NRL - Best of the Year
Hey, it's prelim week, we should do some awards:
Try of the Year
I really want to give it to Hammer's in Origin 1, but it should be an NRL try. Newcastle have their own highlight reel of 90m+ efforts this year, but Dom Young's v Manly in R5 was a peach. Young beats a few, and then after a few sets of hands, gets it back to score in the corner
Hit of the Year
Viliami Kikau absolutely ironing out Phoenix Crossland. You know it's good when the guy plays the ball, then sinks to his knees holding his ribs
"What the fuck was that?" result of the year
The Wests fucking Tigers sticking 66 points past the Cowboys. I still can't really believe that happened. Runner up for me is the Titans getting to 26-0 after half an hour against the Dolphins and then losing 28-26. Hilarious
Biggest turnaround of the year: Team
Well, compared to last year, it's us right? But this year, on the positives, we have the knights coming from a mile back to make week 2 of the semis. In Rd 17 the only teams behind them were the Dogs, the Dragons and the Tigers. They were 3 wins back from the 8. They then peeled off 10 straight to finish 5th On the flip side the Bunnies were at one point 1st, and missed the finals
Biggest turnaround of the year: Player
Preseason no one really wanted Shaun Johnson in the side. After Rd1 we were calling for him to be out of the team by Rd 3. He's about to win the Dally M On the flip side Nicho Hynes won the Dally M last year, had cronulla sitting up the ladder at the Origin preiod. The Freddie stuffs him around and by the end of the year some Sharks fans were wondering if he shouldn't be playing fullback
Buy of the year
Takes deep break fucking Reece Walsh. Still not a rock defensively. Still capable of a fuck up going for a big play. But he's a huge reason why Brisbane are poised to win the comp. Brisbane have nailed their recruitment two years in a row. CNK for us has been awesome as well just quietly. And Hammer for the Titans
Bust of the Year
This has to be The Cheese doesn't it? Spent most of the year stinking it up for the Chooks, on huge money.
Coach of the Year
Well, duh. Webster obviously. Took the fucking Warriors to the top 4 using a squad not much different to last year. Managed to make us tough to beat, mentally resilient, and get a club notorious for being flighty to buy completely in to a plan Runner up has to be kevvie. From meme coach to 80 minutes from a GF, and with a team best placed to stop the Panthers juggernaut
Player of the Year
SJ. Leading the Warriors to relevance with a smile on his face.
Disappointment of the Year
This was the Chooks until they went within 3 minutes of a prelim. Souths completely fell in a hole. At one point they looked the best side in the comp. Then they missed teh 8 Many picked the Cowboys to be top 4. They spent most of the year sucking, got flogged by the Tigers, went on a run to actually get themselves fifth before meekly folding in to early Mad Monday But the Dogs got themselves the in-demand coach. They continued their big-money signing spree. They finished 3rd last, with the worst F/A in the comp, and big stories about how players hate training. Maybe they are only a couple more big money Panthers players from cracking it?
Biggest Fuckwit
Jerome Luia loves acting like an absolute flog. His ego far outweighs his importance to Penrith. But Sticky wins this for what feels like the 15th year in a row. Weak gutted dog person will live long in NRL lexicon now. Telling a camera guy to fuck off. Blaming the refs for every single loss. Just a complete dick, and i think is actively holding the Raiders back. But he's teflon in the media.
@bayimports said in NRL 2023:
With a performance like this in the biggest game of the year why the hell are they letting Sirinon go???
interesting one this, really versatile squad player and can fill in multiple roles, but master of none probably cost him.
And yet we keep Jazz fucking Tevaga
Funny. In town today and young fulla in fruit and vege shop in Broncos gear gives it the obligatory "any plans for the afternoon"?
"Nothing much, might watch some footy later?"
"Oh, what footy?"
"Ah, Warriors"
"Oh yeah, up the Wahs"
BTW I have not expressed how much I hate that saying ... but hard case eh?
I did not see that result coming!
I thought it was going to go down to the wire, with both teams a chance to win.
That opening 10-12 minutes for the Warriors was some of the best footy you’ll see, just perfection!
The Knights were always going to come back at us, it was brilliant to see us soak it up, stay calm and deliver.
40-10 over a red hot Knights team on a 10 game winning streak, in a sudden death game, how good?
Myself and a handful of the lads have a piss trip fund that we’ve all been contributing to since pre covid - it hasn’t been touched yet, so it’s in a very healthy state.
After a few beers and tonights result we’re potentially heading to Brissy next weekend.
We’re just sweating on the status of one of the boy’s passports…
'Didn't feel good': Skipper reveals coach's major blunder
so, first off, I've jagged a ticket to the game and I'm heading to Brisbane.
To the game, it was noticeable how much effort we were putting in to Ponga. And Newcastle actually played it well by hitting Frizzell instead of going out the back, he made huge in-roads, and then Ponga came back the other way at looked immediately dangerous. But we kept turning up on D and eventually the knights cracked. Shutting out Ponga, their centres and their wingers just frustrated Newcastle out of it.
I don't hold out much hope this week, that performance will have taken so much out of us, and Brisbane are really fucking good, well rested, and at home. But what a year, and i am heading to Suncorp full of hope.
@mariner4life I'll add that to the front page soon.. any youtube vid of the try and/or hit?
NRL - Best of the Year
@mariner4life lol great write up
I do think you have nailed it and, but some honorable mentions for who could have been close, Will have a think about some tries and hits
What the fuck was that result of the year?
Cowboys putting 74 on West Tigers turning their season around after getting flogged by the same team only 3-4 weeks prior
Tigers beating Penrith
Bust of the year?
Two of the previous best second rowers in Bateman and Papali'i, Tigers killed their talent.
Most of the Roosters - will include Manu and Teddy who went backwards, but Cheese never turned up
Coach of the year?
Supercoach Wayne - no one predicted his team would start so well with the talent he had, they batted well above their weight for long into the season
Biggest fuckwit
Luai by a country mile in terms of players on the field.
Off the field Sticky continues to be a protected species although one of his supporters also deserves a mention...looking at you Paul Kent, Karma is a biatch sometimes
Finals teams names:
Warriors: same 17 !
NRL Team Lists: Finals Week 3
Official team lists, updates and injury news for Week 3 of the 2023 Telstra Premiership Finals Series.
@bayimports said in NRL 2023:
Supercoach Wayne - no one predicted his team would start so well with the talent he had, they batted well above their weight for long into the season
Speak for your's and @mariner4life's selves. 
Although Wayne is getting a bit soft in his old age, no one as fat as Te Whare would ever get a start in his old Broncos and St George teams. How does a guy get fatter as the season goes on? Even in his fattest year Piri lost weight as the season went on.
@bayimports said in NRL 2023:
Teddy who went backwards
I wasn't concentrating on the Roosters too much so was genuinely shocked to see how bad he is now when I watched a few of their games in a row.
It was a good year for NZ wingers (aside from Rapana), with Isaako, DWZ and Mulitalo all running in lots of tries. Even the new boy Warbrick had a decent try tally.
@mariner4life said in NRL 2023:
The Cheese
Que?
Not a close follower
Brandon Smith
Kiwi "utility" who is another in the lo g line of great players at Melbourne, not so good elsewhere
Thanks @mariner4life
There's a reason for the nickname?
Looks like a block of cheese
@mariner4life said in NRL 2023:
Seriously, this is a prelim
Penrith are making this look like a game against a reserve grade side
How are they, for the 3rd year in a row, this much better, bigger, fitter, and faster then everyone
Storms pack has been found wanting in big games this year, it was similar against Brisbane .
But Penrith are a great side , still more success left in them yet by the looks, should go down as one of the all time great sides when they are finished.
DWZ can certainly score tries but often makes the wrong call on defence with two tries scored with bad reads,
Not blaming him though, offloads killing us and Pompey’s kicking has not helped.
Surprisingly we are still in this and are not out of it yet.
Was going to say how quick is Walsh?, but Haas at pace was awesome!
Still hope, but we will need to kick our conversions from here out
