NRL 2018
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Cam Smith retires from rep footy. Queensland's era is probably over now their big three are gone (Cam, Thurston, Cronk).
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@sneakdefreak said in NRL 2018:
Cam Smith retires from rep footy. Queensland's era is probably over now their big three are gone (Cam, Thurston, Cronk).
Maybe NSW might be in with a shout now
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That's huge news for origin. I bet Freddie Fittler had a seriously large number of celebratory stubbies last night, while Daley and the other failed coaches kicked the cat.
Cam Smith was THE MAN in that Qld comeback last year. He was terrible in Game 1, slow to cover ground; no run; failed to get the pack moving.
Qld dropped some established players, brought in younger legs up front, which helped enormously, but it was a suddenly revitalised Smith that drove everything. He ran more than he had in years, and looked like a player 10 years younger. His organisation (of the game, and the refs); his direction; his kicking game from dummy half, none of these things can be replaced by Qld (or any team he's played for). Simply the greatest hooker of all time, and his loss should be the end of the Qld dominance of this series. They could have covered Cronk, but not Smith as well.
Should be a fun Origin, two young teams going at each other.
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Warriors play some Friday night football against Parramatta and it will be without Roger Tuivasa-Sheck who is expecting his first child this week. Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad keeps the double-barrelled name strong at fullback although he could be replaced by Peta Hiku with Gerard Beale moving into centre.
VODAFONE WARRIORS
24 CHARNZE NICOLL-KLOKSTAD
2 DAVID FUSITU’A
3 PETA HIKU
4 SOLOMONE KATA
5 KEN MAUMALO
6 BLAKE GREEN (c)
7 MASON LINO
8 BUNTY AFOA
9 ISSAC LUKE
10 AGNATIUS PAASI
11 ISAIAH PAPALI’I
12 TOHU HARRIS
13 ADAM BLAIR
Interchange:
14 JAZZ TEVAGA
15 CHRIS SATAE
16 JAMES GAVET
17 SIMON MANNERING
18 GERARD BEALE
20 KARL LAWTON
21 ALBERT VETE
22 ANTHONY GELLING -
@sneakdefreak said in NRL 2018:
Warriors play some Friday night football against Parramatta and it will be without Roger Tuivasa-Sheck who is expecting his first child this week. Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad keeps the double-barrelled name strong at fullback although he could be replaced by Peta Hiku with Gerard Beale moving into centre.
VODAFONE WARRIORS
24 CHARNZE NICOLL-KLOKSTAD
2 DAVID FUSITU’A
3 PETA HIKU
4 SOLOMONE KATA
5 KEN MAUMALO
6 BLAKE GREEN (c)
7 MASON LINO
8 BUNTY AFOA
9 ISSAC LUKE
10 AGNATIUS PAASI
11 ISAIAH PAPALI’I
12 TOHU HARRIS
13 ADAM BLAIR
Interchange:
14 JAZZ TEVAGA
15 CHRIS SATAE
16 JAMES GAVET
17 SIMON MANNERING
18 GERARD BEALE
20 KARL LAWTON
21 ALBERT VETE
22 ANTHONY GELLINGWhich Warriors side will show up Friday night?
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Id rather see Hiku stay in the centres, he's been great. Would be awesome if Beale hits the ground running too.
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That was a hard game. Eels were tougher than previously advertised, our defense was amazing, and our ability to turn it up when the eels got ahead was encouraging. I felt less concerned than usual and we were rewarded by the boys putting on two tries to put the eels on ice. Fusitua was a machine but Isaac Luke was the man of the match. After the last two wasted years that man is born again hard.
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I enjoyed that game. It wasn’t a classic by any stretch, but with a couple of key outs, we stepped up and did the little things well.
Despite their ladder position, the Eels are a decent side. They’ve been hammered by Manly, but most of their losses have been fairly close games. They just lack that little bit of class to turn the game in their favour.
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First goal of the season completed - it's more successful than last season.
No RTS, no worries: A good bounce back game by the Warriors, and without Tuivasa-Sheck makes it more impressive. Even when the Eels got some momentum in the second half, they didn't panic at all. It seemed like they knew Mitchell Moses would just stuff up a kick recover and let Jazz Tevaga score. He's going to be the NSW halfback....
Centre of attention: Gerard Beale had a brilliant debut for the Warriors. No rust on defence and was side stepping so much you wouldn't have guessed he broke his leg several months ago. It now creates a (good?) problem for the Warriors - who plays centre? Roger Tuivasa-Sheck is the fulllback while David Fusitua and Ken Maumalo are the wings, which leaves Gerard Beale, Peta Hiku and Solomone Kata vying for the centre spots. Both Hiku and Kata have been pretty good this season but the Warriors have paid Beale a fair bit of coin....
The real MVP: Beale was great and so was Maumalo but it has to be Bully. Scored a gritty try, ran nearly 100 metres and made 45 tackles. Said it last week, he's the key for the Warriors this season. It's great to see his in-your-face attitude back as well. When Eels hooker Will Smith passed the ball at Luke while he was lying on the ground (a dubious penalty if there ever was one) he gave Luke a few choice words. Sadly for Smith he isn't that good of a player and when he dropped the ball on the next set guess who was giving him shit straight away?Bully.
What about the other guys?: They should be better than their placing on the ladder suggests. However Parramatta is a team that plays well for 20 minutes and then shits the bed for the next 10 minutes. Corey Norman, Mitch Moses and Clint Gutherson are exciting but all three make way too many errors. They need a calming influence either at hooker or in the halves ala Blake Green. Plus they need to rebuild their forward pack as there's a few players past their prime in that pack.
Brandy, you're a fine girl: Why does Greg Alexander have it in for the Warriors? Did someone sleep with his missus when he played for the team? Whenever he is commentating and the Warriors are playing, he tries his hardest to badmouth the team.
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@sneakdefreak when you describe the eels you sound like you're taking about the warriors!
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Jake Granville what have you done! Great finish to the Cowboys v Rabbits game!
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@african-monkey said in NRL 2018:
Jake Granville what have you done! Great finish to the Cowboys v Rabbits game!
What has he done?
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@antipodean said in NRL 2018:
And I saw some footage of a Storm player smacking Dylan Walker in the face about three times.
I understand that's not a penalisable offence? They call it the Walker Exemption clause.
Shit, the Exemption Clause's section of the leagues rule book would be massive.