NRL 2020

@mimic said in NRL 2020:

@antipodean said in NRL 2020:

Every time I complain about rugby refs, I should pause and reflect on how incompetent league refs can be on a much simpler game.

Also - how overrated is Wayne Bennett? Let's see him coach the Bulldogs.

Wayne won a title with the Dragons..

Welcome back bro.

I think Bennett is an excellent coach, but he invites plenty of criticism and attention because of his manner and style. He comes across as “bigger than the game” with the way he engages with the media. Sure the media are dogs sometimes, but play the game and don’t always be an egg about it.

@antipodean said in NRL 2020:

Every time I complain about rugby refs, I should pause and reflect on how incompetent league refs can be on a much simpler game.

Also - how overrated is Wayne Bennett? Let's see him coach the Bulldogs.

Not at all. He's up there with the best coaches of all time. Should have retired after the Dragons though.

I don't think he's half as good as his press would like you to believe. He's benefitted from good rosters, and his Dragons experience was a team on the rise which deteriorated just as quickly.

@antipodean said in NRL 2020:

I don't think he's half as good as his press would like you to believe. He's benefitted from good rosters, and his Dragons experience was a team on the rise which deteriorated just as quickly.

Name a single premiership winning coach who hasn't benefited from a good roster. He also worked wonders back in the old Qld comp with very limited cattle.

I get the hate. The guy is a weird looking grumpy tool. But he's a damn good coach. Or at least used to be.

@Rancid-Schnitzel said in NRL 2020:

@antipodean said in NRL 2020:

I don't think he's half as good as his press would like you to believe. He's benefitted from good rosters, and his Dragons experience was a team on the rise which deteriorated just as quickly.

Name a single premiership winning coach who hasn't benefited from a good roster. He also worked wonders back in the old Qld comp with very limited cattle.

I get the hate. The guy is a weird looking grumpy tool. But he's a damn good coach. Or at least used to be.

Wasn't he an assistant to the kiwis when we'd performed well?

@canefan yeah pretty sure he was there when we won the world cup.

@Crazy-Horse said in NRL 2020:

@canefan yeah pretty sure he was there when we won the world cup.

I thought so

@Rancid-Schnitzel said in NRL 2020:

@antipodean said in NRL 2020:

I don't think he's half as good as his press would like you to believe. He's benefitted from good rosters, and his Dragons experience was a team on the rise which deteriorated just as quickly.

Name a single premiership winning coach who hasn't benefited from a good roster. He also worked wonders back in the old Qld comp with very limited cattle.

I get the hate. The guy is a weird looking grumpy tool. But he's a damn good coach. Or at least used to be.

Of course all premiership winning coaches have good rosters. My point is he's largely made his reputation on the basis of a SoO team at his disposal and once he left unsurprisingly selected a team he could do something with.

The way people carry on about him you'd think he could walk on water.

@canefan said in NRL 2020:

@Rancid-Schnitzel said in NRL 2020:

@antipodean said in NRL 2020:

I don't think he's half as good as his press would like you to believe. He's benefitted from good rosters, and his Dragons experience was a team on the rise which deteriorated just as quickly.

Name a single premiership winning coach who hasn't benefited from a good roster. He also worked wonders back in the old Qld comp with very limited cattle.

I get the hate. The guy is a weird looking grumpy tool. But he's a damn good coach. Or at least used to be.

Wasn't he an assistant to the kiwis when we'd performed well?

Yep, say what you like about him but he made Kearney a decent coach in that winning campaign, and that's got to be the equivalent of building the Taj Mahal with a two year old engineer in charge.

@antipodean said in NRL 2020:

@Rancid-Schnitzel said in NRL 2020:

@antipodean said in NRL 2020:

I don't think he's half as good as his press would like you to believe. He's benefitted from good rosters, and his Dragons experience was a team on the rise which deteriorated just as quickly.

Name a single premiership winning coach who hasn't benefited from a good roster. He also worked wonders back in the old Qld comp with very limited cattle.

I get the hate. The guy is a weird looking grumpy tool. But he's a damn good coach. Or at least used to be.

Of course all premiership winning coaches have good rosters. My point is he's largely made his reputation on the basis of a SoO team at his disposal and once he left unsurprisingly selected a team he could do something with.

The way people carry on about him you'd think he could walk on water.

I disagree with that. He became Broncos coach after amazing results in the Qld comp, SOO and even getting Canberra to a final in 1987. So he already had a huge rep even before the Broncos were formed. The Broncos gig also came with some major issues, particularly at the start.

Yeah, I think he has about 7 premierships to his name just looking at NRL success, over 60% winning rate over 500 games which is astounding too. You could argue he is not the greatest at some aspects of the role, eg media handling, but he has more credentials based on success (which ultimately what a coach is remembered by) than most. You don't have to like him, but he certainly is a great coach.

Is he still at the top of his game, arguably not, but he does deserve credit for what he has achieved.

How did Nathan Cleary not win the Dally M? I see he only finished third.

Tohu Harris caps off a massive year getting in the Team of the year. Well done fella.

@Bovidae said in NRL 2020:

How did Nathan Cleary not win the Dally M? I see he only finished third.

Bit of a surprise. I don’t think Wighton is an undeserving winner given what he was able to do, but Cleary has stepped up his game and all fingers and toes crossed he can do the business on the weekend.

@ACT-Crusader said in NRL 2020:

@Bovidae said in NRL 2020:

How did Nathan Cleary not win the Dally M? I see he only finished third.

Bit of a surprise. I don’t think Wighton is an undeserving winner given what he was able to do, but Cleary has stepped up his game and all fingers and toes crossed he can do the business on the weekend.

Fuck Nathan Cleary. Tough shit, you even finished behind a spud like "King Gutho".

In all reality, the Dally M is as bad as the fucking Brownlow now. Unless you play in 1, 6, 7, or maybe 9, you have to be unreal to win it. Individual honours in team games have never really sat right with me anyway

I really don't want the fucking Panthers to win this weekend. Super coach Cleary will conveniently have his overall dogshit record quietly swept away. Tigers fans will lose their shit.

I would rather Cam Smith went out with another flag, and it actually physically hurt to type that out. Maybe one more flag will be enough for that joint to blow itself up and come back to teh pack for once (but given their talent identification systems, that's unlikely).

@Bovidae said in NRL 2020:

How did Nathan Cleary not win the Dally M? I see he only finished third.

Largely due to the success of others in the team, Jerome Luai ended up getting 17 points and even JFH took potential points.

There are some hard luck stories though in certain rounds as to who actually deserved to get the 3-2-1 in that round. Still its all subjective and adds to the theatre. I quite like that aspect of NRL and AFL. Sure its more about promoting the sport, but gives the players something extra to et recognition for.

Also RTS took captain of the year, so a double win for the warriors players who stayed

TEAMS

Panthers team: 1. Dylan Edwards 2. Josh Mansour 3. Brent Naden 4. Stephen Crichton 5. Brian To’o 6. Jarome Luai 7. Nathan Cleary 8. James Tamou 9. Apisai Koroisau 10. James Fisher-Harris 11. Viliame Kikau 12. Liam Martin 13. Isaah Yeo 14. Tyrone May 15. Kurt Capewell 16. Moses Leota 17. Zane Tetevano 18. Mitch Kenny 19. Dean Whare 20. Matt Burton 21. Spencer Leniu

Storm team: 1. Ryan Papenhuyzen 2. Suliasi Vunivalu 3. Brenko Lee 4. Justin Olam 5. Josh Addo-Carr 6. Cameron Munster 7. Jahrome Hughes 8. Jesse Bromwich 9. Cameron Smith 10. Christian Welch 11. Felise Kaufusi 12. Kenneath Bromwich 13. Nelson Asofa-Solomona 14. Brandon Smith 15. Tino Fa’asuamaleaui 16. Dale Finucane 17. Nicholas Hynes 18. Tom Eisenhuth 19. Paul Momirovski 20. Tui Kamikamica 21. Ryley Jacks

Both sides probably run out 1-17, Naden may get dropped again but who knows. Cant pick this one myself, but probably leaning towards the Storm, although Panthers winning streak has been incredibly impressive.
Relatively even at the TAB too, Storm at 1.70 and Panthers 2.25

@mariner4life yeah it's like quarterbacks, running backs, and wide receivers.

Looking at the full list of winners Taumalolo has been the exception when he shared the medal with Cronk in 2016. More positions were represented in the 1980s (lock, second row, centre).

Warriors departures..

Lachlan Burr to Cowboys, Taane Milne to Souths, Isaiah Papali’i to Eels

@bayimports said in NRL 2020:

Warriors departures..

Lachlan Burr to Cowboys, Taane Milne to Souths, Isaiah Papali’i to Eels

Burr is a loss, had a very good season

yeah I thought so too, apparently Payten very happy securing him as well. He knows better than anyone else his professionalism not just on field ability.

@canefan said in NRL 2020:

@bayimports said in NRL 2020:

Warriors departures..

Lachlan Burr to Cowboys, Taane Milne to Souths, Isaiah Papali’i to Eels

Burr is a loss, had a very good season

I straight up don't get that, the dude is an on field plodder, if he was a Kiwi he wouldn't be rated by anyone but he's an Aussie so he's supposedly good because we're on the endless search for the next Luck, Price orCampion.

Now that I've said that he'll likely become a superstar for the Cowboys.

Cam Smith and Richie McGod closer than originally thought? Its fox sports so cant take too seriously, but interesting relationship nonetheless.

@Nepia yeah I agree. Too often we’d be on attack with a good head of steam and the ball would fall to him. No offload, no big metres. Just a quick play the ball. I’ll give him that. He got to his feet quickly.

The stats say it all. He was average as fuck.

POINTS: 0 (Leader: 221)
GOALS: 0 (Leader: 98)
TRIES: 0 (Leader: 23)
TRY ASSISTS: 0 (Leader: 23)
RUNS: 133 (Leader: 432)
RUN METRES: 1,230 (Leader: 4,394)
LINEBREAKS: 0 (Leader: 23)
OFFLOADS: 8 (Leader: 54)
TACKLES: 339 (Leader: 1,092)
MISSED TACKLES: 23 (Leader: 77)
TACKLE BREAKS: 8 (Leader: 139)
LINE BREAK ASSISTS: 1 (Leader: 21)
KICK METRES: 0 (Leader: 10,129)
40/20: 0 (Leader: 4)
PENALTIES: 4 (Leader: 17)
ERRORS: 4 (Leader: 40)

@bayimports said in NRL 2020:

Cam Smith and Richie McGod closer than originally thought? Its fox sports so cant take too seriously, but interesting relationship nonetheless.

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I see a picture of the GOAT and guy that plays league

Pissing down in Sydney, not sure who that favours , traditionally I might think Melbourne, but this team has been less methodical and Far more attacking than usual , scoring lots of long range tries with pace out wide and 2 running halves .

Cleary might have the best kicking game out there

Penalty try.

@ACT-Crusader said in NRL 2020:

Penalty try.

Ironic ruled Due to the billy slater rule

Gee the Storm are pushing the pass

@ACT-Crusader said in NRL 2020:

Gee the Storm are pushing the pass

That’s how they have been playing this year so be interesting to see if they have to play conservative

I’ll be really interested in how the refs play the advantage 6 more rule tonight.

Clear penalty try, but one of those decisions if May had time to think about it would have not kicked out, making the kick from the corner in this weather would have been tough

tough to handle in this weather, even the storm have now now made two handling errors in their own half already

Wow I’m not sure about that last no try call.

@ACT-Crusader said in NRL 2020:

Wow I’m not sure about that last no try call.

tough but consistent on how the have ruled all year. Probably a few more chances coming down Brenko side

Two grabs around the neck both ways gone unpunished.

@ACT-Crusader said in NRL 2020:

I’ll be really interested in how the refs play the advantage 6 more rule tonight.

koro probably lucky not to have one against his leg pull just then either

The amount of unpunished high tackles is hilarious.

@bayimports said in NRL 2020:

@ACT-Crusader said in NRL 2020:

I’ll be really interested in how the refs play the advantage 6 more rule tonight.

koro probably lucky not to have one against his leg pull just then either

At least twice the Panthers tried to go from dummy half from quick plays and Storm markers not square. No penalty.

@ACT-Crusader said in NRL 2020:

@bayimports said in NRL 2020:

@ACT-Crusader said in NRL 2020:

I’ll be really interested in how the refs play the advantage 6 more rule tonight.

koro probably lucky not to have one against his leg pull just then either

At least twice the Panthers tried to go from dummy half from quick plays and Storm markers not square. No penalty.

refs clearly reluctant to penalise or use 6 again so far early, lets see if that continues..almost playing SOO type of reffing rules