NRL 2019

[Nepia]

@Bovidae said in NRL 2019:

SJ gone and Foran in for the GB game.

Why not keep him as the interchange player?

The pack already looks better with the addition of Tapine for Blair.

[raznomore]

That would make too much sense

[mariner4life]

Ben Matulino forced in to medical retirement.

Follows Sam Burgess down the same path

I assume these becoming prevalent is a way for players to access insurance payouts, and clubs to avoid cap hastles

[Paekakboyz]

oh wow, that really sucks. I wonder how big an impact that's had on his form in recent years. He's been a shadow of himself for a while now and you kind of put it all down to form (or lack of) rather than wear and tear they are trying to manage.

[bayimports]

@mariner4life said in NRL 2019:

Ben Matulino forced in to medical retirement.

Follows Sam Burgess down the same path

I assume these becoming prevalent is a way for players to access insurance payouts, and clubs to avoid cap hastles

Add Matt Gillette to that list too

[Nepia]

Triple header crowd looks worse than a Blues crowd ... imagine how much worse it would be if the ABs made the final.

[kiwiinmelb]

Awesome try

[Siam]

Some good niggle in this

[kiwiinmelb]

@Siam said in NRL 2019:

Some good niggle in this

Yeah it’s fun watching

[Nepia]

12-8 win to the Kiwis who managed to be slightly less boring in the boring off.

[kiwiinmelb]

Tonga hit the lead

[Higgins]

Fingers crossed five minutes left and Tonga still up by four with a very kickable penalty for them.

[kiwiinmelb]

Been a great game

[Higgins]

Damn it missed but Tonga will get the ball back from the goal line dropout.

[NTA]

Ha fuck this is hilarious. Aussies choking hard

[kiwiinmelb]

Massive

[NTA]

Only watched the last 10 minutes. Aussie players still bitching despite their idiocy.

John Hopoate is going to get the digit out to celebrate.

[kiwiinmelb]

Aussies made the massive mistake allowing the Tongans to build momentum, bloody hard to stop once they get on a roll like that .

[Crazy Horse]

Being a Tongan Invitational Team is this defeat for the Aussies a test loss?

[Higgins]

Crazy-Horse Yes. The World RL organisation have stated that it is counted as an official Test after the refused to recognise the Tongan RL Board (or whatever it is called). Until that Board ceases to exist a Tongan team cannot be called the Tongan Mate Ma'a as only teams organised and controlled by them can carry that title. A minor technicality as the best Tongan players still fronted. You could kind of compare it to the Cavaliers team that toured South Africa (except that team was missing two of the originally selected ABs).