My GOD...I agree with Gus!

Phil ‘Gus’ Gould is arguably the most opinionated man and expert in the rugby league world. He has managed to irk just about everyone at some point, especially Queenslanders, with his opinions on all things he perceives to be right and wrong with the game. But, you know, the man is nearly always right! Where he goes wrong is that he often comes across as such an arrogant prick and most people tend to switch off, bag him or rebel against him. Hello everyone and welcome to a week where I agree with the great Gus-Wonder!!

Video Referees...Gould has been so vocal against these guys and the whole refereeing system and structure in 2009. And you know what, he’s banged on so much about these things that I finally agree with him. Listening to Monday Night Football last week on Triple M, where Gus is the co-commentator, it became painstakingly obvious to me that he is on to something. In a nutshell, the video refereeing system is boring. It slows the game down and it bores the fans as they take minutes to scrutinise super slow-motion vision.

It was painful to listen to let alone watch on TV...not to mention those poor hearty souls at the ground who had to sit through it. Here you had a classic example of two shit teams (Brisbane and Cronulla) in a real dog of a match that was slowed down by the ground officials constantly checking upstairs.

Seriously, are there any league fans that care if a player has lost control of a ball for a split second and therefore isn’t awarded a try? On Monday Night Football Gus makes two points:

“If it looks like a duck and it quacks like a duck, it’s a duck!”
Translation – If it looks like a try, it’s a try!!

We don’t need to slow every little thing down by going upstairs to see who touched what or who bumped who...there are FOUR on-ground officials to make those decisions man!! And if they can’t see blatant discretions, than good luck to the team that benefits! Things like that over a long season will eventually even themselves out.

The other point Gus regularly makes is the video referee should only be used for grounding of the ball. I can live with that, but I don’t really want to see the super slow motion stuff. I don’t care about separation and things like that...all players and most fans like myself know when something looks like a try and we could all live with it.

I regularly follow the Queensland Cup and it seems to get by fine without video referees, in fact it gets by fine with just one actual referee! While on that subject, I’m not sold on these two officials we have had in the NRL this season. They are just getting things wrong and it’s very frustrating when, normally, the younger ref blows a penalty that just makes no sense. Some of these blokes have no idea...it’s not their fault, they aren’t ready, but under the current set up they need to be.

There are however two refs I can’t stand watching and they have been around for a few years now. Part of my job is to watch rugby league and I cringe when I check my games each week and see either of these two blokes in control. And for the record Tonie Carroll and his stray knee a month or so ago took out the wrong bloke!

While the referee’s are hurting the game a bit, it’s something we can overcome. As for off-field dramas, when is ENOUGH GOING TO BE ENOUGH!!

A few players’ antics away from the field are hurting the most. You can argue player’s aren’t role models and are over-scrutinised until the cows come home but the actions of Greg Inglis, whatever they were, have already hurt the code, again.

Obviously the matter is before the courts and will be played out in due process, but Greg’s NRL career could be over. What a damn shame.

The worst part is, as good as GI is on the field he seemed to have come on in leaps and bounds off the field. I watched him on the Footy Show two weeks ago and sat there thinking how good it was to see this bloke all grown up. He wasn’t that shy kid who broke in a few years ago, he was funny and spoke confidently. He’s done charity work, carved it up on the field at all levels and was a star.

Now, whatever happened on the weekend, it may be tarnished forever. Brett Stewart’s name hasn’t been the same since the start of the season. These guys can turn it all around (see: Sailor, W) but as a fan it’s so disappointing to see this stuff dominating the news.

But to finish on a positive...how exciting is the run home to the finals!! Plenty of teams are still in contention, I can’t tip a winner to save my life and just about every game has something of great importance riding on it.

For whatever it’s worth, in my opinion the top five (Dragons, Dogs, Titans, Storm and Panthers) are all pretty much locked in. As for the other three spots...I have no idea. Without having an in-depth look at the runs home for all the sides, I would say Manly and North Queensland will likely play in the finals.

As for the last spot, I would like to say Brisbane but on current form they won’t do anything even if they get there. Same with Newcastle. I would like to see the Tigers make it but if the Eels or Souths continue their good form they will be worthy finishers as well.

Tips this week: Cowboys, Souths, Manly, Parramatta, Dragons, Tigers, Broncos, Newcastle
Last week: 6/8(Total: 89/154)
Winning percentage: 58%

I’m off to a game this weekend, got an afternoon off so heading out to my first Broncos game of the season to watch them play my number two team Penrith. Should be good fun and I’m really looking forward to the battle between Hodges and Jennings. Anyway, any thoughts before then hit me up at andrew.keyte@gmail.com or comment below.

See ya later,
Keyto