The NRL Season of 2016
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<p>Broncos bounce back from Mt Smart smarting.</p> -
<p>Could it get any worse for Manly? They've now lost Steve Matai for the season.</p>
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<p>Warriors V Knights on now.</p>
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<p>Warriors side the same as last week while Knights have made about 20 changes.</p> -
<p>Five things learnt from that shellacking by the Warriors:</p>
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<p>1. The Knights are shit.</p>
<p>2. Manu is out injured again but the Warriors have his replacement in the more skillful David Fusitua, who scored four tries today. Manu off to Leeds in 2017.</p>
<p>3. The Knights right-side defence is so shit that calling it shit would be an insult and deemed racist to actual shit.</p>
<p>4. When confident, Albert Vete, Sam Lisone and Charlie Gubb make a dangerous triple threat coming off the bench. They hit hard on defence and offence. When they're confident.</p>
<p>5. Isaac Luke is now in charge of directing the attack and that means Shaun Johnson can just be Shaun Johnson. SJ isn't a field general like Jonathan Thurston, but Luke is.</p>
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<p>Bonus thing learnt: Knights left-side defence is also shit. Not super-shit like the right but shit enough.</p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Donsteppa" data-cid="586279" data-time="1465628964"><p>Always does this time of year...</p></blockquote>
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We'll make a run, probably finish 9th or 10th.... -
<p>Heard a stat on commentary that says the Warriors win 18/25 or something during Origin season. Like every year.</p>
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<p>The Warriors played really well tonight, a lot more coherent now they have ditched a bit of dead wood. But gees the Knights were rubbish. Must be hard for Johns, commentating on shit that dire.</p> -
<p>Warriors are currently in 8th spot.... that's how close the comp is this year.</p>
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<p>Storm however are the team to beat again it seems, just spanked the Roosters 46-0. Roosters have really plummeted in a short space of time.</p>
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<p>Konrad Hurrell made his debut for the Titans in Darwin and it didn't go good. He struggled in the heat and got injured, but worst of all <a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://www.newshub.co.nz/sport/video-highlights-hurrell-knocks-out-teammate-as-eels-down-titans-22-12-2016061123#axzz4BH1IuK00'>knocked his own teammate Chris McQueen out </a>in the fourth minute of play. </p> -
<p>Storm are the form team now , Sharks arent doing much wrong , but being the sharks everyone is expecting them to trip up somewhere, </p>
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<p>Im still expecting the cowboys and broncos to be right up there at the finish , </p>
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<p>Speaking of the storm they pinched a young fijian winger Suliasi Vunivalu from the Blues development squad , he was a St Kents scholarship player, </p>
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<p>He has played the last 6-8 games straight and has scored a ridiculous amount of tries already </p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="kiwiinmelb" data-cid="586810" data-time="1465672263">
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<p>Storm are the form team now , Sharks arent doing much wrong , but being the sharks everyone is expecting them to trip up somewhere, </p>
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<p>Im still expecting the cowboys and broncos to be right up there at the finish , </p>
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<p><strong>Speaking of the storm they pinched a young fijian winger Suliasi Vunivalu from the Blues development squad , he was a St Kents scholarship player, </strong></p>
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<p><strong>He has played the last 6-8 games straight and has scored a ridiculous amount of tries already </strong></p>
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<p>He's been there for a couple of years now. Happy to see him getting some consistent game-time.</p>
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<p>He's been a really nice fantasy pick-up for me. :)</p> -
Didn't he score with his first touch in first grade? After coming in at the last minute?
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<p>Yeah , scored two tries on debut , and has done it a few times since , and a hat trick as well , all in a few games </p>
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<p>I'm struggling to remember a worse NRL side than the Knights are this season. The only one I can think of were the Rabbitohs just before they got turfed out of the competition and were getting routinely pumped by teams. They have a points differential of -330 so are losing games by an average of 30 points across the whole season. Probably the worst bit for them was it didn't look like they weren't trying, most of their guys just don't look like genuine first graders. I'd wonder where the hell their salary cap is going to, because it certainly shouldn't be being spent on a lot of their current squad.</p>
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<p>After watching snippets of the Titans game last night, I'm super glad we got rid of Hurrell. I haven't been a fan since his breakout season and have always thought he looked like he took his career and skill for granted. Surprising that he looked out of shape, because you'd think any prudent athlete would have been working his ass off in second grade to make it back to the top level. I suspect that he had given up on his warriors first grade dream a few months ago and just put in minimal effort to his conditioning. Granted he was playing in the Darwin heat I suppose. </p>
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<p>There was lots to like about the Warriors last night, albeit against a shit team. I'm more and more impressed by Lolohea as he gets more confident and it looks like Luke has got his mojo back as well. Fusitua is a more than capable replacement for Vatuvei, but Vatuvei's finishing in his try yesterday shows that he's probably not ready to be put out to pasture just yet. My biggest issue is the fact the Kata doesn't really pass the ball outside him, so any winger is just going to be wasted outside. Quite a few times this season Kata has failed to pass to open men and instead held the ball himself to try to run over two or three defenders. Sometimes it's come off, other times there have been certain tries blown. </p>
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<p>It almost seems unjust that the Warriors are now inside the top 8. For most of the season they certainly haven't deserved to be.</p> -
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<span style="color:rgb(40,40,40);font-family:helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">I'm struggling to remember a worse NRL side than the Knights are this season.</span></blockquote>
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<p>Gold Coast Seagulls from the ARL days in the early 1990s were pretty awful. Almost an amateur side but this Knights squad is almost a semi-pro team. Newcastle went all out for a NRL title several years back when Wayne Bennett was coach and spent money on veteran players to get the job done. They didn't, their cap exploded, their owner was tossed out of the NRL and now they are stuck with some winger who likes to wear ponytails and miss tackle after tackle. I honestly believe that they won't win another game this season.</p>
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<p>Kata's preference not to pass is almost a symbol of the team's recent years. No trust in teammates, all seeking their own glory. Tbf to Kata though, he has improved on a lot of aspects of his game, most notably defence, and has proven me wrong about his ability to play in the top grade. Hurrell might be able to redeem himself, it was his first hit out with Gold Coast and was in Darwin, but I suspect if he doesn't improve his fitness Neil Henry will turf him out.</p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Sneakdefreak" data-cid="587003" data-time="1465704469">
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<p>Kata's preference not to pass is almost a symbol of the team's recent years. No trust in teammates, all seeking their own glory. Tbf to Kata though, he has improved on a lot of aspects of his game, most notably defence, and has proven me wrong about his ability to play in the top grade. Hurrell might be able to redeem himself, it was his first hit out with Gold Coast and was in Darwin, but I suspect if he doesn't improve his fitness Neil Henry will turf him out.</p>
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<p>Yeah I don't even know that it's symbolic of no trust in team mates. He has one of the better finishers in the NRL outside him, yet with the ball in hand and the goal line 15 metres away, you'd bet your house on him holding the ball and trying for a miracle. I suspect it's more of an ego thing. I'm always a bit mistrustful of players whose first action after scoring a try is to seek out the goal line camera and make some sort of "signature" celebration towards it. With Kata, and Hurrell in seasons past, this has always been their M.O. Even before they celebrate with team mates who put them in for the try. Contrast with someone like Isaac Luke, who might do something for the camera while walking back to the halfway mark, or 90% of players who just do nothing except high five and hug their team mates. </p>
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<p>If Hurrell isn't a success at the titans, it'd be interesting to see who he sees is to blame. I think a lot of blame has been unfairly placed on McFadden for the plight of Hurrell and the situation he finds himself in. It wasn't Mcfadden's fault that Kony turned up out of shape in previous seasons. Nor did McFadden ask Kony to make stupid choices around social media. I suspect Hurrell will end up being a bit like Kevin Locke - all the talent in the world but some poor choices might see him at a few clubs over the coming years.</p> -
<p>Hurrell's talent has always been overrated in the media. He's always been a limited player.</p>
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<p>Some bloke on another forum has put down the Warriors resurgence to Hurrell leaving - like he had any role in the team this year. I suspect it's a bit of Origin and the rumour going round that Isaac has been given the on field organisation role (which I assumed he would have had from the start given what we all know about SJ).</p>
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<p>Kata is a hungus with poor defensive reads who gets by because he runs hard and straight - Sneak is ok with him now because he's used to the Warriors playing second rows there ;). He's certainly played above expectations but I'd still be on the hunt for a centre if I was the Warriors.</p>
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<p>I missed most of the tries last night because I had to shoot out when it was 20 odd points to 16! Bad timing.</p>
