NRL Telstra Premiership 2006

[dizzy92]

broncos are my favourite team and lockyer's my favourite player, just though i'd let you know

 

[Greenidge]

Have to agree with what others have said about Hunt. He shouldn't have even come close to being picked. Bowen, Wesser and Hodgson are far better players. The only reason I can think of to pick him would be so that he doesn't change his mind in the future and decide to play for NZ. Anyway, from a Kiwi perspective I'm glad they picked him.

Now I'm sure Matt Bowen is a Kiwi. Surely we can make up some blood line and get him in the Kiwi team.

 

[aussie1st]

Bowen has already played for Qld so that would make him not eligble for the Kiwis until a certain time

 

[IloveGilly]

Bowen would have been my choice by a mile. Still the odds of Aust. winning are like $1.30 and NZ are like $4 according to what I heard on radio.

 

[aussie1st]

That's crazy, the Kiwis have a dam good team. If they get momentum they will be tough to stop.

 

[Greenidge]

The Kiwis have got a strong forward pack. In all of the three tri nations games against Australia last year they dominated the Australian pack. If they get that dominance again they are a good chance of winning. The problem they had against Australia last year was dropping off for ten minutes. The Aussies made them pay big time for those lapses.
The other problem the Kiwis have is that the Aussie team usually plays pretty well at this time of year. The wins last year all came at the end of the season after the NRL had finished.
I'd love to see the Kiwis knock them over again, but I'll be surprised if they do.

 

[IloveGilly]

Ruben Wiki looks like he might not even pay. They really need him for them to have any chance of winning.

Aussies look dangerous up-front as well and have a pretty different interchange with Thurston. They will obviously be targetting SBW and Marshall.

 

[aussie1st]

Well attack was obviously a problem in the Tri Nations. That is well and truely fixed with Johns and Lockyer in the halves. Just a question of can they work together.

 

[Iron-Haggis]

Well, I hear Jamie Lyons is set to make a return to the Eels after his stint in the English League- his presence will really boost the team environment, and his talent will go a long way in strengthening the centres.

I don't see how his presence will boost the team enviroment. He packed his bags and left, apparently a few senior players won't be too thrilled to see him return. But if he returns to the Eels then he should just come out and say he left because of Brian Smith.

I'm sure Johns and Lockyer will work well together. They are the two best players going around in the game, although Lockyer probably has lost some ground since becoming 5/8th.

 

[James219]

I don't see how his presence will boost the team enviroment. He packed his bags and left, apparently a few senior players won't be too thrilled to see him return. But if he returns to the Eels then he should just come out and say he left because of Brian Smith.

Yeah, that's true, I should've said team balance, in terms of the strength and speed in the centres. He won't really boost the morale of the side or anything, alot would hold certain things against him as a result of his abrupt departure. To be honest, though, most should respect Lyons, Brian Smith's an obssessive coach, and he took a stand against him....
Anyway, I'm sure he's the sort of player who'd be honest and pretty natural around his teammates.

 

[Iron-Haggis]

But if he just comes back with no proper explanation he is going to cop a huge backlash from the fans. Because not every Parra fan would suspect it was a rift between Lyons and Smith.

 

[IloveGilly]

You can always rely on some idiot to spoil the scores for you.

>Aust. 50 - NZ. 12<

 

[aussie1st]

I was too lazy to come online to celebrate the win
What a win it was, Aus totally dominated the Kiwis in the 2nd half. Thurston looked good in the 6 and Lockyer was amazing when he went back to fullback. Time for him to go back there I suspect.

 

[Left_Hander]

Fell a sleep when the score was 30-12. Thanks for the score IloveGilly. What was Timana Tahu thinking when he tried to bat it back to Karmichael Hunt? One of the weirdest things I have ever seen.

 

[aussie1st]

He was trying to avoid another set of 6. But that was the only way the Kiwis could score, of a silly mistake by one of our backs.

It was funny seeing BK kick the conversion. Karmichael Hunt was solid but didn't have that extra something that Bowen has.