The World Cup

[graveyard johnny]

6 minutes ago, DavidM said:

Unfortunately Turbo isn’t gonna make it

no - didnt think so  - and that is such a shame - we wont get to see him ply those freaky skills in his prime on our soil - which makes u think how many of the players we are putting forward for us "wont make it" either ? bateman? 

Edited August 15, 2022 by graveyard johnny

[Harry Stottle]

3 hours ago, Dunbar said:

At home, yes I think it is good enough to win the World Cup.

I believe that the Kangaroos (while still favourites) have come back to the pack with a lot of players deciding to play for heritage nations.

That means that there are maybe 5 teams who I think could win it... England, Australia, New Zealand, Tonga and maybe  Samoa with Fiji and PNG able to pull off an upset against these sides as well.

As tournaments become tighter, any advantage become more relevant.   One is English conditions but far more important is home advantage.

I think we can win it yes.

I gave a Thank you emoji for your honest answer Dunny, but I honestly can't be as enthusiastic about our chances as you are, I see to many weak links in our chain that can buckle and give way and that is from both those expected to play who are experienced internationals and those who will be novices at this level who are being elevated by many to make the team.

As you said in your previous post we have the cards we are dealt with I just don't believe we are strong enough but I would like nothing better than come the 19th of November you ram this post down my throat and tell me "I told you so".

[Dunbar]

3 minutes ago, Harry Stottle said:

I gave a Thank you emoji for your honest answer Dunny, but I honestly can't be as enthusiastic about our chances as you are, I see to many weak links in our chain that can buckle and give way and that is from both those expected to play who are experienced internationals and those who will be novices at this level who are being elevated by many to make the team.

As you said in your previous post we have the cards we are dealt with I just don't believe we are strong enough but I would like nothing better than come the 19th of November you ram this post down my throat and tell me "I told you so".

You asked me if we can win the World Cup and I said yes.

You didn't ask me if I think we will.  That is a different answer. 

If I misread and you were asking me if I thought we were going to win then the answer is no... I think we are 3rd favourites after Australia and New Zealand and just about better than Tonga based on home advantage. 

I am going into the world cup with my eyes wide open.  We can win it but I am not betting on it and not getting emotionally invested (yet!).

[The Rocket]

8 hours ago, jim_57 said:

PNG

1. A Johnston
2. X Coates
3. N MacDonald
4. J Olam
5. R Derby
6. K Laybutt
7. L Lam
8. E Kapinias
9. J Segeyaro
10. J De Belin
11. R Martin
12. N Putt
13. J Alick
14. E Ipape
15. M Yei
16. S Namo
17. D Russell

S Wane, B Biondi-Odo, S Tanabi, L Horne, E Waine, E Gebbie, W Albert, R Wavik.

Coates the only chance at Australian selection there.

De Belin has said he won`t be available for P.N.G. because he would feel like a fraud. Fair call by him and I respect him for that.

On P.N.G., underdogs against the Lions and won, underdogs against the Fijians and again got up, I worry about them being so far away from home and the conditions but when are we going to take them seriously.

Any game they play against a non top-2 team you wouldn`t write them off. Going to be one of the teams I`ll be following closely, can`t wait.

[UTK]

9 hours ago, Mojo said:

Surely Gagai plays 4 and Holmes on the wing over Suali'i. Gagai is too good to be left out

As a Knights fan, Gagai deserves to be dropped from our side (and this may well happen later this afternoon) and has been dire in Origin for the last couple of years. Gags representative footballing days are well and truly over now.

Suaalii will get picked and I wouldn't be surprised if he's first choice for the Kangaroos, it's just going to be up to him as to whether he plays for Samoa or Australia.

[graveyard johnny]

its just gonna be great to have international RL  back - to have the worlds best in our back gardens and to have the sport back in the limelight - no matter who wins - cant wait 

[Mojo]

Tonga's Line Up

1 Hopoate

2 Tupou

3 Staggs

4 Talakai

5 Fusitua

6 Lolohea

7 Hingano

8 Taukeiaho

9 Havili

10 Fonua- Blake

11 Kolomatangi

12 Kaufusi

13 Taumalolo

14 Luke

15 Tatola

16 Olaku'atu

17 Ofahengaue

Woolfe will definitely bring a few experienced players back in to the team for the world cup. And they'll definitely be stronger than the team that faced the Kiwis. Hopoate's leadership will definitely help the tongans and Lolohea in the halves will make a huge difference, especially with that monster forward pack they've got. Tonga should be the favourites to make it to the final over england in my opinion.

[Mojo]

7 minutes ago, UTK said:

As a Knights fan, Gagai deserves to be dropped from our side (and this may well happen later this afternoon) and has been dire in Origin for the last couple of years. Gags representative footballing days are well and truly over now.

Suaalii will get picked and I wouldn't be surprised if he's first choice for the Kangaroos, it's just going to be up to him as to whether he plays for Samoa or Australia.

As a knights fan you should know Gagai hardly plays well for the knights but kills it in origin and the kangaroos. It's hard to play well as a back when your teams struggling week in week out

[Scubby]

2 minutes ago, Mojo said:

Tonga's Line Up

1 Hopoate

2 Tupou

3 Staggs

4 Talakai

5 Fusitua

6 Lolohea

7 Hingano

8 Taukeiaho

9 Havili

10 Fonua- Blake

11 Kolomatangi

12 Kaufusi

13 Taumalolo

14 Luke

15 Tatola

16 Olaku'atu

17 Ofahengaue

Woolfe will definitely bring a few experienced players back in to the team for the world cup. And they'll definitely be stronger than the team that faced the Kiwis. Hopoate's leadership will definitely help the tongans and Lolohea in the halves will make a huge difference, especially with that monster forward pack they've got. Tonga should be the favourites to make it to the final over england in my opinion.

Amone from the Dragons will be half back over Hingango. He is playing well at the moment and scored a hat trick against the Raiders last week.

[The Rocket]

13 minutes ago, UTK said:

Suaalii will get picked and I wouldn't be surprised if he's first choice for the Kangaroos, it's just going to be up to him as to whether he plays for Samoa or Australia.

If Suaalii gets picked for Oz it will only be because of the hype surrounding him and all the headlines he attracts.

For me why would you pick a kid in a 24 man squad who has only played wing - certainly very well admittedly - but has no experience in any other position at a high level. 

They`d be mad not to go for someone who has experience and can cover several backline positions.

Suaalli for Samoa at fullback - bring it on.

[Mojo]

15 minutes ago, The Rocket said:

If Suaalii gets picked for Oz it will only be because of the hype surrounding him and all the headlines he attracts.

For me why would you pick a kid in a 24 man squad who has only played wing - certainly very well admittedly - but has no experience in any other position at a high level. 

They`d be mad not to go for someone who has experience and can cover several backline positions.

Suaalli for Samoa at fullback - bring it on.

If Suali'i wants to play his preferred position at fullback he should definitely go to samoa. But the media loves him at the moment and Mal's in love with him too

[The Rocket]

2 hours ago, Mojo said:

If Suali'i wants to play his preferred position at fullback he should definitely go to samoa. But the media loves him at the moment and Mal's in love with him too

Great article by Brent Read in The Australian the other day dispelling a few myths the union would have us believe about Suaalii. Played League since he was 4 years old and has never not played League even through  his time playing union for Kings.

It says a lot about League`s inferiority complex in this country that most of our commentators are obsessed about his short time at that private school and his links to the ruggers.

BTW my sister`s son is a teacher at Kings and when I asked about Suaali he hadn`t heard of him and didn`t know who I was referring to. Just goes to show he ain`t a legend everywhere.

 

[Mojo]

46 minutes ago, The Rocket said:

Great article by Brent Read in The Australian the other day dispelling a few myths the union would have us believe about Suaalii. Played League since he was 4 years old and has never not played League even through  his time playing union for Kings.

It says a lot about League`s inferiority complex in this country that most of our commentators are obsessed about his short time at that private school and his links to the ruggers.

BTW my sister`s son is a teacher at Kings and when I asked about Suaali he hadn`t heard of him and didn`t know who I was referring to. Just goes to show he ain`t a legend everywhere.

 

Your nephew must be going to the wrong kings college jokes aside Suali'i has alot of potential. He is having a solid season the only problem I have is the media is hyping him and calling him the next Folau. Folau was doing amazing things at that age in the nrl and Suali'i is nowhere near that. Tbh I don't see him playing in the nrl next season, rugby union will offer him alot of money

[UTK]

5 hours ago, The Rocket said:

If Suaalii gets picked for Oz it will only be because of the hype surrounding him and all the headlines he attracts.

For me why would you pick a kid in a 24 man squad who has only played wing - certainly very well admittedly - but has no experience in any other position at a high level. 

They`d be mad not to go for someone who has experience and can cover several backline positions.

Suaalli for Samoa at fullback - bring it on.

I would love him to turn out at fullback for Samoa but I honestly think he deserves to be first-choice Kangaroos winger at the moment. Note that this is only due to the defections of To'o/Tupou plus the injury to Trbojevic, if the above didn't happen he wouldn't be in the squad. As it stands the only other real contenders would be Addo-Carr, Cobbo, Oates or Burton/another centre if you move Holmes to the wing.

I think Addo-Carr will be locked in to one wing as one of the few remaining incumbents and strong form to back it up. Outside of that I'd very hard pressed to make an argument that Oates or Cobbo are all round better players than Suaalii.

Ultimately it'll be entirely up to him to decide but I'd be shocked if he's not included in the initial wider Australian squad that gets named.

[UTK]

5 hours ago, Mojo said:

As a knights fan you should know Gagai hardly plays well for the knights but kills it in origin and the kangaroos. It's hard to play well as a back when your teams struggling week in week out

That used to be the case, but after Latrell Mitchell slaughtered him in 2021 he hasn't been the same for QLD.

Jack Wighton and Matt Burton aren't even half as good at centre as Latrell but still managed to dominate him this series.

His tackling efficiency is in the low 70% over those series, just not good enough for international level - QLD just don't have anyone to replace him yet otherwise he would've been gone this year. Don't get me wrong, prime Dane Gagai was a brilliant player for both QLD and the Kangaroos but he's barely first-grade quality anymore let alone international quality.

[The Rocket]

1 hour ago, UTK said:

I would love him to turn out at fullback for Samoa but I honestly think he deserves to be first-choice Kangaroos winger at the moment. Note that this is only due to the defections of To'o/Tupou plus the injury to Trbojevic, if the above didn't happen he wouldn't be in the squad. As it stands the only other real contenders would be Addo-Carr, Cobbo, Oates or Burton/another centre if you move Holmes to the wing.

I think Addo-Carr will be locked in to one wing as one of the few remaining incumbents and strong form to back it up. Outside of that I'd very hard pressed to make an argument that Oates or Cobbo are all round better players than Suaalii.

Ultimately it'll be entirely up to him to decide but I'd be shocked if he's not included in the initial wider Australian squad that gets named.

Yes ironically it may all come down to politics about who gets that vacant wing spot and it`s easy to forget all the hype was ( and still is ) around Cobbo until Suualii started stealing the limelight and I don`t think they can pick both.

But I wonder that since Oz may well be doing some sort of Aboriginal war dance at this year`s Cup that it would be an embarrassing state of affairs if there wasn`t any obviously looking Aboriginal players or only one in Addo-Carr ( who I agree is a certainty ) to lead said dance. Take him away and the Oz team really starts to look like white bread or certainly not very representative of the large Aboriginal presence in our game.

Suualii with his very public attachment to Samoa, Cobbo being as obviously Aboriginal as Greg Inglis and in the mould of a striking looking proud Aboriginal warrior and remembering that Queensland did win the SOO I think there will a lot of pressure for the selectors to go with Cobbo, could even help Gagai as well.

 

[Mojo]

Just saw Suali'i's interview and he was asked if Matt Parish or Mal Maniga called him who would he pick and he said he doesn't know. I have a feeling he'll pick samoa only because the other Samoan players have been criticized for doing it. If he said aussie nothing negative would be said but if he said samoa it would've been the "we'll he shouldn't be considered for origin again" comments We'll  that's my take on it anyways

[Mojo]

Samoan line up

1 Joseph Suaali'i/Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow

2 Tylan May

3 Izack Tago

4 Stephen Crichton

5 Brian To'o

6 Jarome Luai

7 Anthony Milford/ Chanel Harris-Tevita

8 Martin Taupau

9 Danny Levi

10 Junior Paulo

11 Jeremiah Nanai/Luciano Leilua

12 Jayd'n Sua

13 Raymond Faitala-Mariner

 

14 Tyrone May/Faamanu Brown

15 Josh Papali'i

16 Kelma Tuilagi

17 Josh McGuire

 

The first game against England will show us what this samoan team is capable of. They have the potential to beat the English and also the potential to get beaten by 50 pts by the English

Edited August 16, 2022 by Mojo

[jim_57]

7 hours ago, The Rocket said:

De Belin has said he won`t be available for P.N.G. because he would feel like a fraud. Fair call by him and I respect him for that.

On P.N.G., underdogs against the Lions and won, underdogs against the Fijians and again got up, I worry about them being so far away from home and the conditions but when are we going to take them seriously.

Any game they play against a non top-2 team you wouldn`t write them off. Going to be one of the teams I`ll be following closely, can`t wait.

Fair enough from De Belin, I hadn’t heard that.

I agree about them being an outside chance of an upset against Tonga, Samoa & England. On their side of the draw they won’t face Australia or NZ unless they make the final which whilst unlikely isn’t impossible if they can put 2 perfect games together against England or Samoa in the quarters then England, Tonga or Samoa in the semi.

[SydneyRoosters]

45 minutes ago, Mojo said:

Just saw Suali'i's interview and he was asked if Matt Parish or Mal Maniga called him who would he pick and he said he doesn't know. I have a feeling he'll pick samoa only because the other Samoan players have been criticized for doing it. If he said aussie nothing negative would be said but if he said samoa it would've been the "we'll he shouldn't be considered for origin again" comments We'll  that's my take on it anyways

He’ll only play for Samoa if he doesn’t get picked Australia, And he’s 100% getting picked so there’s no chance he plays for Samoa. Also he’s only half Samoan, he’s mums Australian so I’m sure he’s feels much more Australian than Samoan.

[Mojo]

6 minutes ago, SydneyRoosters said:

He’ll only play for Samoa if he doesn’t get picked Australia, And he’s 100% getting picked so there’s no chance he plays for Samoa. Also he’s only half Samoan, he’s mums Australian so I’m sure he’s feels much more Australian than Samoan.

If that was true he would've said that flat out I don't care if he's half Samoan or full Samoan he has the option to choose 2 nations. It's pretty obvious he feels close to both. Like I said if he really wanted to represent the kangaroos he would've flat out said "Mal I would be happy to play for the kangaroos over samoa" and before the world cup got cancelled last year Suali'i put his hand up to play for samoa straight away

[Mojo]

23 minutes ago, SydneyRoosters said:

he’s mums Australian so I’m sure he’s feels much more Australian than Samoan.

What?

[UTK]

1 hour ago, The Rocket said:

Yes ironically it may all come down to politics about who gets that vacant wing spot and it`s easy to forget all the hype was ( and still is ) around Cobbo until Suualii started stealing the limelight and I don`t think they can pick both.

But I wonder that since Oz may well be doing some sort of Aboriginal war dance at this year`s Cup that it would be an embarrassing state of affairs if there wasn`t any obviously looking Aboriginal players or only one in Addo-Carr ( who I agree is a certainty ) to lead said dance. Take him away and the Oz team really starts to look like white bread or certainly not very representative of the large Aboriginal presence in our game.

Suualii with his very public attachment to Samoa, Cobbo being as obviously Aboriginal as Greg Inglis and in the mould of a striking looking proud Aboriginal warrior and remembering that Queensland did win the SOO I think there will a lot of pressure for the selectors to go with Cobbo, could even help Gagai as well.

 

The politics of it is a fair point, Mal picking NSWelshmen who didn't play Origin over QLDers who were part of winning a series may also just be wishful thinking on my behalf.

[Dunbar]

If Meninga does go down the Queensland route due to Origin success then I would be very happy as an English fan.  While a quality player, I would much rather see DCE line up againt England than Cleary. 

Cleary is the kind of Aussie half who who would grind England down... as we have seen over and over again, whereas DCE is much more as hoc and would probably be less of a worry.

If it happens, I will buy Brad Fittler a drink myself for being such a rubbish coach.

[SydneyRoosters]

Jake Trbojevic Ruled out for the season Australia’s foward pack keeps getting weaker and weaker every week