Redneck Redfaces 2

[POPEYE]

Fessing up I don't hate Origin, just its timing, there are always some good things to come of it and this year is no exception. Methinks Cronk/Slater/Thurston could be waiting on each other to decide, for different reasons, if they'll go around again

Munster has been a revelation according to Mal, he won't have to be excused for including more Qldrs in the National team . . . a Terry Fearnley payback if you like

Just 10 minutes of Hunt in game 3 will do wonders for the Dragons, the little bloke has more incentive now than mere money in the bank

Morgan has to have been given an extra cylinder in his arsenal, Hess can cut the 'I'm not ready' bullshit,
Cleary's light at the end of the tunnel will have him shopping for Ray-Ban's latest. All clubs with up-and-comer NSW players will surely benefit from new found enthusiasm

If you look on the bright side NSW may be advantaged more than Qld if the former is forced to go for the new and the latter is obliged to stay with the old

Anyway, me talking about Origin means I'm lost for words, not helped by this website being as slow as a wet week . . . maybe I haven't paid the bill

 

[POPEYE]

Des had his head down last night hoping Cronk wasn't watching, even Foran would be having second thoughts. Tell you how f**king bad it was, I felt sorry for the Dogs

Imo Milford > Pearce so the little bloke played ok because he was allowed to . . . come to think of it, Milford doesn't kick as well as Mitchell. The highlight of the night was Brandy saying Reynolds was the equal of any positional defender he's seen

Seriously, some teams only have one standout ballbreaker, the Raiders have Rapana and the Dogs have Jackson . . . it's sad to watch them play

 

[POPEYE]

Nothing much to report, Knights didn't play as well as I hoped, they were treated like shit, Blocker forced me to turn the volume off . . . not even Watson could keep me interested enough to watch the whole game

Once I knew Maloney was in monster mode I had better things to do than watch Souths be Souths . . . crikey, been a shit start to the round for purists

 

[POPEYE]

Even though the Roosters could win The Shield methinks they'd go even better with Cleary at #7, his decisions inside the 10 are as good as anyone . . . hope that's not too hard to understand the meaning of

 

[POPEYE]

How many ways can a team throw a game away and still win

Soliolo didn't deserve to get sent off nor does he need to suffer badly from histrionics

 

[Cloudsurfer]

How many ways can a team throw a game away and still win

Soliolo didn't deserve to get sent off nor does he need to suffer badly from histrionics

Calling it, bull****

How many ways can a team throw a game away and still win

Soliolo didn't deserve to get sent off nor does he need to suffer badly from histrionics

I call bull####...not saying there was intent to cause serious injury but the guy had time to lessen the impact or change direction slightly - but he chose not to. Careless, reckless, whatever you want to call it,
He had time to lessen the impact.

 

[POPEYE]

Soliolo meant to hit Slater late and hard, he deserves to cop something for it but the bloke didn't mean to hit him high . . . send-offs are for deliberate despicable acts . . . my opinion

Just watched Sticky's presser, the Raider's management need to tap him on the shoulder, tell him they're going in another direction, anything to stop this team going to waste. He's going to turn this mob into a bunch of Eeyores, Sticky is carcinogenic to morale

What he should've been blowing up about was Melbourne laying on his blokes in the tackles. Crikey, I follow the Storm and go along with their fine line but last night was atrocious. Melbourne could've won by 50 if they didn't make so many mistakes, those mistakes led to panic which led to over the top slow play the balls

The referees should be admonished for letting it continue, Melbourne play to the whistle and like Flanno said they'll do what the refs let them do. My defence of the Storm is that most of the time they can play well enough to win no matter which way the game is refereed

All that aside, Sticky has no f**king idea how to adjust, how could he sitting on the sideline, his comment at half time that he wanted the Raiders to continue what they did in the first half is indicative of his incompetence

 

[POPEYE]

With Cronk looking like he's going to follow Ennis's lead what better game than to cut his teeth on than a walkover . . . be interesting to see if McCrone gives Duffy the ball in the second half

 

[POPEYE]

There's been some outstandingly dumb footy this round, imo the Eels take first prize, Storm second and probably the Dogs third

 

[POPEYE]

There must have been a reason other than Dugan for Duffy not being in the side but surely he can't be overlooked now. Mann is worth keeping just for his defence and McCrone is still not smart enough to keep in a quality spine

Tedesco will grow the Roosters another leg, with ball in hand the bloke is the most dangerous player in the game, needs to play in a team that can give him 2nd phase ball. Watson would do better in a team where he's allowed to prove a point

As each round goes by Cleary will become harder to hold on to in more ways than one, the more he becomes the Panthers' saviour his value goes up exponentially. Be interesting to see how Moylan handles the competition

How much longer will Rapana think the bullshit is worth the pain, He and Josh Jackson belong at Newcastle, Brown would give them the hope they deserve

With a little more practice for both he and his coach Mason Lino might push Johnson to the Centres where he belongs

The Eels need to find a replacement for Mannah, Parra's backs are trying to do too much work, as a consequence there are far too many dumb last second plays

There we go, something to stir up all the pigeons

 

[Saxon]

Soliolo meant to hit Slater late and hard, he deserves to cop something for it but the bloke didn't mean to hit him high . . . send-offs are for deliberate despicable acts . . . my opinion

Nope - absolutely should have been a send off.

He fully intended to hit him late and hard from the blindside. You only do that if you intend to cause as much damage as possible. Then Slater slipped and an attempt to smash Bill into next week turned into a knockout blow. He fully intended to hurt Slater and it went wrong.

So why should he have been sent off?

Because if I try to shoot you in the leg and you move and the bullet blows your brain out, I get charged with murder not GBH. Why should he be let off lightly because it went pear shaped? The outcome is 100% Soliola's responsibility, because he chose to illegally attack a defenceless player.

That the outcome was (perhaps) worse than intended was not the issue.

 

[POPEYE]

I think you may be right

 

[Blues Riff]

Can't argue with that Coach.
I'm up early and disorientated but I won't be taking the poor quality bait re Cleary and Moylan.
Have a good day's fishing ol' mate.

 

[POPEYE]

Hindy says Sia shouldn't have been sent off and I rarely agree with anything he says so maybe I'm wrong, maybe Soliolo didn't care how he took Slater out of the game. With the clenched fist he obviously meant to disable the bloke, my inference was that the intention was 'legally'

I've lost track of what's happening with Blake Green. Has he re-signed with Manly or are the Seagles going to continue with the pretence that DCE is the main man and Green is just a 'filler'. Methinks DCE is not Origin material whereas the Blues could do a lot worse than give Blake a jersey

Kimmorley's standing in the game as an irreproachable notary of it may have great affect on the careers of Des & Sticky, Brett practically calling for their heads could be a catalyst for change . . . funny how the obvious needs quantifying by 'those in the know'

Dare I say it, the 'new era' for the Knights is coming along nicely, Watson is a great buy. Brown is smart enough to know that players with points to prove are cheaper and better for the team than players that give less than they take . . . Henry will testify to that

 

[POPEYE]

Moylan out, Cleary's head in the clouds, Graham back determined to ride shotgun for Des and Reynolds needing to prove Ivan hasn't made a horrible mistake . . . all a recipe for an upset. Let's see if Des can dish up something more than a Dog's breakfast

Even though the Warriors are without the mighty Johnson I like the vibes from the Cowboys' game. If Maloney doesn't play the Sharks will be closer to the footy IQ of Kearney's mob who if they play for 80 might have a chance

Without Gutherson and with an overworked engine room the Eels should be f**ked against the Broncos. There's going to have to be some serious input from the footy gods if Arthur is going to save his season . . . he's going to have to start thinking about next year's depth now

After the Knights get thumped Mann should give Brown a calling card

Walker/Reynolds versus Austin/Sezer . . . would take a better man than Gunga Din to predict what's going to happen. This game alone is worth a Fox subscription . . . Cotric to pull Sticky from the mud

Roosters will have to be at their best to beat the Cowboys, this game may not be the forgone conclusion the bookies have it as. Vibes say the game may be lost rather than won . . . let's hope everyone finishes healthy

Storm aren't as bullet proof at home as they once were, if the Seagles are to regain momentum this is a great chance to cure the hiccups . . . especially with Melbourne's roster uncertainty

With Hayne too lazy to put good games back to back, Zillman being a jinx and Hurrell not playing added to Woods trying to make amends and the irascible Tedesco I'm not sure I'd like to be in Dear Henry's shoes . . . with luck there's no hole in the GC bucket

 

[ed-grimley]

Nope - absolutely should have been a send off.

He fully intended to hit him late and hard from the blindside. You only do that if you intend to cause as much damage as possible. Then Slater slipped and an attempt to smash Bill into next week turned into a knockout blow. He fully intended to hurt Slater and it went wrong.

So why should he have been sent off?

Because if I try to shoot you in the leg and you move and the bullet blows your brain out, I get charged with murder not GBH. Why should he be let off lightly because it went pear shaped? The outcome is 100% Soliola's responsibility, because he chose to illegally attack a defenceless player.

That the outcome was (perhaps) worse than intended was not the issue.

You would have thought he'd have got more than five weeks.

 

[POPEYE]

Some more trivia to fill in time. When you're in a line waiting for a green arrow what do you do, keep your eyes on the traffic lights or on the brake lights of the car in front of you. You can either prepare or start to move as soon as you see the arrow or do nothing until the car in front is gone. I'm one of those road-ragers who curses when only 5 vehicles instead of 10 get through

Bellamy uses that scenario to his mob's advantage, except he's driving trained RL players, not just driving home from work. Coaches slow down the play-the-ball by creating a line-up of defenders laying on an attacker, when the top man gets off the next man knows he must move, only then does the next make an attempt

We as spectators sit and watch this 'rubbish' unfold, either calling 'get off him' or 'f**king bullshit, penalty', depending on which team we favour. We know a call of 'move' is not enough, we want to see all the tacklers attempt to get off in unison . . . all a referee has to do is tell the coaches before the game "You choose to use 3 or 4 in a tackle, if I see any lethargy whatsoever in their withdrawal I will penalise"

Of course that won't phase a good coach, instead of the easier gang tackle/slow withdrawal it will have to be one tackler around the legs and one around the ball, keep the others in the line to compensate for fast-play-the-balls . . . which anyone sitting on his arse hoping for a good game wants to see

Now there's 4 paragraphs of drivel just to say it's not up to the coach to enforce the rules, it's up to him to use them to his mob's advantage. The referee's agenda should not be to score Brownie points but to prevent players abusing the rules . . . force the coach to come up with more appealing ways of winning albeit a little more difficult

. . . and I must apologise to Matthew Dufty for calling him Duffy . . . a bad connection with McDuff McCrone

 

[POPEYE]

Today it's going to be 'Des this . . . Des that', which if you're a Panther supporter is a good thing, Jabba will be in the players' heads telling them not to get carried away, they only beat the Dogs. In reality the Dogs played just about as well as they're capable of, a couple of injuries might've hampered them but Hasler didn't lose the game, Hooks mob won it

Of course rightfully we'll hear that Cleary is the key but methinks he's more than that now, he's the catalyst to the way the Panthers are beginning to take no prisoners, all the players are stepping up. Whereas Cartwright's entrance for instance was once anticipated it is now almost retrograde, Ivan's boy is the go-to man and the young bloke is not overawed . . . no danger of 2nd year syndrome with this bloke

One of Graham's 'accidental' headbutts might've stopped the #7 but he wasn't fast enough and the young bloke looks well trained in avoidance, his 'eye's in the side of his head' is impressive . . . certainly better than Slater's

The Dogs would've beaten a less determined team, something Des will be ruing today, the real pity is that it is not Round 5 . . . Laurie would be losing sleep over Pearce/Cleary and the Panthers could afford a lapse in concentration and still make the 4

 

[Blues Riff]

You're right about the determination Coach. The usual ineptitude was on show again. I gave up several times , but they didn't. It'll be interesting to see how coach Cleary handles our gun halfback Sunday week.

 

[POPEYE]

Maybe you're not old enough for 'vibes' Junior, for many years they've rarely let me down, I never thought the Panthers were going to lose even though it was Des's last stand. Not saying Penrith are on the straight but they've certainly turned a corner. The spine is the key, you should be happy with the 3 on display last night . . . I'm yet to be convinced Moylan is cohesive enough to make a perfect 4. Still haven't played together enough imo to make a judgement