You do have to give some credit to the tigers though after what happened last week they could have easily gone into their shell and not turn up tonight.
Meh we lost therefore didn't deserve to go through. Your ott negativity has just been annoying me regardless of the result.
One thing I will say though - I think Campese has to be there somewhere for New South Wales next year. Hard to find him a spot with Carney so demanding of a spot as well, but I'd try to. I'd be tempted, against my better judgement, to go with Carney and Campese in the halves. No genuine organiser there but they've played a lot together in the past and they are both much better organisers than normal specialist five-eighths. Between them they might be able to get the job done. I'd slot Campo into the centres but, while I think he'd go well there, I do think it'd waste him a lot.
Gotta lol @ David Campese's comments earlier in the week... if you could ever put a jinx on a player he did it. Kind of happy in the end that Tigers won because I don't reckon the Raiders would've stood a chance next week. And Sterlo was spot on about Dugan's 2 quota for every match.
I'd like to see both Campese and Dugan in the NSW side. Dugan folded a bit under pressure, but I'm still convinced he's their best choice at fullback.
I sort of hope not but don't see any other outcome. Deadset the Tigers need to be given some credit for how well they attacked the Raiders' right hand edge. Has been the obvious wakness all year and it's taken up until Sheens and Marshall combining for a team to exploit it. Really have to give them a lot of kudos for that.
Not fighting about it but how do you figure Dugan folded under pressure. Sure he ****ed up when he moved into the halves but what ball running fullback wouldn't?
Been confirmed Campese did his ACL if it wasn't **** off obvious. Honestly more devastated for Terry Campese than I am as a Raiders fan over the loss. Just as Canberra seemed to hit a wall in the second half I said to my brother "where the **** is Campo"...cue switching sides of the field and a dummy to go straight through but for no support.
I assume you mean next year? No more Origin this year. Perhaps you're right, but he does have an entire offseason to get right. Obviously he'd have to show he was confident on his knee and maintain some sort of form early next year, but if he did I'd really try to find him a spot. Carney and Bird are absolute certs for five-eighth and lock though so it'd be difficult anyway. He'd be a good utility if he'd played a bit of hooker before and I think Gidley was good in that role last year. I'm the president of the Organising Halfbacks Association. However.. Carney, Campese and Soward are all interesting in that, while they aren't true organisers and are much more effective running wider and focusing on ball-playing, they do get into first receiver a lot for their clubs, have played a bit of halfback before and are much better organisers than someone like Benji Marshall for example. I often wonder whether a combination of any two of these three could organise a side well enough playing left/right to get the job done. I tend to get the feeling that the answer is "yes, if they had a good set of props".. which is unfortunate really. I wouldn't be completely adverse to giving it a try if Pearce failed though.
****ing glad the Tigers ended up winning that, the Raiders without Campese would of been pumped by the Dragons.
Well Campo and Carney never worked that well for Canbera....but: - they never had a really extended run - they were both quite inexperienced at the time - the forward pack was pretty shitty with ****s like Chalk and Turner in the backrow on a regular basis and Miller and Thompson starters up front.
Yeah, I agree. Put Carney at halfback for this Canberra team and they'd make the top four. However, all those problems would exist in Origin as well. - They wouldn't get an extended run by the morons they pick the NSW team. - They would both be very inexperienced at Origin level. - The forward pack would be stacked with ****s like Creagh and Waterhouse in the backrow on a regular basis and King and White starters up front. Definitely happy to go with Pearce and Carney next year. I'm just thinking ahead, as Pearce hasn't exactly covered himself in glory so far at Origin level, and the only other real halfbacks we have are Walsh and Hodkinson. As much as I love those two players at NRL level, I think they are a bit too limited for Origin. As you know I love my organising halfbacks but none of Carney, Campese and Soward are absolutely hopeless organisers; they're just more effective without that burden. They aren't great organisers either but if we had two of them to share that burden and each do a bit of wide running/playmaking too, it *might* work. Thurston and Lockyer did something very similar when Ballin was hooker (and tbh as much as it pains me to say it.. even when Smith got back..).
Maybe. But while that's better than what we've been sending out, I definitely don't think it's a front row rotation that'll really get on top of Queensland. It could hold its own and not be a weakness, but it's not going to be a strength and I reckon we'd probably need it to be. I'd have no hesitation at all at slotting in Campese and Carney as the Queensland halves if we swapped halves stocks (if you get what I mean) because of their front row and Smith, but with ours I reckon we probably need Pearce. Worth thinking about, anyway.
He'd have kicked it too IMO. Imagine the criticism him and the coach would've copped if he missed it though - changing kickers for that moment.
