NRL 2020 Grand Final

[theshed]

I’ll be going for Melbourne I think. Every team I found some way to get behind ended up losing along the way so out of my 2 least favourite options (other than roosters), I think storm wins.

in all honesty my dislike of Smith has died down and I’m really starting to appreciate how lucky we are to have seen his career unfold. It would be great to watch the mastermind pull apart another team in red hot form like he did the Eel in 09*****, the Bulldogs in 2012, and the Cowboys in 17. Too smart for these teams on a hot streak.

 

[Morkel]

Anyone else find it incredible these two teams have a full strength line up?

Also, have Penrith had an injury this season other than the Staines hammy?

It's the same every season, except when one team is hit by injuries late, stumble in to the GF and end up cannon fodder.

The health of the playing roster is underestimated when team performance is concerend. Not just having the best players on the field, but having a consistent team on the field, so cohesion and trust is built. The latter is why it is so critical for defence.

I don't think Brisbane have ever had such a horrible run of injuries and suspensions, often at the worst times or with the worst results (release McCullough, Turpin goes down, etc). It seemed to be as close to a "cursed" year as you could possibly think of. Serious questons need to be asked of the medical team, and if we're going to look seriously at the Storm's upper management, we should bloody well look at their medical team as well.

 

[vertigo]

Go Penrith.

They've been the best team all year, 17 wins in a row is incredible.

I just hope Luai doesn't get the yips and plays the way he has all year - massive improvement since he was threatened with being replaced.

 

[Dexter]

Got to laugh at the Melbourne/CS9 hate on here yet we want to steal their coach, CEO, captain and now their medical team.
Let's add a dash of purple to our jersey while we are at it.

 

[Kimlo]

Got to laugh at the Melbourne/CS9 hate on here yet we want to steal their coach, CEO, captain and now their medical team.
Let's add a dash of purple to our jersey while we are at it.

Do you mean the same Melbourne that knocked us out of the finals 3 years in a row while having half their team on 2 contracts? The same Melbourne that ruined the integrity of the competition for 6 years and the same Melbourne that only got the punishment of having to get back to the same cap amount as everyone else?

Wanting the greatest player to play the game and thinking Melbourne is a shit club isn't mutually exclusive. I'll certainly hold a grudge against the team that denied us a premiership, remember who scored against us in 2008 to end our premiership charge? The same player who was getting a boat on the side and had to leave as soon as they were found out. Imagine how Parra fans feel.

**** Melbourne.

 

[Dexter]

Do you mean the same Melbourne that knocked us out of the finals 3 years in a row while having half their team on 2 contracts? The same Melbourne that ruined the integrity of the competition for 6 years and the same Melbourne that only got the punishment of having to get back to the same cap amount as everyone else?

Wanting the greatest player to play the game and thinking Melbourne is a shit club isn't mutually exclusive. I'll certainly hold a grudge against the team that denied us a premiership, remember who scored against us in 2008 to end our premiership charge? The same player who was getting a boat on the side and had to leave as soon as they were found out. Imagine how Parra fans feel.

**** Melbourne.

Yep that'd be them.

 

[Petch67]

Do you mean the same Melbourne that knocked us out of the finals 3 years in a row while having half their team on 2 contracts? The same Melbourne that ruined the integrity of the competition for 6 years and the same Melbourne that only got the punishment of having to get back to the same cap amount as everyone else?

Wanting the greatest player to play the game and thinking Melbourne is a shit club isn't mutually exclusive. I'll certainly hold a grudge against the team that denied us a premiership, remember who scored against us in 2008 to end our premiership charge? The same player who was getting a boat on the side and had to leave as soon as they were found out. Imagine how Parra fans feel.

**** Melbourne.

Do you mean the same Melbourne that knocked us out of the finals 3 years in a row while having half their team on 2 contracts? The same Melbourne that ruined the integrity of the competition for 6 years and the same Melbourne that only got the punishment of having to get back to the same cap amount as everyone else?

Wanting the greatest player to play the game and thinking Melbourne is a shit club isn't mutually exclusive. I'll certainly hold a grudge against the team that denied us a premiership, remember who scored against us in 2008 to end our premiership charge? The same player who was getting a boat on the side and had to leave as soon as they were found out. Imagine how Parra fans feel.

**** Melbourne.

**** parra

 

[Petch67]

Sydney media already saying cleary will be an immortal!!!! I recall the same being said about ponga not long ago .....

 

[Big Pete]

No real surprises for either team. Viliame Kikau returns after serving his one-week suspension for a dangerous tackle while Dale Finucane has been named on the bench after starting last week's final.

I was surprised at how much the Panthers missed Kikau against South Sydney. Even with an in-form roster, the Panthers offence was guilty of being overly conservative and it resulted in a very nervous win over a battered South Sydney outfit. They didn't give themselves a platform to put together any quality set plays so all their tries came down to kicks or individual efforts like Yeo.

Kikau's presence should ease the pressure on the Panthers and allow them to put up better formations and challenge the Storm across the field.

I'm curious to see how Melbourne approach this. They flew out the gates against the Raiders early and exposed their edge defence with some well-executed block plays where they used Olam as a decoy. They effectively won the game in the opening 10 minutes and were able to coast as Canberra blew opportunity after opportunity. I think we'll see them try something similar, but just like the Bulldogs GF from 2012 I'm curious to see what they cook up for this defensive line.

I'm surprised that the bookies consider Melbourne the favourites. This feels like the first GF since 1999 where they weren't in the box seat and they're coming up against a team that's out-played them through out the year. It reminds me a lot of the 2006 GF, except Melbourne find themselves coming up against the young up-starts who have taken the competition by storm.

 

[Super Freak]

You would like to think the Storm's easy run will work against them, but the reality is, they are going to win this game.

I would love to see Panthers win. They have been the best side this season, they deserve the premiership more than anyone. However, the Storm's experience is going to be the difference. Just like it was for us in 2006.

Panthers have 3 players with GF experience and they are all in the forwards.

James Tamou - 1
Api Koroisau - 1
Zane Tetevano - 1

As for Melbourne, they have 11 players with GF experience, all across the park.

Suliasi Vunivalu - 3
Josh Addo-Carr - 2
Cameron Munster - 3
Jesse Bromwich - 4
Cameron Smith - 7
Christian Welch - 2
Felise Kaufusi - 2
Kenny Bromwich - 3
Nelson Asofa-Solomona - 2
Brandon Smith - 1
Dale Finucane - 4

That's going to matter.

Panthers outplayed the Storm in their previous encounter, but this game is on a level most of them have never played. If they stand any chance in winning, they need to improve on their previous two performances and bring their best. Their style of play is a weakness for Melbourne, it always has been. They can't let Melbourne use that experience to their advantage, because they will lose if they do.

 

[mrslong]

I really want Melbourne to lose. But they won't.

 

[The True King]

It's guaranteed that if the Storm win this then Smith is getting the Clive Churchill regardless of how he plays. Similar story with Cleary if the Panthers get up (especially in light of the Dally M 'robbery').

Both men are $4.50 respectively.

 

[I bleed Maroon]

I'm really starting to get used to Grand Finals that I give zero shits about, and I'm sure I'm not the only one. NRL = Narrative Rugby League.

 

[BroncsFan]

I'm really starting to get used to Grand Finals that I give zero shits about, and I'm sure I'm not the only one. NRL = Narrative Rugby League.

Yeah 8.00 Sunday night (guessing that's the time Ch 9... I mean NSWRL went with) with no public holiday the next day.... I may not even watch it to be honest.

If I do watch I'll be going for penrith, but even though it's the GF you can tell it will be a shit game to watch.

Refs won't give any penalties (because slothfield will erupt) so it will just be a slog fest with competing 5 tackles to a kick sets, until someone makes an error... and if one team does get ahead the refs will kill their momentum with phantom penalties.

Storm also have the ability to drain the life out of the opposition, especially when there are no penalties, which ruins any entertainment value out of the contest.

 

[Renegade]

I'm really starting to get used to Grand Finals that I give zero shits about, and I'm sure I'm not the only one. NRL = Narrative Rugby League.

tbh the only gf i give a shit about are the ones with the broncos in them, and seeing as we've had a long time between drinks (1 app in 14 years), then yeah, there's been a few. i watch as a neutral for the inevitable controversy.

i quite like watching the AFL gf tho, it's usually a good game. one of the few i'll watch of the code every year.

 

[Big Pete]

If you go back to 1999 17/22 past GFs have involved either Sydney or Melbourne. It's difficult to get excited when the GFs run together. That's why from a neutral POV the Cowboys/Broncos GF was so good because it was two even teams going head to head and you just knew it was going to be close.

Compared that to the other GFs like Rabbits/Bulldogs, Sea Eagles/Warriors, Tigers/Cowboys, Knights/Eels and with the exception of Knights/Eels the result was never in question. Even with Knights/Eels most fans expected it to be a walkover, they just muddled the teams up.

 

[BroncsFan]

If you go back to 1999 17/22 past GFs have involved either Sydney or Melbourne. It's difficult to get excited when the GFs run together. That's why from a neutral POV the Cowboys/Broncos GF was so good because it was two even teams going head to head and you just knew it was going to be close.

Compared that to the other GFs like Rabbits/Bulldogs, Sea Eagles/Warriors, Tigers/Cowboys, Knights/Eels and with the exception of Knights/Eels the result was never in question. Even with Knights/Eels most fans expected it to be a walkover, they just muddled the teams up.

Outside of the Broncos in 2006 I also quite enjoyed.
Roosters vs Panthers in '03... roosters were the team everyone hated with Ricky the coach but Gould lingering in the background... talks of salary sombreros and questionable players like Crocker. Compared to Penrith who were playing an exceptional style of footy and had loveable players like Presto, Wesser, Priddis, Smokin Joe and Tony Pull.

Dogs vs Roosters in '04... this was mainly because a mate of mine was a massive dogs fan so I was watching a fair bit of them and they had players like SBW, Shifty and Price, who I started liking by association... also **** the roosters (see above).

Cows vs Tigers in '05 was not so great as the tigers got ahead and were winning it from a long way out, but at least it was two exciting teams to watch... I believe the prelim games that year were also quite good.

'06 of course, but the game itself probably wasnt all that great given storm were full blown wrestling at that point in time and fuckwit NSWRL commentators were bias to the storm the whole night.

But since '07 it's been storm dominating (illegally at first) and their style of grind it out wrestling footy. The storm's dominance made other teams shift their style of play to try and replicate it, resulting in block plays and slowing the ruck with wrestling.

Now we typically see two teams with the same style of play going against each other and to me it has all become monotonous and boring.

If I'm not invested in a team winning then I'm not all that interested in watching. I think I've only watched one finals game so far this year.

Hell the only thing that has me watching every game every week is supercoach... so when the finals start and supercoach stops I start to lose interest. The fairytales begin and NSWRL story tellers become front and center.

I couldn't care less about about storylines I just want to watch a good game of footy, but the NSWRL seem intent on manufacturing results through questionable refereeing

 

[Blindside Bronco]

Outside of the Broncos in 2006 I also quite enjoyed.
Roosters vs Panthers in '03... roosters were the team everyone hated with Ricky the coach but Gould lingering in the background... talks of salary sombreros and questionable players like Crocker. Compared to Penrith who were playing an exceptional style of footy and had loveable players like Presto, Wesser, Priddis, Smokin Joe and Tony Pull.

Dogs vs Roosters in '04... this was mainly because a mate of mine was a massive dogs fan so I was watching a fair bit of them and they had players like SBW, Shifty and Price, who I started liking by association... also **** the roosters (see above).

Cows vs Tigers in '05 was not so great as the tigers got ahead and were winning it from a long way out, but at least it was two exciting teams to watch... I believe the prelim games that year were also quite good.

'06 of course, but the game itself probably wasnt all that great given storm were full blown wrestling at that point in time and fuckwit NSWRL commentators were bias to the storm the whole night.

But since '07 it's been storm dominating (illegally at first) and their style of grind it out wrestling footy. The storm's dominance made other teams shift their style of play to try and replicate it, resulting in block plays and slowing the ruck with wrestling.

Now we typically see two teams with the same style of play going against each other and to me it has all become monotonous and boring.

If I'm not invested in a team winning then I'm not all that interested in watching. I think I've only watched one finals game so far this year.

Hell the only thing that has me watching every game every week is supercoach... so when the finals start and supercoach stops I start to lose interest. The fairytales begin and NSWRL story tellers become front and center.

I dont give a shit about the storylines I just want to watch a good game of footy and the NSWRL seem intent on manufacturing results with questionable refereeing

Yep might as well have a celebrity ref or a ex-player ref since it's all about the show. Either the refs are dodgy or they're so unbelievably shit they need to be let go. The NRL should be ashamed of this reality show they produce called rugby league. They're killing the sport. Death by a thousand cuts!