Round 3 (2005) Dirty Reds Vs Souths

[roosterboy60]

Glebe Dirty Reds v South Sydney Rabbitohs

Game Thread
Please note - This is a game thread only, therefore only game posts can be made here (Teams, Articles).
Any other posts will result in loss of points and is at the discretion of the referee.
Only original essays, not used in previous games, will be marked by referees.

Home team captain will be allowed 3 reserves, visiting captain will be allowed 2 reserves
Rules: http://f7s.leagueunlimited.com/rules.asp

Full Time: Wednesday 13th April at 9pm (Syd time)

Venue: Wentworth Park

Crowd: 12,450
REFEREE: Gorilla

**Referee Blows Game On!**

 

[Seano]

The South Sydney team for Round 3:

Robster (c)
Clevo
Rabs
Terrisider
Pistol

Bench
Olympic Park
Murphdogg1

 

[Misanthrope]

The Dirty Reds, buoyed by last week's victory, run out onto the paddock at Wentworth Park.

1: chriswalkerbush (c)
2: les norton
3: The Joey Show
4: Oswin
5: Cake or Death

6: MrCharisma
7: Skeptic Ghost
8: brandell

 

[Clevo]

Clevo pulls out his harmoinca as the ball flies towards the goal posts....

_________________________________________________________

Working for the Man

As Souths fans grapple with the surprise substitute of “Glory Glory” with Russell Crowe’s version of “The Real Thing” as the run-on song, we should very well question the merits of Rock’ threatening invasion into the core of Rugby League. It’s gone way too far.

I accepted an opportunity to check out the half time action. I was shocked at how far Rock songs of yesterday have become the typical vernacular of today.

(May Phil Spector strip me down, grease me up and give Molly Meldrum the green light to do as he pleases if the following is not what I witnessed.)


“Settle down… settle down everyone” hollered the coach jotting down the last of his thoughts of the first half. The room hushed to the dim of liniment slapping on muscle and the cracking of Gatorade bottle tops.

“Listen to me every one you,” said the coach, peering over black sunglasses, eyeing everyone in turn. “We got a lot of lot of lot of lot of work to do.”

“Tell us about it coach; we’re being murdered out there!” exclaimed the bloodied captain, groping around his face, looking for a missing eye. “I wanna beat on the brats with baseball bats!”

“Forget about your women” Screamed the coach, slamming his folder down hard upon the wooden bench. A slight grin appearing on his face.

“I’m thirsty,” said the Rookie, looking around for something to drink.

“No, no water can…Today you're working for the man” declared the coach.

The players looked up as if he was onto something. I sensed the tension building as the masseur too, stopped for a moment. The captain found his eye and proceeded to pop it back in.

“Tell us coach. Tell us what to do.” Said the captain, twirling his eyeballs around and blinking.

“Well pick up your feet, we got a deadline to meet, I'm gonna see you make it on time... Now, don't relax, I want elbows and backs. I wanna see everybody from behind.” Said the coach, emphasising each point with a jab of a pen on pad.

The Rookie looked a little puzzled. “Why coach?” He hesitated for a moment and then added. “You know, man, when I was a young man in high school. You believe it or not… I wanted to play football for the coach”

The coach crossed his arms. Stared at the young rookie and said “'Cause you're working for the man…Working- for- the man. Gotta make him a hand. When you're working for the man”

The rookie looked excited. “Well I'm pickin' em' up. And I'm layin' 'em down

A sudden wall of noise filled the room as the players talked animatedly. Eagerly spurring each other on with back slaps and hand shakes.

“A little less conversation, a little more action please.” The coach yelled over the top of the others, bringing the voices down a notch or two. “All this aggravation ain't satisfactioning me. A little more bite and a little less bark. A little less fight and a little more spark”


“HOORAHHH!” The players roared in unison. I heard one player turn to his masseuse and whisper “I believe he's gonna work me into the ground”. The Masseuse pushed his head back down with one hand then jabbed and rubbed the silenced player’s right rhomboid.

“ Coach… did you see how I pulled to the left, and I heaved to the right. I wanted to kill him but it wouldn't be right”

Suddenly, the door swung open. An NRL official popped his head in and yelled. “One Minute”. The players rushed to finish off odds and ends, tying up shoelaces, adjusting shorts and receiving last second individual instructions.

Souths went on to score 52 unanswered points.

I woke up. I sighed.

“Glory Glory (to South Sydney)” was introduced in 1967. Johnny Young wrote the lyrics to “The Real Thing” in 1969.

“The Real Thing” is a clever pun. It heralds in the notion that Souths are “for real”. It also fits in nicely with our Major Sponsor, Real Insurance and not to mention incorporating Russell Crowe further by allowing him to record it.

It hasn’t worked and won’t. Why?

Club signature songs need to hit their mark. The lyrics need to reverberate and inspire and thusly, need to be written by the fans for the fans. We’ve been dealt a corporate low blow by a marketing department hell bent in rushing through the “evolution”.

Lets win games first. Please?

__________________________________________________

Word Count: 750 words between the lines

References:

Roy Orbison- Working for the Man
http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric....-Roy-Orbison/E5BBB095158A0C9F48256A08000548B3

Ramones- Beat on the Brat

Russell Morrison- The Real Thing
http://www.milesago.com/Artists/morris.htm

Lou Reed- Coney Island Baby
http://www.lyricsfreak.com/l/lou-reed/85123.html

Elvis- A Little Less Conversation
http://www.links2love.com/love_lyrics_396.htm

 

[The_Joey_Show]

The Joey Show takes the first hit up for the Dirty Reds.

The Day I Became An Addict

Hi. My name is Mathew. I am 23 years old. I am a qualified primary school teacher, and I have a wonderful loving family and a great group of mates, all of whom I love dearly. But through my life, I carry a dark secret. You see, I am a rugby league addict.

I have been a rugby league addict for most of my life. Actually, I can pinpoint the exact day that I got hooked on the wonderful drug that we call football. The day was Sunday, September 24, 1989. It was 1989 grand final day; the day of the so-called “greatest grand final ever” between Canberra and Balmain. Do the maths, and you’ll see that I have been an addict since I was 8 years old.

The 1989 grand final is the first game of football that I can remember in detail. Sure, I had been to football games before, and football had already furnished my young life with many good memories, like going to the very first ever Knights home game with my Dad, the day that I met one of my heroes, ‘Blocker’ Roach, at a Knights game. But until grand final day 1989, football was a hobby, a pleasure, maybe even a habit. From that fateful day on, it has been my life.

Although I adopted my hometown team, the Newcastle Knights, from the day they entered the competition, part of my allegiance stayed with the team I had supported as a small child, the Balmain Tigers. The Tigers had all my favourite players playing with them in those days – men mountains like Paul Sironen and Steve Roach, and my hero Wayne ‘Junior’ Pearce. This made Grand Final day one of the best and worst days of my young life; the joy of watching my heroes play on the biggest day of the year juxtaposed against the anguish of watching them have their premiership cruelly stolen from their grasp. That day, the men from the nation’s capital were Raiders in more than just name.

I remember watching in horror as John ‘Chicka’ Ferguson jinked and slinked through what seemed like about 15 tackles to place the ball down with just 100 seconds left on the game clock. I remember the Raiders rolling into the extra time period full of confidence, and the Tigers looking flat without the inspiration of their substituted stars, Roach and Sironen (I was 8 years old, and even I knew that was a coaching blunder!). I remember Steve Jackson, the substitute that no Balmain fan had heard of, and none would ever forget, crashing over for the try that sent the trophy out of New South Wales for the first time. I remember Wayne Pearce sinking to the ground and crying like a schoolboy when the final siren blew. I remember his enormous foe, Mal Meninga, doing the same thing.

I remember the commentators referring to the game as ‘one of the all time great grand finals’, and I remember knowing that they were right. Even in the middle of a childish tantrum at Balmain’s defeat, I knew deep down that I had just witnessed something extraordinary. This is what hooked me on rugby league. I had just learnt that even when your team gets beat, even when things seem like they can’t possibly get worse, the game has an inherent beauty that cannot be extinguished. The is the spirit than perpetuates our great game, and it was never better demonstrated than on 24th September, 1989.

This tale is told from the point of view of a Balmain fan, but many fans could tell a similar tale – a tale of blind faith to an oft-cruel mistress. I’m sure Manly fans would tell a similar tale about 1997 grand final day. I’m sure Souths fans would agree that the beauty of the game is more important than the result, for surely losing the game is a better result than not being allowed to play. The parochial fans of Newcastle are learning this year that struggling in the competition is a small price to pay to watch the best player of all time play in the colours of his home team.

We who follow this great sport are privileged. This is the reason that I seek no refuge from my addiction. I will live an addict’s life, die an addict’s death. I’m sure that many of you are rowing the same boat. We are the lucky ones.

WORD COUNT - 750 words incl. title

 

[Cake or Death]

Cake or Death comes back from the blood bin - just in time to catch a toss from his captain...

League in America – I Can’t See It

The Liberty Bell Cup, a friendly between Australia and the United States last year, was certainly very entertaining. My friends in both England and Australia enjoyed the game, and we were quite surprised at the first half, with the Tomahawks leading the Kangaroos 24-6. The second half was all Kangaroos, though, and they won 36-24.

But, after that, what were American league fans to do? England’s Super League doesn’t have any coverage in America. Whilst the eight sides in AMNRL are backed by NRL development assistance (thanks!), it’s a bit too far for those not in the northeast United States to regularly travel (it’s like a trek from Darwin to Townsville) – and there’s no AMNRL coverage in my local media at all.

But finally, Fox has now put on a wee bit of league coverage from the NRL for Americans – one game per week, on a tape delay basis, at 0100 my local time Wednesday mornings, on Fox Soccer Channel!

That’s a start. And I do thank Telstra for archiving and posting games from the NRL website. But, even with my broadband connection, the distance between the Telstra servers and my PC ensures me some difficulties. And, whilst a tiny screen on my PC is far better than nothing, I’d like to see league on my television, so I can relax with a Kloster Weisen and some bratwurst whilst watching the spectacle that is rugby league.

So why, in the United States, isn’t league as popular as poker on TV? And what would be my prescription to change this?

Keep in mind, it isn’t the game that’s at fault here. After all, the most popular sporting event in America, football, has its roots in rugby – and the action of the NRL Grand Final is no less enthralling than the Super Bowl. Yes, league is different from football (no 60 meter bombs from Brett Favre to Javon Walker in league) – but the hitting is very similar, as is the sheer desire of the superstars in both to win at almost any cost (which is why Favre would have been a great league player).

But, the few games aren’t on TV at a decent hour – and there’s no league coverage on the daily ESPN or Fox Sports roundups. My de facto national newspaper, USA Today, has no league coverage at all.

Could it be that the lack of league coverage is hindering companies from sponsoring games on TV, thus causing a “chicken and egg” dilemma? Now throw in the fact that the AMNRL leaves so much of the United States uncovered, that it’s very hard for anyone outside the Northeast to “discover” league - another “chicken and egg” dilemma.

The NRL doesn’t have the financial or personnel resources to solve these dilemmas for us. But these dilemmas must be solved, bit by bit, for league to really take hold in America. And here’s how I would start:

· Get the other major rugby league nations to match the NRL development resources committed to America, eventually establishing player development, as well as another eight AMNRL sides, in the Midwest to complement the existing eight AMNRL sides.

· Find sponsors to push Fox Sports to carry AMNRL games, at least on their local channels (all Fox Sports local channels are available throughout the United States). These sponsors could also push for better league coverage in local and regional news outlets. Once this is done, the sponsors could push Fox Sports to show a couple of NRL and Super League games per week. (Just a thought - how about league and union sharing a “Fox Rugby Channel”?)

· Get Super League and NRL sides to play exhibitions with AMNRL sides, home and away, and have the players do lots of demonstrations, as well as hand out lots of team merchandise to the kids.

· International friendlies in America, like the Liberty Bell Cup, as well as alternating away friendlies, should be regularly scheduled – all should be on live TV.

· Have Telstra mirror the archived NRL games from servers in America and in England.

· Get Super League to emulate the Telstra/NRL game archive and streaming scheme.

Once we reach this point, the developmental assistance from the rest of the league world can be reduced, and then those resources can be reallocated to help grow league elsewhere…

…by then, I can watch it all on TV – after eighty minutes of screaming for my local lads in person.





749 words, including title.

 

[terracesider]

Terracesider: Souths

European Super-League: A level playing Field?

Over the decade since the inception of the European Super League in 1995, RFL officials, particularly Maurice Lindsay, have been making interminable references to creating a level playing field. A more equal competition, the argument goes, is better for the game than continual domination by the same few teams. This post suggests that gap between the rhetoric and the reality of this ambition is such that the ESL does not so much resemble a level playing field as a mountain with just a few teams sitting comfortably at the summit and the remainder perennially struggling to keep a foothold on the lower slopes.

Over the last decade, the so-called “Big Four” clubs have monopolised the Grand Final: St Helens have been champions four times, Bradford three times and Leeds and Wigan once each. Such continual dominance is not hard to explain; those are the richest four clubs . It is difficult to see any other club challenging them whilst the current salary cap structure remains in place. Essentially, each club is allowed to spend 50% of their income on players’ salaries up to a maximum of £180,000 (approximately $440,000). In practice only the Big Four qualify to spend the full amount, so they have a built in advantage over the other clubs when it comes to recruiting a squad, an advantage they strenuously defend by resisting all attempts to restructure the cap. Other teams might be able to compete when they are injury-free and at full strength, but they just do not have the resources to create a large enough squad with the strength in depth necessary to compete over a full season. It is, therefore, difficult to see any other club becoming champions whilst the current salary cap structure remains.

The clubs outside the Big Four and their fans know that the most they can hope for is a top six finish and one, maybe two, money-spinning play-off ties. In effect, they are half-way up the mountain competing in their own mini-league; at some times gazing upwards, dreaming of reaching the distant summit, and at others having nightmares about falling over the relegation cliff. Even within that mini competition the playing field is not level. The RFL is obsessed with having a side in the capital because, they claim, it generates national press coverage. London, therefore, get special treatment, especially in respect of the overseas player quota, which has never been applied to them. This season alone they signed no less than 10 players from the NRL and, although it’s not clear how many of those players are not on the overseas quota, the majority will be. Pre-season, it was widely rumoured that London were in financial difficulties and therefore were possible relegation candidates, especially with two sides going down this year. However, the RFL permitted London to continue spending heavily on player recruitment, even though they knew they were £3 million in debt. Last month, the club was declared bankrupt and went out of existence but seamlessly re-emerged as a new company allowed by the RFL to take up where the old one left off, leaving the creditors without a hope of ever seeing their money. That scandal certainly generated national coverage in the hostile Union-dominated national press.

At the bottom of the mountain life is even more unfair. For some reason (which has never been adequately explained) the RFL decides if the National League 1 Grand Final winners meet ESL criteria after the season is over. Consequently, Leigh were unable to recruit players until after all the other teams had sorted out their next season’s roster. I’ve heard the argument that there was in fact nothing to stop Leigh signing anybody, but who is going to sign without a guarantee of playing in the top flight? The Leigh coach, Darren Abram, was reported this week by League Weekly, as saying that pre-season he had a few players lined up, but he can’t blame them for not signing until Leigh were definitely in ESL, by which time they had accepted offers from other clubs.

And so ESL continues predictably on, year after year which is perhaps a significant reason why, although the RL press can optimistically report record ESL attendances, those records are being set through increased gates for the Big Four clubs at the summit. Lower down the mountain, crowds remain, at best, disappointingly static. Nothing is likely to change until the RFL creates a really level playing field.

748 words.

 

[Doctor]

Oswin pulls up his socks, tags his teammate, and runs on for his debut. He takes a few five to ten metre sprints to get rid of the nervous energy, before lining up. Suddenly, an offload; he’s on the burst, and ploughing straight into the defence. Here goes……

Splashback:

The time has come to address a problem that has plagued male league supporters (and perhaps some women) for decades – splashback at the urinal. Since the urinal was invented by the Roman Ureacles two thousand years ago as an efficient vessel for the disposal of human fluids, men have tried valiantly to avoid receiving change from their deposits, but to no avail. Splashback has become a fact of life.

Splashback: “Small, rebounded sprays making impact on a user’s trousers and/or shoes while at the urinal, sourced from previous users, neighbouring users and/or the self.
Not to be confused with splash resulting from a Number 2, i.e. ‘The Power Dump’."

The problem was compounded when communal urinals were introduced in public toilets and sporting venues during last century. Essentially just made up from stainless-steel sheeting on existing walls, they have proven cheap and easy to both install and use. Men find solace in knowing they are just a zipper away from relieving themselves – with no need to come in contact with doors, locks or taps. But man’s reluctance to dash to the dunny during either 40-minute stanza has left more than 50-percent of the league-following population simultaneously queuing for that shiny section of wall. Bereft of time, men have rushed, mistakes have been made, and the implications have been costly. Precious few manage to avoid copping splashback under such circumstances. Many have found that in giving a lot, they inevitably received some fluids back.

Some season ticket-holders have simply worked on their technique. The “Maximum-Range” theory has proven popular; with men standing as far back as they can go, while still attempting to hit the wall on the full. It’s a bold tactic, not to be undertaken in the pressure of the moment by those new to the environment of communal urination. But techniques such as these have become virtually impossible to put into practice with such fierce competition for places at the hallowed piece of vertical metal sheeting – the whistle for the second half will not be delayed. ‘Maximum-Range’ theory has also compounded an existing problem: the wet step. The Oxford Dictionary defines a step as “a level surface in which to place the feet”. Few will realise this, but the small step, often placed in front of the urinal, is in fact where the user is supposed to stand. Yet, for as long as many can remember this step has merely served to hinder the process – an extra hurdle in which to urinate over, and more commonly seen as the final resting place of what Roy and HG describe as “post-urinal dribble”. There is a growing feeling that the step be dispensed with – or at least modified to ensure it is flushed along with the wall itself. The wet step issue has only intensified the feeling that users must stand even further back, in order to avoid having their brand-name shoes wading in the cumulative puddle.

In response, many retreat to the privacy and low-risk surrounds of a cubicle ahead of braving it at the glorified piece of shiny metal. But even those fortunate enough to secure a cubicle during halftime are by no means assured of a splashback-free experience. Just recently, while wearing thongs in a cubicle, this writer felt a light drizzle on his right foot, with no logical source, at least from within his own cubicle. Moments later, though, the neighbouring loo was flushed, and a zipper heard on the incline. This writer wasn’t courageous enough to leave the men’s room without having washed his foot with town water from the tap.

There are no easy solutions. Many NRL clubs revolve firmly around notions of ‘community’, and the urinal is, if you like, the grassroots end of this ideology – mate standing next to mate, enemy next to enemy. It’s what clubs and indeed whole competitions are built on. But is it unmanly to ask that ground staff make changes to facilities that haven’t been cleaned, least of all changed, in decades? Is it un-macho to desire a sufficient standard of hygiene? Someone should have had a word to poor old Ureacles when he came up with the idea of peeing against a wall.

Can we at least get rid of the step?

EDIT/ADD: Word Count = 707 word, including title.
Sorry, ref....it's my debut.

 

[Misanthrope]

chriswalkerbush follows a promising Oswin bust, waiting for an offload.

Newcastle- Making Losing Cool

Put away your yo-yo’s or Pacman video games, the Newcastle Knights are on a quest in 2005. That quest? To make losing cool. Don’t believe me? You just have to look at the other elite teams following Newcastle’s lead and doing their best to make losing cool. Already this season we’ve seen the Bulldogs go to new heights in pursuit of a loss. Who else but those crazy Bulldogs would have thought of getting mumps and taking out three top line players?

Pre-season, the Newcastle management made the bold move of deciding that the competition’s benchmark sides would be St George/Illawarra, Sydney, and the reigning premiers, Canterbury.
“Ok boys, the plan this year will be to stick with these benchmark teams. We want to stay as close to them as possible”. The bold words of a coach who has made an art-form of turning winners into losers. True to his word, Hagan has ensured that his boys have kept up with these benchmark sides. All well out of the eight, yes, the pre-season instructions have been followed to the letter. Better still, we’re out-losing beyond Hagan’s wildest expectations. Drawing upon last year’s season, the Newcastle Knights have managed to keep as far away from unsuccessful teams like Cronulla, Canberra, and Manly as possible. Yes, clearly the plan is working.

Of course, with the aid of the world’s greatest player, how could we fail to reach our goal? Only a man dubbed ‘worlds greatest’ could so convincingly portray an out of form Premier League half week in and week out. But to give all of the credit to one man is unfair. After all, there is no ‘I’ in ‘team. No, it’s taken a concerted effort from all players one through seventeen to achieve this magnificent feat. Whether you’re a fan of George Carmont and Craig Hall’s tag team turnstile defence, or the no-frills (and no metres) performance from the pack, no one player can take all of the credit for following Hagan’s instructions to the word. Today, playing against perhaps the benchmark when it comes to losing, the Newcastle Knights stamped their authority with a brilliant 37-12 loss. Soon you won’t hear about the battle for the premiership, instead you’ll hear conversations along the lines of:

Person 1: Did you see that match between Saints and Newcastle last night?
Person 2: It was amazing. So much dropped ball. I don’t know how they manage it.
Person 1: It’s obviously performance weakening substances. I heard Braith Anasta has tested positive to reflex dampeners and wears vision impairing contacts.

If Hagan’s bold scheme goes to plan, and I sincerely hope it does, within a few short years the competition will focus almost entirely around the ability of the teams to lose. We’ll see intentional double movements, unbelievable dropped balls, and cock-ups of a momentous proportion.

And when the sides are all locked in a no-holds-barred battle for rugby league inadequacy, that’s when Hagan’s master plan comes into play. Reversing the trend of recent years, Newcastle will suddenly start playing well. Balls that would usually fly into touch will suddenly find a team mate’s hands, long range field goals at 30-0 down will suddenly be replaced with superb tactical kicking, and when the smoke clears, the Knights will have claimed a premiership. By the time the other teams realise they’ve been fooled, it will be too late. Newcastle’s winning dynasty will kick into gear, and by the time the other sides ditch their losing line-ups to form competitive squads, the Dragons’ record for consecutive premierships may be broken. Nay, shattered.

So, is Hagan a tactical genius or a delightfully eccentric nut-job? I guess only time will tell, but Hagan’s bold plan has already begun to come to fruition. If Manly, Canberra, Wests, and Cronulla are sitting at the top of the ladder- than clearly we’re moving in the right direction. After all, those teams are clearly so bad that now that winning has gone out of vogue, they’re left behind again. Like the North Sydney Bears after the NRL criteria, these former high flyers of the losing world are finding the game’s changing face hard to adapt to.

Newcastle fans will take small consolation from this stunning revelation. Yes, the team is losing on purpose, and it will take a few lean years before the rest of the pack catch up. Newcastle are changing the way league is played, but it will all be worth it in the end.

WORD COUNT: 750 including title

 

[Pistol]

Pistol throws a huge cut out pass hoping to put his winger away and...

Against All Odds

“Take a good look at me now. There is just an empty space, and you coming back to me is against all odds…” Famous words uttered by the drummer and who would become the new singer of Genesis, Phil Collins. The inference that Collins was drawing on when he wrote this song was that you can triumph over adversity, even in the face of insurmountable odds. Such was the case for 18 men at the start of the 1995 State of Origin series for Queensland. (Queensland only used 18 men for the whole series. Dale Shearer injured himself after game 1 and was replaced by Jason Smith for the next two games). It was the advent of the Super League war. Murdoch fired a round of ammunition from his cheque book, signing the cream of Australian Rugby League, players like Laurie Daley, Allan Langer, Ricky Stuart, Brad Clyde, Steve Renouf and Andrew Ettingshausen, players who would undoubtedly be first picked in their respective sides and who would play a big part in the success of their teams. The governing body returned fire by declaring that any Super League affiliated player would not be granted access to league’s holy chalice that is State of Origin.

So New South Wales and Queensland went out and picked their sides. Many thought that with the greater depth of New South Wales, the series would be a resounding flop. How wrong they were. The seventeen players picked for Queensland for that first game at the Sydney Football Stadium, walked out and I remember the calls of Billy Moore, probably the most passionate player to strap on a Queensland jersey, yelling “QUEENSLANDER”. Shivers went up and down my spine upon hearing that. The Queenslanders may not have had the glamour players that New South Wales had, but the heart and soul that they possessed would get them through.

The game kicked off and New South Wales dominated early but couldn’t penetrate the Queensland defence. Queensland got a penalty from in front of the posts midway through the first half and Wayne Bartrim converted. The second half began much like the first but Queensland with their no frills squad were repelling the big brand Nike and Reebok New South Wales players. Gary Larson was tackling out of his skin. Brad Fittler and Andrew Johns, making his debut, were mounting attack after attack on the Queensland line but to no avail. Full time arrived with the Maroons prevailing at the unlikely score of 2-0. A victory full of determination, grit and character but apparently not enough to satisfy the critics who said that the Melbourne game would go according to script and New South Wales levelling the series. But the Queenslanders weren’t working from a script. They were ad-libbing.

Game 2 rolled around and New South Wales made changes to their side. Queensland only need the one, that being Jason Smith. The game kicked off and the opening exchanges were as brutal as ever. The Blues started a brawl and it was on. John Hopoate was hounding Matt Sing but Danny Moore came along to help out. The Blues thought this might soften the Maroons up but it only strengthened their resolve. Queensland scored first and were soon out to a 14-6 lead with 10 minutes to go. Jim Serdaris scored to pull the score back to 14-12. The Blues were assaulting the line with abandon. With three minutes to go, Tim Brasher went over but a forward pass was ruled and that put pay to the game. Queensland eventually won 20-12. Joy and jubilation all round as Queensland prevailed. With their backs to the wall all throughout, they proved that they were no pushover.

But the job was not quite done yet. The critics, who had to wait to eat humble pie because they were too busy feasting on the crow, still thought that New South Wales would win game three handsomely. Well that only added fuel to the Queensland fire. They came out and rewrote the script once again. They proved too strong, too passionate for the Blues to handle, winning 24-16.

The men who took the field for Queensland sent out a message to those who said they couldn’t win. They will slay the dragon who would try to lay seeds of doubt in their kingdom.

Queensland proved that against all odds, they could win. That empty space would be filled by the trophy. It came back. It came home.

748 words inc. Title

 

[Robster]

sub
Robster (personal issues) for Murphdogg1

 

[rabs]

rabs takes a hitup for Souths

The Representative Game

What does it take to play representative rugby league?
Do representative teams get picked on form?
Are representative teams selected with a view to the incumbent coaches preferences?
Is there a certain style of player that just isn’t suited to representative football?

With the representative programme around the corner these and more questions like them will be brought out for discussion. The Australian selectors have just named a preliminary extended squad for the Anzac test against New Zealand and already there are a few surprises. After being talked up by the media Rhys Wesser has missed the squad despite an impressive start to the season for the Panthers. In my opinion Rhys is one of those players who fits into the “not really suited to representative football” category. Rhys played all 3 games for Queensland last year but didn’t really set the world on fire. His defence has improved tenfold in the last two seasons and that is what finally got him the nod last year. Rhys is a confidence player and to come into a team thrown together for a few weeks a year makes it harder for a player like that to immediately reproduce what he does in club football, where he is firmly entrenched both in the team and the community. It also doesn’t help his cause with two freaks like Billy Slater and Matt Bowen breathing down his neck for the Queensland number one, throw Clinton Schifcofske into the mix as well there and you can see why it might be hard for Rhys to settle in and play his natural game. To have actually gotten the jersey and kept it last year shows what a great talent he is, however if I were an Australian selector I’d be looking elsewhere too.

We have seen it a fair bit in the last ten years – players getting the nod for rep teams due to the coach “wanting” them when the player involved would not even come into consideration at the local pub selection meetings. The coach, it seems, knows better and these “coach picks” have rarely landed them with egg on their face. Whether that is due to the fact that the Australian thirds would probably win against any of the recent opposition or the player in question is lifted by the high quality that surrounds him in the Test or Origin team is debatable. It does raise the highly contentious issue though of does club form actually mean anything to the selectors? Is it harder to get out of favour with them than it is to get in with them? Matt Gidley is a prime example, an extremely gifted player with the ball in his hands and he has almost always produced the goods in rep teams. Put him in his Newcastle jumper with no Andrew Johns in the team though and it’s like he’s not even on the field.

So what does it take to play rep football? What sort of player is best suited? There are players in the game that are so talented, committed and/or respected that their selection in a representative team is a formality. Players like Darren Lockyer, Craig Fitzgibbon and Shane Webcke fit into this list. It is unfortunate that Shane has now retired from rep footy but he has served his time well and deserves to take a break and concentrate on the Broncos. Shaun Timmins is an example of what I consider to be an ideal player for representative football. I have seen and read numerous criticisms on Rugby league forums about the abilities of Timmins. Constant whining about his selections have reverberated over the last few years. Timmins has never let any team down that he has played in – club or representative. Here is a player that can seamlessly move from centre to five eighth to lock to second row - why the hell wouldn’t you pick him! All the while he defends stoically and is solid in attack and can pretty much do anything in the game of Rugby League. If he had not have been so versatile and played his career in the one position we would surely be touting him as one of the games all time greats. He could have been a scheming five eighth, a classy ball playing forward or a blockbusting centre. Instead he has been a little of all those things and not once complained, I’ll bet. A great team player and rep footy will miss him.

750 words

 

[Robster]

Murphdogg1 twists his ankle running onto the field, so Olympic Park replaces him.

 

[Misanthrope]

les norton goes to ground after a brutal high shot from the Souths' defence. MrCharisma jogs onto the park.

 

[olympic park]

RECTANGLE STADIUMS
Olympic Park for Souths

The general consensus amongst fans of our great game is that we like to be as close to the action as possible when viewing our beloved team hit it out. Yet so many stadiums where our great game is played are in fact not ideal for the supporter and make viewing our favourite player or team just that little bit further away...

One only has to look at a ground like the Sydney Cricket Ground – the spiritual home of rugby league in Australia – to see how a round-shape stadium is not helpful to the viewing public for rugby league. Anyone viewing old footage of the ‘glory days’ of St George winning eleven-straight premierships shows the multitudes filling the ground in the allocated seating area as well as the grassed area packed in being as close to the action as possible! The emerged solution for this the construction of a new stadium, and so the Sydney Football Stadium was opened in the early 1980s providing the people of Sydney with a purpose-built, rectangular ground to be used by the city’s various codes of football: rugby league, rugby union and soccer. And whilst many would argue that it in fact is an ugly concrete jungle of construction, the ability to view the game of rugby league in there is superb being very close to the action.

Running tracks are often the major obstacle between viewing our great game up close. Multi-purpose stadiums with an athletics track, whilst making sense due to a running track needing to have grass in the middle, result in the average fan sitting some 10-12m further back from the action. Many of our favourite grounds have had running tracks in them – ANZ stadium in Brisbane, Telstra (Olympic) Stadium in Sydney and Melbourne’s Olympic Park are just a few grounds where the running track was ‘in the way’ of the action! So let’s look at what has been done to solve this problem.

Sydney’s Olympic Stadium was opened with close to 110,000 seats in time for the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games and the largest crowd at a rugby league match in this country. To make the viewing better after the Olympics, it was decided that as the running track was no longer used at the stadium this could be removed and the seating brought closer. Unfortunately though by doing this some 25,000 seats being sacrificed and the current capacity at the ground is now only 82,500. Many would argue that this is a large enough stadium for a city of Sydney’s size, though with it being reduced it leaves the Melbourne Cricket Ground as the only sporting ground in the country with capacity around the 100,000 mark.

ANZ stadium was built in Brisbane’s suburbs for the 1982 Commonwealth games held in the city. During the redevelopment of Lang Park/Suncorp Stadium it was used as the home ground for the Brisbane Broncos. Even though the capacity at the ground is far less than the new stadium, the people of Brisbane were happy to see their team hit it out at the old ‘QE II’ during the development (as it was called when it was opened) but complained about the huge distances at the ground. The new Suncorp Stadium is a shining light of what a rectangular ground should look like in today’s day and age with an outstanding design and creates a spectacular atmosphere for the supporter.

Melbourne’s Olympic Park still has its track and is in dire need of an overhaul to allow fans much better viewing of sports such as rugby league. Viewing with the current running track is dicey at best (it is often impossible to see right across the ground and the grassed area is barely large enough for the game of league) though running track is removed, it leaves Melbourne without a professional athletics field. The stands and stadium is very old and run down (built for the 1956 Olympic Games) and the matter needs to be urgently addressed. Fans found Colonial/Telstra Dome too far away from the action even though the facilities were vastly improved. Either a new stadium is required on the vacant land next to Olympic Park purposely built around 20,000 seats for rugby league and soccer, or the running track MUST go and new stands built on the current site.

Now is the time – Melbourne needs a new rectangular stadium to grow our game, with the NRL and government involved and behind the project.
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WORD COUNT: 749 words (including title)

 

[MrCharisma]

MrCharisma comes off the bench for Glebe to replace the injured les_norton. The Great Britain International eagerly looks for his first touch of the ball in the match.

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You Loser!

Defeat is the dirtiest word in the dictionary, more then the actual word ‘dirty’. Nobody wants to hear it ever, especially when it’s in conjunction with their selected team. Some people unfortunately deal with it more often then others while other get the luck of draw, but you can’t avoid it without being seriously investigated about breaching the salary cap. Nevertheless, how do we deal with it? In this article, we’ll look at the three main ‘loser’ categories.

Note: No person fits in a singular category with many deciding facts including prior mood, surrounding company, the degree of importance of the match as well possible drug intake. Not that taking any form of drug is an excuse for abusive behaviour.

Aggressive;
Classic Line: “God damn ****in ______”
Preferred Action: Punching something, perhaps a pillow, a wall or a policeman. Take your pick
Can Be Found: At live football games, usually apart of a group of supporters or an ‘army’
Commonly Associated With: Canterbury Bulldogs

The sooner it happens in the game, the worse the aggressive type becomes. Imagine a pot of water on the stove. If you have the pot boiling for 60 minutes, it’s all going to spill over your kitchen but if it only boils for 5 minutes, it might begin to bubble. This is what I like to call ‘stewing’.

There are three levels of stewing.
Level One: Swearing
Level Two: Hitting inanimate objects
Level Three: Hitting the first thing in sight

The aggressive fan doesn’t like to be disappointed in their side because in their eyes, they don’t want to waste two hours of their life seeing their side lose. Often they take the loss personally and it will carry on their shoulders for sometime, depending on how much the game mattered. They are the easiest type to notice at a game because they are kicking the seat in front of them or yelling abuse instructions to their side or referee.

How To Deal With Them: Complement their ego. Explain how your side was lucky or how the referee was bias.


Hopeful;
Classic Line: “We’ve always got next weekend”
Preferred Action: Writing a letter with how s/he would fix the line-up
Can Be Found: Watching from home so they can study the side and listen to commentary
Commonly Associated With: South Sydney Rabbitohs

The hopeful character is probably the most pitiful of all fans. If you struggle to find faith in non-physical ‘God’, you won’t understand how a South Sydney fan can continue to pay money to see them get the Wooden Spoon for four years (technically five but the Bulldogs cheated Souths out of their Wooden Spoon record in 2002, the bastards!)

To most hopeful fans, they believe this weeks current loss was just unlucky. Wether it is a particular player not taking to the field, the referee’s calls going against them or plainly certain players having an ‘off’ day, forgetting the fact Mark Hughes has not seen representative football in years. Most hopeful fans have an excuse for their side.

The hopeful fan will always look forward to the following week, thinking some miracle will bestow on their club (forgetting that Jesus probably doesn’t give two hoots). The most important date on a hopeful fans calendar is the ‘bye’ where their side can change, pity every other side gets the chance to change with a bye too.

How To Deal With Them: Remind them of the good days. How they have potential representative players or former players who could break back in.


Depressive;
Classic Line: “Oh well”
Preferred Action: Getting drunk during or after the game
Can Be Found: At the pub where s/he can drown their sorrow or get drunk and celebrate
Commonly Associated With: Cronulla Sharks

They wear their heart on their jersey sleeve and carry a blank look on their face; this is the typical depressive supporter. They don’t slash their wrists after a loss but they like to drown their sorrow.

They come with no opinion and like to pretend it didn’t happen which they will go to great lengths to avoid. Most commonly seen in a pack with their heads down and deep in thought. The best thing about these supporters is that they are usually ok the following day (excluding the hang over)

How To Deal With Them: Shout them a beer at the pub just to show them not all opposition fans are jerks.
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Word Count: 750 including title

 

[Robster]

5 vs 5 Well done to both teams, good luck.

 

[antonius]

Ref Blows Fulltime.

 

[Andy]

A full-time blower? :lol: :lol:

Sorry... :arrow:

 

[Pistol]

Well done to all those that posted. It should be a good finish.