Round 6 Discussion

[Big Pete]

Cronulla Sharks vs Newcastle Knights
Remondis Stadium, Friday April 10 2015
Kick Off 7:35pm

1. Valentine Holmes 2. Sosaia Feki 3. Gerard Beale 4. Ricky Leutele 5. Michael Gordon 6. Jack Bird 7. Jeff Robson 8. Andrew Fifita 9. Michael Ennis 10. Chris Heighington 11. Luke Lewis 12. Wade Graham 13. Paul Gallen
Interchange: 14. Ben Barba 15. Anthony Tupou 16. Matt Prior 17. David Fifita 18. Tinirau Arona 19. Jayson Bukuya

1. Kurt Gidley 2. James McManus 3. Dane Gagai 4. Joseph Leilua 5. Akuila Uate 6. Jarrod Mullen 7. Tyrone Roberts 8. Kade Snowden 9. Adam Clydsdale 10. Korbin Sims 11. Chris Houston 12. Tariq Sims 13. Jeremy Smith
Interchange: 14. Tyler Randell 15. David Fa'alogo 16. Joseph Tapine 17. Jack Stockwell 18. Sione Mata'utia

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Brisbane Broncos vs Sydney Roosters
Suncorp Stadium, Friday April 10 2015
Kick Off 7:35pm

1. Lachlan Maranta 2. Corey Oates 3. Jack Reed 4. Dale Copley 5. Daniel Vidot 6. Anthony Milford 7. Ben Hunt 8. Josh McGuire 9. Andrew McCullough 10. Sam Thaiday 11. Alex Glenn 12. Matt Gillett 13. Corey Parker
Interchange: 14. Jarrod Wallace 15. Mitch Garbutt 16. Mitchell Dodds 17. Kodi Nikorima 18. Francis Molo

1. Roger Tuivasa-Sheck 2. Daniel Tupou 3. Michael Jennings 4. Shaun Kenny-Dowall 5. Nene Macdonald 6. James Maloney 7. Mitchell Pearce 8. Jared Waerea-Hargreaves 9. Matt McIlwrick 10. Sam Moa 11. Boyd Cordner 12. Mitchell Aubusson 13. Isaac Liu
Interchange: 14. Willie Manu 15. Dylan Napa 16. Kane Evans 17. Siosiua Taukeiaho

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Parramatta Eels vs Gold Coast Titans
Pirtek Stadium, Saturday April 11 2015
Kick Off 3:00pm

1. William Hopoate 2. Bureta Faraimo 3. Ryan Morgan 4. John Folau 5. Reece Robinson 6. Corey Norman 7. Chris Sandow 8. Darcy Lussick 9. Nathan Peats 10. Tim Mannah 11. Manu Ma'u 12. Tepai Moeroa 13. Anthony Watmough
Interchange: 14. Isaac De Gois 15. Joseph Paulo 16. David Gower 17. Danny Wicks 18. Peni Terepo

1. Josh Hoffman 2. Anthony Don 3. James Roberts 4. William Zillman 5. David Mead 6. Aidan Sezer 7. Kane Elgey 8. Luke Douglas 9. Kierran Moseley 10. Nate Myles 11. Ryan James 12. Dave Taylor 13. Greg Bird
Interchange: 14. Eddy Pettybourne 15. Agnatius Paasi 16. Lachlan Burr 17. Ryan Simpkins 18. Matt White

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Warriors vs Wests Tigers
Mt Smart Stadium, Saturday April 11 2015
Kick Off 5:30pm

1. Tuimoala Lolohea 2. Jonathan Wright 3. Konrad Hurrell 4. Solomone Kata 5. Manu Vatuvei 6. Chad Townsend 7. Shaun Johnson 8. Jacob Lillyman 9. Thomas Leuluai 10. Ben Matulino 11. Bodene Thompson 12. Ryan Hoffman 13. Simon Mannering
Interchange: 14. Nathan Friend 15. Sebastine Ikahihifo 16. Sam Lisone 17. Albert Vete 18. Dominique Peyroux

1. James Tedesco 2. Kevin Naiqama 3. Tim Simona 4. Chris Lawrence 5. Pat Richards 6. Mitchell Moses 7. Luke Brooks 8. Aaron Woods 9. Robbie Farah 10. Keith Galloway 11. Curtis Sironen 12. Kyle Lovett 13. Martin Taupau
Interchange: 14. Dene Halatau 15. Ava Seumanufagai 16. Jack Buchanan 17. Sauaso Sue 18. Asipeli Fine

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Penrith Panthers vs Manly Sea Eagles
Pepper Stadium, Saturday April 11 2015
Kick Off 7:30pm

1. Matt Moylan 2. Josh Mansour 3. Waqa Blake 4. Jamal Idris 5. Dallin Watene Zelezniak 6. Apisai Koroisau 7. Peter Wallace 8. Sam McKendry 9. James Segeyaro 10. Jeremy Latimore 11. Sika Manu 12. Isaah Yeo 13. Elijah Taylor
Interchange: 14. Tyrone Peachey 15. Nigel Plum 16. Regan Campbell-Gillard 17. Bryce Cartwright

1. Brett Stewart 2. Cheyse Blair 3. Brayden Wiliame 4. Peta Hiku 5. Tom Trbojevic 6. Kieran Foran 7. Daly Cherry-Evans 8. Luke Burgess 9. Matt Ballin 10. Willie Mason 11. Jamie Buhrer 12. Tom Symonds 13. Dunamis Lui
Interchange: 14. Jesse Sene-Lefao 15. Ligi Sao 16. Justin Horo 17. Jake Trbojevic

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Canberra Raiders vs Melbourne Storm
GIO Stadium, Sunday April 12 2015
Kick Off 2:00pm

1. Jack Wighton 2. Edrick Lee 3. Jarrod Croker 4. Sisa Waqa 5. Jeremy Hawkins 6. Blake Austin 7. Sam Williams 8. Josh Papalii 9. Josh Hodgson 10. Dane Tilse 11. Jarrad Kennedy 12. Iosia Soliola 13. Shaun Fensom
Interchange: 14. Glen Buttriss 15. Frank Paul Nuuausala 16. Paul Vaughan 17. Mark Nicholls

1. Billy Slater 2. Mahe Fonua 3. Will Chambers 4. Kurt Mann 5. Marika Koroibete 6. Blake Green 7. Cooper Cronk 8. Jesse Bromwich 9. Cameron Smith 10. Jordan McLean 11. Kevin Proctor 12. Tohu Harris 13. Dale Finucane
Interchange: 14. Ryan Hinchcliffe 15. Tim Glasby 16. Dayne Weston 17. Felise Kaufusi

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St George Illawarra Dragons vs Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs
ANZ Stadium, Sunday April 12 2015
Kick Off 4:00pm

1. Josh Dugan 2. Eto Nabuli 3. Euan Aitken 4. Dylan Farrell 5. Jason Nightingale 6. Gareth Widdop 7. Benji Marshall 8. Leeson Ah Mau 9. Mitch Rein 10. Mike Cooper 11. Tyson Frizell 12. Joel Thompson 13. Trent Merrin
Interchange: 14. George Rose 15. Jack de Belin 16. Jake Marketo 17. Heath L'Estrange 20. Rory O'Brien

1. Sam Perrett 2. Curtis Rona 3. Josh Morris 4. Moses Mbye 5. Corey Thompson 6. Josh Reynolds 7. Trent Hodkinson 8. Aiden Tolman 9. Michael Lichaa 10. Tim Browne 11. Josh Jackson 12. Tony Williams 13. Greg Eastwood
Interchange: 14. Lloyd Perrett 15. Antonio Kaufusi 16. Frank Pritchard 17. Chase Stanley 19. Danny Fualalo

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South Sydney Rabbitohs vs North Queensland Cowboys
ANZ Stadium, Monday April 13 2015
Kick Off 7:00pm

1. Greg Inglis 2. Alex Johnston 3. Daryl Millard 4. Bryson Goodwin 5. Joel Reddy 6. John Sutton 7. Luke Keary 8. George Burgess 9. Issac Luke 10. David Tyrrell 11. Glenn Stewart 12. Chris McQueen 13. Jason Clark
Interchange: 14. Ben Lowe 15. Chris Grevsmuhl 16. Tim Grant 17. Thomas Burgess 18. Cameron McInnes 19. Nathan Brown

1. Lachlan Coote 2. Matthew Wright 3. Tautau Moga 4. Kane Linnett 5. Antonio Winterstein 6. Michael Morgan 7. Johnathan Thurston 8. Matthew Scott 9. Jake Granville 10. James Tamou 11. Gavin Cooper 12. Ethan Lowe 13. Jason Taumalolo
Interchange: 14. Rory Kostjasyn 15. John Asiata 16. Scott Bolton 17. Ben Hannant 18. Glenn Hall

 

[Big Pete]

Critiquing all the changes.

Sharks - Barba comes in on the bench for Arona in bit of a no-brainer. Barba deserves a crack and could make a difference like he did for the Bulldogs in 2010.

Knights - Korbin's return sort of off-sets the loss of Scott. Korbin reminds me a lot of Lussick in the sense that he may not be the most disciplined player but he adds a level of aggression that they've been missing. Will be interested to see how the Knights respond after last week's disappointing performance. They couldn't handle those conditions at all and their halves were god awful.

Broncos - No changes although I see it as Bennett playing it safe as Hodges and Blair are both good chances of playing. If they come in, I can see Copley shifting to the wing with Blair pushing Thaiday onto the bench in place of Garbutt.

Roosters - Aubusson replaces Guerra which could be something of a double blow as Mitch has outplayed McIllwrick just about everytime I've seen them play. I don't think he'll have the same impact if he's playing the full 80, so it'll be interesting to see what happens or if Jake Friend is a late inclusion.

Eels - Typical post-Monday footy media side. I expect to see a few changes after that lackluster effort. I think the fact that they had to play two backrows in the centres really hurt them and they missed having Ma'u on their edge. He's been a real focal point of their attack and is one of my favourite backrows in the game.

Titans - No changes. Sounds about right given that Henry was basically impressed with everything but the attack inside the 20m zone. I think it comes down to experience and combinations and I'd stick with it for the time being.

Warriors - No changes. Were their own worst enemies against Melbourne and I suspect they'll play a lot better now and we'll get a really good idea where they're at.

Wests Tigers - Similar story except they did get the choccies. The Eels basically handed it to them, so outside of some skillful play, I don't think there was a lot to write home about so it will be interesting to see how they handle this road trip.

Penrith - Manu returns enabling Idris to replace an injured Whare in the centres. They've been struggling for their best form in recent weeks but I think they've done well to be competitive in every loss and have been very unlucky at times as far as calls or mistakes go.

Manly - No changes despite murmers that they've got a few players coming back from injury. They're in free fall at the moment and right now, I think they're looking like the perfect team to play Penrith back into form. If the likes of Lyon & Matai do return, I really hope they keep Trbojevic on the wing again. While I think they've got to manage his development carefully, he was easily their best player on the weekend and he clearly offers more than Blair.

Canberra - Hawkins comes in for Rapana. They played well against a listless Manly side but their second half was really concerning. Not sure what it is, but they can't put an 80 minutes together and I don't think they've turned the corner despite putting together their best performance of the season. They've got a chance to do so this weekend and if Williams can string some good performances together, you just never know.

Melbourne - No changes and this is the type of game they need to win if they want to assert their authority on the competition. I think it's going to be really close and I'm interested to see how both teams will go.

Dragons - No changes. Good call too, they've won 3 in a row and it's really come on the back of Merrin's promotion to the starting side. He got the ball rolling against Canberra, got the reward and has really given the Dragons more enthusiasm around the ruck. Their defence has been quite strong but they're still guilty of making cheap mistakes and that may cost them against the Doggies.

Bulldogs - Out of all the teams, I was most looking forward to seeing the Dogs 17 and as it turns out, it was probably the most boring. They'll miss a few of those players but they've still got the core of the side and I expect to see them out-grind the Dragons on the weekend.

Souths - Sutton returns in the nick of time. Good news for the Rabbits, bad news for someone who was interested to see how a master coach handles a selection dilemma. Will be interesting to see how they handle life without Reynolds although if last year is anything to go by, it won't be THAT bad.

Cowboys - Look like they're back on the horse and beginning to take some names. No changes and I can see them adding a third name to their list although I definitely think the Rabbits will make them fight harder than Melbourne or Penrith.

 

[Super Freak]

Slater out for 4 weeks.

I was leaning towards Raiders before then, this has made me tip Raiders.

I think Raiders will take a lot of confidence from beating Manly and also Storm last year.

I have a feeling they come out fired up.

 

[BroncosAlways]

Bird in with a nice try. Barba's reaction afterwards was priceless


And as I type this, I realise this game is delayed and finished quite some time ago. Nevertheless I feel my post is still valid, LOL at Barba's reaction.

 

[broncos4life]

Bird in with a nice try. Barba's reaction afterwards was priceless


And as I type this, I realise this game is delayed and finished quite some time ago. Nevertheless I feel my post is still valid, LOL at Barba's reaction.

What did he do
I missed it

 

[BroncosAlways]

What did he do
I missed it

When Bird went in it panned to Barba, who was sitting on the bench with a half smile and over-enthusiastically clapping. Not moving or anything, just sitting there clapping. It's hard to describe lol

 

[broncos4life]

When Bird went in it panned to Barba, who was sitting on the bench with a half smile and over-enthusiastically clapping. Not moving or anything, just sitting there clapping. It's hard to describe lol

Just rewound to look actually (although thanks for explaining)

Yeah it was a look that said "ohhhh ****"

 

[Rally Towel]

Sharks look to be finding some form now. Just needed some guidance on the halves. I didn't expect to see it off the back of Jack Bird at 6 but they've looked much improved these last two weeks.

Much like us, they're keeping it simple, competing hard, and just getting their fundamentals right.

 

[Unbreakable]

**** I suck at tipping, 0/2 again.

 

[Rally Towel]

Barba hurt again? That ankle is still an issue for him.

 

[Morkel]

Imagine if our victory had to be spoiled by Ray Hadley.

 

[Super Freak]

How good has Jack Bird been?

He has had a great start to his NRL career. I like the fact that he is willing to keep the play alive and looks to create something out of nothing.

He is forming a good combination with Lewis on that right side.

 

[Big Pete]

Bird is a quality player.

I thought he was the best player of the NYC finals in 2014 but I didn't expect to see him dig the Sharks out of trouble like he has been.

Credit to him and credit to the Sharks too. A lot of people wrote Sunday's performance off as a fluke but I think tonight's performance cements it as a turning point.

It's just a matter of how far they'll use the momentum. It looks like they'll lose both the Fifita brothers, Barba is gone too so that could derail them.

Then on the other side of the pendulum you have the Knights. Really surprised everyone with their 4 from 4 start but have been knocked down a peg in recent weeks and they've really got to make hay while the sun is shining if they want to make any sort of impact on the competition. They play Parra (H), Cows (H) and Sea Eagles (A) all winnable games but let's say they only win 1/3 and they could be in real trouble.

 

[Super Freak]

Did anyone see the Gagai no try last night?

A video ref can't rule on a forward pass, but is there anything that says they can't check it, advise the ref and send it back as refs call for the ref to rule on?

The same thing happened in the Broncos game against the Dragons in 2008. Maxwell sent it upstairs to check the pass and the video ref sent it back as refs call and Maxwell ruled forward pass.

I don't see why refs don't do this more often if that is actually allowed.

 

[Super Freak]

Hoffman just got smashed by Folau!

 

[Super Freak]

Good pass from Sezer and a good run from Taylor. Nice try.

 

[Super Freak]

Eels finally score and then Watmough throws an intercept pass and Roberts scores.

Lol.

 

[Super Freak]

Good work from Norman to get the ball away there and set up the try.