June 11, 2025 • 43 mins
Gus weighs in on the State of Origin captaincy debate and the shock decision to omit Daly Cherry-Evans from the Queensland squad. He also shares his strong views on the Dolphins' fearless approach to the competition, and offers a passionate warning to buckle up for the Warriors' rise.
00:00 - Welcome
- Mat in Adelaide for swimming
- Kikau let off at match judiciary
03:30 - Yes, No No No No No!
- Adam O’Brien’s comments about the Knights fans was not needed
- Kai Pearce-Paul is a great acquisition for the Tigers
- The Panthers are coming
18:30 - Origin Game 2
- Cam Munster captaincy
- Dearden in for DCE
- Blues side
29:00 - Ampol Power Surge
35:30 - Round 15 Preview
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Nine podcasts.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Welcome to six Tackles with Gus. Thanks to the tab.
Great to be with you for another week. I'm in Adelaide,
Phil gold is in Sydney. Good morning, Gus.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
Matthew Thompson. How are you doing.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
I'm doing well. Are you going well?
Speaker 1 (00:16):
I'm going good. You had a late night, did you?
Speaker 2 (00:19):
They're all late nights when the swimming starts. Yes.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Have you enjoyed it?
Speaker 2 (00:22):
It's been good. Yes, it's been good. First couple of
days out of the way. We've got a bunch of
swimmers already booked to go to Singapore for the World Champs,
so it's been great swimming. A bit of drama. Did
you see what happened with Katie McKellen on the first day?
Speaker 1 (00:35):
No, I didn't see that.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Well, she had a false start in the heats of
the fifty backstrope. She was disqualified and then she appealed
and they put her back in the race and she
ended up winning on the first night.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
So, craigy, we thought they have trouble with their judiciary.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
The Matter Review Panel. Yes, yes, you had a didn't
you have an incident with a matter of view panel
this week?
Speaker 1 (00:59):
Did you?
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Did you go in there this week or.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
Are you no, I didn't go in. I didn't go
in Billy Army kick out. I got off his charge,
which we might talk about later, because he was penalized,
he was sin binned. He was charged by the Match
Review Committee only to go down to judiciary and they
threw it out straight away. So it makes you wonder
why he was panelized on the weekend and sinbin which
are both very big penalties during the course of a game.
(01:22):
We see that quite often. All I was conceded to
try while he was off the field. He didn't deserve
to be off the field, and that was later proven
that the judiciary. And it just goes to show again
that our system is flawed, that our referees, our bunker,
our match review committee and our judiciary are way too,
way too harsh in this game. And I don't think
(01:43):
it's fair on the players, and I don't think it's
fair on the game itself. But more about that another time.
I think that's pretty fair comment.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
All right, let's do some yes no questions to get
going this morning. Adam O'Brien's comments about the Newcastle Knights
fans at the weekend was overstepping the mark. Gus.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
Yeah. Look, I guess in hindsight he realized that he
probably said the wrong thing, But I can understand the
emotion and everything that was going through him at the time.
I mean, it was an incredible victory by the Newcastle Knights.
They were down by a big score at halftime, and
there were a section of the fans that did show
(02:36):
their displeasure as the players left the field. Whether they're
showing their displeasure at the players themselves or just where
Newcastle is at the moment, I don't know. I think
it was raised with Adam O'Brien after the game. I'm
not sure that he heard that himself, and he made
a passing comment regarding the Newcastle fans which was probably
(02:58):
inappropriate and probably should have been recanted on the night.
It took another twenty four hours for him to eventually
come back and apologize for those comments. But you know,
put it down to a little bit of stress, put
it down to a little bit of you know, exuberance,
have such a magnificent win where they came back in
the second half to scoring golden point, and put it
(03:20):
down to emotion. And I think most people can understand that,
but you know, there are some things that sometimes need
to be said and other things that you know you'd
like to say, but you just bite your tongue and
move on. And at the end of the day, the
fans turn up, they pay their money, they're entitled to boo,
and if they boo, well you've got to learn something
from that or prove them wrong one or the other.
And in the end the Nights had a great win.
(03:42):
The easy solution is that those that were booing at
halftime were probably cheering at full time. So it's just
how the fortunes of rugby league change in the space.
But you know, fans are entitled to show the displeasure.
Whether they're well informed or whether they're right or wrong
is really irrelevant. They're the fans and it's up to
players to perform. Newcastle did that in the second half.
(04:05):
It was an extraordinary weekend of rugby league. Really when
you really think about I know we're in yes now
at the moment, but the weekend started with that magnificent
comeback from the Newcastle Knights and that Golden Point victory.
Calm Pongers scoring in the first session of Golden Point.
You know, the next night Melbourne Storm. They showed us
again why they're probably Premiership favorites with a big win
(04:25):
over the Cowboys that just gave them no chance at all.
The Dolphins and what a great football team this is.
They were brilliant in their performance, absolutely putting the Dragons
to the sword by fifty points. There's such a great
attacking football team and they've got plenty of upside too.
The Warriors outstanding performance over the Sharks, like outstanding. Sharks
(04:48):
were favored in that game. And I think we said
last week, I think the market is wrong, you know,
but the Sharks just at the moment can't quite get
their act together, and the Warriors really are. They're just
motoring along it moment. The Broncos, well there's two of them,
isn't there, Trichy, they just see caps from the very
(05:10):
first set of six. They just showed again what talent
that they've got. The Raiders, you know, consummate professionals. Again,
they're up there were the most wins in the competition
at the moment and they beat South sitting down there
on a big day for Josh Papali setting his record.
The Panthers and the West Tigers was a great game
of footy, real struggle for both sides and high quality
(05:33):
and really belied their positions on the ladder the quality
of football we saw in that particular game. And then
a big crowd, another big crowd at their Course stadium
on Sunday in wet and cold conditions to support the
Bulldogs in their victory over the Eels. So an amazing weekend,
some big score lines, some dominant victories, and some concerns
for a number of teams that are on the end
(05:54):
of those big score lines. The original question was, Yeah,
Adam O'Brien probably would like to he did those comments
back anyway, but experience might handle that a little bit
better next time.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
Just on your recap there of the games at the weekend.
I actually my ears pricked up last week because you
mentioned how wide open the compies and one thing he
said was the Dolphins could get on a run. I'm like,
the Dolphins. What are you seeing in the Dolphins.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
Well, they're a strong side. I know they've just lost
another couple of forwards for the rest of the season,
but they've got great depth in that area. They had
a big forward pack and willing workers. They've got this
brilliant young halfback who just seems to be getting better
and better by the day. And he and his combination
with Nick Arima really gives them great strike power. And
they're very athletic out wide. And you know, I've seen
(06:42):
them firsthand. They're a powerful football team with great strike power,
the ability to score points, their defenses improving all the time,
and you know they got I go off to a
rocky start to the season, but in recent weeks they've
probably been one of the form sides of the competition.
And they fear no one. That was a big win
over They gave the Dragons no chance the other night.
(07:03):
They just absolutely got them from the first minute of
the game and never relented on them and beat them
in all parts of the park. So I like the
Dolphins as a football team, not only for the rest
of this season, but certainly into the future as well.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
Question number two. Ky Peers Paul is a great acquisition
for the West Tigers.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
He is. He's a real talent. I actually interviewed Ky
Peers Paul a few years ago by Zoom he and
he's I think his parents he was over in England.
He'd come out of a sort of rugby system and
had played a little bit of football in junior academies
over there, and he was touted as a player of
(07:47):
the future. He was a center back rower. He'd only
just really started playing rugby league and we had a
good look at him and would probably would have liked
to have signed him at the time. But he got
a big offer from the Newcastle Knights to go up there.
It was an offer based on potential and it was
(08:09):
quite a gamble. And having gone through the heartache of
or not the heart ache, but the hard work of
getting him out here to Australia and assimilating him and
get him into the NRL and giving him some experience,
they've lost him to the West Tigers. I think that's
a big loss for Newcastle. It's a huge game for
the West Tigers. He's a quality player and he's still
only learning the game. He's still only finding himself. I
(08:30):
don't think the Knights have really learned how to play
with him. Or He's played a little bit of football
on the edge on the left. He's played a little
bit of football now on the edge on the right.
It seems he can play both sides of the field
pretty well. He looks to be a have plenty of
skill in an attacking sense, and his defense is getting better, thinks.
I don't think his career has started yet. For Newcastle,
(08:51):
who invested so much money in him and had him
there for a couple of seasons, to be losing him
now is now it's a bit of a quandary because
given where the Newcastle Knights are at the moment, but
you know we're not. We're not running their roster. They
would have a plan, I guess, but it's it's a
good get for the West Tigers and I can see
him playing alongside Jerome Lewie there and Jerome will have
(09:15):
a weapon to fire at the opposition defensive lines. And
I think he's a really good young player.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
My understanding is that they've basically said to him you
can go because the salary cap pressure they find themselves
under with respect to the Dylan Brown signing. But watching
Newcastle we call quite a few other games this year,
I get frustrated that they don't seem to know how
to use this kid, like he's got massive arms and
(09:44):
he's a proficient offloader. You could base your attack around that.
He's so talented with his ball play. He's a bit
of old school.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
Actually, yeah, Well, the Knights are struggling in attack everywhere.
They're struggling for direction, they're struggling to get the ball
to their strike players, and they've had a numb of
games this year where they've really failed to trouble the
score the scorer at all. You know, they can't seem
to get it together. They've got one of the great
attacking forces in the game and Kayleb Ponger who just
(10:12):
doesn't seem to be able to get the ball when
he wants it, how he needs it and to do
what he needs to do with it. And Kyle Pispaul
is probably a victim of that, to be honest. He's
probably suffering from that, and you know they need to
get that worked out. I noticed that they've put Jackson
Hastings back in the side this week, which will solve
two of the problems in attack. I think there are
(10:32):
three elements to your attack, which is your direction, your
delivery and your play direction where the set of six
is going to head and what points on the field
you're going to hit. The delivery of how you're going
to get the ball to your strike players, and then
the players that they come up with, but without the
direction and the delivery, the players don't matter. The direction
is the important thing, and they've changed their hearts so
often over the past couple of seasons looking for a solution,
(10:54):
and it would appear as our Jackson Hastings may have
to be recalled. He will at least give them that.
Once he gives them direction, well, then the delivery of
the ball to the right people at the right time
should occur and from there their talents should take over.
So it'll be interesting to watching with Newcastle in the
coming weeks.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
The Panthers are coming to get.
Speaker 1 (11:16):
Them, well, there are chance they're not far behind. It's
amazing what a couple of wins can do, and not
only the couple of wins that they've had, but the
manner in which they've done it. They've just some of
our younger players are really starting to buy into the
system and get a little bit of confidence in the
top grade. Earlier in the year I think they were
suffering from a little bit of inexperience and some changes
(11:39):
toing and throwing around the outside backs in who was
going to play where, But they seem to have settled
on some combinations. Now they're still got to get through
this Origin period, which is going to be very difficult
for them, and I think they've got a really tough
part of the drawer. I think after Origin two, I
think they're playing in New Zealand and probably won't be
able to take their rep players across there, so they've
(11:59):
got but they're walking a tight rope. No risk in
the world, but just pass the halfway mark in the competition.
I think if they could win probably seven games from
there on last eleven, which they're very capable of doing,
then they're going to be in the finals. Hunt. I
think fifty percent of your wins, fifty percent of your
(12:21):
games should get you in the eight. That's the way
it's tracking at the moment. Yeah, And what confuses you
with the latter is the number of buyers and who's
had buyers and who hasn't had buyers, who's had two
and some have had now three buys. I don't know
why we get two points for a buy confuses everybody.
But you know, Panthers aren't that far away, and they've
(12:42):
got the ability to string some wins together and things
could look very very different in six weeks time. If
they could win three or four of the next six
and set themselves up for the business end of the season,
which we know they handle better than anyone else. And
they've had some performances this year which remind us that
they're still very very when they're needed. Their last couple
of wins have been tough, you know. I mean, Paramatta
(13:05):
and West Tigers have really taken it to them, and
both those sides are going a lot better than their
position on the ladder suggests too. So Penrether had to
work hard and they've had to work hard at their
own good brand of football to win, and I think
that will give them a great deal of confidence. Talking
to a couple of the senior players at the Panthers
and just on the weekend, they're really pleased with the
(13:27):
way some of the younger blokes are coming through and
they're gaining more confidence in them and the young fellows
are getting more confidence. So don't write the Panthers up.
Don't write anyone off in this competition. Really, don't write
anyone off. It can fortunes can change within seven days.
It's remarkable some of these teams have got flogged on
the weekend, could easily turn around and win again this
weekend or the weekend after. It's a topsy turvy competition
(13:49):
at the moment. What I do know is that the
teams at the top of the ladder have earned their
positions because of their consistency, where other teams have probably
being a little more inconsistent. But at the midpoint of
the season, and this is talking about people who have
predictive models or people who work on data to tell
you to tell you who she's going to be winning games.
(14:11):
You know, at the start of the season, no one
could have predicted what the ladder was going to look like.
At the midpoint of the season. There is no one
that could have told you that after twelve or thirteen rounds,
this is what the NRL Premiership Ladder would look like
as it is today, which means it could be completely
different in another twelve weeks. We really don't know what's
in front of us, which makes it exciting. Everyone's saying
(14:33):
their ability to win games. Everyone is, you know, there
is everyone can win and everyone can lose. That's the
nature of this competition at the moment. That's why refereeing
and other seasons are so crucial, and they need to
get that right, and they need to be less involved.
You know. I'm so determined to keep getting that message
(14:54):
out there because it's for the betterment of the game.
It's not criticism, that's not wining. It's just for the
better of the game, betterment of the product, betterment of
the understanding of the fans. That's crucial because these games
can be decided on just one play and on one decision,
and we don't need as many penalties. We don't need
as many six agains, we don't need as many sin bins,
(15:16):
we don't need as much match review committee, and we
don't need as many suspensions as what we're getting. It's
out of control at the moment.
Speaker 2 (15:24):
Okay, Origin seven days away today. We're going to do
an Origin preview in Perth next Monday, so we won't
turn the game inside out today. But a few top
line questions. Cameron Munster the new Queensland captain. A few
years ago. I think his name was thrown around, but
(15:45):
the perception was maybe it was a little bit too soon.
I actually think it's an inspired decision.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
What about you, Yeah, well it is. He is probably
now the senior playmaker of the group. He's been there
the longest. He's played with the likes of Cherry Evans
and all these other great players. He's played with the
Cameron Smith and the Cooper Kronks and the Jonathan Thurstons
and those sort of players as well. He's been around
the origin scene for some time and he's an eighty
(16:10):
minute player. When we spoke on one hundred percent foot
of the other night, Cameron Smith was kind of learning
the way of Tina for sau Maula. Are we as
a leader of the pack? And he said as a
natural leader? And I don't doubt that for one second.
He certainly is. But my question was, well, what happens
when he goes off? Because he's not going to play
(16:30):
the eighty minutes. So you know, after Cherry Evans has
been dumbed, not only you're looking for one captain, you're
going to have to find two, because you have to
find someone to be captain when he's not on the field,
and then maybe that person's not on the field when
he comes off. So it would be natural to find
someone a who was going to be an eighty minute player,
and Cameron Munster fits that bill And I think that
(16:53):
it's an inspired and I think it will do him
the world of good too. Cameron Munster has been in
and out of he's best formed this year and I
think that this could really help him too and his
focus and his contribution to this game as well. So
(17:15):
I think it's an inspired choice. I think it'll help
Cameron Munster himself, and looking through their player list, to
be honest, there was really no one else. There was
really no one else that they could have chosen, so
they've gone the right way from my perspective.
Speaker 2 (17:32):
Okay, that's interesting, but there's a number of club captains
in that team. Harry Green obviously captains Melbourne, Pat Carrigan,
he's in a club captain, but he's been touted as
a long term leadership option for Brisbane, Queensland and Australia. Tino.
As you mentioned, Caln Pong has captain of Newcastle. So
you're saying that he was the obvious choice.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
Well, I think it's the obvious choice for me. I mean,
I think the captain's got to be an eighty minute
player for a start. I don't like captains that are
not playing the full tilda the game, and I think
that it would indicate to me if Harry Grant was
overlooked in preference to Cameron Monster that maybe they're going
to help Harry Grant a little bit and not play
(18:13):
the eighty minutes. I still think the Kurk Man will
probably start the game at nine just to keep Harry
Grant out of that Barrows. You spoke about pat Patty Carrigan,
Well he's on the bench. He's been reduced back to
the bench. Calen Ponger. You know, I guess the form
of Rys Walsh in his comeback game the other day
(18:33):
applies pressure there as to who's going to be the
longer term fullback for Queensland. So I guess if they're
looking for a captain just for this series and maybe
into the next two or three series. When I look
through this list, he is the one most likely. He
is the playmaker, most likely to be around for the
next two or three years and give him a few
(18:54):
years in that position, and he's the eighty minute leader
in this team leading into this game. To be honest,
it was one of the reasons why I don't think
they should have dropped Cherry Evans at the moment. You know,
I just think they still need his experience and his
leadership and it's a big call. As I said on
one hundred Percent Footy, I really respect Billy Slater for
making the call. You know that he's an Origin coache,
(19:16):
he's you know, when you put in these positions, you're
responsible for making big decisions. And I totally support his
right to make that decision. Whether we agree with it
or not is a different thing. But you know, he's
made a bold move, and good luck to him, all
power to him. He's owned the team and he's owned
this decision, and he's obviously given a great consideration. It's
(19:41):
probably just not one that I would have made at
this time. I just don't think it's the right time.
But you know, he could well be proven correct next
Wednesday night. I guess he felt like he had to
do something because just watching his reaction during and after
the first Origin game, it looked a little forlorn. I
think there was a feeling that if nothing changes, nothing's
(20:05):
going to change, you know, So he had to make
some changes, whether it be attitude or personnel or you know,
a view to looking more towards the future. But it
seemed like a strange decision to give Cherry Evans just
one game and then we'll no good, You're out. It's
unlike Queensland. They don't usually do that. So it's the
(20:26):
enormity of the decision that they're all going to have
to live with, I guess. And again, now we have
a rookie captain in Cameron Munster and at origin level
or rookie halfback, it's going to be very very hard
for them.
Speaker 2 (20:42):
Supposed to it and isn't going to sit back and
let the game get away from him though. He's going
to take the game on and Monster's very much a
player like that as well, So perhaps in his thinking
was that I need somebody who's going to get out
there and if the game isn't going in our favor,
do something to try and tilt it our way. Maybe
they were a little bit in the opening game.
Speaker 1 (21:01):
Yeah, well I don't think that come from the halves.
I think they lost the Battle of the middle and
the halves were a victim of that. I think, as
I said, I don't think Jonathan Thurston or cuvera Kroank
could have performed behind that forward pack the way it went.
And it's really the forwards that they're going to have
to stand up and get them into this contest. There
is no getting away from that. You know, Tom Didden
and Cameron Munster can be as active as they like
(21:24):
in the opening stages of the game, but unless they're
forwards get into the physical battle and can contain this
New South Wales pack. Well it's one of the reasons too.
With Cherry Evans. I made the point the other night
Cherry Evans has said, such a wonderful career, He's greatly experienced,
and you know if Game two and three go exactly
(21:45):
the same way that New South Wales are just too
dominant in the middle, then Cherry Evans can handle that.
His resume can handle that, his experience can handle that.
You know, he's you know, he's experienced and he's professional.
He will handle the fact. Well, okay, maybe we weren't
good enough this year where they're now thrusting. Tom didn't
into this situation without I don't think improving what the
(22:07):
real problem was from game one. So if Tom did
and as a rookie comes in behind a beaten forward pack,
if they get monster the same way as they did
in Game two and three, well I don't think Tom
didn't can help them, and what does that do to
his development? And his confidence at this level. I think
this was really Cherry Evans. You know, if the ship
(22:28):
was going to go down, they had to take the
captain down with them. I don't think that changing the
halfback is going to change their fortunes unless the forwards
stand up, and Queensland need their forwards to stand up.
Now it could happen. I mean they've made some changes,
They've put Carrigan back to the bench, and I fully
(22:50):
suspect that Harry Grant won't start the game. I think
the Kurkman will and they'll try to get on the
front foot early. And the early parts of this game
could be completely differ friend Dean bar in Perth. They
could get a couple of penalties, you know, there could
be a couple of hia's. There could be anything happens
in this opening stands and against Queensland into the contest
and then it's a completely different game. But what we
saw in game one was obvious. Blind Freddie could see
(23:14):
what was happening in game one and Queensland just were
never in it. The only try they scored was against
twelve men with an unfair and ridiculous sin bidding, which
should never have happened in State of Origin football, and
that was the only time they looked dangerous in the
game was when New South Wales were vulnerable down to
twelve men. Other than that, New South Wales completely controlled them.
(23:34):
So I don't know that Tom did And can turn
that around on his own no matter how well he plays.
They're forwards have got to waim up and that'll be
the whole focus of their week. Surely to give Tom
did and Cameron Munster a platform on which to play.
It might sound a bit harsh, but you know, if
(23:55):
Game two and Game three games the second and same
aay as Game one, then I think Cherry Evans was
the one that that needed to go down with the
ship rather than bringing a rookie in to play that position.
Speaker 2 (24:03):
What about the Blues Steady as she goes really obviously
a force change with Bitch Barnett. But Stefano comes in
on the bench and Max King's going to start, so
they get to pick up where they left off.
Speaker 1 (24:16):
It's good for good for Max to get a start.
Neil handle that really well. It really has been steady.
I think Stefano's got the nod because he was in
camp for Game one and had trained with them, so
they've tried to keep it as familiar as possible. I
think Keon Kalamtungi is very unlucky not to be picked
in this game. I think his club form has been outstanding,
and you know, if there's another injury or what have you.
(24:39):
Leading into game three, I think he should be a
four runner there. But Stefano, he's been in this group before.
He understands the landscape very well. He trained with them
for round one. They had a good win, they had
a dominant win. If they can learn out of game
one from winning, if they can take it to another level,
they're going to make it extremely hard for Coin then
(25:01):
extremely hard. I personally, I think they'll win handsomely. I
think they'll be They'll be too good again. But Origin
is a funny beast. It doesn't take much at the
start of the game for the game to tilt in
the other direction. I can tell you. So the opening stands.
They need to be strong, if not stronger than what
they were. I think they can be a little more
(25:22):
adventurous than what they were, a little less can conservative.
I don't think they can just rely that Game one
will be repeated In the opening stands. They've got to
go out and earn it. But I'm sure they will too.
They're professional footballers. They understand it. Coaches know what they're doing.
I think they're extremely hard to be. It's a good
looking team to.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
Me, Gus. We've got a new sponsor on six tackles
with Gas and responsor State of Origin. They've jumped on
board and part of the deal is going to pay
your fuel bill.
Speaker 1 (25:53):
My field bill. Yeah, I will send them broke riding.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
So the Ampole Power surch is brought to you by
Amphole Powering, Australia's own sporting nation. We're going to do
a top three power Players every week and the question
this week is which three players do you think will
have the biggest impact on Game two of the Origin Series?
Speaker 1 (26:18):
Game two?
Speaker 2 (26:19):
Yep?
Speaker 1 (26:20):
Which three players?
Speaker 2 (26:22):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (26:23):
Okay, Game two. The three players that I think will
have the most impact are Payne hass A Ciao and
Nathan Cleary. I think I think paynehass and a SiO
said Dave and Mitch Barnett did his job too, and
so did Angus Crichton and they are all good the
new South Wales forward. But I thought in particular payn
(26:44):
hess was dominant and he always is. He's always very
active and he has a lot of runs and a
lot of tackles and he was terrific. The CIEO has
learned that Origin is not club football, the club football
that he brought to Origin in previous years. I think
Queensland did a good job of handling, so he had
less passing. Was a great runner at the ball. He's
(27:05):
got a big frame and a left foot step and
very very strong and he put the passing away in
this game. And they played it more like an Origin
structure than just bringing their club football to the Origin stage.
And I think that helped Cleary in particular as well.
It was harder for Queensland to contend with and I
think those two players were extremely impressive for me. I
(27:28):
thought they were the best two players in the first
half hour play in Paynhassen a sieo, and then off
the back of that, I thought Cleary had his best
ever Origin. I'd mixed reports people talking about Nathan clearing
what he did, but I think Nathan Cleary too has
learned that it's not club football and he plays a
different way and I thought he was really good in
that game. He had a huge number of runs. He
(27:51):
made people misstackles, he got some offloads, he had a
hand in all the tries that they scored. I thought
it was his best origin and I think he'll only
get better.
Speaker 2 (27:59):
Out of that.
Speaker 1 (28:01):
And this is a really really good New South Wales team,
really good New South Wales team, and I'm not just
saying that, I think. I think it's a really good side.
They won last year's series and I think they'll They're
going to back it up and win this series and
they'll close it out in Perth and then come back
to Sydney looking for a whitewash. But if you want
your top three players, the power players in this game,
(28:25):
has Yo Cleary would be my three.
Speaker 2 (28:29):
Well, the first two are certainly very powerful. I was
actually having a look when we sort of spoke spontaneously
the other week about the ninety five series. I had
a look at the ninety six series, which New South
Wales won three nil, which no one really talks too
much about it.
Speaker 1 (28:45):
We don't talk about that one, but you went.
Speaker 2 (28:47):
Through the whole series at the same seventeen.
Speaker 1 (28:50):
Yeah, it's never been done before and had never been
done since. I don't think well, I'm not sure if
my team's gone through the whole series of seventeen players,
but no one's won at three nil. I think, go
through a series with the same seventeen players and win
three nil. I said, it may be equaled at some stage,
but it can never be better. You don't get any
better than that. In those days. There was no eight
(29:12):
eighth man either. We didn't need another one on the bench.
I think by Game three a couple of the players
played with injury. We had the series one and they
sort of came in and played with injury because they
just wanted to be a part of history. To win
three nil and with the same seventeen players, they are
a special group, a really good footy team.
Speaker 2 (29:32):
And not only that, the Super League players were actually
eligible to play that year for Queensland, so the Langers
and you know, all the other superstars with it.
Speaker 1 (29:42):
Or we turned back to normal the following year. Yeah, yeah, no,
that was a good side. I think Game three was
at lang Park. We might have won fifteen fourteen or
something like that, or I can't remember the exact score.
We won by a point. I think Brad Fitler kicked
a field goal early in the second half and then
Queensland came back and we had to hang on to
(30:04):
win it. But we won the first two games pretty
well and then the last game was a battle. But
as I say, we played with the same seventeen players
right throughout the series. They all went back and backed
up for their club football as well, so it was
a draining effort. But to go through and win three
zero with the same seventeen players, Like I said, may
be equaled one day, it hasn't. It may be equaled
(30:26):
one day, but it'll never be bettered. It's one of
the great Origin Series wins.
Speaker 2 (30:30):
We'll come back on the other side of this and
have a look at round fifteen Gus Cronulla and the
Dragons around fifteen the old Southern Sydney Derby, I think
that's what they call it these days. And one thing
I do know is that the sharkis desperately need to win.
In fact, they both need to win because I can't
(30:51):
quantify what happened to the Dragons last week.
Speaker 1 (30:54):
Well they just won't in it. And I'm putting that
down to the quality of the Dolphins. I think the
Dolphins are terrific putty to him. They're just getting better
and better, and now the early part of the game,
it never set up that it was going to be
a fifty point win. I think that you know, Dolphins
scored off a couple of kicks and the Dragons were
unlucky not to score once or twice. It was kind
(31:16):
of a little bit to and fro and tit for
tad in the early stages, and you thought, well, you know,
maybe whoever scores next will get the ascendancy. But then
all of a sudden, Dolphins got a couple of tries
off kicks, a couple of kickchases, and then scored again
and then got out to a lead at halftime. The
second half, they just never let the Dragons in it whatsoever,
and Dragons capitulated. It was a bad sign for the Dragons,
(31:38):
but we've seen them do that before. We've seen them
get beaten by big scores and bounce back the next
week and win. And there'll be nothing more than the
local derby to probably bring the best out on them,
and the fact that they have got their backs to
the wall. They need to win. They're up against the
Sharks team that you know, there's not as other're going
terribly to Sharks where are they on the ladder. They're
only on I think or seven wins or something or other.
(32:01):
They're not that pretty ordinary. Yeah, but then all of
a sudden, you know, I don't think they've ever at
any stage this season shown us their very best form. Yeah,
so that they're having their own struggles at the moment
as well. I think that in this game, it's it's
(32:21):
hard to predict. Neither side is really that battered around
by by origin representation.
Speaker 2 (32:27):
It's just fell in the origin.
Speaker 1 (32:30):
Out of the out of the the Dragon's team. I
just think they're struggling, probably for direction and probably for well,
there's a few things. I think their forwards are playing
well enough. Look, I've got to go with the Sharks.
I can't see the Sharks losing this game, but right
at the moment, they need some confidence. So they've had
seven wins, they've won more than they've lost seven seven
(32:51):
wins and six losses. They're they're sitting there in fifth
position and haven't been anywhere near their best, not anywhere
near the best at any stage of the season. We
could put a lot of that down to the early
season travel. I mean they went to Vegas, they went
to Townsville. They played a lot of away games. Seven
wins is not terrible in this competition when you compare
(33:13):
it to the rest of them, and they're running fifth
out of seventeen and I think they're pretty much assured
of finals appearances again, which is a good result. But
we still haven't seen their absolute best. If they produced
their best, they'll beat the Dragon and I think that's
the way. We'll tip down there at the Bermuda Triangle
on Thursday night to open the round.
Speaker 2 (33:31):
You'll seat on nine from seven to thirty. Friday Night
football also from seven to thirty from SeaBus super Stadium.
The Titans without Tino and Moaki Photo waker up against
Manly with Turbo and Talky.
Speaker 1 (33:48):
Ajo back in yeah and Cherry Evans and probably a
game they expected they wouldn't be without their half back
in captain. But he's there and Tom Traboovitch back and
he's seen we have shaken off now the injuries for
the last couple of that he's had in the last
couple of weeks, and an only Goli Kawatu was still there.
He didn't make the side. Jake Taboyvich is there. When
(34:09):
they looked at the drawer. At the start of the season,
they probably thought this was a game where they'd be
missing a number of their stars, but they're all there
for this game, which I think is a huge advantage
for them and the Titans. Again another disappointing result last week.
They're two big forwards are out. It's hard to see
them turning it around against the Seagulls. He'll be desperate
for a win, so I'm going to go manly in
(34:30):
that game.
Speaker 2 (34:31):
Five point thirty Saturday eight, Newcastle hosts the Roosters. Carden
Potter is in the Queensland team, so Fletcher Sharp's playing
fullback and Jackson Hastings will play. Five eight. Matt Croker
goes to prop because Tyson Frazzelle's out is out with concussion.
I think they've got six front rollers out at the moment.
They're really bare bones up front. Newcastle. On the flip side,
(34:52):
Sam Walker comes back to play his first game since
round twenty six last year. He returned to the New
South Wales Cup last week. John Young comes in on
the win. Marky Mark goes to the centers to cover
for Robert Toyer and the Faro White and Nat Butcher
come back as well.
Speaker 1 (35:08):
Yeah, I think for Sam Walker to play New South
Wales Cup last week, it was just to get him
out there and get a sweat up and feel a
bit of a bump and bruise and get him into
the flow of playing. It was a one off. He
wasn't out to do a lot. It was a bit
like a horse having a barrier troll and he just
went around at his own pace and got back into
the swing of things. And they've seen to bring him
(35:30):
straight in. Interesting that their news they put Hugo and Go
go to five A, Hugo Zava to five A and
sand and Smith has gone back to the bench. Now
I find that surprising. Nevertheless, I'm not in the camp
and I'm not the coach, and we assume that he
knows best looking at the two teams and how they're going.
(35:52):
The last time that games were Origin affected, the Knights
beat the Panthers, but the Panthers were obviously very heavily
affected by Origin representation. But there'll be a good feel
coming out of that group. Jackson Hasting coming back in
and he's playing the nominating in your number six. I
think he'll be doing most of the directing in the game,
and that could bring them to light a little bit
(36:12):
more to you there. You could player that Fletcher Sharp.
Speaker 2 (36:15):
He's a aig player.
Speaker 1 (36:16):
He's a really good player, and he's a dynamic fullback. Yeah.
I can't see anything but a rooster in there.
Speaker 2 (36:25):
North Queensland versus the Dolphins seven point thirty Saturday night.
The Dolphins decimated with origin representation, didn't cottter Nane Robson
all in Origin, John Bateman and Villiami Vallea are suspended. Gee,
that's a big, big whack, isn't it. From last week. D'alongey,
(36:47):
O'Donnell and Talmolalo all come back from injury, so that
offsets those losses to a degree, but probably not. And
Jake Avule goes to fallback. Max Fine goes to the
centers with the hammer in origin. Camp Ray stones back
from his shoulder injury on the bench for the Dolphins.
Speaker 1 (37:02):
During Origin one when teams were Origin affected. The Dolphins
had a big win over the Bulldogs, who were also
Origin affected and had a lot of players out, but
it was still a really good performance. I think the
Dolphins have just got too many points and on pretty
much other than the Sharks, I'm tipping all the away
teams here. But I think the Dolphins are on a roll.
(37:24):
I think they'll be very very hard to beat, and
this winning again without Hamaso and these players is just
going to be another another confidence builder for them. I
think the Dolphins will beat the Cowboy.
Speaker 2 (37:37):
Then Sunday footy four o'clock Rabbit o versus Bulldogs. This
is from a Core stadium. Joe Gray is playing fullback
for Latreil. Jaden Sullivan's playing five eighth because Cardi Walker
is injured again. Jamie Humphreys is going to play half back.
He was pushed at the bench last week and Campbell
Graham's on the reserves bench. He's looking to come back
from back spasms, but hopefully for South City they'll get
(37:58):
him back. Lucky gal One's going to start at five
eight with Matt Burton the designated A. He has the
world record for most appearances is eighteenth man for New
South Wales.
Speaker 1 (38:08):
Gus He's got a number of a lot of number
eighteen jerseys hanging in his wardrobe at home, none of
them with any stains on them, hasn't got a grass
staying on one of them the collection. He's a professional
number eight. He does it for Australia, he does it
for New South Wales. You know. It's it's good because
(38:30):
we like to have our players in that environment. It's
just frustrating that he goes there and doesn't get a
game and the club misses out on him as well.
Strangely enough, South Sydney have named Campbell Graham and an
extended bench for this game. Now. We got a word
on the weekend that Campbell Graham was out of the
South Sydney game against the Raiders last week and was
unavailable for Origin two. Yet here he is. He's poping
(38:54):
up on the extended bench for the game this weekend
against South Sydney, knowing full well that if you did
go was eighteenth man in Origin too, it would probably
be Matt Burton that was going to take his place.
It's a nice swifty, isn't it. Anyway. It remains to
be seen if he plays. But I think it's fair too.
I think they should. I think they should move the
(39:14):
eighteenth man around to help the clubs, you know. And
sometimes I can't see why they can't take it from
a team that's got the buy. There are plenty of
teams having a buy this weekend that could provide some
support for them. But by the same taken, we never
begrudge Matted the opportunity to go into Origin camp and
he learns more and even if he doesn't get to play,
being around those great players as good for him. So
(39:36):
we're very happy for him to be in there, and
Maxi King and Kurt Man is obviously playing for Queensland
and Stephen Crichton, so we've got good representation this year.
It was a battle the first time around when we
played without those repsides. The Dolphins had a big win
that night in the wet and this will be an
equally tough battle against the Rabbit this weekend. It's the
(39:59):
Rabbit game, even though it's played today Course Stadium. Earlier
this year on Good Friday, this game attracted sixty five
thousand fans, had a new attendance record. So hopefully both
sets of fans get out to support these two teams
on the weekend for the Rabbit O' home game and
that's on Channel nine from three o'clock on Sunday.
Speaker 2 (40:19):
Yes, so let me run through these tad betting onds.
So Sharks are dollar thirty, Dragons at three fifty for
Thursday Night.
Speaker 1 (40:24):
There we're going to go Shark Titans.
Speaker 2 (40:27):
Three fifty dollars thirty Friday Night, Sea Egull Night's two
seventy five, Russ dollar forty five, Saturday five thirty, Rooster
Saturday Night, Dolphin's dollar fifty three, Cowboys two fifty, Dolphin
and Southsat two ninety and the Bulldogs are a dollar
at forty two and putting their feet up this weekend
(40:49):
Brisbane Para Penrith Camera who. I've got to say, they've
been absolutely brilliant, the Raiders, but you put it in
in even more context. They haven't had a buy yet
and they've traveled. They've basically traversed the whole face of
planet Earth. It's an amazing effort.
Speaker 1 (41:06):
I was just looking at some figures. One of the
factors that we look at for team performances is how
many players you've used in your games so far during
the course of a season. I was looking at how
many players at the midpoint of the season, how many
players each team has used. The team that's used the
most players of any team in the competition is paramatteriels
(41:29):
they've used thirty one players in their NRL program this year,
so obviously in the early part of the year with
some injuries and searching for new combinations and trying new
players in the top side. They've settled down on it
because their last month of football have been terrific. They
built at Newcastle, they builded Manly, they went very close
to breeding Penrith and they put in astellar performance against
the Bulldogs on the weekend. So Paramatter Reels have used
(41:52):
the most thirty one, Panthers have used twenty eight, some
of that through origin representation. Obviously they've had their problems.
Newcastle Knights, Gold Coast Titans and the Bulldogs have used
twenty seven. So that's still a large number of players
to be using at this stage of the season. At
the midpoint of the season, Paramatta thirty one, Penrith twenty eight,
(42:16):
Newcastle Titans and Bulldogs on twenty seven. Then on twenty
six we've got West Tigers, Dragons, Melbourne Storm and Manly
and even twenty six is getting up there. Twenty five Roosters,
Rabbits and Warriors. Dolphins have used twenty five, Broncos have
(42:39):
used twenty five, North Queensland have used twenty four, Sharks
have only used twenty three and the canber Raiders, who
have won more games than anyone have used the least
number of players. They haven't twenty three, so that's one
of the reasons why they're in such great form. And
they've been able to get through the first their first
(43:00):
eleven games without loss with or their first thirteen games
with how many they played thirteen or fourteen now fourteen fourteen,
fourteen games they've played there one eleven and they're won
more games than the other team in the competition, but
they've used the least number of players of any other team.
So it's interesting how that'll get to at the end
(43:21):
of the year. Do is for all these teams will
be using that number of players at the midpoint of
the season. That's a high number of players.
Speaker 2 (43:30):
Gus, thank you for that. Look forward to be with
you on Monday in Perth over in the Wild West.
We'll do an Oragent preview and of course our Origin
Excursively live on nine seven pm next Wednesday. Enjoy the
rest of your week.
Nine podcasts.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Welcome to six Tackles with Gus. Thanks to the tab.
Great to be with you for another week. I'm in Adelaide,
Phil gold is in Sydney. Good morning, Gus.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
Matthew Thompson. How are you doing.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
I'm doing well. Are you going well?
Speaker 1 (00:16):
I'm going good. You had a late night, did you?
Speaker 2 (00:19):
They're all late nights when the swimming starts. Yes.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Have you enjoyed it?
Speaker 2 (00:22):
It's been good. Yes, it's been good. First couple of
days out of the way. We've got a bunch of
swimmers already booked to go to Singapore for the World Champs,
so it's been great swimming. A bit of drama. Did
you see what happened with Katie McKellen on the first day?
Speaker 1 (00:35):
No, I didn't see that.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Well, she had a false start in the heats of
the fifty backstrope. She was disqualified and then she appealed
and they put her back in the race and she
ended up winning on the first night.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
So, craigy, we thought they have trouble with their judiciary.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
The Matter Review Panel. Yes, yes, you had a didn't
you have an incident with a matter of view panel
this week?
Speaker 1 (00:59):
Did you?
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Did you go in there this week or.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
Are you no, I didn't go in. I didn't go
in Billy Army kick out. I got off his charge,
which we might talk about later, because he was penalized,
he was sin binned. He was charged by the Match
Review Committee only to go down to judiciary and they
threw it out straight away. So it makes you wonder
why he was panelized on the weekend and sinbin which
are both very big penalties during the course of a game.
(01:22):
We see that quite often. All I was conceded to
try while he was off the field. He didn't deserve
to be off the field, and that was later proven
that the judiciary. And it just goes to show again
that our system is flawed, that our referees, our bunker,
our match review committee and our judiciary are way too,
way too harsh in this game. And I don't think
(01:43):
it's fair on the players, and I don't think it's
fair on the game itself. But more about that another time.
I think that's pretty fair comment.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
All right, let's do some yes no questions to get
going this morning. Adam O'Brien's comments about the Newcastle Knights
fans at the weekend was overstepping the mark. Gus.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
Yeah. Look, I guess in hindsight he realized that he
probably said the wrong thing, But I can understand the
emotion and everything that was going through him at the time.
I mean, it was an incredible victory by the Newcastle Knights.
They were down by a big score at halftime, and
there were a section of the fans that did show
(02:36):
their displeasure as the players left the field. Whether they're
showing their displeasure at the players themselves or just where
Newcastle is at the moment, I don't know. I think
it was raised with Adam O'Brien after the game. I'm
not sure that he heard that himself, and he made
a passing comment regarding the Newcastle fans which was probably
(02:58):
inappropriate and probably should have been recanted on the night.
It took another twenty four hours for him to eventually
come back and apologize for those comments. But you know,
put it down to a little bit of stress, put
it down to a little bit of you know, exuberance,
have such a magnificent win where they came back in
the second half to scoring golden point, and put it
(03:20):
down to emotion. And I think most people can understand that,
but you know, there are some things that sometimes need
to be said and other things that you know you'd
like to say, but you just bite your tongue and
move on. And at the end of the day, the
fans turn up, they pay their money, they're entitled to boo,
and if they boo, well you've got to learn something
from that or prove them wrong one or the other.
And in the end the Nights had a great win.
(03:42):
The easy solution is that those that were booing at
halftime were probably cheering at full time. So it's just
how the fortunes of rugby league change in the space.
But you know, fans are entitled to show the displeasure.
Whether they're well informed or whether they're right or wrong
is really irrelevant. They're the fans and it's up to
players to perform. Newcastle did that in the second half.
(04:05):
It was an extraordinary weekend of rugby league. Really when
you really think about I know we're in yes now
at the moment, but the weekend started with that magnificent
comeback from the Newcastle Knights and that Golden Point victory.
Calm Pongers scoring in the first session of Golden Point.
You know, the next night Melbourne Storm. They showed us
again why they're probably Premiership favorites with a big win
(04:25):
over the Cowboys that just gave them no chance at all.
The Dolphins and what a great football team this is.
They were brilliant in their performance, absolutely putting the Dragons
to the sword by fifty points. There's such a great
attacking football team and they've got plenty of upside too.
The Warriors outstanding performance over the Sharks, like outstanding. Sharks
(04:48):
were favored in that game. And I think we said
last week, I think the market is wrong, you know,
but the Sharks just at the moment can't quite get
their act together, and the Warriors really are. They're just
motoring along it moment. The Broncos, well there's two of them,
isn't there, Trichy, they just see caps from the very
(05:10):
first set of six. They just showed again what talent
that they've got. The Raiders, you know, consummate professionals. Again,
they're up there were the most wins in the competition
at the moment and they beat South sitting down there
on a big day for Josh Papali setting his record.
The Panthers and the West Tigers was a great game
of footy, real struggle for both sides and high quality
(05:33):
and really belied their positions on the ladder the quality
of football we saw in that particular game. And then
a big crowd, another big crowd at their Course stadium
on Sunday in wet and cold conditions to support the
Bulldogs in their victory over the Eels. So an amazing weekend,
some big score lines, some dominant victories, and some concerns
for a number of teams that are on the end
(05:54):
of those big score lines. The original question was, Yeah,
Adam O'Brien probably would like to he did those comments
back anyway, but experience might handle that a little bit
better next time.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
Just on your recap there of the games at the weekend.
I actually my ears pricked up last week because you
mentioned how wide open the compies and one thing he
said was the Dolphins could get on a run. I'm like,
the Dolphins. What are you seeing in the Dolphins.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
Well, they're a strong side. I know they've just lost
another couple of forwards for the rest of the season,
but they've got great depth in that area. They had
a big forward pack and willing workers. They've got this
brilliant young halfback who just seems to be getting better
and better by the day. And he and his combination
with Nick Arima really gives them great strike power. And
they're very athletic out wide. And you know, I've seen
(06:42):
them firsthand. They're a powerful football team with great strike power,
the ability to score points, their defenses improving all the time,
and you know they got I go off to a
rocky start to the season, but in recent weeks they've
probably been one of the form sides of the competition.
And they fear no one. That was a big win
over They gave the Dragons no chance the other night.
(07:03):
They just absolutely got them from the first minute of
the game and never relented on them and beat them
in all parts of the park. So I like the
Dolphins as a football team, not only for the rest
of this season, but certainly into the future as well.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
Question number two. Ky Peers Paul is a great acquisition
for the West Tigers.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
He is. He's a real talent. I actually interviewed Ky
Peers Paul a few years ago by Zoom he and
he's I think his parents he was over in England.
He'd come out of a sort of rugby system and
had played a little bit of football in junior academies
over there, and he was touted as a player of
(07:47):
the future. He was a center back rower. He'd only
just really started playing rugby league and we had a
good look at him and would probably would have liked
to have signed him at the time. But he got
a big offer from the Newcastle Knights to go up there.
It was an offer based on potential and it was
(08:09):
quite a gamble. And having gone through the heartache of
or not the heart ache, but the hard work of
getting him out here to Australia and assimilating him and
get him into the NRL and giving him some experience,
they've lost him to the West Tigers. I think that's
a big loss for Newcastle. It's a huge game for
the West Tigers. He's a quality player and he's still
only learning the game. He's still only finding himself. I
(08:30):
don't think the Knights have really learned how to play
with him. Or He's played a little bit of football
on the edge on the left. He's played a little
bit of football now on the edge on the right.
It seems he can play both sides of the field
pretty well. He looks to be a have plenty of
skill in an attacking sense, and his defense is getting better, thinks.
I don't think his career has started yet. For Newcastle,
(08:51):
who invested so much money in him and had him
there for a couple of seasons, to be losing him
now is now it's a bit of a quandary because
given where the Newcastle Knights are at the moment, but
you know we're not. We're not running their roster. They
would have a plan, I guess, but it's it's a
good get for the West Tigers and I can see
him playing alongside Jerome Lewie there and Jerome will have
(09:15):
a weapon to fire at the opposition defensive lines. And
I think he's a really good young player.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
My understanding is that they've basically said to him you
can go because the salary cap pressure they find themselves
under with respect to the Dylan Brown signing. But watching
Newcastle we call quite a few other games this year,
I get frustrated that they don't seem to know how
to use this kid, like he's got massive arms and
(09:44):
he's a proficient offloader. You could base your attack around that.
He's so talented with his ball play. He's a bit
of old school.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
Actually, yeah, Well, the Knights are struggling in attack everywhere.
They're struggling for direction, they're struggling to get the ball
to their strike players, and they've had a numb of
games this year where they've really failed to trouble the
score the scorer at all. You know, they can't seem
to get it together. They've got one of the great
attacking forces in the game and Kayleb Ponger who just
(10:12):
doesn't seem to be able to get the ball when
he wants it, how he needs it and to do
what he needs to do with it. And Kyle Pispaul
is probably a victim of that, to be honest. He's
probably suffering from that, and you know they need to
get that worked out. I noticed that they've put Jackson
Hastings back in the side this week, which will solve
two of the problems in attack. I think there are
(10:32):
three elements to your attack, which is your direction, your
delivery and your play direction where the set of six
is going to head and what points on the field
you're going to hit. The delivery of how you're going
to get the ball to your strike players, and then
the players that they come up with, but without the
direction and the delivery, the players don't matter. The direction
is the important thing, and they've changed their hearts so
often over the past couple of seasons looking for a solution,
(10:54):
and it would appear as our Jackson Hastings may have
to be recalled. He will at least give them that.
Once he gives them direction, well, then the delivery of
the ball to the right people at the right time
should occur and from there their talents should take over.
So it'll be interesting to watching with Newcastle in the
coming weeks.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
The Panthers are coming to get.
Speaker 1 (11:16):
Them, well, there are chance they're not far behind. It's
amazing what a couple of wins can do, and not
only the couple of wins that they've had, but the
manner in which they've done it. They've just some of
our younger players are really starting to buy into the
system and get a little bit of confidence in the
top grade. Earlier in the year I think they were
suffering from a little bit of inexperience and some changes
(11:39):
toing and throwing around the outside backs in who was
going to play where, But they seem to have settled
on some combinations. Now they're still got to get through
this Origin period, which is going to be very difficult
for them, and I think they've got a really tough
part of the drawer. I think after Origin two, I
think they're playing in New Zealand and probably won't be
able to take their rep players across there, so they've
(11:59):
got but they're walking a tight rope. No risk in
the world, but just pass the halfway mark in the competition.
I think if they could win probably seven games from
there on last eleven, which they're very capable of doing,
then they're going to be in the finals. Hunt. I
think fifty percent of your wins, fifty percent of your
(12:21):
games should get you in the eight. That's the way
it's tracking at the moment. Yeah, And what confuses you
with the latter is the number of buyers and who's
had buyers and who hasn't had buyers, who's had two
and some have had now three buys. I don't know
why we get two points for a buy confuses everybody.
But you know, Panthers aren't that far away, and they've
(12:42):
got the ability to string some wins together and things
could look very very different in six weeks time. If
they could win three or four of the next six
and set themselves up for the business end of the season,
which we know they handle better than anyone else. And
they've had some performances this year which remind us that
they're still very very when they're needed. Their last couple
of wins have been tough, you know. I mean, Paramatta
(13:05):
and West Tigers have really taken it to them, and
both those sides are going a lot better than their
position on the ladder suggests too. So Penrether had to
work hard and they've had to work hard at their
own good brand of football to win, and I think
that will give them a great deal of confidence. Talking
to a couple of the senior players at the Panthers
and just on the weekend, they're really pleased with the
(13:27):
way some of the younger blokes are coming through and
they're gaining more confidence in them and the young fellows
are getting more confidence. So don't write the Panthers up.
Don't write anyone off in this competition. Really, don't write
anyone off. It can fortunes can change within seven days.
It's remarkable some of these teams have got flogged on
the weekend, could easily turn around and win again this
weekend or the weekend after. It's a topsy turvy competition
(13:49):
at the moment. What I do know is that the
teams at the top of the ladder have earned their
positions because of their consistency, where other teams have probably
being a little more inconsistent. But at the midpoint of
the season, and this is talking about people who have
predictive models or people who work on data to tell
you to tell you who she's going to be winning games.
(14:11):
You know, at the start of the season, no one
could have predicted what the ladder was going to look like.
At the midpoint of the season. There is no one
that could have told you that after twelve or thirteen rounds,
this is what the NRL Premiership Ladder would look like
as it is today, which means it could be completely
different in another twelve weeks. We really don't know what's
in front of us, which makes it exciting. Everyone's saying
(14:33):
their ability to win games. Everyone is, you know, there
is everyone can win and everyone can lose. That's the
nature of this competition at the moment. That's why refereeing
and other seasons are so crucial, and they need to
get that right, and they need to be less involved.
You know. I'm so determined to keep getting that message
(14:54):
out there because it's for the betterment of the game.
It's not criticism, that's not wining. It's just for the
better of the game, betterment of the product, betterment of
the understanding of the fans. That's crucial because these games
can be decided on just one play and on one decision,
and we don't need as many penalties. We don't need
as many six agains, we don't need as many sin bins,
(15:16):
we don't need as much match review committee, and we
don't need as many suspensions as what we're getting. It's
out of control at the moment.
Speaker 2 (15:24):
Okay, Origin seven days away today. We're going to do
an Origin preview in Perth next Monday, so we won't
turn the game inside out today. But a few top
line questions. Cameron Munster the new Queensland captain. A few
years ago. I think his name was thrown around, but
(15:45):
the perception was maybe it was a little bit too soon.
I actually think it's an inspired decision.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
What about you, Yeah, well it is. He is probably
now the senior playmaker of the group. He's been there
the longest. He's played with the likes of Cherry Evans
and all these other great players. He's played with the
Cameron Smith and the Cooper Kronks and the Jonathan Thurstons
and those sort of players as well. He's been around
the origin scene for some time and he's an eighty
(16:10):
minute player. When we spoke on one hundred percent foot
of the other night, Cameron Smith was kind of learning
the way of Tina for sau Maula. Are we as
a leader of the pack? And he said as a
natural leader? And I don't doubt that for one second.
He certainly is. But my question was, well, what happens
when he goes off? Because he's not going to play
(16:30):
the eighty minutes. So you know, after Cherry Evans has
been dumbed, not only you're looking for one captain, you're
going to have to find two, because you have to
find someone to be captain when he's not on the field,
and then maybe that person's not on the field when
he comes off. So it would be natural to find
someone a who was going to be an eighty minute player,
and Cameron Munster fits that bill And I think that
(16:53):
it's an inspired and I think it will do him
the world of good too. Cameron Munster has been in
and out of he's best formed this year and I
think that this could really help him too and his
focus and his contribution to this game as well. So
(17:15):
I think it's an inspired choice. I think it'll help
Cameron Munster himself, and looking through their player list, to
be honest, there was really no one else. There was
really no one else that they could have chosen, so
they've gone the right way from my perspective.
Speaker 2 (17:32):
Okay, that's interesting, but there's a number of club captains
in that team. Harry Green obviously captains Melbourne, Pat Carrigan,
he's in a club captain, but he's been touted as
a long term leadership option for Brisbane, Queensland and Australia. Tino.
As you mentioned, Caln Pong has captain of Newcastle. So
you're saying that he was the obvious choice.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
Well, I think it's the obvious choice for me. I mean,
I think the captain's got to be an eighty minute
player for a start. I don't like captains that are
not playing the full tilda the game, and I think
that it would indicate to me if Harry Grant was
overlooked in preference to Cameron Monster that maybe they're going
to help Harry Grant a little bit and not play
(18:13):
the eighty minutes. I still think the Kurk Man will
probably start the game at nine just to keep Harry
Grant out of that Barrows. You spoke about pat Patty Carrigan,
Well he's on the bench. He's been reduced back to
the bench. Calen Ponger. You know, I guess the form
of Rys Walsh in his comeback game the other day
(18:33):
applies pressure there as to who's going to be the
longer term fullback for Queensland. So I guess if they're
looking for a captain just for this series and maybe
into the next two or three series. When I look
through this list, he is the one most likely. He
is the playmaker, most likely to be around for the
next two or three years and give him a few
(18:54):
years in that position, and he's the eighty minute leader
in this team leading into this game. To be honest,
it was one of the reasons why I don't think
they should have dropped Cherry Evans at the moment. You know,
I just think they still need his experience and his
leadership and it's a big call. As I said on
one hundred Percent Footy, I really respect Billy Slater for
making the call. You know that he's an Origin coache,
(19:16):
he's you know, when you put in these positions, you're
responsible for making big decisions. And I totally support his
right to make that decision. Whether we agree with it
or not is a different thing. But you know, he's
made a bold move, and good luck to him, all
power to him. He's owned the team and he's owned
this decision, and he's obviously given a great consideration. It's
(19:41):
probably just not one that I would have made at
this time. I just don't think it's the right time.
But you know, he could well be proven correct next
Wednesday night. I guess he felt like he had to
do something because just watching his reaction during and after
the first Origin game, it looked a little forlorn. I
think there was a feeling that if nothing changes, nothing's
(20:05):
going to change, you know, So he had to make
some changes, whether it be attitude or personnel or you know,
a view to looking more towards the future. But it
seemed like a strange decision to give Cherry Evans just
one game and then we'll no good, You're out. It's
unlike Queensland. They don't usually do that. So it's the
(20:26):
enormity of the decision that they're all going to have
to live with, I guess. And again, now we have
a rookie captain in Cameron Munster and at origin level
or rookie halfback, it's going to be very very hard
for them.
Speaker 2 (20:42):
Supposed to it and isn't going to sit back and
let the game get away from him though. He's going
to take the game on and Monster's very much a
player like that as well, So perhaps in his thinking
was that I need somebody who's going to get out
there and if the game isn't going in our favor,
do something to try and tilt it our way. Maybe
they were a little bit in the opening game.
Speaker 1 (21:01):
Yeah, well I don't think that come from the halves.
I think they lost the Battle of the middle and
the halves were a victim of that. I think, as
I said, I don't think Jonathan Thurston or cuvera Kroank
could have performed behind that forward pack the way it went.
And it's really the forwards that they're going to have
to stand up and get them into this contest. There
is no getting away from that. You know, Tom Didden
and Cameron Munster can be as active as they like
(21:24):
in the opening stages of the game, but unless they're
forwards get into the physical battle and can contain this
New South Wales pack. Well it's one of the reasons too.
With Cherry Evans. I made the point the other night
Cherry Evans has said, such a wonderful career, He's greatly experienced,
and you know if Game two and three go exactly
(21:45):
the same way that New South Wales are just too
dominant in the middle, then Cherry Evans can handle that.
His resume can handle that, his experience can handle that.
You know, he's you know, he's experienced and he's professional.
He will handle the fact. Well, okay, maybe we weren't
good enough this year where they're now thrusting. Tom didn't
into this situation without I don't think improving what the
(22:07):
real problem was from game one. So if Tom did
and as a rookie comes in behind a beaten forward pack,
if they get monster the same way as they did
in Game two and three, well I don't think Tom
didn't can help them, and what does that do to
his development? And his confidence at this level. I think
this was really Cherry Evans. You know, if the ship
(22:28):
was going to go down, they had to take the
captain down with them. I don't think that changing the
halfback is going to change their fortunes unless the forwards
stand up, and Queensland need their forwards to stand up.
Now it could happen. I mean they've made some changes,
They've put Carrigan back to the bench, and I fully
(22:50):
suspect that Harry Grant won't start the game. I think
the Kurkman will and they'll try to get on the
front foot early. And the early parts of this game
could be completely differ friend Dean bar in Perth. They
could get a couple of penalties, you know, there could
be a couple of hia's. There could be anything happens
in this opening stands and against Queensland into the contest
and then it's a completely different game. But what we
saw in game one was obvious. Blind Freddie could see
(23:14):
what was happening in game one and Queensland just were
never in it. The only try they scored was against
twelve men with an unfair and ridiculous sin bidding, which
should never have happened in State of Origin football, and
that was the only time they looked dangerous in the
game was when New South Wales were vulnerable down to
twelve men. Other than that, New South Wales completely controlled them.
(23:34):
So I don't know that Tom did And can turn
that around on his own no matter how well he plays.
They're forwards have got to waim up and that'll be
the whole focus of their week. Surely to give Tom
did and Cameron Munster a platform on which to play.
It might sound a bit harsh, but you know, if
(23:55):
Game two and Game three games the second and same
aay as Game one, then I think Cherry Evans was
the one that that needed to go down with the
ship rather than bringing a rookie in to play that position.
Speaker 2 (24:03):
What about the Blues Steady as she goes really obviously
a force change with Bitch Barnett. But Stefano comes in
on the bench and Max King's going to start, so
they get to pick up where they left off.
Speaker 1 (24:16):
It's good for good for Max to get a start.
Neil handle that really well. It really has been steady.
I think Stefano's got the nod because he was in
camp for Game one and had trained with them, so
they've tried to keep it as familiar as possible. I
think Keon Kalamtungi is very unlucky not to be picked
in this game. I think his club form has been outstanding,
and you know, if there's another injury or what have you.
(24:39):
Leading into game three, I think he should be a
four runner there. But Stefano, he's been in this group before.
He understands the landscape very well. He trained with them
for round one. They had a good win, they had
a dominant win. If they can learn out of game
one from winning, if they can take it to another level,
they're going to make it extremely hard for Coin then
(25:01):
extremely hard. I personally, I think they'll win handsomely. I
think they'll be They'll be too good again. But Origin
is a funny beast. It doesn't take much at the
start of the game for the game to tilt in
the other direction. I can tell you. So the opening stands.
They need to be strong, if not stronger than what
they were. I think they can be a little more
(25:22):
adventurous than what they were, a little less can conservative.
I don't think they can just rely that Game one
will be repeated In the opening stands. They've got to
go out and earn it. But I'm sure they will too.
They're professional footballers. They understand it. Coaches know what they're doing.
I think they're extremely hard to be. It's a good
looking team to.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
Me, Gus. We've got a new sponsor on six tackles
with Gas and responsor State of Origin. They've jumped on
board and part of the deal is going to pay
your fuel bill.
Speaker 1 (25:53):
My field bill. Yeah, I will send them broke riding.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
So the Ampole Power surch is brought to you by
Amphole Powering, Australia's own sporting nation. We're going to do
a top three power Players every week and the question
this week is which three players do you think will
have the biggest impact on Game two of the Origin Series?
Speaker 1 (26:18):
Game two?
Speaker 2 (26:19):
Yep?
Speaker 1 (26:20):
Which three players?
Speaker 2 (26:22):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (26:23):
Okay, Game two. The three players that I think will
have the most impact are Payne hass A Ciao and
Nathan Cleary. I think I think paynehass and a SiO
said Dave and Mitch Barnett did his job too, and
so did Angus Crichton and they are all good the
new South Wales forward. But I thought in particular payn
(26:44):
hess was dominant and he always is. He's always very
active and he has a lot of runs and a
lot of tackles and he was terrific. The CIEO has
learned that Origin is not club football, the club football
that he brought to Origin in previous years. I think
Queensland did a good job of handling, so he had
less passing. Was a great runner at the ball. He's
(27:05):
got a big frame and a left foot step and
very very strong and he put the passing away in
this game. And they played it more like an Origin
structure than just bringing their club football to the Origin stage.
And I think that helped Cleary in particular as well.
It was harder for Queensland to contend with and I
think those two players were extremely impressive for me. I
(27:28):
thought they were the best two players in the first
half hour play in Paynhassen a sieo, and then off
the back of that, I thought Cleary had his best
ever Origin. I'd mixed reports people talking about Nathan clearing
what he did, but I think Nathan Cleary too has
learned that it's not club football and he plays a
different way and I thought he was really good in
that game. He had a huge number of runs. He
(27:51):
made people misstackles, he got some offloads, he had a
hand in all the tries that they scored. I thought
it was his best origin and I think he'll only
get better.
Speaker 2 (27:59):
Out of that.
Speaker 1 (28:01):
And this is a really really good New South Wales team,
really good New South Wales team, and I'm not just
saying that, I think. I think it's a really good side.
They won last year's series and I think they'll They're
going to back it up and win this series and
they'll close it out in Perth and then come back
to Sydney looking for a whitewash. But if you want
your top three players, the power players in this game,
(28:25):
has Yo Cleary would be my three.
Speaker 2 (28:29):
Well, the first two are certainly very powerful. I was
actually having a look when we sort of spoke spontaneously
the other week about the ninety five series. I had
a look at the ninety six series, which New South
Wales won three nil, which no one really talks too
much about it.
Speaker 1 (28:45):
We don't talk about that one, but you went.
Speaker 2 (28:47):
Through the whole series at the same seventeen.
Speaker 1 (28:50):
Yeah, it's never been done before and had never been
done since. I don't think well, I'm not sure if
my team's gone through the whole series of seventeen players,
but no one's won at three nil. I think, go
through a series with the same seventeen players and win
three nil. I said, it may be equaled at some stage,
but it can never be better. You don't get any
better than that. In those days. There was no eight
(29:12):
eighth man either. We didn't need another one on the bench.
I think by Game three a couple of the players
played with injury. We had the series one and they
sort of came in and played with injury because they
just wanted to be a part of history. To win
three nil and with the same seventeen players, they are
a special group, a really good footy team.
Speaker 2 (29:32):
And not only that, the Super League players were actually
eligible to play that year for Queensland, so the Langers
and you know, all the other superstars with it.
Speaker 1 (29:42):
Or we turned back to normal the following year. Yeah, yeah, no,
that was a good side. I think Game three was
at lang Park. We might have won fifteen fourteen or
something like that, or I can't remember the exact score.
We won by a point. I think Brad Fitler kicked
a field goal early in the second half and then
Queensland came back and we had to hang on to
(30:04):
win it. But we won the first two games pretty
well and then the last game was a battle. But
as I say, we played with the same seventeen players
right throughout the series. They all went back and backed
up for their club football as well, so it was
a draining effort. But to go through and win three
zero with the same seventeen players, Like I said, may
be equaled one day, it hasn't. It may be equaled
(30:26):
one day, but it'll never be bettered. It's one of
the great Origin Series wins.
Speaker 2 (30:30):
We'll come back on the other side of this and
have a look at round fifteen Gus Cronulla and the
Dragons around fifteen the old Southern Sydney Derby, I think
that's what they call it these days. And one thing
I do know is that the sharkis desperately need to win.
In fact, they both need to win because I can't
(30:51):
quantify what happened to the Dragons last week.
Speaker 1 (30:54):
Well they just won't in it. And I'm putting that
down to the quality of the Dolphins. I think the
Dolphins are terrific putty to him. They're just getting better
and better, and now the early part of the game,
it never set up that it was going to be
a fifty point win. I think that you know, Dolphins
scored off a couple of kicks and the Dragons were
unlucky not to score once or twice. It was kind
(31:16):
of a little bit to and fro and tit for
tad in the early stages, and you thought, well, you know,
maybe whoever scores next will get the ascendancy. But then
all of a sudden, Dolphins got a couple of tries
off kicks, a couple of kickchases, and then scored again
and then got out to a lead at halftime. The
second half, they just never let the Dragons in it whatsoever,
and Dragons capitulated. It was a bad sign for the Dragons,
(31:38):
but we've seen them do that before. We've seen them
get beaten by big scores and bounce back the next
week and win. And there'll be nothing more than the
local derby to probably bring the best out on them,
and the fact that they have got their backs to
the wall. They need to win. They're up against the
Sharks team that you know, there's not as other're going
terribly to Sharks where are they on the ladder. They're
only on I think or seven wins or something or other.
(32:01):
They're not that pretty ordinary. Yeah, but then all of
a sudden, you know, I don't think they've ever at
any stage this season shown us their very best form. Yeah,
so that they're having their own struggles at the moment
as well. I think that in this game, it's it's
(32:21):
hard to predict. Neither side is really that battered around
by by origin representation.
Speaker 2 (32:27):
It's just fell in the origin.
Speaker 1 (32:30):
Out of the out of the the Dragon's team. I
just think they're struggling, probably for direction and probably for well,
there's a few things. I think their forwards are playing
well enough. Look, I've got to go with the Sharks.
I can't see the Sharks losing this game, but right
at the moment, they need some confidence. So they've had
seven wins, they've won more than they've lost seven seven
(32:51):
wins and six losses. They're they're sitting there in fifth
position and haven't been anywhere near their best, not anywhere
near the best at any stage of the season. We
could put a lot of that down to the early
season travel. I mean they went to Vegas, they went
to Townsville. They played a lot of away games. Seven
wins is not terrible in this competition when you compare
(33:13):
it to the rest of them, and they're running fifth
out of seventeen and I think they're pretty much assured
of finals appearances again, which is a good result. But
we still haven't seen their absolute best. If they produced
their best, they'll beat the Dragon and I think that's
the way. We'll tip down there at the Bermuda Triangle
on Thursday night to open the round.
Speaker 2 (33:31):
You'll seat on nine from seven to thirty. Friday Night
football also from seven to thirty from SeaBus super Stadium.
The Titans without Tino and Moaki Photo waker up against
Manly with Turbo and Talky.
Speaker 1 (33:48):
Ajo back in yeah and Cherry Evans and probably a
game they expected they wouldn't be without their half back
in captain. But he's there and Tom Traboovitch back and
he's seen we have shaken off now the injuries for
the last couple of that he's had in the last
couple of weeks, and an only Goli Kawatu was still there.
He didn't make the side. Jake Taboyvich is there. When
(34:09):
they looked at the drawer. At the start of the season,
they probably thought this was a game where they'd be
missing a number of their stars, but they're all there
for this game, which I think is a huge advantage
for them and the Titans. Again another disappointing result last week.
They're two big forwards are out. It's hard to see
them turning it around against the Seagulls. He'll be desperate
for a win, so I'm going to go manly in
(34:30):
that game.
Speaker 2 (34:31):
Five point thirty Saturday eight, Newcastle hosts the Roosters. Carden
Potter is in the Queensland team, so Fletcher Sharp's playing
fullback and Jackson Hastings will play. Five eight. Matt Croker
goes to prop because Tyson Frazzelle's out is out with concussion.
I think they've got six front rollers out at the moment.
They're really bare bones up front. Newcastle. On the flip side,
(34:52):
Sam Walker comes back to play his first game since
round twenty six last year. He returned to the New
South Wales Cup last week. John Young comes in on
the win. Marky Mark goes to the centers to cover
for Robert Toyer and the Faro White and Nat Butcher
come back as well.
Speaker 1 (35:08):
Yeah, I think for Sam Walker to play New South
Wales Cup last week, it was just to get him
out there and get a sweat up and feel a
bit of a bump and bruise and get him into
the flow of playing. It was a one off. He
wasn't out to do a lot. It was a bit
like a horse having a barrier troll and he just
went around at his own pace and got back into
the swing of things. And they've seen to bring him
(35:30):
straight in. Interesting that their news they put Hugo and Go
go to five A, Hugo Zava to five A and
sand and Smith has gone back to the bench. Now
I find that surprising. Nevertheless, I'm not in the camp
and I'm not the coach, and we assume that he
knows best looking at the two teams and how they're going.
(35:52):
The last time that games were Origin affected, the Knights
beat the Panthers, but the Panthers were obviously very heavily
affected by Origin representation. But there'll be a good feel
coming out of that group. Jackson Hasting coming back in
and he's playing the nominating in your number six. I
think he'll be doing most of the directing in the game,
and that could bring them to light a little bit
(36:12):
more to you there. You could player that Fletcher Sharp.
Speaker 2 (36:15):
He's a aig player.
Speaker 1 (36:16):
He's a really good player, and he's a dynamic fullback. Yeah.
I can't see anything but a rooster in there.
Speaker 2 (36:25):
North Queensland versus the Dolphins seven point thirty Saturday night.
The Dolphins decimated with origin representation, didn't cottter Nane Robson
all in Origin, John Bateman and Villiami Vallea are suspended. Gee,
that's a big, big whack, isn't it. From last week. D'alongey,
(36:47):
O'Donnell and Talmolalo all come back from injury, so that
offsets those losses to a degree, but probably not. And
Jake Avule goes to fallback. Max Fine goes to the
centers with the hammer in origin. Camp Ray stones back
from his shoulder injury on the bench for the Dolphins.
Speaker 1 (37:02):
During Origin one when teams were Origin affected. The Dolphins
had a big win over the Bulldogs, who were also
Origin affected and had a lot of players out, but
it was still a really good performance. I think the
Dolphins have just got too many points and on pretty
much other than the Sharks, I'm tipping all the away
teams here. But I think the Dolphins are on a roll.
(37:24):
I think they'll be very very hard to beat, and
this winning again without Hamaso and these players is just
going to be another another confidence builder for them. I
think the Dolphins will beat the Cowboy.
Speaker 2 (37:37):
Then Sunday footy four o'clock Rabbit o versus Bulldogs. This
is from a Core stadium. Joe Gray is playing fullback
for Latreil. Jaden Sullivan's playing five eighth because Cardi Walker
is injured again. Jamie Humphreys is going to play half back.
He was pushed at the bench last week and Campbell
Graham's on the reserves bench. He's looking to come back
from back spasms, but hopefully for South City they'll get
(37:58):
him back. Lucky gal One's going to start at five
eight with Matt Burton the designated A. He has the
world record for most appearances is eighteenth man for New
South Wales.
Speaker 1 (38:08):
Gus He's got a number of a lot of number
eighteen jerseys hanging in his wardrobe at home, none of
them with any stains on them, hasn't got a grass
staying on one of them the collection. He's a professional
number eight. He does it for Australia, he does it
for New South Wales. You know. It's it's good because
(38:30):
we like to have our players in that environment. It's
just frustrating that he goes there and doesn't get a
game and the club misses out on him as well.
Strangely enough, South Sydney have named Campbell Graham and an
extended bench for this game. Now. We got a word
on the weekend that Campbell Graham was out of the
South Sydney game against the Raiders last week and was
unavailable for Origin two. Yet here he is. He's poping
(38:54):
up on the extended bench for the game this weekend
against South Sydney, knowing full well that if you did
go was eighteenth man in Origin too, it would probably
be Matt Burton that was going to take his place.
It's a nice swifty, isn't it. Anyway. It remains to
be seen if he plays. But I think it's fair too.
I think they should. I think they should move the
(39:14):
eighteenth man around to help the clubs, you know. And
sometimes I can't see why they can't take it from
a team that's got the buy. There are plenty of
teams having a buy this weekend that could provide some
support for them. But by the same taken, we never
begrudge Matted the opportunity to go into Origin camp and
he learns more and even if he doesn't get to play,
being around those great players as good for him. So
(39:36):
we're very happy for him to be in there, and
Maxi King and Kurt Man is obviously playing for Queensland
and Stephen Crichton, so we've got good representation this year.
It was a battle the first time around when we
played without those repsides. The Dolphins had a big win
that night in the wet and this will be an
equally tough battle against the Rabbit this weekend. It's the
(39:59):
Rabbit game, even though it's played today Course Stadium. Earlier
this year on Good Friday, this game attracted sixty five
thousand fans, had a new attendance record. So hopefully both
sets of fans get out to support these two teams
on the weekend for the Rabbit O' home game and
that's on Channel nine from three o'clock on Sunday.
Speaker 2 (40:19):
Yes, so let me run through these tad betting onds.
So Sharks are dollar thirty, Dragons at three fifty for
Thursday Night.
Speaker 1 (40:24):
There we're going to go Shark Titans.
Speaker 2 (40:27):
Three fifty dollars thirty Friday Night, Sea Egull Night's two
seventy five, Russ dollar forty five, Saturday five thirty, Rooster
Saturday Night, Dolphin's dollar fifty three, Cowboys two fifty, Dolphin
and Southsat two ninety and the Bulldogs are a dollar
at forty two and putting their feet up this weekend
(40:49):
Brisbane Para Penrith Camera who. I've got to say, they've
been absolutely brilliant, the Raiders, but you put it in
in even more context. They haven't had a buy yet
and they've traveled. They've basically traversed the whole face of
planet Earth. It's an amazing effort.
Speaker 1 (41:06):
I was just looking at some figures. One of the
factors that we look at for team performances is how
many players you've used in your games so far during
the course of a season. I was looking at how
many players at the midpoint of the season, how many
players each team has used. The team that's used the
most players of any team in the competition is paramatteriels
(41:29):
they've used thirty one players in their NRL program this year,
so obviously in the early part of the year with
some injuries and searching for new combinations and trying new
players in the top side. They've settled down on it
because their last month of football have been terrific. They
built at Newcastle, they builded Manly, they went very close
to breeding Penrith and they put in astellar performance against
the Bulldogs on the weekend. So Paramatter Reels have used
(41:52):
the most thirty one, Panthers have used twenty eight, some
of that through origin representation. Obviously they've had their problems.
Newcastle Knights, Gold Coast Titans and the Bulldogs have used
twenty seven. So that's still a large number of players
to be using at this stage of the season. At
the midpoint of the season, Paramatta thirty one, Penrith twenty eight,
(42:16):
Newcastle Titans and Bulldogs on twenty seven. Then on twenty
six we've got West Tigers, Dragons, Melbourne Storm and Manly
and even twenty six is getting up there. Twenty five Roosters,
Rabbits and Warriors. Dolphins have used twenty five, Broncos have
(42:39):
used twenty five, North Queensland have used twenty four, Sharks
have only used twenty three and the canber Raiders, who
have won more games than anyone have used the least
number of players. They haven't twenty three, so that's one
of the reasons why they're in such great form. And
they've been able to get through the first their first
(43:00):
eleven games without loss with or their first thirteen games
with how many they played thirteen or fourteen now fourteen fourteen,
fourteen games they've played there one eleven and they're won
more games than the other team in the competition, but
they've used the least number of players of any other team.
So it's interesting how that'll get to at the end
(43:21):
of the year. Do is for all these teams will
be using that number of players at the midpoint of
the season. That's a high number of players.
Speaker 2 (43:30):
Gus, thank you for that. Look forward to be with
you on Monday in Perth over in the Wild West.
We'll do an Oragent preview and of course our Origin
Excursively live on nine seven pm next Wednesday. Enjoy the
rest of your week.
Popular Podcasts
United States of Kennedy
United States of Kennedy is a podcast about our cultural fascination with the Kennedy dynasty. Every week, hosts Lyra Smith and George Civeris go into one aspect of the Kennedy story.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com