Monday 10 April 2017

The Postman's Round 6 NRL Mailbag | 2017 Season

The Postman on Round 6
2017 National Rugby League Premiership
By W D Nicolson - April 10, 2017


🚨 Brand new NOT The Footy Show Podcast is ready for consumption - Episode 162 - 'The Mitchell Moses Appreciation Society' with Robb Cox and Warrick Nicolson is a good 85 mins of Rugby League to kick-start your week.
|-| THE PREMIERS TOPPLE THE STORM...

|-| Quotes of the Round:
• "He's gone JT!"

Fox Sports commentator Andrew Voss as he spotted Johnathan Thurston in all sorts of trouble on the sideline late in the Cowboys-Tigers game... like Voss - most of us thought the worst - but the diagnosis is only a calf tear and the champion halfback will play again this season... he won't make the Test but Origin remains very much in play.

|-| Try of the Round:
• Well it's not so much a try but the stopping of one this week - at 2:31 of the below video watch as Andrew McCullough finds a way to stop Michael Gordon with a brilliant ankle tap and witness Gordon's disbelief as he hurtles to the deck...



📪 Email your thoughts/questions on the footy for The Postman's Mailbag here


|-| 5 Things I Think:

1. We've got another mediocre competition...
    • People keep talking about how close the comp is - and yes I get that half full point of view - but we saw only two good games of footy on the weekend. Broncos-Roosters was an end to end festival of footy that was closer than the final scoreline suggested and the Panthers-Rabbitohs game was a classic example of the final ten minutes lifting a game into the good category (which is 100% fine). But the Grand Final replay was a dour game that really delivered what we expected and only the Raiders 1st Half try-flurry on Saturday night was worth watching on replay unless you are a Dragons or Tigers fan (great wins but against below average performing opponents).
    • Right now we've got only 5 genuinely good teams:
      • Melbourne
      • Roosters
      • Broncos
      • Sharks
      • Raiders
      • The Cowboys are slipping out of this company as poor form and injury take hold, and yes by virtue of their start you've gotta give the Dragons some credit but they aren't a contender by any stretch. 
    • But that's only 5 of 16 teams who are really any good right now (with the Panthers on the fringe despite their 2-4 record) ... I'll wait if you want to put the case forward for any other side being truly deserving of 'good' status.
2. Wish I knew what the Obstruction Rule was...

    • I worked at the NRL for 3 seasons and never truly understood how the obstruction rule was enforced and evidently I still don't. The difference between the Warriors and Parramatta tries that were referred to the Bunker for adjudication is evidently what the Bunker decides to look at... because despite being identical forceful contact by the lead runner on the key defender - the Bunker decided to ignore contact on the Hoffman decoy and isolate the contact on the Jennings decoy...
    • I'd try to explain it more but seriously... it won't make one iota of difference - I need to just accept that it's a total mess and just when you think it's getting cleaned up the same Video Referee makes two totally different decisions on two identical plays.
3. So glad we'll see JT again in 2017... 
    • Robb Cox and I discussed the potential devastation that a serious long term injury to Johnathan Thurston could have had (On the new Podcast we reflected on times when injuries to Ricky Stuart and Andrew Johns killed their team's title hopes in the past) - but the diagnosis looks medium term calf tear so that's good news.
    • The downside is he won't play the May Roos-Kiwis Test but he should be back by Origin 1... phew.
4. I didn't enjoy watching Jason Taylor on Fox Sports... 
    • It was just too soon... especially given he was on the couch for the Cowboys-Tigers game. I understand why the TV executives did it - but it was just a train wreck waiting to happen and hearing him speak about how the Tigers played (and how he knew they could play that way) had to be another gut punch for Taylor.
    • At least they didn't force him to ask Mitchell Moses a question in the post-match interview (where Moses sung the praises of the simplified approach of new coach Ivan Cleary) - but I'm fairly sure Moses had no idea Taylor was listening directly either...
5. Josh McCrone is 9-4 as St George Illawarra's starting halfback...
    • Let that sink in... The Solution is finding all the answers for the Red V right now... with more than a little help from Gareth Widdop.
|-| The Postman's 2017 Tipping Watch:
Round 6 Tips: 2 from 8
Sorry everyone - that was a horrible tipping week... lots of work to do to get back into the 60% success rate now...
Season Tips: 27 from 48 at 56.3%
There's my thoughts - got your own?
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