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!
Farewell to a Brookvale Legend: Cherry-Evans's Exit and Manly's 40-Point Statement
Manly Sea Eagles captain Daly Cherry-Evans has announced he's leaving the club at the end of 2025, creating a stir throughout the NRL community with his early season bombshell.
This isn't DCE's first controversial contract decision – he previously agreed to join Gold Coast before backflipping to stay at Manly. The timing of the announcement could affect team chemistry with the Sea Eagles coming off a dominant 40-point win BUT rememeber, no player is bigger than the club, as demonstrated by legendary coaches like Sir Alex Ferguson
Our Round 3 NRL review highlights several standout performances:
• Storm edged Panthers in thriller with both teams scoring five tries
• Warriors defeated inconsistent Roosters to continue their strong home form
• Broncos overcame Cowboys despite not hitting top gear
• Sharks professionally dispatched Rabbitohs
• Tigers continued their resurgence with victory over Dolphins
• Titan's physicality proved too much for Knights
If you're enjoying our content, please like and subscribe, and let us know your thoughts on the DCE situation in the comments below.
Hello and welcome to another episode of. They've Been Doing it All Day, sir. I'm Ben and I'm Chris. What a 48 hours it's been for Manly fans. Let's get stuck in.
Chris:How's your week been, mate?
Ben:Not been great, actually Not been great. It's been very up and down, and what makes it worse is on the way to filming this. Well, not on the way, sorry. Prior to filming this, I decided to wolf down a pizza out of the oven, didn't let it cool down. I feel like I'm currently developing a lot of blisters in my mouth. Yeah, so we'll struggle through this, but yeah, how's your week been?
Chris:Yeah, good, yeah, sound not much on, to be honest, just rolling. Day by day, pretty chill, to be honest, nothing mental. Day by day, pretty chill, to be honest, nothing mental. Just recovering from the news of what came out yesterday.
Ben:Yeah. So for anyone that hasn't heard the news, daily Cherry Evans has announced that he's leaving the Manly Sea Eagles at the end of the 2025 season. It's been a bit of a circus in the last 24 hours, with news being broken around. I think it was about six o'clock on Monday, and then he was on the 100% Footy show at nine o'clock, and then Manly CEO Tony Mastroff came out this morning, had a presser and there's offers, counter offers. It's all a bit up in the air, but what's your initial thoughts on it?
Chris:um, it's, it's weird, um, because, being from the uk and you used to how transfers and everything work in the uk tends to be around well over halfway through in this, the season close to sort of the end of the season, when this sort of news gets dropped. Yeah, it's never sort of second week in a third week in um, so yeah, it's a bit bit of a strange one. Um, obviously he's been an absolute legend for the club.
Ben:I've been reading that this isn't the first time this has happened, though a lot no, I did a bit of research into this and like this is goes to show like how inexperienced we are at knowing manly's history.
Ben:But 10 years ago, before we signed this contract that he had now, there was a bit of a debacle with him agreeing to sign for the gold coast titans I don't know how much it was for, but I think it was quite a long-term deal.
Ben:And then he, in the 14 day or 10 day cooling period, manly counter offered that and he it got announced that he was going to the titans. Obviously all the fans hated him, stuff like that, um, and then he backtracked and he actually signed with Manly for 10 years and Manly made him one of the highest paid NRL players around for a sustained period of time. But it's certainly an interesting one. And just to go on a point that you were talking about there, what's different for us here, different from our experiences in the UK, is that there's two transfer windows that take place in the UK. So you have a lot of speculation in the lead up to January, which is when one of the transfer windows happens, and then a lot of speculation happening around the summer, when that transfer window happens. You never really get anyone coming out and announcing that they're leaving?
Chris:And doing a press conference around it as well. Like going straight to a media outlet and um going, yeah, I'm leaving, I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna accept any counter offer. Um, look from a team point of view. There's two sides to it. It's right. Is he going to give his everything for the rest of the season? Um? Is he going to give a hundred percent? Is he depending on season? Is he going to give 100%, depending on what he does with Origen as well? Because he said he's unsure about whether he's going to put his name forward for Origen selection. There is a part of me that's now like right, let's just drop him. Paying him a million dollars. You can't be dropping him.
Chris:Well, why? Because you've got to blood someone in and you can't. If you start doing it now, we'll start doing it to the back end of the season. You start bringing in the likes of jerry walsh, who's there um, on ony tony large, I think as well the young lad from the tigers who's who's? Entitled to be an incredible um halfback. Start bringing them through, because then when it gets into next season they're not starting week one so far behind and trying to find their feet even.
Ben:Yeah, but even though performances have been erratic over the last three weeks, we are still yeah, I will say one of the one of the title contenders behind the storm and panthers, so you can't be losing an asset like cherry evans. And what's really weird was after the uh game on sund Sunday, which we'll touch on later great performance by Manley. But he came out into the press conference and there was talk around are your future the decision? And he said people would know soon. He's been transparent with the club. It's been ongoing conversations. It's come to light, though the the club knew back in December he was, he had made his decision not to move on, and there's talks that Manly were waiting for other teams to make offers contract offers to him before Manly would make an offer. Now is this poor management from the club? Should they have offered him 1.5 million for two years back in December, or I don't know? It just seems like a bit of a mismanagement and they're kind of chasing their mania, chasing their tails today as well. In in the offer.
Chris:Yeah, and the thing is with, with playing the waiting game, you can get to the point where it is now, where they're just it'll just turn around and go. No, I don't want any sort of offer, um, where if you, if they'd have gone in straight away, gone 750 over well, 750 a year, it could have been done and dusted there and then and he could be playing for manly for the next two years. Um, he has also previously mentioned that he would like to end his career at redcliffe, so and there was something that came out a couple of weeks ago.
Ben:That was that news that he'd love to go up to redcliffe and finish there, and it's also been touted a few times today and you know what?
Chris:I wouldn't be angry at that like he's. He's going to end his career at his boy boyhood club, where he grew up, and there he grew up. So it's, it's not horrendous in that side of things. Um, also, as we've we've discussed at games as well, they need to sort out their priorities because money, unlike football, isn't going to set you up until you retire.
Ben:It's still a lot of money that they earn, don't get me wrong, but they're not earning 30-40 grand a week nah, but I'm pretty sure, from all accounts, cherry Evans is a very, very smart man and he comes across like that. He comes across like calculated, measured in terms of what he's doing. He will have his finances sorted. The guy lives in in cocoa. He's not short of a bit of cash. But the biggest thing for me is like his family have been bought his, his daughters have been bought up around here. Yeah, is he gonna uproot the family and move? Or I don't know. Is there something along the lines of he wants the house renovated and he wants to move out for a year and then come back? Something along those lines? So move up to Queensland, have a little swan song, because one thing Tony Mashtoff said as well is that he's been promised a coaching role.
Ben:So it just begs to think is he coming back? Is he going to go and come back?
Chris:Will he think like is he coming back? Is he going to go and come back? Will he be received? It'll be interesting to see how he's received on sunday against, against the eels yeah, for people who will be with him and stuff like that. I think it's a bit over the top. He's, he's. I know there's been a lot of talk of oh, he hasn't delivered anything, he hasn't brought the team into the, the finals or they have.
Chris:He's only won one premiership in a great side and it's like, well, yeah, but one one player isn't going to win you a championship, like nathan cleary turned up against um broncos in that final fantastic. But also there was another 12 men, even more from from the subs, working their asses off to be able to put him in positions where he can't do that, and it's a whole season as well. So, yeah, it'd be interesting, as you say, to see what it's going to be like against the Eels.
Ben:I hold no animosity for the guy I've not known Manly for long enough, but obviously, since I've been a fan for three years, he's been a stalwart. He's been, if not, the best player in the team consistently. But this reminds me very much of Frank Lampard leaving Chelsea. So, for those that might not know, chelsea had a high scoring midfielder that played from the early 2000s all the way to the mid to late teens Is that what they refer to? That section of the, the 20 2010s? Um? And he decided that he was going to leave and he signed and he went to america and played in america. Now there's an option that cherry evans could go to europe and play for.
Ben:I don't know catalan or play in the super league, but the the hardest thing for me when lampard left was he came back and he joined a rival club. He joined manchester city and the worst thing was seeing him score an equaliser against Chelsea. Chelsea were in the title race at that time and he kind of squashed that and I'm hoping that DCE doesn't tarnish his legacy at Manly by going and playing for the Roosters, which is a place where he's touted. He could potentially go. He would be going there for the money and to win a championship.
Ben:Now does that say he doesn't think manly can win a premiership if he goes to if he goes to the dolphins. I think that's more of a suitable suited home, because it's where we begin playing playing the sport. But it's interesting to see how this situation develops because there is still an offer on the table for him. Yeah, but he just he said he's politely going to decline it. I think it's been a very professional way of handling it, even though it's been a bit of a circus, having him coming out to the media, being clear with the team that he's going to do that, having the team then come out and speak very openly about how it's all been handled, considering there was not like over the last two weeks it's been building and building. I think it's come to a point where hopefully it can be squashed and manly can just focus on the season ahead and try and push for that top eight spot.
Chris:I just I just find it baffling. It's so early in the season that it's all come out because, because you, you then don't know what the knock-on effect of it is going to be, um and we got the eels this weekend and you know it's just got banana skin written all over it.
Chris:It's just poor timing, like the Eels are starting to come and now are the players' heads going to be in it or is it going to be worrying about sort of? Yeah, it's just weird, weird timing for me about around it all and I don't know why they couldn't origin where yeah he might not be here and you can start then seeing other position, other players possibly take his, taking his role and things like that um, but look, it's a standard old saying manly, we're here before daily cherry evans, manly will be here after.
Ben:No players is bigger than the club. Yeah, and and agree more. And that comes from, I mean, the great examples of sir alex ferguson in man united telling roy keen off, you go, you're not bigger than the club david beckham arguably the most recognized name in world football. Like see you later. You're off. So, and cristiano ronaldo, I think, got the same treatment as well.
Chris:I think was another one yep, stam.
Ben:So it just goes to show that no matter what impact you've had on a club, you, when your time's up, your time's up. And Manly said what was promising to hear is hearing Mastrov say we've got a succession plan in, we've got people that we want to target and likes of Tyrone Wishart, apparently at the Storm, and Lockie Galvin Would love to see him there with Luke Brooks. It's a little Tigers reunion. You never know, but we'll see how it goes. But if you're enjoying our content so far, please make sure to give this episode a like and subscribe. It's great to hear your thoughts around the DCE situation, so leave a comment below and give us a thumbs up. But let's look at round three, the review of round three.
Chris:Let's get into it.
Ben:Now I don't mean to brag here, yeah, but I went eight for eight. You did, I got the perfect round. Congratulations, I got the perfect round, congratulations, thank you. You didn't do too bad yourself. You got six out of eight.
Chris:Yeah, but technically I went five because I forgot to put my tips on. So I actually only went five for eight in theory, but in the world of the podcast I actually went six for eight. So, yeah, it was quite nice to see that. Always get your tips in, bubba. Yay, yeah, we'll get into what sort of happened there and I might actually just put put the tips on straight after this so I don't forget yeah, sensible choice, but with the last thursday what a game to kick it off, incredible, very eventful.
Ben:We had the storm beat the panthers 30 to 24. A lot went on in this game and it's had. I think it will have an impact on kind of how we view the Panthers and the storm for the rest of the season. But what did you think of of this game?
Chris:It was just it was, it was the. The storm just couldn't get away. There was, there was moments where they were starting to build the momentum, but then the Panthers would just come straight back into it and, if I'm being perfectly honest, didn't expect the panthers to continue playing like they did without cleary. Yeah, um, but again that goes back to what we've we've said all the time having isaiah yow at first receiver completely changes your, your sort of system.
Chris:He then, drops into that playmaking role. He's, he's starting to see, see things, and it gives the halves an extra couple of seconds to read what's happening in front of them, to then be able to play them.
Ben:And to give young guys a little bit extra time to slow the game down a bit for them to read a little bit, but also cause problems for the Storm. He's an absolute commander general. Yeah, I love him.
Chris:He's so good, he's brilliant.
Ben:He's a shoo-in to be uh new south wales captain this year.
Ben:Yeah, I think, he's so good, um, and look, it was an accident how clearly got knocked out, but it looked pretty bad, like he was in a bad way when he was on one knee on the floor and from that point I I think melbourne thought you know what? They've not got dylan edwards. They've got not got nathan cleary, they've. They've not got jerome luai. I think we're going to be all right and we're going to cruise this and I think they they took their foot off the pedal, um, and then jerome hughes breaks his hand, the key moment in the game. He went for a 40 20 and it went out on the fall. Or he went for a long kick and it went out on the fall and that gave the panthers time to get back into it. And like silly mistakes as well from nelson asofa solomana yeah, breaking nick meanie's cheek as well, like friendly fire.
Chris:The guy's just a loose cannon but um, the way he went into that tackle it was just unnecessary. He didn't need to go in the way he did um, which then creates the massive, the massive issue.
Ben:The biggest takeaway of this game for me is that they both scored five tries. Yeah, but because, um, the panthers were out without?
Ben:their kicker and, to be fair, a lot of their tries were scored in the corner and it was alamotti that was taking the kicks and he just didn't have the leg. Um, he wasn't good enough to to make those kicks and that was. That was the deciding factor that they didn't get the conversions. But considering they'd lost arguably the best kicker in the league, the fact they both scored five tries, it just goes to show. Hang on.
Chris:Going up by six. I feel like I'm saying it every week. The massive difference it does put going up by six is mental, especially when in close games like this you need to be taking every chance that you get. I think there was some good performances from the Storm as well. You've got Harry Grant with sort of the most tacklers. He's just I've got again. I never really get the hate around Harry Grant. I quite like him. He's a good player. He just doesn't stop.
Ben:I don't think there's much to hate about a lot of Melbourne's players. It's just the fact that they play for Melbourne. I genuinely think that's the reason why you have to hate them.
Chris:But he's just. He'll put his body in the way of anything.
Ben:I think it was the.
Chris:What was it? The Payne-Haas in the? I think it was the third game of Origin. I think it was the third game of Origin where DCE did a long kickoff from the line, from the try line, and Spencer was it Lenu? I think it was Spencer Lenu had about a 30-meter run-up and went flying in and Harry Grant put his face where no one wanted to go and he put in a great hit.
Ben:There's a lot of chat at the moment about players feigning injury and going down easy, and a few conversations have come out around Liam Martin's grab of his ankle after Munster hip dropped him. Now, I'm no expert in the rules of knowing what a hip drop is, but that is arguably one of the most textbook hip drops that I have ever seen performed and nothing's come out from it. You got put on report but there's been no judiciary, there's been no fine, no ban, and what surprises me is it are they judging the effect of a hip drop on the?
Ben:injury, that's caused from it. Can you only get a two game suspension if you've properly rolled up on someone's ankle? Because to me, if you watch it back, he shifts his weight, he's holding on to his hips, wraps his legs either side of leo martin's trailing leg and just hangs off the back of him. Now he's lucky he didn't break his ankle, but it seems to me, yeah, it's the injury that they're going on, not the the actual action sometimes can like change a referee's decision.
Chris:I remember when martin tyler martin taylor snapped um eduardo's leg in half and, to be fair, it wasn't that bad of a tackle. It was back back then. Back then in 2007, it was just above the ankle, which you know would have been a prime leg snap which no, but it would have just been a booking.
Ben:Yeah, but because of his ankle was holding on by the thread of his socks.
Chris:Yeah, it was. It was a red, it was a red card, um, and it'd be a shame if, if that's what have players have to start doing is feigning injuries.
Ben:I think that's why we've seen the decisions and like when you see the crusher tackles on the neck I can't remember who faked one this weekend, um, but someone did go down holding their neck but then carried on for two, two tackles after running in hard. So it's a bit. It's something they need to stamp out and I think they did it at the start of season. They said they were going to stamp it out. But how do you, when they take head knocks and crusher tackles and hip drops, seriously, people are going to play the rules. They need to find a way to figure this out. But Storm beating the Panthers, I think the Panthers will be happier walking away from that result Even though they've lost Storm, have got two points on the board.
Ben:The Panthers can walk away going. We know we've got strength in depth should we need it, and Blaise Salagi making his debut.
Chris:Yeah, didn't look too. Wasn't amazing, wasn't I?
Ben:think I heard something earlier that Ivan Cleary said here's your jersey. Not quite sure where you're going to be making your debut, but you're kind of like, at the moment, a utility player for where we need you, and he stepped in.
Chris:stepped in when he needed to yeah, so fair play to him. I'll take it after that.
Ben:On to the Friday game, the first game over in New Zealand game over in new zealand this is one that we tipped different it was I went for the warriors, you went for the roosters. Warriors won this one 14, 16.
Ben:Very defensive game yeah, very defensive game and I think this tells the story of kind of where the roosters are at. Maybe that they're not bad when all players are on the field in terms of like radley's, not out crichton's there, but going forward I'm not sure they've got much. In the attacking department there was some heroics, don't get me wrong, from Roger Tua Varsashek stopping Dom Young late on, but he's massively warm on there as he's torn his hamstring, be out for a number of weeks. But Roosters, I can't really get a grip on where they're at.
Chris:I don't know either. To be honest, with what they've got out there as well, you would expect them to be scoring a lot more tries. They've got a very good attack, they've got a good pack and it was just light and day compared to how they played against Panthers. Again, it's travel coming into it. They're having to go over to Auckland. It just it's just going to be a frustrating.
Chris:I think it's going to be a frustrating season for the for roosters fans if this is what you're getting if you're getting in a top tier performance one week and then a below par performance the week after.
Ben:Um, it's mad how the um media storm around brandon smith can be can be, squashed in one week when cherry evans decides to take the limelight of that.
Ben:So at least I mean he's off to the bunnies which that could be another one, talking about players that have switched to rival clubs. But I think they'll want him back when he comes back from his injury and he said he's going to stay he will provide something, whether it's what they need, whether it's that X factor, I don't know. And then is it Sam Walker that's coming back as well. Yeah, sam.
Chris:Walker's to come back at half back and I don't know, to be honest, I can't put my finger on it. They have got, as I said, the players. They're back three, four, arguably some of the best. You've got one of the best finishes in the game in.
Ben:Dom Young. And what do they get? They get turned over by the Broncos. Week one everyone writes them off against the Panthers week two they turn the Panthers over put an absolute shift in. Did that take it out of them? Probably, but then they go to the Warriors, which again it's a short turnaround as well, I suppose.
Chris:When did they play the Panthers? Was it Saturday?
Ben:I think it was Friday night, wasn't?
Chris:it.
Ben:I can't remember, but either way, you've got to travel to New Zealand, which Manny didn't handle too well, and I think going to play the Warriors in New Zealand. It's a different ballgame. They've got a massive following. They absolutely love them and they get behind them. That definitely gives them a bit of a spark.
Chris:And James Fisher-Harris on home turf seems like he's doing better than he is. He's one with the earth and just gets his resurgence.
Ben:Well, I think he took on Spencer Lenu at one point just to say like, come on, then let's have it, and it was a decent, decent collision. But you know, we'll see how they get on. I think the Warriors have got the Tigers this week and the Roosters who have the Roosters got, they've got the Titans. So again two interesting matchups at will.
Chris:They've got the Warriors at Campbelltown as well, so the Tigers at Campbelltown. So that could be an interesting one.
Ben:It could be.
Chris:Considering your theory around Campbelltown.
Ben:We'll see how that one goes.
Chris:Yeah, but no, I think Daniel Tupou put in another good shift in sort of the centres oh, sorry on the wing, but if he's free and then Dom Young had quite a quiet game in sort of he got 150 metres which is quite quiet for Dom Young. So yeah, it be interesting to see whether Roosters can bounce back and actually put in a shift in next week and just completely sort of throws up the tipping because you just don't know.
Ben:The Titans again. We'll get onto them in a bit. They didn't look too bad. But onto the Queensland Derby. We got the Broncos defeating the Cowboys 26 to 16. The Cowboys put the Broncos defeating the Cowboys 26-16.
Chris:The Cowboys put the Broncos on the back foot for the first 15 minutes of this game.
Ben:I thought we were on for an upset at one point. I was like hang on, but it seemed to me that the Cowboys just couldn't break the Broncos' goal line defence down.
Chris:No the Broncos look so strong in defence and I think that, like you said, that's the main difference. The Broncos stood strong when they were under the pump, which, if you've got a solid goal line defence, you can just then try and outscore teams, in the sense of if you can stop a six and then go up to the other end and score a six, that's essentially a 12-point um difference right there, which, which is which is huge um, and it's it's I get put again. You'd have thought the broncos at home, in front of the suncorp, they would have put on a sort of a little bit of a master class, but again they didn't.
Ben:Another poor performance, really so there's two moments, there's two things in this game that really highlighted some things for me. For reese walsh was his 40 20 that even that led to the broncos first score, which they all were like, yeah, okay, can he. I thought, okay, reese walsh is on one here, but he didn't perform. He's he's level at the moment. I don't know whether he's still we've mentioned this before whether he's still reeling from suali taking his head off, but it's like he's almost not playing to his full potential. One and I was listening to the levels podcast is yeah, last night. Is he thinking about the number one jersey for no? Number one jersey for origin in the fact that caitlin ponga is playing so well and he's trying to up his ante for how he's playing, but he's not quite playing.
Ben:He's trying to play something that he's not he should just play his own game and not try and impress and see what he can do um. But he wasn't on um and the broncos don't look like a team. They were around one no, there's one player that. That does look like he's the player from round one, though, and that is pain harsh.
Ben:What a boy I there's not many people in fact there's loads of people that I'd hate to have run it straight on me, but, um, oh, not a chance. Payne Haas, how has the man that is enormous able to accelerate the way that he does, sidestep the way that he does and gas people for pace the way?
Chris:that he does that try that he scored was ridiculous just like a like a skier in the slalom, like just weaving in and out of people like that's what you'd expect from walsh, not not a 120 kilo prop. Who who's just running through people?
Ben:I had a mate back home who he knows a little bit about the nrl. Um, we used to. He's one of the guys I used to kind of talk about man you have and stuff like that. When I come over and the Saturday night game was being shown Saturday morning in the UK and he messaged me going that number 10 is an absolute unit. I was like, yeah, payne Haas, he's an animal and he's a New South Wales blue as well, which makes everything a lot sweeter. But I thought Selwyn Cobbo ran well again. He's just so physical on the wing. He's such a big boy, yeah. But there's talks about I mean talks of speculation that he could go to full back. He took a few um deep balls he took a few deep balls.
Ben:So maybe a little switch up and I agree with Willie Mason in what he says if, if Reece Walsh wasn't Reece Walsh, the, the brand, the image, being paid he would be on the bench. Yeah, he's not performing at the level he should be, and it surprises me that mcguire's sticking with him. I mean, we'll see what happens this weekend. I think it's another, isn't?
Chris:oh no, the cowboys have got the dolphins, but it'll be interesting to see how he goes again this weekend yeah, and that's quite an interesting point, and I'm sure I've watched cobo play full back previously because I think, um, there would have been a point last year maybe. Yeah, when Walsh has gone off injured previously, I think when Walsh was out for however long it was yeah after being put in six foot under yeah, um, which it'd be.
Chris:Imagine that him, coming off the the defensive, the deep kicks. He's a big boy, he's, he's, yeah, but it's literally a back fence every time you, uh, you, you kick to him it is another queensland derby this weekend.
Ben:The broncos have got the dolphins, so it will be, and that's it, the sun corp, even though it's an away game for the broncos home game and I think to draw the crowd. Just interesting to see how the broncos go um. They've got to respond.
Chris:Yes, they won, but the cowboys looked a lot better and I wonder if they're starting just to get into their rhythm a little bit. And it was quite interesting, I was reading something around Manly, when they last went to the I think the last went to the finals or something like that they lost the first three games of the season.
Ben:The Cowboys you said Manly.
Chris:No, no, I know what I'm talking about, sorry, cta. Three games of the season and then went on the cowboys.
Ben:You said manly, no, no, did.
Chris:Oh, I don't know what I'm talking about, sorry, cta hasn't set in just yet because I know the cowboys did the same thing in 2015 yeah, so where they went, and then manly went on to win 16 out of 21 games.
Chris:So it's you can't count teams out too late, too early I'm not saying that the cowboys are going to go on an incredible run and and go and defeat for the majority of the rest of the season, but it's there and I've started to notice that in teams who are starting to click a little bit. It looks like they were on the beach for the first two weeks, but this has been the first week where you're starting to actually see their sort of little patterns of play Players are starting to step up a little bit, so it'd be interesting to see where the cowboys can sort of go from that I agree, I can
Ben:back up this performance with a, with sort of a win next week yeah, I agree the the cowboys definitely look better, and that 15 minutes at the start made me think if they can stick it on the broncos and the pressure. They just need to find the ability to get through that line, break through that line and get those finishes. But on to the next one. Now I'll be honest with this one sharks, rabbit o's. Sharks beat the rabbit o's 27 12. I didn't watch much of this so I'm not too okay with what went on, but one stat that did stick out is jamie humphries, the absolute. I know we spoke about him last week. Love the man. The absolute rig that is um made 47 tackles in one half of football.
Ben:Now I think that reflects that potentially reflects one how attacking and dominant the sharks were in this, in this fixture. But and they and they potentially were targeting jamie humphries, as some reports suggest that his defensive capabilities are one of the reasons why manny let him go um, and they were testing that. But to make 47 tackles in what in one half is uh, is a bit of a showing. But yeah, the the 15 minutes or so, I think I watched this. You summed it up perfectly in your in your pre.
Ben:Yeah professional win it was just a professional win. They, they moved the ball well. Their front, their pack were physical.
Chris:They got it out wide and yeah, the sound space the sharks always do just give off that, that aura of just a professional team when they're clicking and they're just going through their gears. They are a very good team to watch. They're very good at the basics. They don't try and overcomplicate things, which again we've previously talked about in the sense of you've got systems in there that help the players, and it does help. They've got some absolute big boys that can run it straight and then set up the backs to be able to do what they can do. It was nice to see Nico Hines having a bit of a better game as well.
Ben:Yeah, starting to find his feet a bit. I think a bit of pressure off in terms of the New South Wales selection might help him, but the fact that he's settling in and finding a bit of a rhythm it's good for competition. I suppose he could put his name back in the hat yeah, 100 and he's.
Chris:He is a good player and it is.
Chris:It is really. It is such a shame when you do see players up to of his standard have sort of poor starts of the season, when you know how much potential they do have. And I think the origin of two years ago where he he came on out of position and then sort of starting origin last year hasn't really done, hasn't done his confidence very well and you can see the sort of knock-on effect where, as you just said, now he's going to have more of a a backseat, I reckon to to origin selection. Hopefully we see the best of him again and he can just keep building week on week on week on week and then bring the Sharks team to sort of a top four finish. But yeah, jamie Humphries, absolute man, put him a prop.
Ben:I think we're discussing how we can improve this set and we're going to get some big heads, I think. And Jamie Humphries surely, for the love that we show him and the size of his quads, he's gonna be on there. He might have to be one, so we'll make sure to get him tagged in that and see his big head behind us.
Chris:And then one noticeable thing is my favorite little player, jay gray, had a very quiet game what?
Ben:that's one of the things that was mentioned about this. Keep jai Gray quiet and you, they won't do much. Now this is I think I texted you after and said Latrell goes straight back in at fullback because he has a lot more. I think he has a bigger ability to make an impact at fullback when you're breaking lines, when you're keeping people guessing, when you're running a sort of shallow line to find somewhere to cut or make a pass and get it out.
Chris:Yeah, he does add something a little bit more in attack, doesn't he?
Ben:You can't stick him at centre on one side and think, but talking of Latrell Mitchell, actually, you see any pictures of the shape that he's looking?
Chris:in.
Ben:He's looking trim. He's got a fresh trim as well. He's looking like a boy from the hood. He's got that straight fringe trim and he's looking fresh.
Chris:He's ready to come in and do some sort of damage. He is Again another player with such talent just waiting.
Ben:My opinion is that when he comes back, he's going to absolutely light it up. Yeah, he looks like he's got fire in his belly and an origin. Latrell Mitchell is another one to see him Unstoppable, so I'm hoping that one to see him Unstoppable. So I'm hoping that he comes back, lights it up. Rabbit O's got a little soft spots for him just because of Sam Burgess, but don't want to see him do too well.
Chris:But I do like to see Latrell Mitchell playing footy, shutting the haters up and playing well, he gets a lot of unnecessary hate as well, which is a massive shame From some idiots out there.
Ben:But moving on to the next game on the Saturday, it was the Dolphins against the Tigers. This was another one that. No, we went the same in this one. Yeah, we went the same in this one. So we both tipped the Tigers At one point. So the Dolphins sorry, the Tigers beat the Dolph dolphins 30 points to 18 at one point.
Chris:I was worried the dolphins were just going to absolutely put their foot down in this one. Yeah, they did start very strong, um. It was a little bit of that back and forth at the start where they went for try, for try, yeah, um, and then they just they look, they look very good. They had a good, very good 10-15 minute periods, um, but then the tigers came back into it and showed sort of the relentlessness and the resilience that this new Tigers that has been missing.
Chris:Like last season, Dolphins would have ran and ended up putting 30-40 past them, whereas in this year they have that little bit of a not an extra chip on the shoulder, but that extra leadership within the team.
Ben:They've got a man that's been there and done it and he has the ability now that when things aren't going well, he can draw on the experience of what he's learned from the panthers and he can say let's focus, let's keep it going. And they brought themselves back in that and he was a. He was a difference maker. I thought Luai, his creativity, him and Lockie Galvin, but again, this guy who's playing himself into a potential starting spot in origin is Terrell May. He's so good. He's so good. He runs hard yards and he doesn't shy away from contact. No, and he carries the ball. Well, he's performing. I'm hoping he can keep this up. I'm hoping he can keep this up. I'm hoping he can keep this pace up, because I watch his vlogs he's nearly 200 metres running as well.
Chris:That's massive. Again, for a prop, he was like 65 minutes and running 182 metres. That is a shift.
Ben:If you get the opportunity, right watch some of his vlogs. There was a comment there was one after the game that they played last week. I can right watch some of his blogs. There was a comment on there was one after the game that they played last week. I can't remember who they played last week. Who'd they beat last week my mind's gone blank, but anyway it was him eating his post-game meal, right, and I tuned into a vlog thinking it was going to be a vlog that would follow him. Yeah, I read a comment underneath it and it was some guy commented saying I can't believe. I've just watched 16 minutes of a man eating his dinner and smiled the whole way through, and as soon as I saw that I was like right, I'm not going to watch the rest of this, but he's just such a down to earth guy and the fact that he just sticks it on anyone on the football field is pretty good and he's definitely a standout.
Ben:But I'm not going to judge the Tigers just yet. They've had three fairly easy games. They came up against a Knights team that weren't great. Yeah, whoever they played last week, for the life of me I cannot remember. And then they've come up with a Dolphins team who are now, I believe, favourites to get the spoon. So let's see how the Tigers go next week, because they've got a big test against the Warriors. It is in Campbelltown and we'll preview that soon. Yeah, they've got four points on the board, two wins. Interestingly though, I heard earlier they started like this last season as well. Yeah, they did have a good start.
Chris:But again, this goes back to the players that they have in that squad. Now, yeah, I isn't going to let it, let it drop off. And you messaged me actually during this the Storm, it drop off. And you messaged me, uh, actually during this the storm um panthers game. And I reckon if luai was in that team, I reckon, I reckon the panthers could have won that game. Yeah, against the storm because he he not that he was overshadowed by cleary, it just his. His performance didn't stand out because he'd do and have an amazing but Cleary would just top it. And he's showing that Luai can drop into any team and he will create, create, create.
Chris:So I'm interested to see how he goes.
Ben:Staying healthy for the Tigers.
Chris:They don't have much depth, which would kill them.
Ben:No, but Api Corazal, the experience of him at hooker, the way he finished the game, iced the game kind of with that last try noticed one analysis Like this is the thing we're not experts in the game Like we look at it from a complete one rookie point of view and neutral, not knowing much about each position and stuff like that. But listening to the analysis on the Levels podcast where it's Willie Mason and Justin Horrow going through the analytics of things they're talking about, how Api Corocell just identified one player who was absolutely hanging out of his hoop and saw that he was hanging out of his hoop and was like gave it to the big guy the 12 12, I think is the the props name is and like just run at him, yeah, take him out of it and I'll finish it off. And it's experience like that that, partnered with Luai Lockie Galvin's turned into a player Manly, if you're listening, I think he's November, he's open to gonna have they're gonna have a million dollars to to spend in there within the salary cap.
Chris:So um, I it, but that's, that'll be quite rough on Jerry Walsh and and um large in the in the ranks coming up. Do you? Do you spend big? Because then what happens to Brooks? You've got to get rid of Brooks. In a couple of years you get rid of him, but he's been unreal.
Ben:I want to see what the master plan is, but I certainly think he's one person that we should be keeping an eye on.
Chris:I'd love him, I'd absolutely love him. But then, like you said, it's the development coming through the rogue. I'd love him, I'd absolutely love him.
Ben:But then, like I said, it's the development coming through the Rogue one. I heard earlier as well, and I know we're going back to Manly, that is that.
Chris:Turbo might play six next year. Yeah, I heard him, I saw that.
Ben:Turbo at six and Brooks at seven.
Chris:We'll see.
Ben:Anyway, on to the next fixture, which is the second one that we split. Yeah, titans 26, defeat the Knights six.
Chris:If the Knights could have converted in the first 20 minutes, that would have been a 20 points up. It was really frustrating. I'm watching them in their red zone. They just couldn't do anything. I don't know what it was. I think it was a mixture of poor decision making and good defensive work by the Titans which slowed them down, and then, on the counter attack, titans went up and scored and it's like, well, it was just really frustrating from a nice point of view for me the difference was the physicality of the titans.
Ben:They got some big boys up front regan, campbell, gillard, I suppose. Let me take it back from the physical nurses. When they played the bulldogs first hit up of the season every other team had kind of played a game. The Bulldogs had played a game before that and it was a case of blowing the cobwebs out and they still managed to do all right. Attacking against the dogs. It was defensively and I think to me it felt like lungs weren't in. It was a hot day out in. Where were they playing? In Belmore, whereas they've gone home. They're at the Seabus Super Stadium, whatever it's called. They've got a week's worth of NRL game pace in their lungs.
Ben:Regan Campbell-Gillard was firing out the line, hitting everything. Moe Fodowaker put a hit on I can't even remember who it was early on but the sweat got a hit off his head. The Matty John show on the Sunday we were going mental about this hit Big Tino physical as anything. The way he runs into contact and I know I was saying they've got some big boys defensively. But with him carrying the ball he almost takes a stutter step before he goes into contact, leans his whole body forward. Sometimes he does get done with a forearm to the face, but I I would not like to tackle no no, no not at all.
Chris:Um, david, for feet are coming off the bench as well, that's, that's a big thing for him as well, like he's, he's uh, he's a big, big influence coming off, and but I 100 think for for their first try, tino's offload was so forward, it looked so forward I question a lot of passes in the NRL as to whether they're forward.
Ben:It's so bad. What was the one that I messaged you actually? Oh, reece Walsh's pass out to Mariner on the wing. That was as forward as they come. And the line judge is standing right there. He threw it before the 10, and he's caught it after the 10. And I know people say oh yeah, but he's moving forward in the momentum. The guy was moving sideways. There was no forward momentum in this, His hands definitely went forward and no one's picked it up.
Chris:Yeah, there's a few things. It's that and the. When can you start running up from a rock? The inconsistency baffles me, and if you were an alien and dropped on this planet and watching the nrl for the first time and you then watched it again the week after you thought you'd think the rules have changed we'll talk about the manly game in a minute.
Ben:We're going to more detail. But what? Being able to watch a game live and seeing how contentious some of the offside slash we've?
Chris:got such a good view as well. Yeah, from where we are, where?
Ben:we are. It's unreal, but great performance from the titans. I think their speed to burn they've got. They play three fullbacks in the back, so a winger fullback and the other wing are all fullbacks. Whether that'll come back to bite them later on in the year, but at the moment they I thought they looked good against the bulldogs. There was was one kick that they returned against the Bulldogs and then in this they've just got pace. I think they're going to sleep on a lot of teams, a lot of teams actually. Yeah.
Chris:That's not a bad point actually.
Ben:And they're going to cause some problems Playing the.
Chris:Roosters as well, which.
Ben:I'm now getting in my own head about how I'm going to tip this.
Chris:I'm overthinking this. I'm now getting in my own head about how I'm going to take this. I'm overthinking this, I'm overthinking. But anyway, just to go back on that point, you should, your wingers and your fullback should all be able to play wing or fullback.
Chris:You should be able to sort of do all positions because, especially in defensive kicks, the wingers sometimes have to go back, drop back and take the ball. It's, it's, yeah, um, but yeah, let's move on to the eels versus the, uh, the dogs, um, a little bit of a local derby. Uh, addo carr returning returning back and playing against his old team. It was good to see him, like stephen crying was, was into him very early on. I love watching Stephen Crichton. Did you see the?
Ben:passion, though, when Addo Carr went over Already one weekend grabbing the badge, Obviously the first game back as well, since he's getting pulled over by the police. His misdemeanor Just checking his phone or whatever it was.
Chris:Anyway.
Ben:I don't even know the circumstances behind it but he was passionate.
Chris:Um, yeah, it's. I just it's the mentality and what you, what you see on that field is in that passion and that grit and that chirpiness from both sides, it just it then resonates into the fans. The fans get behind it and it's, it's what the the passion of sport that I absolutely love, but into sort of a second one. Zach Lomax put the eels on his back in this performance.
Ben:He takes the ball and runs as hard as he can and sometimes I feel sorry for the guy. Like you can never foreshadow what's going to happen the start of the season that the eels are going to have Like we could anticipate that they weren't going to be great, but losing Mitch Moses to an injury, the debacle around Dylan Brown going. He can't control those circumstances, so let me do what I can do. He's over 300 meters with the ball.
Chris:He is a really good player. Yeah, and it's a shame that Mitch Moses isn't there, because I really think they would have been a massive threat combination right there. But again, I think the Bulldogs just had enough in them to just get this one over the line. It was a little bit shaky at parts. The eels didn't go away all game.
Ben:The eels had more metres on the ground, which I thought was really interesting. And then I see this post on social media around Sexton had over 1,000 metres of kick in, but to me I wouldn't be celebrating that. It screams that the Bulldogs were receiving the ball deep and then couldn't get out of their own territory so had to kick it deep often. I don't think yeah, all right, it's broken a record for the most amount of kicking meters in a game, but it screams that hang on, we're not moving the ball.
Chris:What's the?
Ben:issue here. Not having Burton, I think, is big on that and it'll be interesting to see I haven't got the stats up in front of me, but seeing how many return meters the Eels got, because Kikau is one of those players that runs downfield and chases every kick. But if Sexton got over 1,000 meters, imagine how many meters Burton would have got because that guy has a leg on him.
Chris:Yeah, and I picked up on that. Actually it just reminded me that the kicking was a bit of an issue and they just weren't chasing down as enough, but then the eels would be straight up and stopping the dogs from getting out from their 20-30, which was a great performance. So that could be. Another issue that comes with the dogs is sort of the clearance side of things.
Ben:Dylan Brown doesn't seem to be. Dylan brown doesn't seem to be. His mind doesn't seem to be there. Like I look at, I did I didn't. I didn't watch the game because I was walking down beacon hill road to get to brookie oval.
Ben:But from one of the metrics I look at is how how well a player's performed is the points that they get yeah, the fantasy points, yeah, and he only got 31 points in this game which and lomax, who got the highest points for the Eagles, got 60-odd and I know it's on meters and stuff like that and carries and he's a creative player that's passing the ball, but to get that low points and he's had a bad start to the season. And there was that stat around the win percentage that we mentioned without Mitch Moses is 25%. He's got to put on a performance this year to satisfy Newcastle Knights fans that they're going to be getting $1.3 million over 10 years' worth of player. Otherwise he is going to be under a heap of pressure when he goes up there Straight away and that's not what you want.
Chris:You're looking at what's happened with Nico Hines. When added pressure, players crumble and don't perform. I said it last week that we didn't know where his head was going to be. Is he going to really be dying for that eagle shirt? And present, present evidence doesn't show that. And that's what we said again about just shipping him off early. Just get him, get him out of the club.
Ben:It was said again today on a few podcasts. I should he just go up to newcastle. But moving on to the big one, the best, the big one, that's always the big fortress Brookvale. I love it absolutely love it.
Chris:Why under the lights Sunday?
Ben:evening. Why do we seem to turn it on like there's no other like performance that you've seen like this every time we're at home. But yeah, we, we step away and the inconsistency I I hope doesn't kill Manny. Just one thing before we start, though, talking about Manny Manny lost one of their loyal supporters over the last week, bo Hewitt. I don't know if people saw on social media, but he's a young lad that unfortunately passed away due to a struggle, a fight with cancer. But what was really nice before the game was the whole crowd respected um him and his family, who walked the ball out and kind of gave a minute's round of applause, and it was a bit of a hair raising moment a bit emotional.
Ben:Having young kids myself, I can't imagine what the family are going through. But uh, yeah, he. He came across in all the videos as an absolute legend. He, he lived for Manly. He visited the players. I know the Trubojevic brothers from the social media had a lot to do with him and I think they put that performance on for him. I think that was a motivating factor in that. But onto the game itself it seems like we fixed the errors of what we tried to do against the Warriors. Cherry Evans came up before the game and said he held the responsibility of the loss against the Warriors. We were trying to get it out to our speed men on the outside and didn't really focus on going through the middle. We said it felt like we didn't have a plan B. Well, this week Raiders did a great job of shutting down the outsides and the speed and we went to plan B.
Chris:And straight up the middle and it was fantastic, like I suppose it does show a massive difference in um attack and and what the the plan was, because aliquart, who got the most meters with 227. Uh, again, another, another, uh forward over the weekend so he always falls forward as well.
Ben:The guy's never getting put like on his back.
Chris:I've not seen him being stopped like dead he does keep pumping it, but hopper water is the exact same.
Ben:That boy gets some extra yards like he doesn't stop his legs for a small man like let's be realistic here for an, for a fairly slight individual that's playing at fullback, taking hit ups on from catching deep balls. He accelerates hard and he goes in forward and he is not afraid at all and this is what I mean with turbo. Doubtful, quite a lot of the time I'm I have a lot of confidence in hop or I fall back yeah, definitely um solid start by the raiders.
Chris:Um, they very much had a tactic of slowing the game down which is very evident. Uh, that's why there were so many sort of six again, six agains for for sort of lying on, and we called it.
Ben:We up it up with the guys that we sit with. I think I shouted at one point when someone going to go to the bin and I don't know whether it came across on the tv, but where the six again was were being called what down manly's end, like when they were past the 40, coming out of the, coming out of yardage and kind of that's, where the ref's hand was going in the air sigling six again and the pressure on that just then went down to the goal line and I know there's been a bit of uproar around ricky stewart saying I don't know the rules around blocking and how horsbroke got sent to the bin, but it was just persistent pressure yeah, it was.
Chris:it was a professional foul as well. He wasn't onside, he wasn't set. And he made a hit. Tavanga was going over the line and he stopped him.
Ben:And people are saying there was three other Raiders around him. He was never stopped. If Horsborough wasn't there, tavanga was scoring.
Chris:Tavanga was over the line. Yeah, which? Yeah, it just resulted in the sin bin Again, like last week with Jake Cervojevic. It was just that accumulation, as you said, of consistent penalties Leading up to that point. Rangers were so strong in defence they were stopping everything that Manly could throw at them. There was a lot of time spent down in the Raiders area area and I think at one point someone behind us said about um, about sets. I think manly were up at 30 and I think raiders had completed six or something like that.
Ben:they're quite, quite close to the end of the first half but very fortunate to get away with cherry evans is like interference. It was like the raiders could have gone 6-0 up or 4-0 up. Lucky to get away with that, but as soon as the as soon as the simulator was just.
Chris:The floodgates opened Bullymore. I absolutely love watching Bullymore.
Ben:He just doesn't stop running $34 before the game scored a double. I was never going to put the tenner on no, it's very bold, but I think he was like 12, 12 or 13 to score one and I was going to put that on, which is a shame.
Chris:And then you go back into Sticky Rickard, the Simbins and the Sixigans. But they were very poor at the back and this goes down to Manly's run or kick attack. Is it kick attack or kick defence, where they were coming up and they were putting so much pressure on the back. Three Was it Kai Weeks at fullback that just dropped that ball? He dropped a couple. Yeah, and it's because of the pressure they had.
Ben:Hoppawati in front of his face, oh yeah, the one where Hoppawati was running through it.
Chris:Kalua was in his face and it was just mistakes through it. Yeah, was in his face, um, and it was just mistakes cost them in key positions, and the one that is is absolutely massive and we're still getting our heads around is, if the kickoff goes out on the full, they can they get a penalty at halfway, which then can end up in it's the most unfairly penalized penalty I know it's it's mad, but as, as we then discussed, you're kicking off a tee yeah, you shouldn't really be kicking out of bounds.
Ben:You shouldn't, but it's so unfair that the fact that you've kicked it out of bounds they get a penalty from halfway, which sticks them on the 10.
Chris:You could be down in your own 20.
Ben:And you could concede like twice within two minutes. It's such an unfair penalty but those were the points that escalated.
Chris:This is that there was a lot of key mistakes which the Raiders hadn't been doing. Garrick had a day. Garrick had a great day. He was slotting everything other than the one that he missed Best kicker in the league.
Ben:Interestingly, if he had kicked that, he would have got 30 points and I think that he was asking Cherryans to go for the penalty at the end.
Chris:to kick two to get 32 to break his own record of scoring 30 points in a game I think he only did, he only get 28, he only got 28.
Ben:So he missed two opportunities, or he missed one opportunity to make it 30 and then had another opportunity to potentially go 32 um, but one of the big concerns is the injury to taniela paseka now huge loss ruptured achilles. But one thing I saw earlier which is really surprising now. I thought an achilles was a 9 to 12 month injury.
Chris:They've said that he's expecting to return around week 25, which is could be good to the league up in the lead up in the finals.
Ben:It could be um, but you, the achilles injury is surely one that you don't want to rush back from. No, but he's out for 20 weeks and on that, one of the things I wanted to ask you is have you had any long-term injuries yourself? Um?
Chris:oh, what man? Other than the structure of my face, as I've broken my nose four times, um other than that I've had like trapped, trapped nerves in shoulders, um sort of just reuse injuries, nothing, nothing major in that side of things. There was one point where I was playing American football a couple of years ago and I couldn't lift my left shoulder up from about there. Otherwise I was in absolute agony. But other than that, nothing. But I've I've heard many a time over, many pints of guinness about your story, so would you like to enlighten the listeners and the viewers at home of your long list?
Ben:I'm not going to go into all of them because there's a lot, but my the worst one that I've I've um come back from is I tore my ACL. I had someone fall on top of my knee and it was painful. It was like it wasn't a non-contact ACL injury. It was probably someone falling onto an outstretched leg and it bent back and twisted in a way that it shouldn't have done. It took a while to get diagnosed, though, like originally it was, they test it and they're like yeah, I think it's an ACL, go for an MRI. And then it buckled a bit more when I was, when I was um trying to move out the way of something. I was like, oh, I think I've done some damage here, but had that repaired, um and I kind of.
Ben:It was probably one of the toughest things I've come back from in terms of being out of sport for a period of time and the rehab and having like legs that were fairly strong to then having a quad that looked like a bit spaghetti and having to work back from nothing, not being able to straighten my leg, not being able to bend my leg, having to teach myself how to pull my heel towards my ass and like really force through a pain of stretching.
Ben:If anyone's ever had an ocl reconstruction before, it's not nice. So they reckon. One of the, the one that is similar to that, obviously without catastrophic injury, is tearing your achilles and having that restructured, like they start you at certain angles and then put your in a cast to stretch it and go back. And that was the biggest thing, the stretching of the new ligament in my knee. You had to really slowly force it through its range. Psychologically, what psychological wise, from a my experience, my biggest concern was then planting off my feet, like having the stability in my knee of going left and right. It'd be interesting to see whether persecutor does make it back this year. Because of that, I wouldn't.
Ben:I wouldn't rush him back that reluctance, the reluctance, the reluctance is the word I'm looking for to try and plant your foot in the floor and accelerate off, which is how we've done it. So, yeah, I mean it's good to talk. I love talking about injuries. I've had so many of them so maybe I don't know if it's something people want to hear about, we'll talk about more. But I certainly have a repertoire of injuries that we can go through. But looking back at overall, the, the fixtures, I mean I'm not going to say I'm perfect, but I tip-take for eight. Perfect week for me. But let's get into round four, opening up at the Accor Stadium Ghost.
Chris:Town.
Ben:We are at Homebush. It'll be interesting to see how many people Mind you, it's Rabbit O's Panthers. I think there could be a good contingent of Panthers that come over just to see the potential. It's such a poor stadium to have club rugby at, though it is 90,000 people filled with about 10,000 people, it looks terrible on TV.
Chris:They must be losing money when they open the stadium. But I'm going to go Panthers on this one.
Ben:I'm going to go Panthers as well, looking at the odds of it. The Rabbit, is it time of filming, which is Tuesday evening. The rabbit, oh, is a three dollars 80. Panthers are a dollar 27.
Chris:I think that speaks for itself there yeah, the the Panthers have a very, a very good and very like not I wouldn't say they're going to have a professional win, but I think they're. They've got enough there to to move, move the rabbit. Ohs, um, if they like you, if you keep Jai Gray quiet, it sort of shuts them down a little bit.
Ben:So, yeah, yeah, I agree, panthers, on that one.
Chris:Then Friday night 6 pm.
Ben:we're in the Allianz, so we're going to both Sydney venues in the space of 24 hours. We've got the Roosters against the Titans Now. This is going to be a lot closer than Since we've been talking this through. This is going to be a lot closer than Since we've been talking this through. I've been pondering this one over. The Roosters are $1.47 favourites and the Titans are $2.67. Who are you going to go with in this one?
Chris:I don't know. It all depends which Roosters team turns up, which is the really frustrating thing, because you can't just base it off normal like art rooster, titans, boom as of today as well, when the teams have been named.
Chris:Lindsey collins is still is only on the bench okay, I'm still gonna go with the roosters, though at home, at home, yeah, I'm gonna. I going to go with Roosters. I can't see, when you look at that back line, I can't see how they aren't going to be scoring tries. And the reason why the Titans beat the Knights was because the Knights couldn't convert early on. If the Roosters are able to convert early on and turn some of their chances into sixes, then I think it completely changes the titans mentality. So I'm going to go for roosters, hoping that they score fifth, like three or four tries in the first and get up early.
Ben:Yeah, I'm going to go with you on this one. I would toy in between the two massively. I keep thinking, yeah, but the Titans are physical, they'll stop them. Get them out wide, get them speed. But at home I'm going to go with the Roosters. I think the Roosters have got enough to get it done. And then the 8pm game, another Queensland derby. We mentioned it earlier. We've got the Dolphins against the Broncos.
Chris:The Dolphins are $4.75. Broncos need a turn up. They do. They can't just rock up to this game and think it's going to be an easy win. They need to show what they showed in that week one. Walsh needs to put in over 200 meters. He needs to be creating chances.
Ben:I think Payne Haas could run all over the Dolphins.
Chris:Yeah.
Ben:This could be a massacre if he turns up and is an animal like he has been. Yeah, I don't think the Dolphins have got much, is it Daniel Sife? It's one of the Sife, it's physical, but Payne Haas is someone else. Couple that with Cobbo, patty Kerrigan. Yeah, I can't see anything other than the Broncos win. I'm the same. I think this could be a big win. I think they want to put a statement win on this one. After being a bit shaky against the cowboys, show that they are the best team in queensland, um, and tuck them away nicely. Saturday though cobra oval, 3 pm. Dragons against the storm dragons three dollars 20 storm, a dollar 35 storm. Have lost a few players in this one. Actually, it'll be interesting to see how they line up.
Chris:They've lost jerome hughes, they've lost big nelson um and they've lost nick meanie yeah, all injuries.
Ben:So hume, hughes, broken hand.
Chris:Nelson, oh no, nelson will what will, while brick's back though? More brick, more brick. Um, again, I'm gonna go storm, just because I don't think I've seen enough from the dragons to go. They're going to beat the Storm.
Ben:I love as well that Christian Tupelo has been told to put away the old Tri celebration.
Chris:There's nothing wrong with it, man.
Ben:I don't know, it's a bit when you're losing, it's a bit you don't do it when you're losing but I agree the Storm have got too much. Pappenhausen is still good enough at fullback. It's not like they've lost too much. Cam Munster's still in there Don't know how he's still playing after, not no, nor do I After hit drops. But I think Storm, storm all day Yep Definitely on the same.
Ben:Up to Townsville for the two teams that got 40 stuck on them by the Manly Seagulls 5.30pm up at the Country Bank Stadium Got the Cowboys $2 against the Raiders $1.85. The bookies have this one tight, I'm unsure.
Chris:Yeah, I'm very much on the fence of this one. Very much on the fence of this one. If the game was a lot closer Manly Raiders I think it would have been a quite easy Raiders pick. But seeing how the Cowboys were at the start of that Broncos game and seeing what Raiders are like away, Long way to travel as well. Yeah, it's a bit of travel. I'm going gonna go for a cowboys first win this season yeah, so raiders have lost morgan smithies.
Ben:Um, I don't. I think that's through injury it came out. I'm gonna go with the cowboys on this one. I think at home they're they're gonna have too much for the raiders. Has the loss against manly going to rattle the Raiders?
Ben:as well in the fact that Ricky Stewart's been pretty vocal in the press around the referees decisions. I don't think they're going to get much favors up in Townsville either, so I'm going to go for the Cowboys in this one two dollars. And then Saturday night 7, shark Park Sharks against Dogs, sharks with $1.27., bulldogs with $3.80. And I think that reflects the loss of Burton and Kickow and the performance. Performance of last week wasn't as good as expected out of them.
Chris:Sharks yeah, true professionals. Click through the gears. Just keep things simple. I think dogs will rattle them at times. I don't think it's going to be a plain sailing game, but I do think Sharks are just too good.
Ben:It'd be interesting to see if Curran's going to stick himself in the line and start calling people offside again. For the dogs, spirit of the game, penalties or whatever it is. I think the Sharks are going to have too much through the middle. Adam Faneu Blake.
Chris:The one.
Ben:Thing people say about the Bulldogs is that they're undersized in the forwards but they lack in size. They show in aggression. Losing kick out is a big part of that. He hits anything that moves and he chases down and he hustles and he gets there. The Sharks have there. The sharks have big boys, yeah, and they run hard, uh, and I think out on the wings as well, they have.
Chris:Uh, the wingers name has escaped, me ronaldo.
Ben:Yeah, molitano, he's an animal out on the wing he's a big boy. So, and seeing how the titans scored with relative ease out on the wings, with the sharks big in the middle, I think this will be a pretty comfortable win for the sharks. I actually quite think it could be 13 plus on the sharks, uh, and they could potentially limit the bulldogs in scoring as well. It's the fact that the bulldogs didn't put much on the eels and the eels have had so much stuck on them over the last couple of weeks.
Ben:The that was the worry. So yeah, both going for a shark's win in that Sunday 4.05 pm. Brookie Oval Fortress, brookvale, two-point Brookie Oval whatever you want to call it Manly against the Parramatta Eels. Let me just Manly are $1.14 at the time of filming.
Ben:So this is Tuesday night, like I said earlier. Manly are $1.14 at the time of filming. So this is Tuesday night, like I said earlier, and the Eels are the longest odds of every team at $5.75. It's got Eels win written all over it, it has a scrappy Eels win Fans up in uproar because of DC it's going to be raining as well.
Chris:Turbo's back at fullback as we're chatting away here. One thing I think the Manly did miss last week was his connections in the middle. Yeah, support running, yeah, support running and his quick hands out to the wingers. And who was it?
Ben:who was it. He broke through and we said Turbo would have been there or if Turbo had the ball he would have offloaded it. I can't remember. Can you remember there was a breakaway? It's going to really annoy me and we spoke about if that was turbo, it would have been a try. It would have been a try. And it's going to annoy me who it was, but I mean ethan bullimore is the best ethan bullimore is the best support runner he is at the moment in the nrl.
Chris:He made?
Ben:did he make team of the week? I think he made team of the week this year. I love the guy. I think the guy he's, he's, do you know what? Yeah, I think we should get a Bullymore head up here. Absolute workhorse With Jamie Humphries.
Chris:I think those are the two that we should get, but having Turbo back just adds another layer of attack, and considering how poor I know, they've got Adhokar at one wing it's going to be interesting to see him up against. It would probably be Saab, won't it? Who's put on some size. So let's see.
Ben:I love the physicalness coming from Saab, like he's always leaning forward, he's taking hard carries and leaning forward, if, if he can sort of add a little bit of a physical I mean, the ills have got players right. They got Will Penasini, who's decent Lomax Adhokar Dylan Brown they just haven't, they've got.
Chris:they'll have Lomax and Carr against Saab and Garrick, which we've always thought is the weakest edge, but then you've got Aliquatu in the mix as well. So if. Aliquatu absolutely lays one on Lomax early. I think that could be interesting.
Ben:They've got big forwards Junior Paulo Jermaine Hopgood. But I think one person I have been impressive over the last two weeks is Josh Alloway Massively. From last year where I never had confidence in him carrying the ball. He looks so strong going into contact. It's like I don't know, wasn't it? I know he had shoulder issues last year. Was he not fit? Whereas this year he seems to be running into contact with intent and purpose. And then he's stepping up in replacement of Pasekaca. Paseca, who's out? And then we've got Takiyaho.
Chris:Back fence Brownie. Back fence Brownie. He's going to get a massive cheer as soon as he stands on that back fence.
Ben:I will, and the crowd will go absolutely mental. I mean, how do you reckon the reception is going to be for Cherry Evans?
Chris:I think everything would have settled down by then. I think there'll be some people in there booing and going boo.
Ben:The majority of the crowd. Hopefully the manly faithful will give him a round of applause, acknowledge it and just say, right, let's get on with it.
Chris:There's 12 other players around him. You can't be booing your own team, especially not at the start. But yeah, I've got a manly win for that one. I've got a Manly win for that one.
Ben:I've got a Manly win as well, if any. If recent outings at Brookie Oval are anything to go by, I think Manly are going to score 40 plus just going to throw it out there and then the last last game on the Sunday is an interesting one 6-15 down in Campbelltown, the Tigers $1.57 favourites against the New Zealand Warriors $2.41.
Chris:I don't know.
Ben:I said previously that the Tigers don't do well at Campbelltown, and who is it? They played at Campbelltown the other week. I'm going to tip the Tigers in this. Yeah, I believe that the Warriors losing to Varsclav Szek is a big loss for them. He's an all-effort player, but they do have. Nico Klokstad had a good game last week, got some meters, but this is the thing as well. It's hard to know everything about every team, and I don't know too much about backup Warriors players that are coming in, but I know the Tigers are on the up. The Tigers are doing well. There's a bit of confidence brewing down there, and this is one that I reckon they're going to take.
Chris:I think the Tigers are going to do it. I think I'm just going to go Tigers, because I said I'm going to back them all season and this isn't one where I can go over the. Oh, it's going to be Warriors. Yeah, also, james Fisher-Harris has been disconnected from his connection with the land in New Zealand, so I think he may lose a little bit of power. Yeah, it could be a close one, because Warriors are very good going forward with their backs, so it's good to see Taruva getting into a little bit of a couple of tries a game.
Ben:Doing his little Tiger celebration as well, ripping the chest out of it. I like it.
Chris:Yeah, so it'll be a good Sunday finish, I reckon, and I'm going to go Tigers as well.
Ben:What a weekend of footy we've got lined up. And then just one other subject I want to touch on before we finish the England top. We've got it up here somewhere England's new manager back in soccer, Thomas Tuchel. Thomas Tuchel, yep, Started his reign as England manager, leading them through the World Cup qualifiers Two fixtures over the past week. What was it?
Chris:you texted me on Thursday night last week Should put 15 goals past these two teams If England don't beat.
Ben:Who did we play Albania and Latvia? If we don't beat them 15-0, there's something wrong. Well, we beat Latvia 3-2-0 and we beat Albania 3-0.
Chris:Solid start yeah, yeah, there's a little bit more attacking intent, um, in there as well, which is really good to see and it's good. It's also good to see the reaction from the sideline as well, when players aren't going forward and aren't adding that attacking threat. Um, he was fuming, I think, as you said, with phil phone, and so we're going backwards, yeah, which which is good to see, um, and it's it'd be good just to get these players out of the zombified of modern football of you've got to do a certain role in a certain position just give them the ball.
Chris:Let the boys play and just showcase why they're some of the best talent in the world.
Ben:Yeah, I agree. Good start to the qualifying campaign. Thomas Tuchel was Chelsea manager for a couple of years. Absolutely loved the guy the more you get to know about him. He is just genuine loves football. It's obviously interesting that it's a German taking control of the England national team, but if there's someone that's a tournament specialist, it's that man. He won the Champions League with Chelsea. He's won, he won. He got to the final of every cup that he's been in. He's won a lot of major competitions around Europe. So I think we could be on to one there, but we'll bring it to an end there. If you've enjoyed what you've heard today, hit that like and subscribe button. Comment down below. We'd love to hear your tips. Get involved. Send us questions around what you want us to speak about at the start of uh each episode as well. It'd be good to get some questions in from people listening. But thanks again for listening to another episode and we'll catch you in the next one good night, god bless.