Prop in the Canefield
So, what a round it turned out to be? It started off with the Tigers beating Manly. That is a very poor result for Manly given what they were playing for. You have to give credit to the Tigers, however, who stuck in the game, played well and deservedly got their second win on the trot. Well done, Benji! On Friday night, as predicted, the Bulldogs were way too strong for the Warriors. Crichton’s tackle obviously was very poor, and the suspension will hurt the Bulldogs, but they were just too good for the Warriors. Likewise, the Broncos, after a very poor start, piled on the points to beat the hapless Eels in the second Friday night game. Broncos running out 30 to 24 and keeping their Eighth spot hopes alive. Kevvie of course said they will be in the eight – no ifs!
That takes us to Saturday, where the Raiders came out and beat Penrith. It is worrying that Penrith now dropped to 4th spot on the ladder and are awaiting Cleary to come back, but I don’t think they’d be too worried at all. Likewise, the Raiders keep their very slim chances of making the finals open. The second Saturday game was the Storm being way too strong for the Dolphins. Once again, the Dolphins have had a large second-half of the season fade, but they are struggling to have their best team on the paddock and the Storm were in red hot form. The final Saturday games saw the Knights up against the Rabbitohs and they were just too strong, again, keeping their chances alive in the final eight race.
There were two games on Sunday, the first being the Roosters and the Titans, with the Roosters running out comprehensive winners. I guess the two main points were J WH being given 10 minutes in the bin and copping another suspension for the Roosters and the electric speed of Khan Pereira as he scorched over for another three tries to take his season tally to 23. I think he has scored 42 tries in 42 games. The final game saw my bogey team, the Sharks, beat the Dragons. They were too good and now cement themselves in the top four in 3rd place ahead of the Panthers on for and against. If they can win their remaining games, it’s unlikely that Penrith will go past that point differential.
I should mention I didn’t see as much football as usual again this week. On Friday I went to Beenleigh High for their annual Paddock 2 Plate and enjoyed a great afternoon. Good food, great entertainment and a credit to the school and their great luncheon. That’s two P2P’s in 7 days! I decided I’d better go to the races as well on Saturday so headed to the GCTC where I enjoyed a day with the Prospector, Crabman, Claws and Lobster (close relation to Crabman). We had a great day in the members and what was very unusual for five blokes, we all had a bit of a win on the day, including me, which is most unusual for two weeks in a row!
That takes us to next weekend’s games. The weekend starts off with the Cowboys and the Storm playing each other. We already know the Storm are going to be resting a heap of players, so we can only assume that the Cowboys should win that game. I think Melbourne have earned the right to rest players as they so choose but the bad news, of course is they’ll be at full strength against Brisbane the following weekend in their run to the finals. The Cowboys are farewelling Jake Granville and Kyle Feldt at the game. The Bulldogs play the Sea Eagles, which is a critical game for both sides but especially Manly. The Sea Eagles have to perform better this week than last week if their supporters are to have any hope. Meanwhile the Bulldogs of course need to win to keep their push for a top 4 spot which is so critical. They will be without Crichton and he is a big out. The second Friday night game is the Panthers against the Rabbitohs and I don’t there will be any mistakes in this one. Luai stays at half back for Panthers and Murray suspended is a massive out for Souths! Penrith too good!
Saturday’s first game has the Eels versus the Dragons, where the Dragons can almost cement their position in the top 8. But I’m sure the Eels are going to try and put some sort of stop to that. The Dragons will again rely heavily on Ben Hunt to secure their top 8 berth. The second game is critical. The Dolphins and Broncos match up here and whichever team loses is out of the race for the 8. I think the Broncos will be too strong as they possibly welcome back Haas but still no Walsh or Mam. The Dolphins possibly will have Marshall-King and Pangai-Junior back. The Sharks Warriors game has no bearing other than the fact that the Sharks should win. They are at home and I think they will win comfortably to consolidate third spot, and we may see the return of Hynes.
Sunday as two games and both are important to those teams trying to hang on the 8th spot especially if the Dragons were to lose. The Knights play the Titans. Who knows which Titans will turn up, but then who knows which Knights will turn up? The Knights should win that one. I’m also thinking that the Roosters are getting their season in to order now and they will put the Raiders away at home. The real interest in this very interesting round is all about positioning for the finals tilt!
So, my selections are Cowboys, Sea Eagles, Panthers, Dragons, Broncos, Sharks, Knights, and Roosters.
My season prediction positions after Round 12: Penrith 4th, Broncos 9th, Melbourne 1st, Souths 14th (and gone), Roosters 2nd, Cowboys 6th, Newcastle 11th and St George 8th.
Odd Rugby League Origin not so speedy facts!
The quick and the not so quick! The Prospector provided this little gem for thought:
An interesting dive into the speed demons of Rugby league last week by the Prop. It got me thinking about some of the backs who have graced the game despite not being blessed in the speed department. Names that spring to mind include Ian “Chook” Heron, Ross Conlan, Daryl “the Rock” Halligan, Todd Byrne and ever so briefly, Scott Minto. I am sure the readers can add many more. The obvious link between most of these is the ability to kick goals. Byrne and Minto excluded of course.
Growing up in the 1970s, slow outside backs in the Brisbane competition were as common as mission brown fences, wallpaper and lime green kitchens. It serves as reminder to how much the game has changed. There was always a spot for a goalkicker, football ability and speed were a bonus. Of course, a try was worth 3 points and a kick was worth 2 points, 66% of the value of a try as opposed to the current 50%. Wingers were there to score tries and high involvement in a game was not expected.
Anyway, here are some of the names that I recall as being goalkicking slowcoaches:
Ian “Bunny” Pearce. Legendary Redcliffe fullback and goalkicker, sometime centre, who became a legend of the game despite being average at best in pace.
Ian Dauth, Brisbane Brothers and QLD. Another legendary goalkicker but couldn’t pick em up and put em down with any great speed.
Peter “the Boot” Lobegeiger, Brisbane Norths fullback and goalkicker. Big man, not too quick.
Howard Fullerton: Brisbane Easts fullback of the 70s. Another goalkicker of repute but not renowned as a speed merchant.
Other goalkicking backs that come to my mind from the BRL are Bruce Warwick, Wayne Stewart Bruce Thatcher and Tony Scott.
Hazem El Mazri has a special place as a not so quick winger as he holds the record for most points in a season (342), most goals in a season (139) and 6 seasons as the highest point scorer. What is amazing about this was that from 1996- 2000 he was the Bulldogs second choice kicker behind Halligan!
You gotta love footy!
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Prop it is good to see you talk about wingers as you would say wingers hung around foitballer. I remember you hanging around wingers on the field on the blindside having a rest.
Now wingers are the size of props.
Uncle Gilbo I remember him making playing Norths in the juniors and virtually stopping having a look around and hoping to Chris one of the quicker boys in the team would get there because he couldn’t make it to the white line;.
Good job Prop and Grubby half back marker of 8.5 out of 10. Your social activities are fantastic reading but I think you, like a lot of us, are jogging on the spot waiting for the finals to start as it has been a long season and disappointing from a QUEENSLAND point of view. Only 3 x can win the comp Storm, Panthers, & Roosters, go the Storm I say as they deserve it and have always been our 5th QLD team. Slow wingers I played with on and off the field, probably too many beers off the field slowed them down, Rusty Klien and Lonnie Newham, big, strong, but not quick and made up for their lack of speed with brut strength and guile. You did well Prop to win on the punt two weeks in a row, Grubby half back went from the penthouse to the shit house, so I’m off to study the form to try and bounce back to the winners stall. Have a great Father’s Day weekend