'12 | R17 | Fri | Broncos 12-26 Sharks | Suncorp

[wibble]

So our regular 9 played hooker, then shifted to the backrow due to injuries during the match, hoffman left the game after 2 high shots put him out, look at the takle he copped from graham before being ko'ed, head shot as well. So that spine didn't last the first half, reed went down, and there were 9 out on top of that. They did exceptionaly well.

Tell me how would you side handle missing your 4, 5, 8, 10, 12, 13, two bench second rowers, back up front rower and then your fullback goes down to a head shot mid game, you lose your centre and your hooker has to play in the back row/lock for most of the game? I bet they wouldn't get with in 50

That's true, your spine was really ripped up anyway in the game. But your forwards gave you the territory you needed, you had plenty of chances, but your halves couldn't get you the points.

The Sharks wouldn't be within 50 of you missing half as many: Broncos obviously have more depth than the Sharks. And our main strength is our forward pack, so missing a lot of those guys would be awful for us.

Broncos can't be too disappointed that they played so well with so many out.

In the betting, Broncos were very short favourites so obviously plenty of people don't rate the Sharks without Gallen and Carney. Sharks won by 14, defended very well against your first string halves, and did enough to win the game.

Sure they would have found it much tougher against the full Broncos, or even with Hoffman still out there (anyone who has read my posts on LU knows I'm a big Hoffman fan). But they weren't rated as favourites but won quite well, not sure what else they could have done. Some of you Broncos fans are giving it to us for winning a game we weren't expected to win, against the opposition that was put in front of us.

You'll no doubt start very heavy favourites in any finals matches against us, we'll see how the two teams go if they meet each other in September. Again, it is a shame (and very unfair particularly to the Storm, Cowboys, Titans and Broncos) that Origin has such an effect on the games.

 

[no name]

Graham was awesome, deserved MoM IMO.

 

[Surely]

Hoffman went off with concussion for goodness sake. How is that not a high tackle :crazy:

Easy, was a good front on tackle, Hoffman shouldn't run into merkins if that's all it takes.

 

[Bretto]

Easy, was a good front on tackle, Hoffman shouldn't run into merkins if that's all it takes.

Contact with the head is not allowed in Rugby League. It's a penalty. Not sure if you knew this.

 

[Special K]

Graham has been doing that all year he is f**king fantastic. I still canny believe buhrer made city over him let alone origin.

 

[Stinkler]

Hoffman went off with concussion for goodness sake. How is that not a high tackle :crazy:

If you lead with your head, it's not going to end well.

Hoffman only ended up like he did because the SAME thing happened to him a minute earlier.

Graham didn't use a swinging arm, and didn't try to put a shoulder charge on. It was a solid tackle.

 

[Bretto]

If you lead with your head, it's not going to end well.

Hoffman only ended up like he did because the SAME thing happened to him a minute earlier.

Graham didn't use a swinging arm, and didn't try to put a shoulder charge on. It was a solid tackle.

That's a cool story and all, but he still made contact with the head, and in Rugby League, that's a penalty. Just ask Frank Pritchard or Ben Te'o. I think Graham is going to find himself sitting on the sideline for a few weeks.

 

[Surely]

Contact with the head is not allowed in Rugby League. It's a penalty. Not sure if you knew this.

He hasn't led with a shoulder or arm did you want him to crouch as Hoffman ran at him ?

We will have to see what the judiciary says.

 

[user_nat]

Judiciary shouldn't say anything. Wasn't suspension worthy and nor was Smith's report.

Being the judiciary though, who knows what will happen.

 

[Bretto]

He hasn't led with a shoulder or arm did you want him to crouch as Hoffman ran at him ?

We will have to see what the judiciary says.

I get what you're saying, but you cannot make contact with the head. It's a penalty. Everything else is irrelevant.

 

[Bretto]

Judiciary shouldn't say anything. Wasn't suspension worthy and nor was Smith's report.

Being the judiciary though, who knows what will happen.

TBH, there's not a lot of difference between the Te'o/Pritchard hits and the Graham one. They were made in different fashions (shoulder charge as opposed to genuine tackling motion) but the result was the same with contact to the head. If they gave Te'o what, 4 weeks for his, they'd have to give something to Graham to stay consistent.

For the record I'm pretty okay with it. He made contact with the head, but at least was attempting a genuine tackle.

 

[Special K]

It's a real shame Bukuya got hurt... It was a real chance for him to show himself off to the channel nine drones like graham did.

Hoffman was getting low to get out of the in goal... Can't believe it was a penalty. Accidental contact at worst and even then it's a stretch to blame Graham.

 

[Bretto]

It's a real shame Bukuya got hurt... It was a real chance for him to show himself off to the channel nine drones like graham did.

Hoffman was getting low to get out of the in goal... Can't believe it was a penalty. Accidental contact at worst and even then it's a stretch to blame Graham.

There is no such thing. There is contact with the head, then there is no contact with the head. Everything other than the fact that contact with the head was made is irrelevant.

 

[wibble]

I get what you're saying, but you cannot make contact with the head. It's a penalty. Everything else is irrelevant.

This is just wrong. Head clashes are never penalised (so far), for example.

Tacklers have been making contact with the head, accidentally, for years, and it is not ever penalised except when it is the arm making the contact. The basis being that a tackler has some control of their arms positioning and can adjust to miss the head.

But when a tackled player's head hits the thigh, knee, chest (until recently, including the 2nd Graham penalty) and until this year, shoulder, the contact is deemed, rightly, to be accidental and therefore no penalty, unless the tackling player leads with the offending body part.

You can't say accidentally hitting a player with your arm is the same as with the chest, hip etc. Only now contact with the chest and shoulder is very occasionally penalised, despite the fact that a lot of that sort of accidental contact happens in a game. As with stripping, referees are scared and unsure of how to apply the rules, and on big plays go to the video (the referee tonight so nearly correctly backed himself and then got worried) and then anything can happen.

When the rules are a lottery and fans can't tell what is going to happen, you have a problem. It has been very easy in the past (though all rules have some shades of grey cases), with the arm hitting the head always a penalty, and anything else accidentally hitting the head OK unless the player was leading with that part (using it as a proxy for their arm to make the tackle).

Now the rule seems to be if a player is injured and the referee is confused, they will award a penalty just in case.

We could see "chest" tackles penalised more often now, as the players are often squaring their chests face on to a ball carrier and wrapping their arms around the attacker, and players heads often make contact with a chest first, and players often get hurt from it. Won't that be fun to watch? Penalties for the ball carrier colliding head first into defenders. Riveting viewing, the sort tough foundation the sport is built on...

 

[Big Pete]

Graham was just lucky he wasn't penalised sooner.

You can't make contact with the head, it's that simple these days.

 

[Russell Crowe's Band]

That smith one was bullshit.
He's on the ground. Broncos guy is going in. Of course your gunna put ya hand up.

Accidental.

And then the little merkin lays down like he'd been taken down from the book depository.

 

[Russell Crowe's Band]

Yeah can't hit the head.

Accidental tho. Shouldn't be suspended

 

[Cliffhanger]

Pomeroy's try in the first half is one of my favourite tries of the season, the way he just got rid of those Broncos' defenders was wonderful to watch.

Towards the end of the first half and in the opening minutes of the first, you could have sworn the Broncos weren't a side missing almost half their top side.

As for the Sharks, they're strong all over the park, it's a shame there isn't a regular spot in the first grade side for Townsend, reckon he could develop into something really good.

 

[Ron's_Mate]

Good game of old fashioned rugby league. Really enjoyed it. i used to hate the Sharkies but I've become a fan this year. Peter Wallace is a dreadful decision maker under pressure. I wrote the same thing after the game against Souffs last week. He takes forever to make a move and there are always much better options that he just doesn't seem to see.

 

[andyman9999]

That smith one was bullshit.
He's on the ground. Broncos guy is going in. Of course your gunna put ya hand up.

Accidental.

And then the little merkin lays down like he'd been taken down from the book depository.

:lol: