#41 - NSWRL junior reps finals review

Apologies.

Sickness - 1

Jacob - 0

Shortened episode this week but I did manage to get through the review part of the show so will give out what content I did manage to get done.

Will see if I can do anything else before the end of the week particularly with the QLD stuff 

IG - Theshortball_

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Get everyone, welcome back to the short ball podcast for another week of Pathways Action. Obviously, got all the Haran Matthews SG Ball finals uh review. I'm gonna review those games from the weekend and just go into a sort of brief preview of next week's games. We'll get straight into our SG ball action from last week. And it starts off Ringrose Park 34-20. The Eels beat the Bulldogs, and in this game, it was the Nathan Howlett Cyrus Bloomfield show. Those two were elite on the left edge. Cyrus Bloomfield camp with a number of massive plays, especially in that second half. But even in the first half, some of his um defensive high ball diffusal, all those sorts of things, he was on for Parramatta, the Bulldogs, the second half. There was just not much going for them. Um Carlton Patterson I thought was good. I thought Zayn Alamadean had some nice uh touches as well, Joe Brock as well. Um out in the wing, he bagged himself a double, but yeah, at the end of the day, it just went to Parramatta 28 points, 28 points in the second half to nothing. Um and I was really concerned about Parramatta, and like I I wasn't watching this game live, but I got the halftime update of it being 20 points to six and went, yeah, right. Um, but yeah, when I watched this game back, it it really was that left edge that just brought it all back together for them, and and Stephen Nunn through the middle as well uh was huge, he was super busy for them, so he had a really good game as well. But yeah, it was just a clinical second half, as they've done a number of times this year, Parramatta, but they still yet to put together that full 70 minutes. Uh but doesn't get any easier next week. They've got the South Sydney Rabbitos who are undefeated until last week, where they took on the Manley Seagull Seagulls, who they lost to 36 points of 30 oil's live at this game. Um Max Davies, he had a really good game out in the centres, uh, marked up against Dean Tower. Um, yeah, he he was really good out on that right edge. Scored the first try, had a couple of nice touches. I think he got through the most run meters as well. I think he had about 170 run meters out there in the centres. Um, so he was the first one that I wanted to highlight. I thought their forward pack just really worked hard. They just out enthused the rabbitos, really. Lucas Butler, he's having an awesome season in Jersey 13. He had a line break that led to a try for them. Um, yeah, and I thought as well, like the Large brothers, they just don't drop their standard at all throughout the year. And you know, on a Tony Large, he had his moments. Ashton Large, probably not his, you know, he probably wasn't one of the main standout players in this one. On a Tony Large definitely wasn't, and as was his half button, Bo Axlander. But both of them came up with moments in defense where just sprinting back off a line break and making a huge cover tackle, both of them came up with one of those moments. And like, I don't know, let me pull up the team stats. I reckon Rabido's had more line breaks than oh, it was even line breaks, but yeah, so seven line breaks apiece. And yeah, Rabido's uh Manly sorry just just covered them off better. Um seven line breaks, resulting in six tries for the Manley Seagulls, so that they were clinical in attack, especially, you know. They just yeah, pretty much the whole game, they were in control, and then Rabidows got back with three late tries. Let me see the times of those tries. Dean Tower, who he was awesome out in the centres. He was probably one of Rabido's best, if not their best. Every single time he touched the ball, he looked dangerous, and he got rewarded with a try late. Isaac Fotsumawala then scored. He was the one that in this sort of mini comeback that they had at the end, he was in absolutely everything. Um, and then Bailey Gray scored the last try as well. 61st, 66, 68th minute. But it was 36 to 12 after 50 odd minutes, and it was just game game done. And it a lot had a lot to do with just those little efforts that um a lot of the Manly players were putting in. So huge game from them there through to the pre-limb final. I had South win in that game, but Manly, they despite a lot of outs for this one, they really showed up and um a well-deserved win there just on the back of effort on effort. And I thought Rabidos, they looked flat. Um they just didn't quite get out get off the bus, did they? Um yeah, and everything many I was watching them, you know, my family were down there and whatnot, and um me and dad were talking about it, like just everything that Marley did was at high intensity, and like South, they just had a couple of well, not a couple months, most of the time, they just their runs didn't have all that much venom in them, their defensive pressure wasn't really there, whereas Merley were doing those things at an elite level, and that's why they end ultimately got the win, despite being undermanned, despite Rabido's being undefeated all year. So um shows you what it takes to win finals games. Um, Knights versus Panthers. I also watched this game live. Um, Newcastle Knights, their forward pack really, you know, proved me right from last week. Bo Hill, Cooper Townsend, awesome. Curtis Mulherren had himself a game. Diesel Hagen at number nine was one of their best as well. Toby Winter got through. It was just, yeah, just again, a pretty clinical performance from them. Defensively, they had a couple of moments and conceded 22 points, but you know, one of those tries was really late in the piece to Leo Stepe Latu. But uh, yeah, it was a pretty clinical game. Mel Nonu, who bagged himself another double, and they're both pretty slick tries. The second try was an awesome team effort. Bohill went through off of Cooper Townsend tip on, and I think it went through a couple of sets of hands before getting to Mel Nonu, who dived into the corner. He's one that's definitely up there for Queensland Origins uh considerations for mine. And yeah, that they're gonna go alright, uh the Newcastle Knights, they they'll be up for the game up against the Melbourne Storm. I just let me see if they've played each other so far this season. So if I pull up the Storm, yeah, they played the Knights early on, and that game ended up being 28-24. Um, trying to remember, see what I remember from that game. Um yeah four try five tries of four, twenty-four. Yeah, it was just a close game. I was trying to remember the specifics of it, but we won't get too into that. Um, but yeah, quality performance from the Newcastle Knights, like I said, a bit short on time today, so not really getting to dive too deep. Um Chase Butler, he was good org at pulling the strings as well, so he was another one that needed a shout out. Just yeah, overall, good performance from Newcastle Knights. Um, the Sydney Roosers versus Melbourne Storm, wasn't this a shock result? Uh for the Roosters SG ball side, right? I've been saying it all year about how their defensive intensity is crazy. And the last week the storm upset them, won 28 points to 18 at home, and that came off the back of you know finding exploits to the roosters, sort of those middle forwards, the pressure that they put on and the constant sort of line speed that they have, and um they pulled off a couple of early shifts and then just defensively worked and worked and worked, and they didn't they didn't have that same um work rate the Melbourne Storm in this game and and the Roosters exposed them for and and the Roosters came to play from from the kickoff, they were just on and unrelenting really. James Finnegan he had a double, but you know, his line speed and kick chase were on all game. Eddie Kalis a double as well, but like these attacking stats weren't the things that I was noticing in this game. It was Kayless, Finnegan, and Liam Bell, jerseys 9, 12, and 13 that I just kept seeing up in the face of the storm players. I thought Atula Seve was really good as well. Looked damaging whenever he ran the ball. He came up with a few huge shots as well. Um, Carter Mariko, he was the best on ground in this one, just pulling the strings. You look at the highlights, most of the highlights start with him. He had a really electric running game, a couple of line breaks, and yeah, he's playing some awesome footy at the moment. He's definitely right up there for New South Wales under 19 jersey. Um, he's got a couple of strong contenders against him, but cheesy mounting a very good case at the moment, is Carter Marico. Um Howard Matthews, four games to get through there. Um Rabidos Panthers. This was the game of the round by far. Peyton Tutto, he's the one that stands up. Charlie Bait up was my best on ground. Um, could have given it to either one of them, really. I just thought throughout the full 60 minutes, Charlie Bade Up was probably better. Um, and then Peyton Tutto was obviously the one that stood up in the end with the field goal and then the try assist to seal it in extra time. Umpson on the left back row position, he was awesome uh throughout this one. He yeah, those two tries he scored, mad line's run off the hip of Charlie Bade up and um crashed over. The second one was very skillful. I thought um a guy that needed a shout out in this one was Xavier Sulavale Luomuanu. Um, you know, he scored an early try, whatever, but it was in extra time. He came up with a couple of huge runs that built up momentum for them. I think if you look at the set where Peyton Tado scored, uh hit the field goal, he came up with a huge run, made about 10-15 metres, found his front, just kept bumping off tackles. He was really a difference maker in extra time, he was probably their best player, or their best player other than um Tado, obviously, in extra time. Um so yeah, huge stint from him. And the other one needed a shout out to Futumuala. I thought he he was gonna be my best on ground until about the 50th minute. Charlie Badep stole it. He put he had a try assist for Tuaco Sampson, and then after that, he made a huge um tackle on Jalen Moran, who uh made a line break, and Charlie Bade up just came screaming back to make the cover tackle. So a couple of those sorts of moments, and you know, obviously Charlie Baetop scored a try and and um late on one of the earlier tries as well. That made him a best and grand, but Tuki Fotumuala defensively was really good to come up with a shot on Cordella Rama, which forced an error, um, and then yeah, a lot of the good things that they did in attack early were were coming off him, so a very good performance there. And a guy that I think needs a shout-out as well, he's always sort of you know the third best, and what I mean by that is like he's probably not you know, he has a couple of times been one of the eye catchers, and I've wrapped him up deluxe, but probably just been in that tier below in terms of you know my 3-2-1's just missing out, or my team of the week's just being the third best center. Diesel Galanta, I think he's put together a huge season for the Santa City Rabidoes. Every single week he's reliable as defensively, gets a heap of meters, just looks damaging with ball in hand. You know, he's not putting up these huge statistical games where he's you know scoring two tries and tackle breaks at will and all that sort of thing, but a super reliable center who's who's put together a really good season there. As for the Panthers, I thought they probably just tried a little bit too much uh throughout the middle parts of this game. Looked like they were chasing the game the whole time, and um a couple of their key players probably didn't have their best game, or probably didn't have some of their best decisions, really. I thought Jalamoran tried his heart out. I thought the last sort of 15 minutes when they're making their comeback, he was huge. He was just coming up with a lot of big plays, and but yeah, there was a couple of times you know, front rollers putting in kicks or um you know just silly cutout balls that they'll throw on, and yeah, there was just a couple of moments there we just went, yeah, probably not the time or the place to do that. Um I still think they'll be sweet. I've had them all year as my um premiership heavyweights, and I'll talk about that in a second. Roosers, they beat the Seagulls 26 points to six. I've highlighted a lot, but their defensive intensity won them this game. They just kept coming at the Seagulls time and time again. Their line speed, Caleb Zara, Marcus Sando, Cooper Tesseriero. Three guys I've highlighted a lot this year, and they just continue to shine. Harper Boothroyd as well, he was one of their best in this game. Um, especially, you know, on that attacking side of the ball, he came with a few huge plays under the high ball. His kick diffuser was awesome as well. So um a top game from him. I thought in terms of the Manless Eagles, um, Cooper Everly was probably their best. He he was their line trial scorer, but he also just you know was consistently working and and you know made a heap of tackles and and I think topped their run meters as well by a bit of a distance. So he was their best, and I thought Jet Watkin as well just kept trying. Um he he's a guy who I've been a bit of a fan of this season, and um, yeah, he he kept trying to the end of this game. Knight Steelers, where to start for the Steelers, Destin Talsala, very good, Oliver Burton, very good, Roland Coelho, very good. Um, what I might do because my voice is starting to go on, I've had to break off to cut out coughs and all that sort of thing. Um, I'll briefly mention uh William Amia Epe was very good for the Eels, two tries. He was probably my best on ground in that game. Um heap of run meters as well. Yeah, he was very good. Um Bailey Log was awesome for the Raiders. Um, yeah, it was a pretty, you know. I thought the Eels tried very, very hard in that game. You know, they they come away with a win 30 to 28. They're probably a little bit the opposite to the SG ball side, they just keep coming at you for 70 minutes, and they might miss out on certain moments, and um, you know, they might miss their execution a little bit, but they'll just keep on coming. And and they did that again against the Raiders here. And I thought the Raiders were good, they just um couldn't quite come away with it in the end. Panthers, Roosters, they play at Blacktown 11.30 on the weekend. I think the winner of the comp will come out of this game, to be completely honest. From what I've seen from the Roosters the last couple of weeks, and I've said it on the podcast as well. I think they're building towards being a true competitor in this game, and I think if they can beat the Panthers, I think they can go on and win the whole thing. And you know, I've been saying all year that the Panthers are the team to beat, so I think the winner will come out of this game. I think it'll most likely be the Panthers, but I'm very keen to see how it goes. Um, you know, both teams pretty much full strength here, so um, it should be a cracking game. It's a game I'm most keen to see. Um, Knights vs. Eels, Knights, they'll be disappointed after last week not coming away with the win, but I didn't think they were bad in any sense of the word. I just think the Steelers were better on the day. Um, and Parramatta, they'll you know, they get Lorima C back, they get some um, you know, good players coming back into this side. I'm very keen to see how they go up against you know the top class. They've been right there, like they only just got beat by the Steelers and only just got beat by the Rabbidoes. Back to back, heartbreaking losses. I reckon they can give the Knights a proper shake in this game. Um obviously, so winner of Knights and Eels will go on to verse the Rabbidoes, and the winner of Panthers Roosters will go on and verse the um I'm fine, I'm pulling a blank. Um they will go on to verse the Steelers. So that should be a cracking matchup. Whoever wins that goes on versus Steelers, and as we know, the Roosters beat the Steelers earlier in the year, and um, you know, it was a pretty good win in the end for them. So um that should be an interesting matchup if that happens, and then you know, Panthers versus Steelers, probably the two teams pre-season that I was the most keen on. So um we'll see how they go. And then we could potentially, you know, if the Sydney Roosters do manage to go through and the Rabbidos beat the winner of Knights Eagles, we could be seeing a Sydney Roosters, so Sydney Rabbids grand final, which would be awesome to see. Um SG Ball final, Storm versus Knights. Um, I think the storm probably should be too classy in this one. Um, and you know, they'll be devastated after last week losing 56-6. Whether that you know whether that's gonna end up being a negative or a positive not a positive, it's never gonna be a positive losing 56-6, but whether they can turn around from that or whether it's well and truly crushed them, yet to be seen, but I think they can turn it around. You know, I just thought they probably played their worst game of the season last week. I can't see them doing that again. And I think Newcastle, you know, they were very good last week. I think they need to lift to another level, which is not impossible, should be a pretty good game, and you know, last time these two played 28 to 24, I think should be a really cracking contest. And then South South versus Eels been saying it. The injuries to the Parramatta Eels have just you know it's dramas for 'em. Um, they still do have a very good side. Talungy, Koiner, like these Petrus, like these guys are Cameron Bamblett, like Aussie schoolboy level players. Um, yeah, they're all highly talented, they just need to put it together for a full 70. Um, they are riddled by injury, but they've still got a very good side on paper. So, if they play like they did in the last 10 minutes for the full 70 in this game, they should be too classy. But they did get caught napping last week. I don't think that happens again. I've seen it time and time again where an undefeated side or a top side gets beat, week one, they just expect it to happen, and the other team lifts their level. They're gonna lift their level here, I think, and Parramatta are gonna have to be very, very good to beat them. Um, the winner of that game will go on and versus the roosters, so it could be seeing a rabbido's roosters prelim final if rabbidoes get it done, and the winner of Storm vs. Knights will go on and versus um the Seagulls. Imagine that, Storm, Seagulls, Rabidos, Roosters, that would be a hectic prelim final matchups. Anyway, um, I'm gonna wrap it up there. I was gonna cover a little bit more, um, but yeah, just struggling at the moment. Um I might try and do another podcast um maybe on Friday or something, or or tomorrow or whatever. Um, but yeah. I'm gonna wrap that one up there, and you can probably hear it in my voice, a bit crooked at the moment. So um, thank you for listening again. If I don't release again, join me next week. Um, you know, to preview all the prelim finals and review all the semifinals that are coming up.