The Rocket
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Posts
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Posts posted by The Rocket
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13 hours ago, Sports Prophet said:
O’Brien is the coaching version of Valium. I can’t imagine there is a coach out there more depressing than him. The club is an absolute shambles.
I think Kayln Ponga is very immature and that he was handed the captaincy tells me that his manager has the club by the balls. Ponga isn’t a captain’s bootlace, let alone a leader good enough to bring the Knights out of the doldrums.
Young will be a much better player for leaving the Knights, as would almost all of them. He has lots of talent and I expect he will prove himself a star upon his arrival at the Roosters.
I don`t agree, they were in with a real chance last week and apart from Hastings going off and a couple blunders from Tyson Gamble at the death they could have won that game. The team is still playing with plenty of heart.
Couple of things, Miller is still finding his way at fullback, but we saw last week how good he might become. As a runner with the ball, as a link player and as a general threat, his energy levels are off the chart. Last year I thought the Dolphins should have gone after him. He keeps playing like that and they get Ponga back, with Hastings at half-back will make a real difference.
BTW. When are teams going to start to protect their halves, especially vulnerable blokes like Ponga. Certainly not having them make tackles from the kick-off.
Bradmen Best seemed to be having a go at the weekend and it`s about time and Gagai is still a top draw player. I thought everyone was a bit tough on Young, he dropped a couple of balls but was still running very hard with the ball, he`ll be alright once he gets back in. He will not want to have a reputation of being a slacker waiting for next year. In the meantime they have Greg Marzhew, watch him go this weekend, he`s good. That Croker bloke is back from injury now and he`s a top shelf young forward, no coincidence that Bennett went after him hard for the Dolphins.
Better times ahead for the Knights.
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5 hours ago, Tommygilf said:
That is an incredibly tough question.
I think battles or disasters would be hard to look beyond for events in history to witness. Most other things I fear would underwhelm! What do you think?
I suppose the natural succesor to that question is which historical figure would you most like to have a coversation with and/or go for a pint with?
Those accounts of armies of 200 000 + basically fighting hand to hand during the Persian invasions of Greece used to blow my mind. Caesar`s siege of Alesia would have been incredibly dramatic as well.
Some of those ancient sea battles with the triremes, like the battle of Salamis, would be hard to beat as well.
Characters to meet: any of the great explorers would be fascinating, people who saw the world as it had existed for thousands and thousands of years before we spoilt it.
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On 06/02/2023 at 23:58, Man of Kent said:
Heard that TTR is starting a new tag league in Brighton this year.
More Southerners playing a form of RL (TTR is affiliated to the RFL) can only be a good thing.
Where I live up here on the mid-north coast of N.S.W., our group (Group 3) was considered a leader in introducing League Tag for the women, ironically, they`re having a hard time getting numbers for some of the clubs this year, because now that they`ve introduced a tackle comp all the girls in the League Tag teams want to play tackle.
The Group president was on the news recently calling out for girls for the League Tag, what it does show though, it does appear to be a pathway through to the tackle game and apart from the engagement with the sport as a whole angle, that`s what ultimately would be ideal.
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1 hour ago, Tommygilf said:
does sound an awful lot like "if my auntie had balls she'd be my uncle" (for the gen z social media fans)
She does and she is (for the gen z social media fans).
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11 minutes ago, The Future is League said:
Surely after the Broncos win today it has to be sell out
Yeah mate the sold-out sign went up a few hours ago.
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4 hours ago, Sports Prophet said:
Well for comparrison sake, there is no harm showing Mrs Frisky that the first two AFL fixtures of the season had a combined 174,679 attendees.
2 of the top 5 Rd 1 fixtures in history apparently. The NRLs major competitor is off to a flyer.
@Exiled Wiganer,what numbnuts^ is also conveniently failing to mention is that it also happens that a 3rd round NRL club game outrated the fumbleball opener, something that no one can remember happening before. Not only because NRL rated so strongly but the fumbleball figures were ordinary. So much for the ###### flyer.
Thu/Fri NRL ratings:
Nine Metro 2022 1.842 @ 307k ave
Nine Metro 2023 2.175m @ 363k ave (+18%)-
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12 hours ago, The Daddy said:
Three wins from three. Whoever said the Dolphins would struggle
Over here people who follow ticket sales at the different games reckons it could go close to a club game record crowd at Suncorp.
"This is how quickly tickets are shifting for Dolphins v Broncos. All the sections with a yellow line have sold this evening. Just restricted view to be listed soon. I wonder how corporates are going - I actually think we are a chance of beating the regular season record at Suncorp (50,612 - Broncos v Cowboys 2008)."
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24 minutes ago, The Daddy said:
Three wins from three. Whoever said the Dolphins would struggle
Me.
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17 hours ago, hw88 said:
On the other side of the coin there seem to be an awful lot of junior teams so there should be quite a big pool of talent to pick from
Now there`s a contradiction in terms, `talent` and Australian soccer. I don`t know if you`ve watched Oz soccer but it is awful, they honestly can`t string three passes together, it is almost laughable it`s so bad. Unfortunately, it always suffers by comparison with the highlights shown on our nightly news everynight of the EPL.
BTW crowds this year are at an 18 year low, definitely no World Cup bump.
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6 hours ago, George Watt said:
Should have added that a float called NRL Pride in League was one of around 200 paraded in the recent massive Sydney Gay Mardi Gras which was watched by scores of thousands at the event and millions round the world.
So why not a Pride round?
George you`ve got your years mixed up, the NRL didn`t have a float in this year`s Mardi Gras because they weren`t given an invite after the Manly Pride Round Jersey fiasco, or whatever it was called.
My first instincts were ` xxxx `em` because I felt like the whole NRL were being targeted (you might say cancelled) by the Mardi Gras organisers because of what had happened at Manly. Almost as if they were looking for an excuse to target someone to make a statement. The more rational side of me acknowledges that this was a black eye for the game.
At a game at Parramatta last year an obviously gay couple were seated near us, I witnessed what was fairly obvious low hostility towards them yet on the other hand I saw people being openly friendly and welcoming. The former definitely wasn`t nice, the latter was quite touching. At the end of the day if a Pride or Inclusivity Round `educates` the former about live and let live then it`s not a bad thing.
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5 hours ago, haskey said:
I got called 4 eyes at school for wearing glasses, so what . This is supposedly a free country , Dont make me laugh.
" my glasses fall off "
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2 hours ago, DACS said:
, but there aren't two quality halfbacks in every NRL team now. A fair few don't even have one with real class.
Let`s face it these things go through ebbs and flows, we`ve been through a purple patch over the last decade with world-class halfbacks :
Cherry-Evans, Hunt, Reynolds, Hughes, Moses, Cleary, Keary, Cronk, Thurston, Hynes, am I missing any, these are all world class players and will be replaced. We are already seeing a few bright young stars appearing, that bloke Trindall at the Sharks, their second-string half-back, has first grader written all over him, and Souths have a couple of other young blokes behind IlIas for starters.
As far as two quality halves, there`s plenty of teams that manage without two star halves, always has been.
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15 hours ago, stookie said:
There was a story (newspaper I think), and the guess was that the NRL/ARLC was fishing for interest - there was simply no expressions of interest in putting together a new NZ team.
I recall exactly the same report, it was the sort of thing that stuck in my mind because it was so significant.
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6 hours ago, AB90 said:
I get what your saying but slightly disagree with the premise. What’s deems a player to be ‘NRL standard’ is relative to the amount of teams in the competition. If we reduced the NRL down to 8 teams tomorrow then the definition of an ‘NRL standard’ player would be very different to what it currently is in a 17 team competition (i.e half the players currently in the league would not be considered as ‘NRL standard’).
So moving to 20 just means you have to adjust what is considered NRL standard.
Also, NRL actually loses roughly 15 to 20 NRL standard players to Super League every single year so if they stop that from happening then over a few years that would eat into significant portion of that additional 90 players.
There’s also a pretty untapped contingent of English players playing in Super League. Currently theres what, only 7 or so English players in the NRL (with 510 top 30 roster spots available) which is a tiny amount considering the differences in salary cap between the two comps.
Halt the flow of NRL standard talent to Super League (Brodie Croft, Bevan French, Jake Clifford, Sio Suia Taukeiaho, Paul Vaughn, Curtis Sironen, Sione Matatuia, Agnasuis Passi, Ligi Sau, Cade Cust, Jai Field, Matt Dufty, David Fusitua etc) and actively look to sign the top 20 to 40 English born Super League players and you’ve essentially covered those 90 ‘additional’ players required.
In saying that, this wouldn’t be ideal for Super League and the English game.
Not only that but I watched every trial match this year where teams regularly field their second and third string teams. I was struck by the amount of players I`d never heard of who looked right at home in the top-grade.
Another point, sometimes I think that what we lack is more coaches who are better at developing players, rather than the players themselves. Take Melbourne, converted Cooper Cronk from a utility player to a very good half-back. He leaves they flipflop around between Croft/Hughes et.al. not really not knowing where to play Hughes, now he`s an outstanding first-grade halfback. I put that down to the Melbourne system and their ability to develop players.
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10 minutes ago, Hull Kingston Bronco said:
Is there any random idea for an NRL club the ageing parasites of the Bears won't try to latch on to?
Article in today`s paper and appearing on ABC radio where N.S. Bears spokesperson Billy Moore says the Bears are open to a Pasifika Bears hook-up.
The name says it all. I can see the grizzly bear logo appearing through the palm trees now. The whole thing is quite tragic.
Maybe they could change it to Pasifika Bares in a nod to the traditional habit of some Pacific Island cultures originally getting around in the nuddy.
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12 minutes ago, The Daddy said:
I actually agree with this. The NSW and Queensland Leagues are ideal for servicing the island teams. The PNG Hunters already put bums on seats in the Queensland Cup so I don't see why that can't continue. A Pasifika team will not work and is pie in the sky.
Perth is a given and an obvious choice, Ipswich Jets would satisfy demand in Western Corridoor and Adelaide is a major Australian city.
Just out of interest what was your reason for not adding NZ2?
The reason the Sky deal jumped so much was because of competition from the streaming service Flick, which has since folded, this takes us back to the situation of a Sky sports monopoly. Hence it is far from guaranteed that a similar deal could be done next time.
The other thing that bothers me is that the N.Z. economy is 1/5th of Australia`s and its` population centres are quite dispersed so that no one other city (apart from Auckland) jumps out as being able support an NRL side yet.
Adelaide is a good sized city of 1.3m in a State of 1.9m, that had a Rugby League team that was well supported until it was sacrificed in the Super League war settlement. Like Storm based in a fumbleball state, I could envisage that state getting behind its` League team even if they still follow the predominate code.
Once again develop the pathways coming out of N.Z. with an eye to the future and getting the Warriors performing first. Like what we are starting to see now finally
.Plans afoot for One New Zealand Warriors to field five teams in 2024 | Warriors
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Perth for the national spread, Ipswich Jets to lock up that Western corridor and the western part of Brisbane and then I`d be thinking about getting Adelaide in if the game can afford it.
The Queensland and NSW Cup competitions are perfectly serviceable for PNG or P.I. teams presently, but definitely accelerating the investment in pathways from these regions.
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1 minute ago, Sports Prophet said:
Small looking crowd for the Dragons tonight against an interstate team for a late Sunday night kick off.
Still, not a great crowd for a season opener. Are you down at the game @The Rocket? I’ve just tuned in and 26-12 looks to be a good start to the season
Yes, I was a little bit down when the Titans took an early lead, feeling much better now thanks.
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The Aussie forums and newspapers are lighting up this morning and 90 % it`s down to the Dolphins going 2 - 0 up, throw in a lot of close games, great attacking football and the bit of the gold-dust that Reece Walsh sprinkled over the round with his display in Brissy on Friday night as well. That last one was especially for me.
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4 hours ago, The Future is League said:
Dolphins 20- Raiders 14
That is a huge win for the Dolphins
They`d have to be a very good chance against the Knights next week now and then it`s off to Suncorp against the Bronc`s on Friday night the following week. 45 000 + you`d reckon.
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Stick this here:
For the Hunters, this is their first season returning to play on home soil in almost three years, having been relocated to the Gold Coast in 2021 and 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Queensland Cup will be back in Port Moresby for a full schedule of 11 matches this season.
Playing home matches in front of their compatriots is a driving force for the Hunters this year. Queensland Cup crowds in Australia may reach as high as 1,000 spectators, but in Port Moresby, the figure can be upwards of 10,000.
Good to see the Clydesdales back in the comp as well.
Full article:
PNG Hunters and Western Clydesdales to make history when they meet in Queensland Cup (msn.com)
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5 minutes ago, fighting irish said:
Me too mate, me too.
It`s very Australian isn`t it, I particularly liked that scene of those three kids running down that country road chucking the footy around. And I have to admit I`m not much of a fan of modern music but it seems to really work well with the match highlights in the promo.
BTW, doesn`t hurt when I`m sitting here with a stupid grin on my face after just watching that crazy opening round match.
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This is the NRL`s promo (sans players):
NRL 2023: NRL’s TV advertisement revealed (smh.com.au)
I like it.
In fact the more I watch it the more I like it.
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16 hours ago, gingerjon said:
That's just gauche Australianism.
A proper gentleman never knows how much is in his bank account.
Yes I`ve heard about English `gentlemen`, that amount would usually be nothing. But were not here to argue about trifles like money.
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The Redcliffe Dolphins
in The General Rugby League Forum
Posted
You would not even know the fumbleball game is on, the notoriously pro-fumbleball and anti-League National Broadcaster, the ABC ran an extended story on the game in last night`s news vox popping people on the streets of Brisbane, it was gold, even the usually snooty nosed ABC were calling it the Battle of Brisbane.