NRL Final Series: Then There Were Four

The NRL Final Series in Australian Rugby League is now down to only four teams in the race for the 2010 premiership. The four teams remaining are St George Illawarra Dragons, The Gold Coast Titans, West Tigers and the Sydney City Roosters.

This weekend has seen the West Tigers defeat the Canberra Raiders and the Sydney City Roosters defeat the Penrith Panthers.

Next weekend will see the Sydney City Roosters against the Gold Coast Titans and the West Tigers against Saint George Illawarra Dragons. The winners of these two matches go through to the Grand Final decider.

Rugby League: Some Thoughts on the Melbourne Storm

Like many rugby league fans I was stunned by the breaking news concerning the Melbourne Storm on Thursday evening. The Storm were never my number one team – that was Parramatta. However, the Storm were a team that I admired greatly, a brilliantly coached football team that had dominated rugby league in Australia for the last five years. They were the team to beat and they beat Parramatta in the Grand Final of 2009. Most fair-minded fans of the game were in awe of the Melbourne Storm and I used to love their football.

Now I feel cheated, as most rugby league fans do. Given the mighty resurgence of Parramatta in the lead up to last year’s Grand Final and their appearance in the Grand Final after some incredible wins in the finals, I felt the loss of the Grand Final along with the other Parramatta supporters – but the team had done their best and they hadn’t chocked.

Now we learn that they were playing an unfairly talent inflated team, paid for my illegal means and under the table payments, in total disregard of the salary cap rules that Parramatta and the other teams in the NRL were adhering to. The Parramatta team were playing a cheating team. Certainly many of the players and even some of the team management appear to have known nothing about the salary cap breaches. Yet by the actions of a few, the entire team were in fact cheats.

Parramatta have a right to feel cheated out of a premiership last year and Manly two years before that. These teams didn’t win the Grand Finals they played in, they lost them, so they don’t deserve the premiership title either. But it would have been a fairer opportunity for premiership glory to have been playing on a level playing field.

Shame on Melbourne – what hollow victories you had in 2007 and 2009, and what hollow minor premierships you gained from 2006 to 2008. At the moment I believe the Storm should be removed from the NRL completely – however, in time that view will be tempered, should the stories of players and officials of the Storm not knowing about the cheating prove true. At the moment however, it is difficult to believe that more people within the Melbourne Storm didn’t know about the cheating – including the players who received the extra payments.

More is to be revealed concerning this story in days to come I think.

 

Rugby League: Parramatta Beginning to Find Form

Parramatta have finally won two games back to back in the 2010 NRL premiership. It is only round 7, so there is still a long way to go in this year’s competition. With Melbourne all but a spent force this year given the salary cap crisis that has hit that club, Parramatta have it all to play for after loosing last year’s Grand Final to Melbourne, who have since been stripped of the 2009 premiership for being cheats.

Come on Parramatta – your die hard fans are urging you on the go one better in 2010!

 

MANLY SMASH THE MELBOURNE STORM IN NRL GRAND FINAL

Having tipped the Storm to win back to back premierships, I am still in shock at the hammering Manly dished out to Melbourne in the NRL Grand Final yesterday. In fact the victory was the largest winning margin of NRL Grand Final history, with a 40-0 thumping of the Storm.

It was a match that signalled the end of various careers, especially that of Steve Menzies (349 games) for Manly and Matt Geyer’s for Melbourne. Menzies (known as ‘Beaver’) completed his NRL career on top, while Mat Geyer will remember his last game as a heart-breaking loss.

Having been the best team in the competition until the final series, Melbourne began their fall from premiership glory with a loss to New Zealand in their first finals match of the season. Having barely defeated Brisbane in the following game, the Storm beat Cronulla before advancing to the Grand Final.

Questions are now being asked as to the immediate future of the Melbourne Storm – is this the beginning of the end of Melbourne’s NRL domination, will they make the finals next year, etc? However, all of this talk of a declining Melbourne side seems a little premature at this stage. Certainly they performed well below their best during the final series, but they remain a great side, though they will loose some great players before next season. Mat Geyer, Michael Crocker and Israel Folau will all be gone from the Storm next year.

The Manly side finished the year on the same points as Melbourne (as did Cronulla), though Melbourne were the Minor Premiers on for and against. Manly were the deserved winners of the Grand Final and were by far the superior team in the finals series.

Manly prop Brent Kite took out the Clive Churchill Medal as man of the match. Matt Orford was the Dally M Player of the Year.

BELOW: Cooper Cronk Speech after loosing the Grand Final

 

MELBOURNE SURVIVE SOMEHOW: The Season’s Best team Marches On

After loosing to the New Zealand Warriors last week, the Melbourne Storm were facing elimination if they lost in tonight’s game against the Brisbane Broncos. The winner would be through to play the Cronulla Sharks next week in order to reach the Grand Final.

Last night saw the Warriors survive to fight another day and they will play the Manly Sea Eagles next week in order to reach the Grand Final.

Having trailed Brisbane all night, right through until the final seconds of the game, Melbourne managed to capitalise on a Brisbane mistake and score with only seconds to play. Melbourne had fought back from 12 – 0 down at half time to be trailing 14 – 12 with only seconds to play.

Somehow, having made it back deep into the Brisbane half, the Storm managed to score a try giving them an amazing 16 – 14 victory.

Earlier in the second half it appeared that Melbourne had scored a miracle try to hit the lead, only to have it disallowed and for Brisbane to be given a penalty instead. Replays suggested the ruling may have been correct, though the replays were in no way conclusive.

Brisbane were of course shattered by the late try, having already been convinced that they were about to win the game and progress to the next match. But it wasn’t to be and the season’s best team marches on and a possible defence of last year’s premiership title is still a possibility.

NRL FINAL SERIES

With the NRL final series now having arrived, it is now time to put my nominally followed team to bed – the Parramatta Eels. What a disappointment the Eels have been yet again! So much talent with so little performance was the result for 2008.

Already this weekend the Brisbane Broncos, Cronulla Sharks and the Manly Sea Eagles have won having defeated the Sydney City Roosters, the Canberra Raiders and the Saint George Dragons. This means that the Saint George Dragons are gone for this season. Remaining in the first weekend of the final series is the Melbourne Storm – New Zealand Warriors match, which has the minor premiers up against the team that pipped the Newcastle Knights for the final spot in the top 8 for 2008.

As has been my tip for the entire season it is difficult to go past the Melbourne Storm not only for the match today, but for the premiership title for 2008. There seems very little hope for the Warriors as they come up against the might of the Storm, a team which is a class above the others in the competition.

As I say, it is difficult to go past the Melbourne Storm for the title.

Visit: http://www.nrl.com.au/

In the video below, the Melbourne Storm’s Billy Slater scores a hat trick of tries against the New Zealand Warriors in March 2008.