Prop by the Sea
The Courier Mail’s Bronco headline on Monday was – ‘Reyno: Broncos Not Soft’ with a byline of ‘Maguire feels the Red Hill furnace as skipper denies players are mentally fragile’. What a roller-coaster we are on with the tabloid but more on the Broncos later.
Round 11 started off with a match on Friday night between the Eels and the Knights. The Knights’ season has gone from bad to worse as they put up a very meek effort against the Eels, especially considering it was Gagai’s 300th game. The second Friday night match was an absolute belter. The Bulldogs got home over the Roosters 24 points to 20 and if you haven’t seen ‘the try’, go and have a look. The Roosters got ahead on a number of occasions, but the Bulldogs didn’t surrender, kept coming at them, and got away with a very impressive win. Both Crichton and Kikau were extremely dangerous on either side of the ruck and the Bulldogs defence really measured up.
There were three games on the Saturday with the first being a tight game between the Warriors and the Dolphins, although the Warriors were always in control until the last five minutes. Redcliffe gave a late scare, but the Warriors seemed to be able to keep ahead and won the match. Likewise, the Cowboys were in the game until the 69th minute when Hopoate scored off a poor Cowboys error and in the end Manly, ran out winners 24 points to 6 which slightly flattered them. Again, critical errors by the Cowboys affected them at key stages of the match. In the final Saturday night game, the Sharks ran out winners over the Storm 31 points to 26 in a very entertaining match. Again – if you have not seen Coates’ try, go and have a look.
There is clearly a difference between the top sides and the rest. The quality of the games between the Roosters and Bulldogs, and the Storm and Sharks was better than the others.
Sunday started with three games where a very poor Brisbane Broncos were defeated by the Dragons. The Dragons didn’t do anything special. Just hung on, played mistake-free football, and waited for the Broncos to capitulate. The $100,000,000 club really must take a long hard look at their season. They look uninterested and are on life support. The Raiders were too good for the Titans. Again, they just kept in front of the Titans and the Titans did not do enough to win that match. At times they look good, but errors continue to spoil any hopes they have. The final game had the Rabbitohs up against the Tigers and the Rabbitohs continued their winning form and putting themselves on the edge of the eight. The Tigers tried hard, none more so than Koroisau, but the Rabbits found a way to win with the late Arrow try. Both sides are performing better than last year, giving their fans some hope going forward.
So, the origin shortened Round 12 starts on Thursday with the Bulldogs playing the Dolphins. You would have to think the Bulldogs will be too strong in this match even though they are without their star centre and captain due to Origin. On Friday night there is only one game and the Eels are up against Manly. Both sides are without their halfbacks which will even things up but I think Manly will be too strong.
Saturday has two games, the first has the Panthers playing the Knights. The Panthers have a number of pliers out on Origin duty but more importantly the Knights are without Ponga which is a massive out. I think Penrith, even though they will be understaffed, will get away with this one. The final Saturday game has the Roosters up against the Sharks and the Roosters have a number of players in the Origin game whereas the Sharks do not have any. It is a critical match for the Roosters but you would have to think the Sharks will get away with this one especially if they are to be a contender in September.
The round finishes up with the Warriors at home to the Raiders. Each team is missing one player so it will be fairly evenly matched but I’m thinking that the Warriors given the form they have shown recently will be too strong for the Green Machine especially when they’re at home.
That leads us to the big match on Wednesday night and I will be attending and of course supporting Queensland blindly against NSW in the first State of Origin. I am tipping Queensland and I’m hoping that their forwards can lay a solid platform. We do have Munster back and he was crowned by the King as “good as any player I have ever seen” at the QRL Long Lunch which I was lucky enough to attend. We also have Ponga back at fullback and Big Tino up front. The game will require our forward pack to be especially aggressive given the meek surrender of last year especially to allow our backs the opportunity to attack. There is pressure on the young centre Toia but at the lunch on Tuesday couch Slater thought that there was no problem with Toia and that he was ready! In Billy we trust so “Go Queensland.”
Top Eight (in order)
4 Melbourne 5 Cronullaargh 6 Manly 7 Cowboys 8 Broncos 10 Roosters 11 Souths13 Penrith
Fact / Stat for the day- if Payne Haas and Pat Carrigan are both ruled out through injury from next Wednesday’s Origin it will be the first time in Origin history, barring the 98 series. where the Broncos will have no representatives. If Carrigan plays for Queensland, it will be. the lowest Bronco representation in a Queensland team since Gavin Allen played in the 95 series. When you consider teams with high numbers of Origin players go very well at the business end of the season the Broncos season looks even worse.
Tipping Stats – A tough round where I was happy with 4 although GHB deserves a round of applause as he tipped 5. You could say that if you tipped 5 in Round 11 you really have had too many knocks on the head but credit where credit is due! The Crabman doesn’t have to worry about the fishing inspectors this week as he only got 3! RustyMattreesSprings has been passed by his 85-year-old Grandmother, so he needs to find a winning formula soon or he will be the laughingstock of a proud rugby league family!
What’s in a headline
Madge’s Broncs Can Win the Lot! (before first game) Broncos Bookie Busters! (after Roosters win) Broncos Need Beef (beaten by Canberra) Holy Haas! Demolition Derby! Payne Unleashed (beating ordinary Cowboys) This Is My House! (beating Dolphins) Feeling the Squeeze (beating Tigers) It’s Just Two Hard (Losing to Roosters) Shivers Down His Spine (losing to Warriors) Fears For Reyno As Broncos Rain Supreme (beating Canterbury) Broncos disappearing act a cause of concern (losing to Penrith) Mam For A Day (losing to Souths) Reyno: Broncos Not Soft (losing to St George)
You gotta love footy!
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