NRL Rd 7 2025 - General Non-Warriors Thread

[Blair]

Happy Easter, y'all. I personally find the holiday a bit boring so thank God for footy.

Tonight, Manly v Dragons. I often think of past grand final match ups when I see two sides up against each other now. 1996 is nearly 30 years ago. I remember being relieved Manly finally won a premiership in the '90s, they had a top side with plenty of Kiwis, which was important for us NZ fans back then. In the spirit of '96 Manly should win again tonight!

Friday, it's good Sydney fare, Canterbury v Souths, followed by an easy one to pick, the frightening Storm over Redcliffe.

Saturday, it could still be a bit wet and wild in Auckland, the Warriors might need those conditions to overcome the lightening speed of Brisbane. Haas is there though. No one wants him rumbling up the middle, in any weather.

I finally tipped against the Panthers! They've screwed me all year and the Chooks are in good touch. But surely Penrith won't lose six straight? There'd be something seriously wrong if so, if there isn't already. Losing their home ground is a big factor, I reckon. The GC are good enough to spring a win at home v Canberra. Sticky's in the party town but will he still have that big smile on his face from last week's last gasp win?

Sunday/Monday, a long weekend wraps up firstly at Newcastle, where, duh, the homeside will need to score points if they're to upset Cronulla. Plus, as someone said, where's big Addin been? We close with the Galvin-less Tigers hosting the Eels. Anyone's guess which side is mentally tougher! I think the senior Tigers will come out fired up though. Who needs a 19 year old telling them they're just support players?

Enjoy.

 

[Beavers Headgear]

Strange scheduling to have a side that played in Perth last Saturday opening up the round on Thursday. Dragons a bogey side, worth a punt if they are outsiders

They are talking 70,000 for tomorrows match, Gus has opened up some $10 tickets with transaction fees waived to try and push it up to that number

 

[Thatwasnthighref]

Strange scheduling to have a side that played in Perth last Saturday opening up the round on Thursday. Dragons a bogey side, worth a punt if they are outsiders

They are talking 70,000 for tomorrows match, Gus has opened up some $10 tickets with transaction fees waived to try and push it up to that number

70k would have to be make it one of the biggest regular season crowds in recent history.

As home team do the Dogs keep the whole gate? or do they split it given they share Accor as home ground?

 

[Blair]

Another memorable Manly win over the Dragons was the 2003 final at the SFS. Menzies scored a try to seal it and I remember the local area was finally 'on board' with that Northern Eagles thing. It didn't last of course.

Beave, I never got why Manly shacked up with the Bears. I worked at both Brookvale and North Sydney Ovals during that time and Manly's crowds were healthy whilst the Bears' seemed cooked. This was '98/99, pre-merger. Was it the case of the NRL simply forcing it on Manly? Did the merger also include Gosford/Central Coast as an inducement?

 

[Beavers Headgear]

Another memorable Manly win over the Dragons was the 2003 final at the SFS. Menzies scored a try to seal it and I remember the local area was finally 'on board' with that Northern Eagles thing. It didn't last of course.

Beave, I never got why Manly shacked up with the Bears. I worked at both Brookvale and North Sydney Ovals during that time and Manly's crowds were healthy whilst the Bears seemed cooked. This was '98/99, pre-merger. Was it the case of the NRL simply forcing it on Manly? Did the merger also include Gosford/Central Coast as an inducement?

Think the main reason, was the Super Greed War was extremely hurtful financially for Manly. The Bears were dead and buried, the delay of Gosford had them pretty much bankrupt. The big money put up for merged sides was too tempting so they took the opportunity to merge with the enemy and get some cash, also having the juniors from North Sydney all the way up to the Central Coast was very attractive

It fell apart extremely quickly, and at board level Norths thought they would come out on top if it dissolved, but in the final stages of the merger deal being signed off, Ken Arthurson got involved and made sure that a clause was put in there that if it didn’t work out, the licence went back to Manly

Was a weird few years, I didn’t feel any great affinity to the side, and ended up supporting the Warriors just as much the majority of that time. The worst part of the whole existence of it now is Menzies not being recognised as a 1 club player even though he never signed a contact with anyone other than Manly

 

[Beavers Headgear]

This is looking like a very low game. manly have been awful to start and the Dragons last tackle has been ordinary. Tough knock for Jake, that’ll be him for next week as well

 

[Penrose Warrior]

This is a bit of a spud fest. Manly spudding it up the most

 

[Beavers Headgear]

Would say I’m watching NSW Cup, but that would be unfair to the NSW Cup sides

 

[Beavers Headgear]

Amongst all the dross, Lehi Hopoate is a very special talent

 

[Beavers Headgear]

Speaking of special we have Kevin Walters

“we will see what the Dragons have learnt in the last month, they’ve been in front and behind in games”

 

[Blair]

Manly fall three games straight. 20-18 tonight. A bit surprising, I reckon.

 

[Big Marn]

wouldnt have picked Gould for a Big Bang Theory fan with his "Anything can happen Thursday" comment during the game.

 

[Beavers Headgear]

Seibold is an absolute dud, sure the schedule has been ordinary and there are plenty of injuries, but his gameplan of side to side every week is terrible as are his selections . When they finally used what was left of the depleted pack tonight they were easily on top for the last 25mins. Weird that in a way I was hoping they didn’t get that last try and steal an undeserved win because it just papers over the cracks

The Galvin story will also take the focus away from the absolutely terrible footy DCE has played the past 2 weeks. Olakau’atu had the worst game of his career as well

On the other side of the ledger, gee Taukieaho is playing great footy, extremely surprising

 

[Penrose Warrior]

What'd you make of the Tof sin bin, Beav? That looks absolutely unavoidable to me, but I only saw it once

 

[Beavers Headgear]

What'd you make of the Tof sin bin, Beav? That looks absolutely unavoidable to me, but I only saw it once

Thought it was tough, but as soon as the guy was injured, it was inevitable. Funnily enough I don’t think they get back into the game without him being sin binned. Worst of all in that play, live the ref pinged SST for a high tackle as the ball runner head butted him in the stomach on the way down

Tof cops some tough ones, think he is still the only guy I’ve seen binned for a crusher

 

[Penrose Warrior]

I saw it on the replay this morning and I thought how the hell is anyone going to cop that? I couldn't literally see what Tof was supposed to do, apart from disappear.

We always go down this silly path but if that happened in a finals game, and your guy was binned for another guy falling over, you'd be absolutely filthy

 

[Big Marn]

I saw it on the replay this morning and I thought how the hell is anyone going to cop that? I couldn't literally see what Tof was supposed to do, apart from disappear.

We always go down this silly path but if that happened in a finals game, and your guy was binned for another guy falling over, you'd be absolutely filthy

Tof was the guy on the ground doing the hip drop wasnt he? not the guy who whacked him in the head. tof has a beard.

 

[Penrose Warrior]

Tof was the guy on the ground doing the hip drop wasnt he? not the guy who whacked him in the head. tof has a beard.

Oh okay, so Tof got binned for a hip drop? OK yeah I see SST was the guy who made head high contact.

Still just looks like a normal tackle to me.

 

[Beavers Headgear]

Seibold making some points afterwards how they’ve had to play 3 games in 11 days, including a trip to Perth where you lose 2 games to travel, and 5 in 25 overall. Have 3 in 11 days again during Origin

Probably fair points but just concentrate on sending a side out there with a decent game plan rather than searching for excuses. It was telling pre match than Shane Flanagan said exactly how Manly were going to play, and he was bang on

 

[Blair]

On the oter sde of the ledger, gee Taukieaho is playing great footy, extremely surprising.

At aged 33 he probably has the right attitude, he wants to go out with a bang. He can play prop, I wonder if the Warriors had a look at him before he was picked up by Manly? Or was he 'never to return'? He kicks goals too, which is always handy.