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Post by hoskotafe3 on Mar 23, 2018 20:24:23 GMT
Super Rugby has been around since 1996. It started off as a 12 team competition involving 3 teams from Australia, 5 from New Zealand, and 4 from South Africa, the 3 southern hemisphere Rugby powers. While some version of Australia/ New Zealand provincial competition has been around since 1986, the idea expanded once apartheid ended in South Africa and they were readmitted into international sport in 1992. It was basically set up once the sport turned professional so players could be paid. Local competitions in Australia and South Africa simply didn't bring the crowds through the gate, so creating a 3 nation provincial comp was seen as a way of keeping players in the game and preventing them going to Rugby League in Australia's case, and soccer in South Africa's. In NZ's case, the sport is a religion in their country but they have reached peak interest and can only grow out due to a small population. In more recent years teams have been added from Argentina (who made it to the semi finals of the last Rugby World Cup) and Japan. The competition is watched in about 50 countries and has been a lucrative money maker as a result.
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Post by hoskotafe3 on Mar 24, 2018 10:27:07 GMT
Parramatta look in deep trouble. Souths, who've looked ok in previus games, played a full 80 minutes and destroyed a poor Manly. Warriors beat Canberra by a point to continue their bad luck.
Collingwood have been pitiful. Their skills remain sub-professional, and you can't win if that's the case. Team is going absolutely nowhere.
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Post by hoskotafe3 on Mar 27, 2018 19:47:17 GMT
Enough of this ball tampering nonsense.
Two excellent AFL games on Sunday. Geelong giving up most of a 27 point lead, only to hold on for a 3 point win when Max Gawn missed a 25 metre goal in the last 10 seconds. Poor loss for Melbourne given the Cats were missing several stars. It's the time of game they always lose and need to stop losing if they're to go any further this year.
Seans and Eagles turned in a classic in the first game of Men's AFL played at Perth Stadium (which bizzarely drew less than the women). Tight for most of the last quarter, 8 goals from Franklin kept the Swans ahead and then three goals in the last two minutes (Parker kicked an amazing scissor snap over his head and Hayward was rewarded a free kick in the goal square after being hit from behind celebrating a goal) gave the Swans a 29 point win.
Three other one sided games on Sunday. GWS beating the Bulldogs by 82, a margin that flattered the Sons of the West quite frankly who were utterly horrendous (and still less frustrating than Collingwood). Dragons belted a team of witches hats wearing Titans jerseys and the Knights came back to Earth on the end of a 38-8 hiding from the Roosters.
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Post by weststigersbob on Mar 28, 2018 4:59:24 GMT
Honestly Hosko - doing afternoon shifts at work kills my ability to watch sports over the weekend. I saw the Tigers / Broncos game (which was poor regardless of the result) and bits and pieces of the rest.
I saw almost a half of the Geelong-Melbourne game of replay. That poor bloke who missed at the end was devastated. Good game. Slick and fast. Gary Ablett looks weird in a 4 guernsey....
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Post by hoskotafe3 on Mar 29, 2018 13:20:45 GMT
Yeah, the number was weird, still playing well thought. Felt sorry for Gawn too.
North Queensland's poor start to the year got worse with a big loss at home to Penrith. Panthers rarely looked troubled in a 33-14 win. Maloney's looking like a very good buy at this stage. Nothing much seems to be working for the Cowboys. Good thing they kicked that field goal: some punter may have picked a 3 try margin.
Adelaide announced themselves as a force still to be reckoned with, with a dominant second half against Richmond. The Crows held Richmond to just 3 second half goals in a 118-82 win. Given the Crows had a two man bench most of the night and took in several underdone players, it was a powerful performance from them. Walker was at his nonchalant best. Jenkins kicked 5 for the Crows, Martin got 5 for the Tigers.
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Post by weststigersbob on Mar 29, 2018 14:54:23 GMT
I know many at Penrith were ecstatic when they essentially traded Moylan for Maloney. They couldn’t believe their luck.
I can’t quite put my finger on where it’s going wrong for the Cowboys. They aren’t out of form, but none of them are in peak form.
The Crows flexed their muscles in a big way. Then again, the ‘hangover’ in the AFL is a very real thing - It’s been a long time since a Premier has really hit the ground running, and if there were a team that was going to have one, it will be Richmond (although the Bulldogs have made theirs an artwork.....)
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Post by hoskotafe3 on Mar 29, 2018 20:08:19 GMT
The Bulldogs have gone from Premiers to a rabble remarkably fast. You have to go back to the '99 Crows to find a club who went from winning it all to absolute tosh quicker. Their President is a megalomaniac who really let winning a premiership (in a year they clearly weren't the best team) get to his head. Once they won that Grand Final a lot of the administrators and trainers who'd been putting up with him left in the off season.
They aren't hung over, they're just a bad team now.
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Post by hoskotafe3 on Mar 30, 2018 10:56:27 GMT
Well my goodness Holy Moses what an utterly horrendous spectacle North and St Kilda gave us today. Both teams were 2.10 at half time. Then the Kangas, the most vanilla team in the AFL, kicked away to win by 52 points. I've praised the AFL for creating big annual events out of games, but this one is never going to capture my imagination, particularly not starting at 3pm.
Souths won another very poorly officiated match against Canterbury. 25 penalties in 80 minutes of foorball. Fine come back for the Bunnies who looked cooked before scoring twice in the last 4 minutes to steal the win.
Oh, and Cronulla, with a few less chiefs due to injury, stunned Melbourne in Woolooware.
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Post by weststigersbob on Mar 31, 2018 11:42:23 GMT
Saw some of that North v Saints game. Horrendous Spectacle is very generous. And I saw the 2nd half. 2.10. all at half time - must of been great....
2 NRL games tonight - Warriors beat a very poor Roosters and Manly accounted for Canberra at home.
Apparently Roosters fans are absolutely livid at the form of James Tedesco - I’d be more worried at their no existent forward pack and the simple errors they keep making.
Canberra - much like the Roosters. No forwards and silly errors.
Warriors - no Johnson, no worries. Blake Green, Tohu Harris and Adam Blair are proving themselves very astute buys so far. 4-0 and looking good.
Manly - chugging along nicely with the triumvirate of DCE, Turbo Tim and Jake T running the show.
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Post by hoskotafe3 on Mar 31, 2018 23:29:32 GMT
And finished with 2 decent AFL games. Fremantle outlasted Essendon by 16 points at Perth Stadium. A big second quarter setting up the win. And then Brisbane overcame a 37 point deficit to draw level with Melbourne in the last quarter before running out of legs.
Two sickening injuries in the Collingwood GWS match. Broomhead kicked the goal post and snapped his lower leg in half and then Tom Scully got his ankle caught in a tackle and tore every ligament in that area. Game itself was quite good. Much improved performance from Collingwood. Led by 11 in the last quarter and were within 4 with 5 to go. Giants kicked the last 2 to win 95-79. Good game. If the Pies bring that effort every week, I've no complaints.
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Post by hoskotafe3 on Apr 1, 2018 10:45:01 GMT
Titans didn't play particularly well against the Broncos in an ugly spectacle, but given the way Broncos fans taunted them leaving their own stadium after the 54-0 effort last year, that must be the most satisfying win since 2010 at least for the club. Brisbane aren't that good this year. We all know this. It's just a matter of whether they can hoodwink enough teams out of games to play finals.
Dragons ticked a box against the Knights and not much more. Western Bulldogs topped last week's defeat with a home 10 goal loss to a West Coast team who almost never play well away from Perth, let alone win.
Swans were beaten by a better team in Port Adelaide. Very impressive start to the year by the Power. Swans have a tough game coming up against GWS.
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Post by weststigersbob on Apr 1, 2018 11:27:35 GMT
Winning form is good form Hosko - and the Dragons have had 4 good wins as have the Warriors. I think they played very strong today - a bit more than a “tick the box” performance in my eyes. The Dragons back row of De Belin, Frizzell and Sims were outstanding.
Only saw bits of the Titans - Broncos. It’s becoming very obvious why Bennett was so adamant about Matt Lodge playing. As it is, the Broncos forwards are doing nothing and struggling to an extent that the big money backs aren’t getting any decent ball. And that’s without mentioning their halves.
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Post by weststigersbob on Apr 2, 2018 15:23:20 GMT
Wests Tigers win again - 30-20 over a poor Eels outfit who scored some late tries to make the score respectable after being behind 30-6.
Odd looking ladder at the moment- there are a massive cache of sides at 2-2. Only 4 sides are above 50% - Dragons, Warriors, Penrith and Tigers. Quite a few experts had none of those in their Top 8’s, and along with the Titans, almost everyone had either WT or NZ as wooden spooners.
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Post by hoskotafe3 on Apr 2, 2018 20:37:57 GMT
In AFL there are 4 undefeated. GWS, GC17, Hawthorn (lucky) and Port Adelaide. Of those I think Port and GWS will stay there. Hawks and Suns will finish somewhere between 5th and 12th. 4 winless teams: Brisbane (much improved).Carlton (much improved) Bulldogs (gone many miles backwards) and Collingwood (standing still).
1-1 with question marks: Melbourne: pushed Geelong hard, but were ordinary against Brisbane while winning. Saints: ordinary against Brisbane and downright terrible against the Kangas. Geelong: lucky to beat Melbourne and then managed to get owned by Hawthorn's shallow midfield, even with Burgoyne injured in the first quarter.
The rest are all known quantities. You're allowed to lose to a good team at home coming off a Perth Trip as the Swans did. And you're certainly allowed to lose to a good team away as Richmond did or in Perth as Essendon did.
North and Freo aren't that good but deserved their wins. Eagles lost a competitive game to an elite team at home and then smashed a bad one away. Crows loss in Rd1 can be put down to being underdone after a short pre season. Looked pretty good last week and should be contending again this year.
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Post by hoskotafe3 on Apr 5, 2018 11:51:16 GMT
There's finally some relief for Canberra with a convincing win over a poor Canterbury. Hopefully I'll be saying the same about Collingwood tomorrow, but recent history against Carlton makes me doubtful. If we do drop that one 0-6 is a real possibility. Next week Crows in Adelaide, then Richmond, then ANZAC Day.
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Post by hoskotafe3 on Apr 5, 2018 20:28:40 GMT
Fascinating night ahead. Sharks vs Roosters looked ho hum a couple of weeks ago, but now it's a big game for Easts and the Sharks will have some confidence after a couple of wins.
Dragons vs Souths should add another unpredictable chapter to their rivalry. We should get the biscuits, but it woukdn't surprise me of they got us.
Collingwood on an absolute hiding to nothing against Carlton. Win and they'll get no credit, lose and the sky is falling. I really don't know if this team is good enough to beat Carlton with Kruezer back. The sky may well cave in.
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Post by hoskotafe3 on Apr 6, 2018 20:17:35 GMT
Souths/ Dragons was the only game that delivered. It was a game that appeared closer than the scoreline suggested for most of the match. The Bunnies eventually were able to reflect that closeness on the scoreboard. A real chance late attacking 10 out from the Dragons line, a Walker knock on (his second in the last 15 minutes) killed them off.
Sharks were no match for the Roosters, surrendering 26-10 in a fairly dull game.
I owe the Dragons an apology for saying they "ticked a box" last week after Collingwood put in a second half that defined the term against Carlton, absolutely coasting to a 24 point win.
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Post by hoskotafe3 on Apr 7, 2018 7:03:32 GMT
I'm starting to think there's something about the Tigers this year. Another gritty well calculated win over Melbourne. No luck involved there. Noticed the game clock stopped at 76:00 for at least two tackles. Timer gaffs, in tight games, big me.
Port won a thriller over Brusbane at home while Melbourne took care on the Kangas in a well made win.
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Post by hoskotafe3 on Apr 7, 2018 20:19:57 GMT
Knights beat Broncos in a thriller!
Swans beat Giants in a tight one!
Warriors predictably down the Cowboys at home.
St Kilda forget to turn up for theur game against Adelaide and suffer another 50 point loss. Should be well rested for their next game as they've only played 2 out of 12 quarters for the year so far.
Freo beats GC at Perth Stadium, a nominal home game for the Suns.
Melbourne's win over the Kangas was their first since John Howard was Prime Minister.
In all seriousness there's something rotten going on at St Kilda. They were expected to play finals this year. Losing theur first two home games makes that tough.
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Post by weststigersbob on Apr 8, 2018 4:20:11 GMT
Some great games of footy in the last few days.
The Tigers/Storm game was as dour as it gets, but sometimes dour RL (and RU) games are the most exciting if the defence is good, which it was here.
I really enjoyed the Newcastle/Broncos game. Broncos looked much better, but not good enough for the win.
In the AFL - The Swans won a good game against the GWS. And Adelaide showed their class - The signs are there for St Kilda IMHO. Like you say Hosko, 2 quarters played out of 12. Put their best together for 4 quarters and they’ll go well....
Is this the year the Dees shake the tree ? Bulldogs, Richmond, Melbourne ?
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