chocolate_lover said:
Who do u guys think will win?
I hope the Aussies win but I think the Kiwis will run away with a win because they have Benji Marshall and Sonny Bill.
And because half the Aussie team (maybe not half, but you know what I mean) are Broncos. Need I remind you how the Broncos' season has been going??
Are you kidding me?
Petero was clearly one of the best forwards on the field apart from Mason and Lockyer had a night out if you ask me, his kicking game had finesse and class written all over him. Hodges was solid though nothing spectacular, not to mention he made a gaping bust through the ruck and Karmichael Hunt just got MoM though it could've gone to either Thurston or Mason. Tate did some very good things including setting up that wonderful try at the end for Lockyer and you're telling me that the Kiwis would've ran away with the win
because they had Benji and Sonny Bill? Sonny Bill can't hold a ball if his life depended on it and Benji never looked in the game until there was 10 minutes left into the game. The only play I had a question mark over was Berrigan but Stuart seemed intent on using him as a roving forward more than anything when Cameron Smith was on the field.
Lyon was missing in action for a major part of the match. As the same with Simpson. King made major panicky passes when he got a few good balls from Locky and Bailey played a decent game but for very little metres per hit up if you ask me, just not enough power in his game to make a solid impact especially coming off his own line.
I don't see any Roosters players doing any better except Anthony Tupou who played very well for his limited time off the bench. Absolute rubbish.
The Broncos should be 3 from 5 with victories potentially going either way against the Cowboys and Panthers. Wayne Bennett has been experimenting a side that will succeed for the rest of the season and 1 from 5 is not a reason to press the panic button. Broncos came off a premiership slump in 1999 with 0 wins from 5 and still manage to make the finals. So before you decide to go and bag out my team's players, have a look at your own.
The selectors have shown that faith and loyalty are more important to them than form and that has just been highlighted with their victory over the Kiwis despite the fact that it wasn't too convincing but the team only gets together this one time of the year and then for a series at the end of the season, it's not like they play together week in week out and that is why selectors do this. Players that have played together are far better than selecting based on a player's form.
And no, I'm not taking this too far or too seriously, I have teh upmost respect for my players and their talents in getting the job done and they have done that successfully ever since joining the competition. That is no easy feat.
extraordinary07 said:
do we need to have them? why do we need to have a test, we have the tri nations every year, and this year we have the world cup
and if we are going to have it it should be played after origin, that way the form players are picked and teams arent picked on reputation.
Both the NRL and AFL commemorate ANZAC Day and this is one way of doing it. I don't see why they shouldn't have it because it's not solely the reason as to why this match is played every year, more so to commemorate
ANZACs during the war. The AFL does this the same with Collingwood up against Essendon and it seems pretty damn fitting to have it.
Like I said above, the guys don't play together week in week out and so the selections are based on reputation with players in the past who have gotten the job done and done successfully. Changing the teams every year based on form does not pay dividends if players can't gel and I back the selectors on the majority of their decisions.