Official International Football

[Capital_Shark]

Anyone know what Cooper Cronk thought of Nichos miss on Griffin Neame?

Blocker was doing that role this game so probably not.

 

[egg]

Mate, since when has he delivered a masterclass against a heavy duty team ?

Stop giving this guy hype, he’s achieved f*ck all for us, this problem is because of our coach giving him all the keys after one year

he’s got a lotttttt of work to do. The guy can’t control a team - he’s a liability at times too, he’s got to stop believing his own hype your just another player on a field with 12 others

Sounding like you want him dropped for Moz ?

 

[Wiz]

Sounding like you want him dropped for Moz ?

You got me

He’s either the halfback that kicks like a weapon and calmly goes about things in a machine like manner for 80 mins or he’s the five eighth that is always running and plays eyes up on what he sees

He can’t do both at 100 miles an hour, him and the coach need to pull their head in and figure out what they want

 

[Capital_Shark]

You got me

He’s either the halfback that kicks like a weapon and calmly goes about things in a machine like manner for 80 mins or he’s the five eighth that is always running and plays eyes up on what he sees

He can’t do both at 100 miles an hour, him and the coach need to pull their head in and figure out what they want

Ability to do both but knowing when is the trick.

 

[HaroldBishop]

Ability to do both but knowing when is the trick.

Yep that's the issue, he wants to do it all, all of the time. For his own sake and the team's, he needs to pull back.

 

[Sparkles]

You got me

He’s either the halfback that kicks like a weapon and calmly goes about things in a machine like manner for 80 mins or he’s the five eighth that is always running and plays eyes up on what he sees

He can’t do both at 100 miles an hour, him and the coach need to pull their head in and figure out what they want

I think Trindall has the better all round kicking game. That should be enough to work it out really.

 

[bort]

Ability to do both but knowing when is the trick.

Yep, to look a bit further at halves running patterns from games just gone

Former fullback Hughes just strongly contributed to NZ towelling up Kangaroos in their best ever victory over us and ran 19 times playing halfback
Combined with halves partner ran 35 times (246m, 61m PCM) - Hughes 117m
Him (16) and Dylan Brown ran combined 30 times in the loss (210m, 87m PCM) - Hughes 106m
So Hughes ran more than 'running 5/8' Brown in both games.

In Kangaroos loss Munster had 18 runs to DCE 14 (155m, 20m PCM)
And their win Munster ran 14 times to DCE 15 (191m, 58m PCM)
DCE got shut down this one, only made 54m off his runs, PCM but still one of the text book 7s ran more than one of the textbook 6s

Brown and Munster probably two of the best running 5/8s around only outran their partner in 1 of the 4 examples above.

Nicho averaged 148m per game for us in 2023
DCE only averaged 88 but seemingly wanted this to be higher in tests, Jahrome averaged 106 (comparable to his tests).
Cleary obviously no tests comparison for this series but averaged 125m through NRL season.
So Nicho is not running drastically more than other top halfbacks

QUALITY and timing of runs definitely a different story, but I don't think volume of running from Nicho is necessarily a huge concern.

 

[HaroldBishop]

Strange thing to say.....

V’landys said of sticking with Meninga: “The thing about Mal is he has instilled pride back into the green and gold jumper, and also a great role model. And his record speaks for itself.

 

[bort]

Strange thing to say.....

V’landys said of sticking with Meninga: “The thing about Mal is he has instilled pride back into the green and gold jumper, and also a great role model. And his record speaks for itself.

All true a week ago
Plenty of credit in the bank but wouldnt wanna choke whatever int series we see next year

 

[Gards]

Yep, to look a bit further at halves running patterns from games just gone

Former fullback Hughes just strongly contributed to NZ towelling up Kangaroos in their best ever victory over us and ran 19 times playing halfback
Combined with halves partner ran 35 times (246m, 61m PCM) - Hughes 117m
Him (16) and Dylan Brown ran combined 30 times in the loss (210m, 87m PCM) - Hughes 106m
So Hughes ran more than 'running 5/8' Brown in both games.

In Kangaroos loss Munster had 18 runs to DCE 14 (155m, 20m PCM)
And their win Munster ran 14 times to DCE 15 (191m, 58m PCM)
DCE got shut down this one, only made 54m off his runs, PCM but still one of the text book 7s ran more than one of the textbook 6s

Brown and Munster probably two of the best running 5/8s around only outran their partner in 1 of the 4 examples above.

Nicho averaged 148m per game for us in 2023
DCE only averaged 88 but seemingly wanted this to be higher in tests, Jahrome averaged 106 (comparable to his tests).
Cleary obviously no tests comparison for this series but averaged 125m through NRL season.
So Nicho is not running drastically more than other top halfbacks

QUALITY and timing of runs definitely a different story, but I don't think volume of running from Nicho is necessarily a huge concern.

I don't mind Nicho running it, he is dangerous like that and it keeps defense on it toes marking him and presents us other options from that

Pass selection and kicking is what let him down this season, needs to work on those things and also understanding game context and when to calm the farm + allow his team mates to do their jobs/responsibilities.

Good leaders empower others, they don't do everything themselves

Strange thing to say.....

V’landys said of sticking with Meninga: “The thing about Mal is he has instilled pride back into the green and gold jumper, and also a great role model. And his record speaks for itself.

Bring in Hasler if we want an expert in pride in the jersey

 

[Deleted member 2543]

Well there is this other spine player who the coach loves and talks up at every opportunity, and has played more games than anyone else in the spine…

Could be a crazy concept, but maybe, just maybe … that guy is actually doing a lot of the things fans expect “the halfback” to do.

 

[bort]

I don't mind Nicho running it, he is dangerous like that and it keeps defense on it toes marking him and presents us other options from that

Pass selection and kicking is what let him down this season, needs to work on those things and also understanding game context and when to calm the farm + allow his team mates to do their jobs/responsibilities.

Good leaders empower others, they don't do everything themselves

for sure - basically a second year halfback, doesn’t make it untrue just gives me a lot of confidence he can improve from where he already is

Good leaders don’t do everything themselves but marquee spine players tend to do quite a bit

 

[Sparkles]

Well there is this other spine player who the coach loves and talks up at every opportunity, and has played more games than anyone else in the spine…

Could be a crazy concept, but maybe, just maybe … that guy is actually doing a lot of the things fans expect “the halfback” to do.

Unless it's passing to Tracey when he overcalls Hynes

 

[Wiz]

Strange thing to say.....

V’landys said of sticking with Meninga: “The thing about Mal is he has instilled pride back into the green and gold jumper, and also a great role model. And his record speaks for itself.

Would love to see Mal get sacked

Unless it's passing to Tracey when he overcalls Hynes

Depends on who you’re asking - even though we have two clear examples of it being downright stupid some say it’s exciting, eyes up even adventurous !

 

[Wiz]

Well there is this other spine player who the coach loves and talks up at every opportunity, and has played more games than anyone else in the spine…

Could be a crazy concept, but maybe, just maybe … that guy is actually doing a lot of the things fans expect “the halfback” to do.

Would be nice to see him control/manipulate the ruck and create better passing options around him first then try and take on the halfbacks job

 

[CrazyMatt]

Thoughts? I completely agree with him.

 

[sharks2010]

On the other hand it's not a good look seeing teams get absolutely flogged in a world cup

 

[Vichyssoise]

Thoughts? I completely agree with him.

I thought the next RLWC was going to be played in France in 2025?

Makes a good point though.

Edit: Of course, it all eventually boils down to the almighty $

 

[CrazyMatt]

Pacific Championships are back this year:





Tonga in, Samoa out for the mens draw, im guessing Samoa’s touring England then? Like Tonga did last year?

Promotion/Relegation has been introduced. The winner of the Pacific bowl tournament will play last place of the Pacific Cup tournament, the winner will be in the Cup tournament next year, the loser will play in the Bowl tournament.

Looks like all the finals will be played in Sydney.

 

[Gumby]

Really hope they bring back the Anzac Day test sometime soon.