NRL 2018

Nepia

WTF! The stitch up from the hometown refs is on.

akan004

Hometown decision.

raznomore

the ref is actually an idiot. completely the wrong temperament for officiating. would be more at home in a kindy or minding sheep.

Nepia

@akan004 said in NRL 2018:

Hometown decision.

DWZ had nothing to do with Johnson stopping that try. Remove DWZ from that play and Johnson still stops it.

They also got away with a blatant knock on in front of the ref and touch judge a few minutes earlier.

akan004

@nepia Yeah, has to be one of the worst calls I have seen. He was so desperate to award them the try.

Nepia

And Halligan confirms that he's a commentator by saying he thought it was a try - not a penalty try, but that England scored it.

raznomore

I understand it when they playing a stadium set up for soccer but there are playing on a field that has the length, why have such ridiculously small in goal area.

raznomore

need smith back on asap

Nepia

@raznomore said in NRL 2018:

need smith back on asap

He looked pretty average when he was on TBF. Nikorima seemed to be playing half half/half 9 for the first 30 odd minutes.

But agree, need to bring him back on, and tell him to go for broke.

Nepia

The Kiwis have fallen to pieces.

Nepia

Wow, England just got a penalty after Tomkins pulled Johnson back into the ruck when he was basically out of the way.

This is bullshit. This match makes O'Keefe's performance in the Magpies v Otago match look fair and balanced.

akan004

Another English knock on missed. Fuck.

Nepia

There were too many dodgy decisions in that match.

What a crock of shit.

mariner4life

I would like to put forward an entry for "least thought-out sports article of 2018" ladies and gentlemen, i give you this nuffie and his pass/fail for each club/coach in 2019.

https://www.foxsports.com.au/nrl/nrl-premiership/rating-the-expectations-on-all-16-nrl-coaches-in-2019/news-story/8dc85254b1de4e5188edea5173860a79

Apparently, just to get a pass mark, no fewer than 7 coaches need to get their team in to the top 4. And if 13 or 14 teams don't make the 8, then the coach might get sacked.

This nuffie has effectively taken last year's ladder, and said do this again, or better, or you're gone. Fuck maths, schedule, or roster. Do these dickheads get paid for this shit?

canefan

Kiwis try to even the series vs the Poms, 3.30am NZT?

England: John Bateman, George Burgess, Tom Burgess, Daryl Clark, Jake Connor, Oliver Gildart, James Graham (c), Chris Hill, Josh Hodgson, Jonny Lomax, Tommy Makinson, Jermaine McGillvary, Richie Myler, Adam Milner, Mark Percival, Luke Thompson, Sam Tomkins, Elliott Whitehead, George Williams (two to be omitted).

Kiwis: Dallin Watene-Zelezniak (c), Leeson Ah Mau, Adam Blair, Jesse Bromwich, James Fisher-Harris, Jahrome Hughes, Shaun Johnson, Isaac Liu, Joseph Manu, Esan Marsters, Ken Maumalo, Kodi Nikorima, Kevin Proctor, Jordan Rapana, Brandon Smith, Joseph Tapine, Martin Taupau, Jared Waerea-Hargreaves (one to be omitted).

If they get good Adam Blair back, he will be a strong addition

Virgil

That went well...

Nepia

Damn, what is up with our flat second halves? At least we lost that fair and square and not on the back of a terrible reffing display.

Although, good old league though, eye gouger stays on the field despite multiple replays of the incident and the commentators minimise it because although he was attempting to rake the face and that's ok he just accidentally went near the eye area.

Siam

Footage of an eye gouge. You can judge...

http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/league/108354137/kiwis-captain-eyegouged-in-england-loss?cid=app-android

Nevorian

@siam pretty clear it is an intentional eye gouge based on how the fingers are tensed and into the eye - if it was a genuine hold the palm of his hand would be flat across his face

Nepia

So we bitch slapped them in the final test, and the refs finally started sending people from the field - ironically it was Kiwi who got binned first.

A bit hard to gauge this Kiwis squad. Good win over Oz, and got a little bit shafted two weeks in a row with certain decision and non decision and then a big win to finish things off.

MacGuire needs to cop some flak for his use of a second row at hooker (especially when our top hooker was playing with an injury), but 2/4 against the two other best teams in the world is an Ok result considering what went on last year.

The Silver Fern

NRL 2018