@mariner4life said in The NRL Season of 2016:
Townsend, Maloney, and Ennis were the reason the Sharks didn't have that put to bed early. The better side took far too long to win that game.
And yet someone is rating Ennis an 8 on news.com.au
League media/supporters have real troubled identifying the flaws in a winning team.
The best thing about that was Cameron Smith's concession speech, I thought he payed great tribute to team that finally won, when the Warriors finally win in 30 years time I hope the opposing captain is so gracious. Don't know why he has to be such a grub on the playing field though - same goes for Ennis I guess.
Anyway, I sat my fat ass down to watch the game at 7ish last night only to discover Foxtel don't have the final - all game live all year ... except for the final. So I had to wait until 9:30pm to watch a replay.
Anyway, back to the game, it was pretty average, although my leaguie mate (think Sneak x 10000) was telling me it was the greatest game ever but only the 3rd greatest grand final, so go figure. I was cheering for the Storm, but like with the Canes this year in the end I didn't mind as a team who have never won it made it over the line so that's good for their loyal supporters.
I'm still bemused that Fifita is a thing, the guy waddles and somehow evades everyone time and time again.
@Sneakdefreak said in The NRL Season of 2016:
Good to see Chad Townsend win a NRL title. He was a good bloke in his time at the Warriors. Maloney, maybe not so much a good bloke, but three GFs and two championships now. He gets it done.
Luke Lewis just won the MOTM. Probably should have been Fifita but they didn't want him speaking.
Good bloke, shit player, at least Maloney was a good player (aside from that last season) for the Warriors. How old is Luke Lewis? He doesn't look a day over 60. He's aged worse than Neil Back.
So I guess now we wait to see how many NZers suddenly turn up injured in the next few day to find out whether this years Four Nations is worth watching.
I was at the game , the Sharks were great , they would've scored more than 2 tries against any other defense I reckon . Storm nearly pinched it off the back of that amazing defensive effort , but can't deny the Sharks as worthy winners .
@booboo said in The NRL Season of 2016:
@Nepia you have pay tv but not FTA? Channel Nein.
The FTA channels mess with the signal of the Foxtel (which reduces the quality of the feed) and I assumed I wouldn't ever need to watch them now that Foxtel has all the NRL games (but clearly not all).
@NTA said in The NRL Season of 2016:
Some dirty shit going on in the contract zone. Wonder how long it will take until someone sues the NRL for letting this stuff go. There was a chicken wing tackle earlier that looked fairly shit.
I forgot this was on and only watched the last quarter of an hour.
It's a bit soccer mum-ish, but I wouldn't be keen on my kids playing league, in the same way I wouldn't want them taking up boxing.
That Storm guy who came in with a swinging arm to the neck that led to the Fifita try - that would have been a definite yellow card in rugby and even a possible red. In league, it's just a penalty and play on.
@akan004 said in The NRL Season of 2016:
Haven't followed the NRL over the last few years as I just don't have the time to watch as much sport as I used to. How would you guys compare the talent in the NRL with say the players in NZ rugby and how would the NRL compare to Super Rugby in terms of standard?
Bit hard to compare, but both top professional competitions so tend to have the best talent in each game (Super rugby for the SH anyway).
I've noticed in the past couple of years there's been a move away from the usual league forward (5' 11"/6ft) to some big boppers that wouldn't look out of place on a rugby field.
Obviously the hyperbole from the Aussie leaguies is off the charts these days, they're all the greatest champions to grace a rectangle field and a rah rah player would break in the first minute of a league match.
@akan004 said in The NRL Season of 2016:
@Nepia I don't know why the leaguies feel that way about Rugby players. Don't they realise that a good portion of the kiwi league players have a Union background. I don't think we feel that way about some of the great League players, and would happily welcome them to our game.
There'd be a few I'd welcome to see them get trapped at the bottom of a ruck (Bird, Gallen, Slater, used to be Cam Smith but I'm softening on him).
Of all the codes the Nrl is closest to entertainment supercedes the pursuit of the purity of the games laws, and indeed the hollow words and messages of player safety, values and integrity which emanate from the administrators.
the law book will surely state that Ennis high first tackle is a bin. Ditto the fijian a few minutes later. But no way is that enforced. Similarly Thaidays spear tackle in SOO. Similarly the 10 minute conversion attempt in last year's gf.
In my opinion the law book runs second fiddle to the hype and sensationalism.
Watching how stringently rugby is officiated inthe morning and then the league was chalk and cheese.
Nothing wrong with that if thats how the NRL and fans want it. Good luck to them. They got me watching it.
@Chris-B. said in The NRL Season of 2016:
It's a bit soccer mum-ish, but I wouldn't be keen on my kids playing league, in the same way I wouldn't want them taking up boxing.
That Storm guy who came in with a swinging arm to the neck that led to the Fifita try - that would have been a definite yellow card in rugby and even a possible red. In league, it's just a penalty and play on.
My favourite part was the Koroibete tackle early that was pretty fucking bad, and "Place ON REPORT" - which is fucked, because its a Grand Final, and secondly, the prick is going to rugby anyway.
Fuck!
Kiwis squad: Gerard Beale, Adam Blair, Jesse Bromwich, Lewis Brown, Greg Eastwood, David Fusitu'a, Tohu Harris, Shaun Johnson, Jordan Kahu, Solomone Kata, Shaun Kenny-Dowall, Thomas Leuluai, Issac Luke, Simon Mannering, Te Maire Martin, Manu Ma'u, Jason Nightingale, Kevin Proctor, Jordan Rapana, Joseph Tapine, Jason Taumalolo, Martin Taupau, Jared Waerea-Hargreaves, Dallin Watene-Zelezniak.
Jesse Bromwich is still Kiwis captain for the tournament.
@Sneakdefreak what has Matulino done behind the scenes to piss everyone off?
@mariner4life Nothing. He's had surgery and is out.
@Sneakdefreak right you are
For those in OZ they are showing Samoa v Fiji on ch 507 live right now.
Willing game as expected.
Also on Sky sports pop up channel.. channel 56
Bit surprised by the missing names in the Samoa squad
@mariner4life probably because he performs well for the Kiwis. I rate him ahead of DWZ (but my wingers in 2017 are Fusitua and Rapana at this point).
@taniwharugby Mannering is recovering from surgery so was given an extra week of rehab.
NRL news: Greg Bird released by the Titans, Dylan Walker and Aaron Gray in trouble again (this time in Thailand).
Australian Kangaroos team: Darius Boyd, Blake Ferguson, Greg Inglis, Josh Dugan, Valentine Holmes, Johnathan Thurston, Cooper Cronk, Matt Scott, Cameron Smith (captain), Shannon Boyd, Boyd Cordner, Matt Gillett, Trent Merrin. Interchange: David Klemmer, Michael Morgan, Tyson Frizell, Sam Thaiday.
A few blokes in the twilight of their careers in that team. Guessing Mal isn't worried about a youth policy.
@mariner4life said in The NRL Season of 2016:
i like a lot of our match ups, but their 9/7/6 shits on ours so hard.
Who is our 6?
9 and 7 are ok.
@Bones said in The NRL Season of 2016:
@booboo This kinda gave it away...
That would require effort from me. Much easier to get tou guys to tell me.
@mariner4life said in The NRL Season of 2016:
how does square wheels Nightingale keep getting picked?
Would have been a great opportunity to cap former Blues development squad player, Suliasi Vunivalu who made the NRL team of the year and prevent the Aussies from picking him down the track. This guy is already far superior to Nightingale.
