All NRL Games [Round 23, 2025]

I wonder how 3 players did there hamstrings in one game... maybe Madge's crazy and intense training methods :wondering:
Bellamy. I don't know how, but it has to be the Dark Arts of Craig Bellamy.

Seriously, if he could come up with a way - through sorcery, animal sacrifice or otherwise - of conspiring with the Melbourne groundkeepers to inflict serious injury on his opponents without injuring his own players, he would. (I was going to say "he'd do it in a heartbeat" until I realised he doesn't have a heart.)
 
That said… I would have him on our wing any time of day before Saab. The guy knows how to compete and catch a ball.

Also helps having halves who are better at short kick bombs. You watch where the ball usually comes down when kicked for Coates as opposed to the kicks Saab gets.

Coates basically just gets to jump, catch and fall down to score. 90% of the bombs Saab gets to go for end up 5 metres inside the field of play and not in the in-goal. And most of them are kicked by DCE. He's a good long kicker but his shorter kicking game often sucks like a $2 hooker.

Of course there is also the fact that Coates has a much safer pair of hands than Saab.
 
Must admit I'm enjoying watching the Panthas, they are now such a well oiled machine with a lot of moving parts,
it's like watching football chess, they are always 2 moves ahead of the opposition. Also there 5/8 Talagai, wow, what a player, came from the lowly Parra , now look at him now.
 
Must admit I'm enjoying watching the Panthas, they are now such a well oiled machine with a lot of moving parts,
it's like watching football chess, they are always 2 moves ahead of the opposition. Also there 5/8 Talagai, wow, what a player, came from the lowly Parra , now look at him now.
Ivan Clearly looks to have done a Moneyball thing, studied the game tapes over and over, and then built a team and method of play all designed to play a form of rugby league that the referees and current rules will give the greatest advantage to.

There's many examples of this with Penrith, from knowing when to do roll balls to everything else, but another is knowing that when the referee calls "Held!", that's your signal to immediately fall over to the ground with the ball carrier, as the referee won't ping you as they think you had started pushing in that last second before he called "Held!". Just practice and practice to not be obvious and the refs will leave you alone.

Dinosaur pure footy guts and effort coaching like Hasler and Toovey is no good anymore.
 
Ivan Clearly looks to have done a Moneyball thing, studied the game tapes over and over, and then built a team and method of play all designed to play a form of rugby league that the referees and current rules will give the greatest advantage to.

There's many examples of this with Penrith, from knowing when to do roll balls to everything else, but another is knowing that when the referee calls "Held!", that's your signal to immediately fall over to the ground with the ball carrier, as the referee won't ping you as they think you had started pushing in that last second before he called "Held!". Just practice and practice to not be obvious and the refs will leave you alone.

Dinosaur pure footy guts and effort coaching like Hasler and Toovey is no good anymore.
Great insight.
 

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2025 Ladder

Team P W D L PD Pts
1 Raiders 21 17 0 4 168 38
2 Storm 20 15 0 5 248 36
3 Bulldogs 19 14 0 5 122 34
4 Panthers 20 12 1 7 119 31
5 Warriors 19 12 0 7 26 30
6 Broncos 20 11 0 9 104 28
7 Sharks 20 12 0 8 43 28
8 Dolphins 19 10 0 9 171 26
9 Roosters 19 9 0 10 20 24
10 Sea Eagles 20 9 0 11 -10 24
11 Tigers 20 8 0 12 -121 22
12 Dragons 19 7 0 12 -58 20
13 Cowboys 20 7 1 12 -177 19
14 Knights 20 6 0 14 -152 18
15 Eels 19 6 0 13 -153 18
16 Titans 19 5 0 14 -153 16
17 Rabbitohs 20 6 0 14 -197 16
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