Redneck Redfaces

[Fire]

The only people who should be forgiven for misinterpreting the role of a fullback is youngsters who look for a hero to worship, it is the common denominator between the game of last century and now. The job description is Full Back, primarily the last line of defence in case of a breakthrough. Hiding a player in this position because he can't tackle is tantamount to buying a bull because he has nice tits.

Well said Pops.

 

[bellyache]

Well said Pops.

Far too much slap.. Not enough tickle!

 

[POPEYE]

Far too much slap.. Not enough tickle!

There was a fair bit of tickle . . . only those who are ticklish would feel it

 

[bellyache]

There was a fair bit of tickle . . . only those who are ticklish would feel it

Did it involve peptides?

 

[POPEYE]

Did it involve peptides?

You'll have to talk in a language others will understand now that you've got your own thread, use 'Bellyachin' wisely and I'm sure you'll draw a far bigger crowd than I do here . . . remember to stay alive

 

[POPEYE]

Graham Murray's funeral was not just distinctive because of the number attending, I'm sure there would have been many in NSW who couldn't get there, but by the diversity of generations. People his age usually die in company with mourners his age, in his case there are many youngsters who will feel cheated they missed out on his guidance.

Muzz made way for Sterling not because Peter was as smart with the ball in his hands, Graham was equal or better than anyone between the ears, he was not as fashionable, young or mobile. He would rely almost entirely on outsmarting the opposition and never really needed a kicking game to impress, something John Peard made a prerequisite.

Fitzgerald, who was a mercenary as a CEO and never grasped the value of exceptional coaching, said Muzz was a great man and a fine player. If there ever was and still is a club that needed Graham Murray it's the Eels, I've said it before but Murray the coach didn't let players slip through his fingers. The passing of Murray should be a catalyst for a search by Parramatta for a man of his ability, to hell with pomposity

 

[POPEYE]

Melbourne's left side is defensively weak so Blair was put there to shore it up, he gets hurt and Chambers moved to replace him leaving Finch and Waqa to cover the right. Souths will be hoping that a serious change to their lineup will be as prosperous, Keary one day imo will be a star but expecting a smooth transition without Sutton as a guide is not reasonable. The unknown coefficient in this game is the percentage of improvement in the Rabbitoh forwards since last they met.

Not sure if the Eels can win this one, the Tigers always seem to perform well at the head of the river

For years I campaigned for the Roosters to cut the BS and find a real coach, at the same time in the words of the great John Lennon saying we should 'Give Pearce A Chance'. Along with others I reckon the Bondi mob will be better with RTS at fullback and SKD on the wing which will easily make up for SBW in civies. Then again I doubted Sonny would last the season so WTF do I know. Ferguson will have had to grow an extra leg for this one

Should rock the house down if on paper turns to reality at Remondis. We won't get a chance to see the mighty Fifita show Willie Wanker how it's done but whoddathought Gower would ever become intriguing. Mac the Man is back and Jeremy will still be hurting over the Roosters handing him an unaccustomed big score a couple of weeks back. Gallen still owes the team more catching up so should be worth the price of admission

IF Johnson has pulled the pin up of Benji off his bedroom wall and thrown it in the same garbage bin he found last week's performance the Warriors have every chance of beating the Seagles. Elliott is like a big eyed old pooch who doesn't deserved to be chained to stupidity and Toovey has lost any benevolence he may have shown earlier in the season

Broncos/Dragons might be playing each other but the battle for Brisbane is a desperate bid at avoiding the seemingly inevitable, a finals miss, even more foreboding is finishing behind the Cowboys. The Dragons just want out of the f**king quicksand, standing on Parramatta's head is not good enough.

Panthers/Cowboys . . . bit like buying a scratchie, not a whole lot of value

Dogs have what used to make me dislike Manly when they made a living from poaching in the old days, an unfortunate knack of finding luck when ability deserted them, they are a good team made better by it. The Titans on the other hand would send a winning Lotto ticket to Vinnies in a clothes donation. GC spend more time marching backward than Carty's hairline . . . has he done anything to deserve it is the question

 

[bellyache]

You'll have to talk in a language others will understand now that you've got your own thread, use 'Bellyachin' wisely and I'm sure you'll draw a far bigger crowd than I do here . . . remember to stay alive

:lol: These wankers put my threads together because they don't like seeing threads with headlines that talk about $ouff$ players inability to win games without GI and poor team form... I thought we lived in a democratic society, If I'm not breaking the rules then they need to f**koff..... If I am f**k me off! I understand why people on other forums say LU blows...

 

[POPEYE]

:lol: These wankers put my threads together because they don't like seeing threads with headlines that talk about $ouff$ players inability to win games without GI and poor team form... I thought we lived in a democratic society, If I'm not breaking the rules then they need to f**koff..... If I am f**k me off! I understand why people on other forums say LU blows...

Why don't you just post in the one thread, forget the headline and just speak your piece. If you're not vitriolic towards people who want to converse you'll have no problem getting your message across. You don't need confirmation of your opinion because it is just an opinion, I don't think you'll be denied a hearing or deter those who are interested in what you write

 

[POPEYE]

The interest of most genuine League supporters this weekend, other than the fate of their favoured team, will be focused on what happens in Melbourne and in my case Maguire in particular. The points table for both he and Robbo doesn't represent any need for desperation so Madge can come home with a mountain of information from this game

Regardless of what the arsewipes will highlight before or afterwards to perpetuate an excuse for their existence, the result for Maguire hopefully will show a definitive landmark on his yellow brick road, the variables on offer meaningful. The most disheartening scenario for him will be a thrashing, explainable maybe and expected by some, nevertheless coming home with his tail between his legs consecutively not an option.

Imo Maguire would firstly want the Storm to play as well as they did last last week and secondly to stop them winning convincingly. He is much more interested in his authority status quo and which players if any don't respond to the NQ remedy, than be preoccupied with nurturing a new 5/8. A win by any margin would be a huge bonus and Keary to standout a huge bonus because he knows Bellamy is under more pressure than he is.

 

[POPEYE]

Far be from me to upset anyone but I've never been a fan of Robbie Farah, something to do with his delusion of grandeur or maybe it's just that I don't think he should be compared to Cam Smith. Nothing to do with talent mind you, more of a shit doesn't stink thing, appearing devious with a half hearted backup of his coach reinforces my view.

Maybe he thinks he is in danger of being swept out in a Potter purge, imo he's too good a player and therefore a necessary concession for that to happen, but the fact remains that Mick appears to have a grand plan. If Farah had the club's interest in mind as well as his own he would back Potter to the hilt, bearing in mind Robbie's road to glory so far has been in conjunction with pathetic seasons for the club.

There are precedents, a pet wind-up of mine is the Kearney catastrophe where I stand up for the bloke when I wouldn't have a f**king clue how good a first grade coach he would be. My only leg to stand on is that the bloke should have been given a fair go, 3 seasons in the life of a club stagnant for years is sfa.

The Tigers haven't been fairing much better and the last thing Potter needs is Sandow/Hayne clones pissing on his parade just because they can, because their noses are out of joint or because they can't see the forest for the f**king trees

 

[Rhino_NQ]

nicely said

 

[Big Tim]

Potter should get on the phone to Madge and Robbo.

They owe him a job.

Its their instant success that is leading to his sacking..... oh, and the basket cases running the Tigers.

 

[POPEYE]

Haven't bothered rummaging through the rubbish because I'm content with the Rabbitohs' performance last night, too many variables for anyone to rationally denigrate them, imo the score flattered Melbourne. From here on in Souths will have to quickly reorientate, they have the hardest draw and are the worst affected by key player absence. Madge will be the coach of the year if he overcomes the adversity.

Like to make a special mention of Brett Finch who may have been rookie of the year at Canberra and poached by the Roosters but he was ignominiously relieved of duties there because he was a scapegoat for Stuart's incompetent coaching. Finch's fiery reaction to inadequate direction didn't help his cause, difference between he and Mitchell Pierce has nothing to do with talent.

From there he went to the Eels but his contract was again cancelled because he 'was not the right halfback to take the club forward' . . . Parramatta are still looking for one. Skip his time at Melbourne where he was finally given the tutoring he deserved even if he was only warming the seat for Cronk/Widdop to the present day where he has returned to the place he's appreciated.

What you had last night is a 32 year old bloke playing as a cork remover in a bottle of Rugby League champagne. He could easily handle being a screw-on lid for a Parramatta twist top but Finch is expected to keep up the pace that the Storm are renowned for, the only way they know how to win. He is running on sheer tenacity in defence, competent linking in attack and a f**king hero to his team mates.

 

[POPEYE]

The after match pressers tell us everything we need to know so far this weekend, Bellamy was not impressed, Maguire upbeat, Robinson quietly fuming, Furner kidding himself, Flanagan deservedly depressed, Bennett reservedly content and it's all to do with players, none of the shit refereeing worth using as an excuse.

For reasons documented ad nauseum Furner is off my list of hopefuls, Robbo presented him with a gift but he didn't know how to open the lid. Maybe Toovey and Elliott can improve the weekend, hopefully this game will invigorate our sense of accomplishment. It's up to the Titans and Warriors to change the status quo and make this weekend worth remembering, 'Back To The Drawing Board' sounds a good title for a movie.

Was informed last night that League is played for only 49 minutes of the 80, no wonder the Mexicans prefer their game. Officials in their pretty regalia determined to share the limelight by stopping the game for every innocuous hand on the ball, fictitious knock-on, caress to the head or just plain old exhibitionism on their part. Maybe they should be paid more so they can't use 'who would want to be a ref' as a f**king excuse.

 

[POPEYE]

First Benji and now Shaun, if either were to buy a HSV Commodore they would order it with mudflaps, exterior windscreen sunvisor and a head bobbing dog on the rear shelf, their choice of options are f**king catastrophic. Some of the rubbish Johnson came up with last week were laughable if you weren't a Warrior supporter epitomised yesterday by kicking on the 1st 15 metres out to no-one.

Start of the year the best joke doing the rounds was putting easy going Elliott in charge of a team renowned for not listening, he had to pull Shaun off mid game before anyone took him seriously. After that the rest of the team became focussed even if Johnson remained enigmatic, so we saw what this mob could do if they put their mind to it.

Won't be long now and we'll start to hear rustling as the anti-Elliott worms prepare to poke their ugly f**king heads out of the woodwork. All Matty wants is what the Cowboys have, one playmaker that he can rely on, he's not asking for the same as Melbourne/Souths/Manly/Roosters, just equal opportunity afforded most of the rest.

At the moment Elliott is walking on eggshells, he risks alienating a management not renowned for understanding if he doesn't persevere with Johnson until season's end and even if he did get the Warriors into the mardis gras there's every chance Shaun would steer the float sideways. Imo the best the coach can hope for is get a return gig in '14 and convince management to find him a #7 he doesn't have to mollycoddle

 

[POPEYE]

Monday is my favourite League day, all the replays plus MNF which is usually full of excitement, hopefully tonight will be a Wrath of the Titans. Just watched Raiders/Roosters again and with the Milford Affair the top rating soapbox at the moment it was even more interesting. For starters Anthony clearly is not comfortable playing fullback.

First try scored by Jennings saw Milford barely jogging across from the goalposts, second try had him almost there but with no intent and the try by Tupou had him 15 metres away . . . even Barba is not as inept. The one true fullback play ala Slater he orchestrated did lead to a Ferguson/Earl try. Different matter when he stood in the line, an aborted full back run had him standing still when he received the ball, some of his renowned 5/8 razzle dazzle and Edwards was over.

Three times he tried to pinch the ball from his dummy half because he obviously saw something lacking in the defence. Stats show he had only 1 try assist but that's bullshit, his 5/8 play led to one Ferguson try. When Campese got injured dumbarse Furner should have put Milford at 5/8 and moved Wighton or Earl, who were not making any contribution, to fullback.

So, for 20 minutes we had a donkey in #7 aided by a dinosaur off the bench trying to outsmart an opposition that were ripe for the picking, all the while a will-'o-the-wisp renowned for winning games when the opposition is in disarray trying to shoehorn himself into the game. The bloke has told his manager to get him out of Canberra and is it any wonder why.

Incidentally, dumb play by McCrone and Berrigan led directly to Rooster tries so Milford couldn't have done any worse in his favoured position

 

[POPEYE]

Except for the last game of the round someone who espouses to be a fan of League in general like myself, although in my case hypocritically disliking one team for the wrong reason, would say that everything went the way it was ordained. Then again last night wasn't a real upset because MNF is expected to result in the unexpected.

Round 22 however will not be dismissed for the wrong reasons, and the teams that were thought to be detrimentally affected by it turned out to be the wrong ones. Except for a bad ball episode the referees made sure Souths' performance was excusable and the Knights/Sharks gave the expected excitement. All other notable occurrences were unfortunately diabolical.

Cordner, Campese, Dugan, Hodges, Merrin injuries, just to name the obvious have marred the season and I hate to say it the Cowboys don't deserve a chance to redeem themselves because they're doing at the expense of their credibility.

Must add Kasiano injury as a real blow to a team that was flying under the radar

 

[bellyache]

The interviews I have seen with sbw, have all come across as him being very humble, and wanting to put the praise on those around him.

I think he has missed games v an understrength sharks, penrith and raiders, he will be the player opposition coaches will have nightmares containing in the finals.

I love telling mates, that we have a once in a generation athlete, who will be etched in sporting history, playing for the chooks.

 

[POPEYE]

At least the Broncos are at home when they have to face the mighty Eels juggernaut with their new self appointed 5/8 superstar, when the horse is on 3 legs and the jockey is in danger of being shot in it's place. At least Qlders won't have to endure the pain for 2 hours. Unimaginable for Sticky to let this one slip . . . would be a contradiction in terms

Ironic as it may seem the Seagles need to win at Bluetongue and the Rabbitohs don't, all about status quo where Manly can mathematically miss the 4. If Madge's not interested in the Shield he just has to keep an eye on for and against whilst he regroups. Toovey is forced to play his top team when it is traditionally advantageous in a top of the table clash not to show all your cards, a win for the silvertails imperative in the scheme of things.

If the arsewipes are right I'm not the only one losing interest in the Raiders, my reason is an opinion on the ineptitude of Furner's positional choices, could also be part of Blake's reasoning for a change in scenery. He has a record of not accepting poor coaching and I'm still not convinced he is 'Dumber', more likely 'Dumb'. Only interest for me is who will steer the Raider longship against Dessie's Titanic.

Normally I would be apprehensive seeing two of my favoured teams pitted against one another but I think the Cowboys need a f**king uppercut for their pisspoor treatment of a coach deserving of a dignified termination of employment. Couldn't care less if they didn't win another game whereas the Titans owe Carty the right to finish '13 on a good note, would have liked to see his mob finish more than any other with a full compliment.

Only thing the Dragons are good for now in '13 is standing on an overbridge and pissing on the mardis gras, one float they would like to see out of action is their noisy neighbour's. Sharks are trying to pull an ASADA knife out of their back and contend with the Dragons who want to be a thorn in their side, the footy gods have shown compassion by removing The Duges from the misadventure . . . can Gallen make up for losing Graham.

Knights at home against the Storm has to be by far the match of the round even if arsewipes and dopes say differently. Neither have any leeway to work with, Newcastle have to win and Melbourne need to win, it's desperation against credibilty and imo the battle will be decided by the Smiths.

The Warriors to me are a dog on chain, the owner wants it to run free but is sick and tired of retrieving it from the pound. Soppy analogy maybe but it's disconcerting when a great team is going to waste because it won't do as it's told, a Great Dane turned into a useless f**king Pittbull because it's playmaker is a nincompoop. Love to see Johnson swap with Walsh, have to be an improvement.

Roosters like Souths don't have to win, just need to restore order. Wests need to f**king wake up to themselves, the coach is not the problem