I agree on 4 touchies but would add only 1 main referee and bring back the in goal judges. How on earth can the ref or touchie see groundings or dead ball line touches from their position?

Great ideas Don +1

I actually thought Foran was better than DCE. And if looking for a Rooster than Maloney would of been worthy.

A team of champions doesn’t make a champion team.
A champion team doesn’t make a team of champions.

Agree re souths there sheek, big athletic forwards but lacking that talent to turn a game or pull out the big play (Inglis perhaps the exception). There outside backs are solid but nothing special and Sutton is the worst backrower disguised as a five-eighth. Think Newcastle may lack in the outside backs also, Mullen was oustanding and must be in the halves for NSW, our best by far.

For mine as hard as it is to say I think Manly may get the choccies. Easts are very good but I believe the quick smart halves of DCE and Foran can find there big fellas out. Not sold on whether Pearce can perform on the big stage and they still have a heavy reliance on SBW, if he is shut down or quiet then the chooks could be in trouble. For the chooks to be any chance Pearce and Maloney need to win the battle against DCE and Foran.

So my prediction; Easts to win the forward battle but unable to convert into enough points. Manly will capitalise on any good field position they get and DCE to carve them up late in the game.

Manly by 8

I disagree that players won’t want to come to Perth. Have you ever been here oikee?

It’s a far more relaxed lifestyle than Sydney and as we’ve seen with Storm players a lot of footballers do not want the limelight, their happy to be able to ply their trade, make good money and be able to walk down the street….Perth would offer this. Not to mention the work opportunities through sponsors when their career is done.

Remember the reason WA now has so many ex pats is because they come here to work on projects and even when those jobs are done they decide to stay. It’s the lifestyle and opportunity which keeps them here. I know cause I am one of them!!

Firstly I’m a Tigers fan through and through (Balmain originally).

My thoughts are that their definitely needs to be rationalisation to the Sydney market, but the relocation of Wests Tigers to Perth is not a great idea (I now live in WA by the way). There would be no way that Wests and Balmain would run as a JV in the NSW cup, nor should they be expected too.

The Tigers need an identity change, if they wish to continue as an NRL club then they need to remove the factions. I would even go as far as to say tweak the name and perhaps shift to the CC. Leave Balmain and Wests to play in the NSW cup (which needs far greater investment from the top IMO). Or as suggested split and the Tigers move to CC and Wests join with Penrith for a stronger Western Sydney side.

I do agree on a relocation side to Perth, but my choice would be the Sharks. With all their obvious troubles a new start in a new city could keep the sharks alive. There is support here for RL but a team is needed to really grow. To a lot of non RL supporters the NRL is simply a glorified Sydney comp.

Any additional teams (which I agree there should be) such as Brisbane 2 and NZ 2 must also come from the rationalisation of the Sydney teams. As tough as it may be for fans to see their sides relocate etc it is essential for the growth and prosperity of the game, which should always be priority over clubs.

I’d hate to see the Sharks completely lost to the NRL. With all that is going on there perhaps the ARLC can offer them a lifeline and allow for relocation. Obviously there would need to be changes made at the top, new admin, board etc and any players found to have take illegal substances must be sanctioned according to ASADA/WADA rules.

But perhaps the “Sharks” can survive.

+1

Would make sense christo!!

Perhaps if Pearce and Maloney had control of the game Farah wouldn’t be forced to kick from dummy half? Further more playing for field position is a good strategy one that Pearce and Maloney should learn. I will agree the quality of his kicks wasn’t great in game 2 but in general he is a very good kick.

I am a Tigers man and have been a massive fan of Benji throughout his career. A great player and match winner at his best. Unfortunately Benji hasn’t been at his best for a few seasons now. He seems lost on the field these days, he passes when he should run and those passes miss their mark far too often.

His defence has always been an issue and really at his age should of been an area he improved on. Also at his age and length of time as a top flight half he should of developed more to his game, better pass, better kick, decision making etc etc. Benji wants to play like his 19 years old every week and facts are he isn’t. I think he reached his peak a few seasons back and is going backwards now. Slight of hand, footwork and speed were his great weapons, now as his reflexes slow and his speed deserts him he offers less and less to his team.

It would be sad to see the end of Benji as a tiger, but with a crop of very good young players coming through it’s time to let him go. I actually think he’d be a good fit for the Warriors, he would suit their game and would put bums on seats. The tigers need to offer him 450k take it or leave it….and I know which one he’ll choose 🙂

I thinks that’s more a fault that his halves had no control over the game, especially in the kicking dept. He may have been working under instructions, or just felt he needed to try and maintain field position. Either way they weren’t great attacking options and I take you’re point there but his half back should have the game under control, this would of allowed Farah to work on creating from dummy half, which is what he does best.

Just on Farah I couldn’t help but notice he was off the field for a part of the second half when we needed points, he is one of our more creative players who plays 80min every week….why was he off the park?

Maloney I think will get better at this level as he learns to just play his natural game, give him a rock solid half with a good kicking game (A.Reynolds)who can control things and Maloney will be far better for it.

Merrin is a strange one IMO, seems to have the support of the coach and selectors but even on club form I wouldn’t think he was our best choice. Mason and Grant immediately spring to mind as better choices??

My biggest fear is NSW win and all of M. Pearce’s deficiencies are quickly forgotten.

Maloney needs to play his own game and run the ball, support up the middle like he does for the Roosters. If he or any of the other Blues sit back and wait for their Halfback to give them direction then they will lose. He also needs to share the kicking with Farah as Pearce is one of the worst kickers of the football by a RL halfback in the history of the game!

Don’t mean to beat up on the bloke but after this many chances surely the penny has to drop soon.

NSW by 12 with R. Farah MOM 🙂

Junior numbers should not be the prerequisite for establishing an NRL side in WA or any new market. WA had more Junior and Senior teams playing pre Reds (1995) then they do now and still the Reds failed. Now this was not the fault of the Reds themselves or the WARL but more the league bosses (ARL, SL and NRL) who left them high and dry post SL.

The Reds were sucked in (like many other clubs) to the dream and dollars on offer from News Ltd, of course most of the promises of riches never eventuated and local clubs were left with an empty feeling having received very little support from the big end of town. Players left the game and Junior and Senior numbers fell including the complete loss of clubs.

If the NRL have the foresight to establish a top level side and THEY are willing to invest in the local competition then they will succeed. There are plenty of expat eastern states’, NZ’ers, poms etc not to mention the born and bred sandgropers who are fans of the game, not all RL support comes from NSW and QLD or expats of the two.

Success can start at the top as well as the bottom (grassroots). Establish a side and a pathway for Juniors and you will see even larger increases in Junior numbers.

Think about this, a talented young sportsman in WA who is any good at RL must move his whole family to either QLD or NSW to have a shot at the top grade, toiling away in WA will not get you noticed. On the other side that same talented young man can play Aussie Rules, soccer and Rugby and knows he has a pathway in his home state to play in the big time.

Care to elaborate on why it is ridiculous?
Had AAC kept running on the line being created by O’Connor (drifting sideways) then the try isn’t scored, AAC by coming back against the grain and running hard creates the opportunity. The pass was terrible really. In this case the ball runner deserves the credit not the playmaker (as is usually the case) IMO anyway 🙂

It was a good line ran hard by AAC, not a good pass on O’connors part.

1. Merritt was out of his depth, feel for him but should never play again…frame that Blue jersey Nathan and hang it pride of place.
2. Pearce is a toiler, a good first grader and nothing more….surely the results must speak for themselves.
3. Merrin should of been sent off, I love the biff but that was a cheap shot, foul play akin to a swinging arm.
4. Farah is the most creative player we have, but he is the hooker not the half back (couldn’t understand why when we needed points Farah was on the sidelines??)
5. I like J Reynolds but he is another toiler, if he was a bit bigger would be a great backrower but he’s not.
6. We need a half who can run the show and can actually kick, if you need to rely on your dummy half for your most effective kicks all night you’re always going to be in trouble.

Also can anyone direct me to a site/link where you can see who is eligible for which state/country??….I get awfully confused of who’s a Qld’er who’s a NSWelshman, Kiwi, Pom etc etc 🙂

I support to some degree all of our major football codes, there is an order of preference but on any given day the top 2 can be interchanged depending on the teams/importance. Even 3 and 4 get a run but mostly on the international scene.

1. NRL
2. AFL
3. Rugby
4. Soccer

In a perfect world for me the year would be split into three distinct seasons. 4 months of AFL, 4 months of NRL/Rugby and another 4 for the A-League 😀

I live in WA and the majority of my workmates are AFL followers. We stood in the crib room watching the first half (unfortunately had to work after that). A lot of guys made comment that it was the only league they watched every year and they were in envy of the fact that the game was still ‘tough’. They are seriously tired of the rule changes in AFL making their game (in their words) ‘soft’. They loved the punch up, no strangling and wrestling etc…a good 1-2 then back on with the game.

Origin is a unique beast on the sporting landscape. It is admired by fans and players of other codes. Rugby League may well find itself at a crossroad here. To walk the politically correct line or to snub it and tell the do-gooders to leave the game alone.

He should be dropped to NSW cup and bring in some more young bulls to have a go. When you are going as badly as they are the “stars” need to be held accountable for their poor performance and if they don’t wanna earn their dollars then start looking to the future….surely it couldn’t be any worse?

The Tigers blew their chance with a top young half in Jacob Miller. For whatever reason they would not stick with the young man and show some faith. Jacob is an outstanding young half back of which a lot of teams would of loved to have coming through their grades. A Toyota Cup star and Junior Kangaroo surely all he needed was time in the top grade to further develop. Considering how badly they are going and that they do not have a true half of first grade standard currently playing Jacob would of been the right choice (IMO)

One can only assume that due to the lack of opportunity and faith in his abilities Jacob has now signed with Hull FC in the ESL. I wish him all the best with his career but it must be said that the Tigers really dropped the ball on this one.

As others have said all of these “Time Wasting” issues could be solved by simply calling time off whenever the ball is not in play i.e. Ball into touch, forming a scrum, shots at goal etc etc.

Easy fix IMO.

Well if I have heard right peeeko Jacob has signed to play in the English Super League, not 100% on which team but I think it may be one of the Hull sides.