I'm also thinking Renouf might get a run...

He may be there to cover Elliott. Not sure if the Willie Mason wig suits him.

WISOHLBOH... instilling fear in Dogs supporters since '16... 

Depends on where you wear it...

I only saw the first ep. Same with the new series of Twilight Zone. I was neither yay or nay on both shows. 
If you reckon it's worth sticking with it I will. In all fairness, they probably dithered about at the beginning to get the series started until they had her stumble into the job. So with the preamble out of the way, similar to most shows it'll likely pick up from there & get better once the intended idea for the series kicks in.
As for TZ, the original was always hit or miss, so I'd expect nothing different with the latest remake. The original could get very clever & freaky, but it also had ones that were silly & just dumb. 

I am not Jewish myself but have a empathy with Jewish humour...I think it somewhat parallels the self deprecating humour we carry on with out here. I was immediately taken by the setting and the reality of it all. There were three blokes singing in striped shirts and I recognised them as the Kingston Trio...they weren't singing Tom Dooley either, The funny thing is I was not a fan AT ALL of the Gilmore Girls and it is from the same creator...I detested most of the characters in the Gilmore Girls especially Lorilei's mother and I can see little bits of that in Miriams mother but to the contrary I think she is great. 

Re Twilight Zone....I guess Rod Serling intros had a lot to do with the originals and the sheer unexpected nature of the stories was probably a new thing at the time. Though yes...some a bit too wacky.
For what its worth I only ever loved George Reeves' "Superman"

10 of 16 teams are averaging slower ptb this year compared to last...
Yet somehow the dogs are dragged into discussion with the media...
let it flow!!!...

I mentioned TZ because the only ep of the remake I watched was comedian based & had that in common with "Marvelous Mrs Maizel", albeit the only thing it had in common. 
Instead of an hour they probably could've reduced it to half an hour considering the story the were working with. The same can probably be said with the rest of the series I haven't seen, as half an hour tends to be best for hit & miss stories like that. Sometimes the novelty wears off really quick. 
The jist of the new one I saw was he was a terribly unfunny comedian unless he mentioned someone in his life, which resulted in the big applause, but everyone he mentioned ceased to exist, they vanished from his photos, disappeared from the audiance & when he asked someone how their kids were doing the response was "We've never had kids", on it went...
Anyway, one ep of Maizel isn't much, so I'll stick with it in spite of myself & if I don't like it it'll technically be because of myself...

In 1-2 games this year, we allowed ptb that were way too fast... 

Teams like the Storm and Roosters have been very good in this area for a number of years... on average they do more wrestle and concede more professional penalties than we do....

Comparing the 2 games, ptb speed and flow was better in the Storm/Roosters game, and the ref didn't seem to blow a lot of penalties....
The only logical conclusion I can draw is that that game had a much better ref...

Our defence can look shaky if we allow fast ptb and our attack can look good if we get fast ptb, if the refs are consistent I think the 2 things cancel out...
What we don't want is the ref penalising us early in a game them putting the whistle in his pocket... if you are behind in a game with slow ptb, it is hard to catch up.

I think the episode just confirmed what we already know, some teams are untouchable, others are whipping boys.... if we want to move the needle, start winning games.... 

"The only logical conclusion I can draw is that that game had a much better ref..."

Classicly axiomatic when we had Henry fekking Perenara 

HD you forget to mention that some teams have players in key positions that can adjust the way and the speed at which they play - while others just don't or don't have such players in the key positions (hooker and first receiver).

Teams like the Storm have been brilliant because of Smith and with Cooper and Slater outside of him. Roosters didn't have much with Friend but always had it with their halves at first receiver. Still do.

Souths, also have it in their halves. Cody Walker is the most dangerous player when he reacts to what is in front of him.

The reality is that we don't have it either at hooker or in the halves. Lewis may develop it in the halves and Foran may have it (if he plays) but our hookers (JMK or Lichaa) just don't have it. It is almost imperative now with our rebuild that we get a hooker that has this. Even if it is a veteran nearing retirement. I think it would do wonders for JMK who I believe may become our longer term hooker. He just needs to learn and be more confident and take a chance when it is available, not when he is pressured to do so. 

I agree hooker is a vital position for us and has to be a recruitment priority....

JMK is shaping up as a good alternative for 9/14 .. a good team has 9/14 and game management starts at hooker.....

At the same time, I don't think the refs or NRL are consistent, or that all teams are treated equally.

But I do think refs are more likely to favour a team that wins games consistently, or has momentum at that point of the game...

I also think refs let some players (Cam Smith) and some coaches (Bellamy, Bennett, Gould, Robinson) set the agenda, other coaches and players try to set the agenda with varying degrees of success. 

That is why I am all for "letting the game flow" and refs having less of an influence in a game, but coaches and players will exploit that so we are back to refs having an outsides influence....

What we can exploit is refs are broadly consistent within a game, individual call can go against a team, but if the team adapts to the style the ref is using for that game, they can do well.

What happened to us at the end of the DesBall era was our team was only capable of playing one style and the game drifted away from it.....

In terms of adapting the attack it all starts at dummy half,  if is vital to have the right player and I would go all out to get Billy Britian myself...and move JMK to 14.

Defence is most about attitude and game awareness, no particular player sets the standard there, it is a team effort... but again Nancy is right Britian has a bit more energy and aggro than JMK, and some energy and aggro from the 9 in defence would be a good addition to our side.

Look at the Roosters defensive Line Speed today...... absolutely fantastic 

Great kick 40/20 by Jake Friend = Try Scored


Would love to get him to the Dogs.....

If nothing, at least you're consistent... ;)

Yes, he isn't Will Chambers...

Jake Friend..... he could be the 12th Immortal????

I am about the only person you haven't listed as a possible 12th immortal, apologies for the late xmas card, it will be there before Xmas.

HD, it appears both you and I are in favour of the "let it flow" edict as we both believe it is actually more beneficial for the Bulldogs way of play than say refereed games of last few years.....Dman for some reason is against it. I can see why....he wants what is fair based on rules rather than interpretation but I'm not sure he sees this 8s actually in our favour.

Had we had a roster with smarter players, I'm sure we would benefit far more than in the past. 

We might appear to be a targeted team to some but we cant change that perception overnight. It needs a carefully selected captain to address refs and talk to them in a particular way. I'm not convinced Jacko is that guy. Ennis was very good at it and I made the comment at the time even though I questioned his form in the team. Graham was a good talker but his anger was too intimidating and rubbed off the wrong way. 

In my opinion, Rhys Martin is the better choice to captain our team right now. He is softly spoken, has no aggro baggage, he is in the thick of it playing in the center and is an acknowledged ambassador of PNG team.

Most importantly, he is perceived to be a good guy by the refs and media so he will be given more clout than others. If I were Pay I would make the change in 2020.

Very well oiled machine they are Villi.....
Hate them all you like. Be jealous of their roster all you like.

The fact is, those players could easily choose to lumber up 2m from each the ball and concede 8m per hit up. But they dont. They run back with the ref, slightly jump the gun so when ball is played, but move up fast and meet the attack about 2m from the advantage line.

We do the opposite. 

It's not the salary cap, it's not the roster....its the culture and what they do at training.

So we play Newcastle next week?

Shame Napa won’t be available for the game.... would have been promoted heavily with the 2 enforcers going at it

Marki, not too sure what you've been smoking but it has certainly clouded your perception. It doesn't look like we cop the wrath of the refs at all.....  we are without a doubt copping sh!t off the refs and we have been since 2002. I have been watching rugby league since as long as I can remember....... 1960 or 61 to be more accurate,  and over the last 15 years I have never witnessed a more inept bunch of inconsistent clowns. We had a few doosies in the past but nothing like the last decade or so.

Break a leg tonight Will Chalmbers....

jeez I'm glad storm didn't score off that dodgy ptb... 

Awesome effort by the warriors against Melb and the refs...
the refs are just awful... so inconsistent... have seen some very very strange calls tonight, and would you believe it all in Melbs favour...

There was no way that Bromwich error was a fekking penalty.....


I guarantee you... this weekend we will see a number of them Bromwich error/play the ball..... and it will be a scrum!

It's beyond a joke... I have given up hoping for a fair result in any game involving Souths, roosters, and storm... 

ODF, it's the advent of the video ref, TV screens at games and slow motion replays.

The game has also gone from a defence focused spectacle to one that promotes attack. This means rules are geared towards teams trying to play a faster and more expansive brand of footy- which the networks prefer.

As a result of this, a split ball in a tackle is no longer a loose carry and scrum, but rather a penalty and field gain. 

Refs use to make mistakes in the past also. It's just that without a video ref or replay shown on screen at the game - the crowd didnt have a second chance to see it and scrutinise it. 

Unlike others, I cut the refs some slack. The speed of the game nowdays makes it too easy to make an error out of a 50-50 play. 

In my opinion the good teams know this and have the capability to play that bit better to cancel out such errors. That's what we need to strive for. Let the refs strive for their own kpi's...

lolol... advent of video referee... 1997 that started, and slo mo has been around just as long... and if you wanna look back further about scrutiny over refs look up a ref called Darcy Lawler...

im really not sure what your watching marki.. the refs are diabolical, and this ignore the rules mandate from the NRLol  has not improved their decision making, or the game as a whole one iota... the game has regressed to the early days of wrestling.. now, instead of not knowing what they're looking for, they know exactly what to ignore...

first rumblings from the media began this week re the ptb... was only a matter of time before they took of the 'oh how great are no penalties glasses'.... after today's games, the rumblings will grow louder...

there were 2 ptb's tonight that any ref except an NRLol ref would've made the right call on... the first one nearly put warriors out of the game, the second one did...

ive never been a ref blamer, but as it stands now, they deserve zero slack...