The NRL Season of 2016

ACT Crusader

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Sneakdefreak" data-cid="576170" data-time="1462092234">So from what I can put together Kearney is going with this: 
1.Hiku 2.DWZ 3.SKD 4.Kahu 5.Nightingale 6.Harris 7.SJ 8.Bromwich (c) 9.Nikorima 10.Blair 11.Proctor 12.Ma'u 13.Taumalolo 
Bench: 14.Brown 15.Taupau 16.Moa 17.Eastwood 18th man: Glenn 19th man: Levi 
Big call leaving out Luke and another utility back like Hoffman or Rapana (both have experience at stand off/fullback).</blockquote>
 
I don't mind the squad. Shame Matulino isn't there. Didn't Luke come out and basically admit he wouldn't make it because his form was poor? 
Happy to see Dallin in there. He's been on the cusp for a while now.

booboo

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="No Quarter" data-cid="576154" data-time="1462089701">
<div>
Yep, and who do you blame for that?
</div>
</blockquote>
 
 
Personally I blame Deans

kiwiinmelb

RTS injury, Foran with his issues , and Luke turning to shit , have hurt us big time , 
 
Throw those 3 back in , in top form, and its a toss a coin game.

Milk

On the bright side, if/when we lose, Aus will be inspired to drag their aging stars through to one more World Cup.

Sneakdefreak

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote">
 
Throw those 3 back in , in top form, and its a toss a coin game. 
<div> </div>
</blockquote>
 
Throw those three in and it's Kiwis 30 - Aus 6.
 
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote">
 
 
Happy to see Dallin in there. He's been on the cusp for a while now. </blockquote>
 
Haven't seen much of his game tbh. I thought Rapana should have snuck in there but prove me wrong DWZ, prove me wrong.

kiwiinmelb

Yes , we have the potential to field the best kiwi team ever , but for various reasons we never get them all on the field at the same time.

Virgil

Yeah... <a class="bbc_url" href="http://nzh.tw/11632160">http://nzh.tw/11632160</a>

Siam

Well at least we saved the NRL judiciary the job of making our best Kiwi players unavailable this year.

Crazy Horse

I was waiting for them to slap an extra week on Blair!

Donsteppa

Must still be the fault of the coach.......

Paekakboyz

Undecided if Doyle has had enough time to really start sorting shit out. But I like the hard line approach taken with the 6, and hearing they were doing that energy drink-meds mix reinforces that feeling. 
 
Is the culture that average that top notch guys (imo) like Manu and Ben, who are experienced pro athletes, make dumb decisions like this? Or is this just a case of a bunch of guys being collective num-nuts?? Cappy and Doyle were adamant that all the players bought into the team and club rules, maybe that changed?
 
Whatever the reason something needs to give - saw some hungry new players in that win against the Dragons. You might be a flash guy, or a veteran player, but someone needs to make these guys work for their jersey and actually start giving a shit.
 
won't be holding my breath!

Nepia

Starting team named:
 
1 Jordan Kahu 2 Jason Nightingale 3 Shaun Kenny-Dowall 4 Gerard Beale 5 Dallin Watene-Zelezniak 6 Tohu Harris 7 Shaun Johnson 8 Jesse Bromwich 9 Lewis Brown 10 Adam Blair 11 Kevin Proctor 12 Manu Ma'u 13 Jason Taumalolo
 
Interchange 
14 Kodi Nikorima 
15 Greg Eastwood 
16 Martin Taupau 
17 Sam Moa 
18 Brad Takairangi 
20 Kenny Bromwich
Yep, Tohu Harris at 6 - good that we threw a series in England to build for the future in the halves .... I haven't been watching enough of the Eels to know if Ma'u deserves his place?
Still, that pack looks good enough to keep us in the game.

kiwiinmelb

With Harris at 6 to go with the rest of the pack , that gives us a physical edge . 
We play this smart we could still trouble them with a typical kiwi gameplan of hard running and offloading in the tackle

Hooroo

12 point deduction for the Eels fair?

mariner4life

yes. They needed to make it so that they couldn't play finals this year. 
 
The Eels management should all go, this is a clusterfuck of epic proportions. And to think, the worst part of the rort was a player who turned up busted, and then retired. Just incompetent.

Sneakdefreak

Shame we lost Hiku, although Nepia will be happy?
 
I don't understand Beale with Hoffman, Perrett, Rona or Rapana much better options. I won't be surprised to see Takarangi playing at centre instead of Beale tbh, even if SKD passes his fitness test.

Hooroo

:)
 
Sweet. I don't relaly know much about it.
 
There is a leugue show on Saturday (I think) morning on Trackside Radio and is a great listen. Has Mark McNamara chipping in too. Learnt more about this season in a day than I did all year

hydro11

Fuck Vatuvei looks like a baby. Has a cry on social media after mixing energy drinks and prescription pills which has put people in hospital. Glad I don't support the Warriors.

mariner4life

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Hooroo" data-cid="576518" data-time="1462234671">
<div>
12 point deduction for the Eels fair?
</div>
</blockquote>
 
okay, it's harsher than that.
 
12 points (could still make finals if they only lose 3 more times all year i think)
$1M fine (reduced by $250K if they make NRL imposed changes in a timely manner)
However, they are over the cap by almost $600k at the moment, and can't play for points until they are back under. Which means fire sale this week. 
The Chairman, Deputy Chairman, CEO, a Director, and the Football Manager have also been issued "show cause" notices, and must submit to keep their NRL registrations. 
They have also been stripped of their Nines trophy (and i assume their multiple wooden spoons?)
 
So it's as much the system they put in place to avoid the cap, as the breaches themselves.
 
Fair result.

Hooroo

Wow!! That is great to hear.
 
Certainly no wet bus ticket approach there

The Silver Fern

The NRL Season of 2016