Panthers On A Tear

Penrith just put 50 on Melbourne and somehow it still feels like they left points out there. We break down what that scoreline really says about the Panthers’ mentality, fitness, defence, and the ruthless “system” that keeps turning new faces into weekly try threats. It also raises a bigger question we can’t ignore: are these guys all-time individuals, or are they proof that the right structure makes anyone look elite?

Before we rip through every Round 5 result, we go headfirst into the most controversial topic of the week: should suspensions depend on the injury outcome or only the action itself? A mid-air tackle that ends in a dislocated ankle, hip drop comparisons, and wildly inconsistent head-contact calls push us into the grey area where player safety, deterrence, and fairness don’t always line up. If you’ve ever yelled at the screen after a bunker review, you’ll feel seen.

From Manly’s surprise 52-point explosion and the forwards finally winning the middle, to the Tigers-Eels arm wrestle and its late decisions, to the Dragons’ worrying slide and the Knights’ sudden swagger, we cover the form lines that are shaping the NRL ladder right now. Then we lock in our Round 6 tips with matchups, injury watch, and a few spicy calls.

If you enjoy honest rugby league chat, subscribe, share the show with a mate, and leave us a review. 

What’s your rule on suspensions: outcome or intent?

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hello and welcome to this week's episode of They've been doing it all day, sir. Can't believe I'm saying this. We're five weeks in and can anyone stop the Pemrin Panthers? Let's get stuck in.

SPEAKER_01 0:14

How was your Easter weekend, my friend?

SPEAKER_00 0:17

It was heavy, heavy, heavy on the chocolates. Like I reckon my chocolate per hour ratio was through the roof. Three Easter egg hunts. Too many eggs, too many rabbits, too many chockies. Yep. I had too many calories over the weekend. What about yourself?

SPEAKER_01 0:36

It sounds hectic. And I love how you've used the the chocolate per hour as well. I'm liking that. I'm liking that. That's something I think you can uh you can trademark.

SPEAKER_00 0:45

The worrying thing is, I don't see the CP CPH is slowing down because there's a whole bag full of chocolates left over. And I don't know how I'm gonna stop myself from from eating them. I'm just in that mood at the moment where if I can smell it, you're eating it. It's gone. You're gone. Yeah, but how's your weekend? Yeah, it was really good.

SPEAKER_01 1:02

Really good. Um so just caught up with friends, uh family, went out for a few drinks, you know, just um nice couple of catch-ups, and not as many chucks per hour. Um it was a little bit little bit tamer. Um, I suppose not having any kids at this moment in time. It it helps helps in that, but there was a little Easter. There was sampled. It was sampled. Um, but no, no, it was it was good. Uh had a coaching session as well yesterday morning. Um yeah, got a first league game of the of the season this weekend. So just trying to get the the last minute shapes into play.

SPEAKER_00 1:42

Yeah, we'll be able to get insight into the the shape that you are running next week for sure, and how the how the results go.

SPEAKER_01 1:48

Yeah, yeah. Hopefully it's looking good against the um the old silhouettes. Uh so it's brilliant. They've got the do you know what you use for free kicks? The wall, so they've got them. Yeah, so I've been lining them up as as def as in a defense.

SPEAKER_00 2:00

It's mad how you can run around a uh um immovable object.

SPEAKER_01 2:04

Yeah, it is really good. It is really good. Um, but it'd be interesting to see what it comes up against when there's a little bit more uh resistance, but hopefully it all works works out.

SPEAKER_00 2:12

Sounds good. Do you know one thing that really really sucks? What? Daylight savings. Like today was the first time when I've realized that it's getting dark very early. Yeah. I was driving over here and I was like, why does it feel like it's midnight already? It's so dark. But here we go. The winter blues are about to kick in.

SPEAKER_01 2:30

You can't really call it winter blues because one day it'll be it'll be colder and then the next it'll be 20 odd degrees and the sun's out.

SPEAKER_00 2:35

I mean, yeah, it was 28 degrees today, so can't really moan at all. What a weekend of footy, though. Like all kicked off on Thursday night with Manly, and we'll get into that in a second. But one of the things that came out of the um Tigers Eels game yesterday, which was haven't said it this year, was quite a bit of a barnstormer. I'll give it credit, I'll give it credit. But um there was a mid-air tackle that led to Bailey Simonson dislocating his ankle. Now, for me, there have been many, many contacts like that in the air that haven't led to an injury that have caused for players just to get a penalty, not go to the bin, and now um Lau Lee's been banned for one game. It leads to the question: should the outcome of an injury determine the level of consequence or suspension that is given?

SPEAKER_01 3:30

Uh look, there's you you there's there's two sides to the argument. I I I I initially think no, but then there's gotta be a point where there it does impact, otherwise you'll just be having players firing in with each other and and not having any regard. So you so you look at I use an example from football, I use it all the time. Eduardo when Martin Martin Taylor smacked like snapped his leg, snapped his ankle off. Yeah, yeah, it wouldn't have been a red card if it wouldn't be that his bone was sticking out of his sock. Oh, I don't know about that. No, it would it wouldn't have, it would have been a booking, but don't forget this is nearly 20 years ago, yeah. Yeah, 2007. 2007 it was, yeah. It was nearly 20 years ago. Um, but then you've got I can't remember who it was. Um it it who was it again, same game flew out and used his head to essentially tackle.

SPEAKER_00 4:21

Uh it was the other centre, or it might have even been Simon. I think cracked his chin. No, it wouldn't have been him, he wouldn't have been on the field. It was the other the other centre, but yeah, he I think he should have been he he should have he definitely should have as well.

SPEAKER_01 4:35

But was it because they got all both got up okay that he got sort of a little bit of shrugged off and it was fine?

SPEAKER_00 4:41

I don't know. It it's an interesting one because he's out cold on the floor, and the ref should should bin him. Any other time when you go in head to head like that, you go into the bin. But the other one that we've seen, again, it seems like it's all Ill's players that get injured, and they've got a fair few injuries now as well. Peasant is uh hamstring, but Couchman for the Dragons, the hip drop tackle that he did on Hopgood tour is ACL. It feels like the punishment for that, the four games, was because of the injury. When we've seen similar hip drops not being given the same punishment, and then I refer back to last season when Toff Sipley against the Dragons broke someone's leg and he got four games as well, and it's like a bit of an accidental one. So it's a bit of a difficult one. I do agree with you. Like it's a it's a tough measure, and I suppose I heard something as well that if you're committing that penalty, the level of severity actually is like measured by the injury because you're committing a penalty, you're doing something wrong. So if you're doing something wrong and a person gets away with it, you should have a consequence.

SPEAKER_01 5:44

But if someone snaps their leg, surely well, this well, that's that's that's the the same same thing, isn't it? It's uh and and I know I could be going very rogue with this point, but if if you if you shoot someone and you kill them, you'll be done for murder, whereas if you if you don't, you'd be done for attempted murder, possibly. So it's too it's two different I get what you're saying. So it's two different uh penalties, but dependent on the outcome. Yeah. So it it's I I think it it's very it's a very grey area because you've either you can't say yes or no, because if you go flying in, you shoulder charge someone and you you get a red or you shoulder straight into the head and both get up and it's okay, it'd probably go under the radar compar compared to if you do the same action and he's out cold and could and out until get into hospital.

SPEAKER_00 6:38

A similar one as well, is like this left leg and left left leg lift and dangerous tackle. Yeah, like if you're driving them into the floor, there's an element of danger to that, which you're probably likely to be binned, but you can cause serious, serious injury of that. So you might get a more severe punishment after when it's reviewed, but in the moment you'll probably get it's it's a challenging one. The only one that annoys me, there's well, there's quite a few referee decisions that annoys me, but there's no consistency in contact to the head. Like, yeah, I don't think anyone ever intentionally in the game goes out to shoulder someone in the head or like a flailing arm when they someone drops and makes a tackle, but yet you can get in like severe trouble for that, and that's the one where there's a bit of like significant inconsistencies, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:24

It and and this is what we've talked about previously is that it's so open for interpretation at times. Um it can be really difficult for it to be consistent because one person's head tackle is is another person's just brush of a chin and and play on. So it it's it's a it's very difficult because it is a massive grey area, and like I said, uh you can't have a yes or no straight like answer and answer on it as a whole, I don't think.

SPEAKER_00 7:47

I mean, we're getting to the ELES game about heads head contact in a bit, and there's some very questionable high contact in that. But do you know what? I'd love to kick off this uh round five review about the the future premiers on playing on Thursday night, last Thursday night, but we can only start with in one place, and that is the Penrith Panthers sticking 50 on the Melbourne Storm.

SPEAKER_01 8:13

Melbourne Storm, if if stats are anything to go by, officially can't win the uh win the premiership.

SPEAKER_00 8:19

There's look records are there to be broken, yeah. And if there's one team that might do it, and I say might because they've been heavily impacted by injuries, right? Like Cartoa is a massive defensive loss. Xavier Coates as well, they get beaten on the outside quite easy. They they couldn't stop the Panthers, like nah, they storm completed it 94%, so it just shows that their attack wasn't doing anything special, or was it because the Panthers' defence was so solid? But they're missing that edge defence. Like, they try obviously tried to get Zach Lomax as well to shore things up on the edge, that didn't come through. Xavier Coates is out injured, and it even surprises me like Brian Toto isn't good in the air, and Dylan Edwards just boots one on fifth tackle, like cross field, and Toto comes down with it and finished it, but they just couldn't do anything wrong. The Panthers were just relentless, they just look so good.

SPEAKER_01 9:16

Uh everything's just so clinical, and and it really highlights the point that I think has been discussed a fair amount is on the on the third or fourth tackle or whatever it is, with two seconds to go of the game. There's like eight bodies around making the tackle just before the try line, and that that that shows the mentality. Yeah, it's like they're they're playing at full intensity to 80 minutes, as as you should, and it's just it's just they're just so much fitter than anyone else at the moment, they're just so much more switch switched on with the six again rule, and their attack has just been so clinical.

SPEAKER_00 9:49

Um part of that as well is the young gun Casey McLean. Like some of his line breaks and his runs were phenomenal, like his try, he bumped off three or four people to get it over the line. But the one that he set up for Jenkins just ran that line where he curved it round, broke through, drew him in, offload Jenkins. There you go. There's uh what is it, five in a row, and then he goes and scores another one at the end to make it five doubles in a row.

SPEAKER_01 10:17

He's he's um this is the thing, though, is there's a lot of talk around our own selection already. Of course, there is this five weeks. You show so so it should be. And there's a lot of talk about a lot of these Panthers playing and being selected, but the big question is Can he do it on a cold Tuesday night in Stoke? Are they are they doing it because they're in a system that it works in, or is it because they're all incredible individuals?

SPEAKER_00 10:43

I don't know whether you listen to the same thing that I did, but Jenkins has been in the was in the Penrith system for a long time, learnt the system, went to Newcastle for two seasons, didn't do too well, comes back for Penrith, and he's on he's on pace to score 50 tries this season. Like that's how bonkers it is. So I think that's highlighted a little bit with Nathan Cleary as well. Like when he's taken out the Penrith system, can he do it? For Australia, he hasn't necessarily been incredible, and for New South Wales, he hasn't necessarily been incredible. But that will be interesting to see. But even Blaise Telanghi as well, like he was pretty.

SPEAKER_01 11:20

But the thing is, because of how incredible the big names are doing, Blaze is just going underneath the radar with it all, and he's he seems to have really fitted into the system now. Um, last year he was sort of filling Jerome Louis's boots a little bit, but now he's he's found his own feet, running it in his in his own way. He's working really well together with Cleary as well. Um, but he's he's just going under the radar about it, and he's he's he's he's doing incredibly well.

SPEAKER_00 11:46

He is, and big man Leo Martin capped off his 150th with great try. The opening try of the game, just again, loose ball. Like usually the storm don't let a ball bounce around like that, and then bang, over it goes. But let's get into the real fixture here we go for the weekend Thursday night. The Manny Ring of Seagulls 52, the Redcliff Dolphins 18. Stick that up, yeah. I saw it coming. I didn't at all. I got seven out of eight tips this week, and the only one I didn't get.

SPEAKER_01 12:17

They can surprise you out of nowhere.

SPEAKER_00 12:19

Like I said, head, I go, I'm a realist, right? I'm a realist. I go based off of the knowledge that I have and all the knowledge and the experience pointed towards Manny losing this game. If anyone said they saw this come in, they're a liar. Um, Manny had 62% of the ball, over 2,000 run meters, 676 post contact meters. That is something that I don't think we would have seen this year at all. Um, but some huge standout performances. Massive. Big man Ola Kawa, 268 meters. Just give the man the ball. Yeah, let him let him do what he does best. Just give the man the ball and 123 post contact, eight tackle breaks. Hoppowate had a good game, 228. Kola has just been tearing it up. Um, but the surprise one I thought was Ben Troboyevich in this.

SPEAKER_01 13:05

Well, he's he's been solid all season. Um, and you you you start and hear the pundits coming out and rightly say about him. He's he's improving year on year. Yeah. And he's he's been one of the consistent players from Ali over these three these three, four games, where he he has been just solid in what he's doing, his handling has got has improved so much better.

SPEAKER_00 13:28

This year it has.

SPEAKER_01 13:29

He's not getting one of the things I've noticed he's not getting pinned with by an absolute bullet pass from Brooks uh 30 centimetres away from a second row, which has really helped in that sense. And this may be a big statement, but at times it was like having a second turbo on the field, especially with those edge edge set plays, his hands were so quick.

SPEAKER_00 13:51

I can't remember which try it was when he made the line break through and then released it might have been the cola.

SPEAKER_01 13:57

No, well, there was there was one where Hopawate got stopped uh cockroach's dick away from the try line.

SPEAKER_00 14:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:04

And and like if if if that had been a try, uh Travorovich would have got an assist, and it could have been probably the pass of the game. Yeah, it was a brilliant, it was a brilliant pass, and he's hope hopefully he's just going one way, and that's these trajectories just going up for the rest of the season.

SPEAKER_00 14:19

And it just seemed like things were simpler, it seemed like Jake wasn't trying to offload the ball, we were running into contact, driving the legs in contact as well, trying to win the ruck, and then getting the ball, keeping it inside, and then getting it out when we needed. And one of the I thought it was a great play where um Garrick, when Garrick scored, like you give it to Ola Kawu where you're like, oh, he can make a run. Turbo draws in. I think it was Herbie Farmworth, he drew in, and then Garrick's running this like looping line back in to cut back behind everyone, and he's run it at pace. He's like, you could see the the meters he's taken to get there. It's not like he's receiving the ball flat, like it seems like we always used to do, and he just powers over and we're just just straight destroying him. But I think it's a huge positive sign for Manley. Um, the fact that foreign's come in, you hear Foggity talking about like I'm only an 85 kilo number seven, but when he speaks, I feel like I could run over anyone. Um, great start for him, but we can't get ahead of it.

SPEAKER_01 15:25

Definitely, definitely not. There's like you say, it's the shifting, and it all leans back to clearly they were under instruction that wasn't working, and that that massively showed. Um, that that Garrick play I hadn't seen before that week that week. So that they've tried to run it again, and Garrett got stopped, which is normally the way with Manley's. They they think they're yeah, they can do it a couple of times in a row. But just going back to individual performances, you got you got Posecco who hit over 200 metres as well in the middle. And watching Ala Kawati, when he gets there was times where he was getting the ball flat, flat footed, and he was still making 10 metres and because of just the drive.

SPEAKER_00 16:03

Um how is late footwork work? And it's like players slip off of him, so you think you have him and then he'll whip his leg up, which he does a lot, leaning forward and gets his leg free, and just then gets another like five, ten metres on there. He um he just needs to be given the ball. Yeah, 100%.

SPEAKER_01 16:19

And the forwards do what they need to do.

SPEAKER_00 16:20

I don't know if there's hesitancy because of his shoulder.

SPEAKER_01 16:23

But but but no, no one was running with the ball, no forwards were running with the ball.

SPEAKER_00 16:27

Yeah, um, it'd be interesting to see how we go we go this week. Saab's back. Um yeah, it'll be Falalo did well. And um what's his name? Felady? Yes, that yeah, the young kid that came off. Josh, Josh, yeah, he he leg drive again. It's like everyone was coming on and just wanting to make meters. Yeah, so really positive. Uh we'll preview the game coming up this week in a bit, but it's a banana skin, like 100%, an absolute wounded animal in the dragons.

SPEAKER_01 17:02

Won twice in god knows how many years in Win Stadium. Dragons is a bogey team, and as we were discussing earlier, we're we're going, so our away game, and we for out of eight away games we've been to, Manly have won once. So all of the stats and all of the I've been to one more as you as well.

SPEAKER_00 17:19

I thought I forgot I went to the roosters at the SCG when um Matt Lodge tore his ACL. There we are.

SPEAKER_01 17:26

So uh so all the hoodoo voodoo and and everything is is definitely against definitely against Manly. But they need to bounce back, they need to bounce back.

SPEAKER_00 17:35

Well, we well be last time we played down in the gong, actually, I think it was last year, Corey Widdell scored twice. Or it might have been Cogger over, either way, oh Cogra Oval, but either way, Corey Waddell scored twice. So we'll see how it goes. But let's talk about Easter Monday's game. Um Eels 18, Tigers 20. I thought it was a great game. Like it was an absolute banger. Proper arm wrestle. It was, and I think in our tips, said this could be we both said this could be a good game, and it was um some few controversial decisions at the end.

SPEAKER_01 18:07

I think they just cancelled each other out, didn't they? Really?

SPEAKER_00 18:10

There was it was a couple of brushes across the face, and uh like what annoys me about the Mitch Moses one, right, is he I think it was Macassini that was trying to stop him, or it might have been fine, anyway, I can't remember. But he's put his arms out to stop the offload because he's clearly going down and facing backwards, and he's gone to offload like to attempt to offload it. He's put his arms out to try and stop the offload, and he's as he's then followed through, he just caught his chin.

SPEAKER_01 18:39

So bad, isn't it?

SPEAKER_00 18:40

If that would have won the game, it would have been outrageous. But yeah, fast forward a minute, there's another, like, I can't remember who took the real questionable high shot from the Tigers. But the other one, then, is Jock Madden's field goal attempt. Like, I don't know whether Dylan Walker was offside or not. No, I thought he so if you look when they showed the replay, I don't know who was inside of him, but he was standing next to the ref and he was in front of the ref. Dylan Walker actually got back to the line, I think. Okay, and as he runs out, he's obviously given it a go. He's missed a field goal, and then the ref's just blown up. I think it was a real if I was an Eels fan, I'd be pissed that I lost. If I was a Tigers fan, I would have been pissed if I lost on that. But um great, great, great game of the West.

SPEAKER_01 19:26

Yeah, and it's it's great to see these these two teams, like both who have had a little bit of adversity to start the season with, um just continuously grow though. Uh like Parramatta, as you were saying, have now taken some some knocks with with with they've got a new uh they've got a young half coming in this weekend.

SPEAKER_00 19:48

I was listening on the radio triple M on the way over here, and Brent Reed was saying they've got a young half, which is why they bought Jonah Pezert only in for a year, so that this guy could get some experience playing to then play next year. So I can't remember his name.

SPEAKER_01 20:02

Ronald Volkman.

SPEAKER_00 20:04

Nah, that's not him. Um I can't remember the name, but they there was apparently late mail that he was gonna get a call up this weekend. So, but they they've lost Peasett, like hamstring. Um, he went off for a HI, but it hamstring as well. Obviously, they lost Simonson, real bad, real bad ankle face in the wrong way, kind of vibes. But I think the Tigers look good. I'll tell you one sign in that does look good for them. Kaipus Paul.

SPEAKER_01 20:27

Yeah, incredible player, yeah, incredible player, and that's why Newcastle did so well. I'm sure uh last season they they had him and Dam Jung on the on the right, was it?

SPEAKER_00 20:36

I think the season, yeah. It was would have been the season before and last half of last season.

SPEAKER_01 20:41

And they just you've just got two bodies of the exact same just working together. And and I I this this signing sort of went a little bit under the red. I I hands up didn't really notice it until the team list of the first round. Yeah. The Tigers last year really struggled on their edges, especially in the edge edge defence, but now they've got a little bit more security in there with him coming in.

SPEAKER_00 21:10

Um, one thing that happened in this game, you see those dickheads in the crowd um trying to fight uh I can't remember who it was. Um, one of the Fayonu brothers, I think they were they're basically trying to offer them outside. Uh-huh. So when it all kicked off over on the sideline, when obviously Simonson went down, they were like giving it the come here, come here, come here, and like offering them outside, saying, Meet me outside. Like, why? Which dickhead in their right mind is offering out an NRL player. I'm pretty sure any of them could have batted these two geezers on their own. But also, oh yeah, let me just hop the fence. I'm just gonna hop the fence, go outside, sort, sort these two geezers out, fill them in, and then I'll come back in again and carry on playing. What a what a knobbed. Sort yourself out, Paramount fans. Like that's embarrassing. Talking of embarrassing, the Cowboys 32 against the Dragon. Dragons, real worrying times for the dragons. You know what? I didn't I didn't watch the press conference, and then I heard that Flanagan was a broken man, so I went back and watched it.

SPEAKER_01 22:12

And yeah, he didn't look great.

SPEAKER_00 22:14

He tried to get out of there as quick as possible. Even said, like I think before, something about sacking players that um weren't putting in the effort, and in the press conference he got questioned, said, Well, I can't sack 30 players. There's got to be some big changes, and then there's the things that's come out yesterday about Adam Cook was potentially on for a one-year contract renewal, it's been paused. Yeah. So it fit it feels a bit like Manley's situation only two weeks ago.

SPEAKER_01 22:43

Yes, I uh I think it's very similar, and and a lot of their performance that performance was felt the same. They would do it, they had silly m the silly mistakes. They were diabolical, got some had some easy drops uh at the back, his his hands were left him a little bit. Um there they just didn't seem to have any structure, they just couldn't get anything going. Um and to be fair to the Cowboys, they just took advantage and just just just ran up just ran away with it. They've started to gain a little bit of momentum as well.

SPEAKER_00 23:13

Like Ruben Cotta looked good, drinkwater looked good. Although, was it Ruben Cotta that challenged that ridiculous I can't remember what it was, the worst challenge so far this season? Oh, yeah, it was because he got binned, but he made the tackle in the uh when the ball was caught in the ingola and he made the tackle when they tried to get away with it. But either way, drinkwater's looking good, yeah, did and obviously doing bit, so watch out for the cowboys. Team that are looking very strong though. Newcastle Knights.

SPEAKER_01 23:40

I know, like just um it just highlighting the the raiders just sort of falling off a little bit at the moment as well.

SPEAKER_00 23:48

It's like they miss uh number seven that could control the ship, yeah. Interesting, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:54

It happens, and the Knights just it it it isn't not an anomaly, but it it really has come out of nowhere.

SPEAKER_00 24:02

I think they're playing without fear. Yeah, everything they seem to be doing just seems to be working. Everyone writ them off, and even when they lose Ponga, they lose Brown. It's like, we're the underdog here. Yeah, fuck him, we're just gonna go out. Look, I don't think Ethan Strange is having as good a year as he did last year. Like when I think Dom Young intercepted one, or it might have been Mar Jou that intercepted one, uh he tried to loop it over and he didn't get the height under it. Um maybe not having Foggerty next to him, having some It's the pet partnerships that work together, isn't it?

SPEAKER_01 24:34

And when when when you're the when you're the sort of number six and you lose your the game controller, it it then becomes a lot more pressure becomes onto you. And if you don't have someone who's able to step into that position alongside you and support you, it can be it can be really difficult. You saw it a little bit with the roosters, how the season that started with Sam Walker and DCE of DCE's in that sort of five-eighths, but like who's who's supposed to be is it the Sam Walker show or is it the DCE show? And you you once you lose the the orchestration of the middle, everything else then then then then crumbles. So it'd be interesting to see how they can work on sort of the next couple of weeks of of cementing that to then kick start, I suppose, the season.

SPEAKER_00 25:19

In saying that, the knights got Fletcher Sharp in there, yeah, and um Sandon Smith, who like are just working wonders together, and it's they've got a really good outside backs, like yeah, Marju, Gaga Gagay tore apart the right hand side. It was like almost like remember when we were there, and he was just running through everyone, and then outside of that, Brab and Best Brab and best, although he's got a groin problem, he's gonna be out. But then Dom Young, who's just doing scoring week on week.

SPEAKER_01 25:49

Dom Young's just doing what he does best now. He's just a big man, runs fast. He's back back at the nights now, just with that confidence back in him of being able to just run over people, and he's uh he looks like he's enjoying his his rugby again.

SPEAKER_00 26:02

How um Hudson Young didn't get a um didn't get a bin for the gang the the raiders just in general uh uh Tarpaney's skipped a few innit?

SPEAKER_01 26:14

A couple they he yeah he was he was on he was on track for nearly missing one every game. Um that boy's been getting away with murder, but yeah, it should have been should have been in the bin.

SPEAKER_00 26:25

Yeah, and big loss potentially. Xavier Savage might be out for a while with a knee injury, didn't look good. Um but onto the big game, which was at the accord on this was on Saturday, wasn't it? Was it the early kickoff on Saturday? I can't remember a whole weekend. No, it was good Friday. I think I just got pure chocolate haze, like side haze. It's just pure chocolate running through me. Of course it was Good Friday, but the rabbit o's get one over on the Bulldogs, and the Bulldogs are in all sorts of strife. Oh god, yeah. They've lost Stephen Crichton, AC joint, he's out for a while. Sherry, like when he went off, immediately you're like Bronson Sherry's coming on. Nah, nah. So there's something, there's surely something going on behind the scenes that's causing a bit of bit of upset in the camp.

SPEAKER_01 27:08

One thing I've got to say is how horrendous the pitch was at a core as well. Like the amount of times the players were losing their foot with their losing their footing, and it was an app absolutely shambolic. I'm sure there was can't remember who it was who ran through, tried to gather the ball, and just the defeat just went from underneath them. Um and it it yeah, it was it was dreadful. But m Matty Burton was just a revolving door when he walked into the centres. Like a man of his calibre, his size, who's who's a decent enough defender, yeah. They just they just attacked that right edge and and they just went through him.

SPEAKER_00 27:46

The rabbit hose do look when they get going, they look good and dry grey, like got another few Dali M points as well.

SPEAKER_01 27:52

Mitchell, Mitchell sort of pushing the pushing it a little bit in. He's he's starting to get on he's I don't like it. Nah, he's really on the that's when it went out, weren't it? And he dived into the couple of these things starting to creep in with him, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 28:06

But the rabbit was looking alright, like yeah, they are top eight candidates so far. Um then we get to the Queensland Derby, and believe it or not, there's another Queensland derby this weekend. There is, it's absolutely bonkers, but Titans. I said, I said in our tips, I said the Titans will start hot in this, but then I think the Broncos will get the best of them. And they did. The Titans started well, they could have scored on their opening set, which was which was mad. Um, just got away from them. I feel Broncos' fitness maybe a bit better, their physicality was a bit better, but still still like a weird one from the Broncos.

SPEAKER_01 28:40

They just they don't look like when I th when I think about them sort of last season, how they just would come out firing, they just look so connected in everything they did.

SPEAKER_00 28:49

This was the back end of the season, though. Um recency bias. Only thinking about the last part of the season.

SPEAKER_01 28:54

Well, no, at the start as well. So the start of last year.

SPEAKER_00 28:56

They were the first team that beat the Bron uh the Bulldogs last year as well.

SPEAKER_01 28:59

Yeah, so the start of last season towards the end, they they just worked, everything was in sync, everything worked, and they just look so clunky at the moment. Um like Shibis Shibasaki, he's he's he made a few errors. He he he's not Mr. Consistent like he was like last seas last year. He came out of nowhere last year, though, didn't he?

SPEAKER_00 29:19

Like he was a bit of a standard.

SPEAKER_01 29:20

It came out under the radar, but now they've lost Walsh. I don't know how long he's gonna be. Four to six weeks. He was on the green pen of doing it the weekend, having a great old time.

SPEAKER_00 29:28

And pushing cars after. I don't know if you saw that. So after he had finished in hospital, he was out. Apparently, some geezers' car broke down, and there was a few of them pushing the car to get it jump start. But Reynolds is out for a week or two. So Adam Reynolds obviously did his ribs, was out for a week. Now he's done his uh hamstring, I think, is out for a week or two, so he's a bit unreliable. The body's shutting down maybe on him. Um, and then Ben Hunt, torn MCL, six to eight weeks. So they're losing players at a sharp rate.

SPEAKER_01 29:58

Ezra Mamm still looks like he's celebrating the grand final win. Like he he doesn't look like the player that was of last season, as much as we we disagreed with him with being him on the field. But yeah, they they're getting the the wins, but they just don't look as yeah, as as like sort of conjoined as they they once were.

SPEAKER_00 30:20

Nah and when you got so much injuries and there's such a high turnover of players, it's hard to get that cohesion. But if they're in a strong position at the back end of the season, can't write them off from anything, cannot write them off. And look, the Titans looked alright. I feel I thought they're they're they're better than the dragons, yeah. Like they're better than the dragons, so they might not be getting the wooden spoon. But the last game of the weekend that we'll we'll go through Sharks 36, Warriors 22, just sharks at home, really.

SPEAKER_01 30:50

Sharks at home again, but they had a shocking last time. I I just don't understand. I gen these this the sharks baffle me.

SPEAKER_00 30:58

This game, though, was I watched about 20 minutes of this. I was at the park kicking the ball about my son, and I had it on um whilst they were playing around in the park, and it just felt like end to end. Like yeah, what Tennessee Zlesniak was one end, Stone Street was the other end, uh the centre as well, wherever it is for the sharks, can't remember his name, was going was the other end. Like it was just going back and forward, back and forward. So I don't know, I don't know where to put these these two teams.

SPEAKER_01 31:23

I I know I don't know. Metcalf's out injured as well. The Warriors have lost a lot of like losing players, and the sharks are just so inconsistent. Like they've put on two brilliant performances against the Warriors and the the Raiders, but then they lost 38-10 to the Dolphins a couple of weeks ago at home. And it's they've got the Roosters up next who are coming off of a bye. Yeah, it they're I think the Sharks are probably the hardest team to pick, if I'm being honest.

SPEAKER_00 31:53

They can be top four, they can be just making the eight, and sometimes they can be missing it. So fair play to them. But I had a quick look at the the Dali M leaderboard earlier, and Nathan Cleary's absolutely rumping it already, uh, with Dylan Edwards a little bit behind, which is crazy this early in the season. It seems like the geezer's just getting six points every week. That's five weeks in, and then top try scorer like Milky Jenkins just out with 12. Obscene, absolutely obscene scoring rate. Two point two point five or something tries again, which is absolutely nuts. But let's get into round six. Yeah, we kick it off on Thursday night out of the accord. Wowzers the Canterbury Bankstown Bulldogs at five dollars eighty against the Penrith Panthers, a dollar fourteen. What's the team list? Have they brought Bronson? That is Broughton Bronson in.

SPEAKER_01 32:46

Um it's Panthers win. It's just how by how many? Yeah. I I I like you look at how the players that were brilliant. Crichton's not there now. Kikow's just not being a play, like an edge player that he has been in previous seasons. I reckon they're just going to be attacking that right hand side um and then shifting out left. I I I reckon this could be this could this could be a big score for the Panthers.

SPEAKER_00 33:14

I agree with you. I think the Panthers are gonna win this quite comfortably. Um one thing I will say about the Bulldogs against the Rabbit O, Satilli Tupanua was running very hard um at the at the weekend, but he ain't gonna have enough for this Panther side. They're so well oiled, they're so good. This could be could be 40 plus. Yes, could be 40 plus.

SPEAKER_01 33:35

Yes, and then that leads us nicely into the first kickoff at the on the Friday, six o'clock, at the wind stadium in Wollongong, where we will be there in attendance. We've got the Dragons at $2.90 against the Manley Sea Eagles at $1.41.

SPEAKER_00 33:53

It's nuts. Like, look, Manley are gonna win this game. There's no head and heart about this. Manly are gonna win this game. Foz is it the will, give him the contract, put it on the table. Actually, no, I'm not gonna get ahead of myself because I actually think the better setup for next year would be Matty Balin and then Kieran Voran as an assistant. Yeah, but we can talk about that later on in the season. Jason Saab comes back in, replacing Faulalo. Um be interesting to see how he would have how he fits into this new more direct system. One thing I did notice last week as well, we weren't taking our backs, weren't taking carries out of yardage, it was forwards. Straight through the middle, so it'd be interesting to see how that goes, but Manly, Manly 13 plus.

SPEAKER_01 34:34

I'm gonna go manly as well.

SPEAKER_00 34:37

Love to hear it. Didn't think you'd tip otherwise. Then Friday, 8 pm, another Queensland derby. Ding dang derby. This could be a very good game, actually. We've got the Brisbane Broncos at $1.64 against the North Queensland Cowboys at $2.26 at the Suncorp.

SPEAKER_01 34:54

You see, this is the the sort of the game where the the Broncos do turn it on because they're at home. But they're missing Reynolds.

SPEAKER_00 35:02

Well he's been named. Has he? Yeah, which is mad. I've just looked, I didn't think he would have been named. I thought he was out once two weeks. That might change. I would say that will likely change.

SPEAKER_01 35:12

It's still not really gonna change where I'm gonna go with this. I'm I'm gonna back the cowboys, which is mad considering I I I I wouldn't have even thought that this was gonna be a thing a couple of weeks ago.

SPEAKER_00 35:26

I'm on the fence with this line. This is this is a real difficult one. I want to say the Broncos, but but they've lost a lot of players. Um Yeah, I'm gonna stick with the Broncos. I think the Broncos win this. Yeah, Carpon A's just come back in as well. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 35:43

No, I'm gonna stick with my pick. I'm gonna go with I'm gonna stay with the stay with the cowboys. Um we're out west. We are out very west uh for the first kickoff on the on the Saturday, three o'clock kickoff. We've got the Rabbitos at $1.53 against the Camberradors at $2.52, and the Optus Stadium in Perth.

SPEAKER_00 36:05

And what a stadium that stadium is. It is a great stadium. It's a phenomenal stadium. I would happily go back there again. Um so when the Bears come into the competition, if it's Manly Bears first game of the season, on that plane we go, depending on if the cost of fuels come down or not. But we'll see. Um I'm gonna go Rabbit Hurz. I think they're just on a bit of a bit of a bounce.

SPEAKER_01 36:30

I'm gonna I'm gonna join you with the uh with the old bunnies. Um they are playing extremely, extremely well, um, and just seem to do being just doing the right things at the right time. Um and big boy Jai Gray is just putting in daily end performances, in my opinion.

SPEAKER_00 36:47

Um on the then at 5.30, same stadium. We've got a double header at the Optus. We got the Crenella Sharks at $2 against the Sydney Roosters at $1.85. I really don't. This this this this could be a very good game. Victor Radley's back. So from his cut-down 10-game suspension for a short little eight ball.

SPEAKER_01 37:09

He's straight in.

SPEAKER_00 37:10

Yeah, straight in. Tommy Talau has been Spencer Lenue. Yeah, big, big back fence Spence. You've seen Hugo Savala's named in at centres as well.

SPEAKER_01 37:21

Oh, which is nuts. That's changed it for me, actually. I I I think I'm gonna go for the Roosters on this one. One thing that they would have been missing is a little bit of Mongrel coming off the bench. Spencer Lenuew is that, and with Spencer, no, no, who's on the bench and also with Victor Radley at 13 being able to control the game a bit. You've got more, you've got a ball playing 13 in who's which is only gonna help uh DCE as well, and they've had the week off. I I I'm gonna go for the Roosters on this one.

SPEAKER_00 37:56

Yeah, I am as well. I think DCE said it uh on the footy show last Sunday. Um he said this bye week's coming a good time for them to be able to kind of reset and refigure things, and we might, although with Savala playing at centre, I don't know, we'll see. He might be roving, he might come back inside, but um yeah, I'm gonna go Roosters.

SPEAKER_01 38:14

Um and then the final kickoff, the 735 kickoff on the Saturday. We've got the Melbourne Storm at $1.36 against the New Zealand Warriors at $3.19 at their favourite place, Amy Park. Are the flat trap bullies back?

SPEAKER_00 38:30

The Melbourne Storm. Um I reckon Sue Farlongo is going to score again because he seems to be scoring in every game at the moment, and the Melbourne Storm are going to win this.

SPEAKER_01 38:41

Yeah, I'm gonna join you on that one. I think the Melbourne Storm are gonna have a bit of a bit of a bounce back, and unfortunately, the he's gonna come at the expense of the uh the Warriors.

SPEAKER_00 38:51

Sunday, 2 pm kickoff for at the Combank again for the Parramatta Eels at $1.60 against the Gold Coast Titans, $2.35. Tough one this one. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 39:09

I'm gonna go Parramatta though. I'm gonna go Parramatta.

SPEAKER_00 39:14

Oh, I don't know, you know. I'm gonna stick my neck out, and I reckon I reckon the Gold Coast Titans are gonna cause a little bit of an upset here. Okay. I've just got a feeling. Can feel it in my waters. I can feel it in my chocolate. That's what I can feel it in. All of the chocolate. Yeah. Um that brings us Can I just pause you before you say this? It's the second place team in the ladder against the third place team in the ladder. This is bonker.

SPEAKER_01 39:37

This is mental. If if anyone would have guessed this at the start of the season, uh hat off to you. So the 4.05 kickoff, we've got the second place West Tigers at $1.66 against the third place Newcastle Knights at $2.23.

SPEAKER_00 39:58

This is going to be a great game to finish off the weekend. Um, where is it? It's at Campbelltown. So it's not like art, they're not good at well, they've kind of squashed that a little bit. They're a bit better at at Campbelltown now. I reckon the Western Tigers get this done.

SPEAKER_01 40:24

It is very difficult. Um I'm gonna join you. Tigers.

SPEAKER_00 40:34

Tigers, just tigers, tigers to do it, and if they win that, no, the Panthers will still be top of the table. Don't don't be don't be silly. Don't be silly. But looking at that ladder, by the way, they have got a ridiculous points difference as well. 150 points. How many have they conceded? 40. They've got the best defence, best offence in the league. That is nuts. Wild. They were $9 before the season started to win. They've shortened to $2.50. But I'll tell you where the value is in this table. Manly seagulls. I'll tell you where the value is. The Manley Seagulls at $81 to win the comp. Lump on now, and you're going to be quids in. But yeah, we'll finish up on that note. Like and like and subscribe, and we'll catch you in the next one. Don't forget Manly 13 Plus.