Maybe I'm a traditionalist and time has passed me by - I only seem to be able to watch half of a SOO game nowadays because they are usually being stifled by the ever increasing number of match officials. In my opinion the 2nd on field referee should be removed and the video referral system should only be used as it is in cricket where a captain can appeal a certain number of decisions during a half. This is unlikely to happen because of the influence broadcasters have in wanting a more sanitised version of the game in order to attract broader audiences.
It's very quiet on the QLD front - you guys haven't written your side off already have you (this is normally what you Queenslanders do every year before taking out the series) .
I'm normally up in cane toads territory this time of the year and enjoy the SOO with the Townsvillians but have to put up with it down South VIC this year. I was going to go but got a bit crook so thought better of the cold night. They are put to the test big time this year as missing a few big names.
Go QLD.
Edit.....Said wrong team, bugga. Hope I didn't mos the cane toads
-- Edited by Dougwe on Wednesday 6th of June 2018 05:36:21 PM
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I've almost posted a few times but changed my mind. Just sitting back and watching.
There seems to be less interest this year. Perhaps the thrill of winning every year has worn off a bit.
I haven't even done my usual & watched my library of games that go back to the first one .. only those where Qld wins of course. I delete the others. Who would be interested in them.
It will be interesting on two fronts ..
1. How the NSW team of newbies goes. We've seen that approach before. We haven't even got grub Gallen to yell at or the flop Hayne to look for (always goes missing in the big ones though he did well for a bit in 2nd game last year).
Of course we always have the terrible NSW biased commentators lead by that idiot Gould (he who knows everything). One can only hope that chan 9 eventually looses the NRL contract & all those commentators loose their jobs, just like with cricket.
2. How the officials will police the play the ball rucks. What have they told their NSW mates this year. Better for QLD if the bog the game down I think.
Anyway .. A quiet house at our place tonight but I expect that the team work of the Maroons will win thru, supported by the Melbourne crowd. We all oppose NSW on the League field.
Perhaps I'll head off now to get some supplies & settle down with a few selected vids before the game. (this is a delayed post because it seems that it didn't 'send' when I composed it at around 3pm. I'm half way thru last years game2 & it doesn't look good. The goodies must have won or I would have deleted it. So I have some great viewing before this years game, to get my vocals warmed up.
Winners are grinners at least we've got the first one in the bag - can NSW possibly blow the series seeing as the 2nd game is in Sydney if last last year is anything to go by of course they can ... Frankly Cupie whether the other AFL states support NSW or not doesn't worry me one little bit because the blues are representing our state and unlike QLD we don't need the hangers on whose support will quickly disappear if they start losing. Qld supporters should listen to themselves - every year before a series even starts the excuses will start coming out biased commentators, a biased broadcaster, biased officials or those cheating NSW players and coaches who are all plotting against them. The fact is that 2 evenly matched sides give 110% effort every year (both playing under the same conditions) normally the team that wants to win the most usually does. Unfortunately the maroons have had the advantage over the blues in that area since the inception of the SOO back in the early eighties but as an eternal optomist I'm always hoping that it will eventually change.
If there was a State of Origin for whinging and excuse making then the Cane Toads would win every match of every series by about 50 points. Now if they happen to lose this year's series I imagine their captain could always go for a holiday in that Queensland town where he was born and bred, Kempsey, isn't it?
-- Edited by DMaxer on Thursday 7th of June 2018 08:33:35 AM
Could have been worse as a couple of Blues near touch downs were rejected by the boys in the box.
oh!!! I replayed a few times a pass that went forward, but missed by the ref. and result in a try for the Blues. But the 2 quick tries in succession broke the spirit of the boys in Maroon.
Not complaining, as the Blues outplayed us, but we "Shall Return" bigger and better in SOO 2 & 3.
As the sayings go Winners are grinners.... Winners can laugh & losers can please themselves.
I certainly will please myself and call out whatever I perceive to be the case, irrespective of the ungainly clamour for the high moral ground by some .. perhaps a long long upwards struggle for many.
There was no doubt that NSW were the better side on the night, I actually thought that Jimmy the Jet & the rest of the NSW back line would run amok & it looked very much that way right from the start. Credit to the Maroons that that didn't occur. Lets hope that we see a repeat of last year's contest.
The best effort from the good guys was that of he who CHOSE to be a Queenslander, our Captain. If others had followed his lead to a greater extent then the outcome may well have been different. It may indeed have been his personal effort that quietened the NSW back line a bit.
Comment on the effort of the game officials I'll leave to others, we all saw it.
ps.
As I mentioned last year, I have found the secret of enjoying watching live, even if we lose ... Turn off the sound so that I don't have to listen to Gould rave on ad nauseum about the fantastic NSW plays & that 'Qld are gone, you could throw a blanket over them' .. and then as we surge, he goes absolutely quiet. It's good for the neighbours too.
pps.
Great to see that the AFL state attracted a crowd of 87,122 pop Melb 4.3m. appx
How will the self appointed home of NRL go in game 2? only 82,259 in Sydney, pop 4.5m appx, after winning G1 last year! Will a few hangers on come out of the woodwork?
I predict that Game3 in Brissy will sell out irrespective of the result of G1 & 2 - so much for 'the hangers on'. BTW Broncos keep attracting great crowds (leading club with av 23k in 9 games of 2017 - NQ next 18.7) even as they struggle on a Thursday night & not in the 8. Yer I know that Lang Park only holds a tad over 50,000 pop Bris 2.2m Recent years SOO att 2017 52540, 2015 52500, 2013 52499.
LOL .. remember its only a game ... LOL
-- Edited by Cupie on Thursday 7th of June 2018 01:58:00 PM
Great to see that the AFL state attracted a crowd of 87,122 pop Melb 4.3m. appx
How will the self appointed home of NRL go in game 2? only 82,259 in Sydney, pop 4.5m appx, after winning G1 last year! Will a few hangers on come out of the woodwork?
I predict that Game3 in Brissy will sell out irrespective of the result of G1 & 2 - so much for 'the hangers on'. BTW Broncos keep attracting great crowds (leading club with av 23k in 9 games of 2017 - NQ next 18.7) even as they struggle on a Thursday night & not in the 8. Yer I know that Lang Park only holds a tad over 50,000 pop Bris 2.2m Recent years SOO att 2017 52540, 2015 52500, 2013 52499.
LOL .. remember its only a game ... LOL
-- Edited by Cupie on Thursday 7th of June 2018 01:58:00 PM
Cupie the hangers on aren't those from Qld - I was actually having a dig at all those once a year supporters from then AFL states who like nothing better than to jump on the Qld bandwagon. It's hard to compare crowd numbers when different stadiums have been capped at a certain number, if I recall Sydney was actually a sell out last year. In 2000 Homebush stadium had a capacity of 110,000 I know that because I went to a Knights double header and later a Bledisloe Cup rugby match where those numbers were achieved - they removed the end tiers and reconfigured the ground after the olympics. You are correct the average crowd number for the Broncos since joining the national competition has been over 28000, Newcastle 18000 and the Cowboys 16000. Using your analogy in relation to crowd size V population the Cowboys would actually be 1st, Newcastle 2nd and the Broncos 3rd. If Newcastle ever puts a decent side together they won't just get their usual 15000 to a game they will fill Marathon stadium to capacity (just like they used to in the Johns era). When the rugby league season is over you can bet that those same people will be at the stadium again in big numbers to watch the Jets go round.
Cheers
BB
-- Edited by The Belmont Bear on Thursday 7th of June 2018 08:56:11 PM
BB ... Sorry, my error. But you have to admire the Melbourneites' love of any sporting spectacular. It must be magic to witness one of their GFs with a crowd of 90,000 fanatics.
SMH said that the ANZ game 2 2017 crowd was 82,259. Close as all hell to a capacity of 83,500.
Fabulous game ,superbly reffed, hardly any whistle blowing ,just flowed perfectly ,two Great teams,superb entertain ment,anyone could have won ,fortunately the right team won ....
.
