NRL - 2019 Grand Final

[007]

So who is going to stop the Roosters next year?

Souffs? Don't see it.
Melbourne? Definitely not if Smith retires. Definitely not if they persist with Hughes in the halves.
Manly? Maybe if DCE and Turbo stay injury free.
Canberra again? Maybe, but they were riding hard on emotion, I have a feeling it'll be the case of 2015 to 2016 Broncos with them.
Broncos? Sharks? Eels? God no.

It'll probably be the Titans.

Rooster will be top 4 team but not premiership winners next year. They have lost cronk, JWH is getting older and slowing down and Keary/Friend are injury prone. The other thing is that Robinsons strategy with the team will need to be overhauled to adapt.

 

[The Strapper]

Well Sportsbet have got the rorters as early 4.00 favourites to win the comp in 2020 so they must think the threepeat is a chance.

 

[winslow_wong]

Well Sportsbet have got the rorters as early 4.00 favourites to win the comp in 2020 so they must think the threepeat is a chance.

Or they have impending superstar signatures

 

[Battler]

Or they have impending superstar signatures

A few All Blacks on the way due to the lack of established super stars in the NRL with Smith, Cronk, etc retiring. Haas, Dearden, and Fifi will be heading down to Bondi after the filthy peasants in Brisbane have done the hard work and suffered for a few seasons developing them like the Tigers did with Moses, Teddy, Papen, etc.

EDIT: And then when Politis is no longer on this mortal coil they will suddenly sink to the bottom 8 and everyone will be shocked at their decline.

 

[winslow_wong]

A few All Blacks on the way due to the lack of established super stars in the NRL with Smith, Cronk, etc retiring. Haas, Dearden, and Fifi will be heading down to Bondi after the filthy peasants in Brisbane have done the hard work and suffered for a few seasons developing them like the Tigers did with Moses, Teddy, Papen, etc.

EDIT: And then when Politis is no longer on this mortal coil they will suddenly sink to the bottom 8 and everyone will be shocked at their decline.

If anyone can get Folau back into rugby league, it’s the Sydney city roosters.

 

[Battler]

If anyone can get Folau back into rugby league, it’s the Sydney city roosters.

He can battle it out with Morris and Hall for a wing spot.

 

[Dexter]

It was a double wrong call. I do feel for the Raiders as that was the turning point and i think the Rooster jumped on it.

It shouldn't have been 6 again in the first place, but to call it, then reverse it mid play is ridiculous.

I agree, if the call had been left it would be excusable for the ref to think it touched Teddy. I had to watch it a bunch of times to be sure.
Having said that, the defence leading up to the try was horrid.
JL does a legs tackle and there isn't a marker.
1 marker would have stopped Keary from going open and cutting back to the blind. Even so, they were still 3 on 3 but JL didn't hustle to get back, he actually lets Keary go past him when he was entitled to hold his line getting back into the defence. Rapana was at centre and Sezer was on the wing.
Similar to Oates not trusting Reed in 2015, Sezer gets interested in Mitchell and turns in, game over.
When they watch that back the Raiders will be very disappointed they couldn't defend it.

 

[Morkel]

If anyone can get Folau back into rugby league, it’s the Sydney city roosters.

 

[Finbar]

How does the voting even work if only 3 of them vote on it? How could Lockyer's vote change the winner?

3, 2, 1 system.

Was Lockyer also the one who voted for Billy Slater for man of Series? Get that guy away from any decision making regarding football. Legend player but would rather him not be involved with the Broncos or QLD, especially if he's on Channel 9. Who wants anyone from Channel 9 around their club? What a toxic bunch.

 

[Super Freak]

Right call, wrong call, it ruined the GF. It had a direct impact on the play. That should not be happening in the biggest game of the year with two refs who are regarded by the NRL as the best in the business.

If it happened in the 10th minute, might not have been as bad but it didn't happen in the 10th minute. It happened with less than 10 to go and bad decisions are always going to be worse at those stages because there is less time to recover from those bad calls. Psychologically, it does have an impact on players.

It also makes me wonder, if refs can overturn their decisions then why do they refuse to for every other game in the year? Does anyone know how many wrong knock on, six more calls there have been this year?

 

[Big Pete]

I'm not sure about you guys, but I reckon Canberra may want that opening 10 minutes back. For whatever reason, they were so slow to start and when Tapine turned his back while defending on his own goal-line, it just appeared they were happy to be there. That Verrills try would have to rate right up there as one of the softest in grand final history and for a game that was marketed around two of the best defensive sides, it was such an anti-climax.

Credit to the Raiders for being able to get back into the grind. Even when the Roosters were marching all over them, they kept it extremely simple and it eventually paid off. The Raiders are extremely good at contesting cross-field kicks down their left hand side and in a game of this magnitude, those high percentage plays are worth their weight in gold. In this instance, Whitehead caused Tedesco to turn the ball over and Wighton against a disorganised line made them pay.

It's a testament to the Raiders that they didn't concede a try after the Lui mistake. In years gone by, that error would have decided the game, but a couple of strong defensive efforts particularly from Wighton and Croker denied the Roosters. It was around that passage of the game where it appeared momentum had actually shifted and Sydney appeared rattled.

The Raiders certainly believed that since they started to play with more width. In the first half, they seemed to exclusively play down their left hand side and just seemed intent on getting to their kick. In the second they were beginning to spin more in the tackles and look for second phase, Bateman and Leilua were getting a lot more ball and the Roosters were being run around ragged.

Then as soon as they levelled the scores, they went back into their shells and only looked likely if CNZ was able to put together a good kick return. Once again, the Raiders started to rely more on getting to their kick instead of challenging the Roosters around the field, so despite all the possession and territory, they only came close to scoring on one occassion.

Sydney had to play off the back-foot and they did exceptionally well. They fired a warning shot when Radley put Taukeiaho threw a gap, only to land the match winner when Tedesco scored following Mitchell's sublime flick pass. Sydney are an adventurous side and their style of football proved the difference when the game was there to be won.

I'm surprised that Wighton was awarded the CC Medal. I didn't think any of the playmakers played particularly well and thought it was decided by the forwards in the middle and the backs returning the ball. In fairness to the selectors, Wighton did appear the most likely of the Raiders players, but I thought his decision making was spotty.

I don't think he was helped by Hodgson who was short a gallop either just quietly.

 

[something]

Whats everyone’s thoughts on NRL’s reaction to the grand final, mainly Beattie. I know it’s important to support your own, but he is siding with Cummins / referees, saying it was the right call.

I don’t think that anyone is saying that the Roosters were undeserving. They are an awesome team, fun to watch, strong defense, and they were holding Canberra off. But, I do think that the call changed the game. Canberra on top, all momentum. Dodgy call that ***** up your play and obviously has a psychological toll. You’d be feeling hard done by that next set of 6, and sometimes that’s all you need.

So back to the question, thoughts on NRL publicly backing refs? I feel that, as a fan, it’s actually a bit of a “**** you, leave us alone”, they haven’t taken ownership or apologized really. Take one look at social media and you can tell it was the wrong call. But to come out and say “imagine if it went the other way around”.... I can imagine that, and it would have been far less controversial.

I’m still upset over this, it’s been a few days and I wasn’t even emotionally invested in that game. But I’m upset. We are seeing the after effects of a rotten culture. One where cronyism is valued higher than results. And it’s killing Rugby League.

 

[Galah]

Whats everyone’s thoughts on NRL’s reaction to the grand final, mainly Beattie. I know it’s important to support your own, but he is siding with Cummins / referees, saying it was the right call.

I don’t think that anyone is saying that the Roosters were undeserving. They are an awesome team, fun to watch, strong defense, and they were holding Canberra off. But, I do think that the call changed the game. Canberra on top, all momentum. Dodgy call that ***** up your play and obviously has a psychological toll. You’d be feeling hard done by that next set of 6, and sometimes that’s all you need.

So back to the question, thoughts on NRL publicly backing refs? I feel that, as a fan, it’s actually a bit of a “**** you, leave us alone”, they haven’t taken ownership or apologized really. Take one look at social media and you can tell it was the wrong call. But to come out and say “imagine if it went the other way around”.... I can imagine that, and it would have been far less controversial.

I’m still upset over this, it’s been a few days and I wasn’t even emotionally invested in that game. But I’m upset. We are seeing the after effects of a rotten culture. One where cronyism is valued higher than results. And it’s killing Rugby League.

It happened down the corner I was sitting, everyone thought 6 again. The raiders were going over, it was the first time the roosters D looked done they were tired. raiders were set deep because they saw the call, It’s literally insane he changed it. Massive gut punch

 

[tommy]

If it happens earlier in the match you can cop it and move on. But the way it happened and result shortly after is a massive blunder any way you look at it. It deadset looked like it came off Tedesco's shoulder or back in real time. I haven't even seen a replay.

 

[Browny]

Now Cummins has come out saying he never said 6 again. What a load of shit

 

[I bleed Maroon]

I would imagine this would not be anywhere near as big an issue as it is currently were it not for the fact that it has happened in a GF following an absolutely garbage year for the code, where administrative **** ups and referee blundering have been the stories of the week near constantly. It just serves to cap it off in an appropriately controversial and bullshit manner, and really drives home that the problems present are not only real but are getting worse.

And that isn't even mentioning the rule changes which everyone are well past fed up with, which have been on one hand kneejerk reactions to some crap the media decided to latch on to that week like Gallen and Myles Origin punch up or the Inglis shoulder charge which was illegal to begin with, and on the other just completely braindead own goals like the 7 tackle restart and the current HIA system which is laughably abused by near every club in the comp.

It is just embarrassing some of this stuff. It's unprofessional and reeks of growing pains in a competition that is (technically) over 100 years old. It's just not good enough.

 

[tommy]

Now Cummins has come out saying he never said 6 again. What a load of shit

What was Cummins even doing in the GF? Need to get to the root of the problem and answer this.

 

[broncos4life]

Now Cummins has come out saying he never said 6 again. What a load of shit

I believe he told Hodgson during the game he never said 6 again didn't he? Or has he legit come out now and said he didn't? Because if so the is the most stupid lie I have ever seen.