Tough pen call to basically get Storm back in the game.

Not a surprise at all.

-PB

Why all the name changes?

-PB

Paul McGregor has had a two years coaching extension. Not sure if I am pleased or not about this. He is lucky to survive after last season's end of season debacle where we lost our way and just scraped into the finals. To be brutally honest he has not steered us thru a complete season .. we often falter come SOO time and he appears to have no solution to this worrying and regular occurrence.

Despite losing their chief playmaker, skipper and goalkicker.. the Dragons are showing some mongrel. I have never been a fan of Golden Point but I can live with it if it gives my Dragons the win. 

I have followed the Dragons for as long as I can remember. Many decades is all I will own up to to. Lets just say I met Sticks Provan just before he hung up his huge boots. I actually went to his Sydney electrical store and cajoled him into signing my scrap book. I was about 10 and came up to the huge man's waist. 
There have been the halcyon days when we won a world record 11 premierships with superstars of their day, Kearney, Wilson, Walsh, Gasnier, Raper, Smith, King and Langlands to the lowest of the low ebb when we sold our soul to merge with another team. 
Under our best ever CEO Frank Facer we secured many of the greats of the day  while under our worst Peter Doust we lost many good players and our reputation . These days St George juniors are few on the ground.. Loyalty is a thing of the past.. giving way to greed.  

Things that are happening at the Dragons never cease to amaze me. I was reading this morning that Mary is planning to introduce his "x factor" Mat Dufty into matches. This is only going to disrupt our game plan surely.. as his introduction will mean positional changes for no fewer than four players. Is this wise. If I believed Dufty was worth all the trouble I would agree.. but he is not. He has pace.. that is about it.. No ball playing ability and some of his defensive reads are poor at best. But this matters not. Mary says he has the "x" factor. 

                                                    

------------------------------Ponga---------------------------------
-----------Gagai----------------------------------Holmes--------
-------------------Copely----------Inglis-------------------------
------------------Munster---------Taylor-------------------------
----------------------------Arrow------------------------------------
--------------------Papali----------Guerra---------------------
----------Wallace------Mccullough--Ofahengue---------
Bench: Hunt, Pangai-Junior, Hess, Mcguire


I reckon this is QLDs best squad (ignoring billy slater who of course will play his last game)

This side gives up a slight statistical advantage in meters gained in the forwards (938 to 1026) but that is unavoidable and this is realistically the most metres I can get out of a QLD pack looking at all possible combinations. However it is better defensively and makes more tackle breaks in the forwards (4 less missed tackles and 4 more broken tackles). It matches NSW in the centres which is the best QLD can do there unfortunately.

However the spine makes more tries/assists/line breaks/break assists/ forced dropouts by a decent margin. The spine also defends better with a pretty electric utility player in either hunt or morgan so they have a huge advantage in flair. 

So more defence and better attack with better game management from Taylor. The only advantage NSW would then have would be metres gained in the forwards but its a lot less of a mismatch in that department than the current squads. 

At the moment QLD are carrying some statistically weak players in Napa and Chambers and aren't playing their best halves (hunt looks an impressive utility)

Kempsey or where ever he's a turn coat and glad he's choking on it for a change.
You could tell he wanted to cry interviewed after the final whistle, how sweet it is lol........
Good hard up win by the newbie Blues.

He's from Kempsey, he ain't Newy 

Never let Ben Hunt near an important game ever again.

-PB

No sympathy for Greg Inglis. This guy is a novacastrian and should be wearing a blue jersey in Origin. Total rubbish.

Greg Inglis playing for QLD is about as ok as the the stolen generation lie. Complete garbage. 

Thank fuck for that.

The goodies win sometimes. Fuck I hate Queensland.

Helps if those in charge stop bowing down to the "soccer mums" and ruining the game.  It is almost unrecognisable at times to what it once was.

$100m plan to stop kids leaving league

One rugby league official fears rugby league will die out in Sydney's west in a decade if kids keep leaving the game at the current

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/subscribe/news/1/index.html?sourceCode=DTWEB_WRE170_a&mode=premium&dest=http:%2F%2Fwww.dailytelegraph.com.au%2Fnews%2Fnsw%2Frugby-leagues-100m-plan-to-stop-game-dying-in-former-heartland%2Fnews-story%2Feb3faaad40322e22d3da4ffbef41dc9f%3Fnk%3D6c6ad3213b052ea4839046b959221514-1494114944&memtype=registered

Keep surprising me Sea Eagles. I wouldn't even have bet on you the last weeks but gladly proven wrong to date :) 

great game.  but will it ever return to the heights of it's glory days?

Marshall killing it for Redcliffe while Milford looks lazy, overweight and has almost been MIA for a year now, dare I say it? 

Yeah who knows.

That slow mo of Thaiday deliberately pulling on the hand of the Storm players :/

-PB

Thaiday should have been in the bin for his third man antics but as per usual gets away with it.  The ref said on three separate occasions if the Broncos keep it up someone will be off.  Sims forearm to the face, another warning, squirrel grips left right and centre and then to top it off about 3 penalties within the 10-meter mark plus one on the line with the ball thrown away.  Are the refs afraid of the players or something?

Yup.

They have some real grubiness setting in with the likes of McGuire, Blair and Sims.

-PB

Bronco's should have had about 4 players left on the field by the end of that.  Gutless refereeing.

Thurston you Lord.

-PB

Super League clubs could be allowed to relocate south – or abroad

Super League clubs could move out of their traditional northern heartland and head south to Bristol – as well as to Newcastle and Coventry – and even abroad after the Rugby Football League said it would listen to top-flight sides if they were seeking to relocate.

A number of Super League sides have been alerted to expressions of interest from cities in both England and abroad who want to inherit an existing top-flight franchise. The RFL is receptive to the idea and has told clubs they can apply to move their franchise to a different city should they wish. While no clubs have yet lodged firm interest in doing so, off-field issues mean the news has interested some sides.

The sport’s two newest ventures, Toronto and Toulouse, have both started at the bottom of the domestic league structure in League 1, with Toulouse subsequently gaining promotion to the Championship in their inaugural season last year. Toronto began their league campaign with a 76-0 win against London Skolars on Saturday. But under this deal a city would obtain an existing Super League club as opposed to setting up a new one and having to progress through the divisions.

A number of factors have made the idea appealing to clubs. Some leading CEOs have spoken behind closed doors about the impact of the demise of the former Super League champions, Bradford Bulls – who were placed into liquidation earlier this year – and how it can be avoided again.

Some clubs are also in dispute with their local councils about the future of rugby league in their area and, in light of this, the American model of moving a franchise from one area to a city with minimal rugby league presence at present to try to increase the sport’s, and their own, profile is attractive.

Crucially the success of Wasps’ move from London to Coventry has also been highlighted as another positive. The RFL has made increased efforts in recent years to establish a presence in areas such as Newcastle and Coventry; the former is the host of Super League’s Magic Weekend, while Coventry – which already has a League 1 side – held the Four Nations double-header last autumn.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2017/mar/06/super-league-clubs-could-relocate-south-or-abroad

Brisbane needs a second team

Thread got moved back lol?

-PB

Ah yeh fair enough. Thanks

It used to be similar to Union in that the ball was always contested.  For some reason they just made it so you can roll it through one set of legs and be done with it.  Pretty much everyone agrees that it needs to change yet it never does.  No idea why.

First year im gonna try and follow the nrl proper. Question though what is the point of the scrum in the NRL i never got it.

First friday night game of the year.  First actual biff in about 4 years

Poetic justice for the Broncos after getting so many calls last week.

Definitely 2 offsides they didn't get.

They should have got a penalty at 79 mins , kicked down field and had a field goal attempt. But it was called a knock on?

Go cowgirls tonight...
Panthers over the raiders.