State of Origin I

[fighting irish]

2 hours ago, The Rocket said:

Funny because I always knew Freddy was a student of history, his nickname when Gould went to Penrith was `Adolf` as in Adolf Fittler ( nothing to do with his politics they would have just thought it was funny that is, his mates in their history class). Any way Gould said we better change that, hence Freddy.

 

Hey, do the call Cameron Munster Herman? 

[Davo5]

2 minutes ago, fighting irish said:

Hey, do the call Cameron Munster Herman? 

Don’t know but Mundine has been called several names,most of them unprintable on here.

[Manfred Mann]

On 10/06/2021 at 09:13, Dunbar said:

 

By the way, when did Manfred Mann say Fifita was the best player in the world?

I never did. I said Fifita was the best second rower in the world. But the distinction between best second rower vs best player is a minor detail for sad old  Davo5 —- who needs to appear to score points for his ego gratification every hour of every day.

[Route66]

Full of admiration for the blues performance and disappointed in Queensland but it's a completely new game in a fortnight and even though the gulf in the sides appears massive it's a credit to the series and the hype around it that I cant wait to see what the response will be. Just wish we still  had some representative games in this country 

[Jim Prendle]

1 hour ago, Manfred Mann said:

I never did. I said Fifita was the best second rower in the world. But best second rower vs best player is a minor detail for sad old  Davo5 —- who needs to appear to score points for his ego gratification every hour.

But so obviously found out at Rep level.

[Dunbar]

51 minutes ago, Jim Prendle said:

But so obviously found out at Rep level.

Very harsh to say Fifita was found out at rep level.

I thought he was pretty well contained by the NSW team but in a well beaten side he worked hard and at least looked like he would trouble the Blues defence.

Despite being off the pitch for a HIA Fifita ran for 110 metres.  For context, the NSW second rows ran for 122 metres between them.  He also broke more tackles than the NSW back three in the scrum combined.

[Jim Prendle]

37 minutes ago, Dunbar said:

Very harsh to say Fifita was found out at rep level.

I thought he was pretty well contained by the NSW team but in a well beaten side he worked hard and at least looked like he would trouble the Blues defence.

Despite being off the pitch for a HIA Fifita ran for 110 metres.  For context, the NSW second rows ran for 122 metres between them.  He also broke more tackles than the NSW back three in the scrum combined.

Is that not what you would expect from the best second rower in the world?

Those numbers are not startling by any stretch.

[Dunbar]

1 minute ago, Jim Prendle said:

Is that not what you would expect from the best second rower in the world?

Those numbers are not startling by any stretch.

That's a bit of a circular argument isn't it?

Anyway, yes they weren't great stats but he was the best of the Queensland forwards and arguably the best second row on the pitch.  Just saying we wasn't 'found out' as that implies he was awful which he wasn't (some of the Queensland team were).

[Davo5]

10 minutes ago, Jim Prendle said:

Is that not what you would expect from the best second rower in the world?

Those numbers are not startling by any stretch.

Especially when he was up against a NSW back row shorn of its best players,having said that he’s still a very good player.

[The Rocket]

8 hours ago, DavidM said:

That is funny tbh 

I thought so as well.

 

[The Rocket]

6 hours ago, fighting irish said:

Hey, do the call Cameron Munster Herman? 

Not that I know of, but they do call Valentine Holmes, Sherlock.

Just kidding, but I do.

Am looking forward now to them rushing Connor Watson into the Queensland side though. Just to hear the commentators say, " Holmes to Watson.." Sorry mate, but I am easily amused.

[Futtocks]

20 minutes ago, The Rocket said:

Not that I know of, but they do call Valentine Holmes, Sherlock.

Just kidding, but I do.

Am looking forward now to them rushing Connor Watson into the Queensland side though. Just to hear the commentators say, " Holmes to Watson.." Sorry mate, but I am easily amused.

Wasn't it Roy & HG who tried to make "Adol" popular as Brad Fittler's nickname?

[The Rocket]

3 minutes ago, Futtocks said:

Wasn't it Roy & HG who tried to make "Adol" popular as Brad Fittler's nickname?

Certainly their style, but they may well have heard the story like I did and you know those two, ran with it.

The full story I heard was that Gould said we better change it and one of the trainers piped up and said 'how about Freddy ?" and it stuck.

Do you recall some of their other great nicknames they gave players, like Mark Geyer "the tap" because he turned it on and off, the violence , that is. One of my favourites though, just for pure outrageousness was " backdoor Benny Elias", shortened to `back door` when calling matches.

It`s been so long it`s hard to remember some others, actually another favourite was Dan Staines nickname " underpants" as in underpants stains. The brick-with-eyes for Lazarus was another but I never thought that was as witty, if you can call the other names that.

[Futtocks]

6 minutes ago, The Rocket said:

Certainly their style, but they may well have heard the story like I did and you know those two, ran with it.

The full story I heard was that Gould said we better change it and one of the trainers piped up and said 'how about Freddy ?" and it stuck.

Do you recall some of their other great nicknames they gave players, like Mark Geyer "the tap" because he turned it on and off, the violence , that is. One of my favourites though, just for pure outrageousness was " backdoor Benny Elias", shortened to `back door` when calling matches.

It`s been so long it`s hard to remember some others, actually another favourite was Dan Staines nickname " underpants" as in underpants stains. The brick-with-eyes for Lazarus was another but I never thought that was as witty, if you can call the other names that.

And, of course, Paul Sironen was "The Buttock".

[BrisbaneRhino]

Interesting re the decline in viewing figures on the previous page.

When Queensland were dominating the series they had an amazing spine in Slater, Thurston, Cronk and Smith, plus the likes of Inglis. They were household names and even though NSW kept losing they were generally competitive across series - they had a lot of class players, just never had a spine to beat Queensland. 

Now those guys have gone the lack of depth in Queensland vs NSW looks like a chasm.  Have a look at discussions re potential backline replacements and its clear Queensland have nothing at all in reserve. If everyone was fit they'd have Staggs at centre and Ponga at fullback, but that's about it.

The biggest risk long-term to Origin is lack of competitiveness.  Over the next few years Queensland will need to start finding more class or we could see more and more lopsided games. The game now does not reward effort alone, and you can't start a fight to knock the other side off their game. 

I like Origin, but it will be interesting to see how the NRL reacts if its biggest cash cow starts to lose its shine.

[unapologetic pedant]

4 hours ago, BrisbaneRhino said:

Interesting re the decline in viewing figures on the previous page.

The figures would have more meaning if they were adjusted to take into account the general decline in FTA TV viewership.

Have to think that if Nine had Vossy the game would come alive more for the casually interested that tune in to Origin.

It might sound harsh on Ray Warren, but there comes a time in any walk of life when someone just can`t cut it any more.

Sometimes, when a break is made, it`s as though he`s dozed off muttering to himself, then been nudged awake. The result is like a Soccer commentator calling a goal a couple of seconds after the ball hit the back of the net. Ruins the moment.

[Manfred Mann]

8 hours ago, unapologetic pedant said:

The figures would have more meaning if they were adjusted to take into account the general decline in FTA TV viewership.

Have to think that if Nine had Vossy the game would come alive more for the casually interested that tune in to Origin.

It might sound harsh on Ray Warren, but there comes a time in any walk of life when someone just can`t cut it any more.

Sometimes, when a break is made, it`s as though he`s dozed off muttering to himself, then been nudged awake. The result is like a Soccer commentator calling a goal a couple of seconds after the ball hit the back of the net. Ruins the moment.

Vossy used to work at Channel 9. However Ray Hadley, who had a close relationship with the boss of Channel 9, got Vossy fired from Channel 9 for daring to say that he Vossy thought that the statue of Ray Warren which had been erected in the town of Junee didn’t look much like Ray Warren. That opinion of Vossy was suggested by Hadley to be the equivalent of blasphemy, even though the only person who had a right to feel offended by Vossy’s  opinion was the sculptor. Hadley has always been a bully. But Hadley was then, and may still be, trying to make himself the successor to Ray Warren. Thus for Hadley, Vossy had to be eliminated from the list of candidates for Ray Warren’s succession. And he was. Now Vossy is one of the top three game callers at Fox League.

We all know that Vossy is the only Australian rugby league commentator who promotes the South Asian curries that he has enjoyed eating in the north of England. More important Vossy is the only Australian commentator interested in and promoting the significance of Super League, and international rugby league— especially Papua-New Guinea. However I  expect Vossy will stay at Fox League.

[The Rocket]

8 hours ago, Manfred Mann said:

Vossy used to work at Channel 9. However Ray Hadley, who had a close relationship with the boss of Channel 9, got Vossy fired from Channel 9 for daring to say that he Vossy thought that the statue of Ray Warren which had been erected in the town of Junee didn’t look much like Ray Warren. That opinion of Vossy was suggested by Hadley to be the equivalent of blasphemy, even though the only person who had a right to feel offended by Vossy’s  opinion was the sculptor. Hadley has always been a bully. But Hadley was then, and may still be, trying to make himself the successor to Ray Warren. Thus for Hadley, Vossy had to be eliminated from the list of candidates for Ray Warren’s succession. And he was. Now Vossy is one of the top three game callers at Fox League.

We all know that Vossy is the only Australian rugby league commentator who promotes the South Asian curries that he has enjoyed eating in the north of England. More important Vossy is the only Australian commentator interested in and promoting the significance of Super League, and international rugby league— especially Papua-New Guinea. However I  expect Vossy will stay at Fox League.

Manfred, Ray Hadlee is a two-bit bully renowned for bullying the women and boys on his staff at the radio station where he works days. Andrew Voss would be the perfect target for someone like hadlee, bit different, bit of an outsider in the RL world, not the blokey sort we usually get served up.

In a high profile case a couple of years ago some kid who was his assistant went public with the horror stories of what he endured at Hadlees hands at work, the one that sticks in my mind was about a boy who was made like some sort of lackey to carry Hadlees chair from his office to the studio every day and back again often while Hadlee berated him in front of everyone, all for a laugh. ABC`s radio League caller Andrew Moore worked under him years ago and he also went public with the humiliation that Hadlee heaped on him, Hadlee publicly apologised over that one. Because Hadlee has a high rating program, you know the shock jock type, who just bullies people over the air, he gets away with a lot because the radio station are afraid of losing him.

The thing that sums up Ray Hadlee for me was when there was all the furore over the way he treated the boy I mentioned, Hadlee said publicly " yeah I know I can be pretty scary when I`m angry", like what sort of sad ###### loser describes themselves as that, that sums the fool up for me, real tough guys don`t need to tell everyone how tough they are or how scary they are, especially if the only thing they bully are women or boys. Inside all that bluster there is a pathetic person who has probably never really done anything courageous in his life. Just sits there from the safety of his radio booth berating people.

Thankfully something happened a few months back, I can`t remember now what it was, and I noticed he hasn`t called the League since. Good riddance to the coward I say.

 

 

[Alan Robertson]

2 hours ago, The Rocket said:

Manfred, Ray Hadlee is a two-bit bully renowned for bullying the women and boys on his staff at the radio station where he works days. Andrew Voss would be the perfect target for someone like hadlee, bit different, bit of an outsider in the RL world, not the blokey sort we usually get served up.

In a high profile case a couple of years ago some kid who was his assistant went public with the horror stories of what he endured at Hadlees hands at work, the one that sticks in my mind was about a boy who was made like some sort of lackey to carry Hadlees chair from his office to the studio every day and back again often while Hadlee berated him in front of everyone, all for a laugh. ABC`s radio League caller Andrew Moore worked under him years ago and he also went public with the humiliation that Hadlee heaped on him, Hadlee publicly apologised over that one. Because Hadlee has a high rating program, you know the shock jock type, who just bullies people over the air, he gets away with a lot because the radio station are afraid of losing him.

The thing that sums up Ray Hadlee for me was when there was all the furore over the way he treated the boy I mentioned, Hadlee said publicly " yeah I know I can be pretty scary when I`m angry", like what sort of sad ###### loser describes themselves as that, that sums the fool up for me, real tough guys don`t need to tell everyone how tough they are or how scary they are, especially if the only thing they bully are women or boys. Inside all that bluster there is a pathetic person who has probably never really done anything courageous in his life. Just sits there from the safety of his radio booth berating people.

Thankfully something happened a few months back, I can`t remember now what it was, and I noticed he hasn`t called the League since. Good riddance to the coward I say.

 

 

He seems to be on NRL 360 recently. This takes the show from 'kind of OK' to 'completely unwatchable'.

[The Rocket]

On 11/06/2021 at 15:40, unapologetic pedant said:

The figures would have more meaning if they were adjusted to take into account the general decline in FTA TV viewership.

Have to think that if Nine had Vossy the game would come alive more for the casually interested that tune in to Origin.

It might sound harsh on Ray Warren, but there comes a time in any walk of life when someone just can`t cut it any more.

Sometimes, when a break is made, it`s as though he`s dozed off muttering to himself, then been nudged awake. The result is like a Soccer commentator calling a goal a couple of seconds after the ball hit the back of the net. Ruins the moment.

I think @BrisbaneRhino made the point that the whole Channel Nine coverage could do with an update. I couldn`t agree more, listening to Jonathon Thurston`s guffawing on friday had me reaching for the mute button. BR pointed out that even the dud ( my adjective not his ) super rugby coverage on Gem looks better, and I have to agree.

With regards your first sentence streaming figures for SOO1 were up 130 000 on last year to 285 000, since the figures I posted earlier for comparison were 2019 numbers you could probably safely estimate that streaming figures would be up conservatively 200 000+ over the two years. This does go a fair way in off-setting the 280 000 drop on FTA.

P.S. V`landy`s had the new Nine boss Mike Sneesby in the box at Townsville. Sneesby is a Woollongong boy like V`landy`s and both went to Woollongong University. Hopefully a bit of Rugby League synergy there.

In the past renewed broadcast deals have been signed by this time of the cycle, the 2017 - 2022 deal was signed in mid-2015.

[unapologetic pedant]

6 hours ago, The Rocket said:

With regards your first sentence streaming figures for SOO1 were up 130 000 on last year to 285 000, since the figures I posted earlier for comparison were 2019 numbers you could probably safely estimate that streaming figures would be up conservatively 200 000+ over the two years. This does go a fair way in off-setting the 280 000 drop on FTA.

In the past renewed broadcast deals have been signed by this time of the cycle, the 2017 - 2022 deal was signed in mid-2015.

Reading between the lines, PVL supporters would say he`s deferring signing the next FTA deal to give Nine`s streaming figures as long as possible to climb as high as possible.

BTW, do we know how Nine monetise their streaming service?

[unapologetic pedant]

On 11/06/2021 at 15:28, Manfred Mann said:

Vossy used to work at Channel 9. However Ray Hadley, who had a close relationship with the boss of Channel 9, got Vossy fired from Channel 9 for daring to say that he Vossy thought that the statue of Ray Warren which had been erected in the town of Junee didn’t look much like Ray Warren. That opinion of Vossy was suggested by Hadley to be the equivalent of blasphemy, even though the only person who had a right to feel offended by Vossy’s  opinion was the sculptor. Hadley has always been a bully. But Hadley was then, and may still be, trying to make himself the successor to Ray Warren. Thus for Hadley, Vossy had to be eliminated from the list of candidates for Ray Warren’s succession. And he was. 

I`ve read a few accounts of the Channel Nine Julius Vossy tragicomedy. The statue remark always seemed a flimsy pretext.

If Vossy and Hadley never got along, the boss at Nine will have been the more felicitous recipient of the line "Et tu Brute".

Any VLM campaigners in Junee?

[GeordieSaint]

Just watching the highlights…

… some really poor defence from Queensland at times. Shocking defence from Trobjevic for the Queensland try as well. 

Hope for the rest of the world yet… 

[Dunbar]

1 hour ago, GeordieSaint said:

Just watching the highlights…

… some really poor defence from Queensland at times. Shocking defence from Trobjevic for the Queensland try as well. 

Hope for the rest of the world yet… 

You do wonder, with 3 of the 4 centres on show not regular centres how much of the attacking prowess was just poor defence. Certainly Trbojevic and Capewell's mutual defence at time was poor.