innsaneink
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EVERYONE has their own favourites and Telegraph league writer Josh Massoud has pin-pointed what he views as the five best tries of the season.
**Blake Ayshford (Tigers v Storm R16):**
Even in dry conditions, this 103-metre Wests Tigers pearler would been a prohibitive favourite. But in a deluge that reduced Leichhardt to an ice skating rink that Steve Bradbury would have struggled to negotiate upright, it rates as one of the best tries in NRL history. Displaying the balance of a tight rope walker on the lip of the Grand Canyon, Tigers centre Tim Simona collected the ball inside his own in-goal and skirted past three Storm chasers to embark on a 60-metre run up field. With the dilapidated Latchem Robinson Grandstand threatening to shake off its termite infestation amid the growing roar, Simona found Benji Marshall, who in turn linked with skipper Robbie Farah to breach the Storm’s quarter. As soaked fans held their breath in anticipation of something truly magnificent, Farah held his nerve to turn Blake Ayshord through a gap on the inside. The woeful surface did the rest, with Ayshford wisely diving three metres before the chalk to slide across for a muddy marvel that used to only exist in the imagination.
**Tim Simona (Tigers v Warriors R19):**
In 2001, Dragons cult hero Nathan Blacklock stole his team victory over Wests Tigers at Leichhardt Oval with a mesmerising chip-and-chase try on the fulltime siren. Blacklock is now long retired, but his exhilarating spirit was revived on the same patch of turf in mid-July when Tim Simona unleashed an identical movement down the western touchline. The only difference was that it came in the shadow of halftime. But the result was the same, with Simona chipping over the top of Kevin Locke before leaving the Warriors custodian with windburn to post the season’s best individual try.
Andrew Fifita (Sharks v Tigers R17):
Unless there’s a call for second helpings at the buffet, front rowers have no right to move like this. But as he’s demonstrated this year, Andrew Fifita is no ordinary beast. With the barrel chest of a Bulldog and the legs of a greyhound, the NSW Origin prop accelerated into a gap behind the ruck on his own 40 metre line and had Tigers defenders sending out memos for his whereabouts with an instant. The 115kg dynamo came to James Tedesco, and, in a move not seen since the opening credits of The Fat Albert Show, danced past the hapless fullback to score untouched. A lawn mower man celebration completed a moment that made highlights on all the clippings.
Will Chambers (Storm v Raiders R21):
Mahe Fonua is the NRL’s first genuine product from Victoria, but he could have just as easily graduated in AFL on the evidence of this acrobatic effort. Chasing through an innocuous Ryan Hoffman grubber, Fonua launched himself from an imaginary catapult in pursuit of the Steeden, which more than a metre over the dead-ball line. In a movement that would make a glowing audition for the Harlem Globetrotters, he scooped the ball directly over his head without looking and straight into the grateful arms of team mate Will Chambers, who was standing just centimetres inside the field of play.
**David Nofoaluma (Tigers v Sea Eagles R20):**
Sergei Bubka and Steven Hooker needed a pole vault to get this high. The only thing Nofoaluma had was his own momentum as he pursued a Benji Marhsall chip that looked destined to sail over the touch-in-goal line on the full. Throwing his feet over a metre off the turf, the rookie grabbed the ball above opposite winger Jorge Taufua in suspended animation, not unlike Keanu Reeves in The Matrix. Showing pure athletic instinct, Nofoaluma lowered his arms before his feet to plant the ball just inside the touchline and claim a four-pointer worthy of replication in the next Cirque du Soliel production.
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- See more at: http://www.foxsports.com.au/league/nrl-premiership/league-writer-josh-massoud-selects-his-five-best-tries-of-the-season/story-fn2mcuj6-1226726389931#sthash.8h9TmK8i.dpuf
**Blake Ayshford (Tigers v Storm R16):**
Even in dry conditions, this 103-metre Wests Tigers pearler would been a prohibitive favourite. But in a deluge that reduced Leichhardt to an ice skating rink that Steve Bradbury would have struggled to negotiate upright, it rates as one of the best tries in NRL history. Displaying the balance of a tight rope walker on the lip of the Grand Canyon, Tigers centre Tim Simona collected the ball inside his own in-goal and skirted past three Storm chasers to embark on a 60-metre run up field. With the dilapidated Latchem Robinson Grandstand threatening to shake off its termite infestation amid the growing roar, Simona found Benji Marshall, who in turn linked with skipper Robbie Farah to breach the Storm’s quarter. As soaked fans held their breath in anticipation of something truly magnificent, Farah held his nerve to turn Blake Ayshord through a gap on the inside. The woeful surface did the rest, with Ayshford wisely diving three metres before the chalk to slide across for a muddy marvel that used to only exist in the imagination.
**Tim Simona (Tigers v Warriors R19):**
In 2001, Dragons cult hero Nathan Blacklock stole his team victory over Wests Tigers at Leichhardt Oval with a mesmerising chip-and-chase try on the fulltime siren. Blacklock is now long retired, but his exhilarating spirit was revived on the same patch of turf in mid-July when Tim Simona unleashed an identical movement down the western touchline. The only difference was that it came in the shadow of halftime. But the result was the same, with Simona chipping over the top of Kevin Locke before leaving the Warriors custodian with windburn to post the season’s best individual try.
Andrew Fifita (Sharks v Tigers R17):
Unless there’s a call for second helpings at the buffet, front rowers have no right to move like this. But as he’s demonstrated this year, Andrew Fifita is no ordinary beast. With the barrel chest of a Bulldog and the legs of a greyhound, the NSW Origin prop accelerated into a gap behind the ruck on his own 40 metre line and had Tigers defenders sending out memos for his whereabouts with an instant. The 115kg dynamo came to James Tedesco, and, in a move not seen since the opening credits of The Fat Albert Show, danced past the hapless fullback to score untouched. A lawn mower man celebration completed a moment that made highlights on all the clippings.
Will Chambers (Storm v Raiders R21):
Mahe Fonua is the NRL’s first genuine product from Victoria, but he could have just as easily graduated in AFL on the evidence of this acrobatic effort. Chasing through an innocuous Ryan Hoffman grubber, Fonua launched himself from an imaginary catapult in pursuit of the Steeden, which more than a metre over the dead-ball line. In a movement that would make a glowing audition for the Harlem Globetrotters, he scooped the ball directly over his head without looking and straight into the grateful arms of team mate Will Chambers, who was standing just centimetres inside the field of play.
**David Nofoaluma (Tigers v Sea Eagles R20):**
Sergei Bubka and Steven Hooker needed a pole vault to get this high. The only thing Nofoaluma had was his own momentum as he pursued a Benji Marhsall chip that looked destined to sail over the touch-in-goal line on the full. Throwing his feet over a metre off the turf, the rookie grabbed the ball above opposite winger Jorge Taufua in suspended animation, not unlike Keanu Reeves in The Matrix. Showing pure athletic instinct, Nofoaluma lowered his arms before his feet to plant the ball just inside the touchline and claim a four-pointer worthy of replication in the next Cirque du Soliel production.
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- See more at: http://www.foxsports.com.au/league/nrl-premiership/league-writer-josh-massoud-selects-his-five-best-tries-of-the-season/story-fn2mcuj6-1226726389931#sthash.8h9TmK8i.dpuf
