News, General Articles and Discussion

[bundyrabbit]

Different era, different rules. GI was probably the best of the NRL era. Fulton, Gasnier, Kenny and others were just as good in their eras. I think I'd rate GI above Mal and Renouf, but not by much.

 

[Kempy]

In that time Souths have done well.

To think of the 3 we have had 2 of those were in 2022. Tom Burgess and Taane Milne. The other one was back in 2007 when Jaiman Lowe put one on Brett Delaney for grabbing his testicles.

 

[olBj]

Looking ahead to which results help and which results hinder I think at this point the rule of thumb is we want the current top 4 to keep winning and the bottom 4 to start winning, both scenarios obviously excluding when they play Souths.
We then want the remaining clubs in positions 5 to 13 to lose as many as possible and some of these will in fact be 4 point games as we jockey for a position to continue the run.

And who knows, but at year end if teams like Penrith and Roosters are safe... they could follow the recent pattern of resting their best players. ..would be good if we are beneficiaries!

 

[olBj]

.


Fulton was a freak! (and he knew it too!) It's no fluke he was one of the first immortals. I'll go and wash my mouth out now.

Best centre I ever saw ... and at times Tim Horan in RU...

 

[captainsutto]

Bennett says it’s a similar scenario with punishment dished out for players running in to spark a melee.

“In our game (against the Storm) there is a melee when Tevita Pangia did that good tackle,” Bennett explained.

“He was offside but it was not an illegal tackle.

“And yet a player from the other team raced in and started a melee. Even though we didn’t start the melee, no action. No penalty. No sin bin.

Spot on WB. He could have used the farcical sin binning of Latrell for being 3rd man in and it was ok for the storm

 

[Pplspoet]

A moments silence for the fact George Burgess missed a final (would have been 2 had we beat the Sharks) because he threw a water bottle at Kane Evan’s feet.

 

[Bruster]

A moments silence for the fact George Burgess missed a final (would have been 2 had we beat the Sharks) because he threw a water bottle at Kane Evan’s feet.

An empty plastic water bottle.

And Billy got off a shoulder charge on Feki to play the 2018 GF.

 

[yobbo84]

An empty plastic water bottle.

And Billy got off a shoulder charge on Feki to play the 2018 GF.

Don't forget when they "accidentally" gave Anthony Minichiello the wrong charge and he got off so he could play his 250th

 

[Kent Brockman]

An empty plastic water bottle.

And Billy got off a shoulder charge on Feki to play the 2018 GF.

And didn't the same thing happen a year later? Or the year before.
Same two players, same teams, same final. Both times got off.

 

[Prowsey]

I dunno - sometimes I feel like the perspective needs to be different. I would go with:
1) entertainment first
2) perfection second

Feels like we have talked ourselves into this narrative that with technology, 8 refs etc everything will be perfect …….but you know it won’t and so what….its sport……

Take our GF win and an alternative narrative - Sam B gets hit, independent doctors rules him out, James Graham gets 10 in the bin or whatever…..and say we agree all those decisions are “consistent”…

So we gain perfection but we lose the drama and entertainment of sport….

Honestly I think we need to stop overthinking it…..

Apart from the player welfare bit of your thread, I agree with your post. (The game has a duty of care to players, and need to protect them from themselves - and I understood what you were saying).

I’d be quite happy to remove the bunker altogether. Have a head ref, a ruck ref (no whistle) and 2 in goal refs - so a team of 6, manage the game. If they make a mistake, deal with it.

Won’t be any worse than some of the brain dead decisions the bunker makes.

Or, only use the Bunker to rule on dead in goal and put down (but they’ve got some of them wrong too).

 

[Prowsey]

Willie made a comment on Levels that GI is an all time player. That he’s the best outside back he’s ever seen and he puts him against anyone, Mal included.

I know that GI is often put a rung below Immortal status, but when framed like that, which outside back in the history of the game would you have in your side ahead of Greg Inglis?

Are Gasnier, Meninga and (to a lesser extent as he played elsewhere) Fulton a class ahead of Inglis?

The guy was a walk up start for every rep side his whole career. And he absolutely dominated at the elite level. Won premierships. What more would a player need to do than GI did?

Probably the only one that I’ve seen that was a better fullback was Billy Slater.

But GI was the better player, because he could play anywhere in the backline and make his presence felt.

I’m surprised by your comment about the immortal status.

I always thought he was a lock.

 

[Prowsey]

Different era, different rules. GI was probably the best of the NRL era. Fulton, Gasnier, Kenny and others were just as good in their eras. I think I'd rate GI above Mal and Renouf, but not by much.

I’ve watched all of those players (albeit Gasnier was in his twilight).

GI is head and shoulders above all of them.

And for clarity, I thought Kenny was a better 5/8 than Lewis.

 

[daRque]

Are people still seriously whinging about the Burgess water bottle incident?

It was in Sept 2015, nearly 10 years ago.

FFS move on.

 

[Bruster]

Probably the only one that I’ve seen that was a better fullback was Billy Slater.

But GI was the better player, because he could play anywhere in the backline and make his presence felt.

I’m surprised by your comment about the immortal status.

I always thought he was a lock.

When Inglis retired Gordon Tallis said that a team of 13 Greg Inglis's (Greg Inglis in every position), would beat a team of any other player in every position. It's an interesting take on his ability as a player. I have to agree.

 

[Bruster]

Are people still seriously whinging about the Burgess water bottle incident?

It was in Sept 2015, nearly 10 years ago.

FFS move on.

It was more about the inconsistency with some of these decisions.
Rant warning!
I will never see how it was potentially 2 finals games for an empty plastic water bottle with no intent to cause injury. It's not like it was a Molotov cocktail he threw at Kane Evans feet.
Rant over.
Moving on.