NRL 2023 Finals Week 2 Discussion

BroncosFever

BroncosFever

State of Origin Rep
Jun 6, 2014
5,355
9,930
Penrith will be nervous about Melbourne, they’ve got the quality in their spine to beat them, it will just be whether or not they can match them in the middle.

Bellamy will need to put on a masterclass to get the most out of his bench.
 
Sproj

Sproj

Immortal
Senior Staff
Sep 6, 2013
51,849
62,863
Penrith will be nervous about Melbourne, they’ve got the quality in their spine to beat them, it will just be whether or not they can match them in the middle.

Bellamy will need to put on a masterclass to get the most out of his bench.

Surely Bellamy will know his forward pack isn't it, he's going to have to somehow figure out how to work around them and then, he runs into the problem of Penrith's amazing back 3.
 
Big Pete

Big Pete

International Captain
Mar 12, 2008
31,683
24,489
Cometh the hour, cometh the man. What a career defining effort from Warbrick, from Rugby 7s to pulling off a hail mary in a do or die finals scenario. It's some portfolio Bellamy has created - Matt King, Sisa Waqa, Marika Koroibete, Suliasi Vunivalu etc. who came either from nothing or failure to superstardom.

I don't think it could have ended any other way. Both teams were clearly both battered and bruised, neither could find any rhythm and in the end it's come down to a kick and hope scenario.

There's so many small moments that I think both teams could reflect on. Whether it was the Corey Allan off-side when Tedesco had Meaney well and truly trapped in-goal or Grant running out of dummy half and throwing a shocker of a pass to Wishart. It was just one of those typical finals game.

Penrith will surely be licking their lips. Hughes should be back and Coates is an outside chance, otherwise the Storm appear to be the walking wounded and their deficiencies are being really exposed. Their edges haven't really provided any impetus for the Storm attack and Katoa in particular has been really disappointing.

Going into the finals we knew what to expect of Loiero and he's more of a loose lock forward playing second row ala Zac Hosking, David Stagg etc. However Katoa had been a real go to option and he's been well off the pace.

Outside of Warbrick, I thought the changes Bellamy made to his starting side made a big difference. 10-0 early just gave Melbourne that buffer and even though Sydney were the better team for the majority of the game, those 10 points proved invaluable.

As far as Klein goes, notice how many calls started going the Roosters way after the Grant knock on? That was blatant game management, and we also saw another instance of teams opting to convert a six again into a full blown penalty.
 
Super Freak

Super Freak

International Captain
Forum Staff
Jan 25, 2014
41,359
30,570
Finals series so far has really been a bit of a bludger.

Only two teams really performing at a high level. Hoping tomorrow night we see a quality game like the last final Warriors played at home.
 
Mick_Hancock

Mick_Hancock

NRL Player
Feb 26, 2023
1,332
3,427
Like I said, hate both of these teams, but that last couple of tackles when Grant tried to stay down to milk a penalty?!
Was it a penalty? No, soft as shit.
Was it a penalty according to the letter of the rules? Yes, Walker hit him in the head. Should’ve been blown and Melbourne get a kick to try and go 1 point up.
 
Culhwch

Culhwch

NRL Captain
Mar 28, 2008
3,908
9,908
Penrith are going to slaughter this Storm team. This might need the finals series that breaks them for awhile. I'll tip them right now to miss the eight next year.
 
Bish

Bish

QCup Player
May 11, 2023
550
1,534
Hopefully Klown has enough of a shocker that he won't get the GF. That miss on the Harry Grant knock on where Klown was standing just meters away was a howler.
Yep, refs should be made to explain these decisions. Roosters should have had a try scoring opportunity, instead, storm go down the other end and get one themselves.
Not even debatable.
 

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Culhwch

Culhwch

NRL Captain
Mar 28, 2008
3,908
9,908
Yep, refs should be made to explain these decisions. Roosters should have had a try scoring opportunity, instead, storm go down the other end and get one themselves.
Not even debatable.

If he had any doubts he should have called it and left it up to Melbourne challenge. Melbourne can then choose to waste their challenge, since Grant had to know he knocked it on, or else Roosters get the ball and right decision is made.

Or option three, of course - Melbourne challenge and the bunker also says no knock on. Can't rule it out.
 
IceWorks

IceWorks

NRL Player
May 10, 2019
1,093
1,625
The cooked chooks almost beat the Storm in Melbourne.

Really only Brisbane and Penrith as a grand final will be a good result. Impressive how the RL media has been waxing on about the courage of the crap sides... and how the Storm played so badly, don't think anybody gave credit to Brisbane for how badly the Storm played, Brisbane just suffocated them from the first set of the game, it's really bias that the commentators don't see that.
 
IceWorks

IceWorks

NRL Player
May 10, 2019
1,093
1,625
Storm should get smashed next week.. Warriors are an X factor though, assuming they can even beat the Knongas?
 
pennywisealfie

pennywisealfie

State of Origin Captain
Contributor
Mar 4, 2008
10,425
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That knock on missed call and then the six again on Melbournes last set for a guy diving back down on the ground was revolting. Such a Melbourne way to win.
 

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