NRL 2024
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60 points. 60 fucking points.
This is a new low. They keep finding them.
Fold the club.
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Fucking hell. League players can tackle but they can't defend. Haven't watched more than a few minutes this year but nothing changes.
Crichton stands still, then runs thru a huge gap created by lazy rabbits who switch off once the ball gets 10 metres away from them. Wingers can't count.
This Va'a kid is monstrously big
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At the risk of being that guy, I really do think that the Tigers aren't far away from being competitive again, and I hope they do. I think they have some good young kids coming through, and whether you like the guy or not, Jerome Luai will make a huge difference next year imo.
Never been the biggest fan of Benji, but I do think that they'd be better off sticking by him.
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@African-Monkey the margins are pretty thin at this level. An extra year of experience together could be the difference.
I'm not convinced on Luai. Seems to benefit from Cleary and a good squad. Seems like a bit of a flog.
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@African-Monkey the margins are pretty thin at this level. An extra year of experience together could be the difference.
I'm not convinced on Luai. Seems to benefit from Cleary and a good squad. Seems like a bit of a flog.
I'm probably the only Luai fan out there, but he guides Penrith around well to many victories when Cleary takes his usual 8-12 week injury break in the middle of every season.
Aren't Penrith at about an 80% win rate when Cleary doesn't play?
I think Penrith will find the going harder next season if Cleary takes large chunks of the season off.
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Thank fuck the regular season is over. Everyone except Melbourne are limping in to finals. Ok, i guess the Sharks smoking Manly yesterday was something.
There are some deeply flawed teams in the finals, so it will be interesting to see who gets hot.
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For the regular season, Brisbane far and away the most disappointing side this year. Losing a Grand Final to Penrith is club destroying apparently. And to right the ship they are bringing in (checks notes) T-Baz?? What the? So when you fire Kev 10-games in to next year you are giving one of the worst head coaches of all time the gig for 4 months? lol
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@mariner4life said in NRL 2024:
Penrith
Roosters
Brisbane
Melbourne
Warriors
Manly
Souths
Cronulla
Cowboys
Eels
Newcastle
Gold Coast
Raiders
Tigers
Bulldogs
Dolphins
St GeorgeMy ladder prediction
Well, in a tough one i had Penrith, Roosters and Melbourne in the top 4
lol @ Broncos
lol @ Warriors
Manly i at least had in the 8
lol @ Souths
Cronulla and the Cowboys and the Knights better than exptected
Big miss on the Dogs, and St George had a way better season than most thought. -
@bayimports said in NRL 2024:
Penrith
Brisbane
Cronulla
Melbourne
Roosters
Eels
Warriors
Newcastle
*Manly
Souths
Cowboys
Gold Coast
Bulldogs
Raiders
Dolphins
St George
Tigerswell at least I picked the threepeat spoon correctly, lol Brisbane and Eels
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What. A. Game!!!
That last try by manly will be on highlight reels for years
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very little of any surprise this weekend.
The Panthers torched the Roosters early and then just went through the motions to keep themselves healthy.
Melbourne torched the Sharks who are massive pretenders.
The Cowboys got a bit lucky against the Knights.
Manly actually have a good enough team to make the GF. I expect them to beat the Roosters, and i reckon they'll give Melbourne a fright.But, as we have known for a long long time, it's a Melbourne v Penrith GF.
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The knock out games were tight and could have gone either way. But the others easy to predict and nothing at this stage looks like rocking the Storm v Panthers GF
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we never really did a debrief of a very disheartening (even for those of us who have seen this movie over and over) Warriors season. Coming off a prelim, with SJ robbed of a Daly M, and not really losing anyone we wanted to keep, there were dangerous expectations. We didn't even get much in the way of bullshit preseason hype out of Mt Smart. Lots of praise and expectation from Aussie journos though, which was unusual.
And we got delivered a 9 win, 13th place season that was over a few weeks early despite, as usual, you only needing 12 wins to make it, AND an emotional win in our last game against a top 4 side (well, sort of).
Best win was easily the Magic Round downing of the Panthers. Pumping the Cowboys in Townsville was a good one too. Worst loss? fuck there is two ways of looking at it. Getting absolutely destroyed by the Titans was a real WTF result. But that loss to Melbourne after the siren pretty much proved to me we will never ever beat them.
A quick player evaluation
The outside backs were an enormous disappointment. CNK is all heart, but he's slow and his ball playing is very average. On the wings we had DWZ stink the joint out all year. Good for a high energy hit up. Bad for a complete inability to defend. Montoya is just a spud. Tauapiki got rave reviews after the Penrith game, but he looks too small and too slow to me. This area needs a complete overhaul.Centres
Weak. RTS was a complete bust. At the start of the season we never gave him the ball. And then he never worked out how to use it. Berry and Pompey are servicable at the very best. Maybe a future with Leaitaua but he's far from nailed on first grade ready. Even weaker than the outsides.Halves
Eeeesh. SJ fell in to a hole really badly. We played him hurt which didn't help, but that was poor season and a horrible way for the guy to go out. Metcalf got hurt early. Looks like he'll play the running role next year. TMM was terrible next to SJ but did better than expected when given the reins. Kicking depth is going to be a huge problem next year (though i will not miss an uncontested SJ hoik to finish every set). CHT should probably just go find something else to do.Props.
Position of strength! AFB is a fucking weapon who will be hugely missed. His midseason sulk wasn't a good look, but he came back and finished strong. We lost our best try scorer. Barnett made origin. From the Warriors. That's a big deal. Should be captain next year. Bunty was a decent depth prop.Hookers
Egan looked like an Origin chance. And then he got hurt 18 times and looked like he should be in the NSW cup team. Terrible when not running the ball, and his service slipped as well. Lussick is just bog average.Rest of the forwards (back rows and bench)
Harris is cooked. Got even slower, and even more hurt. His passing game is not a weapon when the opposition know he can't run. Capewell made Origin somehow despite being a complete slug for us as well. Ford ran around dropping the ball and giving away penalties. Jazz was the same as every year, all heart and energy and dropped balls and penalties and ineffective hit ups. Walker is a good player who i hope we keep, he is so good off the bench with his ability to run and ball play. Niukore runs so fucking hard, and hits like a truck, but is a complete one trick pony that good teams handle with ease.Coaching
A bit yuck this year Webby. Yes, injuries fucked your spine every week. But our play was not suited to our players. We played a grinding style without the discipline to pull it off. Our attack was one-off hit ups and a high kick. We completed well, but in 2024 NRL you need to throw something at teams from further out to score points.
Has an enormous job on his hands to rebuild this team. We bought lots of old broken rejects from other clubs in the hope of a couple more good years. They've all broken at once. And there aren't great youth signs to take their place.I am incredibly pessimistic about 2025 already. The roster needs a lot of new faces, and i can't see us getting them.
I just hope the crowds stick around.
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@mariner4life said in NRL 2024:
we never really did a debrief of a very disheartening (even for those of us who have seen this movie over and over) Warriors season. Coming off a prelim, with SJ robbed of a Daly M, and not really losing anyone we wanted to keep, there were dangerous expectations. We didn't even get much in the way of bullshit preseason hype out of Mt Smart. Lots of praise and expectation from Aussie journos though, which was unusual.
And we got delivered a 9 win, 13th place season that was over a few weeks early despite, as usual, you only needing 12 wins to make it, AND an emotional win in our last game against a top 4 side (well, sort of).
Best win was easily the Magic Round downing of the Panthers. Pumping the Cowboys in Townsville was a good one too. Worst loss? fuck there is two ways of looking at it. Getting absolutely destroyed by the Titans was a real WTF result. But that loss to Melbourne after the siren pretty much proved to me we will never ever beat them.
A quick player evaluation
The outside backs were an enormous disappointment. CNK is all heart, but he's slow and his ball playing is very average. On the wings we had DWZ stink the joint out all year. Good for a high energy hit up. Bad for a complete inability to defend. Montoya is just a spud. Tauapiki got rave reviews after the Penrith game, but he looks too small and too slow to me. This area needs a complete overhaul.Centres
Weak. RTS was a complete bust. At the start of the season we never gave him the ball. And then he never worked out how to use it. Berry and Pompey are servicable at the very best. Maybe a future with Leaitaua but he's far from nailed on first grade ready. Even weaker than the outsides.Halves
Eeeesh. SJ fell in to a hole really badly. We played him hurt which didn't help, but that was poor season and a horrible way for the guy to go out. Metcalf got hurt early. Looks like he'll play the running role next year. TMM was terrible next to SJ but did better than expected when given the reins. Kicking depth is going to be a huge problem next year (though i will not miss an uncontested SJ hoik to finish every set). CHT should probably just go find something else to do.Props.
Position of strength! AFB is a fucking weapon who will be hugely missed. His midseason sulk wasn't a good look, but he came back and finished strong. We lost our best try scorer. Barnett made origin. From the Warriors. That's a big deal. Should be captain next year. Bunty was a decent depth prop.Hookers
Egan looked like an Origin chance. And then he got hurt 18 times and looked like he should be in the NSW cup team. Terrible when not running the ball, and his service slipped as well. Lussick is just bog average.Rest of the forwards (back rows and bench)
Harris is cooked. Got even slower, and even more hurt. His passing game is not a weapon when the opposition know he can't run. Capewell made Origin somehow despite being a complete slug for us as well. Ford ran around dropping the ball and giving away penalties. Jazz was the same as every year, all heart and energy and dropped balls and penalties and ineffective hit ups. Walker is a good player who i hope we keep, he is so good off the bench with his ability to run and ball play. Niukore runs so fucking hard, and hits like a truck, but is a complete one trick pony that good teams handle with ease.Coaching
A bit yuck this year Webby. Yes, injuries fucked your spine every week. But our play was not suited to our players. We played a grinding style without the discipline to pull it off. Our attack was one-off hit ups and a high kick. We completed well, but in 2024 NRL you need to throw something at teams from further out to score points.
Has an enormous job on his hands to rebuild this team. We bought lots of old broken rejects from other clubs in the hope of a couple more good years. They've all broken at once. And there aren't great youth signs to take their place.I am incredibly pessimistic about 2025 already. The roster needs a lot of new faces, and i can't see us getting them.
I just hope the crowds stick around.
can you please bring some of this exhaustive analysis to the rugby section? regards a loig non-fan.
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@mariner4life Great write up, I barely disagree with anything.
I think the hype was off the charts at the start of the season, but the train came off the rails and the hype went away. I stopped hearing the Wahs as much so that made me happy, I'd rather the team not be shit and I suffer through the Wahs saying though.
Even in a cabbage year DWZ still managed to get 15 tries in 22 matches. Also needs to cut that fucking Maori bogan mop of hair, it's not 1987 and he's not from Ruatoria.
I hope Harris doesn't try and play broken again next year, it was sad to watch him wobble around and avoid contact.
I'm still willing to give Webby some time, but the purchase of Clark as an almost direct replacement of Jazz has me worried. The little man bench doesn't work. You mention Bunty being serviceable, but he was too often left out in favour of a non prop.
TBH I really wasn't too disappointed by this year as I fully expected it to happen after last year's hype train.
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Even in a cabbage year DWZ still managed to get 15 tries in 22 matches. Also needs to cut that fucking Maori bogan mop of hair, it's not 1987 and he's not from Ruatoria.
when you are letting in 44 the opposition are taking that deal.
also the constant diving wrecked momentum at bad times. yes he milked a few penalties, but not every time, and it's a fucking horrible look.
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@mariner4life said in NRL 2024:
we never really did a debrief of a very disheartening (even for those of us who have seen this movie over and over) Warriors season. Coming off a prelim, with SJ robbed of a Daly M, and not really losing anyone we wanted to keep, there were dangerous expectations. We didn't even get much in the way of bullshit preseason hype out of Mt Smart. Lots of praise and expectation from Aussie journos though, which was unusual.
And we got delivered a 9 win, 13th place season that was over a few weeks early despite, as usual, you only needing 12 wins to make it, AND an emotional win in our last game against a top 4 side (well, sort of).
Best win was easily the Magic Round downing of the Panthers. Pumping the Cowboys in Townsville was a good one too. Worst loss? fuck there is two ways of looking at it. Getting absolutely destroyed by the Titans was a real WTF result. But that loss to Melbourne after the siren pretty much proved to me we will never ever beat them.
A quick player evaluation
The outside backs were an enormous disappointment. CNK is all heart, but he's slow and his ball playing is very average. On the wings we had DWZ stink the joint out all year. Good for a high energy hit up. Bad for a complete inability to defend. Montoya is just a spud. Tauapiki got rave reviews after the Penrith game, but he looks too small and too slow to me. This area needs a complete overhaul.Centres
Weak. RTS was a complete bust. At the start of the season we never gave him the ball. And then he never worked out how to use it. Berry and Pompey are servicable at the very best. Maybe a future with Leaitaua but he's far from nailed on first grade ready. Even weaker than the outsides.Halves
Eeeesh. SJ fell in to a hole really badly. We played him hurt which didn't help, but that was poor season and a horrible way for the guy to go out. Metcalf got hurt early. Looks like he'll play the running role next year. TMM was terrible next to SJ but did better than expected when given the reins. Kicking depth is going to be a huge problem next year (though i will not miss an uncontested SJ hoik to finish every set). CHT should probably just go find something else to do.Props.
Position of strength! AFB is a fucking weapon who will be hugely missed. His midseason sulk wasn't a good look, but he came back and finished strong. We lost our best try scorer. Barnett made origin. From the Warriors. That's a big deal. Should be captain next year. Bunty was a decent depth prop.Hookers
Egan looked like an Origin chance. And then he got hurt 18 times and looked like he should be in the NSW cup team. Terrible when not running the ball, and his service slipped as well. Lussick is just bog average.Rest of the forwards (back rows and bench)
Harris is cooked. Got even slower, and even more hurt. His passing game is not a weapon when the opposition know he can't run. Capewell made Origin somehow despite being a complete slug for us as well. Ford ran around dropping the ball and giving away penalties. Jazz was the same as every year, all heart and energy and dropped balls and penalties and ineffective hit ups. Walker is a good player who i hope we keep, he is so good off the bench with his ability to run and ball play. Niukore runs so fucking hard, and hits like a truck, but is a complete one trick pony that good teams handle with ease.Coaching
A bit yuck this year Webby. Yes, injuries fucked your spine every week. But our play was not suited to our players. We played a grinding style without the discipline to pull it off. Our attack was one-off hit ups and a high kick. We completed well, but in 2024 NRL you need to throw something at teams from further out to score points.
Has an enormous job on his hands to rebuild this team. We bought lots of old broken rejects from other clubs in the hope of a couple more good years. They've all broken at once. And there aren't great youth signs to take their place.I am incredibly pessimistic about 2025 already. The roster needs a lot of new faces, and i can't see us getting them.
I just hope the crowds stick around.
On player evaluation, agree with the back three
Agree with fullbacks, even RTS in the chances he got played better when in that role. I think there is a place for small FBs read Fuller, Kini, Faalogo, Walsh. Potentially Tuapiki can play like this, ironically I don't think he plays as tough the previously mentioned players. Probably worth persisting with to see if he can develop, but almost needs to find some arrogance and invincibility about him.
Our wingers are tough but seemingly have rocks and diamonds moments at the same time. Rumours that 4 NRL clubs chasing Moses Leo, I just hope the Warriors are one of them. We do need speed though. Montoya player of year last year, both lost form and confidence this year, probably directly related to halves and centres not giving them enough good ball.
Centres - Moala Graham-Taufa showed promise as did Leaitaua late, but agree with your assessment of the centres in general. What worries me is that Pompey is first choice kicker and back up was not good enough. RTS showed he is not a centre.
Halves - The lack of a plan B from our first choice half was alarming and cost us more close games than we won. We also found that TMM with SJ was terrible, but TMM as lead half did a great job. Metcalf needs to stay fit and not get broken. CHT bench at best.
Props - agree strongest area enough said
Hooker - Egan needs a long rest, he is a really good attacking half, but cant stay fit enough to stay on. Thankfully most injuries were not head knocks this yearRest of forwards - apart from Nuikore, Im probably more upset (apart from halves) in this area than any else. Nuikore ran and tackled hard, the decision to give him the ball always is more of a halves problem than his problem so don't agree with any critical points here. Decision to let go tackle monster Curran over some of our other journeymen annoyed me too, at least he did have that component as an asset. Ford has feet for hands and Capewell showed glimpses but largely went missing. Tohu busted early and no one really filled that gap well. Expected more from our junior players coming through and even potentially one of Maiuu, Laban or Sifakula stepping up. Maybe its because some are so young, but needed the glimpses we saw from them to be delivered week in week out. Erin Clark for Jazz wont change much unfortunately (open to be surprised)
Coaching - great assessment, there is an element of trusting your players and the process, but if you cant change have plan midway through a game, sometimes you're in trouble.
They need to find a kicker and back up kicker who needs to be practicing all offseason who is going to always be in starting 13. Cant win games going up in multiples of four in 2024. This is also a coaching problem to fix
I don't rate us for next year, but Cowboys made finals, then shit the bed and made finals again this year, so there is hope. We will probably play better when know one thinks we will win anyway.
And yes hope the crowds stay, that was the best element of 2024, incredible turnout (even if for no result)
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@bayimports said in NRL 2024:
And yes hope the crowds stay, that was the best element of 2024, incredible turnout (even if for no result)
I'm not sure they will, in every sell out this year there were lots of empty areas. I don't think the fairweathers will hang around (but hope I'm wrong).
@mariner4life said in NRL 2024:
Even in a cabbage year DWZ still managed to get 15 tries in 22 matches. Also needs to cut that fucking Maori bogan mop of hair, it's not 1987 and he's not from Ruatoria.
when you are letting in 44 the opposition are taking that deal.
also the constant diving wrecked momentum at bad times. yes he milked a few penalties, but not every time, and it's a fucking horrible look.
My post wasn't an argument against your comments, I just found it weird that he still got a decent amount of tries.
