Halfway through the season the Parramatta Eels looked gone for the season and possible wooden-spooners. Then came an incredible late run which saw them sneak into the finals at number 8. Never before has the 8th team made it through the grand final, and worthy grand finalists they certainly are if recent form is any guide.
The Melbourne Storm had an indifferent (for them) season, ending in 4th place. But their recent form has been awesome, which now sees them contesting their 4th consecutive grand final. This is an incredible feat in these days of salary caps. The Storm have certainly lost a galaxy of stars over that time, but have consistently brought new players through to perform at a very high level.
Much of the talk has been about the rival fullbacks, Billy Slater and Jarryd Hayne. The Oz has interesting comments by fellow players Karmichael Hunt and Brett Kimmorely. However, I’m with Wally Lewis in thinking that Greg Inglis is the one to watch. Wayne Bennett reckons you can shut any player down, at a cost, of course. But to me Inglis is the one who has consistently been hardest to contain at representative level.
The King is going for the Storm, I simply don’t know and am not barracking for either team. I think Greg Pritchard’s summary is fair:
They don’t always turn out as good as you think they will, but this threatens to be one of the great grand finals. We’ve got two teams that are strong defensively, but still have the players capable of breaking a strong defence. What you usually get from that combination is a game of high intensity punctuated by moments of extreme brilliance.
He thinks Fuifui Moimoi is the X-factor. TAB Sportsbet apparently have the Storm on $1.60 and the Eels on $ 2.35. In some ways it would be good for the game if Parramatta’s ad lib, free-wheeling style prevailed. We’d see a lot of open, fast-moving football next season.
Proceeding begin Sunday, ANZ Stadium, 5.00pm (I think that’s daylight saving time)
Rugby League tend to go through cycles, where games become dour and cynical play reigns before flair manages to break through like a rain of flowers. Then the games become a bit ridiculous before defence hardens up again and then descends into the mire again.
Around about 1999 2000 there was no defence in the league, then Roosters up and in developed and then we ended up with all the dour and infernal tools of the storm, the grapple tackles and chicken wings and wrestling that strangled the life out of the game and turned milk sour etc. We ended up with a situtation where people accepted glimpses of personal athletic prowess as “great attacking football” instead of intelligence, creativity and team work.
Now the clouds are breaking again.
On the other hand, Parramatta fans are insufferable after a handful of wins, can you imagine what they’d be like if they threw off their tendency to choke?
Personally I’m hoping for a deluge of sufficient size to make holding the fixture impossible
Won’t happen, sorry, Fran:
I was wondering how they’d go if the dust storm had hit tomorrow instead of when it did.
Personally I’m backing the Storm, primarily because they’re not from NSW. The fact they have a few Maroons in their team helps too.
I believe 7 Quincelanders in the Storm as against one in the Eels. As against that normally I’d rather see Craig Belamy cry than smile, so I thought I should just set all that stuff aside!
So, er….Sturt v Centrals tomorrow. Anyone care?
No? I thought not.
I’ve barracked for Sturt since I was 5…I grew up in the country and Unley had no connotations for me re: poncy affluent types…thanks to LP I am glad to learn that Julia Guillard went to Unley High, it reduces the impact of the Christopher Pyne archetype *shudder* that has evolved for me since I moved to Adelaide.
True Brian, but one can hope …
Will be interesting to see whether a ‘basketball’ or ‘touch’ approach can be sustained over 80 minutes against a very professional team. Personally, I think not with Melbourne clear winners being the result. But who knows.
wpd, I hope that Parra at least let it all hang out and don’t go into their shells. If they play it safe they’re gone.
I thought I might actually watch it this year. I get annoyed by the interval between AFL finishing and cricket starting and I’m all for novelty sports like rugby helping to fill the vacuum.
Big Jaryd is one of their own and the HillSong mob are very publicly rooting for the Eels. Yet how can the back-sliding, Mexican Pagans be denied a third crown? They can’t; here’s why.
Parra have got this far by chacing their arm and off-loading just enough good late ball to thwart solid defence thereby giving their “zip-zip men” more room to “convert the razzle dazzle into points”. Reckon Parra will figure that if they’re on a good thing tactically, then they should stick with it. Afterall, this m.o. is how they won nine of their last ten games.
However, not “respecting the football” will be their undoing. The field of glory and busted derams will be slippery. Parra will spill a lot of pill and The Storm will whisk it up like a southerly buster before “promoting the football” wisely. Result? “At the end of the day” a crestfallen gaggle of yellow-jerseyed warriors will have had their faith in the god of football badly shaken.
Carn the Stormies!
(for “Rabbits” Warren, The Bard of Steedon, who mercilessly transgresses the bounds of polite cliche to remind us that “Rugby League will be the real winner on the day”)
“Big Jaryd is one of their own and the HillSong mob are very publicly rooting for the Eels.”
Yes and now Jarryd can logically claim that an Eels’ victory wasn’t in God’s plan. Or perhaps he didn’t pray hard enough? Contribute enough? Or … whatever. Magical interpretations of the world.
Ah WPD, it’s just part of a test of character by God of the faithful.
One might add that if one believes in God, then one must believe that everything is for the best, in the grand scheme of things, for what grander scheme can there be than that which God has in mind? Tsunamis? Earthquakes? Typhoons? Terrorism? Pandemics? Polanski? All part of God’s plan …
Why?
I was at the game and while I have that same numb, hollow gnawing at the pit of my stomach as I experience in 2001 and 2005 I can’t be prouder of what my Eels did this season.
They gave it all they had and pushed one of the great NRL sides of all time. Hindmarsh played the game of his life and Moi Moi was simply outstanding. But full credit to the Storm. They are a great footy sides of all time and it showed. Aussie, NSW and QLD reps are testament to the talent of their squad. And to make four successive grand finals under the salary cap is an outstanding acheivement.
I just watched Parra’s post match press conference. Anderson and Cayless were devastated but showed so much dignity in answering the questions. Like I said, I can’t be prouder of the Eels this season. And be sure that Ando will lead the faithful to the promised land.
I found myself barracking for the Storm, don’t know why. Parra always threatened, but at 22-6 I thought they were gone. You’ve good reason to be proud, Shaun.
The Hayne thing was over-hyped and I never saw him displacing Slater in the test team as much of a chance unless he played brilliantly and Slater made a complete ass of himself. In the event he was well-contained, as he was in SOO most of the time, so there’s still a question as to how good he is at the highest level.
Slater was Warren Ryan’s pick as man of the match and was a worthy winner, although it could have been Cameron Smith, Cronk, Inglis or a few others. Parra’s stats look pretty good! Hindmarsh – 64 tackles!
Fairly obviously, WPD, if God is omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent then there is no event of which God is not the author. We humans, onb this account, and indeed every movement between energy and matter are mere nuances of God’s form.
The provenance and thus the form of the word good expresses this inference, for that which is good is perforce the will of God. But what space can there be for things to be other than the will of an all-knowing, all-powerful and omnipresent being? None. It’s all good, obviously.
Brian,
You must have watched the previous year’s SOO by mistake. Hayne was close if not man of the match in game one and also tried to single-handedly win the game for NSW in game 2. He can handle big games and one off day can happen.
Even if Hayne had a blinder yesterday, Slater has the consistency over a number of seasons and deserves the spot. If Hayne wants that fullbacks spot then he will need to be consistently good over the next few years.
Shaun, on reflection you’re right. I think it was the gun young centre (Jennings?) said to be the fastest man in RL who didn’t really get a chance to show his wares. He was kind of stopped before he started.
But the selectors always tend to stay with what they’ve got if we’re winning, as they did with Karmichael Hunt for a time at fullback when he clearly wasn’t the best around.