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Post by hoskotafe3 on Aug 2, 2022 19:42:59 GMT
Two big retirements out west, David Mundy leaving at the end of the year, by which tine he will have played at least 373 games if selected in all their remaining matches. And West Coast's Josh Kennedy retiring. So far as power forwards from the last 20 years he's only second to Franklin in my book. Carlton did the right thing trading him to get Chris Judd all those years ago but West Coast won the trade.
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Post by masterofallgoons on Aug 2, 2022 20:00:56 GMT
For those of us that enjoy these Aussie sports but know very little about them; why is 'Sydney' in quotes? Bob explained it pretty well. For a bit more context, the NRL started its life as a Sydney club competition. You were fighting for club superiority in Sydney, not claiming to represent Sydney. And the idea that the silver tail Eastern Suburbs team represents any more than a handful of affluent suburbs? Let's just say I see through that clever disguise to the team I hated with an absolute passion growing up. So is any single team a favorite in Sydney, given that most of the league appears to be in the greater Sydney area? Or is the Fandom very fractured? And how national is the league otherwise?
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Post by hoskotafe3 on Aug 3, 2022 1:44:30 GMT
Bob explained it pretty well. For a bit more context, the NRL started its life as a Sydney club competition. You were fighting for club superiority in Sydney, not claiming to represent Sydney. And the idea that the silver tail Eastern Suburbs team represents any more than a handful of affluent suburbs? Let's just say I see through that clever disguise to the team I hated with an absolute passion growing up. So is any single team a favorite in Sydney, given that most of the league appears to be in the greater Sydney area? Or is the Fandom very fractured? And how national is the league otherwise? The second part is easy. There is a team in Canberra, a team in Melbourne, a team in New Zealand, 3 teams in Queensland with a 4th coming in next year, the other 10 teams are all in NSW, with 1.5 teams: Newcastle and St George Illawarra (Illawarra are the 0.5) not based in Sydney. As for who's the biggest: it's hard to say. NRL memberships are nowhere near as large in number as the AFL in Melbourne (where you can look at the numbers and see very easily where clubs are in the pecking order). You'd have to look at tv numbers, big playoff (or finals as we call them) attendances. To get an idea. Basically a lot of fans crawl out of the woodwork when their team is good and go missing completely when things are bad. Who has more fans to crawl out? Not sure. If I had a gun to my head I'd say South Sydney.
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Post by weststigersbob on Aug 3, 2022 3:13:11 GMT
Sports fanbases in Sydney is absolutely fascinating.
No other city in Australia (or probably the world) has such a distinct divide between areas and groups that support different codes of football. The inner northern and eastern parts of the city heavily favour both AFL and Rugby Union over Rugby League.
Then the support for the myriad Rugby League clubs isn’t based upon primarily geographical concepts anymore. It is still a factor, but the aforementioned South Sydney Rabbitohs and Sydney Roosters have large fanbases amongst youngsters in far western Sydney, where you’d expect Penrith, Parramatta or Wests to predominant. Cultural and ethnic ties are also very strong, but strangely do not correspond to actual players playing the game. For instance, almost all fans of Lebanese heritage support either the Canterbury or Parramatta, with the Muslim half tending to favour the former, and the Christian half the latter. The fact that 2 of the 3 outstanding Lebanese players of all time, Robbie Farah and Benny Elias were Tigers legends (the other being Bulldogs legend Hazem El-Masri) is striking. The Greek community has long favoured Souths (a club with minimal religious ties) over the once Protestant/Masonic St George Dragons and Catholic Canterbury Bulldogs despite living almost primarily in the latter 2 districts. However, the most famous Greek of them all in Rugby League - powerbroker “Uncle” Nick Politis is the chairman of the Sydney Roosters.
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Post by hoskotafe3 on Aug 5, 2022 12:41:33 GMT
Pies make it 11 in a row coming from 21 behind to defeat Melbourne by 7 in the game of the season. I really don't know what to think about this team. The aggregate winning margin in this streak is 115 points, so about 10 point margin every week, but they keep winning. Nick Riewoldt's on board Pies being a contender, has been for about a month. Mick Malthouse and Cameron Ling both echoed Nick's thoughts tonight.
Parra and Sea Eagles looked like being the game of the season at half time but Manly couldn't keep up with Parra in the last 20 minutes. Titans had a real crack against the Storm, but were just stood up early falling 16-0 behind and just couldn't quite get back to within a single store from there.
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Post by weststigersbob on Aug 5, 2022 15:40:40 GMT
Pies make it 11 in a row coming from 21 behind to defeat Melbourne by 7 in the game of the season. I really don't know what to think about this team. The aggregate winning margin in this streak is 115 points, so about 10 point margin every week, but they keep winning. Nick Riewoldt's on board Pies being a contender, has been for about a month. Mick Malthouse and Cameron Ling both echoed Nick's thoughts tonight. Parra and Sea Eagles looked like being the game of the season at half time but Manly couldn't keep up with Parra in the last 20 minutes. Titans had a real crack against the Storm, but were just stood up early falling 16-0 behind and just couldn't quite get back to within a single store from there. Cmon Hosko - start getting excited ! You know my Tigers and your Dragons aren’t winning shit this year….
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Post by hoskotafe3 on Aug 6, 2022 0:33:01 GMT
Pies make it 11 in a row coming from 21 behind to defeat Melbourne by 7 in the game of the season. I really don't know what to think about this team. The aggregate winning margin in this streak is 115 points, so about 10 point margin every week, but they keep winning. Nick Riewoldt's on board Pies being a contender, has been for about a month. Mick Malthouse and Cameron Ling both echoed Nick's thoughts tonight. Parra and Sea Eagles looked like being the game of the season at half time but Manly couldn't keep up with Parra in the last 20 minutes. Titans had a real crack against the Storm, but were just stood up early falling 16-0 behind and just couldn't quite get back to within a single store from there. Cmon Hosko - start getting excited ! You know my Tigers and your Dragons aren’t winning shit this year…. I am excited, just not remotely convinced. Probably too much Colliwobble induced PTSD to ever have genuine optimism of a premiership. Until someone beats them I think it's Geelong's trophy to lose this year.
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Post by hoskotafe3 on Aug 6, 2022 23:45:19 GMT
Dragons put up a fight after a poor first half, but went down by 6. Bunnies thrashed the wildly inconsistent Warriors and Penrith frustrated Canberra 26-6.
In the AFL the Gints embarrassed Essendon, Richmond went into the 8 after defeating Port and Geelong won their 11th in a row over a fading St Kilda. That's the big difference between Collingwood and the Cats. Geelong are thrashing teams every week and Collingwood are just falling over the line.
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Post by hoskotafe3 on Aug 8, 2022 18:20:49 GMT
RIP Michael Purcell who had the awesome nickname "The Kangaroo Catcher," and died in a car crash last week at the age of 28. He played Rubgy Union in the QLD Cup and spent the 2021 pre season with the Melbourne Storm. While I know next to nothing about QLD Union or any sports pre seasons that is very young to go.
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Post by hoskotafe3 on Aug 8, 2022 19:52:44 GMT
And good(ish) news for Collingwood with Grundie officially ruled out for the season. While he's a great player we've got something good going with Cox as the main ruck supported by Cameron ATM. No rocking the boat now.
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Post by hoskotafe3 on Aug 9, 2022 18:14:03 GMT
The "other" Josh Kennedy retires after 290 games. Swans captain for 5 years. 3x B+F, 3× All Australian, must have been very close to winning the 2012 Norm Smith medal and, Oh yeah, he was originally a Hawthorn father/ son selection.
Remiss of me not to mention Port Adelaide's Daniel Motlop, better known for his heroics with Geelong, also retired during the last week after 215 games.
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Post by hoskotafe3 on Aug 11, 2022 3:29:22 GMT
RIP Paul Green. Just 7 years ago became North Queensland's first ever premiership coach, died unexpectedly at home earlier today. No cause of death as yet. Really hoping it wasn't a suicide. QLD State of Origin coach last year. Remember him at Cronulla and the Cowboys as a player. Just looked at his career summary and I Don't even remember him at the Roosters, Parramatta or Brisbane. Kept getting injured near the end of his career.
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Post by weststigersbob on Aug 11, 2022 5:43:08 GMT
RIP Paul Green. I’m afraid it’s looking more likely suicide which is sad. Fantastic player as a quick, zippy halfback; and really underestimated as a coach and mentor IMHO.
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Post by hoskotafe3 on Aug 14, 2022 19:51:24 GMT
Well that was a very ordinary round of NRL. Some good games on paper but St George-Canberra was the only one that delivered. Roosters getting themselves in the dark horse position with all the top 4 looking vulnerable. Souths very threatening too. Parra are just never going to get it together.
In the AFL we have the last round Collingwood/Carlton blockbuster set up perfectly. Blues need to win to be guaranteed a finals spot, Pies need a win to finish top 4, assuming the Bulldogs defeat Hawthorn earlier that day they will be in 8th when the game starts. Swans will try to secure 2nd spot over St Kilda in the late game. They'll probably need to equal the margin in the Brisbane/Melbourne Friday night blockbuster to do so. The loser of that could be knocked out of the top 4 should Collingwood, Fremantle, or both win their last round games.
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Post by hoskotafe3 on Aug 20, 2022 23:56:16 GMT
Horrible weekend of football so far. 10 blow-outs, a decent game between Fremantle and GWS yesyerday and possibly the game of the season with Penrith v Souths on Thursday night. 5 teams have passed 40 in the NRL, two have passed 60. Sadly, the season is about a month too long for a few teams near the bottom.
In the AFL GWS were the only loser to lead at any stage in the second half or get within 56 points of their opponent. They and Essendon were the only losers to kick 10 or more goals.
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Post by weststigersbob on Aug 21, 2022 4:29:56 GMT
The Wests Tigers were simply awful. 72-6 was less than the Chooks should’ve scored. It could have easily been 90-6. And I’m not exaggerating.
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Post by hoskotafe3 on Aug 21, 2022 8:54:56 GMT
The Wests Tigers were simply awful. 72-6 was less than the Chooks should’ve scored. It could have easily been 90-6. And I’m not exaggerating. I don't want to 'like' this. Just wanted to acknowledge I've read it and feel your pain.
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Post by hoskotafe3 on Aug 25, 2022 18:07:26 GMT
Broncos playing very poor football and now in danger of missing the 8 after another horrible loss at home, this time to Parramatta. Without even looking at the record books I can tell.you that will be the worst back to back home losses they've ever suffered, highest two game against aggregate and combined margin. 18-113. Bring back Ivan Henjak!
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Post by hoskotafe3 on Aug 25, 2022 18:20:17 GMT
And a couple of big retirements I missed in the AFL. Port legend Robbie Gray bowed out after 270 games and he'll headline the 2027 HOF class along with Mundy. Hawk captain and 3x premiership ruckman Ben McEvoy retired also. He played in seven Grand Finals in his 253 games. Injury ravaged former Swan premiership player Dan Hanneberry went out against his old team after 224 games. One Swan and one Saint chaired him off.
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Post by hoskotafe3 on Aug 27, 2022 18:40:48 GMT
NRL's set up well for next week now. Parra v Melbourne is a straight shoot out for a spot in the top 4. If Melbourne lose they'll drop to 5th. If Parra lose they'll drop to 6th behind whoever wins Roosters v Bunnies and have to play the loser of that game.
Very hard to see Canberra missing now. They'd have to lose to the Tigers (unlikely) and have the Broncos beat St George Illawarra (quite possible). Cronulla will finish 2nd if Penrith beat the Cowboys. A combination of a Cowboys loss and Melbourne win will see North QLD fall to 4th. If the Cowboys win then the Sharks will need to beat Newcastle or head to Townsville in Week One. So only two meaningless games (Canberra v Tigers could be meaningless by Sunday).
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