Speaker 1: Welcome for the Code Sports NRL podcast. Round one of
Speaker 1: the twenty twenty six premierships out of the way, A
Speaker 1: bumper weekend of footy. Who better to join me, Travis
Speaker 1: Main than my great mates Dean Bulldog, Richie Tyson Jackson,
Speaker 1: Let's go through this week boys. So Zach Lomax situation,
Speaker 1: it's finally done. It's bared is off to the Western
Speaker 1: Falls for two years. Tyson. Can we just move on
Speaker 1: from this saga? Now?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I've been I've been asking for weeks to stop
Speaker 2: the Sack Clomax conversation and I'm sick of talking about it.
Speaker 2: I'm sick of hearing about it. So yeah, today we've
Speaker 2: revealed that he's off. He's off to the Western Force
Speaker 2: for two years, which pretty much stamps him out of
Speaker 2: the game for almost the entire period of what he
Speaker 2: would have been if he was waiting for another NROL club.
Speaker 2: And look, I think this is the best possible result
Speaker 2: for all parties. Paramatta obviously don't have to go and
Speaker 2: play against Zaklomax. Zak Loomax gets to play some type
Speaker 2: of footy despite it not being rugby league. And I mean,
Speaker 2: if you're the Wallabies, you're cheering because sak Clomax is
Speaker 2: a is a hell of a talent. So yeah, let's
Speaker 2: move on with it now, Travie, let's stop talking about it.
Speaker 3: Next topic, please, moving on from that.
Speaker 1: You know the Paramatta Melbourne and that was a blowout
Speaker 1: and went straight into the Broncos get absolutely annihilated twenty
Speaker 1: six Niel by Penrith the first game of their premiership defense. Now,
Speaker 1: Doggie and I, you've had a lot to say about
Speaker 1: Reese Walsh of late. What did you make of Reese
Speaker 1: and the Broncos?
Speaker 3: Oh?
Speaker 4: Mate, Reese had a thinker.
Speaker 5: Let's be fair here, travel He gets plenty of accolades,
Speaker 5: and rightly so, and he is a brilliant, exuberant young talent.
Speaker 4: But he had a poor game.
Speaker 5: There's no there's no trying to sugarcoat a performance like
Speaker 5: that just because you are Reese Walsh.
Speaker 4: He will bounce back.
Speaker 5: But I still, as I said last week in my
Speaker 5: column trave and Tyson, I still question whether Reese Walsh
Speaker 5: can find a consistency over a sustained period to go
Speaker 5: down among the greats.
Speaker 4: When I talk about the greats, we talk about you know.
Speaker 5: The Graham Mainland's going back many years and the Graham
Speaker 5: eaties and the Billy Slater's slatter's probably the best I've
Speaker 5: ever seen.
Speaker 4: So, you know, can Walsh attain those levels?
Speaker 5: It's going to take a lot for Reese to, I guess,
Speaker 5: have to abandon that swashbuckling style which he uses, which
Speaker 5: gets you more than glamor and glitz.
Speaker 4: But does he have the ability to get rid of it?
Speaker 5: Can he become more consistent on field and it doesn't
Speaker 5: become too boring football for reicew Wash if he doesn't
Speaker 5: try the impossible. But at the moment trying the impossible well,
Speaker 5: certainly last week against Penrith it just didn't work well.
Speaker 1: To speaking of that, They've got Paramatta this week and
Speaker 1: that's a big game for both clubs, isn't it. Whoever,
Speaker 1: losers will be zero and two to start the year.
Speaker 1: It's a long way back from there. So Tyson, who
Speaker 1: you pick him?
Speaker 3: Mate?
Speaker 1: You think the Broncos will bounce back or we see
Speaker 1: a better improvement from Paramatta?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 2: Look, I think I think both teams you got to
Speaker 2: expect the improvement from because it it'd be pretty hard
Speaker 2: to get worse than where they both were. I think
Speaker 2: it's really hard to make a make a judgment on
Speaker 2: the Broncos just yet, but from my perspective on their
Speaker 2: game against Penrith, and Penrith looked like a million bucks,
Speaker 2: but they just looked tired.
Speaker 3: They looked they looked exhausted.
Speaker 2: There was about ten minutes into that game where Penrith
Speaker 2: have taken a run on last tackle they've been tackled,
Speaker 2: and I think it was right when Jack Giseski got
Speaker 2: the head knock. They just look baffled. They didn't look
Speaker 2: like they knew what they were doing or what kind
Speaker 2: of they've just gone through. For the last ten minutes,
Speaker 2: they looked really flat, a bit down. So yeah, look,
Speaker 2: I think I think that's kind of where they're at
Speaker 2: at this point. I don't think they actually played to
Speaker 2: their ability because of how flat they were when it
Speaker 2: comes to parent they just had no answers for Melbourne
Speaker 2: and you know, like that they've gone through all this
Speaker 2: battle with Zach Lomax during the off season to stay
Speaker 2: strong and prove that they're a strong club. But you
Speaker 2: need to prove that you're a strong club on the field.
Speaker 2: That's that's where rugby league games are one and won
Speaker 2: and lost, not in court rooms. So look, I'm expecting
Speaker 2: improvement from both sides, Mitchell Moses and Jonah Pezitt. The
Speaker 2: pressure is on. They've got to have better performances this week.
Speaker 2: I expect it to be closer. But I think the Broncos,
Speaker 2: if they can get their preparation right.
Speaker 3: Should should put a score on Paramatta this week.
Speaker 5: I think Travy should say that it was probably the
Speaker 5: worst Broncost performance under mad Yeah, they're off a bit
Speaker 5: from the very beginning. I mean the ben hunt starting
Speaker 5: with Ezra Mam on the bench was a questionable decision.
Speaker 5: But you know what it will do. It will bring
Speaker 5: out the mad Haders. We've seen him at Brisbane for
Speaker 5: the minute he walked through the door. I think after
Speaker 5: last year, after Round thirteen they'd only won five games.
Speaker 5: They're out in force then, but he came back Tom
Speaker 5: with a sundn't shine. I guess you could say trev
Speaker 5: and win the premiership. So you'll look, they'll be there again.
Speaker 5: They're entitled to be there again after that first round performance.
Speaker 5: But I think it's far too early to be riding
Speaker 5: Madge off just yet.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I agree, Doggie. Now one of the other big
Speaker 1: sort of off season stories was DC's move from the
Speaker 1: Northern Beaches down to Bondi there, Now, Doggie, you've covered
Speaker 1: his whole career up there. What did you make of
Speaker 1: DCEs Rooster's debut over from that big loss to the Warriors.
Speaker 4: Yeah, again, a bit like reeths Walsh. It was poor.
Speaker 4: There's no sugar coating it.
Speaker 5: He looked every bit of He's thirty seven years old,
Speaker 5: a daily Terry Evans, a couple of mistakes which led
Speaker 5: to tries. He didn't, I think fall on a kick
Speaker 5: which led to another try, and overall it was an
Speaker 5: extremely disappointing day boot and the expectation and the pressure
Speaker 5: that DC was under. We know he's resilient trave He's
Speaker 5: resilient physically and mentally, and the Roosters rarely get their
Speaker 5: recruitment wrong. So I'm not suggesting this is going to
Speaker 5: be a right off season for DC. It won't be.
Speaker 5: It just wasn't the performance that we thought we would get.
Speaker 1: First up, the ticy spend a fair bit of time
Speaker 1: there around the chalks. You think it's going to take
Speaker 1: him some time in jail. I thought Sam Walker looked
Speaker 1: quite likely on the weekend, but him and Cherry Evans,
Speaker 1: the sort of seem like they just can't figure each
Speaker 1: oller out yet.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it's we're in a pretty tough spotrow
Speaker 2: when you when you watch that game on the weekend,
Speaker 2: it's really easy to point out all the doubt falls
Speaker 2: that the Roosters at because they had a lot that
Speaker 2: had a massive lob side of penalty count as well,
Speaker 2: which I think we've got to look at like that
Speaker 2: really disrupted the flow of the game, which would have
Speaker 2: Walker and Cherry Evans combination throughout getting to gel a
Speaker 2: little bit. But also they've had a horror off season.
Speaker 2: To be completely honest, no one, no one's really touched
Speaker 2: on it too much, but the loss of Rees Robson
Speaker 2: Spencer Lenu before the game, No Robert Toyer, the injury,
Speaker 2: he is a pouring in for the Roosters, and you
Speaker 2: look at on the weekend, Tommy Tolao goes down with
Speaker 2: a knee injury which wasn't a contact injury, which you know,
Speaker 2: throws out the terms a c l MCLs things like that.
Speaker 2: They've had a really disrupted off season and a lot
Speaker 2: of players haven't even taken the field. Huis of Ilan
Speaker 2: is suffering a foot injury as well. So I think
Speaker 2: we before we throw judgment out, we've got to remember
Speaker 2: that their team is not how it's supposed to be
Speaker 2: just yet. So those it's going to take time for
Speaker 2: Walker and Cherry Evans to gel, but it's going to
Speaker 2: be even harder right at this very second. While they
Speaker 2: don't have a lot of their stars on the field,
Speaker 2: like especially defensively. A lot of people want to highlight
Speaker 2: our daily chair Evans defensively, Robert Toyer is a great
Speaker 2: defensive center, So that's going to answer the questions. We
Speaker 2: get Robert Toyer back in and their defense on that
Speaker 2: side is still shocking. We know what the answer is,
Speaker 2: but you know, let's let's see what it's like when
Speaker 2: they've got their full strength side. I was just at
Speaker 2: the Roosters before and they seem pretty confident. They know
Speaker 2: what they've done. There's easy fixes there, and I think
Speaker 2: they're going to be all there in about so I
Speaker 2: think it's too early to make such a critical judgment
Speaker 2: on their halves when they're brand new. We all saw
Speaker 2: happen when Cooper Krom came to the club in twenty eighteen.
Speaker 2: They lost the Tigers in the first round. Had a
Speaker 2: shocking probably first ten rounds where it was just inconsistencies, and.
Speaker 3: I think we can expect good things. It's just going
Speaker 3: to take time.
Speaker 1: Now, Doggie, you've been vindicated mate. The crash of the Titans.
Speaker 1: It wasn't des Hazl's fault. One of the most deflating
Speaker 1: round one performances we've ever seen, fifty to ten loss
Speaker 1: to the Cronella Sharks now Cronala larn Song.
Speaker 5: But the Titans, Doggie, what did you make of them? Oh,
Speaker 5: they're embarrassing. There's no again, I say the same thing, Traip.
Speaker 5: No way of sugarcoating it. It was a pathetic first half
Speaker 5: performance thirty four nil. I think it ducked out to
Speaker 5: forty and it travel in the second half. If there's
Speaker 5: any consolation, I guess they found some resistance from a
Speaker 5: midway in the second half to a full time. It's
Speaker 5: scored a couple of tries, but it's typical Titans. They
Speaker 5: just want to throw out the coach. They've done it
Speaker 5: throughout their entire existence. Then there's one coach up there travel.
Speaker 5: If I'm wrong, that was there for one hundred games.
Speaker 5: I think it was CARDI wasn't it and the rest. Yeah,
Speaker 5: the rest have been given the boot in double figures.
Speaker 5: It's it's not that simple. You can't just keep burning
Speaker 5: out the coach every time you lose. But do what
Speaker 5: Josh Hanna is thinking already. It's probably looking out of
Speaker 5: your shoulder after one game, but it was Vincage Titans.
Speaker 4: Let's kick out the coach. He's the problem.
Speaker 5: And clearly after that performance wasn't the problem, and it
Speaker 5: is the playing group that is the problem.
Speaker 1: There was a thriller there on the Northern Beach, as
Speaker 1: at Brookie the other night, a golden point game, a
Speaker 1: second golden point game of the year. Already Ethan Sanders
Speaker 1: getting it getting it done for the Raiders with that
Speaker 1: beautiful left footed field goal. I said to Ricky Shield,
Speaker 1: we can't go through another year of this. He's now
Speaker 1: abouting finishes for the Raiders. Tice, what did you think
Speaker 1: of that one?
Speaker 2: Yeah, to be honest, my books, that's got to be
Speaker 2: one of the most anti climactic finishes in a golden
Speaker 2: point game. Inan Sanders has kicked this field goal. Everyone
Speaker 2: kind of just sat there looking pretty confused, like what's
Speaker 2: going on the rest took a long time to.
Speaker 3: Confirm it, Yeah, it was.
Speaker 2: It was a strange game, right you look at how
Speaker 2: mainly started that game. First of all, Tom, I mean,
Speaker 2: it's great to see he looks like he's back to
Speaker 2: that form that we're used to, that we we grew
Speaker 2: to love with him, and hopefully he stays fit. But
Speaker 2: for mainly to jump out to such a lead, let
Speaker 2: Canberra crawl back, then mainly go again. But that second
Speaker 2: half where the Raiders have climbed all the way back
Speaker 2: into that competition and that they've it's a Raiders team
Speaker 2: that should take time to click new halves, pairing new
Speaker 2: everything to get to Golden Point.
Speaker 3: Though. This is where this is where I'm a little.
Speaker 2: Bit frustrated or frustrated when it comes to manly, Ethan
Speaker 2: Sanders had no pressure on him in that kick at all.
Speaker 2: Jake Travoyevitch was coming, he wasn't coming fast at him.
Speaker 2: He's thirty meters out Who how is no one there
Speaker 2: recognized that Ethan Sanders thirty meters out right in front
Speaker 2: of the goal past is going to take a field
Speaker 2: goal in Golden Point Like it shouldn't have finished on
Speaker 2: that player.
Speaker 3: There should have been a bit more of a challenge there.
Speaker 2: I'm really concerned at this Manly side and what's going
Speaker 2: through their heads in that critical moment, because all it
Speaker 2: takes is one field goal, one point in that game's over.
Speaker 2: And it did not seem like there was any sense
Speaker 2: of urgency, like legitimate urgency in that last player to
Speaker 2: stop that field goal.
Speaker 1: Yeah, doggie, can you smell a bit of drama over
Speaker 1: there at Manly? I feel like something's brewing there. They
Speaker 1: came out of the blocks hot the other night, camberdon
Speaker 1: touch the ball in the first twelve minutes or something,
Speaker 1: out of a solid lead, and they somehow gave the
Speaker 1: game up again. Like, do you think there's a there
Speaker 1: a few issues bubbling away there?
Speaker 4: I haven't heard them training.
Speaker 5: If there are issues there, it hasn't reached my desk.
Speaker 5: That's just to say there, right, Look, it was just appointing,
Speaker 5: let's be honest, the way they lost it. And look,
Speaker 5: Tyson's right, Jake Jaboivitch was the one putting pressure on
Speaker 5: young Sanders and Jake is slowing up, so where was
Speaker 5: everybody else? That's just an awareness on the fields. That's
Speaker 5: an effort player that wasn't there. And they look back
Speaker 5: at that video and Hopefully they're a been embarrassed about
Speaker 5: that final play because there should have been three or
Speaker 5: four really up there knowing it probably won't get penalized,
Speaker 5: although they did get a penalty late in the game
Speaker 5: for it.
Speaker 4: But I don't think there's a drama.
Speaker 5: And to be fair to Manly, they took last year's
Speaker 5: Minor premiers to golden points, so there are again a
Speaker 5: couple of positives in that. I thought Tulu Cohler was
Speaker 5: absolutely outstanding there at left center, and I think Tyson
Speaker 5: mentioned Tommy Turbo he was back to his or near
Speaker 5: his best, So there's some good times there at mainly
Speaker 5: a couple as I said, effort plays probably weren't the
Speaker 5: where they should have been for round one. But in
Speaker 5: terms of drama, I haven't heard it, Travis, and I
Speaker 5: don't think there is at the moment. But look, regular
Speaker 5: JAG's Manly fans are already all over the websites complaining,
Speaker 5: and they're retired too. They want their team to win.
Speaker 5: But I think it's just again, let's just take a
Speaker 5: deep breath just for now now.
Speaker 1: I covered the rabbit O's Dolphins game Sunday afternoon there
Speaker 1: sun Corpse Stadium. I thought some really nice signs from
Speaker 1: South the Trell Mitchell, Cameron Murray sort of really out
Speaker 1: of the bunnies. A good deboot from David Feeder as well.
Speaker 1: And I got to ask you boys this, Wayne Bennett.
Speaker 1: I asked him in the press conference, do you want
Speaker 1: to see the fans run on the field when AJ breaks?
Speaker 1: Alex Johnston breaks that try scoring record Ken Irvin's try
Speaker 1: scoring records, so he needs two tries to break it.
Speaker 1: It could up in this Friday night Ali on Stadium
Speaker 1: against the arch rivals of Roosters. Doggie, what are your thoughts?
Speaker 1: Do you want to see the fans on the field night?
Speaker 3: Oh?
Speaker 5: I just played to Alex Johnson last year, did a
Speaker 5: big hit down interview with him, and he wants the
Speaker 5: fans on the field. He wants that moment, which is
Speaker 5: like a Buddy Franklin at the SCG a few years
Speaker 5: ago when he broke the goal record for the AFL.
Speaker 4: But look, it would be an iconic moment if the
Speaker 4: fans went on.
Speaker 5: It would be an iconic moment in terms of vision
Speaker 5: which would be seen for years to come. But look,
Speaker 5: there are some issues there. Travor Theenneral are saying no
Speaker 5: we don't want it. How long before the fans get
Speaker 5: off the field? How long before the game gets going?
Speaker 5: And it could have been fifteen to twenty twenty five minutes?
Speaker 5: Is there a health and safety issue too? If some
Speaker 5: fan gets trampled running on the field, then we've got
Speaker 5: major drama yet again. So I think the elenaal has
Speaker 5: put an edict out to South to say please support
Speaker 5: our stance here and not wanting players to go onto
Speaker 5: the field fans on the field. Alex is saying other things,
Speaker 5: but I think Alex might be told this week maybe
Speaker 5: just don't say to gain a j because it's much
Speaker 5: of it would be a great moment. I think there
Speaker 5: are some issues that even fans look at this way. Guys,
Speaker 5: you jump back the fence and someone's sitting in their seat. Yeah,
Speaker 5: I know there are any little things, but it does
Speaker 5: cause mayhem, and certainly for broadcasters if it ends up
Speaker 5: being a broadcast game where there's a game after it
Speaker 5: and it caused mayhem.
Speaker 1: Yeah, look, I think they got they'll say the right things,
Speaker 1: but what are they going to do if five people
Speaker 1: started it? Or just be your bull rush. So look
Speaker 1: that the biggest concern is if someone comes on there
Speaker 1: and did something to one of the players, which you'd
Speaker 1: really hope wasn't the case. Look, how do you think
Speaker 1: it'll play out to us? What do you reckon? You're
Speaker 1: the young bloke around here. Will they jump the.
Speaker 3: Fence or yeah?
Speaker 2: Look, I think I think we're at a point now
Speaker 2: where it's bound to happen. I tend to agree a
Speaker 2: bit like and you'd love to see her as sports
Speaker 2: fans in general, that that image of you know, if
Speaker 2: Johnson's cratered up on some of my shoulders, and all
Speaker 2: the Rabbitos fans, all the NRAL fans out of there
Speaker 2: are there gathered around watching like it's going to make
Speaker 2: for some awesome scenes. But there is so much room
Speaker 2: for something to go terribly wrong. And I want to
Speaker 2: make very clear against the Roosters. If this happens against
Speaker 2: the Roosters and you've got a bunch of Roosters players
Speaker 2: on the field and then a whole bunch of Rabbitos
Speaker 2: fans have run on the field, you know what it's like.
Speaker 2: You know what fans can be like. Some of them
Speaker 2: are there for the wrong thing, and that's the harsh reality.
Speaker 2: All it takes someone to get in someone's face, someone
Speaker 2: runs up to you know in Afar who white and
Speaker 2: pushes him or something, or you know, something like that.
Speaker 2: There's so much room for bad stuff to happen, So
Speaker 2: I really hope that there are because I don't think
Speaker 2: you're going to stop it, right, but I hope that
Speaker 2: the NRL and that the clubs involved, the Roosters and
Speaker 2: the rabbits have the right precautions.
Speaker 3: You know, in kind attack to make sure that this happened.
Speaker 2: If it does happen, When it does happen, no one
Speaker 2: gets hurt, no one gets injured. The player's safety has
Speaker 2: to be at the top of their priority list. Like,
Speaker 2: there's just so much room for area, and all it
Speaker 2: takes is one per to do the wrong thing, and
Speaker 2: it could make a really beautiful moment in our sport
Speaker 2: turn into something really nasty and really negative. So look,
Speaker 2: if it's going to happen, except that it's going to happen,
Speaker 2: realize that there's not much you can do to stop
Speaker 2: thirty thousand people running onto a footy field, but come
Speaker 2: up with the right solutions.
Speaker 3: To ensure that everyone is as safe as they can
Speaker 3: possibly be.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think the fear is we don't live in
Speaker 1: such an innocent world anymore, right, So we've got to
Speaker 1: say all the right things. You just hope that everything
Speaker 1: pans out as hope. Now the room and mills and overdrive. Already, boys,
Speaker 1: some coaches already under They are already under the pump,
Speaker 1: none more so than Todd Payton up at the Cowboys. Now,
Speaker 1: it's been a couple weeks since Vegas. He had a
Speaker 1: pull loss over there. He's got a dream draw. He's
Speaker 1: got the Tigers this weekend, My beloved Tigers. I finally
Speaker 1: get to see them this weekend and see what they're
Speaker 1: going to dish up this year. And he's got the
Speaker 1: Titans next week. So very very soft draw for the
Speaker 1: Cowboys to start the year. Essentially three bottom four teams. Doggie,
Speaker 1: what do you reckon of this game? What are we
Speaker 1: going to see from the Tiger this weekend? And if
Speaker 1: they win, what do you think that means for Todd Payton.
Speaker 4: It's a good question for the West Tigers.
Speaker 5: Travel When I say I don't know, I don't like
Speaker 5: to sit on the fence, but I really don't know
Speaker 5: the Tigers. You don't know what you're going to get
Speaker 5: with West Tigers week in week out's the first time
Speaker 5: we've seen them. Of course, this year from all the
Speaker 5: talk out of Concord, it's been a very steady build up.
Speaker 5: The players have been wrapping Benji Deluxe about his attitude.
Speaker 5: They reckon he's got a harder reds.
Speaker 3: This year.
Speaker 4: Looks like that.
Speaker 5: You know the halves will be settled. Do we move
Speaker 5: in the six of happy he's there. So, look, it's
Speaker 5: a fair roster. I'm not sure it's a top four,
Speaker 5: top six roster, but I'm sure they would be thinking
Speaker 5: it's a top eight roster.
Speaker 4: It's like Art, it's packed house, it's a great atmosphere.
Speaker 5: Having said that, their record at like Art isn't always great,
Speaker 5: it doesn't reflect on the amount of support that they
Speaker 5: get there. So look, I don't know whether the Tigers,
Speaker 5: I guess we'll find out by five point thirty on Saturday,
Speaker 5: whether they're a basketcase still, whether they have actually taken
Speaker 5: another step toward getting out of this rut they've been
Speaker 5: here for so many years. But in terms of Toddy Peyton,
Speaker 5: correct me if I'm wrong, Trail, there was some innu
Speaker 5: window and speculation met Toddy last year from memory, and
Speaker 5: I think I saw a couple of quotes to him
Speaker 5: saying that he appreciated and applauded the Cowboys for sticking
Speaker 5: with him and supporting him. But how long into this
Speaker 5: year it goes. If they're witness after three or four rounds,
Speaker 5: I don't think they'll sack him. But yeah, the pressure
Speaker 5: builds and building in rugby league, and the old days
Speaker 5: was like round ten or twelve when a coach was
Speaker 5: under pressure. Now it's like round two or three and
Speaker 5: you're under the pump.
Speaker 1: Well, he said, they're sticking by him, but he is
Speaker 1: still the only coach off contract in the enter of
Speaker 1: this year. If he was in Sydney at the Tigers
Speaker 1: or Para or the Drags or something of that, the
Speaker 1: media folks would be relentless. It would be an absolute
Speaker 1: furnace down there. I just don't think you can even
Speaker 1: survive in that sort of environment. So time will tell.
Speaker 1: He's got he's got some time he's hitting up there
Speaker 1: in towns when he's got the opportunity to turn things around.
Speaker 1: You know, who knows how it's all going to play out.
Speaker 1: Oh boys, we've had a great round to kick off
Speaker 1: the season. Another ripper coming up. I think the game
Speaker 1: of the round could be out at Bathurst. Actually, Penrith v. Cronulla,
Speaker 1: both teams very impressive in round one. Tae, what do
Speaker 1: you reckon of that one?
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a huge game and there's so many around Cronulla,
Speaker 2: especially unanswered questions. I mean, we're expecting a tight, gritty
Speaker 2: game against the Titans. They blew them out in the
Speaker 2: first forty minutes. I might be one of the only
Speaker 2: ones I wasn't really impressed with Crannuller in the second
Speaker 2: half of that game.
Speaker 3: Against the Titans.
Speaker 2: I think if they were to take that next step
Speaker 2: they have to go, they go on, you know, to
Speaker 2: break that barrier of just making the finals, they would
Speaker 2: have run away with that game a lot more. Wouldn't
Speaker 2: have let two tries in in the second half like
Speaker 2: they stopped playing after fifty minutes. Sadly, you cannot afford
Speaker 2: to do that against Penrith. They looked great last week.
Speaker 2: Penrith looked I think the best they've looked since their
Speaker 2: last premiership in twenty twenty four in Round one against
Speaker 2: the Broncos. So it's really going to show where these
Speaker 2: two sides are at. You know, Penrith was it a
Speaker 2: one off thing? Did they Did they have so much
Speaker 2: build up you know from the Broncos knocking him out
Speaker 2: of the finals last year, that they came out with
Speaker 2: their best performace in round one? Or is it a
Speaker 2: case of the Sharks, you know, have they actually improved?
Speaker 3: Did they?
Speaker 2: Did they pull the reins back knowing that they've got
Speaker 2: this game next week? Is Niko Heines and Braden Trindle
Speaker 2: the elite harvest pairing that people view them as and
Speaker 2: that the Sharks want them to be? So many questions
Speaker 2: and I think I think we're gonna get the answers
Speaker 2: we need this weekend. So yeah, I think I'm with you,
Speaker 2: Travy Game of the Round. Apart from obviously the Tigers
Speaker 2: that are Likehart Doggie.
Speaker 1: Also in your backyard, there are Sunday Afternoon at Brookie
Speaker 1: Manly versus Newcastle, Tommy Turbo, Kale and Ponger. Mainly, I've
Speaker 1: got one of those two games at home to start
Speaker 1: the year. And I thought the Knights are pretty impressive
Speaker 1: over there in Vegas.
Speaker 4: What do you think?
Speaker 5: Yeah, they certainly were. I thought Dylan Brown was pretty good,
Speaker 5: you know past mark wasn't it TV. It wasn't brilliant,
Speaker 5: but he did his job. Carlin was very good. It
Speaker 5: seems to be a real new bounce in enthusiasm up
Speaker 5: there in Newcastle under Justin Holbrook. And as you say,
Speaker 5: quite rightly, man they've had a couple of will be
Speaker 5: a couple of home games in a row. You start
Speaker 5: off Norton to at Brookie, it's it's a it's a
Speaker 5: disaster start of the year. The hardest part about regularly
Speaker 5: these days, as you gentlemen know, you lose three or four,
Speaker 5: it's very hard to claw back because it's such a
Speaker 5: tight comp and if you start poorly, the days are
Speaker 5: gone where you can sort of string together six, seven,
Speaker 5: eight wins to get back into the into contention. So look,
Speaker 5: it's a vital game every week for Mandy. But I
Speaker 5: think given what happened last week that golden point, given
Speaker 5: they're at home again, Newcastle isn't an elite side, to
Speaker 5: be fair, so I think it's vitally important that Manley
Speaker 5: get the two points this weekend at Brookie.