NRL 2022 Finals Week 2 Discussion

[Big Pete]

Parramatta Eels vs. Canberra Raiders
CommBank Stadium, Friday 16 September 2022
Kick Off: 7:50pm

PARRAMATTA EELS

1. Clinton Gutherson 2. Maika Sivo 3. Viliami Penisini 4. Tom Opacic 5. Waqa Blake 6. Dylan Brown 7. Mitchell Moses 8. Reagan Campbell-Gillard 9. Reed Mahoney 10. Junior Paulo 11. Shaun Lane 12. Isaiah Papali'i 13. Ryan Matterson

14. Makahesi Makatoa 15. Jakob Arthur 16. Oregon Kaufusi 17. Marata Niukore

18. Nathan Brown 19. Bailey Simonsson 20. Bryce Cartwright 21. Ofahiki Ogden 22. Ky Rodwell

CANBERRA RAIDERS

1. Xavier Savage 2. Nick Cotric 3. Matthew Timoko 4. Sebastian Kris 5. Jordan Rapana 6. Jack Wighton 7. Jamal Fogarty 8. Josh Papali'i 9. Zac Woolford 10. Joseph Tapine 11. Hudson Young 12. Elliott Whitehead 13. Corey Harawira-Naera

14. Tom Starling 15. Emre Guler 16. Corey Horsburgh 17. Ryan Sutton

18. Albert Hopoate 19. Ata Mariota 20. Matt Frawley 21. Peter Hola, 22. Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad

Cronulla Sharks vs. South Sydney Rabbitohs
Allianz Stadium, Saturday 17 September 2022
Kick Off: 8:00pm

CRONULLA SHARKS

1. Will Kennedy 2. Connor Tracey 3. Jesse Ramien 4. Siosifa Talakai 5. Ronaldo Mulitalo 6. Matt Moylan 7. Nicho Hynes 8. Toby Rudolf 9. Blayke Brailey 10. Royce Hunt 11. Briton Nikora 12. Wade Graham 13. Dale Finucane

14. Teig Wilton 15. Cameron McInnes 16. Braden Hamlin-Uele 17. Andrew Fifita

18. Lachlan Miller 19. Aiden Tolman 20. Braydon Trindall 21. Jesse Colquhoun 22. Mawene Hiroti

SOUTH SYDNEY RABBITOHS

1. Latrell Mitchell 2. Alex Johnston 3. Isaiah Tass 4. Campbell Graham 5. Taane Milne 6. Cody Walker 7. Lachlan Ilias 8. Tevita Tatola 9. Damien Cook 10. Mark Nicholls 11. Keaon Koloamatangi 12. Jai Arrow 13. Cameron Murray

14. Kodi Nikorima 15. Hame Sele 16. Michael Chee Kam 17. Siliva Havili

18. Davvy Moale 19. Blake Taaffe 20. Jaxson Paulo 21. Richard Kennar 22. Peter Mamouzelos

 

[ZTop]

How the hang is waqa Blake keeping simmonsen out of the eels team

 

[Morkel]

If we are to ride the conspiracy train:

* Eels to win, Raiders to be fatigued out of the game.
* Doesn't matter who wins out of Sharks & Souths, but the winner will be given a massive leg-up by the refs so they get a false sense of confidence, then will be fucked over next week against The Boyz.

ALL ABOARD!

 

[Kimlo]

If we are to ride the conspiracy train:

* Eels to win, Raiders to be fatigued out of the game.
* Doesn't matter who wins out of Sharks & Souths, but the winner will be given a massive leg-up by the refs so they get a false sense of confidence, then will be fucked over next week against The Boyz.

ALL ABOARD!

You know I was on board from last week, I need weekly conspiracy train updates.

 

[Morkel]

You know I was on board from last week, I need weekly conspiracy train updates.

That I can do.

 

[mrslong]

Anyone but storm and roosters…..oh wait ….

 

[Big Pete]

Tough game to pick tonight. The Eels stayed with Penrith for 50 minutes before To'o crossed and the Eels capitulated. The Panthers hardly gave them anything all night and they did well to guts it out as long as they did.

Meanwhile, Canberra gave Melbourne several opportunities early in the game, but an unsettled Storm line-up couldn't capitilise on them. There were several moments early where players took the wrong option at key moments and let Canberra off the hook and to build confidence. The unsettled line-up also gave Canberra a clear target in attack and they exposed it beautifully. The Eels have issues as well on the edges, but can an inexperienced spine formation expose it?

It's flip of the coin stuff, I'm just backing history and going with Sticky's system that's conducive to finals footy. The Eels haven't escaped this round since 2009 and while they're due you can just sense history repeating.

 

[Financeguy]

Tough game to pick tonight. The Eels stayed with Penrith for 50 minutes before To'o crossed and the Eels capitulated. The Panthers hardly gave them anything all night and they did well to guts it out as long as they did.

Meanwhile, Canberra gave Melbourne several opportunities early in the game, but an unsettled Storm line-up couldn't capitilise on them. There were several moments early where players took the wrong option at key moments and let Canberra off the hook and to build confidence. The unsettled line-up also gave Canberra a clear target in attack and they exposed it beautifully. The Eels have issues as well on the edges, but can an inexperienced spine formation expose it?

It's flip of the coin stuff, I'm just backing history and going with Sticky's system that's conducive to finals footy. The Eels haven't escaped this round since 2009 and while they're due you can just sense history repeating.

I personally don't rate him as a coach, his refusal to get Brown on his bench baffles me, but surely BA comes under pressure to the point of being stood down if they don't get past Canberra tonight?

He has hardly successfully brought through many juniors either, only Brown and Penisini springs to mind. Get the feeling Brown would have been at least the same under most coaches.

 

[Big Pete]

I personally don't rate him as a coach, his refusal to get Brown on his bench baffles me, but surely BA comes under pressure to the point of being stood down if they don't get past Canberra tonight?

He has hardly successfully brought through many juniors either, only Brown and Penisini springs to mind. Get the feeling Brown would have been at least the same under most coaches.

Well, two of the other players you could name in Mahoney and Kaufusi are out the door. That leaves two outside backs that have struggled with injury all year in Dunster and Russell leaving his son as the other option.

Either way, Brad will get another year and if the Eels fail to improve I'd imagine that will be the end of his stint.

 

[Financeguy]

Well, two of the other players you could name in Mahoney and Kaufusi are out the door. That leaves two outside backs that have struggled with injury all year in Dunster and Russell leaving his son as the other option.

Either way, Brad will get another year and if the Eels fail to improve I'd imagine that will be the end of his stint.

Fair call on Mahoney but the other 3 are hardly resume worthy.

If Jake was called Jake Smith I doubt he keeps Brown out of the side like he has this year. Putting Simmonson on the bench and moving Gutho to halves would be better than using Jake imo, especially this point of the season.

I guess my point is after 8 or 9 seasons at the club he has not left much of a mark on players that weren’t part of another teams makeup before coming across.

On the flip side, and to be fair, it could be argued he has a decent eye for recruitment.

 

[Big Pete]

Yeah, the Eels pathways have been a concern ever since Hagan took over. It's something they've only begun to address in recent years but it remains to be seen whether they've done a sufficient job. Judging from their recent results in the lower grades, you'd have to say no.

It's due for an update but I remember being so bored during the pandemic I ran a Club of Origin tally. The point of the tally was to count all the players who debuted under a specific club. Brisbane led the way with 38 players, Parramatta was stone motherless last with 13.

Speaking of Stone, add him to the tally but he's also out the door.

Of those players - Alvaro (Broncos), Niukore (Warriors), Salmon (Cronulla), Williame (Storm) were all recruited out of other clubs Under/20s. Meanwhile players like B. Green and T-Rex were in the twilight of their careers.

 

[BroncsFan]

set restart for the eels.

... the fatiguing begins....

 

[Battler]

Knocked out by gutho

 

[Wolfie]

Nice try Tommy!

 

[Bull Shark]

C’mon Eels.. crush the Ricky Stuart hero narrative

 

[Financeguy]

Be a good effort for Raiders to come back from here even this early.
Parra forwards running downhill so far

 

[BroncsFan]

Had a thousand HIA's in a game last week... "Cat 2!! they're all Cat 2!!"

First chance this week Canberra player... checks notes... "Yep Cat 1... he's out of it... def Cat 1" ...15 secs after he's left the field

 

[Bull Shark]

Blonga Wake !