Thanks fellas

[SBD82]

Cook looks better than I expected. I thought he had reached his threshold.

Only issue will be whether he will be able to remain effective for the full season playing 80.

I'd still not trade though. Especially since mcinness seems to have added a kicking and more of running game to his arsenal this season.

 

[SBD82]

I thought Mcinnes was solid without being spectacular. He’s one of those players that will never cost you a game imo. Reliable.

Something that did concern me though was the amount of flat passes he throws? Some of them look borderline forward? Maybe it’s just the angle though.

Anyway it was good to see the dragons stomp all over the Broncos. I don’t think anybody cares for Brisbane anymore.

I thought he was our best player in the first half. He does a lot of quality work in the middle in defense, led our linespeed with graham; gave very good service, and picked his runs well.

Re: the flat passes, I didn't really notice, but if true it's not necessarily a bad thing. Cam smith has changed the rules for these passes over the last few years. If the refs start penalizing other players they will have to penalize smith too, and there's no way that's going to happen.

 

[Souths Till I Die]

Cook looks better than I expected. I thought he had reached his threshold.

Only issue will be whether he will be able to remain effective for the full season playing 80.

I'd still not trade though. Especially since mcinness seems to have added a kicking and more of running game to his arsenal this season.

I wouldn’t expect you to want to trade either haha. I think there’s a lot of pride on the line here.

I worry about Cook’s defence for the full 80 as well but I’m hoping playing 4 forwards off the bench this year might alleviate some of the defensive work he’s done in previous years. He also looks to have bulked up a fair bit so that always helps.

I think they’re both great players but at the same time have their own flaws. The way I see it is that there’s one number 9 that towers above the rest in Cameron Smith and every other hooker is fighting for 2nd place.

 

[Souths Till I Die]

I thought he was our best player in the first half. He does a lot of quality work in the middle in defense, led our linespeed with graham; gave very good service, and picked his runs well.

Re: the flat passes, I didn't really notice, but if true it's not necessarily a bad thing. Cam smith has changed the rules for these passes over the last few years. If the refs start penalizing other players they will have to penalize smith too, and there's no way that's going to happen.

You don’t reckon LAM was the standout? I thought his energy and impact off the bench was something else.

I agree with most of what you say though. Unfortunately players like Mcinnes who rack up the tackle counts are always gonna be under appreciated because it’s the pretty boys like Hunt and Aitken that will benefit off of it the most.

Yeah that’s a valid point but at the same time we all know that inconsistency is what the NRL does best, right?

 

[SBD82]

You don’t reckon LAM was the standout? I thought his energy and impact off the bench was something else.

I agree with most of what you say though. Unfortunately players like Mcinnes who rack up the tackle counts are always gonna be under appreciated because it’s the pretty boys like Hunt and Aitken that will benefit off of it the most.

Yeah that’s a valid point but at the same time we all know that inconsistency is what the NRL does best, right?

Ah mau was great. Massive luxury having a prop of his calibre coming off the bench. McInnes edged him imo, but you know what they say about opinions and arseholes.

Re: the flat passes, I guess it depends on whether or not they take minutes at the referees meetings. When cam smith is training the refs he could probably get away with telling them to "ignore flat passes", as long as he doesn't say "ignore my flat passes".

 

[Souths Till I Die]

Ah mau was great. Massive luxury having a prop of his calibre coming off the bench. McInnes edged him imo, but you know what they say about opinions and arseholes.

Re: the flat passes, I guess it depends on whether or not they take minutes at the referees meetings. When cam smith is training the refs he could probably get away with telling them to "ignore flat passes", as long as he doesn't say "ignore my flat passes".

Haha exactly. Fair enough though. I think number 9 is one of the hardest positions on the field, so even to have a good game is a mission in itself.

FMD I’m seriously hoping Madge fixes the reffing up though. It seemed like they were on top of the Broncos last night with all the offside calls, but hopefully they stay on top of these things.

 

[southsport]

Cook looks better than I expected. I thought he had reached his threshold.

Only issue will be whether he will be able to remain effective for the full season playing 80.

I'd still not trade though. Especially since mcinness seems to have added a kicking and more of running game to his arsenal this season.

Who knows what may have been at Souths for Cam under a different coach, I think he copped a lot of unfair criticism for the dour performances of the team and coming into the line-up after Issac's departure was always going to be a hard act to follow.

 

[SBD82]

FMD I’m seriously hoping Madge fixes the reffing up though. It seemed like they were on top of the Broncos last night with all the offside calls, but hopefully they stay on top of these things.

I'd forgotten that Madge has got himself involved with the refs. He's got his work cut out for him, but i guess there's no way he's going to do any worse than his predecessors.

The game seemed to flow pretty smoothly last night. No weird pedantic penalties, but picked up some good ones. I can't stand checcin, but it was very nice to see him back himself with the widdop offside call off the hunt kick. Even though it was against my team that sort of thing is promising.

 

[southsport]

The ref called one knock-on against saints when the player was lying on the ground facing his own goal line, all the refs do this sort of thing now and to me it's not a knock-on as the ball hasn't progressed past any advantage line.........it's a knock-back in my book.

 

[Souths Till I Die]

I'd forgotten that Madge has got himself involved with the refs. He's got his work cut out for him, but i guess there's no way he's going to do any worse than his predecessors.

The game seemed to flow pretty smoothly last night. No weird pedantic penalties, but picked up some good ones. I can't stand checcin, but it was very nice to see him back himself with the widdop offside call off the hunt kick. Even though it was against my team that sort of thing is promising.

Yeah but Madge is a tough merkin. I don’t think anyone’s gonna push him around, which some refs might find confronting. Their fitness levels will definitely be up on previous years as well which could also help their decisions. More oxygen to their brains and all that kind of stuff.

Honestly, I thought it was a good game of footy that wasn’t interrupted by poor reffing and I hope this trend continues throughout the whole season.

 

[Rabbits20]

You don’t reckon LAM was the standout? I thought his energy and impact off the bench was something else.

I agree with most of what you say though. Unfortunately players like Mcinnes who rack up the tackle counts are always gonna be under appreciated because it’s the pretty boys like Hunt and Aitken that will benefit off of it the most.

Yeah that’s a valid point but at the same time we all know that inconsistency is what the NRL does best, right?

Cookie will be fine!!

Some players at times didn't play the ball with their foot and weren't penalised....

 

[Travitoh]

The ref called one knock-on against saints when the player was lying on the ground facing his own goal line, all the refs do this sort of thing now and to me it's not a knock-on as the ball hasn't progressed past any advantage line.........it's a knock-back in my book.

Lafai? If it's the one I'm thinking of, he drags it back in to himself while it's on the deck i believe.

 

[southsport]

Lafai? If it's the one I'm thinking of, he drags it back in to himself while it's on the deck i believe.

That could be the one, to me that's not a knock-on.

 

[ThingFish]

Wow.

You spelled it out slowly and still f**ked it up.

It’s called phonetics, but I wouldn’t expect a merge supporter to understand the difference. Yeah, the Google button is at the top of your screen

 

[SBD82]

It’s called phonetics, but I wouldn’t expect a merge supporter to understand the difference. Yeah, the Google button is at the top of your screen

Ha.

Way to double down on stupid.

 

[Travitoh]

That could be the one, to me that's not a knock-on.

It's one of those we could probably debate all afternoon lol

 

[southsport]

It's one of those we could probably debate all afternoon lol

That's for sure.

I see a lot of dropped ball that I think wouldn't have been called knock-on in the good old days.

 

[DynamicRabbit1]

Who knows what may have been at Souths for Cam under a different coach, I think he copped a lot of unfair criticism for the dour performances of the team and coming into the line-up after Issac's departure was always going to be a hard act to follow.

McInness is your generic number 9... does the job and not much more

 

[southsport]

McInness is your generic number 9... does the job and not much more

Yeah maybe, but any hooker would have looked ordinary the way the team as a whole was playing at the time.

 

[Souths Till I Die]

McInness is your generic number 9... does the job and not much more

That’s exactly what St George need though. They already have powerful ball running and ball playing forwards so they just need a rake who can do his job. Mcinnes provides them with that.

The St George forward pack shits all over our forward pack in 2015/2016.