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Speaker 3: This week on the b LP, Wade Egan stops by
Speaker 3: for a chat after the Warriors wind streak ends at five.
Speaker 3: Michael Burgess challenges camera coach Ricky Stewart after his sides
Speaker 3: aggressive tactics and does the NL need to seriously consider
Speaker 3: a mid season representative break. My name is Nick Buley.
Speaker 3: Let's go b LP. Ah, here we go again. The
Speaker 3: Warriors lose and the pitchfork's are out. The keyboards are
Speaker 3: being bashed too many eras, they've got nothing on attack.
Speaker 3: They're soft through the middle. It goes on and on
Speaker 3: and look, well, I admire the passion from the fan
Speaker 3: base and some questions do need to be asked. Can
Speaker 3: we please take a collective breath and cut the doomsday nonsense?
Speaker 3: The Warriors were not far off beating a very good
Speaker 3: Canberra team without their co captains, arguably their two most
Speaker 3: influential players. Let's not lose sight of the big picture.
Speaker 3: They are third third on the NRL table. Was it
Speaker 3: a disappointing result?
Speaker 4: Yes?
Speaker 3: Is it season defining no Michael Burgess, Senior Sports rider
Speaker 3: at the New Zealand Herald.
Speaker 4: Have I gone soft or I don't know what's going on.
Speaker 3: What was your initial take after Sunday's performance and defeat.
Speaker 5: It's a good point, you know.
Speaker 6: I think the reaction, the frustration, the anger even is
Speaker 6: being felt because people know that they could have won
Speaker 6: that game and how big it would have if they
Speaker 6: managed to jag that win on Sunday, that would have
Speaker 6: been a massive result and even more momentum, and it
Speaker 6: was there. But they weren't quite good enough. That doesn't
Speaker 6: mean they didn't play well. I thought they played quite well.
Speaker 6: They just weren't clinical enough. And the Raiders are a
Speaker 6: very good team, very good team. You know, they're better
Speaker 6: than any of the teams the Warriors have played lately.
Speaker 6: I think looking back across the season, maybe the Raiders
Speaker 6: are probably only second to the Storm in terms of
Speaker 6: who the Warriors are faced. So Raiders are a very
Speaker 6: good team. Tough conditions. Without their two leaders, they still
Speaker 6: had a real go. But I can see I can
Speaker 6: understand the frustration because people know how important this could
Speaker 6: have been, especially given they've got what have they got
Speaker 6: coming up, Rabbitos Away, Sharks Away and then Penrith for memory.
Speaker 5: So they've got a tough run coming up. So understand
Speaker 5: the frustration.
Speaker 6: But I agree with you not season defining, and there
Speaker 6: were things to like, which we'll get into in a minute.
Speaker 4: Yeah, we certainly will.
Speaker 3: And look, I want to get into the attack specifically
Speaker 3: as one of them.
Speaker 4: I want to also get into it.
Speaker 3: But a press conference back and forth featuring yours truly,
Speaker 3: But look, before we get to that, special guest Wade
Speaker 3: Egan stop by for a chat with you Burge for
Speaker 3: his take on that sixteen to ten loss to Canberra.
Speaker 6: Hell of a battle tonight. Look like a credibly tense game.
Speaker 5: What did you make of it?
Speaker 7: Yeah, they're a good side can Berus are. Yeah, very
Speaker 7: tense game. And yeah we probably just left a few
Speaker 7: chances out there. I thought were pretty good defensively other
Speaker 7: than a few lapses. But yeah, we probably should have
Speaker 7: sort of scored some points at about tennis toga.
Speaker 5: Was that the difference? You think? Just all that rid
Speaker 5: zone ball and you couldn't make the most of it.
Speaker 7: Yeah, we got held up a couple of times. I
Speaker 7: will close a few times, and yeah, we just didn't
Speaker 7: nice our chances. I think we are a few little
Speaker 7: communication sort of areas as well on ages and which
Speaker 7: is disappointing, but I thought we can take a lot
Speaker 7: out of it, like we're good defensively.
Speaker 5: And how do we get sort of build on that.
Speaker 6: How hard are they to play against the special with
Speaker 6: their defense which seems to sort of swarm and slide
Speaker 6: at the same time.
Speaker 5: No, they're a very good team.
Speaker 7: They're probably the best team we've played so far this year.
Speaker 5: Obviously played them twice, but I think they're probably other
Speaker 5: than probably Melbourne. I guess them in Melbourne are probably
Speaker 5: the toughest opposition we face. And they're there.
Speaker 7: Backfield, just outstanding out there the way they carry the ball.
Speaker 5: So credit to them.
Speaker 7: They played really well, and then they're going to be
Speaker 7: a pretty tough team to be.
Speaker 5: I think that you made here.
Speaker 6: How crucial were those two simboning periods. They score when
Speaker 6: they're down to twelve men and then they also score
Speaker 6: on you when chance gets gets burned.
Speaker 7: Yeah, that's disappointing obviously, probe more disappointing when we had sorry,
Speaker 7: they had twelve men and they scored. So yeah, I
Speaker 7: guess we'll look at an interview and hopefully sort of
Speaker 7: take things we can improved from.
Speaker 6: On a positive note. Happy with the defensive.
Speaker 7: Effort, Yeah, yeah, definitely, that's sort of what we're trying
Speaker 7: to pride ourselves on their defensive effort.
Speaker 5: And I thought we were really good for most of
Speaker 5: the game tonight.
Speaker 7: Obviously got a few few tries in there, but our
Speaker 7: goal on defense is pretty good and we can take
Speaker 7: some pretty good complies.
Speaker 3: Out of that.
Speaker 5: Everyone's feeling a bit down.
Speaker 6: But if you look at thirteen weeks on from Las
Speaker 6: Vegas against the same team, can you.
Speaker 5: See can you see a lot of progress? Yeah?
Speaker 7: Yeah, a lot of progress made. But yeah, we're definitely
Speaker 7: not happy with the loss. You know, even though we
Speaker 7: won a few in a row, we definitely wanted to.
Speaker 5: We thought we'd sort of.
Speaker 7: Left one out out tonight, and yeah, it's very disappointing.
Speaker 7: But we go again next week and yeah, we're sort
Speaker 7: of I guess we progressretty well since since round one,
Speaker 7: but yeah, we're still not out near where we.
Speaker 5: Want to be.
Speaker 6: Does that show our father's teams come that that you're
Speaker 6: you're all pretty pretty flat after this?
Speaker 5: Yeah? I think so, mate.
Speaker 7: Obviously, I think we hold ourselves to pretty high standards
Speaker 7: and if you don't win, it's sort of a I
Speaker 7: guess the disappointed resolved for us.
Speaker 5: But I guess we can take some good things.
Speaker 7: Out of that game as well, especially out of fence.
Speaker 7: So yeah, we're revealed tomorrow and to go from there, how.
Speaker 6: Were you feeling with sort of five ten minutes to go?
Speaker 6: Do you think you were you were going to do it?
Speaker 7: Yeah? Well, I think Big Maratha got held up, like
Speaker 7: he just missed there. And you know, we're close to
Speaker 7: Scrin a couple other times, so we definitely threw some
Speaker 7: good shots at.
Speaker 5: Him, but we just yeh couldn't get over.
Speaker 6: One night and Joseph Tupp and he just told us
Speaker 6: that it does sort of mean more to him playing
Speaker 6: against the Warriors than other in there our teams, with
Speaker 6: his family in the crowd, and you know, he's a
Speaker 6: key with it felt like he was on a bit
Speaker 6: of a man on a mission tonight. He's how tough
Speaker 6: is he.
Speaker 5: Is an opponent?
Speaker 7: Yeah, Yeah, he's a world class player. Obviously, he's one
Speaker 7: of the of the best front rolls in the game.
Speaker 7: And yeah, I guess it is sort of a bonus
Speaker 7: for him coming back home and playing in front of
Speaker 7: his friends and family, and yeah, he was. He was
Speaker 7: really good tonight and he's he's he's good most week's
Speaker 7: made his Yeah, as I said, one of the best
Speaker 7: front rollers.
Speaker 5: And yeah, he had a games hot.
Speaker 6: And finally, how are you coping with the load, all
Speaker 6: the travel you had recently and all these all these
Speaker 6: close games?
Speaker 5: How are you feeling physically? Yeah? No, feeling good, mate.
Speaker 7: I think I've sort of the Fittestuf've sort of being
Speaker 7: I guess in healthier stuff, sort of.
Speaker 5: Been for a while.
Speaker 7: So yeah, feeling really good and yeah, hopefully keeping knocking
Speaker 7: the knocking the games up.
Speaker 5: Did it? Did it hurt a bit? The origin situation?
Speaker 7: Oh, I'm not not, not really mate. If I if
Speaker 7: I get the call it one day to be awesome.
Speaker 7: But until it, I'm just sort of focused on playing
Speaker 7: for footy for Warriors.
Speaker 5: And if if a chance comes, I guess I'll take it.
Speaker 5: But yeah, until then, I'm focusing the worst.
Speaker 6: Is it nice though, that you're right in the frame
Speaker 6: and there were some people a bit surprised that you
Speaker 6: you didn't get the call it.
Speaker 5: That must be a nice feeling I get. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 5: it is a nice feeling.
Speaker 7: Mate, I guess, Yeah, sort of Coulter be up in
Speaker 7: I guess mentioned in the likes that Arena.
Speaker 5: So yeah, sort of a dream.
Speaker 7: As a kid wander a young Feller and Risko who
Speaker 7: South Wales trying to grow up and play Origin. But yeah,
Speaker 7: it is also also pretty cool just to be mentioned
Speaker 7: in so I guess arena.
Speaker 2: This is the Big League podcast.
Speaker 1: This is going on?
Speaker 2: Yeah, the Big League podcast on the Warriors band wagons
Speaker 2: since day one.
Speaker 3: Well Berger, before we unpack the Warriors performance, a lot
Speaker 3: of commentary online about the way the camera Raiders went
Speaker 3: about their work.
Speaker 4: They had two.
Speaker 3: Synbons, four players put on report, ten penalties committed in
Speaker 3: all but to carry on postmatcht howsari if you want
Speaker 3: to call it that which has riled up some Warriors supporters.
Speaker 3: It sounds like the players we're giving it back after
Speaker 3: a few Warriors fans were dishing it out during the game.
Speaker 3: Here's Ricky Sture more specifically on some of those incidents
Speaker 3: around aggression. This all came about unprompted by the way
Speaker 3: Ricky Stewett talking about his team's approach.
Speaker 8: We could getting told these games about entertainment and that
Speaker 8: was an entertaining game tonight. But we can't discipline aggression
Speaker 8: because our game, our broadcast is promote aggression. We've got
Speaker 8: to be real careful that we don't go and want
Speaker 8: to scrutinize aggressive actions in a game that is molded
Speaker 8: on pure aggression and passion. On Wednesday night, we've got
Speaker 8: the one of the most special games in our calendar happening,
Speaker 8: and it's created the profile and the culture. The passion
Speaker 8: of origin is through aggression. My promoting foul play. But
Speaker 8: I got panealizing and I don't mean penalizing out there.
Speaker 8: But with match review committees, we can't gauge as willing
Speaker 8: nelly passion players for aggression.
Speaker 3: And here you are, Michael Burr, just challenging Ricky Stewart's
Speaker 3: position as you.
Speaker 8: Say, you feel like you when he releases Joe's when
Speaker 8: you release his head. That's what we practice to do.
Speaker 8: But we practice releasing the head and less I didn't
Speaker 8: say I've said it wrong, but you spoke the referee
Speaker 8: about releasing your head. And I'm not, as I say, like,
Speaker 8: I'm not promoting for.
Speaker 4: Our playmate, not promoting for oul playmate.
Speaker 3: I enjoyed that that little tip for tat there, Michael Burgess,
Speaker 3: and look, you're there as a journalist asking the hard
Speaker 3: questions which we want to hear and answer from. But
Speaker 3: you are on here on the Big League Podcast as
Speaker 3: an analyst. You're there live obviously. Did you think the
Speaker 3: camera raid has crossed the line?
Speaker 5: Probably? Probably?
Speaker 6: I mean, it's a tricky one, isn't it, because you
Speaker 6: know that they are a very aggressive team. It's an
Speaker 6: aggressive game. All teams have their enforces. I just look
Speaker 6: like maybe they pushed the boundaries a bit too much.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 6: I hate crusher tackles, I really do. And sometimes they're accidental,
Speaker 6: sometimes they're not. But I didn't like what I saw
Speaker 6: with that. There are a couple of high shots, a
Speaker 6: couple of shoulder charges, but it just felt like they
Speaker 6: were out to intimidate, which you know is part of
Speaker 6: the game. And good on them because they were coming
Speaker 6: to Mount Smart thirty thousand people.
Speaker 5: They had to do it. They wanted to upset the Warriors.
Speaker 5: They did it well.
Speaker 6: The Warriors probably lack enforces in a way without Fisher,
Speaker 6: Harrison Barnett on the field, but I thought there probably
Speaker 6: could have been another syn been in there, and I
Speaker 6: just think Ricky Stewart. You know, origin is different, unusual,
Speaker 6: parallel to draw, but also you've just got to you
Speaker 6: do still have to protect the players to some degree.
Speaker 3: I agree, and look, I thought one of the most
Speaker 3: frustrating people out there in the field on Sunday night
Speaker 3: was Adam g the referee. He was really trying to
Speaker 3: get a handle on both teams, showing real willingness and
Speaker 3: intense and agree call it what you like. And then
Speaker 3: around the discipline around six to goes and offside penalties,
Speaker 3: he went to the Synburn option. Even then that didn't
Speaker 3: seem to prove a deterrent for poor discipline and it
Speaker 3: just sort of unraveled for the Earth. Will be interesting
Speaker 3: at this point in time as we go to record.
Speaker 3: At some stage this afternoon Monday afternoon, the Nral judiciary
Speaker 3: will come out with a report looking at those incidents.
Speaker 3: Jacob Laban was the other one on report outside of
Speaker 3: the four Raiders incidents.
Speaker 4: That was for something we don't see all that often.
Speaker 3: Too, burge a raised leg off a kickoff reception into
Speaker 3: the contact into a defenders.
Speaker 4: Sorry, so that'll be an interesting one as well.
Speaker 3: Let's part that for the time being, though, Let's get
Speaker 3: to the Warriors, and look, they had their chances, particularly late.
Speaker 3: I mean on another night, ma Arter, their cord reaches
Speaker 3: out there and dots it down. He was held up
Speaker 3: centimeters short. But look, I think you nailed it in
Speaker 3: your report. They were pretty poor during those sinbinning periods.
Speaker 3: Not often you see a camera team or an opponent
Speaker 3: go down a player and still able to win the
Speaker 3: arm wrestler in terms of posision, field position and the points.
Speaker 4: That's when they scored one of their tries.
Speaker 3: And then when Chance Nickel Klukstar was yellowcarded or sinbind
Speaker 3: in the second half, camera then scored again. So that
Speaker 3: was one that Andrew Webster I'm sure will reflect on
Speaker 3: and know that their game drivers need to be better.
Speaker 5: They do.
Speaker 6: I mean, that was a key We talk about turning points,
Speaker 6: but that was a key turning point. The Raider has
Speaker 6: just gone down to twelve men, Warriors hot on the attack,
Speaker 6: They've got the lead, gig got momentum. They get a
Speaker 6: penalty as well, of course, and they go wide from
Speaker 6: that penalty. I think it was Chance that tried to
Speaker 6: sort of no look past to Roger on the first
Speaker 6: or second tackle. It goes over the sideline and then
Speaker 6: I think on their next set was when Chanelle spilled
Speaker 6: the ball and that was just about the only time
Speaker 6: they had the ball in that ten minute period. Otherwise
Speaker 6: the Raiders were camped in their line. They scored a try,
Speaker 6: so I think things started to unravel there because if
Speaker 6: the Warriors go to halftime it's a fourteen nil, which
Speaker 6: they could have done, then it's a very different game
Speaker 6: and it's probably enough enough to get home. But the
Speaker 6: Raiders got back into the game in that period and
Speaker 6: they were the ones feeling good at halftime. So yeah,
Speaker 6: not making the most of those of those the period
Speaker 6: of the symbenning was really really frustrating for the team
Speaker 6: and I'm sure the crowd.
Speaker 3: Well, let's take away look down at the attack because
Speaker 3: I suppose over the last three weeks now two of
Speaker 3: which have obviously been wins. But if we look at
Speaker 3: the last three weeks, just scored the six tries. One
Speaker 3: on Sunday night against Canberra, that being Roger tw e
Speaker 3: vasishit good finish in the left wing corner.
Speaker 4: And we were.
Speaker 3: Talking last week Burge more about it felt like a
Speaker 3: slight shift for mine from a positive standpoint on the
Speaker 3: fifth tackle options of Shanelle Harris Tavita and Luke Metcalf.
Speaker 3: It felt like they were moving in the right direction.
Speaker 3: Sunday night against the Raiders. Look, it wasn't easy. We're
Speaker 3: the wise against a very good team, missing your two
Speaker 3: premiere props. But so the backs aroundable to perhaps fully
Speaker 3: function off front football, but it just looked a little
Speaker 3: bit clunky combinations, a little bit off. Ali l'attawa coming
Speaker 3: back in on that right center position. Lekahala Sima just
Speaker 3: there was a bit of a disconnected there and I
Speaker 3: noticed he actually ended up getting subbed off having played
Speaker 3: eighty minutes the week before for a couple of repeated eras.
Speaker 3: Here's Andrew Webster's thoughts first.
Speaker 4: On the attack before we unpack it.
Speaker 9: There's some really good attack, there was some frustrating So
Speaker 9: it just wasn't going to be a night to go
Speaker 9: around them, to try and go hands hands hands.
Speaker 5: Well, Roger scored one.
Speaker 9: But after that we tried to do that a couple
Speaker 9: of times. It just wasn't a night for that. We
Speaker 9: looked on unorganized at times. But we'll call the players
Speaker 9: and some blokes turn turning up with the no and
Speaker 9: their roles, so something you just got to we've got
Speaker 9: to really fix this week.
Speaker 4: What do you make of the attack Verge?
Speaker 6: I mean, Wade Egan made a good point when I
Speaker 6: talked to him after the game about the communication was
Speaker 6: a bit off, which he said is disappointing because there's
Speaker 6: one thing, regardless of other things in the match, the
Speaker 6: communication should always be there. But as webs are alluded to,
Speaker 6: some of the some of the calls and the plans
Speaker 6: went a right. I think the thing here is that
Speaker 6: we've got to look a bit deeper. It's not so
Speaker 6: much about the fifth tackle options. It's about what's happening
Speaker 6: on tackle two, three and four in the red zone.
Speaker 6: Because there's not much happening. So they get to the
Speaker 6: fifth tackle, they're not on the front foot, they haven't
Speaker 6: asked questions. That offence is swarming all around, and then
Speaker 6: it makes it even harder to come up with something
Speaker 6: that's the That's the genius of teams like the Storm
Speaker 6: is that they do so much earlier in the count
Speaker 6: when there in the red zone. By the time they
Speaker 6: get to the fifth tackle, you've got camera Munster or
Speaker 6: Pappenhausen or someone who's got or Hughes who's got time
Speaker 6: and they set up a play and bomb, So there
Speaker 6: are issues there. Metcalf Luke feels like he's still doing
Speaker 6: things off the cuff a bit, which is fine because
Speaker 6: that's how he plays. But there's there's got to be
Speaker 6: a balance, and there were points in that game weren't
Speaker 6: there where the Warriors had a lot of repeat sets
Speaker 6: and didn't create too much. There are caveats. The conditions
Speaker 6: made it hard. Raiders' defense is amazing. They've got one
Speaker 6: of the best defense in the competition. They seem to
Speaker 6: be able to slide and jam at the same time,
Speaker 6: and they were pushing it with the offside and doing
Speaker 6: it well. So you put those treasons together. But there
Speaker 6: had to be a bit more variety, didn't they.
Speaker 3: That was the word I was about to use, variety.
Speaker 3: And there's been criticism or scrutiny around, you know, the
Speaker 3: same sort of attacking shape or the Warriors being just
Speaker 3: a little bit predictable or one dimensional, you know, heading
Speaker 3: that short man whether it's near Corda or a Hallaesima
Speaker 3: at second row and then trying to play out the
Speaker 3: back or trying to get it out to Dallen or
Speaker 3: Roger without sort of earning the rights and as you say,
Speaker 3: that's where Melbourne are so effective, was sort of so
Speaker 3: much so much going on and attack, creating a decision
Speaker 3: in the defensive line, and then ultimately seeing that wilt.
Speaker 3: So it will be interesting going forward. Before we move
Speaker 3: on Tomighty Martin has been sort of lurking in and
Speaker 3: around the interchange role, various roles. He actually ended up
Speaker 3: slotting into fullback with Charles Nickel Klokstar Sinbins in the
Speaker 3: second half and then he sort of floated around as
Speaker 3: a sort of playmaking locke. I suppose he was a
Speaker 3: middle ford really when Chars came back on, Wade Egan
Speaker 3: was still on the field.
Speaker 4: Is that an option going forward?
Speaker 3: Did you like what Tomighty was able to offer or
Speaker 3: is that even a case then of cluttering things even further,
Speaker 3: because then you've got what is it for playmakers or
Speaker 3: trying to do something to inspire something on attack?
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean it can clatter, can't.
Speaker 6: And you notice when Tomarty does come come in and
Speaker 6: try to play make Chanelle sort of takes a bit
Speaker 6: of a back seat.
Speaker 5: But I like what Tomati does.
Speaker 6: He's a bit different to his approach, so I think
Speaker 6: that's worth per savering with it's a point of difference.
Speaker 6: That's what Andrew Webs is thinking. And on Lecky, you
Speaker 6: mentioned him before. I think the thing with Leccer we're
Speaker 6: forgetting is he's only played a handful of games and
Speaker 6: this does happen to young guys.
Speaker 5: And maybe you know, I still like him as an
Speaker 5: impact player.
Speaker 6: I think he's been great starting, but he's great as
Speaker 6: an impact player. Maybe he needs a couple of games
Speaker 6: where he's back to being an impact player. Of course,
Speaker 6: it's hard to have a guy on the bench as
Speaker 6: a second rower. It changes your rotation a bit. But
Speaker 6: you know, I wouldn't be too worried about what he
Speaker 6: did on Sundays, just a young guy that that'll happen.
Speaker 6: He gets targeted and makes a couple of mistakes. There's
Speaker 6: no doubt he's a gun, but you just need to
Speaker 6: manage his time.
Speaker 2: The Big League Podcast for the biggest league fans, The
Speaker 2: Big League Podcast on.
Speaker 4: The Warriors Bad Wagons.
Speaker 5: Since day one, you.
Speaker 3: Are on The Big League Podcast neck Bulian for Nathan
Speaker 3: Love alongside Michael Burges. We're going to get to Sunday's game.
Speaker 3: This Sunday's game against South Sydney during our quick fire predictions.
Speaker 3: But I did want to get into what's becoming an
Speaker 3: age old issue, Burge, and that is, should the NRL
Speaker 3: continue during State of Origin? Could we alternatively have a
Speaker 3: three week representative break?
Speaker 4: For example?
Speaker 3: And I bring this up because on the weekend we
Speaker 3: have five upsets in a condensed round. Maybe I'm just
Speaker 3: angry because I went none from five and tipping. But
Speaker 3: the Bulldogs, for example, there top of the table, hampered
Speaker 3: significantly by losing players to Origin, which game ones on Wednesday,
Speaker 3: and are thrashed by the Dolphins. We effectively end up
Speaker 3: getting this for six weeks of the NRAL because it's
Speaker 3: both before and after an Origin game which is held
Speaker 3: midweek on a Wednesday. And look, I really start feeling
Speaker 3: for the good teams who have deserved their place on
Speaker 3: the NRAL ladder, who are then unfairly punished having good players.
Speaker 3: This issue won't go away, I know, Burge. In the past,
Speaker 3: there's been discussions around do we move into the end
Speaker 3: of the year. Doesn't feel like the players really want
Speaker 3: to batter themselves after a big NRL season, then have
Speaker 3: three weeks of Origin tagged on to the end.
Speaker 4: There'll be expansion at some point with.
Speaker 3: The Perth Bears and the Papua New Guinea team and
Speaker 3: potentially another entry to take it to twenty that could
Speaker 3: then see a change in the schedule. What is the
Speaker 3: answer here, because at the moment it doesn't feel like
Speaker 3: we're in a good situation for the competition or the
Speaker 3: integrity of the competition, at least that's my view.
Speaker 5: Yeah, it's a good point.
Speaker 6: I hadn't thought about it exactly how you worded it,
Speaker 6: And you're right. The big teams kind of do get punished,
Speaker 6: don't they for their performances and having good players that
Speaker 6: end the playing origin. I mean, I guess the other
Speaker 6: side of that is you've got teams like the Roosters
Speaker 6: in the Storm that have a lot of good players
Speaker 6: and seem to have a lot of money, and people
Speaker 6: wouldn't feel as sorry for them in that way. But
Speaker 6: it's hard to think of other competitions, sporting competitions of
Speaker 6: the world where it does become so lopsid a different
Speaker 6: times and these teams get effectively burdened for having star players.
Speaker 6: The answer is exactly right. There needs to be a break,
Speaker 6: ideally with some tests thrown in there. This is another
Speaker 6: topic for another podcast Nick, But test match footy is
Speaker 6: becoming more and more irrelevant, and it's so sad because
Speaker 6: it's sort of been disappeared to November and by then
Speaker 6: a lot of players aren't available on a play, whereas
Speaker 6: you've got to at least have one mid year test
Speaker 6: with some specific games as well. The problem is it
Speaker 6: will never happen because the broadcasters they just need content.
Speaker 6: All they care about is content. And if then I
Speaker 6: go to them and say, look, we're going to shave,
Speaker 6: We're going to shave three weekends off, they're saying, well,
Speaker 6: what do we want in return?
Speaker 5: It's a real shame. What you need here.
Speaker 6: You need the top people at Channel and at Fox
Speaker 6: taking a a more holistic view and saying players need
Speaker 6: a break. You get better competition, less injuries if you
Speaker 6: have a a more realistic season instead of just bloody
Speaker 6: burning them like they do to be great.
Speaker 3: You know, I'd really like to know and maybe put
Speaker 3: in some inquiries with a Fox or A nine or
Speaker 3: a Sky. Is there a dip in broadcast viewership during
Speaker 3: this period? Because I look at some of those teams
Speaker 3: and I follow NRAL closely and with the greatest respect,
Speaker 3: I haven't heard of some of these guys that are
Speaker 3: just popping up Willie Nelly out a reserve grade.
Speaker 4: You know, is that what we want for the competition?
Speaker 3: Don't we want our best players playing, as you say,
Speaker 3: a content beast. But I'm growing increasingly frustrated around Yeah,
Speaker 3: as you say, what other competition does this happen? Where
Speaker 3: I know State of Origin is king in terms of
Speaker 3: the revenue that's created and the broadcast interest there, but
Speaker 3: we're pulling away forty forty five of the best players
Speaker 3: and we're getting to a situation where I think it
Speaker 3: might hurt a team in the grand scheme of things,
Speaker 3: perhaps making the eight. And look, it's a funny thing
Speaker 3: to say in many ways because I know it's benefited
Speaker 3: the Warriors over the years. And yes they lost just
Speaker 3: the Mitch Barnett at the week just being but yeah,
Speaker 3: I just wonder if there's a simple solution, as you say,
Speaker 3: if you then had a break, you can reinvigorate Test football.
Speaker 3: I know that complicates things even further because we're currently
Speaker 3: got a situation where salm Old and Tonguan players are
Speaker 3: playing Origin as well. But who's to say we couldn't
Speaker 3: have a Kiwi's England Series Super leagu'es just finished we
Speaker 3: summer tour or something like that.
Speaker 4: P and G. I don't know, But it's a talking.
Speaker 3: Point, isn't it, Because I know we're going to get
Speaker 3: into our quick fire predictions shortly, but I'm just for
Speaker 3: the sake of it going to pick all the teams
Speaker 3: that I don't think are going to win, because it's
Speaker 3: just an absolute lottery at the moment. Like we both
Speaker 3: went none from five and that's purely with team who
Speaker 3: are below. We went with basically all favorites. And yeah,
Speaker 3: I just wonder is it good for the competition creating
Speaker 3: this this lottery situation when players are absent through origin.
Speaker 4: My argument would be it's not.
Speaker 6: There has been over the years a bit of romance
Speaker 6: around this period too, because you had players you haven't
Speaker 6: seen before come along, play a couple of games, and
Speaker 6: then the next season they're in first grade. And I
Speaker 6: remember often they talk about the baby Broncos back in
Speaker 6: the days when the Broncos had so many Queensland players,
Speaker 6: you know, and they or a Storm team that was
Speaker 6: devoid of a few of their stars, or that the
Speaker 6: Storm always been lucky. Because I've drenly had a lot
Speaker 6: of Kiwis, so the Kiwis of course are still playing.
Speaker 6: So yeah, there's some people like the interests that creates
Speaker 6: having some new names in there. But I just think
Speaker 6: the other thing is asking way too much of the players.
Speaker 6: It's not it's actually it's actually worse. It's worse what
Speaker 6: happens this weekend. The fact they're playing an Origin game
Speaker 6: on Wednesday night, which is the toughest thing they do
Speaker 6: all year, and then they're expected to back up on
Speaker 6: Friday night. You know, you had players in the past
Speaker 6: back and a half to forty eight hours. I think
Speaker 6: Camera Smith once played on well many times on a
Speaker 6: Friday night after playing Wednesday, and they meant to play Friday, Satday, Sunday.
Speaker 6: And the bodies aren't aren't designed for that, but they're
Speaker 6: loyal to their club. They're kind of expected to play.
Speaker 6: That's crazy stuff. But I think from a welfare point
Speaker 6: of view, because then you probably get more injuries this
Speaker 6: weekend because of it, et cetera, et cetera. It's another
Speaker 6: can of worms. From a welfare point of view, it
Speaker 6: needs to be looked at and the next broadcast deal.
Speaker 6: Let's hope this is on the.
Speaker 2: Gender big Moments the Big League Podcast.
Speaker 3: On that note, Birch, let's get into some quick fire predictions.
Speaker 3: We'll start with State of Origin A because Wednesday night,
Speaker 3: I know you'll be glued to your TV as will
Speaker 3: I an intriguing series. This New South Wales, fair to
Speaker 3: say coming in his favorites having won last year, but
Speaker 3: that was under Michael McGuire, who is now under serious
Speaker 3: pressure as a Brisbane Broncos here coach Larry Daily comes
Speaker 3: back in first game is in Brisbane, so there is
Speaker 3: obviously that home advantage there for Queensland.
Speaker 4: Which way do you see this one going?
Speaker 5: First of all, Nick, I can't remember are you Are
Speaker 5: you a blues.
Speaker 3: Man or I'd have to say morons if I was
Speaker 3: really pushed. I'm not super passionate about it. But yeah,
Speaker 3: if one or the other that I'd go with Queensland.
Speaker 3: I think that's just I don't know.
Speaker 4: I went with that.
Speaker 3: Then my stepbrother supported New South Wales and I just
Speaker 3: thought it'd be different.
Speaker 6: Okay, yeah, I mean I think I think it's still
Speaker 6: light a key. We still love Queensland from back in
Speaker 6: the Allen Langer Wally Lewis days, I think right. And
Speaker 6: then there was a long period when they were the
Speaker 6: underdogs for a long time, and then that period where
Speaker 6: they were unbeatable for a long time. But for some
Speaker 6: reason we seem to follow Queensland and a lot more.
Speaker 6: I know that frustrates change. Your Webster's always saying he
Speaker 6: runs into so many, so many Queensland fans on his
Speaker 6: walks around around the eastern suburbs. I'm delaying this though,
Speaker 6: because I'm really not sure Queensland at home and they
Speaker 6: kind of have to win because if you lose the
Speaker 6: first game at home it makes the series really really hard.
Speaker 6: But it's hard to tip against New South Wales. They
Speaker 6: do look like the better team on paper. They look
Speaker 6: like they've got more weapons certainly, and probably a bit
Speaker 6: more size. So it's going to take one of those
Speaker 6: underdog Queensland spirit type efforts to do it. I think Queensland,
Speaker 6: if they win, will have to win it late. New
Speaker 6: South Wales is more of a team that could build
Speaker 6: a lead and go on with it. So I will,
Speaker 6: against my heart, will I will tip New South Wales.
Speaker 3: Okay, I'll go Queensland. And as you say, I think, yeah,
Speaker 3: they're going to have to grind away almost Warriors esque
Speaker 3: where it's just built on effort, scramble, defense and a
Speaker 3: couple of key moments. I'm really intrigued actually to see
Speaker 3: how Mitchell, Moses and Nathan Cleary combine as a five
Speaker 3: eighths halfback duo to sort of Premier seven's in the NRL.
Speaker 4: Do we see more of Moses as a runner? Do
Speaker 4: we see more of Area is a runner?
Speaker 3: Or do they just sort of duel half back if
Speaker 3: you like, just own a side of the field each.
Speaker 3: But very much looking forward to Wednesday night. Then we
Speaker 3: kick into the NRL and what have we got? A
Speaker 3: seven game slates? As you mentioned, Bird, there will be some.
Speaker 3: I'm just trying to wrap my brain off the top
Speaker 3: of my head. Dragons Knights is the Friday night game.
Speaker 3: Newcastle representatives, Kaylen Ponger. You think, surely, Kaylen Ponger wouldn't
Speaker 3: back up forty eight hours. We've seen, as you said,
Speaker 3: Caam Smith do it in the past, but Dragons Knights
Speaker 3: the Nights out of nowhere without Ponger beating Penrith.
Speaker 5: At the weekend, Yeah, there was out of nowhere.
Speaker 6: I guess it just shows you know, they would do
Speaker 6: to put in a good performance. They've had a terrible season,
Speaker 6: but on paper they've still got a good team, so
Speaker 6: I was happy for them because it's been pretty miserable
Speaker 6: for the nights.
Speaker 5: But I can't see continuing. I think I like the
Speaker 5: Dragons in this.
Speaker 3: I'm going to go Newcastle because I like the Dragons too.
Speaker 3: And this is the NRL, as we know, during the
Speaker 3: state of Origin period where nothing makes sense. Three games
Speaker 3: late Saturday afternoon, Titans and the Melbourne Storm on the
Speaker 3: Gold Coast to kick things off five pm, New Zealand
Speaker 3: times at three pm.
Speaker 6: I've talked a lot of Storm players over the years
Speaker 6: about this, and I think even Craig Bellamy once and
Speaker 6: he just said that they take great pride in their
Speaker 6: performance during Origin.
Speaker 4: They're sort of.
Speaker 6: Every year they say themselves, right, no matter who we've
Speaker 6: got missing or who's not playing, we're still going to perform.
Speaker 6: We're still going to bank points and invariably that's what
Speaker 6: they do. So I'll back the Storm to keep on
Speaker 6: keeping on.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm going to Titans are going to be consistent here.
Speaker 4: Cowboys Tigers.
Speaker 5: I love this. I like the Cowboys at home.
Speaker 6: I think Tigers, you know, they're an interesting team. The Tigers,
Speaker 6: I don't think their top eight material. Don't think they've
Speaker 6: had the They've got this squad that's deep enough to
Speaker 6: get to September football. But you know they've had some
Speaker 6: had some good wins, but just starting to see some cracks.
Speaker 6: So yeah, I think the Cowboys at home will prevail.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm going to be a bit more sensible here
Speaker 3: and go with the Cowboys, although again they are you know,
Speaker 3: Tom Deeddon for example, state of origin and Joame Low
Speaker 3: perhaps are the points to prove having been demoted out
Speaker 3: of New South Wales, so that'll be an interesting one,
Speaker 3: but I will go the Cowboys are manly Brisbane around
Speaker 3: out things on Saturday night, that's at Brookvale.
Speaker 6: I think the Broncos will be starting to get a
Speaker 6: bit desperate, won't they, because already Michael McGuire is under
Speaker 6: so much pressure. Like it hasn't been a great start
Speaker 6: to the season. It's been okay, but they've had you know,
Speaker 6: a few losses now in the last few weeks, so
Speaker 6: they really really need to win this. But they're not
Speaker 6: always great when they come to Sydney. Last time they
Speaker 6: came to Sydney, they lost. So I really hope the
Speaker 6: Broncos can do it for McGuire's sake, and maybe maybe
Speaker 6: they will.
Speaker 4: Yeah, maybe.
Speaker 3: Yeah. I thought Manly were very average without DC, which
Speaker 3: I did sort of flag on last week's pod. Thirty
Speaker 3: points to ten. They lost to a paramount side without
Speaker 3: Mitchell Moses. Yeah, that's a real tough one to pack.
Speaker 3: I'll go Manly.
Speaker 4: Yeah. I think there's a few things.
Speaker 3: Bubbling away off field at Brisbane, which tends to be
Speaker 3: every season, but it seems to be getting in the
Speaker 3: way of the on field performance right onto the big
Speaker 3: one for a lot of fans and listeners of this podcast.
Speaker 3: In terms of Warriors on the road facing the South
Speaker 3: Sydney rabbit Os, It's a two pm local kickoff at
Speaker 3: Akor Stadium, so four pm Sunday for us here in
Speaker 3: New Zealand. James Fisher Harris will be back from suspension.
Speaker 3: Mitch Barnett an outside chance. I would have thought he'll
Speaker 3: be named either as a starter or on an extended
Speaker 3: reserves bench and provided he gets through Wednesday, okay, he
Speaker 3: should play rabbit Oze. It's always been a tough one history,
Speaker 3: hasn't it for the Warriors Birds.
Speaker 4: How do you see this one playing now?
Speaker 5: Yeah?
Speaker 6: I mean It's good that it's a Sunday because that
Speaker 6: does give Mitch Bunnett a bit of extra time. Let's
Speaker 6: just see how banged up he gets some origin. Hopefully
Speaker 6: he's okay because he is vital, as is Fisher Harris.
Speaker 6: As we've seen against the Raiders when they're not there. Look,
Speaker 6: they've got the rabbit o's and then the week after,
Speaker 6: as you said, they've got Creneller away. You would have
Speaker 6: thought that the rabbit os is really a game to
Speaker 6: target because Crenella will be extremely tough the way they're going,
Speaker 6: So this is a big one. They've got to be
Speaker 6: a lot better across the park. They can be a
Speaker 6: lot better across the park. The question will be can
Speaker 6: they take their chances. I'm sure the yardage game will
Speaker 6: be okay, But as you say, you're exactly right. Rabbits
Speaker 6: traditionally always cause problem for the Warriors. I remember a
Speaker 6: lot of bad losses over the years. I will tip
Speaker 6: the Warriors here to bounce back. I think there's enough
Speaker 6: in this team that they can bounce back quickly, but
Speaker 6: they'll need to be good.
Speaker 4: They will be They will need to be good.
Speaker 3: Rather the one in car uraging sign that I would
Speaker 3: point out as yet that the Warriors have been really
Speaker 3: good after a loss.
Speaker 4: After the Vegas loss, they won. After the Melbourne mauling,
Speaker 4: they won.
Speaker 3: So let's hope that that trend continues and losing streaks
Speaker 3: don't become a theme in season twenty twenty five.
Speaker 4: So I will go the Warriors.
Speaker 3: Then it's so we wish Sydney, Derby, Penrith and Paramatta.
Speaker 5: Yeah, this should be a good one. Actually, shouldn't remember
Speaker 5: just a few years ago when these two teams were
Speaker 5: two of the best teams of the comp and of
Speaker 5: course there was the Grand Final in twenty two.
Speaker 6: So this should be because Paramatta is showing some signs
Speaker 6: finally of getting going a bit this year. I'm going
Speaker 6: to tip the Panthers though, because it's unusual for them
Speaker 6: to have two losses in the role.
Speaker 3: But Seevan teens Burge the last ye.
Speaker 6: They have had a crazy season this year. Yeah, do
Speaker 6: you write them off for they gone? Can they still
Speaker 6: make the eighth?
Speaker 4: No that I will Nick Buley guarantee here they will
Speaker 4: the eight.
Speaker 5: Okay, Oh, I like that. I will have to.
Speaker 6: We'll make a notice and we'll look back. But I
Speaker 6: kite agree with you. I was reading a piece in
Speaker 6: the Cidny Morning Herald about a month ago where they've
Speaker 6: already been written off, saying they can't make the eight.
Speaker 5: I don't know.
Speaker 6: They're the kind of team that can constring ten to
Speaker 6: eleven games together and suddenly you know they're not going
Speaker 6: to be first or second, probably not even top four.
Speaker 6: But if they get to fifth or six, they're still dangerous.
Speaker 6: So ye, I'll go with the Panthers here to win
Speaker 6: the Battle of West Sydney.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm going with the Panthers as well, And just
Speaker 3: to illustrate my confidence the Panthers. Yes, there are nine points,
Speaker 3: three wins, seven losses, and a drawer against the Cowboys,
Speaker 3: but there's just three points separating seventeenth and eighth, so
Speaker 3: it seems a long way away, but an actual fact,
Speaker 3: when you study the table little bit more, it isn't.
Speaker 3: So there's just enough class there and Ivan Cleary's going
Speaker 3: to figure it out. They're going to figure it out
Speaker 3: at some stage, and they'd be the last team I
Speaker 3: want to play first round in September to just round
Speaker 3: things out. Birds here and now I'll supposed to be
Speaker 3: quick fire predictions, but there's anything but Roosters Raiders, which
Speaker 3: in itself has a fair bit of history between these
Speaker 3: two teams as well, And I'm sure Ricky Stiett will
Speaker 3: be lacking very little motivation to get up against the
Speaker 3: Sydney Roosters. Yeah.
Speaker 6: I think there's still some herd from that from that
Speaker 6: Grand Final and a couple of dusty calls. They think
Speaker 6: they've got this game. Probably depends on what happens, not
Speaker 6: make excuses for myself, but probably depends on what happens
Speaker 6: at the judiciary, because if Tarpani and someone else ends
Speaker 6: up out, it does change things for them quite a bit.
Speaker 6: But I really like what the Raiders are doing this year.
Speaker 6: They're they're a good team. Man, They're going to be
Speaker 6: right in it in the final. So I'll tip the
Speaker 6: Raiders against a resurgent Roosters.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I'm going to go with the Raiders as well.
Speaker 3: I think that is an important caveat to note if
Speaker 3: they were to be without a Tarpany or potentially a
Speaker 3: Huts and young post origin. But they look like a
Speaker 3: very complete team, a very well balanced team. Like the
Speaker 3: way they go about their work through the middle, they
Speaker 3: make yardage, they're back five.
Speaker 4: I thought we didn't really get to but they were
Speaker 4: super impressive.
Speaker 3: The lots of to Balley Savage said Chris, so yeah,
Speaker 3: we'll go with the Green Machine to continue.
Speaker 2: To roll on.
Speaker 4: That'll do it. For other edition of The Big.
Speaker 3: League Podcast, please follow, subscribe wherever you do tuner and
Speaker 3: looking forward to Wednesday State of Origin. Looking forward to
Speaker 3: Sunday four pm The Warrior is away to the South
Speaker 3: Sydney Rabbit os My thanks to you, Michael Burgess. One
Speaker 3: name is Nick Bewley. Have a great week.
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