Australian Grand Final : Sun Oct 03, 2021 8:48 am  

Just started to watch the Australian Grand Final.
And I’m jealous!
Whereas our game has been on a downward spiral for a number of years, the Australian game has thrived.
Their players are better, the administrators are better, the coaches are better, the games are better, the referees are better and the commentators are better.
Should I renew my season ticket for Wigan Warriors next year?
Definitely not!
Will I?
Yes.
Why?
I’ve no idea.
Even if Wigan improve, the game won’t.
Wish I lived in Australia.

Re: Australian Grand Final : Sun Oct 03, 2021 8:52 am  

Salty wrote:

Just started to watch the Australian Grand Final.
And I’m jealous!
Whereas our game has been on a downward spiral for a number of years, the Australian game has thrived.
Their players are better, the administrators are better, the coaches are better, the games are better, the referees are better and the commentators are better.
Should I renew my season ticket for Wigan Warriors next year?
Definitely not!
Will I?
Yes.
Why?
I’ve no idea.
Even if Wigan improve, the game won’t.
Wish I lived in Australia.

The fact we make their administrators look good says it all about how poor ours are

Re: Australian Grand Final : Sun Oct 03, 2021 12:03 pm  

Egg Chasing wrote:

The fact we make their administrators look good says it all about how poor ours are

What do you mean by that? Over the last 24 month's, Peter V'landys has probably been one of the world's best. He's made himself into a shrewd, top operator.

Last year, he brought the NRL back before any other major sporting comp and, this season, he's organised the full relocation of all players, families, support staff & others to QLD. That's two huge achievements.

He was also instrumental in the changes like 6 again etc that massively increased the speed of the game.

Re: Australian Grand Final : Sun Oct 03, 2021 12:19 pm  

Kudos to the ref.

People are quick to comment when they make mistakes but no so much when they do well, he let the game flow and I thought he was spot on with his decisions.

Terrific match.

Re: Australian Grand Final : Sun Oct 03, 2021 12:27 pm  

dany1979 wrote:

Kudos to the ref.

People are quick to comment when they make mistakes but no so much when they do well, he let the game flow and I thought he was spot on with his decisions.

Terrific match.

Here's the thing tho, all season long head high shots have meant cards.

The ref had the balls today to realise that fans & the players don't want to see cards in finals. The shot on Arrow, would have been a red if Kendall was the ref.

Kendall hides behind the letter of the law & gets praise for it. Sutton (in his 5th GF) goes against the law and gets praise for it.

Re: Australian Grand Final : Sun Oct 03, 2021 1:26 pm  

sergeant pepper wrote:

Here's the thing tho, all season long head high shots have meant cards.

The ref had the balls today to realise that fans & the players don't want to see cards in finals. The shot on Arrow, would have been a red if Kendall was the ref.

Kendall hides behind the letter of the law & gets praise for it. Sutton (in his 5th GF) goes against the law and gets praise for it.

Gus didn't praise the ref for ignoring the head shot, nor should anyone.
How can you have one rules for every game all season then different rules for a Final?
There was one play where the Souths players caught a high ball then when he was tackled the ball shot out went 15-20 mtrs and was grounded in goal. It was obvious that the Penrith player had punched the ball out and it was a knock on yet the ref gave a goal line drop out.
Every one knew it had been punched out due to the velocity of ball and the distance it went. The idea it had been dropped was ridiculous!

Thought the ref was poor and when commentators suggest Souths hadn't had 50/50 all game then you know somethings not right.

Re: Australian Grand Final : Sun Oct 03, 2021 1:35 pm  

I could not understand why Cleary received hardly any kick pressure. The one time Souths did hunt him down resulted in a poor clearance. It was so obvious to me but somehow Bennet and Demetriou didn’t prioritise it.

Re: Australian Grand Final : Sun Oct 03, 2021 2:02 pm  

sergeant pepper wrote:

What do you mean by that? Over the last 24 month's, Peter V'landys has probably been one of the world's best. He's made himself into a shrewd, top operator.

Last year, he brought the NRL back before any other major sporting comp and, this season, he's organised the full relocation of all players, families, support staff & others to QLD. That's two huge achievements.

He was also instrumental in the changes like 6 again etc that massively increased the speed of the game.

He's also killed the game with the high tackle rule, sin bins etc.

Kudos for keeping things moving (although whether it should have done when half the country is in lockdown is another matter) but from my viewing this season of the many NRL programs, they don't see him as the success you do.

Re: Australian Grand Final : Sun Oct 03, 2021 8:43 pm  

dany1979 wrote:

Kudos to the ref.

People are quick to comment when they make mistakes but no so much when they do well, he let the game flow and I thought he was spot on with his decisions.

Terrific match.

This. I think Sutton is the best ref, but they are all (even Klein!) better than ours.

Re: Australian Grand Final : Mon Oct 04, 2021 1:59 am  

Have been a Penrith season ticket holder for the past 20 years so was happy with the win.

Digressing a little, remember going to watch Penrith at home when both Mike Stephenson and Bill Ashhurst played their first match for them.

I have watched the game for 75 years and if I had to name the best Wigan side over this period I would put Bill in the second row.