NRL 2023 Round 1 Discussion

Eels had the perfect set to work for field goal, what a shocker
 
All the Eels planning to pressure the field goal and Grant just pulled their pants down.
 
The eels looked a bit loose through the middle without Reed Mahoney there. Hodgson will definitely add something to their attack but is nowhere near as effective as Mahoney in defence. When the Storm were taking runs from dummy half they were making metres at will at stages.
 
Fork... Tipped Parramatta, trust Melbourne to ruin my season only 1 game in.
 
That's a gutsy win by Melbourne.

Key players missing, the majority of the possession against you and you have to deal with multiple injuries through out the match. To beat a quality team away from home is a real testament to them.

In particular their star players stood up when they needed them most. Harry Grant, Cameron Munster, Jahrome Hughes and Nelson Asofa-Solomona all came up with big match-winning plays.

It's one thing to produce those plays when the team is playing well, but to do it when you're having a bad night is what impressed me the most.

I thought Meaney deputised well at the back and was just about their best player until the final 15 or so minutes. Katoa looks like he's about to re-discover his 2020 form under Bellamy as well. He didn't get many opportunities but I thought Warbrick held his own against Sivo as well.

Disappointing loss for the Eels.

They would have blown a lot of teams off the park with that opening onslaught. They had so much possession, territory and were just all over Melbourne physically they should have racked up more points.

Even late in the game they put themselves in winning positions but just couldn't convert any of their opportunities.

It's a really deflating loss but they can take some positives out of it. I thought Hodgson by and large did a decent job of filling in for Mahoney. I have to agree with you Nerd that defensively they really missed Mahoney but I was expecting a complete downgrade. He rode that line tonight with his passes, but if he can keep up that service the Eels are going to be OK.

Otherwise my big take-away was the performance of the big name Melbourne players.
 
I thought the final two minutes of regular time were all over the place from the officials.

First you have Maika Sivo driving Hughes into touch when the tackle had already been completed. It's a penalty every day of the week yet Klein chooses to only play the knock on.

That's followed by the captain's challenge where the Melbourne Storm player played the ball too quickly yet the video referee completely ignores it.

Then right at the death, Warbrick runs a text-book sheppard and took his advantage by promoting the ball.

Granted the Storm didn't gain a huge advantage but those are usually called right on the spot.

Same with Harry Grant racing up on Mitch Moses. How often do we see the referee just automatically blow a penalty
 
I thought the final two minutes of regular time were all over the place from the officials.

First you have Maika Sivo driving Hughes into touch when the tackle had already been completed. It's a penalty every day of the week yet Klein chooses to only play the knock on.

That's followed by the captain's challenge where the Melbourne Storm player played the ball too quickly yet the video referee completely ignores it.

Then right at the death, Warbrick runs a text-book sheppard and took his advantage by promoting the ball.

Granted the Storm didn't gain a huge advantage but those are usually called right on the spot.

Same with Harry Grant racing up on Mitch Moses. How often do we see the referee just automatically blow a penalty
Consistently inconsistent refereeing. The NRL is back, baby!
 
Screenshot 20230303 082612 Twitter
 
Then right at the death, Warbrick runs a text-book sheppard and took his advantage by promoting the ball.

Granted the Storm didn't gain a huge advantage but those are usually called right on the spot.

I've got question marks over Munster's pass in the lead-up to that.

The ball nor the arm carrying the ball touched the ground, but he had come to a complete stop with a player wrapped around his legs. The tackle was completed. Hitting the ground and passing wasn't all in one motion, he had come to a complete stop and then looked back and threw the ball to a teammate.
 
I've got question marks over Munster's pass in the lead-up to that.

The ball nor the arm carrying the ball touched the ground, but he had come to a complete stop with a player wrapped around his legs. The tackle was completed. Hitting the ground and passing wasn't all in one motion, he had come to a complete stop and then looked back and threw the ball to a teammate.
That was 100% a rugby play and shouldn't have been allowed.
 

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