They've been doing it all day sir!
Two Englishmen in Australia, talking sports and life in a new country
They've been doing it all day sir!
Flag, Flags and the NRL: Flag football nationals, Ireland upset and THE BOYS WERE ON AT BROOKY!
In this episode of 'They've Been Doing It All Day, Sir,' hosts Ben and Chris reflect on an exhausting and controversial National flag football championships! The duo also look over the Six Nations which is experienced a big twist this weekend and recap an exhilarating night at Brooky Oval! Expect a mix of banter, serious analysis, and bold predictions as Ben and Chris gear up for another weekend of sports madness. Don't miss their quirky takes and spirited sports commentary!
00:00 - Intro
00:40 - Flag football National Championship recap
17:35 - Birmingham and Chelsea updates
19:35 - ICC Champions trophy
21:16 - 6 Nations
31:08 - NRL Rd1 Recap
42:58 - BACK AT BROOKY
52:07 - NRL Rd2 Predictions
Hello and welcome to another episode of They've Been Doing It All Day Sir. I'm Ben. And I'm Chris. And this week there's been some drama in all sporting events, so let's get stuck in.
SPEAKER_00:How's your week been, mate?
SPEAKER_01:It's not been too bad, actually. I often start by saying it's not been too bad, but there's been a lot of sport going on happening this week. A lot of sport.
SPEAKER_00:There has been a bit, and being involved in a tournament myself from a coaching capacity over the weekend as well, so I'm very much feeling that today.
SPEAKER_01:Well, that's what I was going to ask. I was going to say, how's your week been? Because I know it's been, or your weekend at least, it's been a bit of a tough one.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I'm okay. Bit of a rollercoaster weekend, if I'm being perfectly honest, and very much feeling the effects of that today. Um... but yeah I don't really don't really know where to go from that it's it's been it's been a tough tough couple of days yeah it's been a tough couple of days
SPEAKER_01:so for people listening at home we've spoken about it quite a few times over the last couple of weeks in preparation for the you're a coach for the New South Wales flag national women the New South Wales women's flag team who competed this weekend in the national flag championship against all other states in Australia I came along and watched on the Sunday which was a well run event I think that's one of the biggest bits of credit that I've got to give it was really smoothly run the times of things that are happening and it was split over two days which I thought was quite good as well I think it would have been better if it was Saturday and Sunday but it was Sunday and Monday but how did day one go let's talk about each of the days let's talk about the Sunday and then the Monday how did day one go for you
SPEAKER_00:really well went the whole day unbeaten, which is pretty cool. Had won four out of four games. Started the tournament off against Victoria. Got a defensive shutout, which was really happy. I did promise the girls every time they got a donut, so zero, and we didn't concede. I'll buy them donuts. So luckily, my bank balance didn't take too much of a hit. Because
SPEAKER_01:it's quite hard to keep
SPEAKER_00:them scoreless in flag. In flag it is. I think in the first game, they only got over halfway once as well. Yeah. Which, again, is incredibly impressive. I've got to take my hats off to the players in that side of things. But I was a bit worried from that side of things. And then went on to beat WA in the next game. game, and then followed by, I think, my mind is... South Australia,
SPEAKER_01:was it the team in red that you played on that day?
SPEAKER_00:No, we played them, no, no, ACT. It was ACT, and then we played Queensland in the last game in the afternoon, late afternoon kick-off, and we beat Queensland, which was a great... great feeling for a lot of the girls that were in their team because they've been a little bit of a thorn in the side of New South Wales always sort of pipping them in the national champs so that was a great thing but yeah so what did you think of the day one I suppose?
SPEAKER_01:So I spent a lot of the time walking around the Oval because it was based out of Bankstown in a national sports park and was it Blacktown? Blacktown? Bankstown?
SPEAKER_00:Blacktown.
SPEAKER_01:Blacktown in a national sports park and it was a good set up the Oval around the outside you could walk around and watch all four fields. So there was games every hour. There was games at 9, 10, 11, switching between male and female. So the sporting side of things, it was nonstop the whole day. So I was actually watching a few of the different teams play because I had interest of mates that are playing in the New South Wales men's team, obviously the Tasmanian team. There was a few people that I knew playing in those as well. And I thought it was really good day from the New South Wales women's team I sat down and watched the first half I think of the game against Western Australia and I think you put 60 on them which is was the biggest score of the day I believe from from the women's game and the one that everyone wanted to pay attention to was the the final game of the day which was against Queensland and you flew out to a you shut them down on defence in the first half and the offence were playing fantastically. Few questionable referee calls which we're going to touch on. It felt like a theme for the weekend but had the Queensland team not got a few of those questionable calls around whether the ball was actually in the end zone or not and a few flags, the score would have been so more dominant on that first day in that first game against Queensland. So I thought it was really impressive from the whole women's set up from the New South Wales women's team Confidence must have been sky high going into day two. Yeah,
SPEAKER_00:it was. And it was a day where at the end of it, there needed to be sort of a lot of recovery from it because it's such an emotional, well, not an emotional, it's mental and physical. day. So you've got four games that you have to play through. It's 20 minutes a half. It
SPEAKER_01:wasn't cold out there either, was it? It was 29, 30 degrees out there. No shade.
SPEAKER_00:And it's just constant. It's just continuous because the amount of reps that you have to get in and the amount of downs that you have to get in. So the players had to have a fair bit of recovery and a mental sort of recovery as well. Because as I said, there's so much thinking and prepping that has to go into each game. From a coaching point of view as well, it was just a day of reviewing film straight off because it was being live streamed the whole time. we were able to watch the previous games, try and get a little bit of scouting before, have conversations with the players before going out and we were able to adapt and go through the motions during games as well. I have a fantastic coach who will work alongside Marsha and he's absolutely incredible. Whenever I sort of describe it, it's the Peter Taylor to my Brian Clough. He very much is my right-hand man and I can't thank him enough and with sort of everything over the last few years when I've worked alongside him as well. But yeah, going into day two, there was a lot of expectation, I think, from ourselves and there was a few comments made on the commentary of the interview New South Wales Queensland game which we took to heart a little bit I think
SPEAKER_01:I was really surprised and this is me from an outsider I've got no real affiliation obviously I have more of an affiliation to New South Wales but I feel like I'm not involved as much as you are. There was quite a lot of bias towards the Queensland team on the commentary. And rightly so, they
SPEAKER_00:were favourites. Yeah, 100%.
SPEAKER_01:But anyone that had watched that game on Sunday would have noticed that New South Wales are actually pretty dominant in that game. And I felt there wasn't enough respect shown to the New South Wales team in that sense. But saying that, I mean, the first game on the Monday, you came out against Tassie, who quite a friendly, friendly game in the fact that Tassie was New South Wales 2's
SPEAKER_00:team. We've trained with them a lot. That game was very similar to how our training games were going in training and compete sessions. It's fantastic and great shout out to the Tassie players as well and coaching staff. They did incredible over the weekend. They're such a great bunch. Some fantastic talent within that team as well. It's brilliant. It was a brilliant weekend to showcase how much sort of flag talent there is in New South Wales. There is. Which is what we want to do. And like Queensland have been so dominant and rightly so over the last sort of few years with flag. We were there to sort of put a stop, I wouldn't say stop, but to change the... Change the view.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, and I'll talk about the final from an unbiased point of view and from a neutral watching it at home. So you beat Tassie, like you say, in a fixture. You beat Tassie and that set up a... It was a one-playoff game final against Queensland.
SPEAKER_00:We went through the group stages unbeaten, which is a great, great achievement.
SPEAKER_01:Great achievement. And I think... When it comes to the final, you never really knew what was going to happen because two very equal teams in the fact that Queensland have players that have been playing the game for... years and years and some of them are touted as the best players in Australia and yet throughout the game and through the game on the Sunday and the game on the Monday and the final I wouldn't have been able to tell the difference between the two of those players the quality of the New South Wales players some of them as well had only been playing the game for six months
SPEAKER_00:three months if that
SPEAKER_01:three months were able to get themselves to a final dominate in the group stages and then play on the national stage and really put in a performance in the final and I think the nerves got the better of New South Wales in the first half of that game. Close game at halftime. And then, do you know what? Towards the end of the first half and going into the second half, I felt the momentum was shifting in the fact that Queensland were like, we're in a bit of a hole here. Queensland got the ball back at the start of the second half. They opened up and they scored, which it was like, okay, let's see what happens. New South Wales are made of? What metal have they got in order to come back in this? And I tell you what, before I go on to that, the first touchdown that New South Wales scored, I don't know who it was, but Twinkle Toes over in the corner, spinning like a washing machine going into the end zone, I thought was fantastic. And then there was two drives in which New South Wales scored and you went into a lead and Don't get me wrong, there are some questionable referee calls in that as well, in terms of contact, in terms of all that sort of stuff. But the last drive of the game was a very, very interesting one. And it's something I was talking to a very good friend of mine who I was texting before the game, who is involved in flag football. And I said to him, I hope this game isn't decided by a referee's decision. As the game was unfolding, you could tell the referees were calling some controversial things. There was some roughing the passes, which it didn't even look like the quarterback got touched. There was a pass interference in which two DBs were going for the ball and there didn't seem like there was any contact whatsoever after that was flagged, which gave a first down. And then on that final drive of the game, you had them fourth and they had to get to the halfway line in order to make a first down. Otherwise, if they didn't get to the halfway line... you would have won the national championship. And you had them fourth and 15. It was fourth and long. And they threw the ball deep and two players are running down the sideline. What seemed like minimal interaction between the two of them. The Queenslander tripped and went out of bounds and a flag got thrown for pass interference, which I thought was ridiculous, but it was given. Okay, it was given. Let's see what New South Wales are made of again. So the ball was on the halfway line and they drove down to the goal line and there was a false start on the play before, which wasn't picked up. And then the final play of the game with three seconds left or even like zero seconds on the clock, Queensland had the ball and And there was a clear false start. It was picked up by the commentators. It was picked up by everyone in the crowd. It was picked up by everyone watching at home and even comments I've seen on social media. But it wasn't picked up by the referees. And that's one thing that bemuses me about this tournament. You're on a national stage. You're on show to potentially the world because there's a friendly, am I correct in saying, between America and Australia happening in the future? Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:uh yeah um i'm not too sure what the details are around it but there's some sort of partnership um taking place yeah brewing i believe yeah
SPEAKER_01:so i'm sure they've got eyes on this and there were some horrendous refereeing calls and although granted that wouldn't have finished the game, that penalty. It would have moved Queensland five yards back, and that would have been more difficult for them to score, I feel, than what it is. So it ended in heartbreak for New South Wales. Queensland jubilation, like, take nothing away from them. New South Wales had the opportunity to bury them when they did if they had caught a few passes or made an interception here or there. Can't take anything away from any of their players. But it's just so unfortunate that a national championship with all eyes on it has come down to a referee's call. But look, great event, great start to what I feel will be so many athletes now moving into this sport because I think they were reading out on some of the New South Wales players that have come from basketball, that have come from AFL, that have come from tag, that have come from the NRL, like stacked full of talent, this New South Wales team. And I'm hoping that it will only now influence younger kids boys and girls to get involved into the sport build those pathways and hopefully build towards success at LA in 2028 and fingers crossed furthermore in Brisbane in 2032 but I can understand how it would be mentally draining for you I've lost a few national championships in my time in the contact American football game and they're difficult to recover from but my like biggest bit of advice is just store that one in the memory bank and remind remind players what it's all about next year and make sure that they turn up ready to go and I'm sure there'll be people fired up that want to make amends so yeah anything you want to end on on that one
SPEAKER_00:it's I suppose it's just really hard to take a loss like that we regrouped at half time we did what we needed to do in the sense of we stopped them getting like we had two or three we had two drives back to back where we stopped them from getting past halfway and were able to hand the ball over to our fence to then go and score
SPEAKER_01:yeah
SPEAKER_00:which was incredible and yeah it
SPEAKER_01:just those New South Wales players don't have anything to like they played the best that they could one thing that you don't want to happen is leave it in the hands of the referee and sometimes when you don't take your opportunities and don't take your chances, you run the risk of leaving it in the hands of the referee. And because the standard of officiating in this country is terrible, unfortunately those things happen. But look. Reflect on it, try and put it behind you, dust it off. But there was a lot more sport that
SPEAKER_00:happened over the
SPEAKER_01:weekend,
SPEAKER_00:for sure, that we can reflect on. There was, there was. And I did sort of pre-warn you before we started going through this. I might pull a Olig on a Solskjaer and might have to take about five minutes just to sort of settle in. But no, on a sort of final note, I'm so proud. of every single one of those players. They have been amazing to work with from day one. They are an incredible group to coach, to sort of work alongside. They were just so adaptable to everything. So open to changes, to communication. It was just such a great campaign to work on. And I just feel so sorry for them because you get so emotionally invested in it and that's, that's, that's why I love coaching is when you get so invested in it you want the best and it's one of the worst things as well is that you're on that sideline and you can do nothing there is nothing you can do I'll be
SPEAKER_01:honest with you as well I think they're more athletic than you as well so I don't think on the field you'd be able
SPEAKER_00:to do anything 100% I couldn't agree more I am not a flag player and I don't think I'll ever step on a flag field other than to coach but But no, unfortunately, it is what it is. They were incredible. Absolutely loved working with them. I think they've given... Australia have massive headache with selection yeah
SPEAKER_01:there's some there's some talent there there's some unbelievable talent in New South Wales and I suppose if anyone is listening that doesn't know anything about flag football it's it get involved like it's a it's a great sport that's fast paced high scoring tests out your skills your athletic ability so take a look on gridiron Australia website for a local team or search flag football Australia because it's certainly a sport that's on the on the rise and I think there'll be even more talent at the national championship next week next year sorry and hopefully just keep building keep building and keep building but we'll move on from that tough one to take but yeah let's move on to Chelsea and Birmingham how last week you were talking up the hype of Birmingham give us the trophy now what happened
SPEAKER_00:this week woke up Wednesday morning and got humbled by Bolton lost 3-1 God we were dreadful saying that we looked solid for the first 20 minutes and then just disappeared. Don't know what happened. Every now and then need one of them. Yeah, 100%. It's a difficult... The lower leagues in England are so much more difficult to play in sometimes. Yeah, got humbled by Bolton and then went and played Lincoln and... beaten 1-0 at home so you know there we go back on
SPEAKER_01:track giving the trophy
SPEAKER_00:now 11 points clear I think we are now so that's quite good how are Chelsea getting
SPEAKER_01:on you know what not a bad week not a great week beat Copenhagen in the Europa Conference 2-1 looked to be fairly cruisy 2-0 up conceded towards the end Cucurella scored in that and then Cucurella scored against Leicester at the weekend as well sloppy 1-0 victory. I only watched the highlights. Chelsea don't look on it at all. Cole Palmer's off it, missed a penalty. Gosh. Yeah, he's certainly not having a great time at the moment, but next leg of the... Europa Conference League is on Thursday, so hopefully progressing that. And you know what? I don't even know who we've got next weekend. So there's a bit of... That's always good. There's a poor bit of research there, but that just goes to show it's difficult to keep up with the sport over here because it's times of the morning which are difficult to watch. And it's just a case of trying to keep up with everything. There's so much sport that goes on in the UK that you want to keep up to date with. It's hard to actually... figure out when things are. But Chelsea, going all right. ICC Champions Trophy was an interesting one. I didn't pay much attention to this at all apart from waking up and seeing that our predictions were correct. India won. India won. So congratulations to India for winning the ICC Champions Trophy. Interesting stat that they travelled a total of zero kilometres throughout the whole tournament. Yeah. New Zealand I think travelled over 7,000 kilometres. Does that have an impact? It was a tight, what looked like a tight affair. India posted 249
SPEAKER_00:for nine. Yeah. And then New Zealand were 205 all out
SPEAKER_01:205 all out so a fairly decent performance with a ball for India that took the trophy home but just reflecting on the tournament as a whole seems like it was geared up for India to win the tournament you
SPEAKER_00:see a lot of it in the comments about Indian fans going in the last ODI World Cup we travelled for the last ODI World Cup was in India so of course you're going to showcase your team around the country but then also Every other team was traveling. It wasn't just India. Whereas there's a massive difference where you can just set up base in one area.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. And Dubai is not exactly
SPEAKER_00:the biggest of places, is it? No. And it's not even the host country.
UNKNOWN:So some controversy around that side of things. But yeah, a bit of a bit of a come to nothing.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
UNKNOWN:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Bit of a flounder, like, end to the tournament. Bit of a disappointing one. But, I mean, look, had England or Australia been in the final, I'm sure we probably would have paid a bit more interest. Yeah. But it's just one of those things. But on to sports that have twisted and turned in this last weekend. Yeah. The Guinness Six Nations. Yeah. Three fixtures this weekend, England versus Italy, Scotland versus Wales and France versus Ireland. One score I was not expecting to wake up to on Sunday morning was France dominating Ireland.
SPEAKER_00:No. Never, ever would expect that, to be honest. They just ended up running away with it, didn't they? Yeah. You look at the stats behind it, meters ran pretty similar in that side of things, territory very similar, but France were just more clinical. They were. And even without Dupont, just were relentless.
SPEAKER_01:They were, and I watched the highlights of this, and again, because of the... monumental weekend of sport that it was wasn't able to watch this or really catch up with things but the 10 minute highlights I did watch France were just on it like they just turned up they wanted it more and I saw this video on Instagram speaking to Ireland fans reflecting on the result and they're like we needed this because we turned up and thought that we were going to stroll all over them and we got humbled it's almost like we thought we won the championship before the trophy had been given to us and look France have lost the best player in the world in DuPont. ACL has been confirmed as torn, which is highly unfortunate for him. Unfortunate accident. The referee is claiming that it wasn't intentional. It's dangerous where he was positioned. I can't remember who it was that's coming to clear him out and he's fallen onto his knee. It's one of those unfortunate ones, but... Yeah, now it really opens the door for... Well, France are in the driving seat.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, they're playing Scotland in France in the next round. And I can't...
SPEAKER_01:To secure it, they need a bonus point victory, which...
SPEAKER_00:They just need a victory. They've got high points difference. I think it goes on points difference before head-to-head. So, yeah. And Scotland are... playing for nothing and it's always one of those
SPEAKER_01:they're not playing for they are playing for nothing and they aren't playing for nothing because the nothing is they can't win it but then the alternate is do they want another team to win it and the fact it would be England or Ireland that will win it so I don't know whether they actually will want to win this
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, well, and also the players are still on call for the Lions, aren't they? So this is sort of the last dance. Very true. Before they go back to the clubs and stuff like that. And I don't think there's any... I don't think there's any internationals before Lions selection, which is in... No, it was announced the 8th of May. It was the
SPEAKER_01:8th or 11th of May, around that time, and they're doing it live at some venue, which I think will be really good. But talking of Lions selection, and I'm kind of skipping games here, but the England-Italy game, one unfortunate injury that took place was Oli Lawrence. It happened in the eighth minute. I've watched the highlights of this one again and saw him... go to explode in attack and he just dropped and you know from that point non-contact injury not good and I think ruptured Achilles which is yeah seven or nine to twelve months which is not good no but you don't like to see it so losing two I know DuPont's got nothing to do with the Lions but seeing a player of his calibre injured's never good for the game but feel sorry for Oli Lawrence because I reckon he was in contention for
SPEAKER_00:there's some good centres out there though at the moment and I think one of the podcasts do like are where they, they on the plane, they're in the, in the way, the boarding area, et cetera. And I think he was very much on that cusp. Yeah. Um, having like him and Bundy Aki in, in, in midfield would be, would be incredible. Um, but, But I think Bundiaki's got that 12 shirt and alongside him, still a little bit open for debate. And yeah, England attacked.
SPEAKER_01:They did. And I was surprised. It's almost like you were Nostradamus and you said, as long as they do this, this and this. And it was quick ball. It was moving through the hands. It was getting it wide. It was running. It was just everything that they should have been doing against England. every other team, they decided to do it against Italy. And they needed to because Italy's scoring 24 points. And I'll tell you what, the tries that Italy scored weren't nothing to be sniffed at. They were some really fast, quick hands, good movement, cut England apart through the middle with some passes. I thought they were impressive. They're unfortunate to be on the end of a decent England performance. Otherwise, I think they could have caused a...
SPEAKER_00:Massively. Massively. And I've sort of said it from the first day. They're not mugs. They're not a team to be... taken lightly unfortunately the fence is again something to be questioned sometimes but you just again the tacking side of things England have jumped up to 583 attacking metres or metres ran in that still missed a fair few tackles so that's sort of a completion rate that needs to change still missed 22 tackles out of a made 97 so it's not the greatest But have to have to give shout out to number 10 Finn Smith again Joint top hits everything. He tackles anything There's there's part of me. That's like I wonder if he's an outside child side very outside Squad as Haskell describes it bin juice player.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah
SPEAKER_00:on that plane It depends on how many fly halves I want to take. Yeah. Because you'd expect Marcus Smith to be on the plane as a utility. He can play 10. You've got Finn Russell, who you'd expect. You've got Prenta Gast at Ireland, who I think is going to be the line starting 10.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:It's where does he... Potentially Owen Farrell. Yeah, I forgot you can actually pick players outside of that. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:I think he's been in a bit of a situation over in France. I'm not sure whether he's played as much as he thought he was going to. From all reports I've heard, I don't follow French rugby.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I don't think you need him. Nah. As much as the previous Lions tours, I heard a rogue shout for Courtney Laws going, which was a bit of a rogue one. Yeah. Just checking where he's playing at the moment. I can't think off the top of my head.
SPEAKER_01:Just because I think we should move on to the NRL soon. I'm going to finish up with the Scotland-Wales game.
SPEAKER_00:He's over in France as well.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, he's over in France. Interesting ruling. I don't know whether you saw it in the Scotland-Wales game. I can't remember who it was that broke away, but scored a fantastic try. Wales scored a fantastic try to come back and be in a position where they could have potentially gone on to win. And it got called back for hurdling. Yeah, you can't. Yeah, which I find a really interesting one because he didn't hurdle over the top of the tackle. He hurdled to avoid the tackle. And I understand it's player safety. And if you get clipped, you can potentially land on your head. But I actually think Wales would have gone on to win the game had that try have stood. But Scotland ended up coming away with a win. I think, well, in the fact that Wales are going to get the wooden spoon, I'm pretty sure unless they beat England... next week, which could happen. So disappointing campaign for Wales. Not sure many of them are going to be on the plane over to Australia. But Scotland, yeah, unlucky, oh sorry, lucky to get away with one.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. I did mention about Wales coming out and this is the banana skin for England as well. If they have a sniff of any sort of signations, you're playing Wales in Wales and
SPEAKER_01:England need to come out like they did against Italy. Just attack.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, just attack. And I think we'll be all right. Keep that attack going. But I think it's going to be a France win. I think they'll take it. so
SPEAKER_01:France so I think that all the permutations are France win with a bonus point they win it if they win they pretty much guaranteed it because their points difference if they lose then it's between England and Ireland and England are in the front front seat Ireland are going to play Italy you'd expect them to get a bonus point so England are playing Wales and need a bonus point to be with any contention but look keep an eye with what goes on we'll see what happens next week I think we'll be sitting here talking about France lifting the trophy but there was shock this week so you never know what's going to happen next week
SPEAKER_00:also quite happy there's not a grand slam it does always it's not always great when one team just dominates it it's good to have a mix of competition in there and people being able to fight and different results and even Italy scoring points and you're not sure where they're going to be so I do like how the momentum is starting to shift into a more competitive Six Nations and just one team dominating
SPEAKER_01:I agree I certainly agree and You never know what's going to happen next year. I think Wales have got a lot of soul searching to do in terms of becoming a better squad. Hopefully Scotland will improve and I think it could even be tighter next year. Let's just see how it goes and that will be leading into the build up towards the World Cup. So two six nations till the World Cup which will be interesting. That's over here. So we'll be looking to get travelling around the country for that one. But on to the NRL. It was back. It was back at Brookie. It was fantastic. I loved it. Saturday night under lights. We're going to go through each game, recap each game briefly, just on what we saw, our own kind of amateur British opinions, even though we love the sport and we're quite invested in it. We're going to give our opinions of what we saw and kind of, yeah, then see where we're going to go for round two tips. So let's start with the massacre at the Allianz on Thursday night. The Sydney Roosters. against the Brisbane Broncos.
SPEAKER_00:First of all, I want to say how horrendous that pitch is at Allianz. It was disappearing. I think there was
SPEAKER_01:complaints to the council again because of how bad it was.
SPEAKER_00:I just don't know. I suppose Wembley had similar issues when that was first built. Not for this long, though. It's mad. But taking that apart, that did not play into the absolute domination of the Broncos. They looked scary. They looked so good. They look like a mid-season team already with round one. Salen Cabo, what an animal out on the wing. I know I use that phrase a lot, but he was just trucking people for fun.
SPEAKER_01:140-odd metres, I think he ran for as well, which the guy's an animal. He's so good. I'll tell you another animal who did... Unbelievably, his name is Payne Haas. I am so glad that Giza wears a blue jersey when it comes to origin. He was a monster. No one was stopping him. And one of the things I heard the Levels podcast talk about earlier was how Madge knows how to manage him. Whereas last year, he was kind of used for as long as he could go, given a five-minute rest, and then come on for the last five minutes. It seems like Michael Maguire has... Managed his minutes. He played like 40 minutes, took him off for 20 minutes and then came on full tank again. And the guy was on like he was switched on and he was running over everyone. But the Broncos ran away. They scored 50, put a 50 burger on the roosters. And one thing I don't like seeing is. injuries to players and you mentioned that he was one of the guys that you like for the Roosters Victor Radley took some friendly fire and was out cold and that's like his sixth concussion in five six years it
SPEAKER_00:gets it gets to a point where it's dangerous like Ponga's on a tight line with that
SPEAKER_01:I think they've just got to manage the Roosters have just got to manage what they do because his brain could turn to mush like you never know the
SPEAKER_00:long term effects you never know and He may want to put a lid on. He might start playing in a scrum hat, just as a little bit of precaution. I don't know if
SPEAKER_01:you remember the hit, but it was Tedesco's shoulder going, who's a stocky guy going through his chin. He's not exactly small, is he? He wasn't getting up. But we both tipped the Broncos in that, so we both managed to walk away with a point from that one, which was good. But the next one, we had divided opinions. Tigers against Knights. Yeah, I was... I
SPEAKER_00:don't know, actually. Um... I quite enjoyed parts of it. You've got a very brutal opinion of this game, which you can dive into in a minute. I think I'm sitting at more of a... It was really nice to see the Tigers sort of start playing well. Jerome Loy is a fantastic... I'll tell you,
SPEAKER_01:May. Yeah, Terrell May. Terrell May was fantastic. And how much the Roosters could have done with him not leaving. He was so good. And he was the shining light for me for the Tigers. But I still think... They're just they are going to improve. Like I will say that I predicted them to finish second bottom. I'm not too sure after the first round whether they're going to finish second bottom or mid table. But I just didn't think they missed 50 odd tackles or something like that in the game. The Knights were full of a lot of mistakes. Bradman Best tried to do things that he probably shouldn't have. The Knights could have been more clinical. Quite boring game, quite tight game. Not one for the ages, but the Knights came away with the victory. Scrappy, scrappy win. But Caelan Ponga was the difference maker for them. There was one time when he was dancing around in the tri-area and managed to get the ball out, and that changed the game. His ability is just another level. And the Knights have just confirmed as well, like I said last week, that Dylan Brown had signed a contract with the Eels. How wrong could I have been? He's just today... confirmed that he's signing a$13 million contract over 10 years with the Knights. Now, what's interesting about that is, is the NRL going down the path of Chelsea in the Premier League, like enticing players in, giving them large amounts of money spread across a period of time because... Let's look at Mikhailo Mudrik, for example, for Chelsea. For those that don't know, Chelsea bought a Ukrainian midfielder for 112 million and paying him a fortune on an eight-year contract. He's terrible, but he's locked into that contract now getting paid a fortune. The same could happen with Dylan Brown. What if he snaps his Achilles? What if he breaks his leg? What if he is not as good as they expected? He's locked into a 10-year deal and he's guaranteed 13 million.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Yeah. It's a lot of money. It is a lot of money. It's a lot of money. Yeah. which I suppose is how you entice the players into long-term contracts. And he's also very much got an upper hand as well. So they might at one point want or need to offload him off the salary cap. there's no need for him to go anywhere.
SPEAKER_01:And who's going to end up paying the remaining of the 1.3 for him to get? But I mean, look, we'll talk about the store meals in a minute. I think he walked out of Amy Park, got on a plane straight to Newcastle and went, oh, I'll sign the contract now because we'll talk about how that went soon. But you predicted the Tigers. I took the Knights. I took the point in that one. And it was the only one that cost you the perfect tipping week. So Rabbit is Dolphins. Obviously this one got changed. This was a change of venue due to ex- Cyclone Alfred, which is now basically a tropical low, but fear-mongering, I feel. Don't get me wrong. Still devastating what happened
SPEAKER_00:up there. Yeah, it's not been good what's happened up there.
SPEAKER_01:Serious amount of rain and wind that was pretty destructive. But the Rabbit O's against the Dolphins. Now, I went with the Dolphins because I thought they would still be able to do it, but five or so players pulled out. I'm not sure what impact they would have had, but Wayne Bennett just... Did what Wayne Bennett does and
SPEAKER_00:managed. Just got a rabbit's in. And standout performance, probably Jai Gray with 280 run meters. Most run meters of the week,
SPEAKER_01:yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Just doesn't stop. He's like the Duracell Bunny. He's literally everywhere.
SPEAKER_01:You called him out in the preseason against when they played Manly that he looked impressive. And like you say, he just keeps going and going and going, pumping the feet.
SPEAKER_00:And for a small guy to be playing fullback as well, he can do well in the air as well. So he's not... He's not just a one-dimensional fullback. He's very good. And, yeah, I'm a big fan of– I enjoyed watching Jamie Humphreys. 700-odd kicker meters he got. Yeah. The thing is I don't know whether he was just a little too old in the sense to get– a reset for Manly, because obviously with DCE going at half, at some point, maybe this season, next season, he wants to finish at the Dolphins, I think so. I think that'll be his swan song. I don't know whether they're wanting a proper project to feed him for a prolonged period of time. Joey
SPEAKER_01:Walsh, the 18-year-old, apparently, is the one that they're trying to nurture. So I know what you mean, but I feel we've let one go.
SPEAKER_00:We have. I 100% agree. But I think it was just a little too... late for him, I think, unfortunately. He's a unit as well. He's very good. I love his kick in action as well. I
SPEAKER_01:reckon he's got some of the best-looking quads in the NRL. I do have massive quad
SPEAKER_00:envy. You can snap that and put that on the Instagram reels. Get some likes. For sure, yeah. And I know I messaged you during the week about it, but I really like his kick in action at goal. I just feel like it's a very efficient... um just action which will get a lot of success yeah um which is it's very straight now how you would normally see a kicker in rugby union very behind the ball and direct um but yeah uh very very good sort of game um I think just just hopping back to Jai Gray 116 post contact meters as well like that's that's again for the way he is is fantastic
SPEAKER_01:I think the Dolphins will be alright like there's nothing from that performance that made me worry that they were going to be I think they'll win some close games lose some close games it's just how I suppose their transition from Wayne Bennett to Wolfe just seeing how they go and
SPEAKER_00:it does mess you around having to move venue at the last minute it's not great you're then having to travel, sleep in a hotel, which we all know when you sleep in a hotel, you don't get the best night's sleep. You're a little all over the place and then try and perform while worrying about family back home. There is a good argument that it should have probably been just postponed and reworked into the schedule. But yeah, I think Rabbit O's are going to start snowballing. And then Dolphins are just going to be sound this year.
SPEAKER_01:It's only Latrell Mitchell coming back for the Rabbit Ozo. So it'll be interesting to see how they go. And I can't remember who it was. I've forgotten the name of the guy, but he snapped his collarbone. So he's lost another person through injury. Put him in the centres. We'll see who they've got this week. They've got the Dragons. So I think that'll be an interesting match-up. We'll talk about the Dragons next because they came up against the Bulldogs. That is correct.
SPEAKER_00:Classy... first 60 minutes, I say, for the Bulldogs. Looked very in control of the game. And then Dragons started coming back and it was one of those moments. I
SPEAKER_01:think there was a moment where Valentine Holmes, if he had slotted the conversion for their last try, four minutes to go, could have stood a chance of getting back into it. But Bulldogs come away with a win. Didn't get to watch as much of this one because I was walking down to Four Pines Park, a.k.a. Brookie Oval, a.k.a. The Fortress, a.k.a. guaranteed two points every time we play there. We'll get onto that in a sec. But yeah, didn't get to watch too much of the Dragons Bulldogs, but got to see the Bulldogs come away. pull out to a lead yeah Stephen Crichton cited for a knee to the head for the for the um which Dragon's first try he's not got the
SPEAKER_00:suspension or anything it's a
SPEAKER_01:fine but I don't think he intended it I think he was genuinely trying to try saving it just his thigh hit his head yeah
SPEAKER_00:it's a difficult one where you you've got to fully commit to it um there's no second guessing because that's how you get injured and things like that um but But no, he ended up coming off at some point as well, didn't he? Yeah, cramp. Or no, no, no, cramp, like something with his calf, wasn't it? Yeah, he came off in the 70th minute. So that's a little bit of a worry, I suppose, for the dogs. But no, other than that. They look solid. The dogs look solid. There was a few Burton bombs as well out there, which is always quite cool to see. Not
SPEAKER_01:sure I feel about his new look. I don't know if you looked at his beard. It looks a bit rough and unkept under the scrum cap. I might have to go for that look later in the year with the scrum cap on touring with the Lions or
SPEAKER_00:sea. Don't think they're really missing Addo Carr. So, yeah, I think... they're solid they'll be alright they'll be a solid team again this year
SPEAKER_01:but on to the next game Seagulls against the Cowboys when we get in our premiership tattoos
SPEAKER_00:when we get in them start up the promotion bus it's happening
SPEAKER_01:it's happening do you know what I said last week I didn't know how this one was going to go and within the first 10 minutes I couldn't believe how explosive we were I was
SPEAKER_00:I was in awe I was in shock it was so good it was just The pace of everything was just incredible.
SPEAKER_01:What I loved, opening kickoff, Takiyaho takes the first, it might have even been Paseka actually, I can't remember, but one of them takes the first carry off the back fence, runs into contact, stopped, but then quick ball, Jake, runs into contact, bang, and he's going forward, like no pass, it was just constant aggression from our forwards, leaning into contact, trying to break through lines, and then that just sets it up for Brooksy to get the ball in his hand, DCE to get the ball in his hand, flick it out wide and then for that first try get it to Oluwatu to just steamroll run people over and Tom Dearden ain't no no he's not a mug when it comes to defence and he sat him down so many times in the game it was unbelievable and the poor guy got put on his arse later on in the game and then that led to I think when Saab broke down the wing kicks it through to Garrick who goes over do you know what there were so many tries I can't even remember which one it was but it It was probably the most complete performance I've seen since I've been following Manley.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. To an extent, like, Trvojevic and Hoppawattie look so calm under every high ball. Yeah. It's brilliant to see. And Hoppawattie's chase, I think he tipped it to, who did he do? Ben Trvojevic scored. Ben Trvojevic scored from it. It is incredible. And that's the talent you've got through him. The only shaky part of it was Mr. Saab dropped, I think, very regulation. High ball. Defensive high ball. Yeah, but then made up for it with an interception very quickly after. Which, as I said probably last week, I've got my... I had... reservations around Saab he
SPEAKER_01:looks like a different player it might be the haircut I don't know it might be the haircut that he's now got or hairstyle but He might, and maybe bulked up a bit, I'm not sure, but he looks like
SPEAKER_00:a different player. He looks confident. Yeah. He looks confident within his body and he looks confident that his body's working.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:There's parts of last season where you would see him like slightly pull up. Yeah. And not feel 100% confident in what he was doing and he was sort of pulling out of contact and when he was... He wasn't committing
SPEAKER_01:full like...
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:In that second carry out of yardage when he was trying to come on the forward, take it in here, take the second one. He wouldn't be pumping and driving like I felt like he was. He wanted to move people
SPEAKER_00:as well. And at the weekend he was. He had the most line breaks with five for Manly. How good was Turbo's tip on as well? He's so... He's just fantastic because he's everywhere. And this is why he's such a good fullback. He's there every run, every line break. He's there at first sort of pass. Every attack in play, he's an additional player. He doesn't just favour one side. It's an additional player in every attack. It's like having a second centre in every attack. I
SPEAKER_01:tell you what, can I just give a shout out to one person that's great support running, come off the bench, and I love the guy, Ethan Bullimore. Ethan Bullimore, man, the energy. What energy he brings off the bench. And Turbo breaks through, and he's just there by his shoulder. Now, he's gas run out, I reckon, with the last five meters to go, and he just made it over. Trickled over the line. He done it against the Tigers in preseason, and he done it again in round one against the Cowboys.
SPEAKER_00:I think with the depth we have on the bench, a prop, he can he's going to make such an impact coming off the bench I
SPEAKER_01:mean we'll look at round two in a bit but Takiyaho got a bone bruise on his knee and is out injured
SPEAKER_00:for one week which is a shame
SPEAKER_01:Alawaye comes back in but then even ten weeks through the season we've got old big Matty Lodge to potentially come in and we forgot to mention last week friend of the podcast friend of the pod won his fight out at the event that was put on so congrats to Matty Lodge for winning that but we've got him to come back we've got Nathan we've got back Fence Brownie. There is so much support in that forward pack. To have Toph Sipley on the
SPEAKER_00:bench to come off the bench. His try was, again, you've got to love it. I'm not going to stop at all. I'm going to reach this line. Big shout out to Jazz Tavanga as well. He's a very, very good hooker. He is. Can get the ball moving, not afraid at speed. He's
SPEAKER_01:aggressive. He's got that
SPEAKER_00:dog in him as well. It's that 80s style player. I love
SPEAKER_01:the headband, the
SPEAKER_00:tape for it from the start. Held together by electrical tape. It's fantastic. And he's so versatile as well. So you've got J.H. Simpkin who's currently coming on to replace him after the first 20 games. and then Simp can then play the rest, the 60, and Jaz then can come on and help in the forwards. And again, it's that depth, it's that versatility, as I said, that just helps the team. And having that sort of aggression coming on is incredible. I
SPEAKER_01:think we look fantastic. And there's a number of teams this year in the first week have looked very, very good. I think the Panthers last week from Vegas... just continue where they left off. The Sharks look decent. The Broncos look very good. And the game we'll talk about next, the Storm versus Eels, the Storm... Eels look very poor, but the storm looked very good. So yeah, what a night it was at
SPEAKER_00:Brookie Park. It was so good. It was bouncing. The hill was full. 17,500
SPEAKER_01:were there.
SPEAKER_00:Great halftime performance by the... I can't remember. The Doppelgangers or something like that. Was it the Bloated Bellies or... Pot Bellies. Pot Bellies, yeah. Fireworks going off. Fireworks going off. I think a few tickets skipped a beat with mine included on that. That was quite a bit of a shock to the system. But loved it. Absolutely loved it. Only issue was the amount of players that were pulling up with cramp.
SPEAKER_01:It's the first game of the season. I
SPEAKER_00:know, I know. But it's a bit of a... Right, okay, this is the first game of the season. You're supposed to have had a pre-season. Short
SPEAKER_01:turnaround as well. We're playing on Friday, 6 o'clock. Yeah, so that's... The interesting one to watch out for. That's the issue with,
SPEAKER_00:I think, our fast starts. Yeah. Is it could go
SPEAKER_01:into... I mean, there was a point brought up today as well. One of the podcasts I was listening to, after 65 minutes, Manly kind of switched off. But against a better team, would they have done that?
SPEAKER_00:Possibly not. And that's what I worry about is if that was a closer game, would Manly have done what they normally do and end up conceding and going really
SPEAKER_01:close? A bit pressurised, yeah. We'll see because we've got... We'll talk about the round two fixtures in a bit. We've got a few tough fixtures coming up in the next couple of weeks that will really test our mettle and see where we're at. But a fantastic start to the season. Two points on the board. It's coming home. Let's have it. We're ready. On to the final game of the weekend, Storm versus Eels. There's not much we've got to say about this. Storm, we were coming back from the Sunday of the flag football tournament.
SPEAKER_00:I had it on the phone.
SPEAKER_01:And it was notification after notification after notification of the Storm just battering the Eels.
SPEAKER_00:Taylor watching his multi just drop in try by try by try yeah again Storm just look incredible
SPEAKER_01:they do they look good they've got strength in depth as well they picked up from where they left off last year alright they lost in the final but they're a group of players that no one's left they've brought in strength in their pack they haven't lost any injuries if everyone keeps it fit and healthy I think they're very good and it's like I said It's so unfortunate for Manly that there's so many other good teams, but you don't want to win a competition when it's easy. And to be the best, you've got to be the best, standard saying. But I think this year it's already set up for a great competition. The Eels, they are in dire straits. Like Lomax, there was no creativity. No. They just didn't look at the races at all. They have the Tigers this week and then they have some hard, tough fixtures after that. But even that, if they don't get a win against the Tigers there, could be looking at a Parramatta wooden spoon. I'm not feeling hopeful for them. But yeah, so tips wise. I ended up, I think, predicting five out of the eight fixtures total over the weekend. Then you went with a monstrous seven out of eight. So good start to the tips. Good start for Manly. Good start to the competition. But let's look ahead to this week. This week coming up. So Thursday night, Knights versus Dolphins. This one's in Newcastle.
SPEAKER_00:It's been a lot of travel for the Dolphins to start and been all over the place.
SPEAKER_01:I mean, I don't know. Did they stay? No, they wouldn't have stayed down here. So they would have flown back straight away, come back, come back.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, they wouldn't have wanted to do that. Who have you got in this one? I think if Knights settled down, even though I was very one-sided with the Tigers, I did see a fair bit of creativity in there. So I think I'm just going to tip the Knights in this one.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I agree. I'm going to go with the Knights in this one. I think if they manage to tidy things up, If Bradman Best isn't as loose as he was, if Caelan Ponga does what he does, I think they've got enough to beat the Dolphins. So both tipping the Knights on that one. And then Friday, Jaz Tavanga going back to his hometown. The Waz. The Waz. Warrior Seagulls, 6 p.m. Friday night. Now, annoyingly for me, my son's got a cricket problem. the cricket thing that he does on Friday night the taster between 5 and 6 I might have to pull him out of that early just so I can get back and watch this one but Warriors weren't too good in Vegas they looked all over the place I'm obviously going to tip a manly win
SPEAKER_00:yeah
SPEAKER_01:But one change from the Manny lineup, Takiyahu out, Aloua in, same rest, same 13 after that. I think Corey Waddell comes in on the bench.
SPEAKER_00:Kalua?
SPEAKER_01:Kalua's, yep, he's fit. So there was concerns he had ice on his knee, but you never know. Things might change between now and Friday. But Tommy Talal's in the reserves, which is good. That's massive. Sib said he's fit and ready to go. So it's just a case of getting him back. We've got so much competition. And... Oh, I just realised. Hang on, let's go back to the Knights and Dolphins. You have to tip a points margin. What do
SPEAKER_00:you reckon? I'll go by... I think it'll be close. I'm going to go by eight.
SPEAKER_01:I'm going to go by six. Knights by six. So you've gone eight, I've gone by six. Warriors, Seagulls, we don't have to tip a points margin by that, but both gone Seagulls for that one. Do you know what? Every time, every week... This is going to sound bad, but it's the highlight of my week. Looking forward to watching the Seagulls, especially after Saturday. So excited about what this season could hold. But then on to what could be another bloodbath. Gosh, Panthers, Roosters. At Combank. At Combank.
SPEAKER_00:At Combank, so it's not out in Pembroke. We're both going for the Panthers, right? I don't know. No, no, I'm joking, I'm joking, I'm joking. To put a bit of spice on it then. Panthers look so good.
SPEAKER_01:How much? How much are they winning by?
SPEAKER_00:Oh, so who've Roosters lost? Radley. I've lost Radley.
SPEAKER_01:The problem with the Roosters, I thought, and this is what I messaged you, for the first 10, 15 minutes of that game against the Broncos, they were actually all right. They went up. Dom Young scored the first try. Such a good player. And they looked all right. It was when... Their interchange bench came on when their bench came on. They didn't have the experience. They lost Radley through the middle I think it fell apart then so the fact that they've lost Radley. They must argue be their best defender in like alright They've got Angus Crichton who's an absolute dog as well But yeah in terms of someone that also hits everything that moves Victor Radley someone you want there. They've lost him through concussion I
SPEAKER_00:honestly
SPEAKER_01:think this could be worse than the Broncos game because this is Panthers first run out on Australian soil Yeah, they're gonna want to put on a shirt Cleary's back. I'm not sure whether Toto's in. I haven't checked the team list, but I think this could be 50-plus again on the Roosters.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I think they don't have a lot of experience in this team list coming off the bench. They've got Lindsay Collins who lost half of his cheek. His cheek was about an inch wide. Absolute warrior of a player. Him and Liam Martin, I think... very very similar in that sense um are saying that they do have a bit of experience on the bench sorry i think i might jump the gun a little bit there um but i think yeah it's going to be an absolute feast for for for pemrith um dylan edwards against tedesco a little bit of a blues audition here. Can't see anyone being Edwards though, but if they play the way they did against the Warriors, no it wasn't. Who?
SPEAKER_01:Panthers?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, Sharks.
SPEAKER_01:They played Sharks. If they play anywhere near that, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:It's going to be an absolute massacre. So yes, I am going to go for the Panthers.
SPEAKER_01:So on to Saturday, we've got the Dragons against the Rabbitohs. I think this one's going to be quite a tight contest. I wasn't too impressed with the Dragons. They bought it back and It was close against the Bulldogs, but I think it was a case of the Bulldogs pulling their foot off the gas. I think, I don't know, the Rabbitohs, I don't think they've got anyone coming back. I think they've lost another, I can't remember who it was again, through snapping his collarbone for the third time in his career. Apparently he's only young. But I think the Dragons are actually going to get this done. I think the Dragons are going to win a tight one in this one. And they've got enough. I think... Yeah, the Dragons are going to get it done. I reckon they'll beat the Rabbitohs.
SPEAKER_00:It's down in the gong as well. They're all right down in the gong. It's called Wynn Stadium or something like that. Great backdrop. Weird stand. Half of it's like that. It just stops. Yeah. Oh, I don't know. They're both... They did well against a very good dogs team where Rabbitohs just looked out against a... I think I'm going to go Dragons as well. I'm looking forward to seeing what Jamie Humphries can do. Yeah, I
SPEAKER_01:agree. And Jai Gray as well.
SPEAKER_00:Just seeing them two. Like I said, a pick of Jai Gray through pre-season. It'd be really interesting to see what they can do. But I think the Dragons may just have enough. Clint Gutherson's looking all right down at fullback as well. And they've also got Val Holmes in the centres, man. It's starting to creep up to a decent team. Yeah. Down in St. George. So I'm going to go Dragons.
SPEAKER_01:And then next fixture on the Saturday is another tough one for the Cowboys. They're playing the Sharks. They're at home this time. So they're up in North Queensland in Townsville. They're playing against the Cronulla Sharks, who would have had two weeks off. And they'll want to get two points on the board after losing a tie one to the Pampers. I think they dominate them. I think this is an easy win for the Sharks.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Yeah. I just didn't see anything in the Cowboys. They were beaten early and they looked beaten as well.
SPEAKER_01:I don't know how they turned this one around. Hopefully we see a different Cowboys, but it's a short turnaround. I
SPEAKER_00:was listening to something about how Manly's tactic attacking Drayden on their left edge just cut him out of the game. And it was because he just wasn't anywhere near his attacking best as well. So if Sharks go for something similar, again, I don't want to go Sharks as well. But they've got Adam Faneuil-Blake. He's just going to be running up the middle. He's like for like, isn't he? Yeah. He got 140-odd metres rushing against the Panthers. As I said last week for Manly, let the boys run it straight and then they get the ball out to the backs.
SPEAKER_01:And Adam Faneuil-Blake runs it. Straight. He runs it very straight. Yeah. And then the final game on Saturday night, Raiders against the Broncos. Now, Raiders did all right in Vegas. They did all right. They did all right in Vegas. But they're coming up against the Broncos. This will be a test of their mettle. They've lost Tarponet and Xavier Savage through suspension. Tarponet is out for two games. Savage is out for one, which means Tarponet misses the manly game. Savage will be back. But... I can't, again, if the Broncos come out like they did against the Roosters, there ain't much stopping them. The Raiders ain't got much to be stopping them. Corey Horsburgh can try as much as he wants. He can try as many offloads as he wants, but he's not going to be stopping. When you
SPEAKER_00:get clattered by Payne Haas. Payne Haas getting
SPEAKER_01:filled in. You can twist as much as you want, but when he's snapping your ribcage. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I like their pack as well. Broncos pack. You've got, again, a bit of one that we didn't mention in Patrick Carey and in the last game ran for 200, I think I might have mentioned it, ran for 245. And he's moved from
SPEAKER_01:lots of prop as well. 245, that's a big game. He's an incredible player. He's a Queensland
SPEAKER_00:store. Yeah, he's there. I reckon he's one of, if not the first name on the team sheet. Yeah, I agree. I agree. So yeah, I think I agree with you. Broncos come out firing, they'll be.
SPEAKER_01:And then I look at this next fixture on Sunday and I laugh. It's Spoon Bowl all over again. And I think in my predictions, take the Swat the Raiders for the Eels. I think it could be Spoon Bowl potentially again this year. We've got Eels versus Tigers. I'm going to have to take the Tigers for a win in this.
SPEAKER_00:I think I'm just going to stick with taking the Tigers all season. I think it may be the one that... ruins my perfect tipping week a couple of times but yeah I'm gonna go I'm gonna go Tigers with how poor
SPEAKER_01:the Eels were they were coming up against the Storm who are a very very very good outfit but I think the Tigers will learn from their errors against the Knights and I think they'll come out wanting to get those two points on the board to show look we are not the same team that we were last year and we can win these tight games I think they're gonna stick a performance on them um Interestingly, is that two games at Combank Stadium then over the weekend? Because the Panthers are playing on the Friday and the Eels are down at home on the
SPEAKER_00:Sunday. I can check. It is Combank. And it's a decent stadium, Combank.
SPEAKER_01:It's a nice stadium. We went there last year. Let's not talk about the game because Manly rushed up 20 points and then in the first 10 minutes or whatever it was and lost. Don't want to talk about it. But real nice stadium, real good venue, real nice walk along the river to get to. It was a very pleasant Sunday
SPEAKER_00:afternoon until the actual rugby.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, so we're both going for the Tigers in that one. Let's go the Tigers. And then the final game of the weekend is the Bulldogs against Titans. Now, I read yesterday where the... ex-tropical cyclone alfred has forced the gold coast titans down to sydney early they flew down yesterday because their uh training facilities are under like the water was up to the crossbar of the goalposts that's how much water had dropped around where they're training and they couldn't train whatsoever so they've flown down to sydney um a few days earlier in a training down here so a serious amount of rain has dropped up there um a lot of people have been affected by it but Titans have made the decision to come down and unfortunately the rain is easing up. So there's no concerns like there was last week around safety. Who you got in this one? It's the first hit out for the Titans. Big Tino's back for his first hit up since his ACL reconstruction. I think the Titans are going to potentially cause some problems. This, I think, is going to be the tightest game of the weekend, but I think the Bulldogs are going to take
SPEAKER_00:it. That's an interesting take. Yeah. I've got the Titans not doing very well this year. I'm going Bulldogs as well.
SPEAKER_01:You based that prediction, the Titans not doing very well, off of how they performed in preseason. And there's a few teams that perform well in preseason, like the Cowboys that got turned over
SPEAKER_00:week one. I said to you as soon as you messaged me about the Cowboys in preseason, I was like, I didn't really see anything. But I'm basing it off... a little bit of that and and just how i've got they've started david feet on the bench which is quite an interesting call um but just how attacking bulldogs can be like they they dominated dragons for a decent 15 20 minute period where the dragons couldn't respond and i think again they've learned from last week and and to shut out games i i think the dogs it's going to be it's at belmore as well so
SPEAKER_01:all right i am expecting big like the titans i feel have strengthened well enough um in regan campbell gillard as well in their pack that's why i think this one's going to be a bit tighter than i think it's going to be a good fixture i think it could be it's going to be a close one yeah um and but like you said i think the bulldogs have got too much the fact to sit belmore the old belmore barmy army are going to be it's going to be back in behind the boys at 6 15 on a sunday oh A few sore heads on Monday for sure. And there's going to be a few sick calls, especially if the Bulldogs win big. Hopefully no pies thrown at Bulldogs fans this week. But anyway, so I'm going Bulldogs in that one. You're going Bulldogs in that one. Yep. Brilliant. Well, I think another great weekend of the NRL coming up. Looking forward to seeing how the Seagulls are on Friday. And then we've got the final round of the Six Nations coming up. And I think that's the end of like the international sports weekend. Brilliant. Brilliant. We'll make sure you keep an eye on the socials. We'll post up regular content to keep updated with predictions. But thank you for tuning in to this one and we'll catch you in the next one.
SPEAKER_00:It's been a pleasure.