Update 1: Keary's been charged with a fine only offence. He's a certainty in my books besides having a bit of a sore ankle.
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I thought it was worth summing up who will be available for the GF, noting that the Raiders are 100% suspension and injury free.
So the list:
- Maubs went off for an HIA and will presumably be out.
- SST was sent off for a punch. IMO the jury's still out on this one because (watching replays) IMO he quite intentionally doesn't make contact. Rather, he grabs his arm and does a fake punch that's more like a way of saying 'you watch it boy!!!' Still, he's in hot water and
- Keary... opposition fans reckon he intentionally pulled the guy's hair out and then smacked him in the head, concussing him. Banter aside you cannot fake an HIA. Keary could be out. The good news is that (as of me writing this) he has not been charged. While there's that ankle thing, he's moving just fine and I reckon any braces...etc would be classified most accurately as 'cotton wool'. [update: opposition fans are wrong - Keary's free to play muddafukkaz!!!]
- Latrell's leg (ankle?) looked a bit ginger during the final 20 but didn't prevent him from lifting his awareness/intensity during that period. I expect he'll be on ice and receive the best medical treatment available, but he should be a certainty to play.
- Friend's gone. Rule him out for 2019... Verrills deserves the ring anyway as he's had an amazing season. IMO while Friend is the cap'n and there will no doubt be games surrounding this, his season's over.
- Did I see Tetevano put on report for some high contact or something? Thought I did but haven't read anything about it.
Jizzy's worst case team list:
1. Teddy
2. Toops
3. B-Moz
4. Manu
5. Hall
6. Drew
7. Cronk
8. JWH
9. Verrills
10. Collins
11. Cords
12. Crichton
13. Radley
14. Liu
15. Butch
16. Sitili
17. Silly Farmer
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Jizzy's prediction...
1. Teddy
2. Toops
3. 'Trell
4. Manu
5. B-Moz
6. Keary
7. Cronk
8. JWH
9. Verrills
10. Tetevano
11. Cords
12. Crichton
13. Radley
14. Liu
15. Butch
16. Collins
17. Sitili
IMO suspensions will hurt our bench but our core group of players (NRL's best backline, Cronk, Cords and JWH) are all certainties in my books. Whereas, the Raiders will be hoping on another knock-on-turned-brilliance + a 100% unmarked Papalii crash-over trycombined with lucky hands on strips/offloads all night.
I trust our core playing group to get the job done even if we are missing SST, Keary, Latrell, Friend, Maubs and Tetevano.
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I thought it was worth summing up who will be available for the GF, noting that the Raiders are 100% suspension and injury free.
So the list:
- Maubs went off for an HIA and will presumably be out.
- SST was sent off for a punch. IMO the jury's still out on this one because (watching replays) IMO he quite intentionally doesn't make contact. Rather, he grabs his arm and does a fake punch that's more like a way of saying 'you watch it boy!!!' Still, he's in hot water and
- Keary... opposition fans reckon he intentionally pulled the guy's hair out and then smacked him in the head, concussing him. Banter aside you cannot fake an HIA. Keary could be out. The good news is that (as of me writing this) he has not been charged. While there's that ankle thing, he's moving just fine and I reckon any braces...etc would be classified most accurately as 'cotton wool'. [update: opposition fans are wrong - Keary's free to play muddafukkaz!!!]
- Latrell's leg (ankle?) looked a bit ginger during the final 20 but didn't prevent him from lifting his awareness/intensity during that period. I expect he'll be on ice and receive the best medical treatment available, but he should be a certainty to play.
- Friend's gone. Rule him out for 2019... Verrills deserves the ring anyway as he's had an amazing season. IMO while Friend is the cap'n and there will no doubt be games surrounding this, his season's over.
- Did I see Tetevano put on report for some high contact or something? Thought I did but haven't read anything about it.
Jizzy's worst case team list:
1. Teddy
2. Toops
3. B-Moz
4. Manu
5. Hall
6. Drew
7. Cronk
8. JWH
9. Verrills
10. Collins
11. Cords
12. Crichton
13. Radley
14. Liu
15. Butch
16. Sitili
17. Silly Farmer
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Jizzy's prediction...
1. Teddy
2. Toops
3. 'Trell
4. Manu
5. B-Moz
6. Keary
7. Cronk
8. JWH
9. Verrills
10. Tetevano
11. Cords
12. Crichton
13. Radley
14. Liu
15. Butch
16. Collins
17. Sitili
IMO suspensions will hurt our bench but our core group of players (NRL's best backline, Cronk, Cords and JWH) are all certainties in my books. Whereas, the Raiders will be hoping on another knock-on-turned-brilliance + a 100% unmarked Papalii crash-over trycombined with lucky hands on strips/offloads all night.
I trust our core playing group to get the job done even if we are missing SST, Keary, Latrell, Friend, Maubs and Tetevano.
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