PRE-GAME Round 1 - Storm vs Broncos

The thing with the storm is they weren't able to solve the halfback problem last year, often having Cam slip into first receiver for large chunks of the game. Now they're missing Billy.

They were very beatable last year and it wasn't until the NRL backflipped on reffing the actual rules did they turn things around.

If they're allowed to defend the same way they have for years then not much will change, but apparently they will let the game "flow" this year, whatever the **** that means.
 
BroncsFan said:
The thing with the storm is they weren't able to solve the halfback problem last year, often having Cam slip into first receiver for large chunks of the game. Now they're missing Billy.

They were very beatable last year and it wasn't until the NRL backflipped on reffing the actual rules did they turn things around.

If they're allowed to defend the same way they have for years then not much will change, but apparently they will let the game "flow" this year, whatever the **** that means.
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Unfortunately the NRL's definition of 'flow' is 'no penalties', so the Storm will be allowed to do what they've always done.
 
Yeah remember last season when referees were doing their job and enforcing the penalties. But then in came the media having a huge cry about how the flow of the game was being effected and that players weren't being allowed to play footy and they pressured them to go back to business as usual, allowing teams to exploit the rules etc and referees afraid to enforce the rules.
 
GCBRONCO said:
Yeah remember last season when referees were doing their job and enforcing the penalties. But then in came the media having a huge cry about how the flow of the game was being effected and that players weren't being allowed to play footy and they pressured them to go back to business as usual, allowing teams to exploit the rules etc and referees afraid to enforce the rules.
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It wasn't so much the media as it was Gould. He was the loudest voice iirc.
 
On the radio the other morning (yesterday?) they had Annersley talking about how the refs last year were expecting an "impossible" standard by the players. That's a fucking cop out. No one expects teams to be able to give away zero penalties, there will always be infringements, it's up to the refs to blow the whistle to prevent it from happening repeatedly.

What he really meant was that there were teams that were refusing to play to the rules, and that the NRL was too soft to blow 20+ penalties on those teams because they'd then be criticised for ruining the game. At the start of the season, the Storm, Roosters and Sharks (IIRC) were struggling big time, because rubbish in the ruck is how they control games. The moment their shit was once again tolerated was when they started winning.
 
Morkel said:
On the radio the other morning (yesterday?) they had Annersley talking about how the refs last year were expecting an "impossible" standard by the players. That's a fucking cop out. No one expects teams to be able to give away zero penalties, there will always be infringements, it's up to the refs to blow the whistle to prevent it from happening repeatedly.

What he really meant was that there were teams that were refusing to play to the rules, and that the NRL was too soft to blow 20+ penalties on those teams because they'd then be criticised for ruining the game. At the start of the season, the Storm, Roosters and Sharks (IIRC) were struggling big time, because rubbish in the ruck is how they control games. The moment their shit was once again tolerated was when they started winning.
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not to mention that the NRL has this obsession with keeping penalty counts relatively even, which is complete BS ...
 
They were very beatable last year and it wasn't until the NRL backflipped on reffing the actual rules did they turn things around.
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I'd argue it was the decision to drop Brodie Croft.

The Storm opened last season with a 2-3 record, with the three losses coming against Wests (x2) and Cronulla. In the Wests game, Melbourne won the penalty count handily on both occassions. In Round 2 and Round 5 respectively the penalties went 18-8 and 7-2 in Melbourne's favour.

Bellamy lost faith in Croft, dropped him and proceeded to go 14-2, before an injury to Hughes opened the door for Croft. Brodie took it with both hands and Bellamy went with him for the rest of the season.

The reason why I think this narrative exists is because of Round 4 vs. Cronulla and Round 9 vs. St. George Illawarra. Melbourne lost both games and were on the wrong end of the penalty count, 19-14 against Cronulla and 11-6 against St George. In the Sharks game, Cronulla got the better of Melbourne because they frustrated them into submission. They were happy to lose the penalty count in the first half because they were able to frustrate the Storm into error. By full-time, Melbourne had lost the plot and gave away something like 13 penalties in the second half, with the final twenty minutes in particular being filled with penalties.

In the Dragons game, Melbourne were off their game and copped some dodgy calls on the back of that.

However, the Dragons game was an exception and Melbourne were well on their way after big wins against Newcastle, Brisbane and the Warriors put them in good stead. They went on an eight game winning streak not long after and it put them in good stead for the rest of the season.

Tom said:
It wasn't so much the media as it was Gould. He was the loudest voice iirc.
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Buzz was extremely vocal after the Round 4 Cronulla/Melbourne game. The game was a dumpster fire, but Buzz conveniently forgot that most Cronulla/Melbourne games are spiteful low scoring affairs filled with ill-discipline. The referees were only reffing what was infront of them and the only criticism that should have been made of their performance is that more players should have been binned.
 
Big Pete said:
I'd argue it was the decision to drop Brodie Croft.

The Storm opened last season with a 2-3 record, with the three losses coming against Wests (x2) and Cronulla. In the Wests game, Melbourne won the penalty count handily on both occassions. In Round 2 and Round 5 respectively the penalties went 18-8 and 7-2 in Melbourne's favour.

Bellamy lost faith in Croft, dropped him and proceeded to go 14-2, before an injury to Hughes opened the door for Croft. Brodie took it with both hands and Bellamy went with him for the rest of the season.

The reason why I think this narrative exists is because of Round 4 vs. Cronulla and Round 9 vs. St. George Illawarra. Melbourne lost both games and were on the wrong end of the penalty count, 19-14 against Cronulla and 11-6 against St George. In the Sharks game, Cronulla got the better of Melbourne because they frustrated them into submission. They were happy to lose the penalty count in the first half because they were able to frustrate the Storm into error. By full-time, Melbourne had lost the plot and gave away something like 13 penalties in the second half, with the final twenty minutes in particular being filled with penalties.

In the Dragons game, Melbourne were off their game and copped some dodgy calls on the back of that.

However, the Dragons game was an exception and Melbourne were well on their way after big wins against Newcastle, Brisbane and the Warriors put them in good stead. They went on an eight game winning streak not long after and it put them in good stead for the rest of the season.



Buzz was extremely vocal after the Round 4 Cronulla/Melbourne game. The game was a dumpster fire, but Buzz conveniently forgot that most Cronulla/Melbourne games are spiteful low scoring affairs filled with ill-discipline. The referees were only reffing what was infront of them and the only criticism that should have been made of their performance is that more players should have been binned.
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The thing that pissed me off big time with how certain sections of the media behaved(especially Gus) was how he kept going on about how the fans didn't like how the Cronulla\Melbourne game was reffed and was trying to speak for everyone. As far as I could tell the vast majority of fans were ecstatic that the game was being reffed to the letter of the law.
 
Tom said:
Agree. The only names are Smith, Munster, and the 2 wingers. And Chambers if you wanna include him.
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Personally, I'd add Asofa-Solomona and Bromwich X2 to that list.
 
Tom said:
The thing that pissed me off big time with how certain sections of the media behaved(especially Gus) was how he kept going on about how the fans didn't like how the Cronulla\Melbourne game was reffed and was trying to speak for everyone. As far as I could tell the vast majority of fans were ecstatic that the game was being reffed to the letter of the law.
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The thing is that if they had stuck to their guns and kept reffing to the letter of the law, teams would have eventually learned that if they kept breaking the rules, they would be penalised out of the game ... this would have in turn lead to a much more free-flowing game
 
Foordy said:
The thing is that if they had stuck to their guns and kept reffing to the letter of the law, teams would have eventually learned that if they kept breaking the rules, they would be penalised out of the game ... this would have in turn lead to a much more free-flowing game
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Foordy said:
The thing is that if they had stuck to their guns and kept reffing to the letter of the law, teams would have eventually learned that if they kept breaking the rules, they would be penalised out of the game ... this would have in turn lead to a much more free-flowing game
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Yep, and it was at that point the game needed strong leadership, which they have been lacking for as long as I can remember.

If Todd had a backbone he would have come out and said the refs have his full support and they will continue to ref this way until teams start playing the way they should. Instead he didn't the spineless thing and say he has ordered the refs to stop nitpicking.
 
Dash said:
Unfortunately the NRL's definition of 'flow' is 'no penalties', so the Storm will be allowed to do what they've always done.
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Seibold spoke about this today, and how the ball in play has been declining for a few years, it's currently at 53 minutes. Seibold is big on training being time relevant. Tim Gabbett did a study which Seibold uses based on the ball in play and it was about 8 minutes is the most. So worst case for fitness you need to be able to go without stopping for 8 minutes.

Seibold said today he wants the ball in play.
 
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