benjiflickpass95
Member
I got absolutely roasted in the game thread for saying the Tigers and Phins game was ass but I stand by it. It had nothing to do with that the Tigers lost, but it was such a shining example of every issue with the modern game that I don't even know where to begin.
Its only right that I address the elephant in the room being that the Tigers lost. While we have been ridden with injury for many weeks, this week was probably our best at covering the patches. Lack of depth mixed with backup forward's lack of fitness and it was the perfect storm for us to lose. I expected it. I tipped against us and am surprised we were in it for as long as we were. The Phins are second half crusaders so to that I salute them.
Prior to Luai announcing the PNG move I really feel like people overestimated what stock we had in the halves. Its clear that the Tigers lack depth, and under that depth is a lack of succession planning. I do not see any of our first, or second choice halves that would be ready to go from 2028 to be genuine contenders. Madden is serviceable at best. AD is largely unproven. Latu's fitness is questionable. I really hope that there is genuine tabs being kept on strengths and weaknesses so they know how to improve. Right now I just don't see it.
Now, onto the specifics of the game...
Overall I thought both sides got shafted in varying ways. The biggest one was Madden's HIA. I could live with him being out of the game with a genuine head injury, but I couldn't live with the fact that it was unpenalised as well. The NRL needs to be very clear and specific to what exact point this duty of care line they tout is actually drawn. Would it have been a soft penalty? Potentially. Was there contact to the head? Yes. Somewhere in that balance the NRL needs to find exactly what type of game they are trying to promote because I can almost guarantee before the end of the season we will see the same scenario treated differently.
The other call that I thought blew the game open was Pole's "try" being referred to the bunker that resulted in a lost ball. For me, this was the turning point of the game at 18-16 when we had a genuine chance to turn it around. This to me demonstrates the absolute doldrums of the games officiating that needs to be addressed. The ref initially called held up over the line and referred it up as "no try". Why are you looking for a try where you never believed there to be one? He was visibly held up meters from the line. The bunker then found a lost ball after the play was called held up and ruled on that basis. I have no issues with this being called per-se, as things get missed, but the referee was standing right there. To what point can we hold our officials accountable for being able to do their job? Using the bunker that way just makes the game look slimy. If a referee did not react to such a blatant error to what end should the bunker be intervening in that?
Intersecting slightly with my last point was the two times the Phins tried to spread to the edges, but got caught out by Tigers defenders only to get the ruling of "played at". One of these led to a try. How are we supposed to take decisions seriously where a referee standing 15 - 20m away from a play can make such a forensic decision at face value when we know we have technology like the bunker that can easily over-rule that in different circumstances? It to me was the most undermining part of the game when it feels like good defending is leading to the attacking team being rewarded. I haven't seen many of those calls this year in other games but to get two of them against the grain is just a shit feeling as a fan.
On a more neutral note, I thought both teams got away with a lot in the ruck and forward passes. Throughout the course of the game the Tigers average PTB was at 4.6s to 3.4s and the Phins were consistently at 3.6s+. Somewhere in that something has to give and I don't believe is accurately reflected in the amount of 6A that were called for our game-changing that one stat is. Campbelltown is one of those stadiums where every second pass just about looks forward but there was some very obvious howlers in both directions for that.
Tight games now generally have no real takeaways because there is always this stat, or that stat which can tell the story. The only thing that really separates teams with real takeaways is a large scoreline which I believe is largely by design. If the Tigers walked away with the W from that game it certainly wouldn't highlight our problems, much like our win at Leichardt last week which just underscores exactly what I am saying with some questionable calls going our way helping us get away with it in the last 15-minutes. As a fan its an incredibly tough watch and to experience the whiplash. With that said, I don't particularly want to endorse a product that requires overwhelming scorelines to determine a team either.
Its only right that I address the elephant in the room being that the Tigers lost. While we have been ridden with injury for many weeks, this week was probably our best at covering the patches. Lack of depth mixed with backup forward's lack of fitness and it was the perfect storm for us to lose. I expected it. I tipped against us and am surprised we were in it for as long as we were. The Phins are second half crusaders so to that I salute them.
Prior to Luai announcing the PNG move I really feel like people overestimated what stock we had in the halves. Its clear that the Tigers lack depth, and under that depth is a lack of succession planning. I do not see any of our first, or second choice halves that would be ready to go from 2028 to be genuine contenders. Madden is serviceable at best. AD is largely unproven. Latu's fitness is questionable. I really hope that there is genuine tabs being kept on strengths and weaknesses so they know how to improve. Right now I just don't see it.
Now, onto the specifics of the game...
Overall I thought both sides got shafted in varying ways. The biggest one was Madden's HIA. I could live with him being out of the game with a genuine head injury, but I couldn't live with the fact that it was unpenalised as well. The NRL needs to be very clear and specific to what exact point this duty of care line they tout is actually drawn. Would it have been a soft penalty? Potentially. Was there contact to the head? Yes. Somewhere in that balance the NRL needs to find exactly what type of game they are trying to promote because I can almost guarantee before the end of the season we will see the same scenario treated differently.
The other call that I thought blew the game open was Pole's "try" being referred to the bunker that resulted in a lost ball. For me, this was the turning point of the game at 18-16 when we had a genuine chance to turn it around. This to me demonstrates the absolute doldrums of the games officiating that needs to be addressed. The ref initially called held up over the line and referred it up as "no try". Why are you looking for a try where you never believed there to be one? He was visibly held up meters from the line. The bunker then found a lost ball after the play was called held up and ruled on that basis. I have no issues with this being called per-se, as things get missed, but the referee was standing right there. To what point can we hold our officials accountable for being able to do their job? Using the bunker that way just makes the game look slimy. If a referee did not react to such a blatant error to what end should the bunker be intervening in that?
Intersecting slightly with my last point was the two times the Phins tried to spread to the edges, but got caught out by Tigers defenders only to get the ruling of "played at". One of these led to a try. How are we supposed to take decisions seriously where a referee standing 15 - 20m away from a play can make such a forensic decision at face value when we know we have technology like the bunker that can easily over-rule that in different circumstances? It to me was the most undermining part of the game when it feels like good defending is leading to the attacking team being rewarded. I haven't seen many of those calls this year in other games but to get two of them against the grain is just a shit feeling as a fan.
On a more neutral note, I thought both teams got away with a lot in the ruck and forward passes. Throughout the course of the game the Tigers average PTB was at 4.6s to 3.4s and the Phins were consistently at 3.6s+. Somewhere in that something has to give and I don't believe is accurately reflected in the amount of 6A that were called for our game-changing that one stat is. Campbelltown is one of those stadiums where every second pass just about looks forward but there was some very obvious howlers in both directions for that.
Tight games now generally have no real takeaways because there is always this stat, or that stat which can tell the story. The only thing that really separates teams with real takeaways is a large scoreline which I believe is largely by design. If the Tigers walked away with the W from that game it certainly wouldn't highlight our problems, much like our win at Leichardt last week which just underscores exactly what I am saying with some questionable calls going our way helping us get away with it in the last 15-minutes. As a fan its an incredibly tough watch and to experience the whiplash. With that said, I don't particularly want to endorse a product that requires overwhelming scorelines to determine a team either.
