Good evening all and welcome back to the Qualifying Finals edition of my weekly ramblings. I don’t have anything decent to talk about this week … I have no idea who is going to win their games this weekend. I can tell you I was happy to see the Roosters take the wooden spoon last weekend. I went to the Broncos again on Sunday and must say, my headgear’s off to Raiders fullback Josh Dugan for his two great tackles/body-blocks on Dave Taylor in that game. Very brave effort from a player, who I think, is going to be pretty good. Tonight I will run through a couple of things making news this week.
South Sydney’s Silly Sunday
Ok, we’ve had plenty of crap in the game this year that’s seemed to occur about once every 2-3 weeks. We were due … and the Bunnies delivered. I don’t know why but I found this story to be a little bit funny: Big guy leaving the club, not his best season but had his moments, coach on the piss, does something that leaves the player embarrassed, player decks coach.
I just wonder how many other Bunnies players or fans wanted to see the same thing after this season. Hopefully something resembling the truth will come out eventually but if not…Player smacked his coach and I got a laugh.
Dally M’s
The NRL had their prestigious Dally M awards ceremony the other night. I am not a fan of these shows whether they are Dally M’s, AB Medal, Oscars, Logies or whatever … I don’t watch. But I do read the results and I think they were pretty spot on this season.
The Bulldogs were the big winners with a heap of positional awards handed out plus the coach and rookie of the year. If anything that is all good, official recognition of a strong season. But of course the best recognition is on Grand Final Day.
Jarryd Hayne won the Dally M medal for best player in the competition and it’s hard to argue against that. Hayne, like the Eels, had a slow start to the season but for the last three to four months at least he’s been head and shoulders above the rest and a deserved winner.
Moving Finals
I understand most of the talk in Sydney during the week was about why the NRL should or shouldn’t force the Dragons to take their home final against the Eels this week to a bigger stadium. Kogarah Oval holds 18,000 tops, with only half allocated seats, and the argument was this game could draw anywhere up to 60,000 people.
I’m happy for the game to stay there … as a TV viewer Kogarah is probably a better option on Sunday afternoon. The NRL was short-sighted in not granting themselves power to shift games like this. As far as I’m concerned the Dragons are allowed to play wherever they want and no one could blame them for making their choice.
If anything this should be major motivation for the Eels. They can take a real seize mentality into this contest now. But they have to show up this time … they were on the wrong bus last week and now there is no second chance.
All-Queensland Final
South-east Queensland is buzzing this week ahead of the Titans v Broncos game on Saturday night at Robina. Everyone is picking their sides and really looking forward to the game. I’m sensing that no one wants the loser punted out of the competition, but there’s a real possibility that may happen.
The Broncos are favourites but like the Eels above, the Gold Coast will have a real point to prove and will be so determined to win. It’s their maiden finals appearance, they’re at home and they’re playing the Broncos. And rugby league fans in Queensland will be the big winners.
Queensland Cup Grand Final
Northern Pride, one of two feeder teams to the Cowboys, and Sunshine Coast Sea Eagles, feeders for Manly, will contest the QCup Decider this weekend. The game was taken away from Suncorp Stadium months ago, I think due to a possible date (not time) clash with an NRL final, and awarded to Kawana. For those outside of south-east Queensland, Kawana is on the Sunshine Coast and is the home ground for the Sea Eagles.
It should be a very interesting game with a few NRL-experienced players running around. For the Pride, their halfback Chris Shepperd has been described as a ‘Brett Kimmorley’ player for them and holds the key. I haven’t seen much of the Sea Eagles but the ‘T-Rex’ Tony Williams has been in great recent form and will be playing five-eighth this weekend.
Live coverage is available through the ABC outlets from 2pm Saturday and if like me you will be avoiding doing something constructive, I suggest you take a look.
Tips this week: Storm, Broncos, Bulldogs, Dragons
Last week: 5/8(Total: 112/186)
Winning percentage: 60%
Well that’s it for this week, please email your thoughts to andrew.keyte@gmail.com, and I will see you again soon.
Cheers,
Keyto
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment