Bulldogs lose as they farewell Noddy and The General

August 31, 2010

The Penrith Panthers have won a thrilling encounter against the Canterbury Bulldogs at ANZ Stadium, scoring a try after the final siren to win the game 24-18.

The Panthers win was soured by the first send-off of the season to Petero Civoniceva following a swinging arm on Bulldogs prop Gary Warburton.

Civoniceva was given his marching orders with 10 minutes remaining in the game, and he faces a possible 4 game ban, thus ending his season for 2010.

The one saving grace for Petero however, is that he might still get off or get a lighter sentence given his good record as he hasn’t been charged by the NRL Match Review Committee since 2006.

“I am not going to articulate my thoughts at the moment and we will go through the processes we have to,” Elliott said.

“I guess I am concerned but I am shooting off the hip here, I haven’t had a close look at the circumstances around it and we will deal with it.

“Petero’s record is pretty good and I think his credibility in the game runs before him as well … I don’t think he has had an issue for some time.

In another major blow for the Panthers, halfback Luke Walsh limped off when the Panthers were trailing 16-0 with a suspected ankle injury. Scans today will reveal the extent of the injury.

“The medical staff will look at him and those medical machines that go ‘bing’ and stand around with masks and green coats and we will know more tomorrow,” Elliott said.

“Hopefully it is not too serious, but we will know then.”

A Michael Jennings try six seconds from time sealed the thrilling win for the Panthers, after an attempted field goal from retiring legend Brett Kimmorley was charged down by make-shift halfback Travis Burns.

Kimmorley was at his scintillating best, as both he and Luke Patten farewell the club, with Patten heading to ESL club Salford.

“I thought the script was there for Noddy to score the field goal, but maybe we didn’t get it to him quick enough, it’s probably the story of our season,” said coach Kevin Moore.

Kimmorley added: “When I turned around at saw it go the other way it was obviously very disappointing … it could have been a fairy tale, but I have learnt from a long football career you don’t always get the send off you deserve.

“It would have been nice to have a picture of the ball sailing over, but it wasn’t to be.

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Raiders finals hopes lie in the hands of their destiny

August 29, 2010

The Canberra Raiders have romped to an easy 48-4 win over the North Queensland Cowboys as they move into the top 8 with one round remaining.

The Raiders who seem to be the form team of the competition scored 9 tries to 1, and are now just one win away from guaranteeing themselves a top 8 spot.

The man-of-the-match came from an unlikely source with late call-up Reece Robinson scoring a phenomenal 4 tries.

Taking the place of Adam Mogg, who was injured in the warm-up, Robinson took the bull by the horns and played the game of his life.

“I think I was just on the end of things, I just popped up when I had to pop up really,” he said, adding he hoped to make many more first-grade appearances for the green machine.

The Raiders simply proved to be far too good for a poor Cowboys side, no doubt missing the leadership of inspirational halfback Jonathon Thurston.

The loss was the Cowboys fifth successive loss of the season, and had it not been for the Storm’s salary cap breach, they would have finished last, thus handing them the wooden spoon.

Canberra coach David Furner said that his team was confident that they could come away with the win.

“We did have some milestones, 200 games there for (co-captain Alan Tongue), we had some guys that were leaving, we had our last home game and a must-win game,” he said.

“You could just tell during the week that the players were looking forward to the game.”

There was a few sore points for the Raiders though with both Joe Picker and Alan Tounge picking up injuries that could see them miss next week’s game.

North Queensland coach Neil Henry agreed that his side was beaten fair and square.

“It has been a tough year,” he said.

“We’re disappointed that we couldn’t defend with a lot more intensity and they rolled through us and we couldn’t stop the points.”

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Bunnies keep finals hopes alive as Eels look to 2011

August 28, 2010

South Sydney’s spirit lives on, after they put the nail into the coffin on Parramatta’s poor 2011 season with a 24-16 win at ANZ Stadium.

In what was touted as a game of survival, with the losing team all but out of finals contention, it was the Rabbitohs who were the better side, and with the win, they jump over Brisbane into the top 8.

In what was a lacklustre first-half that ended in a 0-0 slug-out, testing many fans patience, the deadlock was finally broken when Rhys Wesser darted through to score the opening try.

The Eels looked as if they might have been staging a late resurgence when Justin Horo went over, before outgoing lock Feleti Mateo threw an offload that didn’t have to be thrown, and the Bunnies got a penalty that led to them scoring.

Several players were put on report, with Mateo the main culprit after engaging in a fight with Bunnies make-shift second rower Jaiman Lowe. He was unlucky not to be sin-binned or sent off after he started the fight.

Bunnies halfback Chris Sandow will also come under scrutiny for a dangerous throw on Justin Horo, that is sure to catch the eye of the NRL Match Review Committee.

Whilst over the moon that his players had kept Souths season alive, coach John Lang said that there was no point relying on other results to go their way.

“It would be great to be going down there and playing (the Dragons) for a spot in the final, but that’s out of our control now,” Lang said.

“There’s no point in doing all that (trying to work out possibilities), we’re in a situation where it can be good, it can be bad … we’ll know where we stand, we’ll just have to sit back and wait.

Eels coach Daniel Anderson acknowledged that his side lacked the creativity to score points and penetrate the Bunnies defence.

“That pretty much typified our season,” he said of the performance.

“There’s a few upset boys in there obviously … we’re out of our misery as far as September footy.

“We’ve had difficulty in our halves this year in establishing a confident pairing – we have to improve that area.”

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Titans continue their winning ways

August 24, 2010

The Gold Coast Titans have reclaimed second spot and underlined their premiership credentials with a stellar win over the Roosters at the Sydney Football Stadium.

In a game played at frenetic pace, it was second-half tries from Bodene Thompson and Clinton Toopi that set up the 23-14 win for the Titans.

Despite the win, Titans coach John Cartwright is not getting carried away, as he would prefer if his side could fly under the radar and escape the media’s wrath.

“We know we are in the finals and where we finish is up to us,” Cartwright said.

“I suppose when people say you fly under the radar it means no-one rates you, but I doubt if any of the boys read the Sydney media so we will just get on with what we are doing.

While the Titans are now guaranteed a home final, the Roosters, having lost three games on the trot, are now in danger of missing out on a home final and on the finals altogether.

The Roosters started off the better side, but they couldn’t match the intensity that the Titans showed late on in the game, and that ultimately led to their loss.

There was something to celebrate for the Roosters however despite the loss, with Anthony Minichello scoring his 100th try for the Roosters.

He is now only 5 tries away from breaking Bill Mullen’s record 0f 105 tries for the club.

Despite the loss, Roosters coach Brian Smith is still remaining positive and says that the signs are there to show that his side can return to its best very soon.

“It wasn’t the right result but we did some very good things,” Smith said.

“We have got some work to do but I ask our supporters to remember where we were three weeks ago when we were carving it up.

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Eels can look to 2011 after loss to Tigers

August 22, 2010

The Parramatta Eels have been beaten in an entertaining yet controversial affair that puts an end to their finals hopes for 2010.

With the chance to tie the game up at 20-20 all in the dying minutes, Eels winger Luke Burt missed an easy kick and was still distraught an hour after the game.

“He had a chance to level the scores for us but unfortunately missed,” said Eels co-captain Nathan Hindmarsh, obviously feeling for his likeable teammate.

“The worst thing is Burty would kick them blindfolded any other day.”

Today just wasn’t Burty’s day, and the Eels are left to dwell on what has been a poor season by their standards. Grand finalists last year, they now need a miracle to make it to the finals in 2010.

“He’s taken it pretty hard. It can be a cruel game,” Eels coach Daniel Anderson said.

“It’s going to be bitter for him, that memory.

“Maybe we should have taken opportunities before that. It’s difficult to put the blame at one person’s feet for a game like that.”

The Eels staged a late fightback to very nearly take the game to extra time scoring 12 unanswered points to bring the game back to 20-18 in the dying moments.

It was two bench players (former I should add in Horo) that sparked the Eels mini-revival with both Anthony Mitchell and Justin Horo scoring four pointers to get the Eels back into the game.

Tigers coach Tim Sheens was relieved after the win and believed that the better side had come out victorious.

“We got a little bit of luck with him missing the goal but I thought overall we were the better side,” Sheens said.

“I was pleased to see we got away with what is a great win for the club.”


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Storm too classy for Sharks

August 22, 2010

Judging by last night’s performances, you can tell that both Melbourne and Cronulla want their poor seasons to end, as they look towards 2011.

The misery continued for the Sharks however as they were outplayed 24-4 at AAMI Stadium.

As 14th played the wooden spooners with the Storm unable to accrue any points this season as a result of their cap breach, the match attracted Melbourne’s smallest crowd of the year with just over 8,000 attending the game.

With pride on the line for both teams, they both played physical football, but it was the Storm who ultimately came out on top as they were significantly better in attack.

An injury to Matthew Duffie beforehand resulted in second-rower Sika Manu playing in the centres and getting on the score-sheet to wrap up the win for the Storm.

Cronulla coach Shane Flanagan is relatively eager for the season to end.

“I probably do at the moment.”

“We were OK in the first half and there was some desperate defence on the tryline

“I was quite happy to go in at 6-0 down but I just thought in the second half there was two tough decisions there and we just couldn’t handle them.

Melbourne coach Craig Bellamy praised his young side, that was made up of quite a few under 20’s stars such as boom half Luke Kelly who took over Brett Finch’s position whilst he was being rested.

“He did a real good job, I thought his defence was outstanding,” Bellamy said.”Everyone keeps telling us where we’d be but at the end of the day it doesn’t mean anything and I don’t particularly want to know,” he said.

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Broncos finals hopes in dis-array

August 21, 2010

An astonishing 4 try performance from Cooper Vuna has handed the Newcastle Knights a 44-18 win over a lacklustre Broncos side at Energy Australia Stadium.

The loss leaves the Broncos finals hopes in jeopardy as they will now need to rely on other results over the next few weeks in order to make the finals. It is the first time since 1991 that the Broncos may not make the finals.

It was a historic night for three Knights players in particular, all of whom are now firmly etched in Knights history. Cooper Vuna, Akuila Uate and Adam McDougall are all now in the Knights history books for different reasons.

Vuna was the star in the win – as he became the fourth player to score 4 tries for the Knights in a game (Darren Albert, Adam McDougall and Andrew Johns were the others).

Uate had earlier matched Timana Tahu’s single-season record of 21 tries, with veteran back Adam McDougall now tying Tahu’s milestone of 82 tries as a red-hot spell just before half-time gave the Knights a handy lead going into half-time.

The Broncos without inspirational captain Darren Lockyer looked to be in control at one stage before falling apart in a big way, so much so that they were out of the game by the start of the second half.

The game was not without it’s controversy though as the Broncos were unlucky not to be awarded a penalty try after Kurt Gidley tackled Broncos flyer Jharal Yow Yeh without the ball following a grubber.

Video ref Paul Simpkins opted not to award the try, and to make matters worse, Gidley who was unlucky not to be sin-binned for the offence scored soon after the controversial decision to kick-start proceedings for the Knights.

Knights coach Rick Stone was over the moon with the performance and labelled it the Knights best of the season.

“We played controlled footy and scored some terrific tries and it was great to produce in front of our home crowd who have been so patient and loyal, that was probably the best thing”, Stone says.

The Knights need to win their remaining two games and hope other results go their way, and coach Rick Stone believes that they can do it.

“If you are going to beat the Dragons, then you have to play outside of  the square and I felt at times we did that”, says Stone.

Whilst Broncos coach Ivan Henjak admitted that his side was outplayed, he was shell-shocked as to why Ben Cummins was ref in this game after he was under fire for some poor decisions last week.

“I can’t believe a referee who has been criticised so much by the home side was given their game the next week”, says Henjak.

“The Knights definitely didn’t struggle in the penalty count this week did they?”

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Dragons prove far too strong for a spirited Manly side

August 17, 2010

The Dragons have re-affirmed their premiership intentions with a comprehensive 32-10 win over the Manly Sea Eagles WIN Jubilee Oval.

The Dragons showed their steel a five tries to two victory, but it was the discouraging performances from the referees, particularly a controversial decision from video ref Bill Harrigan that was the talking point.

As a result, there is a grave concern relating to the state of the NRL’s officiating with both the Dragons and Manly being awarded dubious tries.

Dragons centre Mark Gasnier was the first to be awarded with a dubious try via benefit of the doubt by video ref Bill Harrigan after he ruled Gasnier had grounded the ball, despite comprehensive replays clearly showing that he had lost control of the football.

Harrigan’s explanation did little to quell any anger the players had towards both he and ref Shayne Hayne.

“It was benefit of the doubt. There was no separation”, says Harrigan.

The controversy didn’t end there though as Manly were also awarded a dubious try, this time courtesy of a poor judgment from ref Shayne Hayne.

Trailing 16-4, Hayne cleared what clearly seemed to be a blatant forward pass by Brent Kite to Kieran Foran, who appeared to be standing in front of Kite when he received the ball.

Manly coach Des Hasler blew up after the game, and had little doubt that Gasnier’s try should have been given no try.

“He’s the referees’ coach? I think Bill got it wrong – that’s my opinion,” Hasler said.
“There was clearly separation – someone’s got to referee Bill and tell Bill.
“But if Bill’s referees’ coach, then who tells Bill?”

Dragons coach Wayne Bennett denied their was any separation, but said that Manly’s controversial call simply negated the previous bad call that went in favour of the Dragons.

“We’ve all got to live with it – the coaches, the players and teams are in the same predicament,” Bennett said of the refereeing.

“We’ve got to accept it’s not going to be perfect. We don’t play perfect games of football and refs aren’t going to get it perfect either.”

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Tigers flog Panthers in the Battle of the Cats

August 16, 2010

The moment that Tigers fans have been waiting for has finally arrived with their side all but cementing their spot in the finals for the first time in five years.

Over the previous four years, the Tigers team promised so much, but failed to deliver regularly, until now. With the finals monkey officially off their back, the Tigers will be looking to continue their good form into the finals.

Gareth Ellis scored two of the most important tries of his career and of the Tigers season when it mattered most, to secure the Tigers win.

“Hopefully 30 points means we’re in the semis, it’s just a matter now of how high we want to finish”, says Tigers hooker Robbie Farah.

The win may silence the critics on the Tigers back despite a staggering 9 wins from their last 12 games.

“I’m sure the media will be talking abut ‘05 again”, says Farah.

It was the forwards that led the charge with both Gareth Ellis and monster forward Andrew Fifita both bagging two tries in the Tigers romp.

Perhaps the most surprising statistic however was Marshall kicking seven from seven following his previous poor showings with the boot.

Penrith who were disappointing,  have now lost 5 of their last 6 games, and are in danger of missing out on a home final.

“I felt for the first time this year we came second by a long way in the area of attitude,” Panthers coach Matt Elliott said.

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Canberra lives to fight another day in 2010

August 15, 2010

The Canberra Raiders are still alive in this year’s finals race after a 28-14 win over a poor Bulldogs side at ANZ Stadium.

The Raiders came from behind to win the game, led by trio Jarrod Croker, Josh McCrone and Daniel Vidot as they look to make their first finals series since 2008.

Kevin Moore’s Bulldogs side took an early lead, storming out to a 14-12 lead at half-time, but upon the restart, the team looked very poor and seemed to struggle in attack.

It looked as if the Bulldogs would run away with the game at one stage leading 14-6, before inspirational warhorse Alan Tounge dived over in the 40th minute just before half-time to cut the lead to just 2.

According to David Furner, his young team is really progressing well and growing in confidence at the right time ahead of their biggest test to make the finals when they come against the NRL’s top side, the Dragons.

“I liked the character we showed out there, we talked about what we needed to do in defence and that is what won it for us and it was really pleasing”, says coach Furner

“I never gave up hope of making the finals. I just think the ability in this team, we are good enough to make the 8″.

Bulldogs coach Kevin Moore said that the struggles his team faced in the second-half could have been avoided had his side held onto the ball better.
He was also furious that the Dogs had three first-half tries disallowed by the video referee.

“We probably should have led by 18 points at half-time, we created plenty and had a couple of decisions go against us”, says coach Moore.

“They just don’t understand rugby league some of them…. both of their tries in the first half came from some bad calls”.

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