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!
Ep#14 Referee Madness: The Bunker Blunders
Referee and bunker decisions take centre stage as Ben and Chris break down a controversial Round 8 filled with questionable sin-bins and match-altering calls.
The pair dive deep into the fascinating cultural contrast between UK football match days and NRL game experiences, sharing personal stories of the tribal atmosphere at Birmingham City matches compared to the more subdued Australian sporting environment. This discussion frames an insightful comparison of how different sporting cultures create entirely different matchday experiences.
Standout performances dominate the conversation with DCE silencing critics through a masterful display against Penrith, while Payne Haas continues his monstrous form with another 260+ meter game. The hosts debate whether Tom Trbojevic's return truly sparked Manly's improvement or if other factors contributed to their impressive defensive showing.
Canterbury's discipline issues become a focal point as the Bulldogs repeatedly found themselves down to 12 men against Brisbane, raising questions about Tupouniua's high knee contact and whether existing rules are being applied consistently across the competition. This leads to a broader discussion about the impact of the bunker on the flow of games and player safety.
Ben and Chris offer their insights on potential Magic Round upsets, with both backing the resurgent Raiders to defeat the Storm in what could be the match of the weekend. As they look ahead, they question whether Penrith can recover from their shocking start and if they're genuine wooden spoon contenders in 2025.
A must-listen episode for fans wanting to understand the tactical shifts, referee controversies, and evolving team identities that defined Round 8 and will shape the competition moving forward.
Hello and welcome to this week's episode of. They've Been Doing it All Day, sir. I'm Ben and I'm Chris. Let's hope we put in a better performance than the referees over the weekend. Let's get stuck in.
Chris:How's your week been, mate?
Ben:Yeah, it's been pretty good Long weekend. Anzac Day weekend Took the family down to Kiama. We had a wedding down on the coast down there. Some unbelievable views. Probably one of the best venues for a wedding that on the coast down there Some unbelievable views, probably one of the best venues for a wedding that I've been to. It was really good to get the family nice and dressed up and celebrate the marriage of my wife's cousin. So yeah, it was really good. Good weekend, what about yours? I noticed you're wearing a Birmingham City jersey there.
Chris:Yeah, thought I'd shake it up a little bit. Birmingham officially lifted the League One trophy Monday morning I stayed up to watch it. A big Mansfield Town 4-0. Absolutely fantastic performance in front of a packed St Andrews. So yeah, I thought I'd wear the jersey with pride. We've beaten the League One record for points.
Ben:How many have you?
Chris:won now 105. Nice, nice. So we've got. The next one is the efl points record, which is 106. So we've got two games left and tough away game to blackpool. Actually we'll, we'll, we'll see what comes of that. Um, but yeah, other than that, had a good day out on saturday yeah, nice one which was which was, uh, backed up with a fantastic performance over at the Combank. So we'll talk about that a little bit later, but other than that, it's been pretty chill.
Ben:Yeah, so we went to, travelled out to Parramatta for the Manly or Penrith versus Manly fixture. Not the first away day that we've been to We've been to a few but the first time that we've seen Manly win away, which is something at least we can tick off. But comparing away days to the UK, how do you feel they compare with what we experienced on Saturday Although it's not Penrith's home ground, I know and maybe an experience or some experiences from a Birmingham away game?
Chris:It's massively different.
Chris:It's a lot quieter in that sense and with, I suppose, with it being a lot of the NRL teams of different parts of Sydney, it's not as big as when, like, for example, birmingham, travel down to London.
Chris:You're met at the train station by police, you're escorted to the designated away pub, you have a few drinks in there and then you get escorted to the ground, which is completely different to what happens here. You don't realise anyone's going to a game until they get off at the stadium. If someone's not in a jersey, you wouldn't have a clue where they're heading, whereas if you're on a train on a Saturday, you've got a good idea of who's not in a jersey. You wouldn't have a clue where they're heading, whereas if you're on a train on a Saturday, you've got a good idea of who's going to a football game, because they're the ones that normally have got three crates of Stella between three of them at seven o'clock in the morning. They're definitely heading somewhere for the day, but now it's a little bit quieter. It's something that I will always hate. Out and away game is when you sat there and the home team scores and you see most of the stadium it does. It's a horrible, horrible feeling.
Ben:There was a point on Saturday as well, where Penrith scored to go ahead, but it was thankfully disallowed. And you know what? It's one of those ones where you stand up and you're like, oh no, not everyone around me giving it some, especially as we were giving it a bit as well before.
Chris:Before that happened, you have to indeed, but one of the things.
Ben:I post up a photo on instagram on our instagram account.
Ben:Follow us along. It's uh, they've been doing it all day, sir, on instagram and all socials. But, um, yeah, put a little caption underneath it from an iconic film from back in the day which anyone of our generation uh, maybe a little bit older, a little bit younger could relate to is the Football Factory, probably the film that I watched the most growing up. I genuinely reckon I've watched the film close to 100 times. But I thought you know how would I explain the Football Factory to an Australian audience? And I thought you know what. Let's use AI to help me with this.
Ben:So I put in chat GPT how would you explain Football Factory to an Australian? And it came out with this it's set in working class London. It paints a raw picture of masculinity, tribalism and identity, kind of more like an aggressive version of Chopper. Have you seen the film Chopper? No, it's actually a good one. It's about I forgot the name of the guy, but he's in prison. He was one of Australia's most prolific gangsters and he's in prison, but it's chopper with club rivalries you'd see in AFL. And one thing that did make me think of is there are a lot more rivalries and fan kind of rivalries in AFL compared to the NRL and the crowd sizes probably have an impact on that and it certainly sets up more of a raucous atmosphere inside of the stadium.
Ben:But it says here rivalries you'd see in AFL, but on steroids and with a heavy dose of UK street culture. The film is less about the football and more about the culture around it, and that's an important thing.
Ben:The away day is all about the culture. It's all about getting together with your mates to watch a team you support, having a few beers, maybe a bit of aggro here and there, um, as you're doing, but yeah, it's uh, one of the films that when I was growing up I yeah remember watching loads, as well, as green street came out after that as well.
Chris:Two, uh two absolute cool classics right there. Charlie dunham's horrendous attempt at doing a company accent as well. You do grow up watching it. The thing is, I imagine that's what it was a little bit more like in the 80s and 90s when you go follow away, whereas now everything is just so policed. You can't really separate other than the big incidents like what happened at Wembley in the Euros final. There's the odd scuffle here and there. It could be a little bit, but it's not like that. The meet-up still may happen so far. Detach from it all that you do hear about it sometimes. I remember one game, one home game actually. I think it was around Easter years ago now and Millwall had travelled up to Birmingham.
Ben:Toasty, toasty.
Chris:And it was on an anniversary of someone's death or something. And you saw something had been planned, because the Millwall about 70 minutes the Millwall away and just disappeared. A load of them had left and a lot of the boys in the Blues end, the Blues stadium as well, had started dispersing and you're like, oh, it's all going to go off here, kick off somewhere, which might have happened. But then me and my mate we went into the town to have a few beers after, and then when we're on the train back to to our area, you could see the. The fans had just been left out, let out the stadium, and they've been marshalling down like cordon after corner after cordon and that's. That's a massive sort of difference to to how it is over here, and then, compared to the films is it's pretty similar you get locked in the, you get locked in the away ends. Yeah, you have a lot of beers with your mates and stuff like that.
Ben:Definitely tribalism, though. Yeah, massively, it is a huge tribalism factor and men just being overly stereotypical, aggressive individuals Simulated. Yeah, one thing I thought about this if there's any Australian film or any Australian kind of cult, films growing up.
Ben:Yeah, let us know down in the comments below, because there's certainly some things that we could watch along and understand, kind of. I don't know if there's any AFL films out there that might backdate that we could watch, but yeah, give us your suggestions of what we can look at. But let's get stuck into the fixtures from last week and talk about our performances of the round. So who did you pick this week for your top performer?
Chris:I think I went very. I was very biased with this one, actually Not going to lie, just because of what's been happening the last few weeks and the circus surrounding the man I've gone for DCE. He honestly on Saturday looked like a different player he did. He was a lot more confident in what he was doing and me and you had a very continued conversation throughout the whole day of the addition of Turbo into that and I just wasn't having it.
Ben:Yeah.
Chris:Because a lot of the stuff that had happened previously was not Turbo related. It was missed passes and stuff like, whereas everything he was doing was just on point. Um, he just led the tack extremely well. I had two try assists, a massive, huge try, saving tackle and talangi um right, he knocked.
Ben:Ah. So hoppawattie came in and knocked the ball out as well after he done that. Yeah, that could have swung the momentum of the game massively, massively.
Chris:Um stopped the momentum there and he just, he just led how he normally leads, um, which which was incredible to see, and especially against a team like the panthers. Yes, they've, they've been on a horrendous run this year, but you can never sleep on them. Yeah, um, you've always got to be performing. You're fine. And he's kicking to Alaquatu as well, like the Alaquatu chase, and that was. I went a bit mental when that went over, but yeah, that's mine. I do have to give a little shout out to Cobbo, though.
Ben:Shifting to fullback, he was incredibly impressive he was everywhere and he was running the ball hard. He, yeah, I think he's going to give Michael Maguire something to think about when Reece Walsh is fit.
Chris:Well, if you've listened to pretty much all of them, we're not Reece Walsh's biggest fans here, so in my mind it's a no-brainer. Shift him straight into fullback. He just adds so much more back there and it's like someone coming off the back fence every time he returns a kick For sure. Who did you go for?
Ben:Similar every time he returns a kick, for sure. Who did you go for? Similar sort of vein actually. A lot of media scrutiny around this individual, a lot of stuff going on with the club, a lot of lawsuits, outspoken players, but I think Lockie Galvin turned up for the Tigers this weekend and for a minute one. In fact it was early in the game, but he provided an offload assist for the opening try, which was great, and in similar fashion towards the end of the game, try-saving tackle on. I can't remember the prop's name.
Ben:Yeah, big old boy Headband around his head His name's going to do my head in, but yeah, stops him within inches of the line they whip it out. And then another try saving tackle by someone else, um, on the wing, and if it wasn't for that, the sharks go ahead and win the game. Um, but yeah, lucky galvin. For me, I think, was the performance of the week. Uh, a lot for a young 19 year old to go through. It's a ton it is.
Ben:But also, how much pressure is his manager putting on him? Like, obviously he wants to do right for his family and I just he, he put it all behind him went out there number six on his back, or was it seven? Seven on his back? Yep, seven on his back, and just put a solid performance in. So yeah, mine is Lockie Galvin this week, unreal. And then my flop of the round. It's been talked about everywhere, so it doesn't. I don't feel like I'm doing anything new. But the bunker, the involvement of the bunker over the weekend Now I could say the referees, but I don't think it's the referees' fault, it's the pressure being put on them by the bunker. To One that gets me is when they go back four, five, six tackles or whatever, and then call something that is just a brush on the chin or one of those ones where how is the player meant to do anything else?
Ben:they put themselves in a position where they think they're in a good position to make a tackle. Someone lowers their body, someone gets tackled and falling forward forearm into the face it's gonna happen. But then it gets called and they get put in the bin. You look at Takiaho's ridiculous. You look at some of the Dragons' one, some of the Ruth Sandon Smith's one as well, ruth Sandon Smith was ridiculous.
Ben:There was a couple for the Titans, but I actually think they were. And then one that's caused a bit of controversy is Sorensen's one. I actually do think that was a sin bin. One that's caused a bit of controversy is Sorensen's one. I actually do think that was a sin bin. He fully yeah. All right, he's bracing for contact, but he turns his shoulder into Nathan Brown's chin.
Chris:It's a shoulder charge. It's the definition of a shoulder charge and it's just poor technique there. It's very hard to do, but if you're in the middle there you have to break. You've got to put yourself in a position to make the tackle, make a hit, or you just take a step back, let the two labs either side of you make the hit and then you, you follow in after. Um it was.
Ben:He just found himself in a horrible situation and braced for impact and caught him on the chin so like, and you look at. To be fair, you also then look at the bunker and some of the decisions they did in the in the manly game where tavanga got done for a headshot by the referee, um, but then the bunker overruled it and said it wasn't a headshot. So they're kind of undermining the referee on the field.
Chris:It's getting. It's getting, it's getting silly like the. The ref's call should be final. Yeah, and they, it's. It's so it's so difficult to have this someone. I imagine it was very difficult. Um, for the panthers game as well, panthers manly game, because you have good old ashley klein in the uh in the bunker. Who's who's?
Chris:all about, all about me and it must have been so hard to referee that game and trying to make the decisions. And I think Belinda Sharp did a great. I personally thought maybe looking at a bit more bias I thought she had a great game refereeing. She was consistent throughout what she was doing, other than just being brought back. But we'll discuss that a little bit more when we get into the actual game itself. But yeah, they were massive.
Ben:Who was your flop of the round this week?
Chris:Mine was the Dogs. I can't argue For doing what I thought they would do, but they just didn't execute it within the legal standing. I thought they would go up to the Broncos and they would drop some big hits in. It was said on commentary a few times this is the closest to an Origin game, without being an Origin, which I had said before. But they were just so poor with the discipline Some of the tackles they were putting in. They just lost their heads with the discipline, like some of the tackles they were they were putting in. Was they just lost their heads? Yeah, um, and I think from the when I, when I turned on, I think I missed the first try, um, but from from what? From that sixth minute I think I turned on, it was just downhill, um, discipline wise for them yeah, and it was shocking.
Ben:We'll touch on the game in a second, but even linking yours to mine, like montoya wallops, someone in the face with a forearm doesn't get binned for it gets put on report, I think, but then actually gets binned later on for something that was minuscule, like it was a brush of their head. Um, and that was, I suppose, both the dog's ill discipline and the bunker and referee decisions. But like, look, currens was 100% a sin bidder?
Chris:Yes, massively.
Ben:And yeah, there was some ill discipline within the ranks, especially Tupinua's knee to the head, which we'll talk about when we review that game.
Ben:But, yeah, not a great round for the dogs, the discipline of the dogs and the bunkers, slash referee decisions On that there are some honourable mentions that we're not going to dive into and we'll cover some of them throughout the game. But I do think there were some standout performers this week which were like Tom Dearden for the Cowboys an absolute ball game. Sandon Smith, even though he got sent to the bin, had an absolute ball game as well, but we'll go through those when we go through the fixtures.
Chris:Better tipping this week from the both of us Massively done.
Ben:A lot better tipping. We went six for eight. We didn't pick the same fixtures. I went for the Broncos in the first game. You went for the Bulldogs, so I got that one and one, and then you went for your reverse psychology. My reverse psychology worked. I didn't pick manly and manly won, like penrith lost. So whoever I tip loses, although I got six right this week. So we'll see how it goes, and I'm definitely picking manly this week because they got the buy.
Ben:Um. But what we're going to do is we're going to go through some fixtures. We're going to go through them in a bit of a different order as well this week. We're going to go through them in what we feel was the kind of most talking points of a game, um, and we're kicking off with the broncos against the bulldogs, which, coincidentally, was the first game of the week. Um, what a hot start you mentioned from brisbane. Brisbane's offense was on fire. Adam reynolds seemed like it seems like he was just moving the ball about with ease but I think they scored after 90 seconds or something like that.
Chris:Yeah, but the discipline of the dogs didn't help that. They then went down the other end on the set. I think they got a kick that went too long, so it was then a seven set and that's when Josh Curran got Simbin. I think it was, or there was, a high shot. No, it was the set. Before they do a high shot, get a penalty, they kick it down. The other end, boom, they score their second.
Chris:Try kick off again high shot, which I think is josh, was josh curran's yeah I've been in penalty kick it up the other end score again, and there was just so many times throughout that game where it was either the the kicks going out or the high shots that they. They were massively pumped for the game, the dogs, but they just let that rule them and the hits they were going in for were just not controlled and they got, they got stung for it they certainly did.
Ben:but we said last week like this is the, this is the bulldogs first test. Yeah, they've played, okay, they've played some all right teams before this, but fundamentally, the Broncos look good offensively, they look good with the ball and let's see how the Bulldogs go against that with their solid defense. And they were 34 points down at halftime.
Chris:Yeah.
Ben:And Adam Reynolds just had the ball on the string, like when they were a man down. He could see where the space was. He could see where the space was. He could see that, uh, who was it open on the wing? I think it was arthur's or mariner. But whichever one was open on the wing was he was kicking it into space and they were just picking up easy scores. But I'll tell you another player that just keeps performing week in, week out and I saw on the um matty john show they do the vb hard earned index and he got the highest score that's been recorded on the vb hard earned Index and that's Payne Haas, and he got 125, which any score over 100 is decent. So to get 125, and what did he run for?
Chris:260-odd metres. But that's not just the odd occasion. I reckon he must be averaging close to 200 a game at the moment which for a prop is stupid numbers.
Ben:And when you're doing that we've mentioned this with Manny right what's missing If you've got a forward, just constantly breaking through the line, making meters, making post-contact meters everyone then focuses on that, opens up the width, then to spread it out wide, or Reynolds to boot it over the top, and it just allows the wingers, which Jesse Arthurs, I think, is on 10 tries now for the season top scoring the competition, and that's because of those hard meters that are running through the middle. So they're all just capitalizing on Payne Haas' effort in the middle.
Chris:Well, not Reynolds, carrigan as well is putting in the yards. He's got a great partner Haas has got a great partner there in Carrigan where he's putting meters in as well. He put in 178 and it's like, come on, that's over 400 meters from your two props, which you're expecting from your fullback and a couple of wingers. And when you've got two props who are causing so much and we've talked about it previously, but they're causing so much trouble in the middle who are causing so much and we've talked about it previously, but they're causing so much trouble in the middle the defensive line has to come in, which then leaves so much space out wide. And, like you said, reynolds had the ball on the street. He had an unreal 40-20, which again pushes the Broncos over, and he was just finding space everywhere, as you said. And it massively helps when you've got big boys up front that can do the job.
Ben:It does. Reynolds had a bit of a shoulder injury. He reckons it was just a stinger being named this week, so he's back. But one other question Tupinu is Not Tupinu, it is no Tupinu, it is Tupinu. I get the two of them mixed up. Two panoos um sim been in one of his on reports where he need uh, who was it in the head? I can't remember who it was he need in the head. Uh, brandon pierre cora need him in the head. Do you think that should have been a send-off?
Chris:um, it's, it's difficult to always. I'm trying to, I'm trying to think, I don't know, to be honest, because from a point of view of he knows exactly what he's doing, there is no reason for his knee to be anywhere near that high going into the contact um and it then it then completely gets rid of the point of um tackling low, because if you've got players that are going to be going into contact, like that then you completely.
Ben:If you're given a red for that, then it will potentially yeah.
Chris:Yeah, so it's going to be. It was a horrible, horrible thing for him to do and he shouldn't have done that. But you're going to catch knees, but, like I say, he knew exactly what he was doing. That was quite an aggressive thing. What? What's your thoughts around it?
Ben:I can see why it would be a red. Um, he lift, he raises his knees, knee up and like kind of knees him in the head as going into contact, which you'd get a sin bin. And if you'd done it with your forearm, yeah, and your knees a lot more powerful, and if you're going through someone's heads and we're talking about reducing head injuries and risk, I can see how it can be given a red. But it just goes to show, like, what are the parameters of certain tackles? Like I heard andrew abdo come out and say the referees are going to be given more freedom, what they call, and it's only the bunker is going to interfere with. If it's a serious, yeah, incident, that that is a red. Well, how are you going to define what it is? Because with language such as moderate force, high force, where's the definition of what's going to come in? So I think it could have been a send-off, but he's been punished in a way that he's got a five-match suspension.
Chris:Well, yeah, but the issue is as well there. I think in real time it'll be really difficult to notice those sort of things going going into contact um, because that sort of thing happens so quickly. The ref is also going to be at a different angle, where they'll be the hot behind the defensive line yeah, so to see through might be a lot difficult and then be difficult.
Chris:how often is the bunker going to be watching a, an, an attacking team and wanting to bring back to that? So I think there's some logistics around that that will cause some issues, because you don't want to go back on that one and then the next tackle it'd be an absolute, massive high tackle that you miss. So it would be difficult. But how do you think the dogs are going to address this disciplinary side of stuff? Going forward, they've ended up losing some big players.
Ben:Key players. Yeah, Interesting. We talk about them aggravating people and rattling people. I think they got rattled this weekend and they got in their own heads about a style of performance that they needed and they needed to go out there and be physical against the likes of Payne Haas, and they just took it one step too far. Now, when they come up against a Melbourne Storm or someone else, another, that's got like a Toyo Kamano or whoever that can run the ball, similar to Haas, how are they going to do that? How are they going to reduce it? They've just got to make sure that what they're doing is legal. They've got to really focus on that.
Ben:Because if they had, what does that mean? They had three people put in the bin. They lost. That's 30 minutes of the game that you're down to 12 men Game. All right, Broncos scored early, but it could have had a massive outcome. It could have been a completely different scoreline. So, yeah, we'll see They've got well, Magic were out next, so everyone's playing up in Brisbane, but the Dogs have got the Titans next, who?
Chris:we'll review that in a bit but I feel they should be all right in that one. It would be interesting if they left Brisbane what do you mean? Whether they would have travelled back down to Sydney or they would have just stayed up there for the week and trained up there Would make sense logistically. Yeah, it would. It just stayed up there for the week and trained up there would would make sense logistically?
Ben:yeah, it would, it's. It's certainly, it certainly would. That's a lot of traveling after a game as well. To be recovering, yeah, um but, yeah, who knows.
Ben:Well, let's move on to the next game. We're going to move on to the west tigers, yep, defeating the cronulla sharks. Um, we both went for the sharks in this one. Both got this one wrong. Uh, what an atmosphere. It seemed, it like heart oval as well. It was absolutely packed. The hill was packed, there was no moving room and, as I mentioned earlier, lockie Galvin felt he had a pivotal performance, but how significant was it that he was included this week compared to last week? Do you think he could have stayed out? Do you think they would have got that performance, that win, if he wasn't playing?
Chris:No, and one of the things I've got here is him being back in the halves and then Adam Dewey going back out into the centres, back into his natural position, and he was just so composed and his game management was incredible throughout the whole game which, as you said previously, for such a young player to have, it was fantastic to sort of see. From that side of things, his skills and attributes in the halves are too good to be missed. And the Tigers just capitalised on a Sharks performance where they probably had chances to see, see the game out and see it to bed, but they just again just didn't capitalize for all of it yeah, to me it felt like the sharks let one slip here.
Ben:um, there was a few times towards the end where they could have easily been in, uh, field goal range but they chose not to. They played the ball one more time where they weren't in the right position or they slipped or were indecisive. Lockie Galvin's tackle on Hazleton that's who it was Hazleton like, save them the game. So it was a pivotal moment there. But the Sharks had enough, like the Sharks had enough to beat the Tigers. Did the crowd, the crowd getting behind the maybe helps out, but I think if you were to look at this one stats wise, I believe the Sharks would have come out on top.
Chris:It says everything. When the Sharks missed five field goal attempts, five drop goal attempts, that's massive. And fair play to Adam Dewey as well. That one, even though he's in front of the post forever as well. And those are. It's quite funny. Dad always says the hardest kicks are always in front of the post. Yeah, and and and they. They are to a certain extent because you, you've got so much expectation to slotting it over and with that pressure of it being golden point, a pack like heart oval, yeah, and if he missed this then sharks could have gone up the other end and scored um, but nah, fair play to the boys, I think a minute and 10.
Ben:Ticked off though, because, but again it's.
Chris:It's like why isn't there a shot? Clock I know it's bonkers they've got it for drop goal line goal um goal line dropouts. They've got it for scrums like why don't they do it for kicks as well?
Ben:it's, it's, it's ridiculous to me, but what do you think this does for the Tigers? What do you think this will be? It's been a controversial couple of weeks, a lot of media hype around the club, but what do you think it does for them?
Chris:I think they're just going to continue how they probably would have done pre all of this. If I'm being perfectly honest, they're going to be in that pack fighting probably for seven and eight. Yeah, from what I saw on field, it looked like everyone was, as I said last week, as soon as it got through in between those white lines. Everyone seemed to be getting on with their job.
Ben:Professional.
Chris:And acting very professional, like Galvin may have been sat on his own in the changing room after the game, like not interacting with everyone, you don't know. Or they could have just put everything to bed and and let bygones be bygones, and so there's. There's not much come out from it, but, um, I think they're just going to continue to now. They've they've got rid of it, they've they've managed to shut it down and turn it around quite quickly, unlike manly where they went for like three, four on the trot. Um, I think they've managed to deal with this and it'll be interesting to see what they do at the weekend. What are your thoughts on that?
Ben:they got the dragons, which will be an interesting one. But I think, um that benji marshall done a good job of coming out in support of lucky galvin as well whether that's fueled by the club and the lawsuit kind of aspect of things but it gave a message of, I feel, solidarity from coaching staff and in turn kind of eliminated some of the ill thinking from Taruva Luai and I don't know whether they were potentially forced to say a few comments to support. But, like you say, as soon as they stepped over the white line you wouldn't have known that there was any issue going on and I feel it's reset them back on a path where they're going to be contesting for that top eight spot. But you never know, with this saga continuing people trying to sign him what speculation, where he's going to go this lawsuit Hopefully we won't hear much more of it moving forward.
Chris:If he had the right people around him as his management team, I'd probably turn around to him and go. This year we're not going to entertain any any conversations with any teams because they've still got another season 20, end of 2026 yeah, yeah, so it's going to be the end of next season when he'll he'll end up signing.
Chris:So far as the management team, I'll just right, just concentrate on the targets this season. Yeah, and then we'll we'll deal with new teams next year because he's going to be on show for the for the whole of the nrl now, like everyone, pretty much every team is going to be on notice, watching him and seeing, because pretty much every team needs a decent half. Yeah, um, and he's going to be auditioning all season and I know teams are one are going to get in. There's get his signature early, so they beat everything off, but the early signature doesn't always mean they're going to end up going there. Look at dce with the titans in 2015 um, but it's one of those where I think the if you look at it now and what it was then, I reckon the likes of Teruva and Luai may have been a bit early to to jump on on his back. Yeah, I think they let the hype of the media you don't know what happens inside the changing room Meant to be on a personal Instagram story.
Chris:I think they just let let it get get better. No one spoke to galvin around it like it was, like galvin never said he didn't want to play for the tigers 100 for the next two years, yeah, and they jumped on his back a little bit. So unless they've had some very open talks about it, which you need to do early on, and and whatnot, and, as I said, if they're aware that they're pulling in the same direction, I don't see it being an issue anymore.
Ben:Yeah, and just a shout out to one player in this game as well before we move on to the next game. But Terrell May again, him and Payne Haas are going to absolutely terrorise the Queensland.
Chris:But I don't know, You've got Paddy Carrigan there as well.
Ben:Like opposite, but Well, we'll figure that out. But Terrell May, I think again over 200 meters was just absolutely in everything running the ball again. His stock has risen so much this season. I don't know why the roosters let him go.
Chris:But go on. I did. I did say there was going to be a big Terrell May and Faneuil Blake battle. Just looked at their run meters they both got 228.
Ben:There we go to be fair, faneuil Blake was a standout for the the sharks as well. He he's had a very consistent season and been doing well. But talking of teams that, let them go. Let one of those players go. Torel may used to play for the roosters and the roosters kicked off the anzac day fixtures against the dragons and absolutely steamrolled them.
Chris:They did they did um it just again very early. Try um set it up nicely and they just. There was a bit of back and forth in the first 20. It was a lot closer than the score line actually actually gives um. But then in that last 10 of the of the half they just ran away with it in the first half of the roosters and then he just came out and he just continued after halftime as well.
Ben:I was watching this when we went out for lunch and there was a screen in the corner of the pub that I was trying to watch. It was blocked by a plant. It was so annoying. But every time I looked up at the screen it just looked like James Tedesco, sandon Smith, nohwanganitowase whoever were just breaking lines, breaking through, and there was just support runners all over the place. There was, I think, sandon Smith broke through and threw it to Tedesco, who dropped one, and they could have had over 50 in this game. It just seemed like they were just breaking through with ease and the Dragons had nothing to stop them.
Chris:And I felt a bit sorry for Gutherson in this game.
Ben:Oh, there's two instances. Go on. I know exactly what you're about to say.
Chris:Oh, there's two instances where he just looks like a right donkey. I feel so sorry because there's nothing he can do.
Ben:He's made the decision before either of them.
Chris:He's still trying to tackle the Tesco now. He's still out there sliding. But it's just one of those instances where the two-on-one has broken so early and they've got such a gap between them that he has to pick one or the other, otherwise you just have to be one little pump and you're selling him down the river and uh, it was.
Chris:I felt sorry for the man, um, because there was, as you said, there were so many instances where the support running was incredible, like you've. That's what you've got to realize. It is when players were breaking through. They had people leave the side of them, which gives the chances. But yeah, gutherson bless him.
Ben:Poor guy, but one player that did perform. We've mentioned him before for going in the bin, but the winner of the Ashton Collier medal on this Anzac Day fixture was Sandon Smith. He scored two tries, kicked seven goals and he got 22 individual points. I think Ruben Garrick might be the only one that's scored more than him in an individual game this year. How good was his little kick-through assist.
Chris:When he was getting tackled.
Ben:yeah, Almost getting like his head ripped off as well in that tackle and and he's leaning back and just nudges it and Tedesco goes over and finishes. It was very impressive. So obviously there's the talks around DCE going to the Roosters to replace Sandon Smith so that he's playing with.
Ben:Is it Luke Keery? No, sam Walker. Luke Keery's the one that's gone to Catalan Dragons but playing with Sam Walker. But if Sandon Smith's putting performances in like that week in week out, they don't need DCE. Performances in like that week in week out, they don't need dcu. No, he'll be, they'll be all right, but um, obviously the controversy around him going to the bin.
Chris:It was called back again like I don't agree with these being simbinins. When you're going into it, it's he was falling forward as well.
Ben:I can't remember who it was that he hit, but it was oh, it's lucky elias that he hit. He was falling forward after being tackled from someone, as he's already committed to wrapping the tackle and he just caught him on the jaw. Yeah, all right, it was contact with the head. Just give a penalty, don't simbin.
Chris:Yeah, I completely agree. If you want to punish it, it's a penalty, not a simbin. Like arms shouldn't be a simbin, it should just be shoulder.
Chris:Shoulder with intent or violent, yeah, with that, when you, when you're trying to wrap it's or when you're trying to punch a ball out as well in the forearm, brushes the it. It's not like the swinging punches in into them to try and knock them out like it's. There needs to be a bit of common sense around it, and this could be the issue where you don't have players, you don't have people within the refereeing that have never played the game. So, yeah, or never played in a contact game, where they don't understand what's happening. Um, but that one was never was never a simbion for me 100, agree, but where do the dragons go from here?
Ben:they they beat manly. They've just got a big defeat put on them um this week and they've decided to drop Lockie Ilias as well. The line-up's got announced and he's been booted and he was always one that was on the kind of chopping block early. But it'll be interesting to see where they go and I think defensively they've got to improve. Like I said, they were just getting. Every time I looked at the screen there was four or five people just running through the line and even early on in the game where I mean we mentioned about when Nohunga Ndawase broke away, if that was Dom Young with the ball probably would have scored because he's a bit quicker. But even still they're sloppy in their attack. They're kind of not making the right passes.
Chris:And this is what makes the loss to the Dragons for Manly so much more infuriating, because that's how the Dragons played against Manly and I said it last week that there was just no attack in the tent from Manly. And I mentioned if the Dragons turned up and played like that against the Roosters they would get points put past them, and it was Tyrell Sloan's breakaway again.
Chris:Another couple of breakaway tries. So there's some underlying. They seem to be limping to victories. Um, like, apart from the anomaly of being in the storm on a cold, cold wednesday night, sort of thing um, they seem to be limping over for who they've bought in.
Ben:I'm quite underwhelmed of how they're now performing. Val holmes, point scorer you could still see, though he had the pace on the wing and more like on the edge and was doing well, and Gutherson makes good decisions in when to break a line and stuff like that, but it just seems like there's I don't know, there's no connection, there's no chemistry or something with all these players. Turp, a lot of being out injured doesn't help. He was on a try scoring um a bit of a run, so I don't know. But they've got a difficult fixture this weekend in playing the tigers, which I can well, we'll preview that soon, um, but yeah, who knows what's going to happen with them. I think they've got a tough couple of weeks coming up and they need to really start yeah, start getting some points on the board.
Ben:Moving on to the Seagulls 26, defeating the Penrith Panthers 10. For me, this game it felt like Manny are trying to create a new identity with their defense or the defensive side of the ball. Very American the way I said, defense there, the defensive side of the ball. And one thing I noticed in this game that I thought was very good, which is something we've got wrong in previous seasons is when the ball goes out wide, our wingers crash in too early and the ball is over the top. To me and I don't know about you it felt like our centers and our wingers were working well together to flow with the attack and then, when one needed to crash in, they crashed in at the right time and didn't allow that that overlap on the outside. But what's your thoughts on manly's defensive identity?
Chris:yeah it just I agree with that. It did look a lot more solid in defense, um, even without jake there as well. I think one of the big one of the things that has been talked about quite a lot is how much more mobile Manley's pack was, and I was worried about the pack size and the difference that that may have had on that. But they held their own. They were a lot more physical. You messaged me Luke Brooks is an absolute animal in defence and it's not the first time he's put in that sort of performance he's such an underrated, unsung kind of.
Ben:He doesn't get the stats, he doesn't get the plaudits, but yet he's just players teams target to run at him but they don't realize how solid of a defender the guy is, and he wears the orange boots as well, so he stands out. So when he's getting he's one of those ones that just does the acceptance tackle.
Chris:But it's effective yeah, it stops it and his hit on was it Cleary when he, when he knocked the ball out as well. Like it, just it, just it was just all over. Like the for the whole, the whole team. Um, and I really enjoyed, uh, the, the switch up in in sort of having to vanguard at lock and Simkin at nine. That just seemed to be a lot more. Simkin was very impressive he was always attacking he was always looking to go forward.
Ben:There was that break away as well he went on.
Chris:But no, the defensive side of things was a lot better.
Ben:I've said it, we've said it when we sit up in the Ken Arthurson and we talk about it, we talk about our goal line defence and we say and we always preface it with I hope I'm not about to curse this, but our goal line defence looks solid. It's when we have the odd day against Melbourne which we got absolutely blown away and the Dragons we were still solid defensively break away, it's just we can't seem to get it going in attack.
Chris:No, but this game looked different yeah, and the defence this week was backed up by the attack and again another early try sort of dictates the going for the game. And what a great run by Garrick to break through the line as well, and it was just so good to watch.
Ben:But even like we talk about. You say Turbo. You don't reckon Turbo makes that much of a difference when the ball goes out to him and he flicks it out to Talal this is exactly what happened in the first game of the season against the Cowboys. That quick little flick on and Talal's around the edge, great run. And then what a line by Tolu Kola, what a move.
Chris:Listening to all the interviews, apparently they made that up at half-time.
Ben:The coaches made it all but half time. But the way everyone's expecting it to go out wide and then all of a sudden he's running this underneath line and the Panthers line have just gone out wide and he's just there straight for it. And as soon as that happened, that was it icing on the cake done, absolutely went mental. But talking of decent tries, the main man himself, homolio Olokowate.
Ben:Yeah, I enjoyed this we talk about Dylan Edwards at fullback, right, and we said something last week which I'm reflecting on now and I'm not too sure about it. One, that he's guaranteed New South Wales fullback. But two, we say as well how good he is in the air. He got out, jumped out, muscled out, wrestled by Ola Kowatu for a high ball, which is kind of a bit of his specialism and he comes down and just bullies it through the line.
Chris:I'm going to back down and just bullies it through the line. I'm, I'm gonna back, um, I'm gonna, I'm gonna back him up a little bit here. Like those, those are some of the hardest to bring down in the sense of your on your, your static jumping up in the air while you've got someone rushing on and someone of aliquot, whose size is always gonna out, possibly jump you. But that's that's the first time I've seen aliquot really battle in the air for a ball.
Ben:There's a still photo and it was unreal. I don't know if you've seen it. There's a still photo of him catching the ball and he's almost staring at this camera in the distance. He's like, yeah, I'm about to score this and he's just got this look on his face. That's just poetry. Emotion.
Chris:Yeah, oh no, it was incredible. But these are the sort of moments in what I was saying that I don't believe in the turbo effect that much because that wasn't happening last week or the weeks before that little kick up to Oluwatu. That's not turbo. Being back in the team.
Ben:I agree, but then I raised the point of turbo draws attention to him, which allows other people the freedoms to do what they do. So, for example, on that Kola, try turbo's kicking to the outside, so people have to follow him and respect him and cola's just back on the inside and with him we are so much more of a threat. Don't get me wrong. Hopper white is a good player. I think he's a better winger than he is fullback at present 100.
Chris:But with turbo in our team we just have so much more presence going forward and it was, and it was fantastic to watch and it was getting to that point. When they started, when they came out in the second half, the score was straight away and they went pretty much back to back in tries. I was like, oh, here we go, here's the Penrith Penrith. But I think two turning points was the save try save by dc and navali as well. Yeah, those were two, two big ones, arm under the ball underneath, like that.
Ben:Those were two massive points and then manly just turned it back on but linking back to jake simpkin as well, it was in that moment where we were under the kosh that he picked up that ball and ran, broke from um, broke off the play of the ball, yeah, and ran it down the field and I'm I'm not sure whether the kick came off of that. I don't think it did, but it swung momentum back in our favor. But what are we saying about the Pemrith, like, what's the future for Pemrith?
Chris:They're genuine, genuine spoon contenders which is crazy.
Ben:I am going to say this now I don't think they're making the top eight.
Chris:Write them off the top eight, so much has to happen for that and again, that team they had out, it wasn't a weak team. This is a pretty similar team that they've had week in, week out, and maybe Fisher Harris is a more bigger velocity in the middle than I thought he originally was. We've mentioned about Jerome Luai all the time.
Ben:But do you know one thing, speaking about Jerome Luai they mentioned it earlier and I can't remember I heard it. Jerome Luai turned up with an arrogance right when it was him, stephen Cry and Brian Toto, they'd turn up with the boomboxes, they'd turn up with the swagger, the everyone hates us and we're just going to turn up and beat you in your own backyard. They've lost that. Now, yeah, there's no, I don't think there's any menace. There's no fear of playing the panthers and when that disappears, we, we say, are the panthers. Right edge is the edge to attack. We were attacking the left edge. Talal scored um over on the left edge, garrick scored over on the left edge and it's like we'll score wherever you want. Maybe I'm getting too far ahead. No, it it's. It's like we'll score wherever you want.
Chris:Maybe I'm getting too far ahead. No, it's good to enjoy it. And Seabold's got some decisions to make now and I don't think he can watch that performance and ignore how much better the pack was. And even if it's a case of starting Jake at prop and then bringing Bullymore on, even I do. Bullymore brings such a massive edge, like when he starts or when he comes off the bench. He adds so much more. He just adds something. He just adds so much more energy. And the one thing I liked about Tavanga at lock was he turned into that as a outside of ball playing. Yeah, lock, which opened up a lot more as well, I reckon.
Ben:Yeah, where do you reckon we're tracking for the season after that? I mean, the concern is it's only the bottom of the table, penrith Panthers, so we can't get too ahead of ourselves. We've got the Sharks up at Brookie.
Chris:The way the Sharks are playing, I reckon we could do them at Brookie. But it depends what Manly are going to do with this week, how many players Sharks are going to lose to Sim Bins at Magirane, if the refs are happy. It was just a different team to the three, four weeks Played with confidence.
Ben:There were limited mistakes and we spoke about it on the car journey over here. With the announcement of Jamal Fogarty signing today Two million over three years you hope the pressure now goes of who's going to play halfback next year. Let's just open the gaskets up, some fire on all cylinders and see what we can do. So let's go to Seagulls. I think well, this could all come crashing back down to us.
Chris:I'm not going to get too carried away. It was in. It was a great sort of joy to watch. Yeah, um, amazing, different performance, very similar to how manly started the season. Um, but they need to back it up now, I agree I agree.
Ben:Let's move on to the raiders against the dolphins. The raiders beat the dolphins 40 points to 28,. An absolute high-scoring affair in which the Dolphins shot out to a commanding lead.
Chris:Yeah, I think the Raiders have just got a little bit of arrogance around them and just starting to give teams head starts and go. Yeah, it doesn't matter how many points you're going to start with, we'll come back and absolutely dominate you. And considering what the Dol the dolphins have done the past previous weeks, when I, when I saw them go ahead, I was like god, this could be an absolute bloodbath yes, I agree. But jesus christ in our didn't the raiders after anyone? They did.
Ben:They were 28 to 10 down. At halftime ricky stewart in the dressing room must have absolutely fired a rocket up their ass. But just before halftime, dolphins, I scored potentially a contender for try of the season yeah two kicks and then was it nicarimo put it through and jake have a reload, gets it down, and at that point when they go 28 10 up, you're like they're gonna walk this. But whatever ricky stewart did to them at halftime, said to them, they came out and absolutely turned it on and again, like there were so many standout performers in that second half, I think for the Raiders Hudson Young adds another try to his. You said he was going to get a double. He didn't, he only got a single.
Chris:No, he didn't, it was Matty Nicholson this week.
Ben:Oh sorry, matty Nicholson, but they're just.
Chris:I believe that they've got everywhere. Yeah, oh yeah, massively, massively. And and jamal fogarty, like he, orchestrated that and and the raiders did to the dolphins what the dolphins did to the storm the other week, like they, they shut them out in the second half and put 30 points on them, which, which is incredible, um I mean, was it 34 unanswered points or something like that? They put them in the second half they they put on in the in.
Chris:Well, it was 30 30, but and it was just so good to see like they just, they just attack, attack, attack and they are real top four contenders. I reckon at the moment they are Like with what they're doing and this, this attack from everywhere and everyone getting on the score sheet. I did a cheeky flutter on on a motive for this game. I had the. What did I have? I had the hammer. Um, then scored. I had hammer. I had matty nicholson scored, sebastian chris scored and I had hudson young for two oh yeah, you put him down for two.
Chris:Yeah, I had him for two, and then jamal fogarty and um isako for, I think, six points. Yeah, I always increase the odds a little bit and I was fuming. I was fuming with Hudson Young. He couldn't get in the bin, but nah it was. It was incredible to. It was incredible to watch them and, like you said, it's just the, it's just the attack from everywhere. It just every team is going to have to be switched on defensively all over the place and they can't, as you're saying there with Turbo. You've got to give Turbo the presence, you've got to go with him.
Chris:With them. They've got to go with everyone. They've got to make sure everyone's covered.
Ben:Fair play, Great victory for them. There was another ridiculous sin bin. Cody Nicorima got stuck in the bin again for a brush on the chin. But I think we've spoken enough about poor referee decisions.
Ben:Yeah, moving on to the Cowboys and Titans, a little bit of a Queensland derby in this one. This one was tight up until the last 20 minutes it was 18 all with 21 minutes to go. Um, but after that the Cowboys were just relentless. Robert Derby scored three tries, got 218 meters, four line breaks, and Tommy Dearden five try assists. Um, he absolutely contributed to their dominance. But though it seemed like they just turned it on with 20 minutes to go.
Chris:A couple of sim bins in this, but I think they were actual sim bins yeah but yeah, put on a performance they, they did um, and again it's a sort of the titans going out to a very quick lead and blew out to a lead, yeah, and just imploding again. Um, they put on what? What? It was it 50, 50 unanswered points. That's got it.
Ben:That's got it, no no, sorry, it was 18, 12 at half time 40, 48 unanswered.
Chris:Oh no, sorry, I'm reading something completely wrong here. Sorry, my mind's gone. Um, they scored what? Seven, seven of the the nine tries in the second half. So that's, that's a fair, fair whack of them. Um, I'm not going to go through the conversions and stuff because we'll be here forever yeah but again it was.
Chris:It was incredible to see what they, what they did and them turn it on and this is what the cowboys have in their locker, um, and it was just fantastic to sort of see dreeden, as you say he's. It's going to be an interesting one, especially I've been listening to it on within the NRL um that they have a real, like Queensland have quite a dilemma with their halves and it may benefit Manly in the sense of not taking DCE and if Turbo and DCE don't get picked for Origin, then we could absolutely fly through that.
Chris:Those three games, yeah, that that could be, that could be massive, because we'd probably lose Oluwatu and that would probably be it.
Ben:Maybe Like there's some contenders for that second row, second row yeah, you've got Hudson.
Chris:Yeah, there's some very good Hudson, so we'll see.
Ben:Cal McCullough and Matangi as well, who put up in a good performance.
Chris:We could. It'd be interesting if Manly do go and escape. But yeah, do go and escape. But um, but yeah, great, great performance by by the cowboys. They scored 38 on answer points.
Ben:Thanks. But one person that didn't have the greatest of day brought grey poor geezer, got sent to the sin bin, and then I read earlier that he tore his acl on like two minutes to go as well. So he's out for the season. So rest up, buddy. Been back from that injury. It's difficult one to come back from, but you've got more support than I had, so I'm sure you'll be fine. But on to the melbourne storm against the rabbit o's now. We both predicted that this one would be an absolute blowout against the rabbit o's, but it wasn't. It was, um, quite a tight game, but melbourne just seemed to execute in what they, what they needed to do.
Ben:They seem to seem to do it. Ryan pappenhausen got on the score sheet again, um, and they seemed to target Jai Gray. It seemed like they were running at him because he was playing out of position. Well, not out of position, not at fullback, he was playing at centre.
Chris:No, was he hooker? I thought he was playing at nine at one point. No, he was playing in the halves, so they were attacking that.
Ben:Far Longo just turned him inside out, put him on toast and then offloaded the ball to Papenhausen, who nearly fumbled it forward on the inside. But yeah, storm 24, rabbit 0-16.
Chris:The Melbourne. It wasn't that convincing to win for the Storm. The Storm just didn't seem to get going, especially considering what they've done previously at Amy Park this season where once they've started scoring tries, they've absolutely loaded it on teams and I don't know whether it is having Mitchell back at fullback, he's a lot more aware positionally and sort of slowed them down. And it wasn't a convincing win for the Storm and there was points in this where I thought the Rabbitohs may actually nick it.
Ben:But it's little mistakes from the Rabbitohs, where Shearmich Jerome Hughes boots the ball up in the air and then Katoa just seemingly runs onto a ball that no one's contested for, carries it and then goes over for a try.
Chris:Yeah.
Ben:And that kind of swings a bit of momentum back in the Storm's way way. And there was, to be honest I think it xavier coats, his try. I'm pretty sure the two passes before that were both forward as well. I mean, we could talk about the forward pass in titans cowboys game from tino big tino, but we've gone past that one. But it just seems like if you give, if, if Melbourne get the upper hand and they can stop you, then you don't stand a good chance. But I'll tell you who did have a game for the Rabbit Oaks. Jack Whiten was physical.
Chris:He had a very good game. Just putting the yards, he's sort of getting into his own. He scored. What was it? Yeah, it was two tries in that game and he's very good at centre and he's a hard person to stop as well.
Ben:I think he's playing six this weekend because of Mitchell being out. Jai Gray goes back and then, yeah, Whitehams coming in.
Chris:Another halves partnership for the Rabbitohs this season and it just seems to be happening every game they're losing someone. And fair play to them, um, for not being as low as they sort of could be. Yeah, um, in that sense that this, what are they? They're four and four at the moment and and fair play to them, and I think that is the the mitch, but um wayne bennett effect, yeah, um, where they've won games that they probably should yeah yeah, and I think that does have an effect, and it'd be interesting to see how many halves partnerships they've had this year.
Chris:I reckon they're on about six. But fair play to them on that side of things.
Ben:Two quick things. One thing, Jack Whiten for Bentley Harpe's try. When it got knocked out of Whiten's hand he absolutely trucked, whoever it was beforehand, which was impressive. And then I don't know about you, but Luttrell's hit on Far Longo was awfully similar to Joseph Suoli's hit. I thought he was gone.
Chris:When I watched that in real time and I saw him, Superman through through no, on a straight shoulder there was nothing, that was just off his feet, how he got away with just a sim bin. I do not know. I do not know. I think, if you're leaving your feet, and it starts straight, direct contact to the head. I think you should be gone.
Ben:He's lucky he didn't take his head off, although he failed the HIA, I believe.
Chris:How he escaped that, I do not know, do not know, do not know. But we were messaging each other like Al, he's just taking his head off.
Ben:On to the final game of the round, though. The Newcastle Knights the New Zealand Warriors 26 defeat the Newcastle Knights 12. Up the waz, up the waz. I am so bored by the Newcastle Knights. It is unbelievable. They average 10 points a game. I did a bit of research in this, actually, because I was like they've got a minus 74 points differential, which isn't too bad, right, like it's actually quite low compared to some other teams, but they're only averaging 10 points a game. What's going on? So let's compare them to the Warriors. Quite low compared to some other teams, but they're only averaging 10 points a game. What's going on? So let's compare them to the Warriors. The Warriors have conceded 148 points. Right, the Knights have conceded 146, not that much difference. The Knights have only scored 72. The Warriors have scored 144. Warriors are currently third in the table. The Knights are what? 15th, but they look terrible, they look dreadful. But on the stat sheet of points differential they're not that far like.
Chris:They're not that far off defensively but the massive thing is, the wires are four and over home. This is very true. If every game was in new zealand, they'd be.
Ben:They'd be winning the comp, they would be they would be um, I think, from this game. Jackson Ford stood out, adam Pompey stood out um. Both scored two tries and it just seems like Newcastle haven't got anything going forward. They look bang average, they look one dimensional even Ponga couldn't get it going either.
Chris:Like you said, he would have a big performance, but he just struggled.
Ben:Apparently he was singing the New Zealand anthem before the game as well.
Chris:I saw a few players do it during the weekend.
Ben:Considering he's meant to be representing Australia. That's all. But his allegiance may be changing, who knows. But I think Adam O'Brien is on the chopping block. But I read as well.
Ben:We bumped into a friend on the ferry on the way home on Saturday night and he mentioned about Jackson Hastings being at the Knights. I read that he's on 800 grand and yes, he's had a bit of a turmoil in the past, a few personal issues. He's the guy that had fallen out of DCE an issue with DCE at Manly and then spent some time in the resis and everywhere he's gone he's kind of been dropped from. Yeah, first string went over to the Super League, did pretty well over there and got Salford to a grand final when they were tipped for getting relegated, so he had an impact. And then come back to the NRL with the Tigers, got them a couple of wins under Madge Maguire.
Ben:But then he's gone to Newcastle on this huge contract and he's again fallen out with whoever. But he's on the bench and like do they need to? This is difficult, do they need to switch things up? But I've also read that he's also free to leave, to go anywhere else. But who knows what they're going to do? Adam O'Brien is certainly under pressure. Something, something needs to change. Something certainly needs to change. But, summarising around, who do you think went up the most?
Chris:Up the most Raiders I'm going to go I think they're really starting to to cement their their position.
Ben:For me the Cowboys they managed to absolutely pump the Titans. Yeah, alright, it was the last 20 minutes, but considering they had such a poor start to the season, they're now starting to put in performance after performance which could see them challenging around that like seven to four spot. Maybe it's going to be. It's going to be an open competition, but who's who? Do you think stocks are falling?
Chris:I think the sharks I'm going to go the Sharks. I think we had massive, massive hopes for the Sharks this year. I thought. I think we thought they were going to be a lot more better and a lot more. As I said at the start of the season, they were going through the motions and getting professional wins. They just, they just seem to be dropping and dropping and dropping. And I think they could, they could be more in the the bottom eight than they are in the top, and I think their stocks dropped a little bit. What about?
Ben:yourself. For me, I'm just gonna have to go with pemrith. I believe that they put in a great performance against the Roosters. Looked like the Penrith of old. Everyone thought, yeah, they're back. And then they got dominated by Manly. Manly shut them down. It seems like they're almost trying to force things as well. Teams are figuring them out. Can't see them making the eight and I believe that, yeah, their stocks have fallen well off. So interesting one.
Ben:But we move on to round nine, the magic round of the year um around. We went up there a couple of years ago. Uh, manly were playing against brisbane on the friday night, got absolutely tucked in, but we then also got tucked in with by the beers. We got absolutely on it, which was a good one. Yeah, that was, uh, that was heavy, that was a heavy weekend. But this, this year, the magic round kicks off on the thursday night with something that I didn't realize until I was looking up these fixtures, with the ampole women's state of origin game one I'm I'm shocked that it's so far out from their season and I feel sorry for the girls.
Chris:To be honest, like, yeah, some, like a fair few of them, were in that gillaroo squad who played against england but they, they would have had to keep themselves up to a certain level and sort of not having that much of a break like a pre-season break than all the other team's players. So it's going to be an interesting first game. I think there's going to be a few mistakes. I think players are going to be finding their feet, fitness fatigue it's going to be. I reckon we'll be seeing a lot of players go down with uh cramp as well.
Chris:Um, quite late on, just like, uh, just like manly we're doing at the start of the season. Um, just just reading into it a little bit. Uh, john strange has been brought in as as head coach for new south wales, um, off the back of winning the winning the comp, um last year with the Roosters. So that would be very different to last year in that sense and there's a little bit more inexperience within the Queensland side. There were six debutants within the squad over New South Wales 4. So it's going to be a great game.
Chris:Some of the games last year were incredible to watch but I'll be going New South Wales Blue the whole way through exactly.
Ben:You just took the words right out of my mouth. I don't think I'm ever going to back Queensland in anything, even though I'm not a full New South Welshman. But yeah, I'm going to back the New South Wales in this one. So on the Friday 6pm we got the $1.49 Cronulla Sharks against the $2.64 Parramatta Eels Tough one to call this.
Chris:This is a real tough one. We discussed it in the car way over and I think I'm going to stick my neck out a little bit on this one and go with the Eels. Yeah, With Mitch Moses and his creativity they did in the last game over a very dull Sharks team.
Ben:Who have just lost to the Tigers, who the Eels batted.
Chris:Yeah, so I'm going to go for the Eels on this one.
Ben:Yeah, I think that the Sharks can't come out and put in back-to-back games like they have. Mitch Moses being back is a huge, huge inclusion for the Eels, but I think the Sharks will bounce back from the performance last week and I see them getting this done, so I'm going to go the Sharks, you're going to go the Eels.
Chris:It's quite nice. Adds a little bit of competition between the two. A bit of spice to the competition. For sure, for sure for sure.
Ben:But then on to an even closer one with the bookies the 8.05pm kick-off. All games are out at the Suncorp. Have you seen that the turf has just been relayed for the Suncorp yeah, half the ground they've had how it's going to survive.
Chris:I don't know they've had league on there, they've had the football on there as well.
Ben:It's been, it's taken an absolute battering how it's going to survive this weekend, new turf being laid, I do not know. But the second game on the friday 805. We've got the dollar 88 sydney roosters against the dollar 96 dolphins. Where's your money?
Chris:I'm gonna go for the Dolphins in this one. I've just got a little bit of a gut feeling. As it's up in Queensland. They've been doing quite well up there. There's literally nothing to really separate them. On form of the last couple of weeks, the Roosters took an absolute batter in from Penrith, not Penrith, it was Penrith, it was Penrith sorry, they took an absolute batter in Dolphins took an absolute batter in from Penrith. Not Penrith, it was Penrith.
Ben:It was.
Chris:Penrith. Sorry, they took an absolute batter in Dolphins, took an absolute batter in sort of last week. I'm going to go for the Dolphins.
Ben:Yeah, even though at Roosters' home game, I'm going to join you in this one because it's up at the Suncorp, which is their home stadium. I'm going to go with the Dolphins. They've got the ability to score points. They showed that against. Why has my mind gone blank? Who did they play at the weekend that we were just talking about? The Raiders?
Chris:They were a solid team. They still put 20 out of points on, didn't they?
Ben:Exactly so. I'm going to join you with the Dolphins on that one Real tight game, though that could go either way. Then on to the Saturday, the 3 pm kickoff. We got the $1.70 South Sydney Rabbitohs against the $2.60 Newcastle Knights. We've spoken a little bit about how they're going to rejig their pack. The Rabbitohs, Significant favourites in this, I wouldn't say heavy favourites, significant favourites. Favourites Jai Gray back at fullback, yeah.
Chris:I'm going to Rabbitohs. The Knights are just. Even with all the changes that the Rabbit O's have had, the Knights have just been so one-dimensional in everything they do and I think having Joe Gray back is going to cause a lot more problems for this Knights defence, as he's a lot more mobile, he's nippy and he can just create gaps all the time. So I'm going to go for the Bunnies.
Ben:I'm going to go for the Newcastle Knights, and my thinking behind this is not to cause controversy, but they cannot continue to put in stinker after stinker after stinker of a performance. Something's got to change for them. Neutral venue Magic round weekend First game on the Saturday. I reckon the Newcastle Knights are going to get this done. Nice, we'll see how it goes. Then on to the 5.30pm kick-off. We've got the $2.02 New Zealand Warriors against the $1.82 Queensland Cowboys, fourth versus sixth in the ladder. Who are you going for?
Chris:I will be going with my theory that now it's outside of New Zealand, the Warriors lose all their power and they become a different team and also, just backing up with what the Cowboys did against the Titans, they can score points, warriors leak points, the Cowboys can also defend quite well. So I'm going to go for the Cowboys.
Ben:I'm going to go with you on this one as well. I believe the Cowboys back up their performance of sticking 50 on the Titans last week. The Warriors don't necessarily travel well. There will be a heavy kind of. I believe there'll be a heavy Warriors contingency in the crowd, but it's in Queensland again. Hopefully the Cowboys get a good showing down there. I'm going to join you on this one and go with the Cowboys Also.
Chris:That's going to be the fifth game on the pitch, so God knows what it's going to be like on the Sunday.
Ben:Yeah, and then up next the 7.45. Let's hope there's no rain because this could be cut up. We've got the $1.87 West Tigers against the $1.97 Draggers. Nin 87 West Tigers against $1.97. Dragons ninth versus 10th on the ladder. This is a very interesting one.
Chris:Who are you going with, Gosh? This is a very difficult one. The form the dragons are in and they still haven't got um to belua. Have they bought him? They haven't got him to a plot. Oh, I'm gonna, I'm gonna go for a tiger's win here.
Ben:Yeah, they sneak it I believe that win at the weekend that, like our oval, is going to give them a big boost of momentum Lockie Galvin being back Him and Luai seemingly playing well together, I feel the Tigers get this one done as well. Then on to Sunday. So that was a super Saturday. We've got a super Sunday as well, because there's three games on the Sunday the $4 Gold Coast Titans against the $1.25 Canterbury Bankstown Bulldogs. Bulldogs have missing a few players through injury in this through suspension.
Chris:Yeah, I thought they've lost a big bit of their spine and I really thought that they may possibly go on a little bit of a losing streak.
Ben:You've got to remember. The Titans scored 20-odd points against the Dogs as well early on in the season, their first game of the season.
Chris:That doesn't really change it for me. To be fair, I think the Dogs have got enough to beat the Titans. Don't forget that the Dogs are a very good they can be a very good defensive team. I think last week was very much a lapse in that, but I'm going to go. The Dogs.
Ben:I believe this all depends on how fast the titans start and whether they can maintain it and if there's a pitch left and if there's a pitch left.
Ben:But I'm going to join you with the bulldogs. I just from what I've seen of them, they will be too good for the titans, um, and I can see them keeping the titans to a lowish score and maybe being a low score affair itself of a game. Then on to the penrith panthers $2.23 against the Brisbane Broncos $1.66. This is the sort of game that the Panthers are just going to turn up for, because this is a rematch of the 2023 final. It's up in front of the Suncourt fans magic round. The Panthers will want to put on a performance. Where's your money going with this one?
Chris:I'm surprised the Panthers aren't $4. If I'm being perfectly honest, I can't. Where's your money going with this one? I'm surprised the Panthers aren't $4, if I'm being perfectly honest, I'm going to go. I can't. I can't look past the Broncos after last week. I can't see anything other than that Broncos team winning If Reynolds has the ball on the string and if Cobbo brings them forward and attack again. Don't forget they've got Payne Haas Manly's middle disrupted Pemris' middle and that's arguably not one of the best middles in the comp. Broncos have got probably the two best. They've got the best prop combination in the league in Carrigan and Haas and that's just going to cause them absolute havoc. And surprise, Scott Saracen didn't get suspended.
Ben:But no, he's challenged it, so it might be two games, I believe, because he's taking, he's challenging it, and the outcome will determine whether he's playing this weekend or not.
Chris:But now I'm going to go for the Broncos on this.
Ben:I believe the Broncos have got too much for the panthers what I've said about them losing stock and kind of not being the team that they were. I believe broncos at home, even though it's a panthers home game, um, there's going to be huge support for them. They're going to back up what they did last week against the dogs and kind of cement their credentials as one of the top four contenders. I believe they win this and if they turn it on, I believe they win it quite comfortably as well. Then on to the final game of the weekend. This could have the worst surface going yeah for it, and it is the Melbourne Storm $1.50 favorites, against the Canberra Raiders $2.58 second versus third. This is a tough one to call.
Chris:This is tough, and I think it's going to be all down to who starts the best. With the Storm limping to the win against the Rabbitohs Rabbitohs last week and the Raiders just doing so well, my head is saying definitely Storm, but my gut is saying this is a game for the Raiders to really cement where they are as a team yeah and you know what? I'm going to jump on the bandwagon because of old Matty Nicholson and joining that English army. I'm going to go.
Ben:I'm going to go for the Raiders yeah, the Storm, I believe, are going to want to put on a better performance than last week. I am so undecided about this one. This has got potential to be game of the round. It all depends how the pitch is. When they played the Dragons, when the Storm played the Dragons, they didn't fare too well in terrible conditions. So if the pitch is cut up, we'll see how they go. I mean, I could say I'll take the easy option, pick the Storm, just to create controversy, but I'm actually going to pick the Raiders. I actually considering I picked them for the spoon at the start of the season. I've been really impressed with how they're going. Um, ko Weeks had a great game last week as well. Uh, tamale, timoko, chris, they all just seemed to Savage was good, strange Foggy, they all just seemed to perform. I think the uh, the canberra raiders get this one done and then manly have the buy, so guaranteed two points at magic round.
Ben:That's something that we haven't had for the last three seasons, because we were getting battered by the brisbane broncos, which is, uh, yeah, a positive thing, because we jump up to 10.
Ben:10 points on the ladder gonna win the comp hopefully to win the comp, hopefully going to win the comp. But thanks for tuning in for this week's episode. We're looking forward to Magic Round. We're going to review all the fixtures next week and look forward to Manny's return when they come up against the Cronulla Sharks the following weeks. But be sure to like and subscribe and we'll catch you in the next one.
Chris:Have a good week.