Four Nations Squads

[tommy]

@Tom ...
What did you think of the game?

For mine, we wr shit!

I stayed in bed mate, I will get up and watch when we play England and NZ but getting up to watch Scotland seemed like a waste of sleeping time. Not good to hear we didn't play very well against Scotland though.

 

[tommy]

Meninga to launch another weird diatribe against Bennett in celebration.

I think that was just the media making a story. I actually saw that interview and Mal had a big smile on his face when he was saying those things and was being very light-hearted about it. I don't think he was actually having a go at Bennett.

 

[Organix]

I watched it all. Was average. Brough was very good as was Maloney. Coote and Hood played great footy fot the Scots on the back of some poor go forward. Australia didn't play hard footy. Worked on combinations with second stringers. It was pretty much how you would expect it to go. Also Billy McConnachie was awful, not first grade ready at all. Really poor in defense.

Frizzell played great too I should add.

 

[ChewThePhatt]

Agreed, Frizzell was was V good.

Disagreed.... Maloney was good...?
Really?

 

[tommy]

I think that was just the media making a story. I actually saw that interview and Mal had a big smile on his face when he was saying those things and was being very light-hearted about it. I don't think he was actually having a go at Bennett.

I stand corrected. Just got today's paper and Mal is having a big go at Wayne. Thought B4L was referring to comments by Mal made roughly a week ago.

 

[Mitchell_Broncos]

I stand corrected. Just got today's paper and Mal is having a big go at Wayne.

What was he saying?, sorry if I have missed something in this thread or another.

 

[tommy]

IF Wayne Bennett wants to take my job, he will have to quit his post at the Broncos to do it.

Wayne’s year-long, persistent and ongoing objection to my appointment as Kangaroos coach and his obvious frustration at being overlooked for the job, seem to have been born out of his own lack of understanding about what the role actually entails.
Yes, coaching the Kangaroos in rugby league matches — like the Four Nations opener against Scotland — is a big part of my job.


But it is only a part of my job, not the only part.
The vast majority of my role is spent working on the game itself, not on the team.
My time is divided between the Kangaroos, Jillaroos, Junior Kangaroos and Australian Schoolboys teams, as well as re-establishing the standards and culture around playing for your country that had been allowed to erode over time.


My role also involves laying the foundations and pathways for players who aspire to play for Australia, creating strategies and structures to return international football’s credibility and relevance, lifting the profile of international league and contributing to the commercial aspects of all those elements.
These are all critical and time-consuming tasks. Would I be able to do all of those things and coach an NRL club at the same time?
No, and nor would Wayne or any other coach in the NRL.
It is a job well beyond formulating a game plan and running training sessions.
My beef with Wayne is not that he wanted the Australian job. I have no problem with ambition.
What disappoints me is that, as a grown man and a professional, he should be able to accept the decision once it has been made.


It does annoy me that he is in the background chipping away, trying to undermine my authority and my position with the Australian Rugby League.
Maybe it is just a tactical ploy, hoping if he gets under my skin then I will take my focus off the job at hand. It’s not working.
When Wayne says he doesn’t want my job, or that we are friends who will embrace after a game, it is just not true.
I’m a man of my own convictions. I’m not looking for approval from Wayne, nor am I trying to impress him. He’s not my mentor. I don’t care what he thinks about the job that I do or the results I achieve.
I don’t think he rates me as a coach, but that’s OK.
I think Wayne believes I have done a good job with the results I have achieved, but because I don’t coach every weekend I am not what he considers a “genuine” rugby league coach.


I have a different view to Wayne about what is required from a coach at representative level, and it is a view that the Queensland Rugby League and Australian Rugby League now share.
Wayne was obviously an important part of my life when I was a young man — first at the police academy and then in football with Brisbane Souths and Canberra.
He was an influential part of my life and I am very thankful for that.
But when Wayne walked out the door at the Raiders in 1987 to coach the Broncos, our relationship ended. We went our own ways and haven’t had any sort of relationship for many years.
I know there is a perception that he and I are friends and I guess that is a part of the reason for doing this column — to set the record straight.
We’re not enemies, but we’re not friends either. There’s no bad blood — there’s just no blood at all. There is no relationship there.
We don’t talk. He runs the Emerging Origin program for Queensland, which he set up and I think is terrific.


But even while I was Queensland coach, that program had little to do with me. It existed before I was coach, it worked well, so we kept with it.
We go back a long way. But we don’t cross paths any more.
I am glad that Wayne is coaching England. His presence, and the return of Sam Burgess, has given the Four Nations series a terrific boost in profile.
Should we come together after a game, I will shake his hand the same way I do with any other opponent.
But I also hope as England coach, he can now focus his attention on his own team and worry less about what Australia and the Kangaroos are doing.
We don’t care what England do or think. Hopefully one day soon he will feel the same way about us.

No Cookies | The Courier Mail

 

[Broncoman]

Australia were always going to be too good for the Scots but it was good to see the Scots put up a fight after the break and they did push Australia in the second half. The Kangaroos were nowhere near their best as there were a few missed kicks and dropped balls. Moylan was awesome on debut as was Trobevic. Moylan won MOM.

 

[Cult]

The Kangablues played like shit and half of them are an embarrassment to the green and gold jersey. Brough and Hood were great for Scotland. I'd much rather Josh McGuire over both Klemmer and Woods. They're big but I feel like my grandmother could tackle them. The only time Woods made any ground after contact was when the opposition player tried to tackle him head first. And don't get me started on that knee lifting prick. Starting fights because he got tackled, is he actually tough? Can he fight? We will probably never find out.

I found myself supporting Scotland this morning and if Mal continues to select teams with his eyes cloesed like Tim Sheens did, I'll be doing a Nathan Fien and following a team from a country that my great grandparents were from. They may take our lives, but they'll never take our freedom!

 

[Rhys van Beurden]

Bloody hell, Moylan knows how to be a myth. Gets lauded because he threw a few last passes where he was in essence a link man, but showed his poor timing and lack of vision with his 2 intercepts thrown. Watching him barreled over by that hooker was hilarious. You're supposed to run through the hole, not into the man! And his defence is akin to running through a spider's web.

Dugan also looks like he runs through clay when he isn't injured. I think Mansour is the only person from the B team who should be added to the A team. O'Neill was invisible, so it is a bit worrisome that he and Dugan are the only options. Is that really the best the country has on offer??

 

[broncos4life]

I stand corrected. Just got today's paper and Mal is having a big go at Wayne. Thought B4L was referring to comments by Mal made roughly a week ago.

Meninga really does come across as a whinger most of the time. Unless people fall at his feet and exclaim in amazement he seems to take it as some kind of injustice.

 

[tommy]

Meninga really does come across as a whinger most of the time. Unless people fall at his feet and exclaim in amazement he seems to take it as some kind of injustice.

It's definitely an odd article to write. Maybe it's mindgames before the tournament or maybe he is genuinely worried Bennett and England are gonna win the damn thing and people will want Bennett as Aus coach? After NZ's performance in Perth they really don't look like much of a threat, Meninga probably sees Bennett as enemy number 1.

 

[Broncoman]

Bennetts just pissed of he didn't get the Aussie gig and just wants to add some spice to the contest.

 

[tommy]

Bennetts just pissed of he didn't get the Aussie gig and just wants to add some spice to the contest.

What do you mean? Bennett wasn't quoted it's all Mal's doing.

 

[Rhys van Beurden]

I like how Mal's response to Benny's alleged whining was writing an article where all he does is whine. Whining about whining. As dopey as his rats and filth article from whenever it was. Bloke needs to learn that sometimes silence is the best option.

 

[Super Freak]

Tonight's game is the one I'm looking forward to.

Hopefully, we're treated to a great game like the 2013 WC Semi Final.

 

[broncos4life]

Bennetts just pissed of he didn't get the Aussie gig and just wants to add some spice to the contest.

lol wot?

 

[Alec]

Is O'Neill actually higher in the picking order than Chambers? I hope not.