The NRL 2016 and all things Australian Rugby League thread

Dozen Wicked Words

Will Sam Burgess have finally re-signed by 2016? Will his brother have gone off to play in the NFL? Will Jarryd Hayne still be in the NFL or back in the NRL?

All these questions answered and more right here.

jimjimjimmy

Opening game on later today. Should be a good clash between the Broncos and the Eels. Broncos will be looking to go one better than last years agonising defeat in the Grand Final. Eels have added very nicely to their squad and could potentially be a top 4 contender. Very excited for the 1st game.

Cowboys, obviously, will be the team to beat. They have a great chance at going back to back. Broncos seem to be the early favourite, played well in the World Club series and should be top 4. Manly, Parramatta, Cronulla and New Zealand have all upgraded their squads significantly. Cronulla will be looking to get top 4, the other 3 should make a push for the top 8. The Rabbitohs have Slammin Sam back but gave up a lot to get him. The Roosters have lost a lot of players but have some good kids coming through, everyone is writing them off, I still think they'll make the top 8 at least.

My predictions are:
Top 8 teams; Broncos, Cowboys, Manly, Souths, Sharks, Eels, Warriors and Roosters
Teams pushing the 8: Bulldogs, Panthers, Raiders and Storm
Bottom 4: Dragons, Tigers, Knights and Titans

kirk buttercup

Hi Guys looking forward to another great season. I was on here the season before last discussing League with you. Didnt get much time to discuss last year but read the thread all last year. im a doggies fan myself (as some of you may remember) .
good opening weekend the Bunnies smashed the Chooks
Parra have resumed normal service
the Qld teams all did well
and Of course my beloved Dogs smashed Manly
My Predictions
top 8
Bunnies,Storm,Cowboys ,Doggies,Broncos ,Panthers,Chooks,and Manly.
Bottom 4 Knights, Parra, Titans, and Dragons
I reckon the tigers may be just outside the 8
I was surprised JimJimJimmy you had Parra in the top 8 but not the storm who would be some peoples favourite to win the comp.
Anyhow enjoy guys.
Looking forward to some chats about league this season

kirk buttercup

This weeks Predictions
Thu 10 Mar
Panthers
v
Bulldogs
Of course I will go with the Dogs although I reckon they might struggle with this one

Fri 11 Mar
Broncos
v
Warriors
Winner- Broncos

Sat 12 Mar
Raiders
v
Roosters
Winner- Roosters

Sat 12 Mar
Rabbitohs
v
Knights
Winner- Bunnies

Sat 12 Mar
Eels
v
Cowboys
Winner-Cowboys

Sun 13 Mar
Sharks
v
Dragons
Winner-Sharks

Sun 13 Mar
Storm
v
Titans
Winner-Storm

Mon 14 Mar
Tigers
v
Sea Eagles
Winner- The Tigpies

theyre my predicitions anyway

Mr.Nice Guy

I watched the Roosters' win over the Rabbitohs. Dylan Napa was a beast.

brandnewaward

thrilled to see Manly sea gulls get whipped by parra last night.....the better of two salary cap cheats won the night.....and manly will be outed next week as the club behind the latest salary cap dramas

Mr.Nice Guy

And it could have been worse for Manly if the bunker hadn't disallowed the Takairangi try.

Edward Hopper

Warriors managed to close it out against the Bulldogs, good atmosphere in Wellington too. Excellent game.

Mr.Nice Guy

I got round to watching the Cowboys vs the Rabbitohs. The Bunnies didn't produce really, although Sam Burgess did get his first try since his return.

Edward Hopper

Mr.Nice Guy wrote: »

I got round to watching the Cowboys vs the Rabbitohs. The Bunnies didn't produce really, although Sam Burgess did get his first try since his return.

South Sydney haven't got going much at all yet this year, 2 points for a win means they aren't far off the pace yet though.

Raiders v Sharks tomorrow should be a good game but think 5am might be a bit early (unless the kids or dog wake me up!). Will probably make do with Wests v Melbourne at 7am instead.

kirk buttercup

Edward Hopper wrote:

Raiders v Sharks tomorrow should be a good game but think 5am might be a bit early (unless the kids or dog wake me up!). Will probably make do with Wests v Melbourne at 7am instead.

Sharks have been a little bit of a surprise this year pretty good to watch

Edward Hopper

Storm bossing the 2nd half of this one.

Edit: Tigers woke up again, after sluggish start to second half.

2 point game.

Edward Hopper

Roosters v Panthers tomorrow morning, pretty poor start to the season for both teams.

I fancy the Roosters to back up their win over South Sydney myself but reading some of the press previews, most seem to give Penrith a slight edge.

brandnewaward

the entire broncos team should do jail time for what they did to newcastle.....that was painful to watch , and my beloved souths have them friday night......and keary is being linked to the tigers now

Mr.Nice Guy

How good was Anthony Milford though? He's a joy to watch.

I felt sorry for Tigers against Storm. I thought there was a forward pass at the end of one of the Melbourne tries. Also there was a trip that went unpunished which annoyed me.

I'm looking forward to the Roosters vs Panthers game and hoping Dylan Napa brings some of that mean streak he had last week.

Edward Hopper

Panthers well on top in early stages, all over the Roosters, 6 nil could easily be 12. The previews I read are pretty accurate so far!

Edward Hopper

Panthers just don't like winning or losing games by a big margin! Great game and pundits spot on.

Mr.Nice Guy

Yeah it was a great game, especially in those conditions. Really liked that try by the Roosters in the second half where they somehow kept it alive.

brandnewaward

good morning roosters fans

Mr.Nice Guy

Sucks to hear Tuivasa-Sheck has been ruled out for the rest of the season.

brandnewaward

yeah , he was looking to have such a good season with issac luke

Mr.Nice Guy

A lot of physicality in the game between the Broncos and the Rabbitohs. Sam Burgess seemed to be always on the edge.

Impressive result for the Broncos and a fantastic try by Corey Oates as well.

Looking forward to seeing the Panthers vs the Sharks.

Edward Hopper

Raiders absolutely battering the Tigers now, shocking defence from Wests.

Edward Hopper

Roosters showed a lot more fight in 2nd half and thought they might even snatch a win but left themselves too much to do against the Dragons.

Mr.Nice Guy

Didn't expect the Tigers to get a result against Souths after their drubbing last week.

Edward Hopper

Well Newcastle are terrible in the battle of the basement dwellers. Making the Roosters look like world beaters.

Edward Hopper

Quality commentary in the Manly game.

That play was more arse than class.

Mr.Nice Guy

Exciting finale to the Panthers/Raiders game. I felt bad for the Raiders, though. 18-6 down, levelled the match, and then lose to a late goal.

kirk buttercup

The sharkies still surprising everyone. They are looking really impressive this year

Mr.Nice Guy

Only got round to watching the Manly/Cowboys game. The Cowboys look the ones to beat again. But what was with that dive by Jamie Lyons from Manly? I expect that kind of thing from soccer. And they disallowed the try for it. :rolleyes:

brandnewaward

press conference on Parra and the salary cap at half eleven....The board should prepare their arses, todd greenburg is going in dry.playing with zero points for the season and a whopper of a fine according to whispers

Edward Hopper

brandnewaward wrote: »

press conference on Parra and the salary cap at half eleven....The board should prepare their arses, todd greenburg is going in dry.playing with zero points for the season and a whopper of a fine according to whispers

Yeah you were pretty well dead on.

All 12 points stripped and will remain on zero until salary cap breach is resolved by offloading players etc. 1 million Aus Dollar fine. Chairman Steve Sharp, deputy chairman Tom Issa, director Peter Serrao, CEO John Boulous and football manager Daniel Anderson all have to appear before NRL to try and plead/explain why their registrations shouldn't be cancelled.

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/may/03/parramatta-eels-handed-12-point-deduction-for-salary-cap-breaches

brandnewaward

stripped of the Auckland nines too , poor bastards , first thing they won in 20 years

kirk buttercup

Edward Hopper wrote: »

Yeah you were pretty well dead on.

All 12 points stripped and will remain on zero until salary cap breach is resolved by offloading players etc. 1 million Aus Dollar fine. Chairman Steve Sharp, deputy chairman Tom Issa, director Peter Serrao, CEO John Boulous and football manager Daniel Anderson all have to appear before NRL to try and plead/explain why their registrations shouldn't be cancelled.

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/may/03/parramatta-eels-handed-12-point-deduction-for-salary-cap-breaches

wow thats gonna stuff up parra for a while

Mr.Nice Guy

I read they might have to release one of their star players like Norman to get under the salary cap before their next match.

brandnewaward

talks of norman and semi.....hope its true , we play them next week haha

Mr.Nice Guy

The Anzac Test is coming up this Friday between Australia and New Zealand. Australia are the favourites, although New Zealand won it last year.

Who do you all reckon wins it this year?

Edward Hopper

Mr.Nice Guy wrote: »

The Anzac Test is coming up this Friday between Australia and New Zealand. Australia are the favourites, although New Zealand won it last year.

Who do you all reckon wins it this year?

I think Meninga will start his international coaching off with a win, bookies have them heavy favourites too, though I have a hunch* NZ will keep it to about 10 points

Tuivasa-Sheck is a big loss for the Kiwis, and the disaster that is the Warriors off field (and most weeks on it) has deprived them of a few more. Would love to be proven wrong though.



*nailed on to be wrong and they get hammered by 20 plus!

brandnewaward

New Zealand are 4$ to win , be worth throwing a 20 on them....Australia look pretty good but i'd go for the upset....just hoping Greg Inglis doesnt catch an injury.
On a side note , Pearce has asked to be left out of Origin this year....NSW should have it in the Bag

kirk buttercup

Parra Decision reversed going to be a Sh*t storm now with possibly the bulldogs and storm sueing the NRL as they were deducted points for exactly the same reason in previous years

Edward Hopper

kirk buttercup wrote: »

Parra Decision reversed going to be a Sh*t storm now with possibly the bulldogs and storm sueing the NRL as they were deducted points for exactly the same reason in previous years

Textbook making a rod for your own back.

kirk buttercup

Edward Hopper wrote:

Textbook making a rod for your own back.

I have a lot of parra mates in sydney and even they are fed up with the nrl. Alot of diehard league fans are just completely fed up with the nrl and all the moneymen in the background. The feeling in sydney acording to my mates is that the game is dying because of the nrl

Edward Hopper

kirk buttercup wrote: »

I have a lot of parra mates in sydney and even they are fed up with the nrl. Alot of diehard league fans are just completely fed up with the nrl and all the moneymen in the background. The feeling in sydney acording to my mates is that the game is dying because of the nrl

The game isn't dying at all in Australia but the nrl aren't doing it any favours.

kirk buttercup

Edward Hopper wrote:

The game isn't dying at all in Australia but the nrl aren't doing it any favours.

Just quoting people who go to games week in week out they are fed up with the nrl. I know alot of people who have stopped going to games because of the nrl. Crowds at games are a joke compared to years ago while afl and soccer are on the rise in nsw.

Edward Hopper

kirk buttercup wrote: »

Just quoting people who go to games week in week out they are fed up with the nrl. I know alot of people who have stopped going to games because of the nrl. Crowds at games are a joke compared to years ago while afl and soccer are on the rise in nsw.

Oh I don't dispute the nrl are an issue, their obvious inconsistency, their apparent request that games are played in the new cavernous stadia rather than teams spiritual homes doesn't help with atmosphere, and being led by TV is also a problem. I'm also fairly sure the stats would back you up re attendance, I just don't think Rugby League as a sport is in trouble in Australia........ YET.

kirk buttercup

Edward Hopper wrote:

Oh I don't dispute the nrl are an issue, their obvious inconsistency, their apparent request that games are played in the new cavernous stadia rather than teams spiritual homes doesn't help with atmosphere, and being led by TV is also a problem. I'm also fairly sure the stats would back you up re attendance, I just don't think Rugby League as a sport is in trouble in Australia........ YET.

Dont get me wrong im not arguing with you. You make a really good point about home grounds when I was growing up I use to watch the dogs at belmore, packed crowd brilliant, now an empty stadium thats way to big. The best stadium in the nrl at the moment is probably brookvale because its a " home ground". You are also right that league wont die because the league towns areas in Qld. And nsw but the the popularity is on the decline unfortunately.

Edward Hopper

kirk buttercup wrote: »

Dont get me wrong im not arguing with you. You make a really good point about home grounds when I was growing up I use to watch the dogs at belmore, packed crowd brilliant, now an empty stadium thats way to big. The best stadium in the nrl at the moment is probably brookvale because its a " home ground". You are also right that league wont die because the league towns areas in Qld. And nsw but the the popularity is on the decline unfortunately.

I think I ended up arguing against myself tbh! Half cut last night so apologies for that!

Mr.Nice Guy

Only got round to watching the Australia v NZ game today. It was pretty disappointing really.

You would think NZ have a good chance at the World Cup with a fully fit squad considering they kept it to 12-0 for most of the game with many of their big players out.

brandnewaward

https://www.facebook.com/NRLDUN/photos/a.1444165919153069.1073741828.1442976952605299/1753271508242507/?type=3&theater

Sharks or broncos?

Mr.Nice Guy

Just catching up on the latest NRL action now. Great drama at the end of the Dragons vs Raiders game.

kirk buttercup

Holy **** The knights are pathetic. Fair play to their fans going every week to watch that.