NRL General Discussion Thread - 2016

[Super Freak]

 

[Big Pete]

FoxSports just released a new podcast called Market Watch.

Pretty good listen - couple of journos with Brett Kimmorley talking fairly openly about the game. You can tell they don't have to apply to the same filters as network television as they basically write off players as shit and so on.

Worth a listen.

 

[Super Freak]

1. Luke Patten
2. Hazem El Masri
3. Josh Morris
4. Willie Tonga
5. Matt Utai
6. Josh Reynolds
7. Trent Hodkinson
8. James Graham
9. Michael Ennis
10. Roy Asotasi
11. Sonny Bill Williams
12. Andrew Ryan
13. Greg Eastwood
Interchange:
14. Aiden Tolman
15. Mark O’Meley
16. Willie Mason
17. Frank Pritchard

Bulldogs team of the decade.

Anyone agree with that list?

 

[Broncoman]

1. Luke Patten
2. Hazem El Masri
3. Josh Morris
4. Willie Tonga
5. Matt Utai
6. Josh Reynolds
7. Trent Hodkinson
8. James Graham
9. Michael Ennis
10. Roy Asotasi
11. Sonny Bill Williams
12. Andrew Ryan
13. Greg Eastwood
Interchange:
14. Aiden Tolman
15. Mark O’Meley
16. Willie Mason
17. Frank Pritchard

Bulldogs team of the decade
Anyone agree with that list?

Reynolds and Hodkinson there is a joke it should be Sherwin and Anasta. Apart from that I think it's pretty accurate.

 

[Alec]

Yeah, Hodkinson and Reynolds is pretty lol. Willie Tonga is interesting too, because his one standout season with the Dogs was in 2004. Does the team include that year?

 

[Super Freak]

Yeah, Hodkinson and Reynolds is pretty lol. Willie Tonga is interesting too, because his one standout season with the Dogs was in 2004. Does the team include that year?

It doesn't. That's why Price didn't make the cut.

 

[Broncoman]

Tonga crashed badly at Parramatta but he was one of their best players back in the day. I think his inclusion is fair.

 

[Alec]

Tonga crashed badly at Parramatta but he was one of their best players back in the day. I think his inclusion is fair.

He spent a lot of 2005 and 6 injured if I recall, and was never anywhere near as good for them as he was in 2004. I get it that they probably didn't have anyone else to pick, but his form between 2005 and 2008 was mediocre at absolute best.

 

[Big Pete]

• Players must have played first grade between 2005 – 2014
• Have played 50 or more first grade games for the Bulldogs - Not necessarily all in the years 2005 – 2014
• Only players are eligible – not administrators
• Players must embody the spirit and values of the Bulldogs

Was the criteria.

So not necessarily the best performances between 2005-14 but in certain cases, it certainly helped.

It's sort of an odd time to do a 'Team of a Decade' especially since the Dogs only have two Grand Final appearances to show for it. However, it was their 80th Season celebration so they had to throw something a little different together to get people talking.

I think the team they selected was fairly safe. If they didn't have any stand-outs, they opted for the guys who got the job done on Grand Final day.

Between Anasta & Reynolds, I actually think Gus and co. got it right. Anasta's sole contribution through that period was starring for an out of sorts Bulldogs side. Meanwhile, Reynolds played a key role in two Grand Final appearances.

Hodkinson vs Sherwin is another story altogether but I'm happy to give Hodkinson the nod based on 2014 alone. Kimmorley would have been a better opponent, but he doesn't qualify and even then I think they would have gone with the fresher option based on the GF appearance.

If you took away the criteria and just ran with the best team of the decade based on performance, I'd probably go...

1. Ben Barba
4. Jamal Idris
14. Ben Hannant

I'm not happy with Utai at 5 but options are fairly slim. It would probably come down to Krisnan Inu, Sam Perrett (both of whom played their parts steering the Dogs to a minor premiership in 2012) or Bryson Goodwin who had a great 2009 season scoring 20 tries and earning International selection. Meanwhile Matt's career basically curtailed in 2005 after being one of the best wingers in the game from 2002-04. All things considered, I would have gone with Perrett just to be safe.

 

[Bull Shark]

^ so how the **** does a guy who leaving them in the lurch and flying to France mid season make the cut?!

criteria fail /10

 

[Broncoman]

Because he was a great player for them and I can't see how anyone can deny that.

I get your point though

 

[Bull Shark]

I'm aware of his football abilities but purely on principle there's no way that club should be naming him in any honorary sides given the atrocity he committed against them.

 

[Big Pete]

^ so how the **** does a guy who leaving them in the lurch and flying to France mid season make the cut?!

criteria fail /10

What criteria doesn't he satisfy?

Was a very skilled player, arguably the best backrow in the world at one point between 2005 and 2008...

Judging from other selections, leaving your club in a lurch is exactly the type of values the Bulldogs encourage in all their players. It's all about #1...just ask Willie...if anything his behaviour towards the end of Folkes' stint was far more poisonous than SBW deciding he had enough.

Plus, it's 2015. You're supposed to forget about rock-star SBW banging broads in cubicles and remember the revered and ultra professional SBW who looks after the sick and needy.

Roosters 2017 Babeh

 

[Kaz]

I'm aware of his football abilities but purely on principle there's no way that club should be naming him in any honorary sides given the atrocity he committed against them.

So him leaving the club in the dead of night is classed as an atrocity. :laugh:

Didn't a few players leave the Dogs around the same time (but not like SBW did)

There were major problems at the Dogs around the time he left. (OK nothing has changed at the Dogs, there are still major problems)

 

[Morkel]

^ so how the **** does a guy who leaving them in the lurch and flying to France mid season make the cut?!

criteria fail /10

Because being a piece of shit of a human embodies everything the Bulldogs is about?

 

[Bull Shark]

So him leaving the club in the dead of night is classed as an atrocity. :laugh:

Didn't a few players leave the Dogs around the same time (but not like SBW did)

There were major problems at the Dogs around the time he left. (OK nothing has changed at the Dogs, there are still major problems)

might want to have another read of the way he went about - yes it was atrocity against his teammates and the club. Regardless of what was going on at the Bulldogs at the time, you simply don't scurry off to france right in the middle of a season without telling soul. It was the most selfish and cowardly move I can remember in professional sport.

And he hasn't made any real effort at all to make amens or apologise to the club - from what I can see anyway.

I don't mind the guy nowadays and wish he was a fixture in the NRL but what he did on that occasion was disgraceful

 

[Bull Shark]

What criteria doesn't he satisfy?

Players must embody the spirit and values of the Bulldogs


​If he ticks that box, I am seriously disappoint.

 

[Kaz]

Players must embody the spirit and values of the Bulldogs


​If he ticks that box, I am seriously disappoint.

SBW is a prick, so that ticks the box of the spirit & values of the Dogs. :laugh: