Trial Match: Warriors Vs Rhinos

[roosterboy60]

[font=Times New Roman, Times, serif]New Zealand Warriors v Orange County Rhinos[/font]

[font=Times New Roman, Times, serif]Game Thread
Please note - This is a game thread only, therefore only game posts can be made here (Teams, Articles).
Any other posts will result in loss of points and is at the discretion of the referee.
Only original essays, not used in previous games, will be marked by referees.

[font=Times New Roman, Times, serif]Both teams will be allowed 2 reserves.
Rules: http://f7s.leagueunlimited.com/rules.asp[/font]

[font=Times New Roman, Times, serif]Full Time: Wednesday 15th Feb at 9pm (Syd time)[/font]

[font=Times New Roman, Times, serif]Venue: The Front Row Stadium

Crowd: TBA
REFEREE: Dragon_Psa[/font]

[font=Times New Roman, Times, serif]**Referee Blows Game On!**[/font]

[/font]

 

[Robster]

1 KeepingTheFaith
5 byrne_rovelli_fan82
8 Wiki
10 go_the_doggies
11 mad kiwi elloco bandido

Bench
6 Esoj
9 Robster (c

 

[ParraMatt]

ParraMatt (c)
Bartman (vc)
Mzilikazi
TBA
TBA

Reserves
Hightown
TBA

 

[go_the_doggies]

What The Tri Nations Win Meant To New Zealand



That first game, Sydney

The kiwis went into the game as the underdogs since we had the likes of Benji Marshall, Sonny Bill Williams, and Dene Halatau all out due to injury. Oh and don’t forget Matty utai.



30 minutes into the game….the score was 18-0 to NZ “Could this be happening? thought kangaroo coach Wayne Bennett “Yes it could, and it was” thought Bluey, the Kiwi’s coach, and all the kiwi fans.



The Kiwi’s walked out of that game winners, 38-28.

This wasn’t just any win; the kiwis hadn’t beaten the kangaroos on home soil in around 42 years.



We started the tri nations campaign winners, and we ended the tri nations winner…well champions really…beating the kangaroos 24-nill in the 2005 tri nations final.



In the early hours of the morning back in New Zealand, it was a momentous occasion for all us kiwi fans.



And as for Stacey Jones. What a little legend...he’s not just the warriors little general...well the formal warriors little general…he’s the kiwis little general. Flying around the world and back god knows how many times for the birth of his 3rd child, William, then flying over to England the play for his country, not knowing what day it is.



One of the many many highlights for me from that game was how we kept Aussie score less.



Ruben Wiki is like the Tana Umaga of league, he’s a great role model on and off the field, and he’s a great captain, a great player.



This win meant a lot to us fans, it’s been a long time coming, and it was a bit over due really.

Many people believe with out stace we wouldn’t have won, I don’t agree, sure he played his part, his kicking was outstanding. But everyone played outstanding for the kiwis in the end. I don’t know how they picked a man of the match, how about team of the match.



I know for me it was a highlight of my year, Ruben Wiki made me cry when he cried tears of joy, but c’mon what’d ya expect, once again this trophy has had its time in Aussie, now its time to come back to the land of the long white cloud.



Also what I think is a bit disgraceful is that the all blacks, and 3 rowing teams get into the halbergs and the kiwis don’t, now I aint being bias, cause im a fan of the all blacks, but the kiwis deserve that team of the year award then any of those ‘teams’ the all blacks are always winning, as for the kiwis. It’s a rare thing to win all the time, also if they aint in the running for team of the year, then how can bluey be in the running for coach of the year. I just hope like hell that he gets that award, but no he wont, Mr Henry will since he coaches the all blacks.



I had only gotten 5 and half hours sleep. Going to bed late…waking up for the All Blacks grand slam victory…going back to sleep…waking up again for the kiwis then finally going back to sleep and waking up around 11:30am.



But it was all worth it in the end. Just to see Bluey, and the kiwi boys and all the management so happy. After a well deserved win. And offcourse the highlight was seeing Ruben Wiki cry tears of joy after leading his side to victory on his 50th test…and to lift that silver wear.



The trophy’s back in NZ

Time to go back to back boys

 

[Wiki]

I think the Warriors will do VERY well this year.

To make it easier to write, I’ll break it down into categories.

New Coach.

Lets face it: the Warriors first problem lay in the coaching. Daniel Anderson found our clubs glory in 2002, and he also saw its near destruction only for Tony Kemp to take over and nearly finish his task of ruining us. Of course, not by choice but by the tactics that they employed.

Now I know Ivan has not had much experience, but in the experience that he has had he has tasted success with the Sydney Roosters second club. I liken this a lot to the way that Bluey had limited experience but that was success. That is a good attribute to have.

Ivan has said he will work on changing the Warriors to play like the old team - a good move when you consider what happened when Bluey let Toops’ and Webby run the game like that.

He has also promised to breed a few players into 1st Grade. Let me emphasise this for a second. Just today (Sunday) he gave three of his most promising players a run: George Tuakuara, Sam Rapira and Cooper Vuna. All ran well with Cooper Vuna scoring a great solo try – he looks set to steal a bench position with with his ability to cover centre, fullback and wing. Sam Rapira looked hungry and he will continue to gain experience as the season goes on. Ivan’s enthusiasm to breed this players will not only start changing the direction of the club now, but give us two or three years and this club will be on the rise and true championship contenders for a long time ahead.

New Strip.

This is a new team. Some oldies have left, some new boys have come, and some development boys have arrived. Why not give us a new strip? They have. The players look good and obviously the technology used should aid us in giving us that extra advantage. If the players feel good playing in their new jerseys like they say they do then that’s only another ingredient to add to the success stew.

Fitness.

Price said that last year was a huge change for them when they entered the post-Anderson training programs. He said this year already the boys are much fitter than last year – hell Price says that even HE is fitter.

Now this would be great as long as they haven't lost any muscle ...and that’s just it - they seemed to have GAINED muscle. The boys are huge. Ropati is huge. Tuakura has lost weight and looking strong. Sione has bulked. Mannering has got bigger. Cooper Vuna is a machine.

Post Tri-Nations

Now Ivan has said that they are training good and that the Tri Nations win has installed a great deal of enthusiasm and belief into the team. That’s awesome. The pride that Wiki has will only boost the teams morale. When you had so many players playing the best league of their careers in that environment, the only effect has to be a leaky bucket effect – some of the rewards sneak through the holes in the bucket and fall into the Warriors regime.

Toopi, Anderson, Wiki, Vatuvei, and Webb. They ALL played well. Its guaranteed that this will sneak through and boost the whole teams performance at training.

So…

Guys I am so freaking stoked that the boys are looking good, training good, feeling good, and have belief in themselves. It’s awesome.

I would say that I wish the league would hurry up and start and with little over a month to go till kick off then there is plenty of time for our boys to start training.

Guys, last year we had it. We were so close and you know it. I have said it before and I'll say it again, we forgot how to win. We did 80% right, but the 20% we didn't do right lost us the game. We played some good games. We smashed the Broncos and took it to the Tigers in the rain. Had the boys won a few more of those 2-6 point losses then we would have been straight into the top 8.

We didn't deserve it though.

But, we redeemed ourselves with the Tri Nations. Our boys played fantastic. And better still, at that point in time we had some of the best players in the world playing for the Kiwis and a number of them were from the Warriors. We need that to continue and I seriously think Ivan will do it.

But the boys are hungry. The fans are hungry. Vatuvei is set to make a huge impact this year. The monster scored 9 tries out of 11 games! The monster led our team with line breaks yet only played half of the season.

Then there is Toops, Webby, Louis, Wiki and Price. Oh what about Sonny Fai? Ropati? Sione!? We have so many stars in this team. We need to lift our heads. We have recruited well - in my opinion. Cheaply and wisely.

I wish the Warriors my best in 2006. I do not doubt the talent we have in both the coaches and the players and now the management. John Hart is set to have a major impact and I look forward to seeing what he brings to the franchise.

All the best boys!

(905 words, yo!)

 

[byrne_rovelli_fan82]

Warriors-Shinning light of the NRL

In a game as brutal as rugby league you can be forgiven for taking sides. But what’s most intriguing about the Southern Hemisphere’s NRL competition is that there is one sole team that lives on representing a country on its own; known as New Zealand. Sure there are some brilliantly talented young players in the NRL that were born and breed in NZ but they are playing in the Australian NRL clubs. Where’s the fun in that? One major let down of the NRL in its early years was its complete dominance of Australian based clubs. It might be a great competition but I would hardly call it a competition if you only had other Aussies to crash and bash each other. They already do enough of that at State of Origin level.



When that year of 1995 rolled around NZ got excited. Why? Because for once the NRL decided it wanted to expand its competition; to give the opportunity for other clubs in other places to play in it. After all; if the NRL wanted to become the toughest and best league competition in the world then it needed to be expanded. Enter the then Auckland Warriors; but now known as the New Zealand Warriors and the NRL was turned upside down; Here was a team hailing from Australia’s ‘little brother’ and almost instantly a star was born. Being NZ based thou there were pros and cons about having the club in the Aussie competition. Once people realized this was a team that would be around for years to come they stood up and took notice.



Ask any Warriors fan about the most memorable season of the Warriors and you are more than likely to hear 2002. Well, in what right why wouldn’t any fan not love about that year? Things went great for the Auckland based team. They were playing the most spectacular brand of football ever seen in league. The kind of razzle ‘n’ dazzle football is only season from the big brother footy; rugby union by none other than the Auckland Blues. However the Warriors; stacked as they are with Kiwis, Polynesians and a splash of Aussie tang came along and showed they weren’t afraid to take on the world. They’d do and go to just about any length to gain respect. In 2002 alone they proved in their seven year existence that when you have a chance to make a difference, don’t ever be afraid to take it.



Being a Warriors supporter sometimes puts you under pressure especially when the team fails to impress and lets you down so bad sometimes you wonder why you stick with them. The bottom line is, the Warriors are different, as a team representing a city, a country all on its own in the big league; they never fail to bring a smile to your face. Yes they are frustrating; but at the end of the day you scream at the top of your lungs at them. Wrap up in their success; drown in their shared sorrows of a loss. Even worse sometimes even drown at losing some wonderful players every year. One thing is for sure thou as a Warriors supporter there is never a dull moment, you laugh, cry and throw a tantrum at the team but yet you can’t tear yourself away. You might be a Kiwi living in Australia and sometimes you get sucked into supporting a Sydney-based team; the blood running through your veins will always be that of the black and silver…the Warriors.



No matter what goes on in the NRL; being over run by Australian clubs, controversy from other clubs or individual players… there is always one team you can count on. The one shinning light of the toughest league competition is none other than the New Zealand Warriors. Ten years and still going on strong.

NZ Warriors-Champions of the NRL’s future.

 

[KeepingTheFaith]

KeepingTheFaith making his debut. Go the Warriors

Forget The Hype, Just Bring On The Hits

The new NRL season is a month away, but already the preseason is upon us. With the World Club Challenge completed for another year and no genuine preseason competition, all attention has turned to the preseason trials starting this weekend.

While fans will get a small fix of rugby league, for me I’m already over it and itching for the season proper to start. Having watched Rugby League for almost twenty years this time of the year has become familiar, and unfortunately very repetitive.

Faster, stronger, fitter, the buzz words coming out of every NRL club as they try to give fans hope, not to mention push season ticket sales up a little bit further. But how much of it is hype? Come September there will be many fans from at least seven NRL clubs asking ‘what happened?’

Will the upsets of last year continue? Can the Cowboys and Tigers continue their fairytale rises from the cellar to the penthouse, and will we see the reemergence of past powers like the Roosters and Bulldogs? If you believe the hype then those questions have already been answered as every club tries to convince their fans that this is the year they break into the top eight, if not the top four.

It’s easy to talk in February. Every club has ‘the next big thing’. Every player has trained the house down and is in the best shape of their career – so we’re lead to believe. If all of this is sounding familiar there’s a simple explanation. While most fans only pay attention to their own club saying these things, what they don’t understand is there are fourteen other clubs spreading the same hype.

The preseason trials will prove nothing to what the NRL season may hold. Youngsters who won’t see first grade this year will be given a go, season veterans rested, and in the space of eighty minutes more than a dozen different combinations will be tested in various positions in an attempt to stumble onto that perfect balance that will take your team to premiership glory.

Every loss will be followed by the standard coaching clichés. Experimenting, rust, new combinations, missing players, the list goes on as everyone dismisses preseason form in an attempt to continue the hype towards the season proper. Sadly, going from forum to forum it’s easy to see that most of the hype is being taken in as gospel by fans hoping for bigger and better things in 2006.

As the saying goes ‘actions speak louder than words’ and while the preseason will be a small relief for league-starved fans, it won’t come close to the real thing. The skills won’t be as sharp, hits nowhere near as intense, and players wrapped in cotton wool out of fear that they won’t make it to the start of round 1.

That’s not what our great game is about. While I understand that preseason trials are a necessary evil, it doesn’t fill the void of most passionate league fans. It’s always good to see the future stars of our game getting a chance, but after twenty years it’s not enough to raise my excitement anymore as I contemplate the first round.

So be prepared for the hype to continue. As the first round of trials gets underway the clichés will fly thick and fast, fans will talk up their team as well as the young players who may have impressed in their twenty minutes on the field. Don’t be fooled, it means nothing until that first whistle blows for kickoff to the 2006 season.

Until then enjoy the trials, take in all the hype, but remember there are fifteen teams and only eight spots up for grabs. Seven clubs are going to be very disappointed come September, and I for one can’t wait for it all to begin. Only one month to go, and it’s going to be a long one.


662 words

 

[MKEB...]

The Joys (and things not so joyful but we love them anyway) of Junior Football.

Have you ever had the experience of waking up at 6:30 on a Sunday morning to hear the stomping of little feet charging down to your bedroom, eagerly making sure that you are awake to take him to his 10:00 game of football.
The excited cries of a seven year old boy jumping on your bed and shouting "Daddy ,daddy wake up and make me some breakfast. Football starts in an hour, and I dont want to be late".
That really is the last thing that you want to hear when you know that football starts in a couple of hours anyway, you could probably get a couple more hours of sleep and the effects of last nights Tequila session are still lingering.
But still , knowing that there is a good and dutifull father inside of you ... somewhere. You decide to get out of bed and endulge your son his Sunday morning excitement.

As he stands beside you in the kitchen waiting for his Ricies and wearing his shorts socks and even his mouthguard (bless him), you notice the gleam in his eyes; the anticipation of the highlight of his week.
You cant help but admire the enthusiasm of youth.. It makes you remember when you were a little tacker and you used to do that to your parents.
You know that all you needed to do to keep him amused was to buy him a football and a pair of boots.
Isn't it great knowing that age seven he is still excited about going to training on a Wednesday and wearing his team jersey on a Sunday.
It is a pity that you know in 10 years it will be a struggle to get him out of bed before lunchtime, and away from the television at dinner time.

It gets to game time and he runs onto the field looking around anxiously to make sure that you are watching him. You see him, dwarfed beside the other boys (or is that just your worry that he may hurt himself?). But you shout out to him,"Around the ankles lad", and he knows that you are watching him.

The joys of watching children play football are immense.
The look of amusement at watching the children figure out what direction their try line is. The pride when they score a try.The worry when they get tackled a little too hard.
The tiredness of moving your head left and right as the little fellas charge around the field in reckless abandon.

What the little boys lack in any real skill and brilliance they more than amply make up for in sheer enthusiasm. Part of the learning kerb in junior rugby league is enabled because of the rules being a lot easier. The rules help to teach the basics of the game. Passing , catching and tackling.
Another good reason for the rules being simple are that it stops violence from parents of opposite teams, and also to stop ref abuse from irate parents.

You need not worry to much much about your little boy getting to hurt. At that age they dont know how to put in the big hits, and have know idea of the meaning of the word malice .
When your boy falls over he will usually bounce back up again and carry on playing at the same helter skelter pace. A simple mentality of try and make a tackle-get bowled over making a tackle-get up-try again. Usually the worst that can happens to your little boy is a skinned knee or a bleeding lip.

Finally the day comes when you can witness your boy score his first try. You almost feel like running onto the field to give him a cuddle, but you don't as you know you will embarrass him more than you will embarrass yourself. Thank God he is not 15 years older and you are not his coach. How much money in bonus's would you have to fork out to pay his try bonus? A simple can of fizz or bag of chips will suffice.
Hear the joy in his voice describing to you time and time again about his try. He won't get sick of telling you about it and you won't get sick of hearing about it.

Game over...Season over. Your son can't wait for the next game/season. And neither can you. The whole rigmarole, nay ..joy will start again.

 

[bartman]

Bartman pops his head out of a locker room dust-up :roll:, acknowledges the Warrior’s superior commitment and organisation , and apologises for his former team’s poor showing in this trial .

And, in what could be amongst the last Rhino posts ever in Forum Sevens, pens a suitably apt epitaph….

- - - - -

Smells Like Team Spirit?

Rugby league teams are (obviously) collections of individuals, and team performance is subject to the individuals’ particular strengths and weaknesses. However conventional wisdom has always suggested that there can be something special in the combinations between individuals, something that can make a team “more than the sum of its parts”. Team spirit falls into this vague category of “something special”, and is one of those mysterious factors that in sport can make a champion team stand above a team of champion players.

As a rugby league fan one of the first examples of team spirit that I can remember comes from the late 70s and coach Roy Masters. He famously introduced the concept of “fibros versus silvertails” into his Western Suburbs club, as a motivation tool to help his team of working class players peak for their clashes against the much reviled and apparently weathier Manly club. We see variations of this tactic still in action today’s expanded game, with regional persecution complexes being used by some coaches to instil a short-term sense of purpose and unity in their players, to encourage a top performance in a vital match.

Jack Gibson also showed the power of team spirit at Parramatta in 1981 by moulding a bunch of young nobodies and old past-its into a premiership winning unit, and laying a foundation for five further years of club success. Much has been documented about Gibson’s methods, and his penchant for building solid team philosophies - not only to guide play on the field, but also to aid players in dealing with issues they faced in life. He set up a permanent caravan at the training field, where players could approach him about anything, anytime. In those days of part-time rugby league, he was among the first to realise that team spirit was a fulltime concern.

Unfortunately in today’s game, there are many examples of how this carefully crafted and nurtured team spirit can almost instantly be swept away, to the detriment of a team’s potential. Some of these are pure circumstance, like an unlucky injury to a key player, which can affect the team’s preparations or consistency over a period of time. A short suspension to a key player with carry-over points can bring down the team morale at a vital stage of the season, and even a penalty at a key point within a game can be enough to take the wind out of the team’s sails. For that matter, a particular player that always tries to back-chatting the ref’s call, potentially costing his team ten metres (or ten minutes in the bin) can be a real killer of valuable team sprit - especially when the team is struggling and on the ropes.

One particular cause for decline of team spirit (perhaps worse than those caused by circumstance?) is when a particular player within the team conducts himself as some sort of prima donna; thinking whatever is happening for him is more important than whatever other players might themselves be going through? Without naming names, we’ve all seen the type – players who seem hell bent on continual self promotion despite the situation of their team or club, hyping themselves up for representative duty (or player awards) only to then become an embarrassment for team-mates and fans alike, or taking some grand public stance about a personal issue they believe should matter to everyone else, only to realise later on that it didn’t, and then having to meekly ask the forgiveness of their team-mates or those in authority?

These behaviours all stem from self-interest, which is the natural enemy of valuable team spirit. But strangely (or hypocritically?) those whose actions are guided almost entirely by self-interest often attempt to portray themselves publicly as loyal foot-soldiers suffering for the good of their team! Sometimes they even claim or imply that it is their team or club, or particular people within their own organisation, who have treated them unfairly or are holding them back! The more pigheaded of these attention-seeking narcissists will actually turn against their team-mates without thinking, therefore becoming the cause of more disharmony than ever as a result.

People such as these tend never to have a positive effect on team spirit, and it can be argued that despite any individual brilliance, they can never truly become team players. As such they cancel out their own individual contributions to a team game such as rugby league – or Forum Sevens as the case may be...

- - - - -

750 words, by the official F7s word counter.

RIP Rhinos.

 

[antonius]

Ref Blows Fulltime.

 

[Robster]

great job team, if only the warriors league team's defence was as good as ours. Thanks Bartman for doing your best to prevent this match from being a further blowout.

 

[bartman]

Congratulations Robster, and to the Warriors players.

You've got a well drilled team there by the looks of it, and have consistently shown an ability to get 5 posts in.

Just maybe need to get used to the word limits etc and you guys should be real contenders this year imo.

Thanks in advance to Dragon_PSA for efforts as the ref.

 

[Dragon_psa]

Warriors.

Go_the_doggies: What the tri-nations win meant to NZ.

A piece on the best thing to happen to NZ Rugby League in decades. Let down a bit by a fair few spelling and grammatical errors, but sums up the feelings of quite a few Kiwi fans that I know quite effectively.

78.

Wiki: I think the Warriors will do VERY well this year.

Concise, well written piece. Definitely a player to watch in the future, as long as you stay within the official word count of between 500 and 750 words.

92 less word count penalty of 22 points = 70.

byrne_rovelli_fan82: Warriors - Shining light of the NRL.

A couple of minor spelling and grammar errors, but an entertaining read on one of the more enigmatic teams in the comp. Well done.

86.

KeepingTheFaith: Forget The Hype, Just Bring On The Hits

Having watched the game myself for over 20 years, I can relate to the writers feelings on the "necessary evils" of pre-season fixtures. An entertaining read.

90.

mad kiwi elloco bandido: The Joys (and things not so joyful but we love them anyway) of Junior Football.

Thoroughly enjoyable and very well written piece that as a parent I can definitely relate to. Great work.

93.


Rhinos.

Bartman: Smells like team spirit?

Thought provoking, informative, and very well written piece on the apparent decline in team spirit today compared to days gone by. Excellent work; it's a shame it was the only one from the Rhinos.

93.

Full time, NZ Warriors 417 def. Orange County Rhinos 93.

MOM: Bartman and mad kiwi elloco bandido.

 

[Robster]

Thanks Dragon_psa *another kiwi in the match*, well boys thats the end of the trails, less then a month time its the first round clash against the Sharks, fantastic articles guys

*just wondering if some of the articles can go on the leagueunlimited.com website?

 

[Wiki]

Interesting

PS: I'll watch the word limit, haha. Maybe I got excited.

 

[MKEB...]

That was a stirling effort from all involved.. it was a game of two halves.
It is not whether you lose it is the p... up afterwards.

 

[Robster]

yep agree mad kiwi Bartman you seem to be lonely in your locker room, come and join up for the p.. up.

 

[go_the_doggies]

stupid microsoft word didnt do its job with the spelling haha

 

[Jesbass]

Congratulations on a fantastic effort, fellow Warriors! Sorry I couldn't play, but it was enjoyable to watch from the sidelines!