Round 1 Discussion

[Bucking Beads]

Great pass from Slater for that try. Dragons up 10-4

 

[Unbreakable]

This is my big upset of the round.. I really need the Dragons to lift in the second half, they were getting completely destroyed in the last 25 minutes of that half.

 

[Bucking Beads]

The Storm have been a bit sloppy in this one.

 

[Big Pete]

That game sucked.

I'm sure Bellamy is setting a record for the number of f-bombs dropped in a single post-match meeting. Melbourne were very ordinary against a mediocre Dragons outfit and never looked like creating anything.

St George did well to hang in there in spite of their ineptitude but that call against de Belin proved a bridge too far. While we're on the subject - de Belin and Rein were awful. For Rein, that isn't anything new, he's just a bench hooker who's been able to forge a decent career at a mediocre club. However, I thought de Belin could be a smokey for Origin if he hit the ground running. One game in and he looks more suitable to the residents format.

 

[broncos4life]

The amount of times I have heard people say we should dump Macca and sign Rein is amazing. Disturbing, yet amazing.

 

[Big Pete]

It must have taken a really crappy Macca performance for them to go that far.

 

[Bucking Beads]

The amount of times I have heard people say we should dump Macca and sign Rein is amazing. Disturbing, yet amazing.

I've never seen anyone suggest that but if they did they need to get in the sea,!

 

[Unbreakable]

That was a horrific refereeing performance honestly, so many blatantly incorrect calls against the Dragons..

Nothing worse than picking a massive upset and only losing because of home crowd influenced refereeing decisions.

 

[Big Pete]

Which incorrect calls?

I didn't see anything other than the de Belin play-the-ball infringement where it's usually a 50/50 call most days.

Beyond that, I thought the Dragons were the beneficiaries of some calls late in the contest. The Dragons were lucky to get away with the Creagh offload situation and it appeared Frizel pushed Koroibete when they were competing for the football. I was fine with both calls but they could have gone the other way.

From what I saw, the Dragons lost because they made too many errors and just didn't have the combinations to make Melbourne pay.

 

[Unbreakable]

Which incorrect calls?

I didn't see anything other than the de Belin play-the-ball infringement where it's usually a 50/50 call most days.

Beyond that, I thought the Dragons were the beneficiaries of some calls late in the contest. The Dragons were lucky to get away with the Creagh offload situation and it appeared Frizel pushed Koroibete when they were competing for the football. I was fine with both calls but they could have gone the other way.

From what I saw, the Dragons lost because they made too many errors and just didn't have the combinations to make Melbourne pay.

The one that comes to mind was the Widdop "Forward pass" early in the second half, which was literally a metre backwards, even the commentators weren't sure what the call was for.

Also, the De Belin "Knock-on" with about 10 minutes to go, went about a metre backwards.

 

[Big Pete]

Ah yep, the Widdop call was horrible.

I could be wrong, but it appeared as if de Belin lost it forward into a Storm player before it went backwards.

 

[Unbreakable]

Ah yep, the Widdop call was horrible.

I could be wrong, but it appeared as if de Belin lost it forward into a Storm player before it went backwards.

Yeah I think the de Belin call was wrong, watched it back a few times, he was facing his own in goal when he lost it, impossible for him to have knocked it forward into a Storm player from where he was.

Oh well.

 

[Broncoman]

That game sucked.

I'm sure Bellamy is setting a record for the number of f-bombs dropped in a single post-match meeting. Melbourne were very ordinary against a mediocre Dragons outfit and never looked like creating anything.

St George did well to hang in there in spite of their ineptitude but that call against de Belin proved a bridge too far. While we're on the subject - de Belin and Rein were awful. For Rein, that isn't anything new, he's just a bench hooker who's been able to forge a decent career at a mediocre club. However, I thought de Belin could be a smokey for Origin if he hit the ground running. One game in and he looks more suitable to the residents format.

Well said about Rein. He has never impressed me I personally never understood why people were calling him a potential NSW player. After Farah I would take Peats, Cook and Ennis ahead of him.

 

[Big Pete]

Yeah I think the de Belin call was wrong, watched it back a few times, he was facing his own in goal when he lost it, impossible for him to have knocked it forward into a Storm player from where he was.

Oh well.

Alright, caught a replay myself and it was how I remembered it.

What's happened is, de Belin has gone for the hit and spin, Kaufusi has knocked the ball loose and in trying to regather the ball by using his wrist and his body he's promoted it into Kaufusi's arm, constituting a knock on.

Normally I'd let it go but the idea of it being impossible intrigued me.

 

[K-Style]

Yeah. There were some shocking calls. Mostly in Melbourne's favour.

The first two high ball penalties annoyed me too. One each way. The first was when Slater pushed the blocker out the way (into the guy jumping for the ball). Not sure if the penalty was for pushing or contact with the legs. Either way I don't agree with it even if it was right. If you are blatantly blocking you are fair game for a shove in my opinion.
The second was a penalty when St George legitimately contested the highball and got penalised. There was barely contact and the Melbourne player fell over.

There was one point at St George's line where Melbourne were ALL offside and nothing was called (except for one guy in the crowd).

 

[Big Pete]

NRL.com's Team of the Week

1. James Tedesco
2. Corey Oates
3. Jack Bird
4. Tim Simona
5. Marika Koroibete
6. Mitchell Moses
7. Adam Reynolds
8. Adam Blair
9. Nathan Peats
10. James Graham
11. Paul Carter
12. Ethan Lowe
13. Shaun Fensom

14. Greg Bird
15. Simon Mannering
16. Aidan Sezer
17. Zeb Taia

Not a bad effort, in fact, Blair's inclusion seems to be the most bewildering addition. I thought Blair was solid on Thursday, but would have had Tolman there myself - he and Graham were enormous on Friday.

 

[Unbreakable]

Seems about right, Blair catches the eye because of his flashy off-loads. If it was based on actual work load and impressive stats, Sam Burgess in his first game back, 19 runs for 162m gained in 53 minutes with 22 tackles / 0 missed tackles.

 

[broncos4life]

Seems about right, Blair catches the eye because of his flashy off-loads. If it was based on actual work load and impressive stats, Sam Burgess in his first game back, 19 runs for 162m gained in 53 minutes with 22 tackles / 0 missed tackles.

I'm sure it's based on both. With the way the game is these days, 'flashy offloads' are just as important as workloads. Second phase play is enormous and a good offload (not just the throw it and hope) can change a game.