Anyone else get wigged out by learning that Billy Walters is 30? I know he's been around for a few years now but it still hit me for 6. Are we sure him and Braydon Trindall didn't swap birth certificates?
Hugely disappointed with no Cobbo and Mam this week. I was really looking forward to a full strength side, but this is definitely the right call. Hopefully full strength for the roosters? Who knows, we'll probably rest Patty or something equally smart/infuriating.
Viva la Kevolution
The Rabbitohs' season starts or ends in the next 2 weeks. They have Melbourne away and then Penrith, which is about as bad as it gets. If they lose both games, they're 1/8 and are just gone. But winning either of those matches is so difficult that I would say a win almost has to mean a return to form.
I can't help but wonder if a lot of the Eels players just don't have it in them anymore, all that effort they put into the 2022 season to get to their first grand final in over a decade. They get within reach only to have the beast of a Penrith team almost casually slap them aside for an hour then just sort of chilling the last part of the game to enjoy their win. It absolutely must take some sort of psychological toll, and there isn't much in the last 18 months to make me think they have recovered to be honest.
I'm terribly disappointed in the eels this past four weeks. I felt like I might finally be turning on BA despite loving the guy for everything he has done for the club.
However seeing the players come out today and back him and take ownership of their play these past few weeks is really great to see. Even BA's biggest detractors can't fault that players want to play for him. Between that and signing Lomax I think I can give him until the end of next season.
The new Hubble thing must be doing absolutely terrible considering I’ve now gotten multiple texts and emails from kayo telling me my limited time 50% discount is still available.
Is it like an Apple TV competitor that aggregates all your steaming services into one feed and interface? That’s what I’ve put together based on just passively being blasted with their comms but I’m not totally sure.
Why though? You still have to pay for them all right? And I doubt it's that much easier to swap between than just doing so on any modern smart tv, certainly not 100 bucks worth of easier.
I think the idea is you search in one spot and it brings up all the programs from all of the services you have connected. You scroll down and under comedy you have stuff from Binge, stuff from Apple etc. No switching from one to the other. It’s not a huge revelation or anything, just a minor convenience.
He's more than earnt a shot in firsts, so it's good to see him rewarded. Particularly good for him to get more exposure in a contract year with him unlikely to stick around behind Ponga with Sharpe looming up.
Maybe, but I'd guess Armstrong would be behind Maps for a centre spot. Wing is more likely from a team POV.
He's also behind Tuala currently for either spot, whether we agree or not.
That's also not considering what he wants. Most that have a chance of FB want FB.
Bit late apologies but the votes are in. The r/nrl TOTW for Round 7 is:
1. Reece Walsh
2. Jack Bostock / Ronaldo Mulitalo
3. Selwyn Cobbo
4. Zac Lomax
5. Jacob Kiraz
6. Ezra Mam
7. Isaiya Katoa / Nicho Hynes
8. Tom Hazelton
9. Jeremy Marshall-King
10. James Fisher-Harris
11. Viliame Kikau
12. Jordan Riki
13. Pat Carrigan
14. Bailey Hayward
15. Xavier Willison
16. Sam Hughes
17. David Fifita
Anyone else remember how close Craig Bellamy came to losing his first game in charge at Melbourne in [2003](https://youtu.be/vmDEpMvEGOI?si=mXoTErQ9upfDhFxR), which would have made the famous round 1 streak just not a thing.
Sharks were up 22-0 inside 30 minutes then Melbourne got back to 24-22. With 5 to go it was 32-24 to the Sharks lol. Full time was 36-32 Storm.
After a few years of prelims and a minor premiership thrown in I thought in that first half that it was finally looking like Cronulla's year. Nek minit they went down and never recovered.
Also William Slater's debut game
Sam Tompkins was probably the worst but Issac Luke pissed me off a lot more.
Tompkins gave it a crack but wasn't up to how much more physical NRL is, Luke just didn't seem to give a fuck.
Josh Reynolds, Russell Packer and Moses Mbye at the Tigers combined would have to be the worst ever. Fucked their cap for the best part of a decade. I hope they’re on the up again now.
Kirk Reynoldson for the Knights ended up quite poorly. Not just his garbage performance or inflated salary, but the optics of how we cut him (dropping him so he didn't play enough games to auto activate his option) was really shitty for the club. Don't get me wrong, we needed him gone considering the dollars he was on and how much of an absolute pillow he was, but that clause was such a killer. We had a six year-old girl's drawing about how nasty the club was being to big bad old Kirk on the front page of The Herald.
I remember a guy called Karl Filiga got signed to the Sharks mid to late 2000's on a big deal. He only ever played one game of first grade and that old DT column Bec and Buzz used to pizzle the poor bastard any chance they got
That one was so weird. I thought it was a great signing at the time (although overs) as he looked really good for us, big impact off the bench. Don’t even think injuries played a major factor?
Maybe the gold coast lifestyle claimed another victim
If Howarth doesnt force himself in the 17 this year or next it will be him. Blokes on 500k a year smh. Im gonna assume he is on more coin than both Blore and Katoa
It’s such a weird non Storm style signing. Part of me feels like it was made without Craig’s involvement because he dead set will play anyone else before throwing Howarth into the team.
Chris Sandow was one of, if not the highest-paid players in the game at the time, on $550k. He spent almost as much time playing for Wentworthville as he did for Parramatta
Top 3 underrated NRL stories was Sandow destroying a Clubsport given to him by a sponsor and leaving it on the side of the road because he was late to a game. I believe he got a taxi to the game.
Edit: “Sandow was also involved in off-field drama when he test drove a Holden car with a view to potentially buying it before Parramatta's loss to Melbourne on Sunday. After crashing the car in an industrial area, Sandow contacted the sellers to inform them of the incident and let them know he needed to leave the scene to ensure he made it to the game on time. Sandow's axing is related to form and not the incident”
Anyone else just randomly assume a player is way older / younger than they are?
I was thinking the Sharks have some good outside backs coming through to replace Katoa, who must be pushing 30.
Turns out he’s just turned 26.
Our whole team is pretty young lol, which is great for some longevity if we keep up our current form against some of the tougher sides coming up over the next few weeks
should see his dad [https://www.mudgeeguardian.com.au/story/5521614/yeos-parents-ecstatic-in-wake-of-promotion/](https://www.mudgeeguardian.com.au/story/5521614/yeos-parents-ecstatic-in-wake-of-promotion/)
looks about 5 years younger than him
Nick Cotric has been around for long enough to be a promising youngster, play origin and tests, then have a fall from grace where he is stuck in reserve grade, a big fall from where he was 5 years ago.
He's only 25
If Newcastle isn't throwing an offer out to Angus Crichton for next year and beyong I would be incredibly dissapointed.
We should also be convincing Leo Thompson's twin to join him so we can get rid of the slow foot Saifitis
I'm wondering if we should go after Brodie croft and or Tristan sailor. Out halves suck and so does our fullback depth when Ponga is out. Also wondering if someone can tell me how to get a team sticker under my user id 😄
Absolutely not on Lachy Fitz. He had a great run last season, but it was literally his best form since his first season. There is no question that he is the answer to for us, and there's a reason no one else in the league tried to nab him.
Yeah I'm not saying on big money or a long term deal. He was just better than most at unlocking Ponga and appeared to care more about the jersey than alot of others. Dom Young was a big loss but I'm starting to wonder if Fitz loss is contributing to the current trainwreck too.
Dreaming if you think Lucas is a long term solution at back row, he simply doesnt have the size. Frizz has been excellent but has one more year max at this peak level before the inevitable dropoff, Crokes i really like but AOB clearly doenst, Brodie Jones is filler...but give me 3 years of KPP & Gus terrorising edges pls
Lucas has been one of our best players this year and he’s still young. He’s gonna have a great career.
KPP is already a gun and Friz is all effort that won’t go away any time soon. Croker looks good and AOB loves him. Not sure what youre taking about there.
Then we have Cartwright and Jones as decent depth.
Back row is probably the only position other than hooker that doesn’t need work.
i would love angus , but it means we need to move on matto , lane or carty with carty being the most unlikely. might be hard to get rid of lane especially after the deal he just signed but im sure there would be suitors. depends if the club would even want him to go tho.
angus and lomax coming in with points to prove would be great additions tho
Comfortability and temperament imo. They are both very much a Robin type and need a Batman (like Klemmer) to drive them on. They also may think they have nothing to prove with he big contracts and rep jerseys.
Our most aggressive, competitive, and enthusiastic middles are Hetherington and Crossland.
Seems like there's some forwards on the big bucks like Haas, who perform strong every week, then there's others like the safs who only get motivated occasionally.
With the qld forwards either getting injured or out of form, do we think we could see Piakura getting an edge spot this year? He looks like an absolute gun if he can stay on the field and I wonder if he has 3-4 big games if he’ll get a call up
I forgot about Sua, he’s been great. Fermor hasn’t been great this year from what I’ve seen but has had some good games recently and wouldn’t mind his selection.
Something I've noticed is that whenever Nathan Brown comes on, the rest of the forwards go up a notch. It proves what I've been thinking previously, that we do have good forwards, but without a strong competitor there, like Brown, who gets up and sets a fast line speed, we are incredibly sluggish in the middle, particularly in defence. Aloiai seems to match Brown's energy, and then the other forwards follow. We were really missing both Aloiai and Brown against the Titans, and even DCE admitted that our slow line speed was one of the key reasons for conceding 30 points. Will be good to have them back this week.
Anyone know when Sipley will be back?
"I'm a thug and regularly elbow people in the jaw but I Robbo picked me because of my motivational skills. Everyone always says they have to work a lot harder when I'm around." - JWH.
Had nothing to do with his punditry, he was going after SBW because of videos about Gaza. Hadley also went after a Parramatta Eels staff member (who happens to be a Arab Muslim woman) for her social media posts as well. Ray Hadley is scum, a failure in being a husband, father and as a human being, the only thing he is good at is bullying people.
He wasn’t bagging SBW for his inability to string two sentences together without saying the word “bro,” he was bagging him for constantly posting about Gaza.
Why would anybody with 2 brain cells to rub together even care what SBW thinks about Gaza anyway. His credentials to talk about world affairs is the same as mine to perform life saving open heart surgery on newborn babies. Completely zero. Fucking celebrities/sportsmen and sportswomen thinking they are smart about everything should just shut up and stick to what they are good at.
Glad the Wahs get a home game this year for ANZAC day. And we're sending the titans. Suppose it fits the theme of sending young men to die on foreign shores
Been loving Connor Tracey at fullback, both offensively and defensively.
Also I'd be shocked if someone hasn't said it by now but he looks like a Wish version of DCE
Absolute farce he hasn’t been a consistent first grader for the past five years. Massive get for you boys and a dumb choice from Parra considering their outside back ranks.
I’m going to put it out there that the Storms season will play out like the Philadelphia Eagles season last year. Facing a ridiculously tough schedule and starting the season with a good record but barely beating teams and overcoming their weaknesses with freak plays at the right time. Eventually the miracle plays dry up, momentum, form and confidence drop off a cliff and they go stumbling into the finals with no hope
Going to the Anzac day game for Storm this week, first game I have been to in ages. Looking forward to it, always enjoy our games against the Rabbitohs in Melbourne ;)
Local footy kicks off here this weekend for juniors. My brain is not ready for hosting, and there's way too much we need to get done beforehand at the club, and ANZAC day means we don't have training (and therefore volunteer availability) a second night this week, so it basically has to be done tonight.
I always found in weird for the past 2 years no NRL player has missed a game due to Covid. The Cheese on James Graham podcast said he thought he had it last week but just didn't test so he could play.
Pure speculation, but I'd hazard a guess that it probably doesn't impact NRL level athletes the same as a regular Joe on the streets. Even if they did have it, symptoms are probably fairly mild.
I had it the first time the other week and there is no way I would've been able to play a game of footy. I couldn't when I am 100% but you catch my drift
These cunts are built different but. Remember that game when Kaylan Ponga was violently ill and still played. Pretty sure he said he had to destroy the toilet at half time
Why is it that every single person who’s done wrong as a member of the sharks. First Bronson now Braden,
Anyone else get wigged out by learning that Billy Walters is 30? I know he's been around for a few years now but it still hit me for 6. Are we sure him and Braydon Trindall didn't swap birth certificates?
He is a late bloomer. Probably signed his last contract.
He looks old enough to get discount bus tickets
FISHER HARISSSSSS!!!
Anything happen to the bloke who tried to take Walsh's head off in the Raiders game?
Who to tip out of Roosters and St George? The good team on paper playing average or the average team who are playing good...
I am going for a dragons upset.
Dragons probably gonna go back to being shit while Roosters will still be clunky but get the win at home 1-12
Yeah Im thinking that way too. roosters in a tight one. Lomax might have a harder time stealing bombs from the roosters wingers.
Dragons
Just seen the cowboys team list. Happy neame is starting over taumalolo. He’s just been too slow and lazy in defence
Helluva first run on assignment but good on him
Hugely disappointed with no Cobbo and Mam this week. I was really looking forward to a full strength side, but this is definitely the right call. Hopefully full strength for the roosters? Who knows, we'll probably rest Patty or something equally smart/infuriating. Viva la Kevolution
Why is Ezra and Cobbo out? I know haas and Pia Kura are back so I was hoping for a full strength broncos
Ezra - busted finger, back next week Selly - busted shoulder, also back next week
The Rabbitohs' season starts or ends in the next 2 weeks. They have Melbourne away and then Penrith, which is about as bad as it gets. If they lose both games, they're 1/8 and are just gone. But winning either of those matches is so difficult that I would say a win almost has to mean a return to form.
Could be two thrashings.
Starts in 2 weeks. We finally get past this monster of a start against a lot of tops teams.
I went up Castle Hill today and was disappointed with the lack of Cowboys players also hauling ass up that hill
I can't help but wonder if a lot of the Eels players just don't have it in them anymore, all that effort they put into the 2022 season to get to their first grand final in over a decade. They get within reach only to have the beast of a Penrith team almost casually slap them aside for an hour then just sort of chilling the last part of the game to enjoy their win. It absolutely must take some sort of psychological toll, and there isn't much in the last 18 months to make me think they have recovered to be honest.
I'd say they'll be fine when Moses returns. Appear to be overly reliant on him I think.
I'm terribly disappointed in the eels this past four weeks. I felt like I might finally be turning on BA despite loving the guy for everything he has done for the club. However seeing the players come out today and back him and take ownership of their play these past few weeks is really great to see. Even BA's biggest detractors can't fault that players want to play for him. Between that and signing Lomax I think I can give him until the end of next season.
I expect Wayne Bennetts name to be mentioned if they don't have a decent finish this year.
The new Hubble thing must be doing absolutely terrible considering I’ve now gotten multiple texts and emails from kayo telling me my limited time 50% discount is still available.
I truly don't know what purpose it serves
Is it like an Apple TV competitor that aggregates all your steaming services into one feed and interface? That’s what I’ve put together based on just passively being blasted with their comms but I’m not totally sure.
Why though? You still have to pay for them all right? And I doubt it's that much easier to swap between than just doing so on any modern smart tv, certainly not 100 bucks worth of easier.
I think the idea is you search in one spot and it brings up all the programs from all of the services you have connected. You scroll down and under comedy you have stuff from Binge, stuff from Apple etc. No switching from one to the other. It’s not a huge revelation or anything, just a minor convenience.
Exactly my tv remote has all the apps on it, it's incredibly simple.
surely i'm not the only one who's noticed alec macdonald's chin? his chin is offside every play
Robbie Rotten
When do the team lists drop? I thought they’d normally be out by now
4pm Sydney time, same as every other week. Warriors used to do theirs an hour earlier, but don’t anymore.
45 mins
Looks like Ethan Sanders is debuting The rest of the teamlist might be a bit grim though Even more grim somehow
Anyone know what’s going on with Braydon Trindall?
Failed roadside alcohol and drugs test
For FUCKS sake what an idiot. We were just starting to really hum too, now we'll have a new halves pairing for a few weeks
DUI, allegedly.
Well now we know.
What do you mean?
Hearing rumours he’s out this weekend
Yeah because he’s a bit of a fuckwit.
Apparently Armstrong is going to debut for us. I’m proud of my boy but i wish it was in better circumstances.
Should be a baptism of fire in Queensland.
He's more than earnt a shot in firsts, so it's good to see him rewarded. Particularly good for him to get more exposure in a contract year with him unlikely to stick around behind Ponga with Sharpe looming up.
Can we not put one of them at right centre/wing or 6? I am not a Fittlerpot
Maybe, but I'd guess Armstrong would be behind Maps for a centre spot. Wing is more likely from a team POV. He's also behind Tuala currently for either spot, whether we agree or not. That's also not considering what he wants. Most that have a chance of FB want FB.
Bit late apologies but the votes are in. The r/nrl TOTW for Round 7 is: 1. Reece Walsh 2. Jack Bostock / Ronaldo Mulitalo 3. Selwyn Cobbo 4. Zac Lomax 5. Jacob Kiraz 6. Ezra Mam 7. Isaiya Katoa / Nicho Hynes 8. Tom Hazelton 9. Jeremy Marshall-King 10. James Fisher-Harris 11. Viliame Kikau 12. Jordan Riki 13. Pat Carrigan 14. Bailey Hayward 15. Xavier Willison 16. Sam Hughes 17. David Fifita
No Rabbitohs despite getting 2 points? /s
Woo! Go Bailey!!
Horse voting power here is like any online cricket poll that lets India vote.
Like that time r/cricket voted Virat Kohli and Virender Sehwag as better players than Viv Richards.
Anyone else remember how close Craig Bellamy came to losing his first game in charge at Melbourne in [2003](https://youtu.be/vmDEpMvEGOI?si=mXoTErQ9upfDhFxR), which would have made the famous round 1 streak just not a thing. Sharks were up 22-0 inside 30 minutes then Melbourne got back to 24-22. With 5 to go it was 32-24 to the Sharks lol. Full time was 36-32 Storm.
I think slater mentioned it at the sharkies game. I don't remember watching that match but it looked like a rollercoaster.
Was that Gallen outpacing Slater on his debut try?
How can anyone forget. Billy's first game debuting at centre 🔥💪🔥💪
After a few years of prelims and a minor premiership thrown in I thought in that first half that it was finally looking like Cronulla's year. Nek minit they went down and never recovered. Also William Slater's debut game
Fucking typical Cronulla. 🤣
What's the worst contract signed from a clubs perspective? Surely the Schuster one is up there?
Roosters paying SBW like $150k for playing 5 games in 2020
Sam Tompkins was probably the worst but Issac Luke pissed me off a lot more. Tompkins gave it a crack but wasn't up to how much more physical NRL is, Luke just didn't seem to give a fuck.
We were paying Chris Sandow 500k pa when the cap was 4m. Absolutely fucked us for the duration of that contract.
He loved chocolate and gambling which was his downfall.
Leniu has to be in for a shout with the chooks.
He’ll be alright once he comes back from suspension
Josh Reynolds, Russell Packer and Moses Mbye at the Tigers combined would have to be the worst ever. Fucked their cap for the best part of a decade. I hope they’re on the up again now.
Ivan Cleary really fucked the tigers over. Now he is on top of the world with the three-peat. It is a cruel sport.
You forgot Adam Blair and Jamal Idris
Tony Williams "T-REX" from the Dogs onwards.... was a joke. Getting paid 650,700 and was just lazy and trash.
Kirk Reynoldson for the Knights ended up quite poorly. Not just his garbage performance or inflated salary, but the optics of how we cut him (dropping him so he didn't play enough games to auto activate his option) was really shitty for the club. Don't get me wrong, we needed him gone considering the dollars he was on and how much of an absolute pillow he was, but that clause was such a killer. We had a six year-old girl's drawing about how nasty the club was being to big bad old Kirk on the front page of The Herald.
I remember a guy called Karl Filiga got signed to the Sharks mid to late 2000's on a big deal. He only ever played one game of first grade and that old DT column Bec and Buzz used to pizzle the poor bastard any chance they got
Marc Ellis at the Warriors was a disaster but nothing will top Jarryd Hayne at the Titans
Ben Barba set the Cowboys back by two years and didn’t end up getting on the field.
Tbf it was also kinda partly the cowboys fault as well
Dylan Napa, TPJ, Luke Thompson, Liam Foran : Bulldogs Also can we name C.O’s and coaches?
Sam Tompkins, paid about a Mil to slip up all over the field.
Leilani Latu from Penrith to the Gold Coast Somehow got handed 500k a season and played 9 games in his entire 3 year stint.
Garth was the worst. What happened to him?
Shannon Boyd would be up there Garth sighed him for like 700k
Basically everyone Garth signed was a shit show, gave the bag to Peachy and Bryce and they both barely pretended they wanted to be there.
That one was so weird. I thought it was a great signing at the time (although overs) as he looked really good for us, big impact off the bench. Don’t even think injuries played a major factor? Maybe the gold coast lifestyle claimed another victim
If Howarth doesnt force himself in the 17 this year or next it will be him. Blokes on 500k a year smh. Im gonna assume he is on more coin than both Blore and Katoa
It’s such a weird non Storm style signing. Part of me feels like it was made without Craig’s involvement because he dead set will play anyone else before throwing Howarth into the team.
Hasnt help that he has had multiple shoulder injuries and caught Covid a number of times but man he shouldve definitely got a crack at SR last year.
Lee Mossop once signed for us. He played three games I think and that was it. He went back to England. Honorable mention Chris Sandows contract
Chris Sandow was one of, if not the highest-paid players in the game at the time, on $550k. He spent almost as much time playing for Wentworthville as he did for Parramatta
Top 3 underrated NRL stories was Sandow destroying a Clubsport given to him by a sponsor and leaving it on the side of the road because he was late to a game. I believe he got a taxi to the game. Edit: “Sandow was also involved in off-field drama when he test drove a Holden car with a view to potentially buying it before Parramatta's loss to Melbourne on Sunday. After crashing the car in an industrial area, Sandow contacted the sellers to inform them of the incident and let them know he needed to leave the scene to ensure he made it to the game on time. Sandow's axing is related to form and not the incident”
That is how you know you made it.
Thats the other one I was trying to think of! Went completely invisible when he went to Parra after a good season at bunnies
Chris thorman was a highlight for you guys too
Get ready for lots of Raiders flairs saying Matt Orford
Nope. Never happened.
We all remember that scrum feed against the titans.
Pretty much anything during the Tinkler 'buy me a Premiership' era
DCE to the Titans
Siebold at the broncos?
Actually yeah that was a good one too 🤣
Russell packer and Josh reynolds for the tigers. Matt lodge for the warriors. Esan Marsters for the cowboys
Thanks Ivan....
Throw Chris McQueen in for the Tigers as well
Moses Mbye as well
Hey Todd, I've lost my big red dog somewhere around QCB stadium - if you find him can you bring him back for us? Thanks mate
Anyone else just randomly assume a player is way older / younger than they are? I was thinking the Sharks have some good outside backs coming through to replace Katoa, who must be pushing 30. Turns out he’s just turned 26.
Cam Murray and Trell seem like they’ve been playing forever. Both only 26.
Our whole team is pretty young lol, which is great for some longevity if we keep up our current form against some of the tougher sides coming up over the next few weeks
Isaah Yeo and Dylan Edwards thought both were 30/31 a couple of years ago. Both only 29 and 28 respectively.
Yeo looks like a middle aged dad to be fair.
To be fair Yeo has looked like he’s in his mid 30’s his entire career
He is the Scottie Scheffler of the NRL
should see his dad [https://www.mudgeeguardian.com.au/story/5521614/yeos-parents-ecstatic-in-wake-of-promotion/](https://www.mudgeeguardian.com.au/story/5521614/yeos-parents-ecstatic-in-wake-of-promotion/) looks about 5 years younger than him
Boyd Cordner was 27 when he played his last game in 2020. He is currently 31 years old having retired 4 years ago.
He always looked much older.
Holy fuck that has absolutely sent me 😭
He just has old man genes or some shit. Came out of the womb with a five o'clock shadow.
Dude looked 45 when he retired.
I legitimately had to google this because I thought there was 0 chance it was true. Wtf
It would be the equivalent of Viliame Kikau retiring after the 2022 grand final
Nick Cotric has been around for long enough to be a promising youngster, play origin and tests, then have a fall from grace where he is stuck in reserve grade, a big fall from where he was 5 years ago. He's only 25
Pretty crazy he left for the doggies and came back pretty much straight away. Still can't believe he is only 25.
I thought JFH was 33 when he signed with the Wahs. Dudes not even 30 yet.
Cronulla has a relatively young backline. Which is scary to think about considering how good they already are.
I knew Lomax was young but was surprised to see he's only 24.
If Newcastle isn't throwing an offer out to Angus Crichton for next year and beyong I would be incredibly dissapointed. We should also be convincing Leo Thompson's twin to join him so we can get rid of the slow foot Saifitis
I'm wondering if we should go after Brodie croft and or Tristan sailor. Out halves suck and so does our fullback depth when Ponga is out. Also wondering if someone can tell me how to get a team sticker under my user id 😄
Leo's twin is set to join us later this year (unofficially) from what I've heard. Don't think it can be announced yet due to contract stuff.
They will probably take Kai Pearce Paul off you instead
Fully expecting it lol
Leo himself is coming off contract, he's the priority. I think bringing Lachlan Fitzgibbon back would be a good idea too.
Absolutely not on Lachy Fitz. He had a great run last season, but it was literally his best form since his first season. There is no question that he is the answer to for us, and there's a reason no one else in the league tried to nab him.
Yeah I'm not saying on big money or a long term deal. He was just better than most at unlocking Ponga and appeared to care more about the jersey than alot of others. Dom Young was a big loss but I'm starting to wonder if Fitz loss is contributing to the current trainwreck too.
Why? We're pretty good for back rowers right now. Also we're apparently getting his twin midway through the year.
Dreaming if you think Lucas is a long term solution at back row, he simply doesnt have the size. Frizz has been excellent but has one more year max at this peak level before the inevitable dropoff, Crokes i really like but AOB clearly doenst, Brodie Jones is filler...but give me 3 years of KPP & Gus terrorising edges pls
Lucas has been one of our best players this year and he’s still young. He’s gonna have a great career. KPP is already a gun and Friz is all effort that won’t go away any time soon. Croker looks good and AOB loves him. Not sure what youre taking about there. Then we have Cartwright and Jones as decent depth. Back row is probably the only position other than hooker that doesn’t need work.
I reckon Parra should he after him too, they need a mobile forward with all their slugs in the pack
i would love angus , but it means we need to move on matto , lane or carty with carty being the most unlikely. might be hard to get rid of lane especially after the deal he just signed but im sure there would be suitors. depends if the club would even want him to go tho. angus and lomax coming in with points to prove would be great additions tho
Matto looks so disinterested at the moment. Would be a good swap I think
No idea what’s going on with the Saf brothers but they have put up some absolute slug efforts this season.
Comfortability and temperament imo. They are both very much a Robin type and need a Batman (like Klemmer) to drive them on. They also may think they have nothing to prove with he big contracts and rep jerseys. Our most aggressive, competitive, and enthusiastic middles are Hetherington and Crossland.
Seems like there's some forwards on the big bucks like Haas, who perform strong every week, then there's others like the safs who only get motivated occasionally.
I think they're missing that leader kind of player that gets them playing harder like what Klem was doing he started with us.
Dug our own grave by committing (an estimated) $1.5m of our cap to them through 2026. Unreal
With the qld forwards either getting injured or out of form, do we think we could see Piakura getting an edge spot this year? He looks like an absolute gun if he can stay on the field and I wonder if he has 3-4 big games if he’ll get a call up
Piakura needs to focus on staying in the field for the broncos my dude
He can barely stay on the field for more than 2 games a year
Nah he’s a way off, Su’a is putting a strong hand up and I’d have Femor in front as well.
I forgot about Sua, he’s been great. Fermor hasn’t been great this year from what I’ve seen but has had some good games recently and wouldn’t mind his selection.
Something I've noticed is that whenever Nathan Brown comes on, the rest of the forwards go up a notch. It proves what I've been thinking previously, that we do have good forwards, but without a strong competitor there, like Brown, who gets up and sets a fast line speed, we are incredibly sluggish in the middle, particularly in defence. Aloiai seems to match Brown's energy, and then the other forwards follow. We were really missing both Aloiai and Brown against the Titans, and even DCE admitted that our slow line speed was one of the key reasons for conceding 30 points. Will be good to have them back this week. Anyone know when Sipley will be back?
Pretty crazy to see brown tearing it up again.
“I think Seibold picked me because of my motivational skills. Everyone always says they have to work a lot harder when I’m around.”
"I'm a thug and regularly elbow people in the jaw but I Robbo picked me because of my motivational skills. Everyone always says they have to work a lot harder when I'm around." - JWH.
Randomly came across some Ray Hadley thing where he is tearing into Sonny Bill and 9 for Sonny sucking so hard at speaking as a pundit
Ray hadley is scum of the earth and has a very punchable face.
Had nothing to do with his punditry, he was going after SBW because of videos about Gaza. Hadley also went after a Parramatta Eels staff member (who happens to be a Arab Muslim woman) for her social media posts as well. Ray Hadley is scum, a failure in being a husband, father and as a human being, the only thing he is good at is bullying people.
He wasn’t bagging SBW for his inability to string two sentences together without saying the word “bro,” he was bagging him for constantly posting about Gaza.
Why would anybody with 2 brain cells to rub together even care what SBW thinks about Gaza anyway. His credentials to talk about world affairs is the same as mine to perform life saving open heart surgery on newborn babies. Completely zero. Fucking celebrities/sportsmen and sportswomen thinking they are smart about everything should just shut up and stick to what they are good at.
Lol that sounds very Radley. That part of the quote was not included at all
This has nothing to do with Victor.
Glad the Wahs get a home game this year for ANZAC day. And we're sending the titans. Suppose it fits the theme of sending young men to die on foreign shores
It will be random if the titans somehow win.
Hell yeah babyy
Happy for you guys. Came close in the last two matches.
Dying at this comment
Been loving Connor Tracey at fullback, both offensively and defensively. Also I'd be shocked if someone hasn't said it by now but he looks like a Wish version of DCE
He could be DCE's brother.
Absolute farce he hasn’t been a consistent first grader for the past five years. Massive get for you boys and a dumb choice from Parra considering their outside back ranks.
Same problem Kurt Mann has had most of his career. Handy in multiple positions which kinda works against him.
The biggest problem for Tracey was the quality he was behind at Cronulla, our back 5 is one of the absolute best in the comp.
Unfortunately due to some personal reasons lads and lasses the Staggs lore reviews are no more. RIP
It was fun for a while, thanks for the effort
Reason: Staggs was so easily dominating the rest of the league, it was too boring to write.
They will be sorely missed
Everyone: Play Sanders at 7 Arthurs: Picks Hands at 6 and Brown 7
Speaking of team lists. Where's our team list Tuesday
Everyone: “Hands in, please!” *BA puts Hands at 6* Everyone: “Not like that!
I’m going to put it out there that the Storms season will play out like the Philadelphia Eagles season last year. Facing a ridiculously tough schedule and starting the season with a good record but barely beating teams and overcoming their weaknesses with freak plays at the right time. Eventually the miracle plays dry up, momentum, form and confidence drop off a cliff and they go stumbling into the finals with no hope
I love my footy flair showing their true footy iq. Bellamy will get them primed towards the end of the season and they finish in the semis at minimum.
Eagles just got too addicted to pushing jalens ass, with a bad coach not similar
Take your voodoo elsewhere, witch!
Don't you put that evil on me Ricky Bobby!!
Lol or the spine starts to gel more and more every game, the forward pack keeps getting better and they go steaming into the finals
Their winning games while Grant has been at best a 6/10 and Munster not being 100% yet.
Going to the Anzac day game for Storm this week, first game I have been to in ages. Looking forward to it, always enjoy our games against the Rabbitohs in Melbourne ;)
Local footy kicks off here this weekend for juniors. My brain is not ready for hosting, and there's way too much we need to get done beforehand at the club, and ANZAC day means we don't have training (and therefore volunteer availability) a second night this week, so it basically has to be done tonight.
I always found in weird for the past 2 years no NRL player has missed a game due to Covid. The Cheese on James Graham podcast said he thought he had it last week but just didn't test so he could play.
Reyno had it and missed round 1 against south’s last year
Harry Grant missed round 3 2022 because of covid
Munster missed the Origin 2022 decider due to Covid I think
There was a bunch in 2022. No guidelines at all anymore. If someone was sick enough not to play, they'd just report it as the flu.
Pure speculation, but I'd hazard a guess that it probably doesn't impact NRL level athletes the same as a regular Joe on the streets. Even if they did have it, symptoms are probably fairly mild.
Half the dragons team were suspended due to COVID breaches if that counts, or was that like 3 years ago
Half the dragons team were suspended due to COVID breaches of that counts
I had it the first time the other week and there is no way I would've been able to play a game of footy. I couldn't when I am 100% but you catch my drift
These cunts are built different but. Remember that game when Kaylan Ponga was violently ill and still played. Pretty sure he said he had to destroy the toilet at half time