Fri 17 Jul: NRL: Melbourne Storm v Gold Coast Titans KO 9am BST (Sky Sports)

[John Drake]

Discuss Melbourne Storm v Gold Coast Titans here.

[DavidM]

Storm by 26

[DeadShotKeen]

Well this looks quite the mismatch. Storm look the comp favourites for me and Titans are their usual patchwork of misfits, veterans and potential up-and-comers.

I would genuinely be interested in what the record NRL winning margin was and if I were a betting man would take the Storm by 50 with 60+ not beyond the realms of possibility.

Ryan Papenhuyzen hat-trick for good measure.

 

[DavidM]

Why won’t officials make decisions ? Really does my head in . The VR has took away the will and confidence of officials  to make any big calls even when they’re looking at them . It sucked the life out of them to referee the game . I hate that word ‘ confirm ‘ . Confirm what ... what you’re looking at ? They stand there and tell the VR what they’ve seen but are petrified to call anything . They’ll call every small thing no one else can see but anything major they to often cop out . If they could they’d probably check every single thing in a game which is tragic 

[Dunbar]

11 hours ago, DavidM said:

Why won’t officials make decisions ? Really does my head in . The VR has took away the will and confidence of officials  to make any big calls even when they’re looking at them . It sucked the life out of them to referee the game . I hate that word ‘ confirm ‘ . Confirm what ... what you’re looking at ? They stand there and tell the VR what they’ve seen but are petrified to call anything . They’ll call every small thing no one else can see but anything major they to often cop out . If they could they’d probably check every single thing in a game which is tragic 

It's hardly surprising when every error they make is interrogated ad nauseam and then the senior NRL admin apologises to all concerned for the error. When was the last time a club apologised for an error from a coach or a player.

And then we get the NRL players poll asking them to rate the performance of the referees. 

Then the captains challenge arrives which formalises the idea that a ref will inevitably make a mistake during a game.

It all just saps their confidence and to be honest I think they do a great job all things considered.

[DavidM]

17 minutes ago, Dunbar said:

It's hardly surprising when every error they make is interrogated ad nauseam and then the senior NRL admin apologises to all concerned for the error. When was the last time a club apologised for an error from a coach or a player.

And then we get the NRL players poll asking them to rate the performance or the referees. 

Then the captains challenge arrives which formalises the idea that a ref will inevitably make a mistake during a game.

It all just saps their confidence and to be honest I think they do a great job all things considered.

Get rid of the bunker which is the biggest pressure on their back and get them refereeing games again .That big brother influence hovering over them is sapping their confidence more than anything . They’re doing it by remote control now , it’s just frustrating for mine as a viewer . I’ll swallow officials on field making errors if they’re making decisions . It’s meant to have been a huge leap forward but it’s just been a huge leap backwards for on field officiating . They’ve forgot or have no desire to officiate fully anymore .because of the VR comfort blanket . Scrutiny comes with the job , not making decisions ain’t the answer . The quest for perfection was always a total misnomer - the captains challenge is another element . I love the nines - they make calls and guess what they usually get it right 

[DavidM]

Very routine .Titans are bad . There’s a reason Fogarty was in QCup for 7 seasons , and Taylor makes Hunt look great value for money 

[unapologetic pedant]

On 17/07/2020 at 10:50, DavidM said:

Get rid of the bunker which is the biggest pressure on their back and get them refereeing games again .That big brother influence hovering over them is sapping their confidence more than anything . They’re doing it by remote control now , it’s just frustrating for mine as a viewer . I’ll swallow officials on field making errors if they’re making decisions . It’s meant to have been a huge leap forward but it’s just been a huge leap backwards for on field officiating . They’ve forgot or have no desire to officiate fully anymore .because of the VR comfort blanket . Scrutiny comes with the job , not making decisions ain’t the answer . The quest for perfection was always a total misnomer - the captains challenge is another element . I love the nines - they make calls and guess what they usually get it right 

Don`t think it`s the bunker that frightens the refs, it`s what will happen to them if they`ve missed anything. The slightest, tiniest thing. What would any of us do? If we knew that along with the usual crucifixion that follows when something is not picked up, would be added "Why didn`t he go to the bunker?"

That was what Matt Cecchin copped at the end of the England - Tonga 2017 World Cup semi-final. I don`t know this for sure, but I strongly suspect the reason he made the decision on the field is that he knew he would be putting an English video ref (Ben Thaler) in an almighty invidious position. If so, nothing but admiration for him, yet the consequence was a deluge of abuse, even death threats.