Basically, I have watched every Grand Final for over 20 years (2003 I couldn’t watch live for religious reasons) as I would imagine most footy fans have. But this year I really don’t think I’m going to watch the game.

There are a number of reasons for this.

First and foremost, yes I am a Rabbitohs fan and whilst Manly beat my team fair and square, it was a heartbreaking defeat, after a magnificent season. I don’t blame the players and I’m not angry about it, but it still feels like a bit of a wasted season and I’m still very disappointed about it. Last year the team lost at the same point, but the expectations were different, as was the fashion in which we lost the game.

I have been fortunate enough to have been out of Sydney since the morning after the game last Friday and have basically avoided all Grand Final media and discussion. So yes, there is definitely a sour grapes element to it, but for my own state of mind and ability to completely get over the agonising defeat last week, I feel like it is best for me to avoid watching the big game which my team isn’t in.

Now of course, I’ve never seen my team actually compete in the Grand Final, but it’s only hard to watch if I feel like they actually should have been there… which is fair to say has not been the case until last year.

This brings me to the other sour grapes side to why I’m not watching. Not only is my team not playing, but the two teams that are playing are the two teams I dislike the most. I have joked this week that picking between the Roosters and Manly is like picking between Germany and Japan in 1942. Obviously that comment is over the top and I don’t actually think of those teams like countries we were at war with, but you get the idea.

I don’t want either team to win and I won’t enjoy watching the game. When added to the fact that I’m still sad about my team not being there and it’s a recipe for a miserable experience.

The truth is, when it comes to rugby league, the Rabbitohs matter more to me than the league as a whole. This is not something I can say for other sports as for most other sports I am a fan of the game first and my team second. Taking away how enjoyable it was to follow the Rabbitohs for most of 2013, I actually found the 2013 NRL season uninspiring.

I thought the overall quality of games was down. I found myself having way too many conversations with people about how bad games were as opposed to how good they were. It seems to be a running theme amongst my friends who follow footy that this season sucked from a neutral perspective. Add that to all the scandals related to player behaviour and ASADA investigations and 2013 has been a pretty difficult year to be a rugby league fan.

The only thing keeping me interested in footy this year was the fact that I was supporting a team near the top of the ladder all year. This is why I have a lot of friends who are fans of other teams who were completely out on this season.

In other years where the Rabbitohs weren’t actually competitive, I got my footy enjoyment from just watching all the other games as a neutral and maybe doing well in tipping comps and fantasy games etc. I don’t know how many times I turned off games and went to do something else this year though. It actually makes me sad because half of me feels like I was doing something bad or against my nature as a sports fan.

Combine all these factors together and I simply have no desire to watch the big game and I actually don’t feel bad about doing so. Maybe I’ve just a sore loser that can’t get over that my team won’t be there, but at the end of the day, we watch sport for enjoyment and entertainment and if you aren’t getting any of that, why feel bad about walking away from that experience?

I hope the rest of you do honestly enjoy watching the game and I genuinely hope it is a great game. I wish the best of luck to the fans of Manly and Roosters for the game and I’m sure I will commiserate and congratulate with the losers and winners respectively afterwards. But I’m actually glad to have put the 2013 NRL season behind me and hope we can have a 2014 season of high quality games and no scandals.

Enjoy the game.

The post Maybe I’m Sour, But I’m Not Watching appeared first on Something Clever.

We’re down to the real business end of the season. 6 has become 4. 4 will soon become 2. It is preliminary finals time and two mouth-watering battles await us this weekend.

Here are my thoughts on both matches.

South Sydney Rabbitohs v Manly Sea Eagles @ ANZ Stadium, Friday night

Both sides enter this contest in vastly different physical shape. South Sydney will be refreshed after a week off. The break has been invaluable for them and, in particular, their prized possession, Greg Inglis. On the other hand, Manly limp into this game following two extremely physical encounters and a number of their key players will line up on Friday night with some question mark over their fitness.

South Sydney has been a more consistent side than Manly this season and has defeated them on the road in both their encounters this season.

Everything points to a relatively comfortable South Sydney victory but will this play out in reality? The bookmakers certainly think this will be the case. I am not so sure, or confident, for that matter.

South Sydney enter this game as warm favourites. With favouritism comes pressure and expectation. Fans from Mascot to Matraville to Maroubra can smell a grand final appearance and many have already purchased their tickets in anticipation of seeing their side on the biggest stage on the first Sunday in October.

If I have one criticism of South Sydney, it is the fact that their attack is fairly predictable, or for a better word, one dimensional. South Sydney love playing a game of smash and bash. It is a simple, direct game plan which is highly taxing on player fitness, but which can be extremely effective against the lesser physical sides. It is premised on picking a physically intimidating side, with smaller or more mobile players often being the sacrificial lambs.

Such a plan was highly successful against Melbourne two weeks ago. They outmuscled Melbourne in the first 30 minutes of that match and set up their victory. However, they tired noticeably in the second half of that encounter.

Will such tactics be a recipe for success against Manly? I, for one, don’t think so. For one, Manly has a far stronger pack than Melbourne.

Manly has also shown this finals series that they are up the physical challenge. The only query for mine is whether the past two weeks has taken too much gas out of their tank.

If the smash and bash fails, I struggle to see where the Bunnies points will come from outside a moment(s) of magic from Inglis. Coach Toovey will be hammering home to his players the importance of limiting Inglis’ involvement, something Melbourne did well a couple of weeks ago.

I certainly don’t think $1.42 South Sydney v $2.95 Manly is a true reflection of the contest. The nucleus of this Manly side has been here and done it before on the biggest stage. Outside of Inglis, it is probably the biggest game each of the South Sydney players have played in their careers. I overheard a former South Sydney great say earlier in the week that this is an even money contest. I tend to agree.

Sydney Roosters v Newcastle Knights @ Allianz Stadium, Saturday night

Like South Sydney, the Roosters enter this game as clear favourite and are expected to progress to next week’s finale. However, I expect the Roosters to handle the favouritism tag far better than their cross town rivals.

The boys from Bondi are littered with talent from 1 through to 13. They are the best defensive outfit and possess the competition’s most destructive attacking weapon in Sonny Bill Williams. They have had the benefit of a week’s break and will enter this fray cherry ripe.

Newcastle are the Cinderella story of this season’s finals series. Most pundits expected them to bow out in Week 1 of the finals but they have continued to defy the odds and ride into the SFS this weekend on a real wave of momentum. As we all know, momentum cannot be underestimated at this time of the year. Take Parramatta and the Wests Tigers as examples of this in the last decade.

Like almost all big matches, it will largely come down to defence. Newcastle has been superb defensively against Canterbury and Melbourne in the past two weeks. However, they face an opposition this weekend that contains far more attacking aces than both of those sides.

The Roosters are not a one dimensional attacking outfit. They can play laterally or direct up the middle. They are dangerous on the left and right edge and have “finishes” who make finding the try line a habit. Jennings and Tuivasa-Sheck are two such names.

Without taking away too much from their achievements so far, Newcastle have arguably defeated two opponents not in the best of form. Canterbury scraped their way into the finals and Melbourne were quite “un-Melbourne like” this finals campaign.

One thing that is assured this Saturday night is that the Knights will turn up. They will stick to their successful strategy of low risk football based around good field position, high completion and defence. Halfback Tyrone Roberts had a blinder last weekend and a repeat performance is needed. However, I don’t think they have the artillery to outscore the Roosters and repelling the Roosters’ attack will be a far greater challenge for them.

I would love Newcastle to win and keep the Buderus fairy tale alive but I just don’t see it happening. They will be extremely brave but I expect the Roosters to get the chocolates and proceed to next weekend’s decider. The Merewether hotel will be jeering at the result but cheering their Sunday and Monday night profits.

The post NRL Preliminary Finals Preview appeared first on Something Clever.

Here are my thoughts on Week 1 of the finals series.

South Sydney v Melbourne Storm @ ANZ Stadium, Friday night

Historically, Melbourne has had the wood on the Bunnies. In the corresponding game last season, Melbourne put the Bunnies to the sword. Melbourne’s start was electrifying and the Bunnies could not go with them. The game was over in the first 30 minutes.

The Bunnies this year are a different proposition. They are arguably the competition’s most talented side personnel wise and they play a scintillating, yet structured, brand of footy. Combined with their physical presence, they have been a daunting proposition for most opposing sides. To beat the Bunnies, you need to match them in the arm wrestle and limit the involvement of Greg Inglis.

Inglis is the absolute key to South Sydney. If he’s not fully fit, the Bunnies cannot win the premiership in my opinion. He is their most important player by a country mile. Their whole game plan hinges off him returning the ball strongly and giving them “front foot” possession. This immediately gives their intimidating forward pack momentum which enables the likes of Reynolds and Sutton to attack against a retreating defensive line.

Unfortunately for the Bunnies, Inglis does not appear to be fully fit. He has more tape around his knee than an Egyptian mummy at present.

This presents the Storm with a great chance to knock off the Bunnies this weekend. Craig Bellamy will be drilling in to his players the significance of victory this Friday night…a week off and a home preliminary final. Such a prize almost guarantees the Storm will be right up for this game. Victory, however, will depend on the accuracy of Cooper Cronk’s kicking game. Expect Cronk to pepper the wingers or be willing to put the ball over the sideline or even dead in goal to limit Inglis’ involvement. If Cronk has his kicking boots on and executes accordingly, I expect the Storm’s 9 year winning run against the Bunnies in Sydney to continue, just!

Cronulla v North Queensland @ Allianz Stadium, Saturday afternoon

Only the most optimistic, one-eyed Cowboys fan would have had their team featuring in this year’s finals series 7 weeks ago. Neil Henry was made the scapegoat for a side which had horribly underachieved until then.

Henry gets the axe and suddenly the Cowboys rediscover their mojo. They are now playing with confidence and a kind of carefree attitude which makes them unpredictable, yet extremely dangerous. Their two most important players, JT and the man they affectionately call “Mango”, are firing on all cylinders. The Cowboys are the team with the most momentum in the bottom half of the Top 8. Having won 4 of 6 in Sydney this year, I think it’s fair to say that their “Sydney hoodoo” no longer exists.

The Sharks have performed admirably this season in the midst of adversity. They have done remarkably well to make the finals series, despite the on going distraction of the ASADA investigation. Central to the Sharks’ chances, are the effervescent, Todd Carney. League’s former bad boy has turned a new leaf at the Sharks and for once his footy, rather than off field antics, is doing the talking.

Focusing on tomorrow’s battle, Cronulla has a more dominant forward pack, whereas the Cowboys have more firepower out wide. There are injury concerns over a number of key players going into this contest. Carney has a hamstring niggle, Fifita has a calf strain and Matt Scott is returning from a broken finger.

If it rains, as is forecast, I’m leaning towards the Sharks as the forward battle will be even more important. If it stays dry, it enhances the Cowboys chances greatly and perhaps JT will be the difference. It will be an intriguing battle. Hold off on your bets until the final line-ups are announced.

Sydney Roosters v Manly Sea Eagles @ Allianz Stadium, Saturday night

This will be a brutal affair with very little separating the two sides. It is the most even contest of the weekend in my opinion. Both sides have powerful, yet skillful, forward packs with electrifying backlines. Defensively, they are both extremely sound and the most effective at executing the up and in style “umbrella” defence and forcing attacking units into error.

Daly Cherry-Evans, Jamie Lyon and David Williams are the best right attacking edge in the competition. On the other hand, the Roosters possess the most potent left sided attack in James Maloney, Michael Jennings and Daniel Tupou.

Jared Waerea-Hargreaves is a big loss upfront for the Roosters but I don’t think this tips the scales in favour of Manly. League’s most ill disciplined player, Luke O’Donnell is a capable replacement and an experienced finals campaigner who surely will be ready to make amends for his brain fade against the Tigers a few weeks ago.

What will separate the sides come Saturday night…a simple answer, SBW.

SBW is the best forward in the competition. His ability to offload the ball in the tackle and create second phase play is second to none. He can go to the line and put a player into a gap or steamroll his way through a brick wall. He is the complete footballer and a moment of SBW brilliance could well be the difference on Saturday night.

I also expect home ground advantage to play a factor in this game. Roosters’ fans are notorious for jumping on the bandwagon in good times and Manly supporters don’t like crossing the Spit, let alone Harbour Bridge.

Expect a bumper tri-colours crowd for the main course of the double header. They, together will SBW, will get the Roosters over the line in an absolute cliffhanger.

Canterbury Bulldogs v Newcastle Knights @ ANZ Stadium, Sunday afternoon

I just can’t get a read on the Bulldogs this year. At the start of the season, they were undermanned with the likes of Sam Kasiano, James Graham and Ben Barba on the sideline. With a near full strength line up, I expected them to gather momentum in the latter half of the season and charge into the finals as a serious premiership contender.

To the contrary, they have limped in to the finals with a series of mixed performances. Opponents this season have been able to effectively counter their short passing, lateral game plan. For the Bulldogs to win this weekend, Sam Kasiano and Ben Barba both need to have blinders. Kasiano may, but I can’t see Barba doing so. Injury combined with multiple off field distractions have dominated his season. He is nowhere near the player he was 12 months ago. I can’t see him turning the tide and rediscovering his 2012 touch this week.

On the other hand, the Knights come into Sunday’s encounter with some nice momentum. They are almost the forgotten side of the Top 8 with very few pundits expecting them to seriously challenge for the premiership.

They may be affectionately called Dad’s Army, but I really like the make-up of their side – a good balance of experience and youth, often a successful recipe at this time of the season. Jeremy Smith and Beau Scott provide some real steel to their forward pack. Tyrone Roberts is a much underrated halfback and I expect him to neatly steer the Knights around the paddock, showing experience beyond his years. Having the most successful finals coach of the modern day era plotting the Dogs downfall is also an invaluable asset for the Knights.

I expect Mad Monday festivities to be in full swing in Belmore next week with the Knights living to fight another day.

Good luck if your team is still alive in 2013 and happy punting!

The post NRL Finals Series Preview – Week 1 appeared first on Something Clever.

Firstly the challenge that is Blake Ferguson. You know Blake is a problem when despite his obvious footballing talents, the fans of both clubs he has played for now despise him, as Sharks fans hate him for how he left citing he wanted to play for a title contending team, and then left to the Raiders who at the time were no better than the Sharks.

Raiders’ fans now hate him for how much of a problem he has been off the field and the lack of respect he has shown the club in trying to leave, as if it isn’t his own fault he is in this situation. I am not going to spend the time writing out all of Blake Ferguson’s incidents and troubles because the list is too long, but at the end of the day they mostly come down to attitude, immaturity and alcohol.

With David Furner now sacked as coach of Canberra and Ferguson’s contract giving him an out due to that fact kicking in after the season, it is expected he will leave the club and most likely move back to Sydney, with numerous clubs being linked with him. Funnily enough, one of the clubs heavily linked with him are the Sharks, who definitely could use him on the field, but their fans would have to swallow a lot of pride to accept him back.

The question is, is Blake Ferguson worth signing? In the short term the answer is almost definitely yes, given he clearly is a super talented player and only 23 years old. My Rabbitohs are another team rumoured to be sniffing around him, as if we could use a player at any position it would be a strike outside back. As a fan of a club rumoured to be after him I am conflicted about signing him.

Half of me wants nothing to do with a player that has had countless chances, is facing a sexual assault related charge, just got done speeding with a suspended licence whilst being AWOL from his club and is overall completely unreliable and could cause much more trouble than he is worth, especially when the club doesn’t really need him.

The other half of me thinks that his talent is clearly obvious, he is fixable in the right environment and that he could grow up soon. Plus if there is any NRL club with the environment to help him, the Rabbitohs would arguably be it for several reasons. First and foremost the club under Michael Maguire has a very strong culture with players who keep each other in line and don’t tolerate the sorts of things Ferguson has been doing. Regardless of talent players are treated the same as evidenced by veteran Nathan Merritt being stood down for a week during preseason for sleeping in late. Secondly the club has a strong Indigenous culture both inside the playing group (Inglis, Merritt etc.) as well as in the community. If Blake Ferguson can be saved, Souths could be the best place for him.

The problem with the above sentence is the word ‘could’. I am still not convinced he is worth it, given it is possible he could destabilise a club that is successful without him. If the club do happen to sign him, I will welcome him and look forward to seeing him on the field, but I won’t fully embrace him until he earns our trust. I will always be waiting for the news that he is in trouble and has been stood down, suspended or even had his contract torn up.

Whoever does sign him is taking a massive risk and I hope for the sake of the NRL as well as Blake personally that he rewards them for taking that risk and gets his shit together.

That brings me to Sandor Earl. Obviously I have to be very careful what I say about this case as there is a lot we don’t know and a lot still to come out. What we do know is that Earl has now admitted he took as well as trafficked an illegal peptide and is going to be banned for it. If he gives up all the information he has then he might have his sentence reduced.

The news here is not the fact he took the peptide. At the end of the day Sandor Earl isn’t a huge name and he had been linked to the scandal for a while now. The news is the fact that he was supplying others with the peptide as well. I read elsewhere that other players haven’t been linked to his supplying, but I’m sure there is a lot more to come out.

Either way it is good to see the NRL and ASADA finally catch someone in the NRL, especially someone linked to Stephen Dank and I hope it is the start of them actually taking action against those they have evidence against as well as leading them towards evidence against those they can’t yet prove did it.

This saga has been going on long enough now that we need to start seeing action beyond a few accusations against clubs or players. The Sharks situation needs to be dealt with soon, whether that is taking action or dropping the charges (I can’t see the latter happening) and I’m sure there are other clubs and players being looked into.

If nothing else, I hope this saga has scared players into not only not deliberately cheating, but also into being more diligent about what goes into their body, regardless of who suggests it to them. Whilst I feel sorry for any player that took an illegal substance on the advice of someone they legitimately believed they should be able to trust and might have a legal recourse because of that, they still should do their own research into things to know what they are putting into their body.

The specific peptide Sandor Earl has been done for is actually a bit scary. There are reports linking it cancer and also how experimental it is. Is a football career even worth that?

For now however, Sandor Earl’s footy career, not just here but even his French rugby career he was supposed to be embarking on, is on hold. What happens to Blake Ferguson however is still very much up in the air. The 2012 glory days of Dorguson feel like a lifetime ago and both Earl and Ferguson may one day be viewed as a cautionary tale.

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