe and the score was 9-8, where the Aussies completely dominated. But that could be any game they play as they seem to have a knack of holding teams, or even dominating teams for a while, before stuffing it up. Cheers.
UPDATE: Rugby Australia deny match-fixing probe, Michael Hooper "shocked" by claims
Not a big fan of the Indigenous All Stars game as it is only an exhibition match. Can be a bit like watching the Harlem Globetrotters v Washington Generals, where the week is all about the Indigenous team and not so much about their opponents. But having said that, I understand that it is important to the Indigenous community as a whole as it raises awareness and runs community events etc. Which is a good thing. But the game lacks the intensity at times, and can also lack a bit of star power, especially from the opposition.
As I live overseas, I use the Watch NRL site/app to watch all of the NRL games, and this game was a little tricky to find, where I had to contact them directly to get info on it. It wasn’t listed under the Home or Matches tab, but instead, hidden away under their Shows tab. Saved the day at the local sports bar once this was brought to the attention of the Manager 🙂 And on top of that, there was very little advertising through this site. Watched the game, and it was okay, with the expected result, and now just looking forward to the season proper….without Weidler’s crap gossip. Cheers.
The NRL has enough problems without media-manufactured crises
No doubt about it, Victorians are passionate about sport, whatever it may be. Not sure counting the bums on seats at games is a way to compare the popularity of both. There may be other reasons why one struggles a bit compared to the other. Things like stadium location and facilities, public transport, parking, costs etc. Another thing that hasn’t been mentioned is that I think you can miss a fair bit of an AFL game watching it on TV as a lot happens off the ball, whereas in NRL games, generally all of the play is at the ball. Cheers.
Two codes a world apart
A little bit different other than heaping it on the the Wallabies…but what with all the recent talk with regards to all of the tattooed players having to cover up in the world cup in Japan, but only to have all them play that game with their tattoos fully exposed? Just a crappy media beat up story previously? And just as a side note, I’m pretty sure it doesn’t have to be the Hooker that throws the ball into the lineout…just thinking aloud here 🙂
All Blacks beat Wallabies in Japan to secure Bledisloe clean sweep
Gees the season hasn’t even started yet and there are breaches. These blokes are idiots! But having said that, how are the NRL, or even the AFL, going to keep about 500 young 18-32 year old super elite horny athletes under control. The temptations will be too great for some. Then you have the issue of of non NSW teams being isolated completely, whereas I’m assuming the NSW based teams will at least be allowed to return to their family homes. Not sure if that will be a huge advantage for the NSW teams, or the non NSW teams due to them probably bonding better. But it is going to be a huge struggle for both codes. And that’s without even considering all the other people associated with the codes, like coaches, management, other support staff, broadcasting staff, media, medical people, stadium staff, bus drivers etc. Even if one of these boys gets taken to hospital for scans due to injury, how does stuff like that affect the whole setup. There are going to have to be a bucket load of protocols in place. And we are talking about the NRL here, which is a circus without any major pandemic….good luck with all of this, but I’m looking forward to seeing the footy back. Cheers.
NRL reveals social distancing sanctions against four players