Munster nothing to answer for the biting charge.
NRL do things every different.
Here is rabid media dog would have had an opinion and it would have been debated for days.
The video footage that was released by the bunker after the game, clearly shows that the ball was held up. Just unfortunate that it wasnāt shown during the game, would have put to bed all the conspiracy theories.
I thought the smart tactic was Penrith beating Melbourne up through the middle and taking all the sting out of their playmakers. Hughes in particular was poor. His kicking game was as bad as I have ever seen it. Munster wasnāt great but Papenhuyzen was virtually unsighted. The only one of your four major playmakers to have an impact was Grant, who I thought had a pretty good game, just had little to no support. This game was just a great high tempo grind. Virtually no line breaks, very little passing and very few chances. Unfortunately there had to be a loser and at the end of the day, Penrith played the better game. They held the Storm to 6 points. That is almost unheard of.
As I said before the game, Penrith are refereed differently from everyone else, but for some reason that seems to apply to all dominant sides whatever the code.
Iāve seen the one angle that shows it not grounded, and itās not exactly HD.
Iāve also seen an angle showing the ball touching the grass.
Iām not entirely bothered, because although it was obviously a potential turning point, Penrith were the better team on the day.
Or rather the better team for the last very decisive twenty minutes of the first half.
shrugs If the ref gives a soft call of try there, then itās a try.
The bunker disregards the shot where it looks like he hasnāt scored, and goes with the one that looks like he has
But youāre right, our kicking game was appalling.
I donāt agree that our lack of flair cost us.
It was our lack of field position for almost all of the game (apart from one extended attack that yielded no points).
They had a statā¦Penrith advanced more than a hundred metres more than Melbourne after the first point of contact.
Thatās what cost us.
They were able to kick from the 40 again and again and again and that sort of pressure is going to wear any side down.
You can say maybe Nelson, and you can say maybe Sua could have given us a spark if selected on the bench, and so on and so forth.
But the better team won.
The better team would not have won given a little luck.
And thatās what makes it a great Grand Final.
Low-scoring, so many maybes, and definitely not a domination or an obvious result.
Thereāsā¦no need for this.
Penrithās achievement has to be respected. The Storm have nothing to be ashamed of.
They were clearly the best two teams all year, and if they played again next week there would very likely be a different result.
Itās a luxury of being a Storm fan to be able to think that way.
To whit, aināt even mad.
See you next year.
When weāll be in contention again.
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btwā¦although Bellamy is contracted for the 26 season, I think heāll call it a day after we win it next year.
I hope Billy spends a lot of time in the box with him in ā25, although heāll have learned a lot through playing under him.
I donāt rate SOO coaching.
Good lord, give me half the best players in the country and Iāll coach.
It seems obvious that thatās the plan, and given we are usually so pragmatic over sentiment, it makes me nervous.
But thatās a worry for the far, far away.
One last premiership under Bellamy first.
Hopefully the Chooks can be competitive next year. Losing Sam Walker and Brandon Smith in the second last round of the year to knees just about destroyed any chance we had at the flag. It will be interesting to see how we go without Keary, JWH, Manu, Tupouniua and Suaali. Add in the two knee victims and that is literally 50% of our starting 13 missing come round 1. We need some serious players to decide to join us in the off season if we want to contend.
Good boy
Hope he has some luck now though going forward. Especially seeing as this will probably mean we lose Faāalogo who could be anything.
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Heās a smart boy. Always better to take less and play in a side constantly around the mark.
Storm would be favourites to win it next year
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Feels like the pack isnāt in the top couple?
Was pretty flat with no Nelson in the GF.
I did not see this coming. Hoping that Bellamy is very hands-on.