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THE Sea Eagles will travel further than Gulliver in the first month of next year’s NRL season but a short Friday night trip to Gosford in round two will be a defining moment at a sold-out Bluetongue Stadium.
Forget the Leeds Rhinos in the World Club Challenge and grand final opponents the Warriors in Auckland in the toughest start dished out to a club by the NRL.
The Sea Eagles versus Wests Tigers will be billed by the media as the game of the year - and it well might be for a number of reasons.
There has been a simmering dislike between the two teams for some time now and it has developed in the off-season without a ball being kicked since the grand final back in October.
Forget the Kieran Foran versus Benji Marshall five-eighth duel, the tussle between Chris Lawrence and Jamie Lyon in the centres or Manly’s Matt Ballin up against Robbie Farah.
Just one collision in this “smash ‘em up” match will matter.
It will be billed as a heavyweight title fight once fulltime is blown in Auckland on the first Sunday of the premiership round.
And it will be all about Glenn Stewart against Tigers’ new buy Adam Blair.
These two skilful and tough competitors are in the best five forwards in rugby league.
Few will forget the last time they met at Brookvale Oval in the penultimate match of the premiership rounds back in September.
It was Dessie Hasler’s last game at Brookie as coach.
It was also the game in which the finest sporting gesture to another player was lost in the myriad dramatic incidents in a game which will be a long time being matched.
The sight of Billy Slater cradling a badly injured David Williams will never leave me - and nor will the respect I have for Slater as a person.
But most people will remember THAT incident involving “Gift” and Kiwi international Blair.
They have moved on but it will be revived time and time again in that short lead-up to round two.
Teammates will play it down for the cameras and the microphones … just another game will be the call. But it won’t be the truth. The game is circled by both camps.
And it will be a cracker.
MY TIPS FOR 2012
TIME for the crystal ball to look at predictions for next season with the bookies struggling to come up with an outright favourite.
I have Manly and Wests Tigers as top of my list based on both clubs’ respective playing rosters.
Being premiers is a tough gig and it is a long, long time since a side was good enough to go back-to-back.
But that is the goal for Geoff Toovey and his side and the mental strength and playing talent will give the maroon-and-whites a good chance - particularly if they get off to a good start in what must be said is a horrendous and unfair program of away matches.
I realise work at Brookvale Oval has played its part but the scheduling of matches could - and should - have been more forgiving.
The Wests Tigers are an enigma but the inclusion of Blair gives their pack more scope and any side with Benji Marshall will give more than a roar.
Of the other teams I like the look of Newcastle under new coach Wayne Bennett and South Sydney under Michael Maguire. Both have strong groups with excellent young players coming through.
CHRISTMAS IS FAMILY
A HAPPY family Christmas to all readers of Zorba’s View in what has been personally a rollercoaster year.
My family - as always - has been my strength and I look forward to spending quality time with them.
May Santa be kind to all of you and may the wins come thick and fast at Brookie in 2012.
Health and happiness to you all.
http://manly-daily.whereilive.com.au/sport/story/blair-switch-project/
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Of the other teams > I like the look of > Newcastle under new coach Wayne Bennett and > South Sydney under Michael Maguire> . Both have strong groups with excellent young players coming through.
cannot agree with this. souths will be terrible next yr. their halves will be a rookie and john sutton. enough said.
as for the rest of the article, i cannot wait till the manly game! such a shame its at gosford though. Even with manly’s small legion of fans they wouldve got close to 30,000 if it were at sfs
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Adam Blair will put him on show so will the tigers lets bring on 2012.
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Of the other teams > I like the look of > Newcastle under new coach Wayne Bennett and > South Sydney under Michael Maguire> . Both have strong groups with excellent young players coming through.
cannot agree with this. souths will be terrible next yr. their halves will be a rookie and john sutton. enough said.
as for the rest of the article, i cannot wait till the manly game! such a shame its at gosford though. Even with manly’s small legion of fans they wouldve got close to 30,000 if it were at sfs
I talk Souths up every year because I like the look of their squad, but this year I am not going to. One thing I am sure of however is that McGuire will not put up with the rubbish that Sutton dishes up.
No performance = no place in the tam…
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haha sutton sucks ay. he’ll have one good game a yr where he steps and barges his way over from 10m out and then ppl will continue to talk him up for 12 months…
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“The sight of Billy Slater cradling a badly injured David Williams will never leave me - and nor will the respect I have for Slater as a person”
Still doesn’t make up for when Billy Slater kicked Skando in the head at LO
Posted using RoarFEED -
John Sutton isn’t a 5/8, he’s a lock forward
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@AJ*:
“The sight of Billy Slater cradling a badly injured David Williams will never leave me - and nor will the respect I have for Slater as a person”
Still doesn’t make up for when Billy Slater kicked Skando in the head at LO
Posted using RoarFEEDi agree AJ, slaters still a jerk in my eyes because at the end of the day, so many players would have done the same thing if they could see the person lying on top of them could potentially have a serious neck injury
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John Sutton isn’t a 5/8, he’s a lock forward
Agree, lock seems his, go, debated this with blokes alot, the downside seems to be a modern lock needs to defend in the A channel and get through alot of defence, not Suttons go, maybe a left edge second rower??
at his best Sutton is as good as anyone. The first half of 2010, Sutton was outstadning, at other times he is downright embarrassing.
As for the article, Zorba bleeds Maroon and White, harping on about unfair draws and predicting the Seas Eagles in the GF despite the dramas they had.
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Zorba rarely has anything nice to say about the Tigers - in fact he will normally take any opportunity to bag as out. So I see his comments regarding our squad as a real pat on the back.
Most my mates go for the Eagles……bring it on!
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I’d be surprised if there is any biffo following from last year, but if I am wrong then there will need to be plenty of support for Blair given how he was attacked by a swarm in last years game against Manly.
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If Blair is involved in a bit of biffo we should shout out, Blair stitch project!
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I dont share everyone’s optimism for 2012, dont know why but Iam getting negative vibes. Really their is very little between most sides and it becomes a mental thing to get to the next level. I dont know but I just get a feeling some of our players have peaked and are starting to fade. I could be 100% wrong, but I think we are a team that likes to fly under the radar and at present we are highly rated by most so called experts… Time will tell and lets hope I get egg on my face
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If Blair is involved in a bit of biffo we should shout out, Blair stitch project!
I dont get it
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If Blair is involved in a bit of biffo we should shout out, Blair stitch project!
I dont get it
Its a reference to the movie ‘The Blair Witch Project’
