NRL Finals Week 1 *live Discussion*

[jirskyr]

The impact that win has on the Raiders season is massive. A loss last night and they have to go through the Roosters in the prelim. But now they get a very winnable prelim at home. Everyone going on about Hasler, but what about Stuart. Doesn’t get nearly enough of the credit he deserves because everyone hates “Wicky” (an insult I never understand. Does he have a lisp?). They have been the smartest recruiting club of the last 3 or 4 years. They understand Canberra is one of the most undeseribsle places to live and that players wouldn’t want to live there. So they looked at the ESL. They realised English players wouldn’t be turned off because Canberra is probably very similar to the north of England in regards to the weather and excitement level. Bateman, Whitehead and Hodgson are gems. Full credit to Stuart.

Ricky reminds me a lot of Tim Sheens. Sometimes he gets it absolutely wrong, but when he gets it right, it really works well. He can be a real innovator and his teams are often enjoyable to watch. I really like the Raiders team 2019, and historically I've often been anti-Raiders, probably stemming from 1989.

But the current team is tough, wily and highly competitive. I can almost stomach Jack Wighton, though not quite. Josh Hodgson might be my favourite non-Tigers player going around, such a clever and competitive fellow.

We have to remember that Ricky went all-in on a massive Raiders side in 2016 and they really should have played the GF that year, but for 2 super-close and tough losses. Then he let Boyd and Junior Paulo go, focused on building a more dynamic/mobile pack in anticipation of a faster game in 2019, and it has worked out very well. As you noted, also canny in developing some unknown entities, not just from UK, but locally as well with guys like Horsburgh.

Also, Raiders have only used 26 players in 2019, equal-lowest in the NRL with Cronulla and Tigers.

Sheens coached Ricky so the coaching style may have rubbed off on him.

True, and Sheens is a bit of a "Sir Tristram" of rugby league coaches, having coached, for a decent period, Sticky, Bellamy, Madge, John Morris, Paul Green, Mal Meninga?

Those Raiders side of the 80-90s produced a lot of fairly successful coaches.

 

[TheDaBoss]

This poor touch judge... coping a lot od abuse... a think a gofundforme is in order as a thank u 😅

 

[Russell]

This poor touch judge... coping a lot od abuse... a think a gofundforme is in order as a thank u 😅

The touch judges decision was one of the worst I have ever seen.

I don't care who the two teams were.

Why wasn't a replay shown and the decision overturned. Disgraceful.

 

[innsaneink]

This poor touch judge... coping a lot od abuse... a think a gofundforme is in order as a thank u ?

The touch judges decision was one of the worst I have ever seen.

I don't care who the two teams were.

Why wasn't a replay shown and the decision overturned. Disgraceful.

The bunker is conditional.... They only look at things in-goal

 

[innsaneink]

And it was a mere possession screw up.

Ref cock ups that result in points are much more common and.much more disgraceful

 

[Madgic]

@jirskyr Speaking of 1989, WHY were Sirro and Tim Brasher whooping it up at the Raiders "30 years since 1989 premiership" parties? LOTS of photos of both in the Canberra Times, celebrating the Raiders win! 🙄

 

[Madgic]

@GNR4LIFE I would take Canberra over ANY part of Sydney including Vaucluse where my godfather lives. A dirty, angry city.

 

[matchball]

@GNR4LIFE I would take Canberra over ANY part of Sydney including Vaucluse where my godfather lives. A dirty, angry city.

Yep. Sydney has become a craphole. I won't ever return.
Canberra at least has a clean city but it's boring.
Great to raise kids though.

 

[Madgic]

@matchball only boring if you are a boring person! If you have skills and interests it's great - BUT commuting there for work and living on acres in the country is better. We are less than an hour out and at the moment the only sounds are rain and our four Rottweilers snoring. Heaven!

 

[matchball]

@matchball only boring if you are a boring person! If you have skills and interests it's great - BUT commuting there for work and living on acres in the country is better. We are less than an hour out and at the moment the only sounds are rain and our four Rottweilers snoring. Heaven!

I'm judging as a visitor. I'm sure if I lived there I'd find things to do.
I stayed in Belconnen which was a ghost town after 6pm.

I currently live in Asia. I can work from anywhere in software development.
Once my contract runs out at Tencent is over I'm heading back to Australia.
I want my kids to grow up Australian. Probably in Cairns.

 

[jirskyr]

@jirskyr Speaking of 1989, WHY were Sirro and Tim Brasher whooping it up at the Raiders "30 years since 1989 premiership" parties? LOTS of photos of both in the Canberra Times, celebrating the Raiders win! 🙄

No idea, they might be mates with some of those Raiders players, lot of water under the bridge since then. They probably played Kangaroos with a bunch of them.

 

[TigerSJ]

@jirskyr

Well there is a definite argument for the latter, but either way it would have been pretty hard for the officials to get them out of losing that one!

 

[rustycage]

This poor touch judge... coping a lot od abuse... a think a gofundforme is in order as a thank u ?

The touch judges decision was one of the worst I have ever seen.

I don't care who the two teams were.

Why wasn't a replay shown and the decision overturned. Disgraceful.

The bunker is conditional.... They only look at things in-goal

I'm not sure that's set in stone, I kind of recall having the odd feed of a scrum overturned. Players fiddling about, holding up play so there's time for a correction to be made. Or maybe that's my Alzheimers playing up.

 

[rustycage]

Hey by the way can I revisit the "penalty Broncos" tilt that some folks were promoting last week? This whole idea that the NRL is hell-bent on seeing the Broncos deep into the finals.

Oddly enough, this pro-Broncos-bias from upper-management, enabled by corrupt officials, has seen the Broncos sneak into the finals and be destroyed in two consecutive campaigns.

So for all that effort, they get 1 extra match with Brisbane; in 2019 they weren't even the home side.

What an amazing conspiracy they are wielding. Or, is the NRL so incapable and incompetent that they can't even do corruption properly?

If the Donkeys weren't awarded so many favoured calls to see them through, their finals appearances would be far, far less and the league couldn't cope with that. QLD must have strong representation. Or at worst figure in the finals in some capacity. Marketing is key. But like others have said, in the end, they'll get found out.

 

[cktiger]

Hey by the way can I revisit the "penalty Broncos" tilt that some folks were promoting last week? This whole idea that the NRL is hell-bent on seeing the Broncos deep into the finals.

Oddly enough, this pro-Broncos-bias from upper-management, enabled by corrupt officials, has seen the Broncos sneak into the finals and be destroyed in two consecutive campaigns.

So for all that effort, they get 1 extra match with Brisbane; in 2019 they weren't even the home side.

What an amazing conspiracy they are wielding. Or, is the NRL so incapable and incompetent that they can't even do corruption properly?

You can lead a horse to water but you you can't make it drink.:laughing:

 

[Russell]

This poor touch judge... coping a lot od abuse... a think a gofundforme is in order as a thank u ?

The touch judges decision was one of the worst I have ever seen.

I don't care who the two teams were.

Why wasn't a replay shown and the decision overturned. Disgraceful.

The bunker is conditional.... They only look at things in-goal

It is a very poor excuse - it should have been changed ages ago. The touch judges are absolutely useless (what about the Ferguson "in touch" against us) - just another one against many.

Touch judges are bigger bludgers than Jennings (that is saying something), they do NOT, except on very rare occasions advise referees about off side play, at the moment they are there to run up and down the sidelines and do nothing.

If you are going to have a bunker - use it or do away with it.

 

[jirskyr]

Hey by the way can I revisit the "penalty Broncos" tilt that some folks were promoting last week? This whole idea that the NRL is hell-bent on seeing the Broncos deep into the finals.

Oddly enough, this pro-Broncos-bias from upper-management, enabled by corrupt officials, has seen the Broncos sneak into the finals and be destroyed in two consecutive campaigns.

So for all that effort, they get 1 extra match with Brisbane; in 2019 they weren't even the home side.

What an amazing conspiracy they are wielding. Or, is the NRL so incapable and incompetent that they can't even do corruption properly?

If the Donkeys weren't awarded so many favoured calls to see them through, their finals appearances would be far, far less and the league couldn't cope with that. QLD must have strong representation. Or at worst figure in the finals in some capacity. Marketing is key. But like others have said, in the end, they'll get found out.

That doesn't make any sense. How does a pro-Broncos / pro-QLD conspiracy help the NRL in any way if the Broncos limp into the finals, on the back of perceived favouritism, only to be annihilated in Week 1?

Broncos limping to 7th or 8th on the back of biased reffing means an away game, so you don't even pull the Suncorp home crowd.

If a pro-QLD conspiracy actually existed, they'd want several QLD-home finals for TV ratings and sold-out Suncorp. Instead, 2019 they got Broncos away to Parramatta, Titans last and Cowboys near enough to last. Literally the QLD-based tilt lasted 1 finals match. It would not be worth the effort for 1 TV audience, surely?

Surely, the NRL would be better off with the actual 8 best sides playing the highest-quality football possible, regardless of the teams?

What good is it to the NRL, if the Broncos legitimately should not be there, having them murdered in week 1? It would be like me being the head of the ICC and cheating to get USA into the Cricket World Cup, in an attempt to boost the game's marketing and profile, only for USA to be absolutely murdered and knocked out. Your team needs to be half-competitive to actually be a useful marketing tool.

 

[rustycage]

Hey by the way can I revisit the "penalty Broncos" tilt that some folks were promoting last week? This whole idea that the NRL is hell-bent on seeing the Broncos deep into the finals.

Oddly enough, this pro-Broncos-bias from upper-management, enabled by corrupt officials, has seen the Broncos sneak into the finals and be destroyed in two consecutive campaigns.

So for all that effort, they get 1 extra match with Brisbane; in 2019 they weren't even the home side.

What an amazing conspiracy they are wielding. Or, is the NRL so incapable and incompetent that they can't even do corruption properly?

If the Donkeys weren't awarded so many favoured calls to see them through, their finals appearances would be far, far less and the league couldn't cope with that. QLD must have strong representation. Or at worst figure in the finals in some capacity. Marketing is key. But like others have said, in the end, they'll get found out.

That doesn't make any sense. How does a pro-Broncos / pro-QLD conspiracy help the NRL in any way if the Broncos limp into the finals, on the back of perceived favouritism, only to be annihilated in Week 1?

Broncos limping to 7th or 8th on the back of biased reffing means an away game, so you don't even pull the Suncorp home crowd.

If a pro-QLD conspiracy actually existed, they'd want several QLD-home finals for TV ratings and sold-out Suncorp. Instead, 2019 they got Broncos away to Parramatta, Titans last and Cowboys near enough to last. Literally the QLD-based tilt lasted 1 finals match. It would not be worth the effort for 1 TV audience, surely?

Surely, the NRL would be better off with the actual 8 best sides playing the highest-quality football possible, regardless of the teams?

What good is it to the NRL, if the Broncos legitimately should not be there, having them murdered in week 1? It would be like me being the head of the ICC and cheating to get USA into the Cricket World Cup, in an attempt to boost the game's marketing and profile, only for USA to be absolutely murdered and knocked out. Your team needs to be half-competitive to actually be a useful marketing tool.

Just like any other sport, if a team loses more than they win, crowd numbers decline. Sponsorship dollars dry up, Multiple years of no QLD presence isn't an option. Year after year, Brisbane get favoured calls by the bucket full, Friday night games on a consistent basis, and a whole host of other benefits. Take this year for example, their away game ended up being magic round. Whoever would have guessed that would happen? Marketing is a long race. It's not just about making the eight by a whisker, it's a lot more than just that.

 

[Geo]

Hey by the way can I revisit the "penalty Broncos" tilt that some folks were promoting last week? This whole idea that the NRL is hell-bent on seeing the Broncos deep into the finals.

Oddly enough, this pro-Broncos-bias from upper-management, enabled by corrupt officials, has seen the Broncos sneak into the finals and be destroyed in two consecutive campaigns.

So for all that effort, they get 1 extra match with Brisbane; in 2019 they weren't even the home side.

What an amazing conspiracy they are wielding. Or, is the NRL so incapable and incompetent that they can't even do corruption properly?

If the Donkeys weren't awarded so many favoured calls to see them through, their finals appearances would be far, far less and the league couldn't cope with that. QLD must have strong representation. Or at worst figure in the finals in some capacity. Marketing is key. But like others have said, in the end, they'll get found out.

That doesn't make any sense. How does a pro-Broncos / pro-QLD conspiracy help the NRL in any way if the Broncos limp into the finals, on the back of perceived favouritism, only to be annihilated in Week 1?

Broncos limping to 7th or 8th on the back of biased reffing means an away game, so you don't even pull the Suncorp home crowd.

If a pro-QLD conspiracy actually existed, they'd want several QLD-home finals for TV ratings and sold-out Suncorp. Instead, 2019 they got Broncos away to Parramatta, Titans last and Cowboys near enough to last. Literally the QLD-based tilt lasted 1 finals match. It would not be worth the effort for 1 TV audience, surely?

Surely, the NRL would be better off with the actual 8 best sides playing the highest-quality football possible, regardless of the teams?

What good is it to the NRL, if the Broncos legitimately should not be there, having them murdered in week 1? It would be like me being the head of the ICC and cheating to get USA into the Cricket World Cup, in an attempt to boost the game's marketing and profile, only for USA to be absolutely murdered and knocked out. Your team needs to be half-competitive to actually be a useful marketing tool.

Just like any other sport, if a team loses more than they win, crowd numbers decline. Sponsorship dollars dry up, Multiple years of no QLD presence isn't an option. Year after year, Brisbane get favoured calls by the bucket full, Friday night games on a consistent basis, and a whole host of other benefits. Take this year for example, their away game ended up being magic round. Whoever would have guessed that would happen? Marketing is a long race. It's not just about making the eight by a whisker, it's a lot more than just that.

That may be true..but now all you have is the NRL World lol@Broncos..

And it's sweet..

 

[Tim Sheens]

their away game ended up being magic round. Whoever would have guessed that would happen?

Still have trouble coming to terms with that decision by the hierarchy, as it is nothing less than blatant favouritism.