Re: * * SPOILER * * Is It Conceivable * * SPOILER * * : Sat Oct 25, 2014 9:26 pm  

wrencat1873 wrote:

Get real folks.
Aussie probably knew that they could afford not to win today and still make the final.
After all, they have 2 easy games to come and they have given 5 players ? their debut.

They will very likely beat England and will definitely beat Samoa.

Not buying that for a second Australia. This is Australia. They are playing New Zealand at the suncorp stadium in front of nearly 50k. They didn't throw it, they got battered by the kiwis.

On paper England can do the Aussies. But as we've learnt over the years, never write them off. I expect Australia to still beat us. But they are missing a number of superstars. They are far from guaranteed the win and could realistically miss the final.

They will get a battering from the Aussie press in the morning.

Re: * * SPOILER * * Is It Conceivable * * SPOILER * * : Sat Oct 25, 2014 9:27 pm  

We've been here before in the Sheens era. IMO, they picked a team in the hope we'd beat them but their players on the park still thrashed us. IMO they've done the same selection-wise again but I expect their younger players to be inspired and still beat us. I think the Australian leadership want to lose but their players won't.

Re: * * SPOILER * * Is It Conceivable * * SPOILER * * : Sat Oct 25, 2014 9:47 pm  

Dally wrote:

We've been here before in the Sheens era. IMO, they picked a team in the hope we'd beat them but their players on the park still thrashed us. IMO they've done the same selection-wise again but I expect their younger players to be inspired and still beat us. I think the Australian leadership want to lose but their players won't.

What in all that's beholden to Beelzebub are you on about now you massive Gormclops?

The Australian hierarchy are actively trying to lose and so they pitch a weakened team?

Name the teams they should have picked and please do extrapolate on the end game benefits to your utter barmtastic idea.

Re: * * SPOILER * * Is It Conceivable * * SPOILER * * : Sat Oct 25, 2014 10:01 pm  

There's a mental block with us and the Aussies that needs breaking. They're missing so many players but I still can't see us playing with much belief. I hope I'm wrong and we go out there and take it to them.

If only we had Sam Burgess out there! If he were still an option I really believe we'd take them. I don't see how that small Aussie pack would get over the top of Burgess x3, Graham, Hill and O'Loughlin. I watched the Kiwi semi again the other night and Sam Burgess is on a different planet to any other forward in rugby league.

Re: * * SPOILER * * Is It Conceivable * * SPOILER * * : Sat Oct 25, 2014 10:36 pm  

People seem to be conveniently forgetting that the Aussies lost "probably" there two most influential players today

Re: * * SPOILER * * Is It Conceivable * * SPOILER * * : Sun Oct 26, 2014 12:52 am  

There is a gradual power shift happening due to the fact that all teams have now worked out the quality of Kiwi juniors.
SBW was one of the first young Kiwis to be poached by a Sydney club at a young age, and about 10 years ago there were maybe 5 young Kiwis in junior teams across the NRL.
This year there are 10 young Kiwis at the Knights alone, and they are well down the list. Half the Melbourne juniors are Kiwis.
The junior Kiwis beat the junior Kangaroos this year, and despite the Warriors winning the under 20s grandfinal, only 2 Warriors made the Kiwi side.
The junior Kiwi side (with clubs) was;
NZ Junior Kiwis:

1. Kodi Nikorima (Brisbane Broncos)
2. Chance Peni (Newcastle Knights)
3. Taane Milne (Sydney Roosters)
4. Watson Heleta (Wests Tigers)
5. Sam Manulelua (South Sydney Rabbitohs)
6. Te Maire Martin (Wests Tigers)
7. Zach Docker-Clay (Parramatta Eels)
8. Sam Lisone (New Zealand Warriors)
9. Manaia Cherrington (Wests Tigers)
10. Addin Fonua-Blake (St George Illawarra Dragons)
11. Joseph Tapine (Newcastle Knights)
12. Nelson Asofa-Solomona (Melbourne Storm)
13. Josh Ailoai (Parramatta Eels)

14. Danny Levi (Newcastle Knights)
15. Lamar Liolevave (Wests Tigers)
16. Braden Uele (Sydney Roosters)
17. Adam Tuimavave-Gerard (New Zealand Warriors)

Many of these players don't even come from a League background. Take Chance Peni for example - he had never played a game of League till he joined the Perth Reds under 18s, then moved to the Newcastle Knights under 20s, made the junior Kiwis, and has now signed a senior contract for Wests Tigers for next year.
I'm surprized you can get a seat at Kiwi junior games for the NRL scouts getting in the way.

All this means that the pool of players available for NZ gets bigger every year, and the pool of players available for Australia gets smaller every year.
The latest trend is for a few young English and French players joining NRL under 20s squads. I expect the numbers will skyrocket in the next few years.

Re: * * SPOILER * * Is It Conceivable * * SPOILER * * : Sun Oct 26, 2014 1:51 am  

Expect cronk and smith to lift in their home ground and sheens surely won't be dumb enough to go with one prop ever again? I thought england looked poor against Samoa defensively and next game will be much closer than most think with Australia scraping it again in last 15mins. Sadly!

Re: * * SPOILER * * Is It Conceivable * * SPOILER * * : Sun Oct 26, 2014 5:32 am  

JB Down Under wrote:

Expect cronk and smith to lift in their home ground and sheens surely won't be dumb enough to go with one prop ever again? I thought england looked poor against Samoa defensively and next game will be much closer than most think with Australia scraping it again in last 15mins. Sadly!

Cameron Smith looks a player in decline - the way Eastwood ran over him was a shock. Perhaps this is the end of a great Aussie side and it may take a couple of years to rebuild it. They do appear to have issues in the halves - DCE isn't the answer and Cronk simply isn't the player he was.

Still think England have to put together a near faultless 80 minutes to beat the Aussies

Re: * * SPOILER * * Is It Conceivable * * SPOILER * * : Sun Oct 26, 2014 6:30 am  

Him wrote:

I've heard that line trotted during Ashes series and the like before. "Oh they know they can lose game 1".

I'm not buying it.

As a sport we have to get away from this attitude that whenever the favourite loses its because they were rubbish or they didn't even want to win in the first place. The Kiwis were superb. Samoa were very good too.

In the opening round we've got the scenario we always wanted for international RL. The Aussies beaten and a competitive 2nd tier nation.

All the talk I've heard on the bbc is how England v Samoa was a really good game. Only RL fans are talking it down.

Agree regarding aus. There is no way they lost because the knew the could afford to. I partially agree regarding Samoa. They are the best emerging nation I have seen in a 4 nations, however would argue they weren't very good. If they had a decent DH and pivots in that first half they would and should have been way ahead of England.
I personally enjoyed the game but didn't think it was a high quality game.

Re: * * SPOILER * * Is It Conceivable * * SPOILER * * : Sun Oct 26, 2014 9:51 am  

Sal Paradise wrote:

Still think England have to put together a near faultless 80 minutes to beat the Aussies

There in lies the problem. We still make far too many unforced areas and even this second string kangaroo team will punish us if we have a 65% completion rate and give them the ball in our half like we did against samoa. It's still the big difference between NRL and sl. In NRL you will be scored on if you turn the ball over in your own half.