All the hype through the week will be around the Sharks , never won a flag , long suffering supporters etc etc
Storm will be allowed to fly under the radar a bit more and go about their business as usual .
How the Sharks deal and handle that pressure and expectation could go along way in deciding it .
@Smudge said in The NRL Season of 2016:
Super-Grubs vs Book-Cookers in the final. Who to support, who to support . . .
It's a good point. I could have maybe watched the Raiders go around against the Sharks. But now? Fuck that
@Smudge said in The NRL Season of 2016:
Super-Grubs vs Book-Cookers in the final. Who to support, who to support . . .
They're all book cookers, it just depends on whether they get caught.
Such is my waning interest I have for the first time in forever not watched a single minute of the finals.
I will probs watch next week but could not give a shit who wins.
@Gunner said in The NRL Season of 2016:
@Sneakdefreak said in The NRL Season of 2016:
Great struggle between Melbourne and Canberra. Raiders fullback Wrighton just got sinbinned. Maaatttee.
Sinbinned?
In a loigue semi final?He must have farted near the ref?
Cant think of any other reason they'd even consider binning someone in regular season game, let alone the semi final of the toughest league on the planet.
It was a dirty game , surprised that was the only sinbinning tbh. Wrighton pulled down Koroibate to slow down the Storm who were about to score a try. I thought their hooker would go too when he did the same.
If available the Kiwis wings for 4N should be Vunivalu and Rapana. Both were beasts in that game.
@Sneakdefreak Vunivalu probably shouldn't be eligible, but better his time spent in NZ makes him eligible for us than him wind up playing for Oz.
Rapana definitely, unless his playing for the Cooks rules him out. He should have been in the ANZAC test so I'm wondering it it does?
@Razbra That was the first full NRL game I've watched in years. Even though I'm a Raiders fan it is hard to warm to that lot. They're not a patch on the team from the 1990s.
Anyone else get the impression that the Fox comms were willing the Raiders to win? Canberra were more cynical at slowing down the play-the-ball than Melbourne but only one team was criticised for it.
I'm cheering for the Storm and the KIwi boys. I want Gallen to lose again to a Smith-led team.
@kiwiinmelb said in The NRL Season of 2016:
@Bovidae yeah , I picked up on that ,
it will be all Sharks next week, they will be the darlings of the sydney led media , but that goes in the Storms favor, Bellamy thrives on that us against them spirit
I'm not so sure. The Sydney media were pretty scathing of Cronulla and the whole peptides issue. No one really likes Gallen despite the fact he is NSW captain - more a case of last man standing.
The whole Fifita thing didn't endear anyone really.
So other than the real diehard Sharks supporters and a few anti-Melbourne/Victoria, I think most will be in the Storm camp.
In saying that there will be plenty not supporting either and just hoping for a close game and biff....
Considering Ennis is retiring (is Gallen as well?) there will almost certainly be biff. Last game a GF? He'll be at his absolute pesty worst this weekend, and i would imagine Bellamy is drilling in to his side to ignore it.
@mariner4life said in The NRL Season of 2016:
Considering Ennis is retiring (is Gallen as well?) there will almost certainly be biff. Last game a GF? He'll be at his absolute pesty worst this weekend, and i would imagine Bellamy is drilling in to his side to ignore it.
Or to provoke it ...
@ACT-Crusader said in The NRL Season of 2016:
@kiwiinmelb said in The NRL Season of 2016:
@Bovidae yeah , I picked up on that ,
it will be all Sharks next week, they will be the darlings of the sydney led media , but that goes in the Storms favor, Bellamy thrives on that us against them spirit
I'm not so sure. The Sydney media were pretty scathing of Cronulla and the whole peptides issue. No one really likes Gallen despite the fact he is NSW captain - more a case of last man standing.
The whole Fifita thing didn't endear anyone really.
So other than the real diehard Sharks supporters and a few anti-Melbourne/Victoria, I think most will be in the Storm camp.
In saying that there will be plenty not supporting either and just hoping for a close game and biff....
Yeah, fair point , I guess I was thinking more about the long suffering supporter base , and the media milking those stories
@kiwiinmelb there will definitely be an element of that for sure, but by and large they are a side on the nose that have a batch of vets and young players that have put a good season together. I'm just not sure many will be on the bandwagon ala Western Bulldogs.
Jason Taumalolo becomes the first proper forward to win the Dally M since 1989, and the first kiwi since Gary Freeman in '92 when he shared it last night with Cooper Cronk.
Bromwich named prop of the year as well.
If they win will the Warriors be the only team James Maloney never won the championship with when playing as a regular in the first grade team?
@mariner4life Great that Taumalolo won the Dally M. Shows he is far and away the best player in the competition, since the Dally M is traditionally skewered towards halfbacks.
Taumalolo, Jordan Rapana and Joseph Tapine added to Kiwis training squad. Squad is named after the GF.
@Sneakdefreak he's had an incredible year. Was massive against the Broncos. His minutes got longer, and his impact was through the roof.
Maybe not the best player in the comp, but certainly the most effective.
Taumalolo, Tapau, Bromwich and Matulino will take some stopping for the kiwis. Add in the support cast of Proctor and Harris and it's some pack we are assembling.
@Sneakdefreak said in The NRL Season of 2016:
Taumalolo, Jordan Rapana and Joseph Tapine added to Kiwis training squad. Squad is named after the GF.
Finally! Hope he makes the actual team and hope the Cowboys let Taumalolo play.
Rapana is a certainty for the wing and if Vunivalu is eligible (which he probably is since he played schoolboy rugby here) I could see Jason Nightingale being the fullback (because every Kiwis team needs Nightingale in there somewhere).
Grand Final day and a good (but not great) player is calling it a career after the final whistle.
isnt it like 9 or 9.30?
Grand Finals when they were on a late Sunday arvo were much better!
7:28PM Sydney time. We started DST today so we're back to 2 hours' difference.
NOTE: it was 7:18PM but they added Gould minutes.
I think it's a stupid time to kickoff on a Sunday. 5pm Local time is much better for a Sunday night.
@Damo said in The NRL Season of 2016:
I think it's a stupid time to kickoff on a Sunday. 5pm Local time is much better for a Sunday night.
27 degrees here today. Know what I'd prefer
Ennis straight into the grub work
Barba in off the base of the scrum.
I'm liking the work of the two Sharks wingers, Sosaia Feki and Valentine Holmes.
Maloney has exposed Tohu Harris twice
@Damo said in The NRL Season of 2016:
Storm doing bloody well to only be 8 behind. They look fúcked.
Not surprising though, because the Sharks playmakers are rubbish. Maloney is damn good in broken play situations, but other than that the 6, 7 and 9 aren't much chop.
Sharks playing much better. Very low error and missed tackle rates, plus they're just too big and too strong with ball in hand. It's like watching a club's senior team playing the U18s.
@NTA said in The NRL Season of 2016:
Also noting: public holiday here tomorrow (not all States)
I didn't know that. Makes more sense.
@ACT-Crusader said in The NRL Season of 2016:
@Damo said in The NRL Season of 2016:
Storm doing bloody well to only be 8 behind. They look fúcked.
Not surprising though, because the Sharks playmakers are rubbish. Maloney is damn good in broken play situations, but other than that the 6, 7 and 9 aren't much chop.
Yeah but this can't carry on. Storm will need to get some Ball in the second half or they'll be buggered.
