NRLW

[Burwood]

Ruan Sims must have been judging every match.

 

[aqua_duck]

Ruan Sims must have been judging every match.

I’d say more like Jo Barrett

 

[Haffa]

The fact we know it’s commentators voting and the comms team for NRLW games is so limited it doesn’t take a genius to figure out who is voting.

 

[HarVeeGee]

There is genuinely a massive cliquiness/favouritism thing going on in the women’s game at the moment. Keep an eye out for some extremely odd Jillaroos selections this year. Every time you see a name which has you thinking “hang on, this is a bit weird, isn’t (player x) way better?” - yes, they are. The player who got picked instead is in there because she has the right mates, and/or the player who missed out didn’t get picked because those girls don’t like her.

 

[aqua_duck]

There is genuinely a massive cliquiness/favouritism thing going on in the women’s game at the moment. Keep an eye out for some extremely odd Jillaroos selections this year. Every time you see a name which has you thinking “hang on, this is a bit weird, isn’t (player x) way better?” - yes, they are. The player who got picked instead is in there because she has the right mates, and/or the player who missed out didn’t get picked because those girls don’t like her.

We saw that already in origin, the thing is they can get away with it because media coverage of NRLW is still quite limited

 

[Knight Tales]

I just hope NSW sack Hilder. She is a biased disgrace.

 

[Nuke]

I just hope NSW sack Hilder. She is a biased disgrace.

The NSW Roosters, you mean?!

 

[Haffa]

Fox with hilder and Barrett on comms. Painful

 

[Apey]

We put up a better fight which is kind of what I expected. Too big too strong this year the Roosters.

Penitani just scored though.

Edit: sweet, I put the mockers on them!

 

[Frederick]

Fox with hilder and Barrett on comms. Painful

 

[Nuke]

With the Roosters winning it, at least Ch9 has their promo shot when advertising the NRLW for another year without having to go back several years for that shot of the Roosters raising the trophy. They can totally forget that Newcastle won it for those two years in a row now. Good on Ch9.

 

[aqua_duck]

Just to show how cliquey and factional NRLW is Olivia Kernick fresh off winning the Dally M and scoring 2 tries in a grand final win just lost her spot in the Jillaroos squad

 

[Rod]

A pretty weird one considering she plays for the Roosters, a team we generally equate with being on the right end of those sort of politics.

Have to choose my words carefully here because it might come across as sexist (not my intention), but it does feel like these fledgling womens sports comps are more prone to this kind of favouritism and old-school politics/agendas. I guess it's mainly because they're not fully professional so the people in charge aren't as accountable for their bad decisions?

You're seeing it in comps like the WNBA too, which is gaining in popularity but is still prone to some bizarre stuff. New stars like Caitlin Clark being treated like shit by the 'old guard'. It's like a kind of gatekeeping, perhaps these women/administrators are used to getting their own way and not being questioned when it comes to team selections etc, I don't know.

 

[HarVeeGee]

The Caitlin Clark thing is exactly that. The people in positions of power and even the pre-existing fanbase liked that it was “their” little thing. The attention Clark brings threatens that. People who run WNBA teams and coaches are at risk of having to be accountable to large, demanding fanbases for the first time. It’s now a fight to get tickets for games and the old fans face to ordeal of having to interact with ordinary people . Scary stuff!

And the extra money the players are going to make now doesn’t make the petty jealousy go away that Clark is the one drawing in the crowds, not them, so they lie to themselves and insist it’s because she is part of the white supremacy movement or something like that. But the reality is that you don’t even need to particularly like basketball to understand why Clark is genuinely special & unique in the women’s game.

But yeah in the NRLW you definitely get the feeling that there’s an old guard threatened by the new school + a weird cliquiness in these rep teams. Mahalia Murphy for example is a Jillaroo from before the NRLW existed and picking her over Kernick can only be a politics thing.

 

[aqua_duck]

The Caitlin Clark thing is exactly that. The people in positions of power and even the pre-existing fanbase liked that it was “their” little thing. The attention Clark brings threatens that. People who run WNBA teams and coaches are at risk of having to be accountable to large, demanding fanbases for the first time. It’s now a fight to get tickets for games and the old fans face to ordeal of having to interact with ordinary people . Scary stuff!

And the extra money the players are going to make now doesn’t make the petty jealousy go away that Clark is the one drawing in the crowds, not them, so they lie to themselves and insist it’s because she is part of the white supremacy movement or something like that. But the reality is that you don’t even need to particularly like basketball to understand why Clark is genuinely special & unique in the women’s game.

But yeah in the NRLW you definitely get the feeling that there’s an old guard threatened by the new school + a weird cliquiness in these rep teams. Mahalia Murphy for example is a Jillaroo from before the NRLW existed and picking her over Kernick can only be a politics thing.

Never thought of it that way but makes complete sense. Kezie Apps is a great player but she wasn’t a captain last year, she’s since been elevated to co captain status off the back of losing an origin series and a season ending injury early in the NRLW season.
You look through the squad and there’s a weird throwback vibe. The coach had the weirdest justification for leaving out Kernick saying oh Apps is co captain and Murphy has been there before and can play centre. Firstly Apps and Kernick have been in the same rep teams for a few years now, Apps has played a lot of middle in recent times, he also didn’t need to elevate Apps to co captain. Secondly Murphy was there like 10 years ago and played all of one game, she also hasn’t play centre for years.

 

[HarVeeGee]

Zero doubt in my mind that if they played Kernick at centre she’d go better than Murphy.

 

[Apey]

Turned on the award show and Phillip Gardner is doing a Todd Payten tier speech.

 

[aqua_duck]

Zero doubt in my mind that if they played Kernick at centre she’d go better than Murphy.

Brandy and Vossy rightfully tore into coach Brad Donald on SEN radio, Donald claimed one of his reasons for leaving Kernick out was she was behind the other girls on the pecking order as she apparently came off the bench for NSW which actually wasn’t the case, she was named on the bench for game 1 and 2 but elevated to start both times and was named to start and started game 3. Absolutely embarrassing that the national coach seemingly didn’t watch the origin and probably just looked at the line ups earlier in the week.

 

[Apey]

Gardner talking for 10 minutes and then a 30 minute break actually bored me into turning it off.

Our 3 Aus reps sweeping up most of the awards:

POTY - Upton (2nd Clydesdale, 3rd Olivia Higgins)
Knight in Shining Armour - Yasmin
Gladiator of the Year (Old Boys) - Olivia Higgins
Players Player - Laishon

Leaving
- Jacinta Carter
- Nita Maynard
- Abigail Roache
- Rima Butler
- Laishon Albert-Jones
- Caitlin Johnston-Green

Losing more than I expected.

 

[HarVeeGee]

Hope we’re signing a couple of decent props!