NRL Grand Final 2nd October 2016 Match Thread

So it comes down to this? For me it's like asking what you'd prefer - a poke in the left eye or a poke in the right eye.

My head says the Storm will be too good, but gee the Sharks were ultra impressive on the weekend. They might just be building to something special.

I'll go Storm by 2, Munster MOM.

going for the sharks, giving up being able to bag my brother form them bever getting a win, but happy to cheer them on with him, especially given i still appreciate Ennis for all he did for the dogs and would love to see him go out on top

i thought the sharks were more impressive on the weekend but i also think the storm got a bigger test (cows were clearly buggered, once sharks started fast and physical, cows were gone)

i also think the score in round 26 flattered storm a touch, it did show they are much more composed then the sharks but Sharks were on top for large periods, just kept blowing their chances.

i'm gonna tip Cronulla by 4 with Jack bird my smokey for CC

I am going for the Storm, though it would be fine if Ennis went out a winner. I would rather he didn't because I dislike the Sharks.

Gallen is my only barrier to cheering on the Sharks. I've enjoyed watching them play this year. Can't ever remember enjoying a storm game.

I love that Queenslanders have no option but to barrack for the Storm

No Worries wrote:I love that Queenslanders have no option but to barrack for the Storm

Dip must be feeling seriously conflicted.

No Worries wrote:I love that Queenslanders have no option but to barrack for the Storm

I'm cheering for the Sharks.

Krump wrote:
Dip must be feeling seriously conflicted.

Haha. To be honest while I really admire the way players like Smith, Slater and Cronk play, they've never been close to my favourite players, and the Storm certainly hasn't since they wen't the wrestle/grind style. I really only go for Slater and Smith when they play for QLD or Aus. I tell you what, it was hard going for Manly in 2008 and the Bulldogs in 2012.

If it wasn't for the systematic drug program, it'd be easy to go for Cronulla. Mind you if what should have happened with the coach and administration being fired, and Gallen and co now being about 2 months back from a 2 year suspension, you'd say it would have been pretty unlikely that they'd be here. I reckon if Flanagan and Gallen weren't there it'd be easy to go for the Sharks. I've got a lot of time for guys like Lewis, Graham, Moloney, Bird etc. Even Ennis I quite like because of the way he can switch modes and seem to be the best guy in the world off the field. He should have been out for a couple of weeks due to a shoulder charge, but hey, that's not his fault the MRC is incompetent.

Dip wrote:

Haha. To be honest while I really admire the way players like Smith, Slater and Cronk play, they've never been close to my favourite players, and the Storm certainly hasn't since they wen't the wrestle/grind style. I really only go for Slater and Smith when they play for QLD or Aus. I tell you what, it was hard going for Manly in 2008 and the Bulldogs in 2012.

If it wasn't for the systematic drug program, it'd be easy to go for Cronulla. Mind you if what should have happened with the coach and administration being fired, and Gallen and co now being about 2 months back from a 2 year suspension, you'd say it would have been pretty unlikely that they'd be here. I reckon if Flanagan and Gallen weren't there it'd be easy to go for the Sharks. I've got a lot of time for guys like Lewis, Graham, Moloney, Bird etc. Even Ennis I quite like because of the way he can switch modes and seem to be the best guy in the world off the field. He should have been out for a couple of weeks due to a shoulder charge, but hey, that's not his fault the MRC is incompetent.

I'd say Krump hit the nail on the head because even after reading your post I'm still not sure who you are going for!

Oz Sport Mad wrote:

I'd say Krump hit the nail on the head because even after reading your post I'm still not sure who you are going for!

Yep. Though my point was that it my decision has nothing to do with being a Queenslander, as I've supported NSW teams vs Melbourne in the past. Systematic salary cap cheating is not as bad as a systematic drug program, so Melbourne!

Dip wrote:

Yep. Though my point was that it my decision has nothing to do with being a Queenslander, as I've supported NSW teams vs Melbourne in the past. Systematic salary cap cheating is not as bad as a systematic drug program, so Melbourne!

Isn't it? You're creating something from scratch with cheating the salary cap. With drug cheating you're just pushing human boundaries. Both fucked up but I think salary cap cheating is worse.

I think it shows how much better Cronulla were at handling the drug issue than Essendon.

There were a lot of suggestions at the time that Cronulla shouldn't have laid down and accepted there (very very trivial) suspension, and that ASADA had nothing on them and they should not have laid down so easily.

Meanwhile Essendon tried to pretend nothing happened and that everything would get swept under the rug.

I think there's a few people feeling quite vindicated in their decision now.

Milchcow wrote:
I think it shows how much better Cronulla were at handling the drug issue than Essendon.

There were a lot of suggestions at the time that Cronulla shouldn't have laid down and accepted there (very very trivial) suspension, and that ASADA had nothing on them and they should not have laid down so easily.

Meanwhile Essendon tried to pretend nothing happened and that everything would get swept under the rug.

I think there's a few people feeling quite vindicated in their decision now.

I agree that Cronulla got off much better than Essendon, but I don't think it necessarily vindicated their position. The Cronulla players and admin always refuted they had done wrong but in the face of an ordinary ASADA investigation with reasonably strong evidence, then got a bloody good offer they couldn't refuse, while laying the blame entirely on 1 fall guy who was not critical to their operation - Stephen Dank. To say a good result vindicated their position implies they took a course of action that was the correct way to go and the reason why only half a dozen players missed a month of football and the coach half a season. I'd say Cronulla getting the result they did was more about them dodging a bullet. A very big cannon bullet fired at them from very close range that still seemed to somehow miss.

I might just be being biased against Gallen and co though.

The match officials for the Grand Final are:
Lead Referee: Matt Cecchin
Assist Referee: Ben Cummins
Senior Review Official: Bernard Sutton
Review Officials: Luke Patten and Ashley Klein
Touch Judges: Jeff Younis and Brett Suttor
Standby Referee: Gerard Sutton
Standby Touch Judge: Chris Butler

No Worries wrote:The match officials for the Grand Final are:
Lead Referee: Matt Cecchin
Assist Referee: Ben Cummins
Senior Review Official: Bernard Sutton
Review Officials: Luke Patten and Ashley Klein
Touch Judges: Jeff Younis and Brett Suttor
Standby Referee: Gerard Sutton
Standby Touch Judge: Chris Butler

Unbelievable.

Cecchin is a pretty shit ref in general but watching the way he handled the Canberra/Melb game and the way it got out of control, I thought he was buckley's chance of being appointed lead ref.

Not to mention he completely fucked up the week before that.....but I'll no doubt be accused of bias in that one.

Oz Sport Mad wrote:

Unbelievable.

Cecchin is a pretty shit ref in general but watching the way he handled the Canberra/Melb game and the way it got out of control, I thought he was buckley's chance of being appointed lead ref.

Not to mention he completely fucked up the week before that.....but I'll no doubt be accused of bias in that one.

What about the Melbourne conversion that he put in the wrong spot

Honeysett wrote:

Isn't it? You're creating something from scratch with cheating the salary cap. With drug cheating you're just pushing human boundaries. Both fucked up but I think salary cap cheating is worse.

Of course drug cheating is worse.

Just because a player is paid more doesn't mean they are a better player, whereas performance enhancing drug taking will generally always make someone a better player.

It's nominal $ values and the best team on paper (e.g. the Warriors this season) still has to go out and win the comp.

Oz Sport Mad wrote:

Of course drug cheating is worse.

Just because a player is paid more doesn't mean they are a better player, whereas performance enhancing drug taking will generally always make someone a better player.

It's nominal $ values and the best team on paper (e.g. the Warriors this season) still has to go out and win the comp.

It's about assembling the best team not the best players, saying having more money to spend doesn't make a team better is ridiculous.
The fact the storm won comps whilst cheating makes it worse. Cronulla were on drugs but they still didn't win squat.

Krump wrote:
It's about assembling the best team not the best players, saying having more money to spend doesn't make a team better is ridiculous.
The fact the storm won comps whilst cheating makes it worse. Cronulla were on drugs but they still didn't win squat.

It is certainly easier for hate Melbourne more than say Parra because yes they won, but the worst thing about them is that they never really had the week by week downside that should occur for a team to be punished fully. After they were penalised in 2010, in 2011 they should have made the GF and were hot favourites to against a Warriors team that had 50 put on them in week 1 of the finals, and they have continued on their merry way each year since. Having said that, the reason I hate them is as much about the wrestling they introduced and perfected, and their bandwagon fans in QLD (I can handle bandwagon fans, but not ones who rub your nose in their success when their success was built around a lie. Without the lie those guys wouldn't even be Storm supporters).

It does pose an interesting question about how long you should hate a team for because of the salary cap. I don't hate the Bulldogs anymore, and really I probably stopped hating them when they won the spoon after SBW left in about 2008. I guess by then to me it was a different team. It's now the 7th season of the Storm, and while the big 3 are still there I'm not sure I'm ready to stop hating them yet (+ the other 2 factors remain, wrestling and fans).

To me, if the Sharks players got a decent suspension and the coaching staff sacked, I could probably get on board with them, as they've done a lot of good things since then and are an almost completely different team. They've recruited really well and play a tough style.

Personally, I don't really buy once a player has served a drug suspension then everything is AOK, and that it is better than a salary cap cheat. A salary cap can be rectified reasonably simply, you just cut some players, but players who have benefitted from drugs might forever be better players due to the advantages they got when they were on drugs. Brian Smith certainly seems to think so about a certain lower grade Parramatta player who changed clubs, then seemed to get a lot bigger awfully quick. If that suggestion is true, then the gains that player made certainly didn't come straight off when they stopped on the juice. Whose to say that the person would have ever made the grade if they were still a small forward and taken a couple of years longer to build up to the same size. They may have had to play a different type of game to which they were not suited, and never made first grade or had the confidence to make it like they did when they were a 40 tackle, 20 hit-up player. Who knows, maybe they would have ended up the same size but with better ball skills, and been the best player in the game. I do think however that if you are caught as a drug cheat, you deserve to have the worst assumed against you.

Krump wrote:
It's about assembling the best team not the best players, saying having more money to spend doesn't make a team better is ridiculous.
The fact the storm won comps whilst cheating makes it worse. Cronulla were on drugs but they still didn't win squat.

I never said it doesn't make a better team, I said it doesn't necessarily make a better team.