Four Nations Finals Discussion..

[Big Pete]

2008, like I said he was pretty disappointing in game 1 and had to have Karmichael baby sit the position for him before he got an ideal introduction into the game.

2009, apart from the first half of game 1 he was really average. Came up with a lot of mistakes and really didn't offer much.

2010 I completely agree.

Hopefully this series was just a set back and he comes back next year better than ever. icon_thumbs_u

 

[Dexter]

cant we give the kiwis credit was a good game its OK to loose a few icon_thumbs_u

Absolutely give credit to the Kiwis for a win, it's not a one off by any means now as they have the wood on us in big games of recent times, sure they stayed in the game when we could have put them away but, the forward pass was too much of a mistake to overlook, I wouldn't want to win that way and it sucks to lose that way.

 

[Alec]

Agree with Pete. The worst thing about Slater is how unreliable he is, and how much he chokes under pressure. I thought he got over that in this year's Origin, but it's obvious he still hasn't.

 

[Jeba]

Seriously, how hard is it to pick the right players to play for Australia?

Look at the names that have worn the green and gold in the last few years - Monaghan, D Williams, Kite, G Stewart, Fitzgibbon, Gidley, White, Tuqiri, Gidley again, Watmough, whilst the best players for the job have sat on the sideline (this year being names like Civoniceva, Myles and Boyd).

I know that on all occasions we have still ended up with the best side on paper, but anyone that leaves Petero Civoniceva out of a representative side is dreaming. A name like Civoniceva just goes in your side because he is the best man for the job. In previous years for Queensland he is an automatic selection because of what he brings to the side.

Is team selection for the Kangaroos entirely up to the coach or do they have selectors?

 

[Je$ter]

Seriously, how hard is it to pick the right players to play for Australia?

Look at the names that have worn the green and gold in the last few years - Monaghan, D Williams, Kite, G Stewart, Fitzgibbon, Gidley, White, Tuqiri, Gidley again, Watmough, whilst the best players for the job have sat on the sideline (this year being names like Civoniceva, Myles and Boyd).

I know that on all occasions we have still ended up with the best side on paper, but anyone that leaves Petero Civoniceva out of a representative side is dreaming. A name like Civoniceva just goes in your side because he is the best man for the job. In previous years for Queensland he is an automatic selection because of what he brings to the side.

Is team selection for the Kangaroos entirely up to the coach or do they have selectors?

I thought selectors/coach picked squad, coach picked team?

 

[Anonymous person]

Oh please, this was the only Kiwi match that meant anything and guess what AP, it was competitive. You can make all the excuses you want to but really the excuses you're making...it sounds A LOT like an Origin game.

hahahahahahahahaha

so if QLD won the first origin game 50-0, the second game 40-0, and then the third game 6-0, youd say it was a competitive series? [icon_lol1. [icon_lol1. [icon_lol1. [icon_lol1. [icon_lol1. [icon_lol1. [icon_lol1. [icon_lol1. [icon_lol1.

before the final, the smallest winning margin was 14 points on 2 occasions. the SMALLEST. there was a 42 point one, a 64 point one, a 20 point one, and a 26 point one. then theres ONE match decided by 4 points and all of a sudden its a competitive series and it proves that test football is on par with Origin? [icon_lol1. [icon_lol1. [icon_lol1. [icon_lol1. [icon_lol1. [icon_lol1. [icon_lol1. [icon_lol1. [icon_lol1. [icon_lol1. [icon_lol1.

youre too good Pete.

and i love how you still carry on about Slater not being great lol. hes the best fullback the world has seen for almost the last decade, and when you play the style of footy he plays youre bound to make the odd mistake. but he more than makes up for them by doing things that noone else could even dream of doing, and he has a positive influence on FAR more matches than he does a negative one.

 

[dukey]

I agree with AP. All those emoticons really reinforced his argument.

 

[Kaz]

and i love how you still carry on about Slater not being great lol. hes the best fullback the world has seen for almost the last decade, and when you play the style of footy he plays youre bound to make the odd mistake. but he more than makes up for them by doing things that noone else could even dream of doing, and he has a positive influence on FAR more matches than he does a negative one.

But if the chips are down, 9/10 he cracks under the pressure.

 

[Big Pete]

[quote="Big Pete":15lxeksr]
Oh please, this was the only Kiwi match that meant anything and guess what AP, it was competitive. You can make all the excuses you want to but really the excuses you're making...it sounds A LOT like an Origin game.

hahahahahahahahaha

so if QLD won the first origin game 50-0, the second game 40-0, and then the third game 6-0, youd say it was a competitive series? [icon_lol1. [icon_lol1. [icon_lol1. [icon_lol1. [icon_lol1. [icon_lol1. [icon_lol1. [icon_lol1. [icon_lol1.

before the final, the smallest winning margin was 14 points on 2 occasions. the SMALLEST. there was a 42 point one, a 64 point one, a 20 point one, and a 26 point one. then theres ONE match decided by 4 points and all of a sudden its a competitive series and it proves that test football is on par with Origin? [icon_lol1. [icon_lol1. [icon_lol1. [icon_lol1. [icon_lol1. [icon_lol1. [icon_lol1. [icon_lol1. [icon_lol1. [icon_lol1. [icon_lol1.

youre too good Pete.

and i love how you still carry on about Slater not being great lol. hes the best fullback the world has seen for almost the last decade, and when you play the style of footy he plays youre bound to make the odd mistake. but he more than makes up for them by doing things that noone else could even dream of doing, and he has a positive influence on FAR more matches than he does a negative one.[/quote:15lxeksr]

Oh please!

The one time New Zealand and Australia played before the final it was a dead rubber, yeah that's going to be a competitive game. :roll:

Truth was, when the series was on the line, it was a competitive game, your adament assertion that Internationals aren't as competitive as Origin (despite the fact the Kiwis have managed to actually win not one but two out of four series (and another went to golden point extra time) suggests that yeah they're far more competitive.

Deal with it.

Slater had a far more negative impact on the final, again, you like to call people out on their mistakes, people are allowed to call Slater out on his poor game.

 

[Anonymous person]

But if the chips are down, 9/10 he cracks under the pressure.

well thats completely untrue, but whatever.

one thing id like to mention that noone else seems to have said anything about - Eastwoods cheap shot on Shillington in the biff at half-time!

Shillington had about 4 kiwis holding him while hes fighting with that fella, then eastwood comes charging in from the side, throws a big cheap shot to the side of his head, then promptly runs away when you see Shillington say 'who threw that?'. what an absolute pussy. wonder if hes good mates with Ennis and Creagh?

and also, just made some little pictures of the matchwinner: the ball is highlighted in red.

when the ball leaves the hands:

when Lockyer touches the ball in-flight:

great decision refs, not forward at all

 

[Bucking Beads]

I wanna know where the Aussie players were when it was Cronk vs 3 kiwis under the post for the last try...

 

[Anonymous person]

Slater had a far more negative impact on the final, again, you like to call people out on their mistakes, people are allowed to call Slater out on his poor game.

but thats the thing - he didnt have a poor game!

you listed things that you THINK he did that were poor, yet they were all either bad decisions by SOMEONE ELSE or he just got unlucky.

- getting trapped in-goals because he let the grubber keep bouncing: he got a horrible bounce, and 9 times out of 10 it wouldve rolled out. and even then, at least he got the ball and didnt let in a try.

- knocking-on: oh noes heaven forbid a fullback drop a bomb! and like i said before, it actually was NOT a knock-on according to the rules of the game. sure, first contact was with the hands and it went forward from there.......but then it hit his torso, then his KNEES, before hitting the ground. it was not a knock-on, and was an incorrect call by the referees. and again, this didnt result in any points for NZ - they dropped it 2-3 tackles later.

- 'poor positioning for the last try': how is tackling the ball carrier, forcing him to throw a pass 5+ metres forward "bad positioning"? he took the man with the ball, and he took him good and proper. lets forget the fact that lote tuqiri shouldnt have been 30m behind the line which led to the break being made. lets forget the fact that the referees AGAIN made a blatantly incorrect call in not pulling up the foward pass. lets forget the fact that only 1 of the other 11 australia players on the field actually chased when NZ made the break (cooper cronk) and he almost stopped the try happening. lets forget all that and just blame slater for making the tackle on the ball carrier.

you seriously lack any common sense and intelligence.

It doesn't matter where it leaves the hands. What matters is if it goes BACKWARDS out of the hands.

i know that - but are you seriously going to try and say that that was thrown backwards, yet travelled about 7 METRES forward? its physically not possible. even look at the way he threw it - hand on the outside of the ball, slinging it back in. its not possible to throw it backwards like that but have it go forwards. he threw it forwards, plain and simple.

 

[Big Pete]

First and for most AP get your facts straight, I was referring to the second try when Slater eased up on his chase to prevent Nightingale from scoring despite having the best route.

It should never of gone back to Archer in the first place. Had he kept his mind on his job he would've taken the ball and gotten Australia on the front foot. Instead we were at the mercy of New Zealand because Slater once again knocks on in a pressure situation. But hey it's okay when somebody makes a mistake, as long as opposition doesn't score they're forgiven.

He still took too long on the ball, at that sort of time you'd expect the best fullback in the game to make a premature judgement call and march the ball back quicker.

The only positive Slater contributed was running off Bird to score, that was it and any decent fullback worth his keep would've done the same.

 

[Emma]

I'm not a Slater Hater at all, in fact he's probably up there as one of my fave players in the comp, but I thought he had a pretty average game as well.

 

[Anonymous person]

The one time New Zealand and Australia played before the final it was a dead rubber, yeah that's going to be a competitive game. :roll:

Truth was, when the series was on the line, it was a competitive game, your adament assertion that Internationals aren't as competitive as Origin (despite the fact the Kiwis have managed to actually win not one but two out of four series (and another went to golden point extra time) suggests that yeah they're far more competitive.

Deal with it.

so basically your reasoning for it being competitive is that in the FINAL, provided NZ make it, international test matches are competitive? lol.

lets also take a look at the last 10 years of Anzac Test matches (and the july tests in 02/03 when there was no anzac test) to show how competitive test match footy is....

7 May 2010 Australia def. New Zealand 12–8 AAMI Park, Melbourne 29,442[6]
8 May 2009 Australia def. New Zealand 38–10 Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane 37,152
9 May 2008 Australia def. New Zealand 28–12 Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney 34,571
20 April 2007 Australia def. New Zealand 30–6 Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane 35,241
5 May 2006 Australia def. New Zealand 50–12 Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane 44,191
22 April 2005 Australia def. New Zealand 32–16 Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane 40,317
23 April 2004 Australia def. New Zealand 37–10 EnergyAustralia Stadium, Newcastle 21,537
July 2003 Australia def. New Zealand 48-6
July 2002 Australia def. Great Britain 64-10
21 April 2000 Australia def. New Zealand 52–0

yeah, looks very competitive [icon_lol1.

I'm not a Slater Hater at all, in fact he's probably up there as one of my fave players in the comp, but I thought he had a pretty average game as well.

i agree, it was average - basically every single player in the australian team played average. but it wasnt POOR like Pete says.

 

[Je$ter]

Shillington had about 4 kiwis holding him while hes fighting with that fella, then eastwood comes charging in from the side, throws a big cheap shot to the side of his head, then promptly runs away when you see Shillington say 'who threw that?'. what an absolute pussy. wonder if hes good mates with Ennis and Creagh?

Eastwood thought Shillington was bad mouthing pies.

 

[Emma]

I'm not a Slater Hater at all, in fact he's probably up there as one of my fave players in the comp, but I thought he had a pretty average game as well.

i agree, it was average - basically every single player in the australian team played average. but it wasnt POOR like Pete says.

I should clarify - when I say pretty average, I basically mean bad.

 

[Anonymous person]

First and for most AP get your facts straight, I was referring to the second try when Slater eased up on his chase to prevent Nightingale from scoring despite having the best route.

It should never of gone back to Archer in the first place. Had he kept his mind on his job he would've taken the ball and gotten Australia on the front foot. Instead we were at the mercy of New Zealand because Slater once again knocks on in a pressure situation. But hey it's okay when somebody makes a mistake, as long as opposition doesn't score they're forgiven.

He still took too long on the ball, at that sort of time you'd expect the best fullback in the game to make a premature judgement call and march the ball back quicker.

The only positive Slater contributed was running off Bird to score, that was it and any decent fullback worth his keep would've done the same.

the second try was Lotes fault again. watch the video - he was closest by FAR to the ball, and for some reason ran to where the ball would be in a few seconds instead of where the ball actually was, allowing nightingale to pass across in front of him? you mean that try? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqrJtpLWoKQ at about 3:45

"Had he kept his mind on his job he would've taken the ball and gotten Australia on the front foot"

oh so now you know what was on slaters mind at that time do you? psychic AND stupid, wow. and he wouldve gotten australia on the front foot? he was half a bloody metre out from our try line! youre never on the front foot catching a bomb half a metre from your tryline with defenders charging in on you.

i do love how you just pass his try off as 'anyone wouldve done it', yet you carry on like ONLY slater wouldve waited for the ball to bounce out from that kick, and that ONLY slater has EVER dropped a bomb lol. and again, it doesnt matter if it should never have gone back to Archer - archer incorrectly ruled a knock-on. you dont blame the player for a referee making a 100% incorrect decision.

oh right, you do if its slater :roll: