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Post by hoskotafe3 on Mar 14, 2020 5:43:18 GMT
Warriors going home after a shellacking. Their government will require 14 day isolation period for international arrivals from tomorrow so they're out indefinitely. Really should postpone the season now.
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Post by weststigersbob on Mar 14, 2020 7:10:25 GMT
I’ve heard some dumb things, but forcing the Nz Warriors to stay in Australia to fulfil fixtures so as to not postpone the season is up there with the dumbest. It’s patently unfair, and seems almost impossible to make fair given the open ended nature of COVID-19. But, this is the NRL - dumb decisions are par for the course.
On field - if either of Gold Coast or New Zealand don’t win the spoon, then the side that does needs a long hard look in the mirror. They were both completely awful. I’m not convinced on Brisbane just yet. Nth Qld butchered a few opportunities, whilst Brisbane took virtually all theirs. The most dangerous players for the Broncos were also their most inconsistent last year, and it looks like the impressive Pangai Jr is out suspended for 4 games at a minimum.
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Post by hoskotafe3 on Mar 14, 2020 7:24:00 GMT
I’ve heard some dumb things, but forcing the Nz Warriors to stay in Australia to fulfil fixtures so as to not postpone the season is up there with the dumbest. It’s patently unfair, and seems almost impossible to make fair given the open ended nature of COVID-19. But, this is the NRL - dumb decisions are par for the course. If the NRL are seriously suggesting that then every person on the NRL board, the CEO and Chairman included, should step down immediately. That's Doctor Hibberd on the Simpsons reccomending Homer should cut off his left thumb to give him symmetery on his right. That's insane On field - if either of Gold Coast or New Zealand don’t win the spoon, then the side that does needs a long hard look in the mirror. They were both completely awful. I’m not convinced on Brisbane just yet. Nth Qld butchered a few opportunities, whilst Brisbane took virtually all theirs. The most dangerous players for the Broncos were also their most inconsistent last year, and it looks like the impressive Pangai Jr is out suspended for 4 games at a minimum. I wouldn't go too hard on that yet, two major spoon contenders haven't played yet...
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Post by hoskotafe3 on Mar 14, 2020 10:29:18 GMT
Roosters blew a 12-0 start and lost 20-14 to Penrith. Really good win for the Panthers.
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Post by weststigersbob on Mar 14, 2020 15:59:08 GMT
Roosters blew a 12-0 start and lost 20-14 to Penrith. Really good win for the Panthers. Both sides looked the real deal. Flanagan isn’t Cronk, but jeez he’s not a bad pickup. As for the spoon - if a Saints side that has 3 Origin forwards, 2 origin halves and James Graham cannot get more wins than either of the Titans or Warriors, nor a WT side that has some decent players and some decent depth, than there has to be a massive clean out and a massive re-build from the ground up.
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Post by hoskotafe3 on Mar 14, 2020 20:42:36 GMT
Super Rugby cancelled. No surprise there but FFS, the self importance of these aussie codes. NBA, NHL, MLB all shutdown, but no, the AFL and NRL must continue, even though we'll have to have the NZ team stuck here indefinitely. Wayne Bennett was going through the logistics yesterday of flying everyone to Townsville or Darwin basically in quarantine to keep the footy going. Wow, I wonder why the NBA, NHL, MLB and March Madness didn't think of flying their teams to Alaska to avoid Corona? Could it be because it's a fucking stupid idea? Just postpone the comp already!
And while I'm at it: could the WWE please postpone WrestleMania? You want to fly 70'000 people into Tampa from all over the world in the middle of a pandemic? Uou've got to.be bloody joking! While pro-wrestling is divorced from reality, it surely isn't that far cut off?
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Post by hoskotafe3 on Mar 15, 2020 9:18:25 GMT
Well that was absolute shit from the Dragons. Had umpteen chances to win it late. Typical Dragons effort. Some brilliance but no cohesion and poor discipline as usual. Benji had a very good night and the less said the better from there.
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Post by weststigersbob on Mar 15, 2020 15:33:50 GMT
What did I say about the NRL and dumb decisions ? Shockingly, the Warriors agreed to stay on the Gold Coast for a week, but when pressed for a longer commitment, told the NRL where to go. The NRL is petrified of going broke - and if they don’t play any games they will, very quickly. What they don’t seem to understand though is that Foxtel, their largest monetary contributor, is almost reliant on the NRL for subscribers in the northern states. Honestly, if the NRL wasn’t on Fox, I wouldn’t have it - and I’m not alone. There simply has to be a bit of symbiosis between those two parties go forward surely. Wayne Bennett is a flog. Always has been. He will literally say anything if it benefits his club at that given moment. Scheduling of State of Origin is the perfect example. Whilst at Brisbane, Bennett wanted SOO on weekends and stand alone. This continued at Saints. At Newcastle though, he changed his tune. Didn’t even want split rounds or byes. Back to Brisbane - surprise surprise, Bennett flip flops again. Two games today - Melbourne with a comfortable win against Manly that was a real arm wrestle for 60 minutes. I don’t see “Dark Horse for the Premiership” in Manly. They don’t the depth in their starting 17. A few injuries in the forwards and they are cooked. Melbourne just keep on keeping on. Saints should have destroyed the Tigers. They butchered 4 or 5 tries. Wests missed a few too. I’d love to know where Corey Norman went, and who this bloke is pretending to be him. For the Tigers - they were lucky Benji was playing. You can’t fault Josh Reynolds’ effort, but his quality just isn’t there. With Mbye and Brooks fit, Reynolds is a reserve grader.
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Post by hoskotafe3 on Mar 15, 2020 20:52:39 GMT
Networks are seeing it wrong. AFL is looking at allowing replacement players on every list similar to Essendon in 2016. Networks are looking at a sporting bonanza as the AFL organizes midweek fixtures to scramble to fit 198 home and away games and League should be planning to follow suit. After weeks and weeks cooped up inside there'll be more fans than usual once the lockouts end (in League's case anyway). They stand to do just fine with everything providing they don't shit their pants at the start, which is what the NRL are doing.
How much money are they spending to set up the Warriors on the Gold Coast to draw 0 gate in a game that will only be on Pay TV?
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Post by hoskotafe3 on Mar 16, 2020 7:45:43 GMT
Well, AFL's cutting its season to 17 games. Players have accepted a pay cut and so has Gill. Only thing I'm finding dumb is that they still haven't decided whether they'll play Round 1 this week yet. All state leagues suspended until May 31. If the AFL waits till then and cuts both byes that's 13 games by September, I think they'll push the Grand Final back a week if the ICC let them (the pitch is supposed to.be in the ground for 20 days ahead of the WT20). That's three midweek rounds, so I guess it makes sense trying to cut that to 2 or even 1 by playing the first round and maybe a second.
In the meantime V'landy, to groans, has asked the government for money. Scomo's response "You're a long way down the list mate."
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Post by weststigersbob on Mar 16, 2020 9:29:53 GMT
Sensible by the AFL - they have a war chest and they make much more off crowds than the NRL do, who rely heavily on TV money. Vlandys was in LaLa land if he genuinely believed ScoMo was giving the ARLC any stimulus cash. But, if you don’t ask, they won’t give it to you either I suppose. I’m hearing rumblings from within the NRL that the relocation of the entire league to Nth Qld and Darwin is a distinct possibility and that while the Warriors are not cooperating just yet, the NRL is not adverse to playing the season without them, and giving their share of revenue to the other 15 clubs instead. This proposed ESPN deal, which is definitely on, might really sway the NRL to keep going until they are explicitly forced to call the competition off.
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Post by hoskotafe3 on Mar 16, 2020 19:17:12 GMT
The ESPN one is strange. While they need live content, surely those missing out on their NBA, NHL and MLB aren't too interested in watching Rugby League? It makes all the sense in the world from the NRL's perspective, but very little from ESPN's. Still, there could be people sitting around in Wyoming and Nebraska who just want to watch live sport.
I think I read somewhere that of all the top 10 sports in Australia, Rugby League has the hardest time securing corporate sponsors, not because it isn't a well followed sport, but because of a) the stupidity of its players off field and b) their inability to cover it up or at least spin it in the main stream media.
For instance St Kilda can re-enact tje infamous midget scene from Wolf of Wall Street, even setting the midget on fire, and the AFL CEO can laugh (a laugh of disbelief and disgust but still a laugh) about it on national television and neither the Saints nor the AFL lose a single sponsor. Whereas well, let's face it, we could be here a long time looking at all the comparable incidents in the NRL that left clubs sponsorless.
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Post by weststigersbob on Mar 19, 2020 3:51:09 GMT
NRL Round 2 Tips : Canterbury Bulldogs v North Queensland Cowboys Cowboys by 7 It will be low scoring, but I can’t see the Bulldogs scoring enough points. St George Illawarra Dragons v Penrith Panthers Panthers by 12 Saints should’ve beaten the Tigers last week, but won’t be good enough against the Panthers who were excellent against the defending champs. Brisbane Broncos v South Sydney Rabbitohs Souths by 1 Real 50/50 shout this one. Brisbane have the individual talent to win this, but Souths should win the arm-wrestle with a superior kicking game. New Zealand Warriors v Canberra Raiders (on the Gold Coast) Raiders by 20 The Warriors were awful, and are missing a few players who went home due to COVID-19. The Raiders played well for 20 minutes against the Titans and still won easy. This looks the same. Sydney City Roosters v Manly Sea Eagles Roosters by 4 The Chooks don’t lose 2 in a row often, and Manly will give them a good close game, but I just think the Roosters are a slight class above. Cronulla Sharks v Melbourne Storm. Storm by 2 The Sharks like playing the Storm, and they have a good record against them. But for long periods they were well behind the Bunnies, whilst the Storm machine just keeps chugging along with the Master, Cam Smith pulling the strings. Wests Tigers v Newcastle Knights Tigers by 8 two first round winners against pretty ordinary opponents. Bit of a lottery this one, so I’m going with my heart notepad of my head. Gold Coast Titans v Parramatta Eels Parramatta by 6 Gold Coast took a long time to get going against Canberra, and gave them too much start. Parramatta won with a try off a lucky ricochet. Tricky early season game for the Eels, but they should prevail, but it won’t be a flogging.
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Post by hoskotafe3 on Mar 19, 2020 4:47:37 GMT
Dragons really should lose, but Penrith look.to have not lost the much lamented penchant they had for giving up big starts last year. Having said that, we have no cohesion in attack and are unlikely to take advantage of that. Some intriguing other games, but Souths/ Broncos looks the pick of them.
In AFL Richmond to beat Carlton, but how they'll do it is less certain. In recent years the Blues have jumped the Tigers early and then gradually drifted out of the game. If Richmond are on from the get go this won't be pretty.
Bulldogs to beat Collingwood. Not even close to our best team on the paddock and Pendles hasn't practiced with the rest of the team due to.a Corona virus scare. Bulldogs should be further along in their preparation than us.
Bombers should beat Freo. Essendon have a good team on paper and the Dockers don't travel well.
Crows vs Sydney is hard because neither is going to be all that good this year. No fans on hand may negate some of Adelaide's home advantage. Too hard to call.
Suns vs Port. Port really need to play to their potential this year. They have a seriously good list but are consistently flakey and I'm not sure why. GC have started well the last two years before slowly having their soul sucked out of them. I'll say Port, but no surprise if they fail.
GWS vs Geelong. Big game for both teams after finishing last year with really poor finals losses. An early loss for either, especially a bad one, could set the trajectory for their season. GWS, along with North, will have more or less business as usual with no fans watching. I think the Giants will win it, but really should be the game of the round.
North v Saints. Rare to have a Who Cares Cup this early in the season, but seriously? The two most vanilla teams in the comp. No stars, no great aspiration and a recent history of producing horrible games of football together. The winners are the fans, who are locked out of this black hole of a fixture.
Hawks v Lions. This should be good. Mitchell back for Hawthorn means this could well be a battle between two finalists. Brisbane need to be able to win these games on the road if they're to advance this year, but I reckon this one will be beyond them. Hawks to win.
West Coast v Melbourne. So my premiership favourites hosting a Melbourne team about to embark on their most important season in years. What can they show us here? I.don't think they'll be showing us a win, but they need to play hard for 4 quarters of this campaign will be over before it begins and they'll be needing yet another rebuild.
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Post by hoskotafe3 on Mar 19, 2020 8:50:33 GMT
I'll be interested to see if this empty stadium AFL stuff works with two more evenly matched teams, because with Richmond playing Carlton it looks and feels like a pick up game.
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Post by hoskotafe3 on Mar 19, 2020 9:46:36 GMT
Bulldogs flattered to deceive when they scored the opening try. One way traffic since. Csn't really say the lack of crowd is making any real difference to league as a tv spectacle, particularly not when it's a) at ANZ and
b) features an underperforming interstate team.
Carlton still suck unsurprisingly. Richmond lead it 69-23.
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Post by weststigersbob on Mar 19, 2020 14:36:10 GMT
Cowboys win comfortably 24-16 over the Bulldogs, despite only potting a penalty in the second half. Jason Taumalolo barely looked like he raised sweat but put up extraordinary numbers yet again.
In the AFL, Carlton made up some ground, but still lost by 4 goals against the Tigers.
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Post by hoskotafe3 on Mar 20, 2020 8:51:39 GMT
Dragons about to lose again. Another came we could easily have won. Entertaining for neutrals with some spectacular tries, but just another L as far as I'm concerned.
Collingwood up next, but 4am wake up tomorrow means it's just about bed time. Why push the bounce back after making the games shorter? Is finishing at 10:30 more important than starting at 7?
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Post by weststigersbob on Mar 20, 2020 11:35:23 GMT
Dragons threw away another game - Penrith lucky with the win. Broncos outlasted the Bunnies up in Brisbane in a pretty entertaining game. Despite being 2-0, I’m not yet convinced by the Broncos just yet - they still have a few chinks that need some ironing out. Likewise Souths - it’s not quite gelling together yet, and Latrell so far hasn’t justified the hype. In the AFL - Hosko will be happy with the Pies giving the Doggies a bit of a touch up 86-34.
Final Scores in the NRL: Saints 28-32 Panthers Brisbane 22-18 South Sydney
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Post by hoskotafe3 on Mar 20, 2020 17:18:07 GMT
Collingwood were switched on from the start and it was a dominant 4quarter win. Winners all over the park. No.sign at all that Pendles had been in self isolation for days leading into the game. Gavin Brown's sons combined for a lovely goal in the first quarter. Bulldogs were poor, inexcusably so, given their relatively smooth preparations.
On the Dragons, while changing the coach is what will likely happen, I don't think it will change anything. Take away 2010 and it's been the same story for 20+ years now. Always lots of rep players, always look brilliant at times, often get great starts, never achieve anything. Such a collective waste of money, talent etc. So unless you want to dig up Brian Smith or lure Wayne Bennett from Souths, this is it. This is who we are. I don't know how to change it. The issues are multi generational.
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