NRL 2023 + Internationals
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it's gone very very wrong in Townsville. I had them as serious contenders, and i wasn't alone.
Yes, they have been hit by injury, especially in teh forwards. But last night they rolled out their best backline, and half a starting pack, and got destroyed.
If you were to make a list of the Cowboys playing well it wouldn't be long. Val Holmes (though he won't look back fondly on a couple of defensive plays last night) and mostly Dearden.
On the other hand if you were making a list of players who are playing absolutely terribly it would be easy
Drinkwater, Feldt, Hiku, Townsend, Nanai, Cotter, Hess
That's half their spine, their entire right edge, and two players who were in Origin 12 months ago. Just awful.Last night was actually embarassing. No defensive effort at all. no line speed. Missed tackles all over the shop. No hard running when they had the ball. And they were deservedly pumped.
@mariner4life I heard a comment like you have used 25 players already this season and only used 24 last year? I know you also lost a couple of great squad players to the dolphins as well but as you say something is not right though, line speed in defence was missing and even the attack is way off. Cotter was unstoppable last year and doesn't look like he was getting out of second gear. Val Holmes has seen next to no ball the whole season in attack, hard to believe last week was his first try and he is one of the ones putting in, just seeing no ball.
Now you will also lose Nanai for a couple of weeks for the hip drop, so wont get easier either
When Nico Hynes plays.. the sharks are hard to beat, they looked like they were cruising (although made to look better by silly mistakes/penalties from the Cows)
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@mariner4life I heard a comment like you have used 25 players already this season and only used 24 last year? I know you also lost a couple of great squad players to the dolphins as well but as you say something is not right though, line speed in defence was missing and even the attack is way off. Cotter was unstoppable last year and doesn't look like he was getting out of second gear. Val Holmes has seen next to no ball the whole season in attack, hard to believe last week was his first try and he is one of the ones putting in, just seeing no ball.
Now you will also lose Nanai for a couple of weeks for the hip drop, so wont get easier either
When Nico Hynes plays.. the sharks are hard to beat, they looked like they were cruising (although made to look better by silly mistakes/penalties from the Cows)
@bayimports they let Hammer go to the Dolphins because they went all in on Drinkwater. Problem was, i think it was the threat of Hammer that had Drinkwater playing well, now he is the only fullback and he is back to the form that saw him playing Q-Cup.
Also Hammer on the wing over that fucking plodder Feldt would have been nice. Or at centre over the desperately ordinary Hiku.Gilbert was a tough nut through the middle as well, and now he is a big reason why the Dolphins are so tough.
But the loss of form of all those players listed is astounding. Cotter definitely one, last year he just bashed people, now he's playing less minutes than fucking Granville (and don't get me started on that spud playing as a running middle forward).
But as you saw, when you have a left edge of Holmes and Taulagi and they get no ball and no space at all it's damning on the spine.
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@bayimports they let Hammer go to the Dolphins because they went all in on Drinkwater. Problem was, i think it was the threat of Hammer that had Drinkwater playing well, now he is the only fullback and he is back to the form that saw him playing Q-Cup.
Also Hammer on the wing over that fucking plodder Feldt would have been nice. Or at centre over the desperately ordinary Hiku.Gilbert was a tough nut through the middle as well, and now he is a big reason why the Dolphins are so tough.
But the loss of form of all those players listed is astounding. Cotter definitely one, last year he just bashed people, now he's playing less minutes than fucking Granville (and don't get me started on that spud playing as a running middle forward).
But as you saw, when you have a left edge of Holmes and Taulagi and they get no ball and no space at all it's damning on the spine.
@mariner4life Its pretty criminal that Holmes ad Tualagi have seen next to no ball, Chad and Drinkwater both overplayed their hands too much not letting Deardon have space down that side. Ironically it would not take much to fix that part up, but so much other stuff to fix as well. Gilbert has been a big loss.
Nanai grade 3 charge ..ouch means min of 4 weeks
In some surprising news NZW had a win at the judiciary and Walker successfully had his charge downgraded so will play this weekend. Personally don't think he should have been charged, but NZ teams don't often beat judiciaries so I will take that.
and anyone in tipping comps...Turbo is out
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@mariner4life Its pretty criminal that Holmes ad Tualagi have seen next to no ball, Chad and Drinkwater both overplayed their hands too much not letting Deardon have space down that side. Ironically it would not take much to fix that part up, but so much other stuff to fix as well. Gilbert has been a big loss.
Nanai grade 3 charge ..ouch means min of 4 weeks
In some surprising news NZW had a win at the judiciary and Walker successfully had his charge downgraded so will play this weekend. Personally don't think he should have been charged, but NZ teams don't often beat judiciaries so I will take that.
and anyone in tipping comps...Turbo is out
@bayimports said in NRL 2023:
In some surprising news NZW had a win at the judiciary and Walker successfully had his charge downgraded so will play this weekend. Personally don't think he should have been charged, but NZ teams don't often beat judiciaries so I will take that.
:astonished_face:
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@bayimports said in NRL 2023:
In some surprising news NZW had a win at the judiciary and Walker successfully had his charge downgraded so will play this weekend. Personally don't think he should have been charged, but NZ teams don't often beat judiciaries so I will take that.
:astonished_face:
@bayimports said in NRL 2023:
In some surprising news NZW had a win at the judiciary and Walker successfully had his charge downgraded so will play this weekend. Personally don't think he should have been charged, but NZ teams don't often beat judiciaries so I will take that.
:astonished_face:
🤬
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Panthers suck, Tigers are the best team in the comp and Cleary is a whinging bitch.
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3 absolute shit calls against the Warriors already.
Ref missed 2 knock ons in the same play earlier and now the bunker has given the Roosters a 20m tap when it should have been a line drop out.
Warriors will have to dig deep, obviously playing against 14 again today…
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And another dogshite call, Roosters with a blatant should charge that they have another look at but ignored, and the Roosters crash over for a try in the very next set.
Fuck the NRL and their cheating fucking refs.
And another dogshite call, Roosters with a blatant should charge that they have another look at but ignored, and the Roosters crash over for a try in the very next set.
Fuck the NRL and their cheating fucking refs.
Yep, I saw a much softer one than that get penalised in one of the games extended highlights I watched this morning.
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Warriors have had plenty of ball inside the Roosters 20 but haven’t been able to score
As bad as the ref was, I agree. We needed to score off all that possession in the first half
Yep, plenty of chances to win this. To be honest the only real difference between the sides was that the Roosters converted a couple of theirs and this was a really even wet weather grind. Given we were so well down on troops compared to the Roosters playing roster, I think we did ok although we lost.
Hopefully some troops back for next week we need them.
Also didn't mind what I saw from the young teenager Demitric Sifakula..looks like a tackle machine with a good motor.
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So magic round almost here, well it will be magic if the pitch holds up for greater than a day, looked terrible even after one game last week.
Warriors relying on an exception to field CNK, supposedly should have not been able to play for one more day, but somehow we have. Panthers probably still too good, but we have a better shot with CNK and Tohu back than without. SJ again looked good last week on a losing side, can another halfback outplay Cleary for two weeks running? Why do I get the feeling Luai and Walker will get in a fight?
Raiders to have back to back wins courtesy of Bulldogs injury list, Ricky will still lose it over something. Broncos to resume winning ways over Manly. Sharks to beat Dolphins with Nico putting on a show. Rabbits to beat the Storm with their left edge starting to click. Tigers to officially have Hook cooked. Roosters to smash the underwhelming Cowboys and the Eels spine to end the Titans run.
Highlight for me this week is that apparently Brenko Lee has failed his fitness test so it means Valance Te Whare will make his NRL debut for the Phins. Probably one of the better union talents (from Chiefs region) that got away from all accounts. He weighs about 108 kg and plays centre if you have not heard of him. @Bovidae might keep an eye out for this one
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So magic round almost here, well it will be magic if the pitch holds up for greater than a day, looked terrible even after one game last week.
Warriors relying on an exception to field CNK, supposedly should have not been able to play for one more day, but somehow we have. Panthers probably still too good, but we have a better shot with CNK and Tohu back than without. SJ again looked good last week on a losing side, can another halfback outplay Cleary for two weeks running? Why do I get the feeling Luai and Walker will get in a fight?
Raiders to have back to back wins courtesy of Bulldogs injury list, Ricky will still lose it over something. Broncos to resume winning ways over Manly. Sharks to beat Dolphins with Nico putting on a show. Rabbits to beat the Storm with their left edge starting to click. Tigers to officially have Hook cooked. Roosters to smash the underwhelming Cowboys and the Eels spine to end the Titans run.
Highlight for me this week is that apparently Brenko Lee has failed his fitness test so it means Valance Te Whare will make his NRL debut for the Phins. Probably one of the better union talents (from Chiefs region) that got away from all accounts. He weighs about 108 kg and plays centre if you have not heard of him. @Bovidae might keep an eye out for this one
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@bayimports I had assumed Te Whare had already played a game for the Dolphins. He is quick for his size. Ex-St Paul's Collegiate and played a handful of games for Waikato.
@Bovidae he has played a few games in pre-season but not in the NRL yet. I expect if he plays anywhere near his potential I suspect he keeps his position in first grade.
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Magic Round and already i hate it
rolling in from touch (or more specifically post-touch beers) in to the 8pm kick off every thursday is almost my highlight of the week. but noooo, no footy tonight.
Field is a huge concern. good luck to the Titans and the Eels on Sunday night
agree with all your tips. We're going to get flogged unless a miracle happens and it rains.
Souths are genuinely scary at the moment, and if i was an NSW selector i would roll the dice and pick Latrell at the back. He's deadset the most fun guy in the comp to watch play footy.
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Magic Round and already i hate it
rolling in from touch (or more specifically post-touch beers) in to the 8pm kick off every thursday is almost my highlight of the week. but noooo, no footy tonight.
Field is a huge concern. good luck to the Titans and the Eels on Sunday night
agree with all your tips. We're going to get flogged unless a miracle happens and it rains.
Souths are genuinely scary at the moment, and if i was an NSW selector i would roll the dice and pick Latrell at the back. He's deadset the most fun guy in the comp to watch play footy.
@mariner4life yeah no games tonight is also something I am not going to enjoy even without touch, but maybe a few post work beers..
