NRL 2023 + Internationals

Great game last night between Manly and the Eels, Turbo looking better each week. Eels could effectively be 0-5 with their draw and still make the finals. They have looked good each week so far which is more than I can say for the likes of the normal bottom half of the table.

Warriors playing the Cowboys this week, both teams debuting rookie fullbacks. Taine Tuaupiki for the warriors was one of the star players in the lower grade last week.

Don't expect them to win this week losing both CNK and Ford to HIA from last week, but looking to see the effort repeated. SJ needs to step up all out.

God the NRL is a mile in front of Super Rugby as a spectacle

Roosters v Souths a fucking wicked game in front of a big boisterous crowd

@mariner4life said in NRL 2023:

God the NRL is a mile in front of Super Rugby as a spectacle

Roosters v Souths a fucking wicked game in front of a big boisterous crowd

Yep. Agreed. But I don't like the regular cheap shots from South's. All the talent in the world but not the discipline. Chee Kam looked like he tried to eye gouge Manu. Will be interesting to see what happens via judiciary.

@ARHS why do souths hate Joey's beautiful face?

@mariner4life said in NRL 2023:

@ARHS why do souths hate Joey's beautiful face?

and in strange news the warriors lead at halftime over the cowboys 16-12.. no way the win this..

but some promising moments just need to keep capitalising on opposition errors.

Strong second half as well from Warriors
Sj straightened the line a few times and allowed to skip
Barnett and TMM and even Walker best of new recruits..
Egan again strong when he wasn't HIA (x2)
We have the worst centres in the NRL who try find a way to lose the game..but

the warriors have done the unthinkable and beaten the Cowboys in North Qld, well done Warriors, bloody awesome effort

Don't listen to that cockhead mariner4life Warriors fans
He knows fuck all about fuck all
Start buying GF tickets

Should have driven down

What a weak fluffybunny

@mariner4life said in NRL 2023:

Should have driven down

What a weak fluffybunny

@canefan said in NRL 2023:

@mariner4life said in NRL 2023:

Should have driven down

What a weak fluffybunny

View image

Look, if you've ever been to Townsville you would understand

Also, if you've ever followed the warriors you would understand

@mariner4life said in NRL 2023:

@canefan said in NRL 2023:

@mariner4life said in NRL 2023:

Should have driven down

What a weak fluffybunny

View image

Look, if you've ever been to Townsville you would understand

Also, if you've ever followed the warriors you would understand

Yeah mate, it's hard to keep the faith. Regarding Townsville I've never been. How does the bogan level compare to Cairns?

@canefan said in NRL 2023:

@mariner4life said in NRL 2023:

@canefan said in NRL 2023:

@mariner4life said in NRL 2023:

Should have driven down

What a weak fluffybunny

View image

Look, if you've ever been to Townsville you would understand

Also, if you've ever followed the warriors you would understand

Yeah mate, it's hard to keep the faith. Regarding Townsville I've never been. How does the bogan level compare to Cairns?

Way higher

The huge army presence doesn't help

To their credit they have a good rugby program down there

Well I almost fell off the couch wondering who that side was. We almost looked like a proper league team.

SJ and Martin threatened the line. They actually created stuff for our ball runners on the 5th plays deep in attack.

Hopefully Egan is okay because he is playing damn good.

Our forwards grinded away and made good yards in the middle third.

Nice to see our outsides get some ball and finish at a high quality.

by fuck if you are doing NRL tipping i bet your comp is a shambles.

unless you are picking the Tigers to lose, nearly every other result is like picking a broken nose

@mariner4life lol, I was just looking at the table

Top 4
Broncos, Dolphins, Sea Eagles, Warriors

I wouldn't believe anyone tipping that

Newcastle and Tigers look the worst teams right now just watching them. Tigers just look a shambles right now. With that roster you would think it has to gel sometime, but currently looks very ordinary at best. Parra running second to last currently, wont end there. Have looked very good in each loss.

@bayimports parra are the falsest 0-3 ever. three 4-point losses to teams that will make the 8 (if Melbourne can get healthy)

@mariner4life said in NRL 2023:

God the NRL is a mile in front of Super Rugby as a spectacle

Roosters v Souths a fucking wicked game in front of a big boisterous crowd

I think you're just a leaguie ...

I find it very hard to stay interested for a non Warriors game these days, league patterns can be very same same.

Grand Final rematches are often a bit of a let down

Last night's Parra v Penrith was not that. It was a belter from start to finish. not high scoring but definitely high quality, heaps of feeling, and an incredible finish.

The stats are awesome. Completion rates: Eels 95% Penrith 88%. Parra made 396 tackles and only missed 32, Penrith made 454 and only missed 14!

With 8 to go Parra are up by 8 and are starting to think they are home. Then Penrith score under the dot and it's a 2-point game. A high shot by Paulo sees him get binned and Penrith get one shot at it. Cleary kicks out right on the 40, gets the ball from the tap and hits a 42m 2-point field goal for extra time.

In extra time Penrith get a guy binned for a high shot and Moses makes no mistake with the field position and it's a one-point Eels victory. Fucking cracking game of football.

Both these teams will be there at the pointy end.

Penrith's pattern is being copied by nearly everyone. The outside backs do all the heavy lifting to gain yards, while the big boys rest. Yeo is the ball player in the middle allowing Cleary to play a pass wider, and Luai to operate as effectively a 2nd centre. And then those rested middles just crush you with linespeed all fucking game.

Totally reliant on Cleary's kicking game, and the ability of their outsides. And they have a fucking good one-two punch with their hookers too. They are barely missing Koroisau.

The Warriors are Penrith light without that polish, and accurate kicking

@mariner4life said in NRL 2023:

In extra time Penrith get a guy binned for a high shot and Moses makes no mistake with the field position and it's a one-point Eels victory. Fucking cracking game of football.

absolutely great game and that finish was amazing. I thought the Eels had blown another one when Clearly smashed the two point field goal to take it to extra time.

High level of skill all over the park.

I think the Eels have the Roosters next week and Im sure the Nathan Brown scenario will have that also as a spicy game.

@mariner4life said in NRL 2023:

The Warriors are Penrith light without that polish, and accurate kicking

Absolutely this, both sets of halves with Penrith and Parramatta are a class above what we have. At least we are trying to muscle up on defence this year.

Lets see how we go without Egan or Barnett this week, both who have been instrumental in our success so far, again a lot will come back to our kicking game, Im sure

also increasingly likely that Suaalii ends up in the Wallabies for 25 just in time for the British and Irish Lions..

I swear league journos must bug people phones..

Watching Reece Walsh not suck fucks me off

Broncos fluffed that one. Ran away from his support

@mariner4life said in NRL 2023:

Watching Reece Walsh not suck fucks me off

TBF, when I turned over at half time he did suck in defence like normal in 2 of the 3 tackles he was in a position to make. In the 3rd one he actually executed an excellent tackle ... but I think he was just in the way.

Milford is shit.

Loving some of the speed through the middle that we are showing. Great to see SJ score a try like the old days

Holy shit our new coach is awesome

We look like a real football team

We copped an awful decision that cost us a try. We immediately gave up a long ranger, and that's traditionally the point where we fall in a heap

Instead it actually steels us and we get better. Some incredible goal line defence to secure it as well.

SJ is playing bloody well which helps enormously.

Watched the game at Mt Smart. Fuck we got totally screwed over by the ref and somehow managed to grind out a win. The ref was disgraceful

I’m numb to us getting screwed by the refs.

Our resolve is far better. The way we use our forwards as a secondary phase playmaker is better. We have speed and workers. SJ and Martin are playing like they are in the top half of halves combos.

@ACT-Crusader said in NRL 2023:

I’m numb to us getting screwed by the refs.

absolutely, by letter of the law I don't think SJ's try counts..but given we got stiffed with Kikau's supposed non strip it was nice something went our way.

No Egan or Barnett, then lose Tohu and Niukore playing broken..that was some serious dig deep effort.

Also lucky Canterbury's only attack was give it to Burton, so when under pressure, they had nothing late.

Martin should take more last play kicks still for mine and let SJ run other times

Still massive win under pressure

@bayimports said in NRL 2023:

@ACT-Crusader said in NRL 2023:

I’m numb to us getting screwed by the refs.

absolutely, by letter of the law I don't think SJ's try counts..but given we got stiffed with Kikau's supposed non strip it was nice something went our way.

No Egan or Barnett, then lose Tohu and Niukore playing broken..that was some serious dig deep effort.

Also lucky Canterbury's only attack was give it to Burton, so when under pressure, they had nothing late.

Martin should take more last play kicks still for mine and let SJ run other times

Still massive win under pressure

It was crazy at the ground. We had the misfortune to be seated behind a bunch of Bulldogs supporters, who were more vocal as the game wore on. Then they all went quiet....

It was a most un-Warrior-like win, apart from the soft first try an the end to end runaway try that almost broke us, our defence was very solid. I have been sceptical of SJ, but he made all his tackles and that run to score the winner was like SJ of old.

@canefan SJ has had some good moments in last last two weeks, seems to be digging in at the line more before passing committing extra defenders. His enthusiasm is infectious and when he is smiling it lifts others.

He is still guilty of too many nothing bombs that are either not too high or deep enough on the fifth tackle but it is nice to see some positives that has been missing for a while for sure.

Kosi (apart from allowing the fox go on the outside for that 80m try) is another who I frequently bag for stupid mistakes but for the most was outstanding on the wing today and made massive early yards.

A lot to like from this set of Warriors so far. Lets see if injuries catch up with them and how they go against some strong teams..so far better than we all expected!

@bayimports said in NRL 2023:

@canefan SJ has had some good moments in last last two weeks, seems to be digging in at the line more before passing committing extra defenders. His enthusiasm is infectious and when he is smiling it lifts others.

He is still guilty of too many nothing bombs that are either not too high or deep enough on the fifth tackle but it is nice to see some positives that has been missing for a while for sure.

Kosi (apart from allowing the fox go on the outside for that 80m try is another who I frequently bag for stupid mistakes but for the most was outstanding on the wing today and made massive early yards.

A lot to like from this set of Warriors so far. Lets see if injuries catch up with them and how they go against some strong teams..so far better than we all expected!

SJ's kicking game definitely needs work, although he kicked for touch at the death to basically seal it. As you say too many non-competitive bombs. Our back 3 were super solid running it back and under the high ball

The Dogs made life a little easy for us. For all their recruitment, their halves and fullback are not creators
Flanagan is just very average
Burton, for all his rep and money, is a hole running centre who kicks bombs
Their fullback can't pass.

In a game that's a grind they will struggle to score.

We weren't that much better really. SJ having a dig definitely makes us better. But those points in the game where we re winning the field position game we need more than high kicks with no chase.

the NRL is fucking great at the moment. The weather is good, so there are a lot of quality games.

Thursday was finals quality being played in March
Friday started with the weekly Tigers loss, and then an epic at Suncorp in front of a huge crowd. The Broncos should have won that by more, but the Dolphins are fucking tough.
The Cowboys bounced back, but it's not flowing in Townsville, and the injuries are mounting
Souths v Manly was fucking awesome, ruined by what looked to be the worst ref call of the weekend (until yesterday happened)
Newcastle got a win
And Cronulla gave their neighbors an absolute touch up

Some incredible games to start this season, however my bold pre season predictions way off at this stage.

Some of the original teams noted for top 8 looking good, but there does seem to be gap to middle and then lower teams. Tigers and Dragons have wins in them but deserve to be where they are.

Even the Warriors winning as many as they have, they are not in that top group although the ladder will tell me otherwise.

I do wonder how long the dolphins can keep this up, Wayne has certainly instilled a sense of belief in them. Given Redcliffe was our base last year, I imagine our clash with them will also be a heated one.

@bayimports the Warriors look to be a genuine 7th to 12th side at the moment. Lets see what July looks like though

The Dolphins have good defence (of course) but if they are now relying on Milford for the year they are in trouble (SoS has actually done a decent job). They will definitely fall down the table as the grind kicks in.

@mariner4life yeah I think like the dolphins, our halves are not consistent enough to beat the top teams frequently, however defensively both have been extremely good so far. Good enough to keep us in games and even win, where we would normally lose.

Mind you some top teams also have not looked great without certain players either, Munster and Hynes impact on their sides was highlighted on the weekend.

Proving to be a relatively even comp which is making it tough to pick but great to watch (unless you support the Tigs)