Round 2 (2008) Cougars v Rabbitohs

[Willow]

Forum 7s - Round 2 2008
COUGARS v SOUTH SYDNEY RABBITOHS

-v-

Game Thread:
* Please note - This is a game thread only, therefore only game posts can be made here (Teams, Articles).
* Any other posts may result in loss of points and is at the discretion of the referee.
* Only original articles, not used in previous games, will be marked by referees.
Naming Teams:
* 5v5 + 2 reserves each
* No 'TBA' or changing players named
* Captains must stick with original teams named
ALL THE RULES & REGULATIONS: http://f7s.leagueunlimited.com/rules.php

FULL TIME: Wednesday 9 April 2008 at 9pm (Syd time)
REFEREE: The Colonel
Venue: WESTERN WEEKENDER
**The Referee Blows Game On!**

CLICK HERE FOR OFFICIAL WORD COUNTER​

 

[griffo346]

Starting
8. Griffo346 (c)
99. gunning_for_panthers
7. IanG
96. t-ba
1. 110kgpantherpower

Bench
18. Lockyno1
6. JS
15. Downie

 

[110kgpantherpower]

The 5/8th for the cougars dashes out of dummy half and scores the first points for the mighty cougars.


When dreams come true

At last my time has come it’s late Thursday night, tomorrow I play my first finals game but the nerves are keeping me awake, tell me one person who wouldn’t be nervous my first year in first grade and we make the finals, I cant help but think of everything that’s helped me get to where I am now not so much things I’ve done but the things that have happened in our wonderful game.

This year is the 100th year of league and so much has happened to get our game to where it is now plenty of games plenty of tries and even more tackles.

What is it that brought me to this game though I’ve made my game as close to the guys styles that I looked up to the likes of Langer, Toovey, Lyons, Menzies, Daley etc the list goes on I cant help but recall some of the classic matches I’ve seen them play Langer coming back to steer Queensland to an origin victory Tooves Lyons and Menzies in the somewhat glamor times of the 90’s for manly. Then there is Daley Who can forget some of his classic tries and great passes for NSW and Australia.

We can go back further in time and remember the games I’ve had the pleasure of watching on tape the great battles between East’s, St George, Balmain and South Sydney all through the 60’s and 70’s then there is the greats from long ago the Johnny Raper , Arthur Beatson, Clive Churchill or what about the likes of Norm Proven and Arthur Summons.

I cant help but think why why am I playing this great game do I deserve to be paid the sort of money I do for this great game when these great guys played the game pretty much for the fun of it getting paid next to nothing, but going at it week in week out broken bones rough tackles, smoking, drinking swinging punches then hugging after the game.

Now there are new rules and new stars we have seen these greats leave the game and new stars have arrived now there is Lockyers, Inglis, Hunt, Mason, Williams there all here wowing the crowds week in week out now there aren’t the punches or the playing with broken bones but still the excitement with the faster game.

What scares me the most I think is that I’m playing for the team I use to spend every weekend watching wether at the ground or on TV I made sure I didn’t miss a ball wether it was our sudden rush to glory in 2003 our unfortunate end to 2004 or a some what disappointment in 2006 and 07 I’ve been there as a fan and now I play in my own jersey with some of the guys i cheered on, its odd, going from being a fan cheering on the guys too being on the field having your fans cheer you on as you dive across the line or the opposition yelling abuse at you, I guess that’s something to think about as well, sure it’s 100 years of NRL and we all know the game has changed so have the players but have the fans changed?

I’m glad to say I think of all the changes in league the fans have stayed the same, week after week there are the same fans rocking up to cheer on there team and the best part is most of the fans no matter who they support they love the game more then the team they applaud a good performance by the other team and even if they lose they still rock up the next week to cheer on there team, rugby league is no longer just a game its become the fans game sure fans cant control everything though I’m sure all fans wish we could but through the fans league has got much bigger and better.

As for me well I’m a fan of league whether I play or not there are too many great moments to take away my love of the game I think what makes it best is when I run out onto the field I can give my best play with stars and know that no matter what league will be around with new stars and new fans in another 100 years.

733 Words according to the official word counter

 

[griffo346]

Interchange

Off: 96: t-ba
On: 18: Lockyno1

 

[IanG]

Wrestlemania
By IanG

As we all know we keep hearing all this talk in Rugby League circles about the use of wrestling coaches and wrestling in league. Well then on Friday Night and the week prior we saw the use of the so-called “Chicken Wing” hold in a tackle. Which for those of you wondering where it gets it’s name from it’s basically involves twisting the arm of the attacking player by a defending tackler in a position where it’s brought behind his back. Well I suppose like the majority of fans out there I for one and starting to get a bit fed up with hearing about it. This is Rugby League not World Wrestling Entertainment.

As it was the build up to Friday Night’s Roosters vs. Bulldogs match with not only the friction between Sonny Bill Williams and Willy Mason as was illustrated on The Footy Show because they weren’t on the panel at the same time, but also the video package they played at the start of the telecast was resemblance of that I’d see when watching a WWE Pay Per View event. But much to my dismay we didn’t see it boil over into a stink as I was hoping it would. I was honestly hoping that it was brew into a stink.

First it was The Grapple Tackle then the prowler tackle that immerged in Round One of the season admittedly it was first shown by Roosters player Reily Brown when Craig Wing got injured and now the Chicken Wing. The funny thing is it all seems to have started down in the Melbourne. Yeah they can deny it all they want but it all seems to have steamed from down there. I don’t know about anybody else but you can’t help but see a pattern emerging here.

Yes I’m sure that the wrestling coaches that we’re talking about are of the wrestling variety that you see at the Olympics (i.e. Greco Roman and Freestyle) and is an actual sport and not the sort where they smash chair over each others heads and it’s all a show, but with the whole use of the chicken wing over the last couple of weeks. Listening to the Continuous Call Team’s jibber on 2GB/KO-FM on Saturday (Yes I DO enjoy listening to it because I enjoy that irreverent insane humour.) it degenerated into the idea of what’s next.

Perhaps the idea of which players you’d like to see feuding with each other, but as far as I’m concerned it’s already there with club rivalries some steaming back many many years so I think the game has enough of that sort of thing as it is.

Using wrestling holds during play even the idea of players on the sideline slipping a chair to the guys on the field and having chair shots, even the idea of corner posts being turnbuckles that the players could dive off even the idea of players being kitted out in wrestling tights in their respective club’s colours. As you can tell after a while the whole conversation ended up degenerating into chatting about Rock and Roll Wrestling, in fact I lost count of how many times Bruit Bernard’s name got mentioned. I mean it was bordering on the ridiculous.

Don’t get me wrong I dare say that quite allot of league players who like watching the wrestling on TV but I somehow doubt that you’ll see them demonstrating some of the moves you’ll see in said shows on the footy field. The only really exception to that is impressions of Hulk Hogan as post try celebrations or doing a pinfall on the football or something to that effect.

The only really benefit I can really think of for having these wrestling coaches on the club’s payroll is for teaching the players how to take a tackle to minimise the impact of that tackle. That’s about it. From what I’ve heard it has since become a copycat situation where every other club has employed a wrestling coach since the Melbourne Storm have brought them on board.

So basically the question I’ve been trying to pose in this article is do we really need to incorporate wresting techniques into Rugby League? In my honest opinion the answer to that is no other than what I mentioned before. The game has managed to survive for nearly one hundred years without it so why do we need them now all of a sudden.

WORD COUNT: 745

 

[lockyno1]

It Is the Centenary But Is This All We Are Doing!

It is the Centenary Year of Rugby League and for all it is worth we are not nearly doing enough to promote the game. It simply is not good enough.

Let’s start to look at the Round 1 fixtures. Now heaven help the NRL for their silly decisions here. But this one topped the whole lot. We have a round opening our most important season in 100 years, and yet the fact remains that the QLD derby which would get 50,000 people there was not on. The Titans-Broncos game to open the Centenary would have made sense, but nope the NRL does not think. It in the end costed the game big time in terms of attendances. This is continuing to be a serious concern for the NRL.

A further point, now I know that the City-Country feature is important to people in rural areas, but can someone tell me what is the point in having this game on a Friday night, and therefore reducing attendances for the weekend. This is another blunder by the NRL! In the end if the NRL keeps making mistakes like this, as a sport we will lose out to the AFL and the Rugby Union codes quicker than we can imagine. A change at the top of the NRL is a option, but some commonsense is needed more often than not!

A subsequent point is the advertising of the game. There has been a severe lack of advertising for the game in general. Lets compare this to the AFL where they have advertising on free to air and Pay TV all the time. We need more fans at the games and the only way to get more fans is to promote the game. It is no coincidence that the AFL averages thousands more in attendances, and it is not because they have a better product- it is purely because they advertise the game better. This includes the advertising of memberships which is another key point looking after the Centenary. The NRL needs to design an advertising campaign to get more paid members at clubs. The AFL has some clubs at over 50,000 members, no reason why we can’t do the same!

This said though there has been some great work in our Centenary Year. The first and primary factor is the World Cup. This will be a fantastic event that will celebrate 100 years of our great game. The question on the quality of the games will always be there, but I think we better leave those comments to when the even starts. As a event, most league fans are excited about the prospect of seeing the best International sides in test football in the same tournament.

A subsequent positive thing this year is the Centenary Test at the SCG. This will be a fantastic event, and bringing back the old jerseys is a great initiative by the NRL. However, it has to be said that the publicity for this event has been once again poor. However, at least the NRL was proactive and decided that a test match to mark the Centenary Year was needed if the whole concept of the “Centenary” would be marked properly.

A further positive is that the NRL Grand Final has been moved out of a poor 8pm kickoff to Twilight which is a much better situation for the fans. In the end it is the fans that attend the games, and whilst the grand final sold out it was never a ideal situation having the spectacle at night. Also allows out of city teams to celebrate at home with their home fans after the grand final rather than the following morning.

However, it can be said that the Centenary Year of Rugby League has had some positives and negatives. There are many aspects to carefully look forward to. But we must not kid ourselves, if the NRL wishes to improve the game, then changes must be made, especially in the area of advertising which has been a major problem in recent years. But it is not all negative and the Rugby League World Cup 2008 will be a great event that every league supporter should look forward to in celebrating the great game of rugby league.

720 words

 

[griffo346]

Griffo346 leads the cougars onto the hallowed turf for the 2nd time this year

The player merry-go round

In the ideal world we would have players from respective clubs do contractual decisions in the off season. But it isn’t an ideal world and this just doesn’t happen.

I am suggesting that perhaps we could take a leaf out of the book of AFL and introduce a player draft to try to even things out.

How it would work

Most people know how the draft would work the lower you are the best opportunity you would get to pick up on the best new talent in Rugby League all be it from the NSWRL, QRL or NZRL competitions.

At the seasons end the club that came last (for example 2007 saw the Penrith Panthers come last) they would gain the first selection, the club who finished second last would gain the second pick and so on, this would be called one round of picks.

Also the club that finishes with less then eight wins may also receive a priority selection, this is a distinctive advantage to a club as they gain a selection prior to the second round of picks commencing.

The drafting takes place in the off season and has four distinct phases: the trading (exchange) period, NRL Draft, NRL Pre-Season Draft and NRL Rookie Draft.

Trading period

The next round is what would be the trading period it is the first round and it occurs shortly after the end of the season and allows clubs to trade players on that year's list to other clubs in exchange for other players, draft selections or a combination of both. (For example we could of seen the Panthers Trade Craig Gower to anther club for pick 15 (Pick 15 would of game from the team who finished second or they could of traded him to anther club for anther player also). As seen in the AFL this could get more complicated involving various combinations of clubs, players and draft selections :crazy:.

As usual a player must agree to the terms of the deal so it can be finalised and it can be forwarded to the governing body this being the NRL by a certain deadline.


NRL Draft:

It would be compulsory for all sixteen clubs to participate and by this stage they can have a maximum of 35 players on their list. The NRL would form an official selection process for that year’s NRL Draft and distributes it to all clubs and media. Potential NRL players from around various rugby league affiliations must nominate for the draft by a cut-off date to be eligible for selection.

Before the draft the club can elevate players from the Rookie List on to their senior list. The draft if done correct can be the centrepiece of the NRL's off-season. It could command a huge media attraction with all selections analysed and each club's strategy assessed.

The number at which a player is selected in the draft has implications for his minimum entitlements under the NRL/NRL Players' Association Collective Bargaining Agreement. Much of the attention is focused on the No.1 draft selection.

Rookie List:

The Rookie List if done successful would be an awesome innovation for the NRL pitting players from all over Australia for the chance to live there dream of playing top flight football. Each club is allowed to select a maximum of six players, or nine in the case of Melbourne, to be placed on the rookie list. These players can play in the pre-season trials or be promoted as a long-term injury replacement player during the home and away season.

Father/Son Rule

If this rule was brought in it would make things also interesting in the fact that the son if chosen has to play for the club his father played for.

For example if clubs choose to participate they can enter into the father/son rule, just an example the West’s Tigers could have chosen Mitchell Pierce to play for them as his dad played and coached the club.

This can happen with any club that has a father history to it, this also could have happened to Scott Sattler if this was in he could have been picked to play for South Sydney instead of making his debut with Gold Coast.

In summing this up I really believe this could be good for the game evening out the pool of talent to make a better competition for the future.

734 words including title
According to the official F7s word counter.

 

[NK Arsenal]

After pulling a groin in the warm up, gunning_for_panthers decides to play through the pain barrier and he runs on to the world famous Western Weekender ground.

***

What about the future?​

In April this year, Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd will host a summit in Canberra with the best and brightest young people from around Australia to brainstorm ideas regarding how Australia will be in the year of 2020.
They will be discussing the things that need improving and ways to keep Australia as strong as ever.

I support this idea, and not only because I am a Labor supporter. I believe that you should always be planning for the future.

I don’t know why Rugby League shouldn’t have it’s own conference to discuss the future of the sport. I know that we already have the Rugby League International Federation (RLIF), but they are about as competent as eighty year old who isn’t using Sildenafil and rarely have meetings because Colin Love and co. are too busy rolling in their money.

Lets be honest, in any sport is many issues that need to be attended to regarding the future and they need to be assessed from all angles.

The conference that I propose is not a meeting between the members of the RLIF, but between members of the Australian Rugby League public, the governing bodies of Rugby League, ex-players, commentators et cetera.

At the moment, I can think of five subjects off the top of my head that matter now, and will matter in the future of Rugby League that could be discussed at one of these conferences.

Below I have named them and discussed what we can do to help our game.

Loyalty

In recent weeks, we have not experienced any form of loyalty from players or coaches, which is bloody ridiculous. To stop this from happening, I propose that they should not be allowed to negotiate contracts with rival clubs until the end of the season. This gives the current club a chance to offer them a contract and keeps the team focussed on the current season.

Stadiums and ticketing

Sports teams in different sports own their own stadiums. I think that the NRL must find a way to for Rugby League teams to get their own stadiums. At the moment only the Cronulla Sharks own their own stadium, the rest are owned by the State Government and I think this is unacceptable. Obviously it won’t be easy for teams to buy stadiums, but teams need to plan for this to happen.

Tickets for Rugby League are so overpriced and it is little wonder why many people decide to stay at home and watch the game on TV or go to the local pub rather than going out to watch the match at the ground. Ticket prices need to come down by at least 10% to attract more fans.

Image of Rugby League

thanks to the media, the image our game has been tarnished in recent years because of late night incidents. To clean up Rugby League, I propose that on that when the man of the match award is awarded on channel nine matches that the man of the match nominates a charity who he will give the $1000 to. And then The Footy Show on Thursday nights, the players donate the money to the charity. This will help make Rebecca Wilson and Phil Rothfield shut up.

Expansion

We need to expand to different places that don’t have Rugby League teams. I believe that by 2014 we should have four new teams in Perth, Adelaide, Central Coast and Christchurch.
We need Perth and Adelaide so we can develop players in different states, we need Central Coast because they have a lot of juniors and a passion for Rugby League and we need another New Zealand side so we can help develop Rugby League on New Zealand’s South Island.

Defensive Strategies

The AFL and the A-League are planning separate bombing raids on Rugby League territory in Western Sydney and the Gold Coast. We need to figure out a way to stop the rival codes taking over our territory.

If we can sit down and discuss the future of Rugby League, we have the chance to make our game the most superior football code and I dare say, one of the most superior sports in the world.
***

701 words between the stars according to the official word counter.

 

[Willow]

 

[griffo346]

Damn guys 5 v 0 good result for us but i didnt want to win like this and use articles we have wasted

 

[Mr. Fahrenheit]

well thats what happens when the captain keeps going AWOL i suppose

good luck to cougars for the rest of the season, sorry about our effort tonight.

 

[NK Arsenal]

Well I'll take the win - our post count and f/a will be bloody fantastic. And the win is against Bumble's side too. How awesome!

But it was a shame that we wasted our articles but its not your fault Mr. F.

Good luck for the rest of your season.

 

[Bumble]

Well I'll take the win - our post count and f/a will be bloody fantastic. And the win is against Bumble's side too. How awesome!

But it was a shame that we wasted our articles but its not your fault Mr. F.

Good luck for the rest of your season.

Kind of hard to do anything when even if I do post an article it won't matter because the team hasn't been named.

Sorry to waste your time to anyone who writes a 90+ article.

You guys should have just deleted your pieces and had G4P write an Acrostic poem to win by 20 to 0.

 

[Mr. Fahrenheit]

bumble said it in better words than i could, and i'd like to applaud him for not showing his full frustration in this thread.

N4P, do an acrostic poem... just for fun's sake.

 

[[furrycat]]

Why would you delete your articles? Its good for the for and against for the Cougars and that comesi n handy.

 

[Dutchy]

should have let Dutchy make his debut..

but then..Souths would have won 0 to -37

 

[griffo346]

JS u want in next game then ;-)

 

[Dutchy]

umm..leave for Tasmania on the 15th-23rd

Trekking through Walls of Jerusalem and Cradle Mountains National Parks.

I could smoke signal an essay?

 

[griffo346]

:lol: sorry dude i need glasses to see it and ive lost them :lol: so i wouldnt be able to make it out

 

[NK Arsenal]

N4P, do an acrostic poem... just for fun's sake.

okie doke :lol:

Really our game is not
Utter trash like
Grubby Union, this is
Because many people love the
Young talent on display, and

Lick their lips because of the talent and laugh at the
Enemy which is Union, our other
Arch enemy is
AFL aka aerial ping pong. It is also
Utter trash which is played in
El Mexico aka Victoria.

DISCLAIMER: This was not my article. My article was posted on the previous page. You do not have the permission to not mark my other article. This poem is protected by the first gfp act of 2008, which allows you to mark this as bumble's article. :lol:

Why would you delete your articles? Its good for the for and against for the Cougars and that comesi n handy.

Furry, hows it goin?

Were you supervising the pd/h/pe test in the mpc the other day by any chance?