*Official* NRL 2011 Season thread

[howardj]

Another thing...with the ratings and interest that it generated, I don't think Gallop needs to go cap in hand to David Gyngell once again asking him which night is best for Channel Nine.

Sell it separately and put it on the highest rating night of the week (Sunday) as the only game for the weekend.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Just been watching the highlights. Mini's eff up for Yow Yeh's try was so awful. Not even sure what he was trying to do.

Think the score flattered NSW. Maroons never seriously troubled.

 

[Burgey]

NSW got their tactics wrong I think, from their first set, whent he lamentable Ennis kicked from dummy half on the third tackle and gave the ball to Slater on the 30 metre line. They then repreated this tactic several times, but didn't have the longest kicker in the side taking the kicks.

They then decided to play a tight game on the rare occasions they had the ball, despite throwing it two passes wide and making a clean break, only for the equally lamentable Morris to drop the ball in a tackle.

Queensland played very well though. They're a great side. The great sides keep you guessing - you don't know where the next foray is coming from. They do that. I think Cameron Smith is as good a hooker as I've seen now, despite having the body of an accountant. Certainly the best since Steve Walters, and I include the excellent Buderus in that.

Having said that, NSW I thought played a decent series. As HJ said, game one turned out to be crucial. It kind of transpired that the twenty minutes last night where Qld ran in four tries was really the difference.

Ricky, swallow your ****ing pride you useless ****ing maggot and play Hayne at fullback will you? FMD.

 

[howardj]

I know it's hypothetical and it's going back a while, but I just thought at the time that it was a mortal blow to NSW when Carney went off the rails earlier this year. After the finals last year, you could just see that, in Pearce and Carney, NSW had a formidable pairing; a real dynamic halves combination for the first time in a long while. They fed off each other.

Anyway, with Lockyer and (likely) Civoniceva gone next year, the series will be there to win for the Blues. Without these spirtual leaders (not to mention great players) NSW will walk taller. It's like Australia in 2005 Ashes without McGrath - we still had great personnel, but the opposition just walks taller for the fact that he's not there.

 

[Ausage]

Ricky, swallow your ****ing pride you useless ****ing maggot

Burgey in the land of faeries and elves here. The man would swallow his own foot before he managed to wolf down any of his pride.

 

[Mister Wright]

QUEENSLANDER!!!!

Lovin' it!

I know Smith played well, but I thought Slater should have got the Man of the Match award. He was outstanding.

 

[Son Of Coco]

Classless.

Deadly serious

 

[Son Of Coco]

Really dominated possession, something like 90 less tackles at half time than the Blues. I don't think people really appreciate how much that takes out of a team. It really set the platform for our great team to show their wares. All told, NSW probably lost the series in Game One - that was the one that got away. If they headed to Sydney one game up, it would have been a massive ask for Qld to pull it back from there.

I thought this game was similar to Game 1 in a lot of respects...NSW did a lot of tackling and struggled when they got the ball. They were probably a bit lucky in Game 1 to end up as close as they did, and they defended really well. Tough ask to do it again against a really good team like QLD though.

If we'd managed to win Game 1 it would've been a travesty as far as QLD was concerned. Can't believe we ended up so close.

Think the score flattered NSW. Maroons never seriously troubled.

Agree with this too, I can't believe we scored 24 points...never looked like winning at any stage. It seemed like we only really had the ball in a good position for about 10 minutes of the game. I think at half-time we hadn't been tackled with it inside QLD's 20m line.

 

[Son Of Coco]

I know it's hypothetical and it's going back a while, but I just thought at the time that it was a mortal blow to NSW when Carney went off the rails earlier this year. After the finals last year, you could just see that, in Pearce and Carney, NSW had a formidable pairing; a real dynamic halves combination for the first time in a long while. They fed off each other.

Anyway, with Lockyer and (likely) Civoniceva gone next year, the series will be there to win for the Blues. Without these spirtual leaders (not to mention great players) NSW will walk taller. It's like Australia in 2005 Ashes without McGrath - we still had great personnel, but the opposition just walks taller for the fact that he's not there.

Who do you think will be the 5/8 next year? We were talking about it last night and couldn't come up with anyone definite. Mind you, we're not the greatest collection of footballing brains in the country...would they possibly move Thurston and play Cherry-Evans if he keeps on keeping on? I'm sure there are heaps of other options, I just can't think of them at the moment.

 

[Johnners]

Would be quite surprised if the halves combination next season wasn't Cronk & Thurston.

Disappointed Gidely didn't smack Thaiday one last night...I know I'm a QLDer and all, but part of me is always hoping Thaiday & Hodges get absolutely poleaxed (along with Ennis/Gallen/Bird, obviously). All seem to be the sort of blokes that would sell their grandmothers for a packet of chips.

 

[Son Of Coco]

Would be quite surprised if the halves combination next season wasn't Cronk & Thurston.

Fair point...I managed to forget a bloke that was actually playing last night.

 

[Ausage]

Would be quite surprised if the halves combination next season wasn't Cronk & Thurston.

Disappointed Gidely didn't smack Thaiday one last night...I know I'm a QLDer and all, but part of me is always hoping Thaiday & Hodges get absolutely poleaxed (along with Ennis/Gallen/Bird, obviously). All seem to be the sort of blokes that would sell their grandmothers for a packet of chips.

A packet of chips wouldn't be enough to satisfy Thaiday.

 

[Mister Wright]

Would be quite surprised if the halves combination next season wasn't Cronk & Thurston.

Disappointed Gidely didn't smack Thaiday one last night...I know I'm a QLDer and all, but part of me is always hoping Thaiday & Hodges get absolutely poleaxed (along with Ennis/Gallen/Bird, obviously). All seem to be the sort of blokes that would sell their grandmothers for a packet of chips.

Gidley's a grub though. Fair enough he has the right to tackle Yow Yeh, but the new rule of running the ball to the 20 is there, and he had no right to hold Yow Yeh down for so long.

Came across to me as a sore loser.

 

[howardj]

Ratings out for Wednesday's game...

2.47 million nationally, and a record 905 000 in Brisbane.

Masterchef 1.7 million nationally.

 

[Ausage]

That figure doesn't include regionals either IIRC.

Jus sayin.

 

[Burgey]

Decent night out at Parra stadium tonight. Good crowd - usually get good gates for the Tigers. It seems Parra are slowly working Hayne into five-eigth which I like. The Tigers were awfully flat for much of the game. Only Parra's lack of point scoring ability really kept them in it.

Juggernaut stirs

Edit: candidate for tackle of the year - B Smith chasing down Marshall over about 80 metres and putting him into touch. Massive effort.

 

[Burgey]

Ben Barba is ********.

There's something wrong in the NRL where these blokes get picked to play fullback of all spots, and they can't:

a. Tackle; or
b. Catch a high ball.

Sometimes sports evolve backwards.

 

[Ausage]

There's tons of good fullbacks who aren't great under the bomb, Jarryd for example. When a fullback is strong in attack and good at the defensive things a fullback does you put him in the Billy Slater class of player. There's just not that many complete fullbacks going around that can do what you need with the ball but do the defensive side too. Barba is really a different class of fail though, just leaks points like a sieve back there. Couldn't believe how bad he was against us the other week. Offers alot in support of the ball though.

 

[Burgey]

Big shout out to Nathan Hindmarsh who plays his 300th game in the NRL this week. One of my favourite players, and not just because he's Blue and Gold either.

I understand Penrith are putting together a bit of a tribute for him at their home game, which is a great gesture to a visiting player.

 

[Mister Wright]

Yeah, as a non QLDer HIndmarsh is my favourite player. Love the way he plays the game. He's one of the first players I always select in my fantasy teams.