B
Broncs_Fan
NRL Player
- Jun 5, 2015
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Nah, the publicity has been huge from this.
- Status
Nah, the publicity has been huge from this.
Socnorb
NRL Captain
Contributor
- Aug 5, 2013
- 4,006
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Just another white/black guy with no substance and no longevity.
B
Broncs_Fan
NRL Player
- Jun 5, 2015
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Yep. They did book him way before the plebiscite was announced. Coincidentally they are getting enormous publicity out of this.
Sproj
Immortal
Senior Staff
- Sep 6, 2013
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Did the NRL book him early? I mean by saying they planned something in advance, this doesn't sound like the NRL.
Mitchell_Broncos
NRL Player
- Jun 21, 2016
- 1,705
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Whats funny is that he was practicing at the ground so the Cowboys were not able to and arent able to train on the field.
Super Freak
International Captain
Forum Staff
- Jan 25, 2014
- 40,418
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The GF attendance is set to be the lowest it's been for a very long time.
There are reports the NRL have been giving away tickets at heavily discounted prices, and even for free.
Ticket prices, airfares and the fact that the game is seen as a mismatch has all contributed to it.
There are reports the NRL have been giving away tickets at heavily discounted prices, and even for free.
Ticket prices, airfares and the fact that the game is seen as a mismatch has all contributed to it.
Nashy
Immortal
Senior Staff
- Mar 5, 2008
- 52,229
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- #169
Pfft. As if the NRL are that smart. They picked someone, and the rest fell into their hands.
Nashy
Immortal
Senior Staff
- Mar 5, 2008
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- Thread starter
- #170
I've been reading all sorts.
- Giving away 20,000 tickets to junior clubs, players and staff
- Giving away fists of tickets to staff at sponsors on top of the sponsor allocation
- Discounting them
- Inflating the sold tickets figures
The stadium is too big you fucking imbeciles, absolutely and utterly everyone has been telling them this since they played their first game at the giant thing.
Super Freak
International Captain
Forum Staff
- Jan 25, 2014
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It makes me wonder whether our GF was actually a record crowd, or whether that was inflated by the NRL.
Apparently the actual figure for the crowd attendance across the finals series this year is 107k, but the NRL said it was 122k.
If they want a sell out crowd with a great atmosphere, bring it to QLD.
Mitchell_Broncos
NRL Player
- Jun 21, 2016
- 1,705
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Fishing for supporters and attendance (embarrassing)
L
Lockysillegitimatechild
State of Origin Rep
- Apr 10, 2015
- 5,263
- 10,060
As long as the nrl keeps pandering to the storm and they keep making the grand final there will not be a high demand for gf tickets. I love the game and support it but sucked in to the nrl, they bring these things in themselves
Cult
International Rep
Contributor
- Oct 17, 2013
- 12,706
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Hopefully the NRL realize fairy tales are much better to watch on TV than real life and stop feeding us these bullshit predetermined storylines every year so they can make some money.
Big Pete
International Captain
- Mar 12, 2008
- 31,502
- 24,015
I don't buy into the fairytale notion, the Storm and the Cowboys just happen to be the two best clubs in 2017.
Even without Billy Slater, the Melbourne Storm were the best team in the competition. For most clubs, losing a player of Slater's calibre for not only one but two seasons would end whatever hopes they would have of qualifying for a Top 4 position. Not only did Melbourne qualify inside the Top 4 in both 2015 and 2016, they finished as the minor premiers in 2016 and were only a pass off from being Grand Final victors.
With Slater back on board, the Storm have been able to dig through their old schemes and what was once old is now new again. In Slater, Vunivalu and Addo-Carr the Storm have the most potent back three in the competition and opposition defences have struggled to defend every single third of the field. The other facet here is that Cameron Munster fits their system far better than Blake Green did who was a solid halves partner but didn't bring the spark that's needed to compliment Cronk.
The Storm truly are the perfect marriage of great coaching and recruitment. Bellamy has cultivated a system for 14 years that's earned more wins than any of the club in the competition. The impressive thing about this squad is that unlike past premierships which had a hodge podge of other signings take them to the holy grail (Sharks '16, Roosters '13 etc.) the core talent are all products of the Melbourne Storm system. Of their 17 players, only two of them made their debuts at opposition clubs. Josh Addo-Carr played a whopping 9 games before signing with Melbourne and Finucane of course came up through the Bulldogs. While Dale had always been a handy player at the Bulldogs, his game improved tremendously at Melbourne and he's been one of their more consistent performers so far in 2017. The amazing thing is that of all the players they bought this year, their most high profile was Nate Myles who like Tom Learoyd-Lahrs before him is at the twilight of his career and really hasn't had much of an impact as far as on-field performances are concerned.
It's a tough proposition for Melbourne. While they go in as overwhelming favourites, if they fail to win this match, at the end of their day as successful as they have been on the field, they'd only have the one premiership to show for it. If they win on Sunday, it will be the longest series on wins on route to a premiership since Manly in 1972. That's unless you include St. George's 1977 victory where they won 10 and eventually the grand final, but only after they had to replay the game, technically making it 10 wins, a draw then a win.
Meanwhile unless there's some stories during the initial years of the NSWRL I can't think of the last time a side qualified for a Grand Final without their best player playing a role in any of their finals game. While a few would contend that JT passed the torch onto Taumalolo or Morgan awhile ago, most fans would recognise JT as the most valuable player at the Cowboys, so for them to rise up in the face of that adversity is incredible.
There is no real secrets when it comes to the Cowboys. What you see is what you get and outside of their inability to defend kicks, they rarely give their opposition free chances and whenever they do they don't let it faze them. In the prelim. final Justin O'Neil turned the ball over in a horribly embarrassing incident. Instead of letting it consume him, he responded and made Ferguson pay for a loose carry which ultimately saw Feldt score a great try in the corner. If there was a key it's that the Cowboys have the best middle forward in the game that allows them to play very predictible football that's effective because they execute better than most clubs in the competition. The only other club that can really claim otherwise is Melbourne and even then cracks are beginning to form with their passing.
The big positive for the Cowboys is that they've got the two form players of the competition at the moment. Both Morgan and Taumalolo have been untouchable this finals series and as long as everyone else does their parts they will make Melbourne very nervous. If Melbourne have a weak spot, it's their left hand defensive side with Harris, Munster, Scott & Addo-Carr. That just so happens to be Morgan's fringe and with Feldt on the wing, the Cowboys will test it out far more than the Broncos were able to in the prelim.
If the Cowboys go onto win, it would be the biggest grand final upset in modern history knocking Newcastle 01 and Bulldogs 95 off their respective perches. Not only would it remembered as such but it would be remembered as a golden period in North Queensland Rugby League history and another notch in their belt which has just become more impressive since they qualified for their first final series in 2004. Then from an individual perspective players like Coote, Feldt, O'Neil, Morgan, Martin, Granville, Cooper, Lowe, Taumalolo, Hess would all improve their standing in regards to this current era and even all-time. Martin & Hess are two of the best young players in the sport, Coote, Feldt & Lowe are heralded as great club players, Cooper & O'Neil have rep. experience and would be right up thereabouts.
The Cowboys are an interesting contrast to Melbourne. While they've bought their fair share of players, you could argue they're like the island of misfit toys. A lot of the players that have come to the club like Coote, O'Neill, Linnett, Winterstein, Martin, Asiata, Granville, Lowe, Hampton and Fensom were either unwanted or underappreciated by their former clubs and for the most part all of them went onto play their best footy in North Queensland. The only exception would be Hampton who has come into the side as the new Rory Kostjasyn. You could make a case that Cooper should be thrown in there, but he originally came through the Cows system, was poached by the Titans and eventually found his way back where he became an Origin player. In some ways, they resemble the Sharks of 2016 who were also made up of scraps of other clubs. In their case they had Barba, Feki, Bird, Maloney, Fifita, Ennis, Lewis, Graham, Prior, Beale, Heighington and Tagataese. While a few of them like Bird, Maloney and Graham were highly valued by their clubs the rest were usually let go with little resistance. Like Flanagan, Green has built a good system where he's been able to build a strong core and get others to buy into it. What makes Green more impressive is that he didn't have to buy an Origin calibre player to make that happen.
Even without Billy Slater, the Melbourne Storm were the best team in the competition. For most clubs, losing a player of Slater's calibre for not only one but two seasons would end whatever hopes they would have of qualifying for a Top 4 position. Not only did Melbourne qualify inside the Top 4 in both 2015 and 2016, they finished as the minor premiers in 2016 and were only a pass off from being Grand Final victors.
With Slater back on board, the Storm have been able to dig through their old schemes and what was once old is now new again. In Slater, Vunivalu and Addo-Carr the Storm have the most potent back three in the competition and opposition defences have struggled to defend every single third of the field. The other facet here is that Cameron Munster fits their system far better than Blake Green did who was a solid halves partner but didn't bring the spark that's needed to compliment Cronk.
The Storm truly are the perfect marriage of great coaching and recruitment. Bellamy has cultivated a system for 14 years that's earned more wins than any of the club in the competition. The impressive thing about this squad is that unlike past premierships which had a hodge podge of other signings take them to the holy grail (Sharks '16, Roosters '13 etc.) the core talent are all products of the Melbourne Storm system. Of their 17 players, only two of them made their debuts at opposition clubs. Josh Addo-Carr played a whopping 9 games before signing with Melbourne and Finucane of course came up through the Bulldogs. While Dale had always been a handy player at the Bulldogs, his game improved tremendously at Melbourne and he's been one of their more consistent performers so far in 2017. The amazing thing is that of all the players they bought this year, their most high profile was Nate Myles who like Tom Learoyd-Lahrs before him is at the twilight of his career and really hasn't had much of an impact as far as on-field performances are concerned.
It's a tough proposition for Melbourne. While they go in as overwhelming favourites, if they fail to win this match, at the end of their day as successful as they have been on the field, they'd only have the one premiership to show for it. If they win on Sunday, it will be the longest series on wins on route to a premiership since Manly in 1972. That's unless you include St. George's 1977 victory where they won 10 and eventually the grand final, but only after they had to replay the game, technically making it 10 wins, a draw then a win.
Meanwhile unless there's some stories during the initial years of the NSWRL I can't think of the last time a side qualified for a Grand Final without their best player playing a role in any of their finals game. While a few would contend that JT passed the torch onto Taumalolo or Morgan awhile ago, most fans would recognise JT as the most valuable player at the Cowboys, so for them to rise up in the face of that adversity is incredible.
There is no real secrets when it comes to the Cowboys. What you see is what you get and outside of their inability to defend kicks, they rarely give their opposition free chances and whenever they do they don't let it faze them. In the prelim. final Justin O'Neil turned the ball over in a horribly embarrassing incident. Instead of letting it consume him, he responded and made Ferguson pay for a loose carry which ultimately saw Feldt score a great try in the corner. If there was a key it's that the Cowboys have the best middle forward in the game that allows them to play very predictible football that's effective because they execute better than most clubs in the competition. The only other club that can really claim otherwise is Melbourne and even then cracks are beginning to form with their passing.
The big positive for the Cowboys is that they've got the two form players of the competition at the moment. Both Morgan and Taumalolo have been untouchable this finals series and as long as everyone else does their parts they will make Melbourne very nervous. If Melbourne have a weak spot, it's their left hand defensive side with Harris, Munster, Scott & Addo-Carr. That just so happens to be Morgan's fringe and with Feldt on the wing, the Cowboys will test it out far more than the Broncos were able to in the prelim.
If the Cowboys go onto win, it would be the biggest grand final upset in modern history knocking Newcastle 01 and Bulldogs 95 off their respective perches. Not only would it remembered as such but it would be remembered as a golden period in North Queensland Rugby League history and another notch in their belt which has just become more impressive since they qualified for their first final series in 2004. Then from an individual perspective players like Coote, Feldt, O'Neil, Morgan, Martin, Granville, Cooper, Lowe, Taumalolo, Hess would all improve their standing in regards to this current era and even all-time. Martin & Hess are two of the best young players in the sport, Coote, Feldt & Lowe are heralded as great club players, Cooper & O'Neil have rep. experience and would be right up thereabouts.
The Cowboys are an interesting contrast to Melbourne. While they've bought their fair share of players, you could argue they're like the island of misfit toys. A lot of the players that have come to the club like Coote, O'Neill, Linnett, Winterstein, Martin, Asiata, Granville, Lowe, Hampton and Fensom were either unwanted or underappreciated by their former clubs and for the most part all of them went onto play their best footy in North Queensland. The only exception would be Hampton who has come into the side as the new Rory Kostjasyn. You could make a case that Cooper should be thrown in there, but he originally came through the Cows system, was poached by the Titans and eventually found his way back where he became an Origin player. In some ways, they resemble the Sharks of 2016 who were also made up of scraps of other clubs. In their case they had Barba, Feki, Bird, Maloney, Fifita, Ennis, Lewis, Graham, Prior, Beale, Heighington and Tagataese. While a few of them like Bird, Maloney and Graham were highly valued by their clubs the rest were usually let go with little resistance. Like Flanagan, Green has built a good system where he's been able to build a strong core and get others to buy into it. What makes Green more impressive is that he didn't have to buy an Origin calibre player to make that happen.
broncos4life
International Captain
Forum Staff
- Oct 5, 2011
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Have you heard of the NFL?
BroncsFan
International Rep
Contributor
- Jul 28, 2016
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Im not a massive fan but I do find myself liking his songs. Love the beat throughout can't hold us
ZTop
State of Origin Captain
Contributor
- Feb 28, 2016
- 11,489
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I nearly learnt to rap that song
Harry Sack
International Rep
Forum Staff
- Jun 12, 2013
- 13,233
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Love it live personally. Ryan Lewis.....Dork as **** though haha
I imagine the song will simply be one in a set tbh, so I have no issue with it. Whether he's the right act for an NRL final remains to be seen for me.
Sproj
Immortal
Senior Staff
- Sep 6, 2013
- 50,497
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Hmmm...
The AFL has all sorts of reports about how well supported their grand final teams are, 1000s to watch final grand final practices and training, talk about The Killers.
The NRL is inflating tickets figures, trotting out a relatively unknown singer and have articles joking about integrity and ref rant breech notices from two weeks ago in grand final week...super professional once again of course.
The AFL has all sorts of reports about how well supported their grand final teams are, 1000s to watch final grand final practices and training, talk about The Killers.
The NRL is inflating tickets figures, trotting out a relatively unknown singer and have articles joking about integrity and ref rant breech notices from two weeks ago in grand final week...super professional once again of course.
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