For sure but in the absence of Brazil in the important stages , England had to fly the flag lol …..but in regards to the final , Croatia are the real deal . Hardened warriors was the comment by Southgate . 
France will be warm favourites . A very well balanced team on all fronts but the closer it gets the more I am warming to those red flares that the Croat fans set off back home 

And I never believed it either , that was the half joke that this song signifies 

Got this goss off the Ringling Bros  ;)

"OATES TO BELMORE?

Are the Bulldogs looking to sign Corey Oates from Brisbane as a backrower?

That's the whisper out of Belmore with the Bulldogs weighing up whether to make a play for the Queensland Origin star.

Oates has made no secret of his desire to shift from the wing to the forwards and the Bulldogs hierarchy are one club willing to give him that shot.

However, it will ultimately come down to how much the cash-strapped Dogs can afford".

Ya gotta laugh. We are "cash-straped" and yet want Corey Oates hahaha...(I think :)

I would be expecting the journos to ask him about Martin and Lewis :)
https://www.nrl.com/news/2018/07/13/pay-weve-still-got-some-recuiting-to-do/

Never the truth interfere with a good story.

Must have been when he first arrived here.  Moses had a lot of us fooled for a while there  ;)

That's just mean.

This has my vote for the most comical post of the week ...  I can only assume the official was blind drunk ... and making a joke... hopefully we have sacked that official .. we should :)

Talking of bs an "official"  at the bulldogs told me once Mbye was going to be far superior than Cronk haha.  Never trust "officials" especially when they are only official in their own mind.

Will be interesting to see how Meaney goes tonight.  Hope he does well. 

Tony get a grip. You are being played by this so called "official". 

It never was.

Bad luck Balso .. a Brazil v England final with Brazil winning 7-3 would have been excellent... :)

Tony..you are a very nice guy..I keep telling myself that but you do seemingly have a fascination for wild rumour over fact. I can't see Luke returning to the club nor can I see it being an embarrassment that Michael Lichaa's father is friends of Josh Massoud.
BTW PT Barnum is universally known as the World's Greatest Showman...a truly fascinating character..one of his quotes stands out above all others but he was always pithy and was one of the first entrepreneurs to realise the benefits of advertising. He is possibly best known for Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus...but that was fairly late in his career.

Now I get it lol...

NO  steveiwr1 , never ever heared  of him WHY ? is he your norno lol ,or your ya ya  

stevei boy ,  izack luke has rang the club not the club rang him he is leaving the worriers  & club is interested BUT again its all about the money 
as there is rumours of rubbling in the club with lichha as eveything going on he tells his old man & bingo his old man is good mates with 
wait for it are you ready for this bombshell  ,his mates with ex jurno that got fired a few months ago in josh massourd  & its not in the clubs best interest that this is going on & many senior  players have had a gut full  , like wwe wrestler kurt angle says OH ITS TRUE ITS DAM TRUE so i hope i have  enlighted you thank you for you co operation 

It's not coming home 

I think off the back of that performance from DCE last night, he'll have to be way down on form not to be given first crack next year.
Even coach Kevin Walters was singing his praises in the media today.
Not saying Ash Taylor is not worthy. But its hard to look past the kicking game of DCE- especially last night....

Tony...you ever hear of P T Barnum?

Issazk luke anyone? Hearing his in contact with the
Club BUT pending on how much his wants

I even told the club beji would be ok for
A 1 year deal in case cogger dosnt live to
Expectation

The problem with DCE is he's an elite player who barely ever puts in elite performances. You seen last night what happens when his planets are in line but you'll be lucky to see that again this season. Manly are the ones who cop it in the neck, they pay for the elite performances and get sweet fa of therm per year. And no I don't call it "inconsistency", it's too consistent for that. I just think most times he doesn't really want to play, or think he should. There's something very... selfish... about DCE.

That's why despite last night I don't think he'll be in QLD's succession planning. I think they were awfully close to picking Ash Taylor this year and he won't have to give them many reasons to be picked next year. I reckon half the reason DCE got in before him this year was so QLD could get the "players just don't want to play with DCE" thing behind them so they can say it's because of form or anything else when they don't pick him again.

Because the truth is - the players just don't want to play with DCE.

There's nowhere to hide in origin. That's why its the pinnacle. Stakes are high. All the 1% plays count. 
One must only look at how QLD dumped Hunt from halfback in favour of the "out of favour" DCE. DCE killed it last night. His kicking game was spot on with exception of only 1 chip kick that was caught ingoal fir a 7 tackle set. Just about every grubber or chip kick stayed in goal or was takrn out for a drop out.
Im happy for him because i rate him as one of thr more clever football brains in the NRL. And with no Smith, Cronk, Slater anymore.... its exactly what QLD need going forward. In fact i think Hint proved he can hooker really well. His input was clearly above anx beyond what McCullogh offers.

NSW has a good team, but i think QLD has a good succession plan in place with Ponga, Munster, DCE, Hunt and Morgan 

This SOO series was a interesting series and a quality contest....

You have to say the problem with previous series was negative play by NSW trying to grind out wins with a very negative defensive style...

So while I sometimes used to skip it or switch off half way, that was more to do with the boring style of play and the lack of an even contest...

It is nothing to do with the concept... I don't really care that much about the concept either way, but if it throws up a quality contest, I'm all for it.

Even when I didn't like it I watched at least 1.7 games per year, now it is good again, I'll be watching all 3.

As Zef says Tennis & AFL are mind numbingly boring IMO ... Lawn Bowls is more exciting... as the biff can be intense at times...

Seen some team changes haven't we.

https://www.bulldogs.com.au/news/2015/10/01/damien-cook-season-highlights/

I can't think of anything, not one single thing.

I don't like AFL, don't watch it. Don't like tennis, don't watch it. Don't like basketball, don't watch it.

So I really don't know what you're talking about.

And i got to add if your "peep" means watching the whole game, each game, every year, and then coming on forums telling us you don't like it - well, firstly, I don't think that's just a "peep" and secondly that's a hell of a long time spending watching something you don't like.

Ahh the sanctimonious Zef giving his expert opinion once again......... my reasons for disliking SOO is over the years there have been so many games destroyed by poor adjudication in an attempt to appeal to the masses. Been watching them even before they became SOO in 1980. So Zef before you fall off your pedestal just think about the things you don't like but still have a "peep".

Actually i thought the refereeing was spot on.
He rightly penalised Sims for tackling the marker and also Klem for tripping off the ball.
Sin bin on maloney was spot on. Slater no-try was correct. In fact i cant think of even 1 decision thst was wrong or unwarranted. Maybe one of NSW six again was questionable but hardly talking about.

ODF, i suspect you dont like the gane of rugby league but only the Bulldogs.

I do believe the shield should be awarded to the winning team in front of thrir homr ground though. Even if the 3rd game is played, NSW should have been given the shield at ANZ stadium.

I laugh, and harder every year, at the types who go on about how they hate SOO and all the rest and then the day after they're on forums talking about the game, usually after assuring us every year that they'll be watching re-runs of a Country Practice instead, because that's how you look cool on the intdernet.

You guys, you do know that the reason that SOO is a runaway success every year in attendance, ratings, exposure, water cooler talk and all the rest is because of YOU!!!!!!!

YOU drive it's success, every single game of every single year.

So next time you's are trying to convince everyone of your indifference, instead of telling us all how you'll be ignoring it -  how about ignoring it.

Brilliant stuff by Fittler ODF. Its about building a legacy and having expectations and standards whilst improving yourself and enjoying your footy.

Fittler made some mistakes himself last night but the pride and confidence in themselves is evident.

(At least NSW will never have to worry about Loz coaching them again you wouldn't think).

https://coupler.foxsports.com.au/api/v1/article/amp/nrl/state-of-origin/laurie-daley-defends-the-selection-of-controversial-wally-lewis-medallist-billy-slater-after-origin-iii/news-story/8eedbdeece4f38b208125e8cb11e4fa6

Dan, Fittler has gotten it correct the players now have to go back to their respective teams and continue to improve. I am hoping Klemmers energy and talent rubs off onto the rest of the crew.