*Official* NRL 2012 Season thread

[Ausage]

Ok, predictions time.

Premiers - Cowboys
Minor Prems - Knights
Surprise packets - Cowboys
Dissappointments - Manly, Dragons
SOO - NSW 2-1
Random prediction(s) - Broncos to look rudderless without Heather. Petero to have that "I finally look my age" year. Dragons and Manly to miss the 8. Tigers to start slowly as usual but heat up as the year goes on. Poor refereeing decisions to be blamed on the Independent Commission. Hayne to be very good without setting the world on fire (leading to questions about his attitude). Titans and Sharks to make the 8.

If I get half of those I'll be happy.

[Ausage]

Originally Posted by Ausage

So sign up at Toyota NRL Dream Team 2012 - NRL.com and enter the league code 105471 and finally prove who is the greatest NRL coach on CW. Everyone is welcome (especially Benchy).

Not enough people signed up for this at the moment folks. Seeing some regular contributors here not signed up with is just not on.

Added some "celebrity" tippers to the league, going to need a few more genuine CWers though.

Even if you know absolutely nothing about the NRL it's still a good laugh. Sign up and see how you go.

[morgieb]

Originally Posted by Ausage

Not enough people signed up for this at the moment folks. Seeing some regular contributors here not signed up with is just not on.

Added some "celebrity" tippers to the league, going to need a few more genuine CWers though.

Even if you know absolutely nothing about the NRL it's still a good laugh. Sign up and see how you go.

Done.

[Prince EWS]

Originally Posted by Ausage

Thing with Burns is he does some ridiculously awesome things. The field goal charge down which gave us the win against the Dogs last year is a good example, but he comes up with big plays in defense on guys with 20 kilos on him regularly. Trouble is if Walsh is playing a solely organizing role Burns doesn't provide any creativity, and actually often blunts the attack with poor passes or by running a bad line. Then our only attacking threat comes from Lewis, Gordon or from a kick. Willing to give both the halves a chance though because it's hard to know how much of their faults (in particular Walsh) were down being badly coached.

Not sure what to think about Ciraldo. Has the frame but never impressed me with it at the Knights. Could go either way.



WAG.

Burns at five-eighth is not going to work for this side unless he has completely learnt an entirely new set of skills and changed his game completely over the offseason. Honestly I find it about as likely as McKendry having developed into a top flight hooker since we last saw him.

Burns's failing isn't that he often plays poorly, it's that what he offers is simply not a very good fit for a first grade playmaker; he doesn't have the skills. Perhaps a bit harsh, but true. Even when Burns has a good individual game the team still suffers for his presence, because a Burns good game consists of some great cover defence, good support play, one bone-rattling tackle, consistently inspirational effort throughout, a good run, maybe one fluky try assist off a defected kick if you're really lucky.. and still absolutely no creativity at all. The problem Penrith came across last season was that those games were high in number so he could never be dropped despite the fact that the team overall was suffering for his lack of ability.

He's someone I bet all his team-mates love playing with and it's tempting to try and find him a role somewhere but the attacking structure of a team's backline just completely goes to pot whenever he plays. It's not worth it. If he was ever going to thrive it was going to be outside Thurston as he could let him do the creative work and go about Burnsing (perhaps it's even partly why he is the way he is?) and that didn't work so it's definitely not going to work with Walsh. I'd have used the offseason to work with Coote and try to push him up to five-eighth so Gordon could play fullback, but instead they've used the offseason to yet again convince people into giving Burns another chance because Mr. Preseason himself has unsurprisingly starred in a couple of trials.

[Burgey]

How the **** do you work out the scoring on the dream team site? I've had a click around, but there seems no clue as to how many points are given to players for tackles (if any), metres gained etc.

[Ausage]

Originally Posted by Burgey

How the **** do you work out the scoring on the dream team site? I've had a click around, but there seems no clue as to how many points are given to players for tackles (if any), metres gained etc.

Click on Help & FAQ, scroll down to the Point Scoring section. See below (excuse the formatting).

Try 8 Points
Goal 2 Points
Field Goal 5 Points
Try Assist 5 Points
Line Break 4 Points
Line Break Assist 2 Points
Tackle 1 Point
One-on-One Tackle 1 Point
Tackle Break 3 Points
Missed Tackle -2 Points
Ineffective Tackle -1 Point
Offload 2 Points
Error -3 Points
40/20 4 Points
Total metres gained Total metres run divided by 10, rounded down to nearest whole number
Kick Metres Total Metres gained kicking divided by 20, rounded down to the nearest whole number
Penalty conceded -2 Points
Sin-Bin/Send-Off -5/-10 Points

[benchmark00]

Toyota AFL Dream Team 2012 - AFL.com.au

League code: 342810

[Ausage]

Originally Posted by benchmark00

Toyota AFL Dream Team 2012 - AFL.com.au

League code: 342810

AFL in needing the NRL to promote itself shocker.



In other news C00ps is in for a try.

[BoyBrumby]

Proper ball-tearer first up.

Nearly signed Cooper for my DT too, but couldn't quite stretch to it. Got Lyon & Reed in the centres.

[NUFAN]

What a woeful game of footy last night. Luckily Brisbane turned up in the second half. Parra were completely devoid of ideas, Hayne was missed. I hope Kearney hasn't over coached Sandow..

First game of the year so I'll cut them some slack, but both teams need to improve if they are going to match round 2 opponents Cowboys and Warriors.

[Ausage]

25 mins in we lose our best player for the entire season. FML seriously.

[Burgey]

Originally Posted by NUFAN

What a woeful game of footy last night. Luckily Brisbane turned up in the second half. Parra were completely devoid of ideas, Hayne was missed. I hope Kearney hasn't over coached Sandow..

First game of the year so I'll cut them some slack, but both teams need to improve if they are going to match round 2 opponents Cowboys and Warriors.

Think the Cowboys played the worst game of football I've ever seen at NRL level last night tbh.

On this Dream Team thing, what's considered a good score?

[Ausage]

Originally Posted by Burgey

Think the Cowboys played the worst game of football I've ever seen at NRL level last night tbh.

On this Dream Team thing, what's considered a good score?

For a player or for a team?

Hard to say for a player. Any thing over 40 is good, but it depends what you're paying for them. Parras young winger, Blair only scored 23 but I only paid 77k for him. That means his value will rise so I can sell him and upgrade another position (or buy some depth). Cam Smith only scored 59 which is low for his standards.

I'm currently on 575 for the round.

[Burgey]

Cheers. I'm on a lot less than that

Had Ropati, he left before half time. Hayne and Tonga better get their arses on the field soon. It's a bit of a giggle anyways.

[BoyBrumby]

Originally Posted by Ausage

For a player or for a team?

Hard to say for a player. Any thing over 40 is good, but it depends what you're paying for them. Parras young winger, Blair only scored 23 but I only paid 77k for him. That means his value will rise so I can sell him and upgrade another position (or buy some depth). Cam Smith only scored 59 which is low for his standards.

I'm currently on 575 for the round.

Your mate Flash's busted leg slid me up a treat; he only scored me 11 for the round.

I reckoned Tony Williams was a steal at £161k tho; remembered the way he ran right over the top of Heighington for his try in the Oz/GB test last year & he's scored me 82 for the week.

792 with two to play here.

Meanwhile Wests left it a bit late versus the Sharks, eh?