Well mr mcidiot is threatening to rest all players involved after the rep weekend. if so who is he going to put in??? Have we got the players to handle Parramatta?
We are now 2 points clear at the top. I wouldn't be too concerned about dropping a game to ensure that the rep players are 100% fit and recovered for the run home.
Resting players for a 4 day turnaround game against a team on the bottom of the table after their second Origin and playing a test match on the other side of the world. Yep, that makes him an idiot.
A couple should be fine, Parra are a rabble. While I’m here, we finally get a SOO stand alone weekend and the NRL helpfully plays the game at 8.10pm on a Sunday night. Is it just me that we have loved to have seen a SOO game at 3pm in the afternoon. That’s of course if the NRL was running the game and not Nine.
Robin; "Holy sh#% Batman it's catastrophic, we'll have no-one on the fight against those slippery eels" Batman; "Dont panic Robin. I'm sure Mary has prepared his backup soldiers for such a diabolical situation." Robin; "I'm not convinced Batman. I must say Batman I'm a little worried."
It's a very good question. But first let's look at who is selected and go from there: Denver test: Graham, Widdop, LAM (possibly Nighty) Pacific tests: Nene, Lafai (baring injury these guys should be right to back-up) SOO: Hunt, Vaughan, JDB, Friz (Sims maybe) Possible team: Dufty Nene, Herbert (Nighty) Aitken, Lafai Mann Hunt (Nichols) Vaughan, Latimore Host, Sims McInnes Sele Lawrie, Allgood (pains me to write that one) Leilua Herbert (Nighty)
We all knew that it would come and it has arrived , still after looking at Dragonslayers team above , we will certainly put up a good showing against the eels and with an ounce of luck actually come out as winners . The silver lining is that this will be the opportunity for the young guns to show their talents , which will stand the Dragons in good stead come the finals .
I'm just dumbfounded at why they'd play it on a Sunday! Surely the Saturday would be a far better option... On topic - LOL! It's Parra. Our ISP could run out and put a cricket score on them.
They should be playing the other 2 origin games on the Monday or at least the Tuesday night and still have no Thursday night games following it. If they played Saturday night, that would only give the origin team 5 days to prepare.
I think that the reason why you don't understand is that you're an actual rugby league fan, so you aren't the target audience that they consider when making the scheduling decision. SOO is the NRL's flagship product. They are pretty obviously using it to try to appeal to a wider audience, hence playing 1 game a year outside NSW/QLD, and scheduling on a Sunday, where it won't clash with people's Saturday night activities, or any Aussie rules games. It's a cynical view i know, but let's be honest. You, me, and the rest of the people on this forum would find a way to watch it if they played at 11am on a Tuesday. On the flip side, the rugby league "diehard fans" that appear out of nowhere around origin time wouldn't give up a dinner date or an invitation out on a Saturday.
Playing the Eels will be close to a simulated Bye rehearsal. Give the young blokes a decent opportunity and practice run.
If Mary’s serious about resting all the internationals I reckon it’ll be Dufty Garrick Aitken Herbert Mann Field Nicholls Ah Mau McInnes Latimore Leilua Host Sims Lawrie Sele Kerr Robson
Watch the presser again. He didnt say that at all. What he said was he will be guided by the performance staff / players etc, and he hinted to Mel resting players when they led the comp. Nothing wrong with that. In fact, as much as we all want to slam Mary, he got this right. If there is any issue with a player then rest him. Are we now at the point where "everything" Mary says is a new thread ? Maybe, just maybe, lets give him credit for thinking ahead and not burning out players leading into the semis. I have said many times, Mary's contract ( like Pricey's) should not have been renewed. However, to find fault in every comment he makes, when in fact we mostly agree that some players should be rested is just garbage.
P DS Agree with above except Allgood has damaged both knee last week and is in a brace . So not sure if he will be fit. So I would give kerr a run
JDHD said; "If Mary’s serious about resting all the internationals I reckon it’ll be Dufty Garrick Aitken Herbert Mann Field Nicholls Ah Mau McInnes Latimore Leilua Host Sims Lawrie Sele Kerr Robson" --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- It's gunna be really hard to back up I'd say. They either back up again or the side will resemble this (minus Ah Mau). This would be a huge ask, even against Parra. Lambs to the slaughter springs to mind. If only a few more of them had some minutes in the top grade this year. Oh sorry my mistake, I forgot. There's a few who have either sat on the bench or have been given seven minutes. I take back what I said. We've got this.
Surprised to read that some of you think we can put out any old team and still account for Eels comfortably. I think the competition is a lot closer than that. It is nice that McGregor is very pro rep teams but it would have been smarter for him to do more to prepare some fringe players for this upcoming time. We have to play Storm the week after in Melbourne. With Smith they will probably feel confident of beating us. I just hope enough of those rep players will back up against Eels, and maybe start them from the bench.
