The Football (all sorts) Thread

[dirge]

2 things you may enjoy though:

1. Mason did his ACL and will take no part in the RLWC.. Which is good because I hate him, and it means the selectors can't pick him which for some reason they seem to feel that they have to do

Yeah I know about that. It'll lift the maturity of the squad, at least. The fact is I don't care at all about the RLWC.

2. There are no St George players in the squad

Gasnier has chased the €s and gone (and done a really bad job of denying it, too), otherwise he'd be there. Cooper is injured. But it is a nice change, I guess

Just thought they might brighten up your day as you seem a little angry up there ^^ haha

Nah, I'm not angry. I'm dissillusioned. The sport - which I still love - is heading for disaster in the medium-long term, if major changes aren't brought in during the next couple of years. The damage is already done in Gosford and Wollongong's next.

I'm past the point of being angry about it, because I'd rather watch the well-run A-League than witness the NRL slowly destroy Rugby League.

[i_amtrunks]

I wasn't surprised about the World Cup qualifier result. Qatar could have (and should have) scored 2 goals, but botched them good.
What really surprised me was the amazing quality of the pitch, and it's drainage, it was under 2 inches of water, half an hour later looked much drier than the Olympic Stadium at Homebush ever does.

League is a niche sport at best, it's homes are in NSW/QLD and the north of England, with some growing support in the Pacific thanks to Rugby Union treating them like crap (although League is doing similar things by letting all the Fijians and Tongans play for Aus and NZ). One of the big problems the NRL has is it has too many sub-committees and organisations, NSWRL, QRL, Country League, ARL etc etc.

It also didny stamp out the crap when it was formed, allowing Easts to do whatever they want, and not doing enough with the various scandals over the years. The Bulldogs should have be removed from the comp 4 years ago when they were on their 4th "last straw". Easts removing their teams from SG Ball and the Harodl Matthews Cups is disgusting, it frees up more money for Easts to buy Tigers, Penrith and Newcastle juniors, how it helps League by letting Easts stop developing their own juniors is beyond me.

[Bartrim]

I see the Bulldogs are interested in Greg Bird. I think He'd fit right in there

[jacksplatt11]

I see the Bulldogs are interested in Greg Bird. I think He'd fit right in there

Haha, I heard he's been talking to the Roosters? Who knows... Last I heard he was drunk in Cronulla getting into random peoples cars, then flew over to USA to be with the girlfriend he allegedly bashed, thus breaking the AVO she had on him... Just a stupid thug

On AFL terms, looks like Barry Hall is seriously considering leaving the Swans to become a boxer, but of course any small rumour can be magnified by the media.. Danny Green says he's been talking to him though..

[Borgeman]

slightly off topic, but the Aussie U-17 football team just missed world cup qualification by losing to yemen 3-2 in the asian cup quarters. its a big disappointment because my dad manages a 15yr old ethiopian kid in the starting eleven (who is a gun i assure you) who now will miss out on playing on the big stage in fron of all the big scouts...

George

[jacksplatt11]

Certaintly not off topic Borge, soccer is a football of all sorts last time I checked sucks for that kid, hopefully he can still make it big somehow..

And Trunks, gotta agree with you there. I find it hard to believe that some clubs, of any sport, think that a player who has a history of alcohol, violence etc, will just suddenly be a changed person at a new club. Especially in this case since Bird will be moving to a club in the same state, he can still keep contact with the kind of people he was with in Cronulla, so he will still be up to the same old stupid stuff. To be honest though I think Bird is beyond help, some people are just born stupid.

Cousins will be interesting, it was him and Michael Gardiner who got up to trouble over in Perth just a few years back, and now perhaps they will be at the same club again? Recipe for disaster me thinks.. While I'm all for his rehabilitation from drugs and return to footy, as he hasn't caused any violence etc like some other players and it'll be a good story, I don't think St Kilda will be the right fit for him with Gardiner there..

[Borgeman]

Certaintly not off topic Borge, soccer is a football of all sorts last time I checked sucks for that kid, hopefully he can still make it big somehow..

oh it definately is (the true footbal really ), i just meant slightly off the current topic of conversation...

but yeah, he was trialling in portugal prior to this cup, possible links to porto there, but not sure yet

George

[dirge]

Who knows... Last I heard he was drunk in Cronulla getting into random peoples cars, then flew over to USA to be with the girlfriend he allegedly bashed, thus breaking the AVO she had on him... Just a stupid thug

The dumb thing was she was happy enough to violate the AVO - the police slapped the AVO on him. Says as much about her as the scandal does about him

[i_amtrunks]

Lets not get started on the Girlfriend of Bird, she has some serious issues to want to stay with a guy that glassed her in the face. The gf (who did her degree is psychology) told me the clinical name for those who stand by their abusers but I've plain forgot it.

World Cup seems to be struggling a fair bit to get enough media attention, the cricket, horse racing and all the off field stuff (Broncos, Hagan quitting etc) seems to be getting more press than the WC.

And If I was a general league fan and I scanned those two teams I'd be barracking for NZ, thats a good strong side with few wankers in it. I'll be cheering for the Aussies, purely for Price, Gidley and Civoniceva though.

[Bartrim]

Personally I hate Steve Price. He's a dirty underhanded player. I'm going for the NewZealand in the opening ceremony for 2 reasons.

1. The farce that is the Australian team. A team should be picked on form not incumbuncy (is that a word?) Prince should be halfback not Thurston in my opinion. Also I'm peeved that so many Manly players were picked but when the Tigers won in 05 they only picked Prince (and that selection felt like it was only out of obligation asthey only let him play against France)

2. The arrogance Australia develop when they get good at a sport. They need to be brought down a level.

Come on Marshall carve 'em up!!!