Kearney/NZ have ruined the Test Match

[Snappy]

Vatuvei also injured

 

[Springs]

When did they all get injured? Are they actual injuries or Matt Cooper injuries?

 

[Snappy]

double

 

[Snappy]

Also Taumalolo has a shoulder injury. Would have been his debut test so unlikely he's faking.

 

[Bronco Rob]

ANZAC test is a joke anyway.

I've been screaming for years for NZ to use it as an opportunity to blood new players/secure them before Mal gets to them.

With Foran, Luke, Leuluai and others injured, we're more or less lambs to the slaughter.

I like test matches, but this one is a waste of time and certainly shouldn't be played now.

Great attitudes rendered by many on here, with fans like this its any wonder why the International game doesn't reach great heights. How about as League fans we embrace the game rather than bag the crap out of it as usual? It really bugs me how we constantly as a code criticise or impair anything that isn't NRL or Origin.

IMO, these test matches in years to come can be as big as SOO's if not bigger now we have made the eligibility rules black and white for Origin to stop poaching of Kiwis.

The NZ team picked is hardly a dud side, it has plenty of talent and whilst its unfortunate NZ have suffered so many injuries, the players who missed out have been ordinary in the first few rounds.

 

[RWB]

Dropped - Goodwin, Vatuvei, Inu, Kasiano, Waerea-Hargreaves, Glenn, Williams, Nuuasala, Taylor
Injured - Pritchard, Hoffman, Foran, Leuluai, McKendry, Luke (from NRL.com)
Suspended - Matulino

There's only 5 players remaining from the World Cup final.
I have no idea about Jeremy Smith, Taumololo, Ma'u, Rapira and others but I guess they are injured too. I have no idea why Glenn, Nuuasala, Taylor and others would be dropped for players like Kenny Bromwich and Proctor.

Matulino isn't suspended.

Along with JWH he's the most baffling non-selection.

Two elite front rowers who are 25 years old... if he's dead set about building a squad of players for the next world cup I know a pretty good place to start.

There's just no sense of balance or proportion in his squad.

I've been a Tapau fan for a long time but I'm sorry since when does 8 games off the bench earn you a NZ jersey? Surely they've got to be harder than that to earn, embarrassing.

 

[Izz]

Matulino isn't suspended.

Matulino is injured. Rib cartilage injury picked up in the game he got suspended after.

 

[hutch]

How does an international game do damage to international rugby league? Instead of whinging about it, we should start embracing it!

 

[1 Eyed TEZZA]

If Kearney's seriously not picking players because of poor behavior in the World Cup campaign, good on him. Take the jersey more seriously.

England did it at the start of the World Cup last year.

 

[KeepingTheFaith]

When did they all get injured? Are they actual injuries or Matt Cooper injuries?

Leuluai went down during the week with a recurrence of the hamstring injury that delayed his start to the season.

Vatuvei did his ankle in the collision with Slater over a high ball. Questionable for the Raiders game.

Taumalolo and Mau were both injured this round.

Matulino did rib cartilage damage against the Dogs and needs the extra time to heel

Taylor went off during the Panthers/Sharks game with injury

Hoffman, Glenn, Smith I don't know about

Lewis Brown also injured, and Locke has only just returned from injury in NSW Cup. Gavet was a chance (especially once they discovered he's eligible for NSW) but he's injured too.

FPN, Kasiano, Goodwin, Inu simply haven't been worth picking by the looks of it.

JWH is the one that stands out, the rest is bad luck or form.

 

[WellsNZ]

Kiwis didn't have a f**king hope in hell without Foran and Luke regardless of who they picked.

 

[Brutus]

The entire weekend is turning out to be a joke with the player pull-outs.

The Test needs to be played after Origin and city v country needs to be put to sleep.

 

[AuckMel]

JWH is the one that stands out, the rest is bad luck or form.

Link

The failure to transfer his club form with Sydney Roosters to the test arena is the reason for Jared Waerea-Hargreaves shock axing from the New Zealand team to play Australia at Allianz Stadium on Friday night.

 

[ozenzud]

What I consistently fail to see appreciated by anybody on these forums, is the fact that NZ needs the Anzac test and the series at the end of the year.

The NZRL is NOT raking in millions from the NRL deal. It gets virtually nothing. There is a rumour that they are demanding a bit of the pie from the NRL TV deal, but essentially, the NZRL has to fund itself.

How can it do that? It gets some high performance funding from SPARC and other government agencies. But otherwise, it needs money to run the game in NZ.

I heard Jim Doyle when he was NZRL CEO say exactly that and give out the figures a few years ago. Theses tests provide something like 80% of the total income. Largely from the TV deals but also from crowds etc.

The Interprovincial championship, reps for 15s and 17's, national schools comp. All that comes under the NZRL.

Without the Anzac test and the 4 nations and so on, the local game gets little real funding. So if you don't support the test, you don't support the maintenance of the game, and Aussie League fans can be like AFL fans and get to look forward to zero international football as they are the only country that plays the game.

 

[Bronco Rob]

What I consistently fail to see appreciated by anybody on these forums, is the fact that NZ needs the Anzac test and the series at the end of the year.


Without the Anzac test and the 4 nations and so on, the local game gets little real funding. So if you don't support the test, you don't support the maintenance of the game, and Aussie League fans can be like AFL fans and get to look forward to zero international football as they are the only country that plays the game.

Mate you are absolutely on the money there. NZRL needs these test matches to build their coffers and it doesn't help when we talk down or criticise these games.

I was disgusted in just about everyone's negative attitude towards this test match. Rather than giving the build up the game deserved, the media bagged the hell of it and many believed their hyperbol and was turned off immediately and never gave the game a chance of being an interesting spectacle.

I was even more disgusted in a lot of so-called RL fans on this forum who thought the game was a joke or a waste of time and have gone awfully quiet about the test match or haven't made any retractions since. The likes of Usain Bolt, DC Fan, Meth, Rug13Y, Keeping the Faith, Wells NZ all need upper cuts and especially the those who are Kiwis among them. It's such a poor attitude and with fans like the likes of you, who needs Fitzsimmons and Phil Rothfield and Co to talk down our game, we do it ourselves!

 

[Cloudsurfer]

Mate you are absolutely on the money there. NZRL needs these test matches to build their coffers and it doesn't help when we talk down or criticise these games.

I was disgusted in just about everyone's negative attitude towards this test match. Rather than giving the build up the game deserved, the media bagged the hell of it and many believed their hyperbol and was turned off immediately and never gave the game a chance of being an interesting spectacle.

I was even more disgusted in a lot of so-called RL fans on this forum who thought the game was a joke or a waste of time and have gone awfully quiet about the test match or haven't made any retractions since. The likes of Usain Bolt, DC Fan, Meth, Rug13Y, Keeping the Faith, Wells NZ all need upper cuts and especially the those who are Kiwis among them. It's such a poor attitude and with fans like the likes of you, who needs Fitzsimmons and Phil Rothfield and Co to talk down our game, we do it ourselves!

Totally agree...got really p***ed with a few leading up to the game & some of the media, what can you say? On paper against that Oz team I guess it was easy to not rate the Kiwis but for kiwis to join the pack was disgusting imo. Said all along it was a brave decision by Kearney & selectors & I think they were proved right. Awesome game by the guys!

Went to the game from NZ & was up close to the action...dumbfounded at people saying the Kiwis out-enthused the Aussies in the first half - they did, but more than that they outplayed them. People saying it looked like Aussie didn't come to play (lol) - they weren't allowed to! Our boys went hard and direct up the middle and defended so well...key threats were targeted and shut down.

Blair was like an immovable rock (you could hear the collisions) as were the others - never seen so many tackled Aussies dry-retching after tackles ever. Bromwich was huge & along with Moa and Taupau bust the line & gave go-forward. The future looks good for Havili.

For once Johnson was able to control his kicks (first half anyway) & that was because Harris played exceptionally (calm & composed beyond his years) & took so much of the pressure off him - talking & organizing (the stuff you don't see on TV) so Johnson could do his job, that being the game plan for the halves. Unfortunately in the last 1/4 when Harris went off to the blood bin no one did that for Johnson & he reverted to the "find a miracle play" he has become accustomed to at the Warriors - not his fault as he was then under more pressure.

Hiku & Johns will improve (possibly a bit overwhelmed & certainly targeted) and Dean Whare was great! Felt Nightingale wasn't as committed as the others.

The Aussies know how to capitalize & how to finish but it really didn't show how the game went on the park. Our boys bust their guts out there, their heads never went down & they never gave up!

Unlike some of the 'kiwis' on here.

 

[shiznit]

*bump*

Now Kearney looks like a genius...