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Speaker 2: This week on The Big League Podcast, What on Earth
Speaker 2: is going on in the Bunker? We take a look
Speaker 2: at the weekend that was for our officials, human era
Speaker 2: or system failure, the Warriors performance we've become accustomed to
Speaker 2: this season. We get the lowdown from Adam Fanua, Blaker's
Speaker 2: he bits fearwell to Mount Smart and International Rugby League
Speaker 2: lockdown for the back end of the year, and what
Speaker 2: do you know, another eligibility yarn surfaces.
Speaker 3: My name is Nick Beauley. Let's go b LB. I
Speaker 3: was going to take something rather significant, wasn't it?
Speaker 2: To steal the limelight away from Sean Johnson in his
Speaker 2: farewell home game? And we got that hold my beer moment.
Speaker 2: In approximately the forty sixth minute, Stephen Crichton shoulder loaded
Speaker 2: third man into the tackle, strikes Roger to evasishek flush
Speaker 2: on the face, left wobbling as he gets back to
Speaker 2: his feet to try and play the ball up, it
Speaker 2: goes to the bunker. The slow mo vision damning feels
Speaker 2: obvious to everyone except Liam Kennedy the Bunker official a
Speaker 2: high level of mitigation apparently, and Cridon is placed on
Speaker 2: report no further explanation regarding seaid mitigation and cue the
Speaker 2: bewilderments and booing from the Warriors faithful. Twenty four hours earlier,
Speaker 2: Manly had two players been for high tackles.
Speaker 3: But nothing here.
Speaker 2: Where is the consistency that's all followers of the game want.
Speaker 2: The Warrior season has done. The incident didn't cost them
Speaker 2: the game against the Bulldogs, but marred the spectacle. The
Speaker 2: game and the competition, which is one of the toughest
Speaker 2: of any sports in the Southern Hemisphere, deserves better. And look,
Speaker 2: I'm not finger pointing at individuals. For me, it's the
Speaker 2: system and the rules that clearly leaves too many shades
Speaker 2: of gray. It's time for what we call in rugby league,
Speaker 2: a crackdown before a final is decided by a call.
Speaker 2: Alex Powell of the New Zealand Hera joins me here
Speaker 2: on the Big League podcast Greeting X. Alex taught me
Speaker 2: through your thoughts on that hits on TILLIVASISHEK So.
Speaker 4: I've done a bit of work this year around CTE
Speaker 4: and concussions and the role that head knocks play in sport.
Speaker 4: And when you saw Roger get to his feet and
Speaker 4: then wobble straightaway, you knew something is seriously wrong here,
Speaker 4: and I think that was proven by the fact that
Speaker 4: Roger didn't come back. But the issue there is that
Speaker 4: that was very clearly dangerous play and foul play, and
Speaker 4: it should have meant, you know, Stephen Crichton at least
Speaker 4: goes to them for ten minutes, and yet, like you've said,
Speaker 4: he's still there and it's a penalty with him on report.
Speaker 4: It's not good enough because people are going to turn
Speaker 4: away from the game for things like this.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I tend to agree, and you know, you can
Speaker 2: say what you like about rugby union, but it's actually
Speaker 2: become a bit more clearer in rugby around head contact.
Speaker 2: They're respective of it's malicious or intent. Of there's hit contact,
Speaker 2: you're gone at least having a seat and they'll review
Speaker 2: it to upgrade it to a red card. And rugby
Speaker 2: league now it's an absolute lottery depending on which on
Speaker 2: field official and which bunker official you have. And that's
Speaker 2: the bit that I struggle with the most, is that
Speaker 2: there seems in the last couple of weeks. I know
Speaker 2: we saw a fair few sinbinnings on the weekend, but
Speaker 2: just a tendency to go with the I will deal
Speaker 2: with it over the weekend, We'll deal with it on Monday.
Speaker 2: We'll put the chap On report and the consequences will
Speaker 2: follow there.
Speaker 3: But the worry is where they what do they get
Speaker 3: out of that?
Speaker 2: They lose their center, that already lost the center earlier
Speaker 2: in the game. There's a full back line reshuffle required
Speaker 2: and Stephen Crichton plays on and there's a rather significant
Speaker 2: say in the game as well. It a line break
Speaker 2: to set up Jacob Kraz for the final try for
Speaker 2: the Bulldogs.
Speaker 3: It just it's head scratching for mine.
Speaker 2: And before we go into you know, someone might be
Speaker 2: listening right now and going, oh boohoo, the couple of
Speaker 2: Warriors guys here. You know that the club always gets
Speaker 2: the rough end of the stick. There was other calls
Speaker 2: on the weekend, two which which were just as crazy.
Speaker 2: I mentioned in the intro. The Manly ones were nowhere
Speaker 2: near that the same ballpark as Stephen Crichton, yet they
Speaker 2: Olakuatu he was sent for ten in the bin. Just yeah,
Speaker 2: like coming into finals too. I just I've got some
Speaker 2: serious questions and I'm hoping obviously we're recording Monday morning,
Speaker 2: New Zealand time. By this afternoon Graham and Isley will
Speaker 2: front as he normally does. He'll really put the foot
Speaker 2: down rather than defending his officials. He needs to say
Speaker 2: what is a ten in the bin? What is ascend off?
Speaker 2: And what is on report? Because at the moment I
Speaker 2: think it's it's just a guessing game.
Speaker 4: No, it can't be up to the interpretation of each
Speaker 4: referee and each bunker coordinator to work out what is what.
Speaker 4: You know, the consistency is all that we ask for.
Speaker 2: Interesting point made in the Sydney Morning Herald as well
Speaker 2: across the weekend Alex there's a different bunker official for
Speaker 2: all eight of the games. I think it's quite special work,
Speaker 2: isn't it compared to being an on field referee or
Speaker 2: a touch judge. I mean, then they're not really suffering
Speaker 2: from fatigua. They're looking at all these screens. Do you
Speaker 2: think there's an argument to be made that a specialist
Speaker 2: bunker official. You know, if there's eight games, perhaps we
Speaker 2: just have timber three as opposed to eight.
Speaker 4: I was worried you're going to say one across of
Speaker 4: the whole week. No, I think that's a very sound bad.
Speaker 4: It's very good to recognize as well that it is
Speaker 4: a specialist job. You know, there's talk of well it
Speaker 4: should be some of the refereeing experience, or there should
Speaker 4: be someone worth playing experience. You know, would there be
Speaker 4: a situation where it's not one there's a panel, you know,
Speaker 4: and they have to go out and then obviously that'll
Speaker 4: just take longer and games will be slowed down. And
Speaker 4: these conversations have been had as to what is the
Speaker 4: best way to do these things. But it's very clear
Speaker 4: something has to change because what we're getting now going
Speaker 4: into finance. You spoke you know earlier, we can't see
Speaker 4: a big game decided off, you know it. This isn't
Speaker 4: like this. We saw it at the Rugby World Cup
Speaker 4: last year where Sam came was shown a red card
Speaker 4: and then see a Kalisi was more did the same
Speaker 4: thing and got a yellow. You know, you cannot have
Speaker 4: you can't have the game presented as a show piece
Speaker 4: with this sort of indecision and this sort of inconsistency.
Speaker 2: Well, you know it's bad. When Andrew Webster, who we've
Speaker 2: got to know relatively well over the last two seasons,
Speaker 2: finally fires up, I think for the first if a
Speaker 2: time in a postmatch media conference. Let's take a listen.
Speaker 5: I'm struggling to understand how like a shoulder can go
Speaker 5: into Roger's head and the bunker it's got ages to
Speaker 5: see a critical time of the game, and then we
Speaker 5: lose Roger for the for the game, and then we're
Speaker 5: going to reshuffle out and you've got to reshuffle anyway,
Speaker 5: that's football. But if it happens, because it's just happens,
Speaker 5: what happens like that, and then nothing gets done to them,
Speaker 5: it's you're going to protect our players, And I just
Speaker 5: don't see the consistent see one little bit around around that,
Speaker 5: like Roger will miss next week now, couldn't come back,
Speaker 5: and their play goes on.
Speaker 3: That's all that happened.
Speaker 2: And yeah, there's.
Speaker 5: So many parts in that weeker to control better tonight
Speaker 5: and the boys know that, but just frustrated that how
Speaker 5: that just happened.
Speaker 2: So there's the thoughts there of Andrew Webster talking about,
Speaker 2: you know, protecting the player, making sure that is paramounts,
Speaker 2: making some real salient points and just before we get
Speaker 2: to Webster's comments there Alex Let's ever listen to I
Speaker 2: alluded to it before in terms, it was just a
Speaker 2: wild weekend of inconsistencies around hid high contact. In particular,
Speaker 2: we had a couple of simbinnings in the Manly Tigers game.
Speaker 2: We didn't have one for the Crichton head on toy basis.
Speaker 2: Check Cam Murray comes in with a swinging arm on
Speaker 2: Tyson Frazzelle and the rabbit Oz Night's game. It takes
Speaker 2: the best part of two or three minutes before the
Speaker 2: Bunker finally sends Murray for ten. Similar in Away yesterday
Speaker 2: Roosters Titans. Eventually they made the right call, Jared, while
Speaker 2: we are Hargraves no stranger to the judiciary. A swinging
Speaker 2: arm on Sam Virils wasn't picked up at the time
Speaker 2: of the on field referee, was only eventually found out
Speaker 2: after a try was scored some moments later. But here's
Speaker 2: Gold Coast Titans coach Dez Hazlet. This was unprompted, no
Speaker 2: question by a journalist about the judiciary or inconsistency with
Speaker 2: the Bunker. This is Dees Hazler just finding a moment
Speaker 2: and having a rant, there.
Speaker 6: Was something like eighteen penalties today. This is just to
Speaker 6: view there's not a lot of confidence at the moment.
Speaker 6: I think with players interpretation around what's a high shot,
Speaker 6: what is in the high shot, what's deemed, what's coming back.
Speaker 6: There's a lot of nervous individuals on both sides at
Speaker 6: the moment. You can kind of see it both with
Speaker 6: the official them who's running the officials. The officials seem
Speaker 6: to be Yeah, they're down on confidence a little bit
Speaker 6: there at the moment, and it's probably something that we
Speaker 6: have to address pretty quickly going into finals.
Speaker 2: So a couple of coaches there, Alex having their say,
Speaker 2: we've all had our say, let's play a bit of
Speaker 2: Monday bingo, but a Graham Ansley bingo. What's your expectation
Speaker 2: for most people when they're listening to this podcast, we
Speaker 2: probably would have heard from Graham Annersley by now, are
Speaker 2: we going to get a defense of the officials? Are
Speaker 2: we going to see some change, some meaningful change?
Speaker 3: Where are you leaning?
Speaker 4: I think if you're a betting man an apology, it's
Speaker 4: paying about a dollar's head. I don't think we'll get
Speaker 4: any sort of meaningful change because it's very hard to
Speaker 4: bring that stuff in week to week. But you understand
Speaker 4: Graham Ansley's possession as referees bosses. He will back the
Speaker 4: referees in public. You know, what he says behind closed
Speaker 4: doors might be GiB of a completely different thing. But
Speaker 4: just to go back to what he said about protecting
Speaker 4: the player from Andrew Webster, Yes, absolutely protect play, but
Speaker 4: this is a contact sport. We accept that there is
Speaker 4: a say wee players accept there is a risk of
Speaker 4: that they're going to be protect the game, protect the
Speaker 4: integrity of the sport. Make sure it's a contest and
Speaker 4: a fair contest. You know, if you're getting guys getting
Speaker 4: knocked out, there absolutely has to be fair consequence for that.
Speaker 2: And if you're going to say, and if I do
Speaker 2: enjoy the fact that we can hear some of those
Speaker 2: conversations that the bunker has with the on field referee,
Speaker 2: but if you're going to say higher level of mitigation,
Speaker 2: I think the fan and the follower of the game
Speaker 2: deserves a greater explanation as to what that mitigation was.
Speaker 2: I personally couldn't see it. Third man into a tackle,
Speaker 2: no attempt to wrap the arms, shoulder locked in place,
Speaker 2: clocks currentk clocks artis flush on the face and just
Speaker 2: going back to my other point. So I just feel
Speaker 2: like putting someone on report is it's just a safe out.
Speaker 2: There's no meaningful consequence when the game takes place. We've
Speaker 2: talked a lot about the officials. Let's get into the
Speaker 2: game itself, starting with the highlights. Warriors eighteen, Bulldogs thirty four.
Speaker 2: This audio courtesy of sky Sport.
Speaker 7: And we're underway or the Warriors.
Speaker 8: I mean, the first carry is Nphidel Blake Johnson, Mica
Speaker 8: de Lace, the PASSI Padley and there's.
Speaker 7: No doubt about that one.
Speaker 2: The one whatever.
Speaker 8: Singing lunch oil. He getting out to Tobacco. Nice answer
Speaker 8: from him. Kake ball, Oh that's too easy. Kick Capbell
Speaker 8: over for another try. Money, let's get it. Bring away
Speaker 8: here Sixton, This is looking good. Sherry Cherry slices through
Speaker 8: and there is the trife of the buildings.
Speaker 3: Let's play now, Sixton, he whoa, it's.
Speaker 8: Been preached by Clon Stephen Crichton, a gift four pointer.
Speaker 8: He's out to Britain. He comes kick out kick, How
Speaker 8: hows up for.
Speaker 7: The ubby kick?
Speaker 8: How I want to pass? That's a try to Kurs Warren.
Speaker 8: Excellent execution by the Bulldogs. Look up in the shadows
Speaker 8: off the posts. He gains a crack from Toby Half
Speaker 8: he's there, who are you aging?
Speaker 3: Well?
Speaker 8: Much mo than a four pointer for the home team's
Speaker 8: sixt and kicking it gain earlier in the camp taking
Speaker 8: a wicked the fiction and there's a score for Harry Hayes.
Speaker 8: The Bulldogs hit the front again, money big playing the
Speaker 8: protects of the game here Britain there, I think let's
Speaker 8: a try sus shadow CAUs gets there to score a
Speaker 8: four points crick head criton powering up.
Speaker 3: Wow, what a bust this your seal? It ain't carez.
Speaker 7: Cuts the Warriors wide open end up col Dance roll forward.
Speaker 3: In twenty twenty four Big Time, Big League Podcast.
Speaker 2: Actually, before we get our thoughts on the contest, Nick
Speaker 2: Buley and Alex Belle here on the Big League Podcast,
Speaker 2: our man on the ground at Mount Smart or Sean
Speaker 2: Johnson Stadium, I should say Chris Reeve had a chat
Speaker 2: to one of the other departing stars, of course, Jazz Devang.
Speaker 2: It was his last home game, last home game for
Speaker 2: Sean Johnson, last home game in a Warriors jersey as
Speaker 2: well for Adam Fana Black Hairs.
Speaker 3: Chris chatting to AFB, what was.
Speaker 9: The emotion like coming out last game at home for
Speaker 9: the Warriors.
Speaker 7: Yeah, it was pretty emotional. Yeah, burlocks highs and lose
Speaker 7: men's sw Yeah, pretting lost with it that this is
Speaker 7: the last one I want to have here, but just
Speaker 7: enjoyed every every step of the way.
Speaker 9: What do you make of the game out there tonight?
Speaker 9: Obviously we've always started very well and got away from
Speaker 9: me a little bit at the end.
Speaker 7: Yeah, disappointing that we didn't come out in the second enough.
Speaker 7: You know, we lost Roger, you know, we lost Wet early.
Speaker 7: But then again, yeah, we just didn't handle it the
Speaker 7: second enough as well as we should have. Yea, And
Speaker 7: I feel like we've got what we deserved.
Speaker 9: For yourself as a player, seeing a shot like that
Speaker 9: on Roger, not get you know, it's like no, not
Speaker 9: chin in the bend, Like, how do you respond to that?
Speaker 7: You can't really respond to him, man, because say something
Speaker 7: and you get fine. You know, they sort of cause
Speaker 7: a bit of a lottery at the moment in the game.
Speaker 7: You know, he gets, someone gets smacked in the face,
Speaker 7: they get you know, we're losing for the game and
Speaker 7: someone that you just put them report, So I don't know,
Speaker 7: it's it's above me who controls that and and you
Speaker 7: know what their comes.
Speaker 3: Off of that.
Speaker 7: But yeah, very like it's just gotta I just got
Speaker 7: to get on with it, I guess, and I'm yere.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 7: I felt like we did, but we didn't as well.
Speaker 9: Yeah, for next week, obviously you're heading to Sydney next year,
Speaker 9: do you feel I guess, any excitements going into that
Speaker 9: one thing? You know, that's where you're going to be
Speaker 9: playing your footy for the next couple of years.
Speaker 7: No, not really meant I was gonna take it as
Speaker 7: another game, you know. My LORTI at the moment still
Speaker 7: to the little Warriors. I can't get excited about going
Speaker 7: over there.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 7: It's I don't want to be just sprateful to the Warriors.
Speaker 7: You know, I've got another another game to go here
Speaker 7: in these colors, and plus we've got another week after
Speaker 7: that with the White you know. So my duty is
Speaker 7: my judies here aren't done and I'm not going to
Speaker 7: clock off just because you know in finals or stuff
Speaker 7: like that. Like I'm still going to turn up on
Speaker 7: Monday and try and get better.
Speaker 9: So, yeah, what do you I guess want to put
Speaker 9: out for the Warriors over there obviously next week and
Speaker 9: then when you get.
Speaker 7: Back from the buy. We just a hard game, mat
Speaker 7: I just want us to go back to that sort
Speaker 7: of how we how we started in that first half.
Speaker 7: I know, we spent a lot of time on our
Speaker 7: line and turning turning them away, and I just want
Speaker 7: us to, you know, sort of try and find out
Speaker 7: the identity again and you know, for the boys moving
Speaker 7: forward next year, hopefully they can yeah, you know, rediscovered
Speaker 7: that sort of the sort of form again.
Speaker 9: Just lastly, seeing the support you guys been over the
Speaker 9: last couple of years here, I guess, how will you
Speaker 9: reflect on your time other Warriors?
Speaker 7: Yeah, man, I'm like I said, man, I'm definitely be
Speaker 7: sad that I'm leaving and that luck, you know, but
Speaker 7: I feel like I'm a traded at home here. Had
Speaker 7: the worries, yeah man, but those cheers and uh, you
Speaker 7: know there's chimes that I heard running out today. Yeah, man,
Speaker 7: like it's it definitely hit hit me in the chest. Yeah, man,
Speaker 7: I'm very grateful for the support that the club showed me,
Speaker 7: you know, from from from the CEO all the way
Speaker 7: down to you know, the boys that working in the
Speaker 7: front desk. You know, it's it's just been a hell
Speaker 7: of a ride. And yeah, I'm just very grateful for
Speaker 7: the club and and what they've given me, the opportunity
Speaker 7: that have helped me grow and also given my family.
Speaker 2: This is the Big League podcast, right, Alex a few
Speaker 2: days removed.
Speaker 3: But the game itself a hot start.
Speaker 2: I think I said that that's probably what was going
Speaker 2: to happen on the previous podcast, and then faded rather
Speaker 2: dramatically and again once the rain arrived. The Warriors don't
Speaker 2: really know what to do or on attack, or certainly
Speaker 2: aren't his clinical on attack.
Speaker 3: It all sounds a bit familiar, right, I mean last.
Speaker 4: Week were saying we wanted a fast start because they
Speaker 4: kept starting quite slowly. No, I mean, you've got to
Speaker 4: give credit to the Bulldogs. They are, Like we said
Speaker 4: last week, I think they're a top four side, even
Speaker 4: if the table won't show it come final. His time, geez,
Speaker 4: how emotional was that intro? You know, Shawn Johnson coming
Speaker 4: out last out of the tunnel with his kids and
Speaker 4: with his wife. You know, we spoke last week, but
Speaker 4: it really was there for us all to see how
Speaker 4: much the Warriors and the club means to him. You know,
Speaker 4: this is a guy that you know, Shawn's a year
Speaker 4: or two older than me, And I think I realized
Speaker 4: last year because also against the Bulldogs when he bought
Speaker 4: his youngest his oldest daughter, Miller, onto the field after
Speaker 4: he scored the game winning try, Like, this is just
Speaker 4: a bloke, you know, this is just a normal guy
Speaker 4: doing his job. And I think we read don't take
Speaker 4: notice of that of the human side of sport enough.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well said, I mean, he grew up actually not
Speaker 2: too far from me on the HIBERSUS Coast, went to
Speaker 2: Oriel College's few years a here to me and just
Speaker 2: love the Warriors, love Hibusis Coast Raiders, love rugby league.
Speaker 2: Dabbled in our first fifteen for a little bit, pretty
Speaker 2: much hated it. Can understand that his mates put together
Speaker 2: a YouTube highlight reel of his touch highlights, which is
Speaker 2: still I think has crazy amount of views, And still
Speaker 2: find myself at a quiet moment having a wee look
Speaker 2: at that and then from there Toyota Cup Under Twenties
Speaker 2: twenty eleven Grand Final. Just a remarkable crew and just
Speaker 2: a guy who loves like he lived out his dream.
Speaker 2: He got to play for the Warriors so many times.
Speaker 2: And I'll tell you what you can say what you
Speaker 2: like about the Warriors in terms of the season they've been,
Speaker 2: but they are a top four club, if not a
Speaker 2: Grand Final club. And when it comes to that entertainment
Speaker 2: wrapping around knowing how to celebrate an occasion, that the
Speaker 2: off field stuff that the Warriors to around, you know,
Speaker 2: whether it be with their jerseys to remember an occasion
Speaker 2: like that or or the light shows, et cetera. And
Speaker 2: I thought that was that was spectacular on the one
Speaker 2: of the other positive things. If we can be positive
Speaker 2: for a time here after that, Warriors to for Alex,
Speaker 2: I know you want to get into as well as
Speaker 2: I've got a lot of young guys coming through the
Speaker 2: system that we've seen in sort of drips and drabs
Speaker 2: this year. I really like what Lequahala Seema had done.
Speaker 2: And Dimitric Sepher Cooler has caught your eye. He's come
Speaker 2: back from a pretty nasty knee reconstruction some nice touches
Speaker 2: on the weekend. That breathes a bit of hope looking
Speaker 2: ahead to next year.
Speaker 4: So I mean being in and around the Warriors youth
Speaker 4: set up, you know, and the circles that you operated
Speaker 4: as a journalist all you know, like you say, the
Speaker 4: young Ford's coming through, You've got Lequa Hala Sema Jacob
Speaker 4: labur Zimo. The talk within the Warriors is that dimetrics
Speaker 4: of Cooler is the best of them, you know. I
Speaker 4: think we saw a bit of that. I went through
Speaker 4: the numbers earlier, only add infanel Blake had more post
Speaker 4: contact meters than Black played seventy meters for c for
Speaker 4: Coal played thirty. This kid, I feel like, is going
Speaker 4: to If that's any sort of indication of how good
Speaker 4: he's going to be, we're going to have a special
Speaker 4: one on our hands here.
Speaker 3: Yeah, he's got that similar to fanol Blake.
Speaker 2: He's got that sort of late footwork and that that
Speaker 2: sort of hit movement for a big lad, which I
Speaker 2: think really is going to catch some defenses off guard.
Speaker 2: So I like the look at him, and I know
Speaker 2: we're going to rarely unpack season twenty twenty four next
Speaker 2: week and look ahead to twenty twenty five. But off
Speaker 2: the top of my head, I can't see a best
Speaker 2: seventeen without Dimitric Cipher Cooler in twenty twenty five, staying here,
Speaker 2: God b LB.
Speaker 3: Big Hits, Big Moments, the Big League Podcast.
Speaker 2: Well, of course the Warriors season ends the Saturday because
Speaker 2: they have the buy in the final rounds of the
Speaker 2: regular season. But Alex, just before we get to the
Speaker 2: Warriors last game away to Cranulla Friday morning, have to
Speaker 2: say curiously to announcement, but good news all the same
Speaker 2: for international rugby league with the Pacific Championship schedule coming
Speaker 2: out to someone myself based down here in christ jur
Speaker 2: it's very very pleased to see us secure a double
Speaker 2: hitter on a Sunday afternoon as well as part of
Speaker 2: the Labor weekend long weekend with Australia in town for
Speaker 2: both the Kiwi's, Kangaroo's Kiwi Ferns jill ARUs, whats what
Speaker 2: say you you you'd be relatively dilled in when this
Speaker 2: rolls around and what chances do you give both the
Speaker 2: both the Kiwis and the Kiwi fans.
Speaker 4: I mean, I absolutely love the international game. One of
Speaker 4: my formative memories coming through was that two thousand and
Speaker 4: eight World Cup Final, which was actually the night before
Speaker 4: my NCAA Level one English exam, so there were a
Speaker 4: lot of tide faces that day.
Speaker 7: But no, it's great.
Speaker 4: I think I don't feel like international rugby league gets
Speaker 4: the celebration that needs. We hear so much lip service
Speaker 4: from the NRAL about what it wants to do. We
Speaker 4: know that their priority of state of origin. Seeing the
Speaker 4: Kiwis and the Kiwi fans both take on Australia on
Speaker 4: the same we know what happened last year when that
Speaker 4: happened is that was two wins from Zealand. So I
Speaker 4: think there will be a bit of a bit in
Speaker 4: the teeth for Australia if they need to. Hopefully both
Speaker 4: teams are able to name their full strength sides. We
Speaker 4: know that that time of year, you know, for whatever reason,
Speaker 4: players don't always commit. Sometimes I want to holiday, sometimes
Speaker 4: I need a bit of postseason surgery. So let's just
Speaker 4: hope for some bloody good rugby league with two or
Speaker 4: four bloody good teams.
Speaker 2: Indeed, and I wouldn't be rugby league at an international
Speaker 2: level alex without an eligibility story. Right off the bat
Speaker 2: Friday afternoon are the new Keyis coach Stacy Jones revealing
Speaker 2: Roger Tui Vasishek he's had a busier weekend hasn't. He's
Speaker 2: going to play for some off. They're not involved in
Speaker 2: the Pacific Championship, but they do, by all reports, have
Speaker 2: a series coming up later this year in England. Look,
Speaker 2: I personally don't begrudge the guy Alex at the stage
Speaker 2: of his career to commit for SAMA.
Speaker 3: What are your thoughts on this?
Speaker 4: I do think it's overlooked how much represent PACIFICA heritage
Speaker 4: means to PACIFICA players. We've seen Ardie savea look to
Speaker 4: move from the Hurricanes to one in PACIFICA to do that.
Speaker 4: We know that rugby league is a bit better at
Speaker 4: it with you memback to twenty seventeen when it felt
Speaker 4: like half the key we squad went and played for time.
Speaker 4: So yeah, I'm really happy for Roger he hasn't. You know,
Speaker 4: He's made no secret of this that he wants to
Speaker 4: represent Somemore at some point? Do you play him at central?
Speaker 4: Do you play him at fullback with Crichton in there
Speaker 4: as well.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a tough problem for the Salmon coach to have,
Speaker 2: isn't it. You know Brian Totter as well, but of
Speaker 2: course he'll be on the wing. But another pretty handy
Speaker 2: back Luncherome Louis, I would have thought might play for
Speaker 2: Samoa as well. Look like going back to we're talking
Speaker 2: when we're talking about the judiciary and the bunker and
Speaker 2: that in terms of credibility, that's probably the one thing
Speaker 2: when there's too much chopping and changing as opposed you know,
Speaker 2: doing one one year, one the next year flip flopping.
Speaker 2: If two of us are ship, plays out the rest
Speaker 2: of his International regul League career with Sama, then that's
Speaker 2: that's cool with me.
Speaker 3: I just don't like the flip flop nature of it.
Speaker 2: And I look at the Keywi's team, and I know
Speaker 2: Joey Mark who's off to the dark side to earn
Speaker 2: some money up in Japan. But guys like Matt to
Speaker 2: Mokel really liked the look of the young fella out
Speaker 2: of the Melbourne Storm, Jack Howarth. He's been going really
Speaker 2: well this year in the centers, so I think the
Speaker 2: Keywis will be okay there in the centers as well.
Speaker 2: Come Labor weekend when that all kicks off. Speaking of
Speaker 2: two of us as Ship, he'll be scratched for this weekend,
Speaker 2: So the next time we see him play rugby League,
Speaker 2: most likely we'll be in the international game. Let's take
Speaker 2: a look at Saturday night Warriors Sharks over there in
Speaker 2: Sydney and a bit of a dilemma on the hands
Speaker 2: of Andrew Webster in terms of his centers because we
Speaker 2: haven't mentioned either that Adam Pompey was injured early in
Speaker 2: the contest. What he sins that web will do with
Speaker 2: his center peering for Saturday Night?
Speaker 4: I mean, who's left standing? Are we going to go
Speaker 4: back to Marlo Graham Tolfa and Alila Towers tower back?
Speaker 7: Yeah?
Speaker 2: I saw them both play play Cup, so that seems
Speaker 2: the logical thing, right unless they get really frisky the
Speaker 2: last game seeing Kay there, perhaps, but then again you're
Speaker 2: going to put to a perky to fullback. I don't know.
Speaker 2: It's probably the probably where they go Cape Wor could
Speaker 2: play there. Yeah, it will be interesting. Again, it's a
Speaker 2: It's a situation, isn't it. Where the finish line is
Speaker 2: in sight. Outside of pride and sending some a club
Speaker 2: injured and some other guys out on a high note,
Speaker 2: there's very little to play for when the opposition, on
Speaker 2: the other hand, the Bulldogs heavily motivated Friday just been
Speaker 2: the Sharks last night put the SmackDown on Saint George
Speaker 2: and they're our third on the ladder. I mean, what
Speaker 2: are you expecting to see? I feel like I know
Speaker 2: this answer already. What would you like to see? Even
Speaker 2: if it's a bit fanciful given what we have seen,
Speaker 2: I don't think there's any shame and losing to a
Speaker 2: better side. You know, let's just get that underwey shaft about.
Speaker 2: That is what's basically happened for most of the Warriors
Speaker 2: problems this year. You know, there's been a couple with
Speaker 2: defeats where you go, Okay, that probably wasn't good. They've
Speaker 2: let that close.
Speaker 4: A lot of the time they have just been beaten
Speaker 4: by better team and that's what should happen here. But like,
Speaker 4: like you say, let's just hope for the hope of
Speaker 4: Sean Johnson, for the OPA, Jaztavanger, for the op Edfanil Blake,
Speaker 4: that it's just a good one that they can actually
Speaker 4: be proud of.
Speaker 2: Are you of the view at this point of the season,
Speaker 2: is there anything to be gained by giving any other
Speaker 2: younger players ago bringing Like you were alluding to you
Speaker 2: you're familiar with the juniors in terms of my Jacob
Speaker 2: Laban or are you do you stick with who's got
Speaker 2: you this far? And also probably having in mind too
Speaker 2: that the Cup team pretty well. I think they're third
Speaker 2: leading into the finals, so you don't want to mess
Speaker 2: up that. At the same time, no, I don't think
Speaker 2: their top four place in the Cups and Jeopardy this
Speaker 2: week is it.
Speaker 3: No, I don't think so.
Speaker 4: But then so you can afford to give these guys
Speaker 4: a run at neral level if like Andrew Whibster has
Speaker 4: actually said he's not going to pick you know, just
Speaker 4: to give guys a run. He's going to put his
Speaker 4: best team out there. But we've seen this year those
Speaker 4: guys are more than capable of stepping up. You move
Speaker 4: back to the wins over the Panthers and the Dolphins.
Speaker 4: You know there are some bloody good footballers and those
Speaker 4: youth sides.
Speaker 3: Big League Podcast the big League podcast for the biggest
Speaker 3: league fans. Okay, an ultimate round of the inn R.
Speaker 2: Just recapping on last week My Faith and the Warriors
Speaker 2: Let Me Down was five from eight to me Alex
Speaker 2: pit me by one, going with the Bulldogs see a
Speaker 2: fucking jag one back here. Pretty good Thursday night game
Speaker 2: to kick things off Alex Cowboys and the Storm Storm.
Speaker 4: For me just think that they're leading the way at
Speaker 4: the moment in terms of what is possible in this competition.
Speaker 2: Bang On even in Townsville. Storm on a roll, and
Speaker 2: it'll just be in terms of their motivation level. I
Speaker 2: think it's a six point gap now, isn't it at
Speaker 2: the top of the table.
Speaker 3: So yeah, the team how.
Speaker 4: Boys place in the eight as secure as well now,
Speaker 4: so maybe maybe they can take their foot off the.
Speaker 7: Gas of it.
Speaker 3: Bulldogs Manly Bulldogs.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I like the Bulldogs And at the same time,
Speaker 2: I wouldn't be surprised if there's a response out of Manly.
Speaker 2: That was quite the upset, wasn't it. Neither of us
Speaker 2: saw that coming, losing to the Tigers. Speaking of not
Speaker 2: seeing it coming, Panthers and lost to the Raiders. On
Speaker 2: the weekend they'll be hosting the South Sydney rabbit Os.
Speaker 2: I mean, surely the Panthers won't lose two in a row.
Speaker 2: You know, that might be the wake up call they
Speaker 2: actually need. Yeah, good one, Canberra, Well we really needed that.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I tend to agree, and I don't think there's much
Speaker 2: here for the Rabbits to play force. I think the
Speaker 2: Panthers will figure it out. Ills Dragons, you know, I
Speaker 2: might go but left friend and go the Eels. Okay,
Speaker 2: you want to expand on that, Alex, I.
Speaker 4: Feel like at home guys looking to impress the new
Speaker 4: coach Dragons have just had a pretty, you know what
Speaker 4: could be a deflating loss, so maybe that'll get them
Speaker 4: over the line.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I'm going to go with the Dragons just on
Speaker 2: the basis that if they lose this weekend, then destiny
Speaker 2: is out of their hands. If they just go with
Speaker 2: a win here a when next week they'll be in
Speaker 2: the eights. If they lose, then it's really open. There's
Speaker 2: I think there's four teams two points further back, and
Speaker 2: the Dragon's sitting in that eighth spot at the moment.
Speaker 2: Speaking of two of them in this Queensland Derby Dolphins Broncos.
Speaker 4: I mean, I was gonna say the Dolphins are at home,
Speaker 4: so I think the Broncos. Yeah, I'll go Broncos as well.
Speaker 4: I think they'll they'll find a way. There's just something
Speaker 4: about the Dolphins.
Speaker 2: They're a bit of an enigma, but I feel like
Speaker 2: they play their best footialls in the two years they've
Speaker 2: been in the competition so far at the front and
Speaker 2: then seem to fade at the end of the season.
Speaker 3: So I'll get I'll say the Broncos will get one up,
Speaker 3: all right.
Speaker 2: The one that we will probably be focusing most on
Speaker 2: here itan is in me and the Big League Podcast
Speaker 2: are Sharks Warriors.
Speaker 4: I'm gonna have to go to Sharks.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I am as well. Yeah, for reasons that we
Speaker 2: have gone into great detail over the last few weeks.
Speaker 2: It's just hard to see another way. You know, if
Speaker 2: they couldn't get up three or four go now against
Speaker 2: Parramatta when this season was on the line at home.
Speaker 2: You know they struggle to get up at home in
Speaker 2: an emotional occasion like Friday night. Yes, against a better team, Yeah,
Speaker 2: hard to see against the Sharks team who are really
Speaker 2: airborne at the minu at Knights.
Speaker 3: Titans.
Speaker 4: Oh so this is the one that's giving me the
Speaker 4: most trouble.
Speaker 3: I am going to go Titans.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I will disagree, just on the basis that Newcastle
Speaker 2: are still within a sniff and the Titans, even though
Speaker 2: they can score tries, they can certainly concede them racked up.
Speaker 2: We'll conceded plenty last nights against Sydney Roosters who round
Speaker 2: out the rounds on Sunday nights. They're hosting the Raiders.
Speaker 2: That'll be a good one.
Speaker 4: Yeah, the Roosters for me, they're going to be right
Speaker 4: in the next come finals time. I think now they're
Speaker 4: really going to click into gear and sort of see
Speaker 4: themselves into a position where they can be a contender
Speaker 4: in the latter stage of the season.
Speaker 2: I'm going to go smoky here. I'm going to go
Speaker 2: with the Raiders, I think. Yeah, just off the back
Speaker 2: of beating Penrith seasons still there for the taking. I
Speaker 2: know they're much better team at home, but yeah, I
Speaker 2: just I think they might have found something at the
Speaker 2: weekend and I think that might extend through to taking
Speaker 2: on anyway. That'll do us for another edition of the
Speaker 2: Big League Podcast. Warriors final game of the NRL season
Speaker 2: this Saturday, nine thirty five taking on the Kernala Sharks.
Speaker 2: Alix Pell Thanks so much for your time on him
Speaker 2: is Nick Buley. Please like, follow and subscribe the podcast.
Speaker 2: We will be back for one final episode next Monday
Speaker 2: to review the season that's been for the Warriors and
Speaker 2: look ahead to see if we can find any glimmers
Speaker 2: of Hope for twenty twenty five.
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