Or you could say that having all the money, facilities, staff and coaches that they do, the Aussies have all the advantages but can only manage to grind out a win half the time (if they get the right decision) and get beat the other half. The Aussies should be light years ahead, yet the results against SL and England shows how small the gap is in reality.

I notice there is always an excuse when the Aussies get beat or play badly - like having lost players or not had much time to prepare - but when the same applies to us it's just that they are better. They are the biggest whingers in the sport. Even the pitch is getting blamed last night. Both teams played on the same pitch!

Quote ="Buggo"Maybe if you put things into context. The English teams have home grown advantage English Refs SL Rules English weather/conditions Two weeks into the season. The Australian teams are in pre season Have traveled around the World They have still manged to beat England's second & third best teams using their eighth and eleventh best teams from last year. How would Widnes or Hull FC do against the Roosters, Manly or Canterbury played in Australia in their pre season? Not real good.......is my guess. Its a promotional vehicle to help build the game in England. Broncos Coach Wayne Bennett had this to say on the importance of the game. [i"I didn't know it was a series until (the media) told me (after the game)," an amused Bennett said. "No one talked about it back home. I certainly didn't know it was the case. "Am I pleased that we won the series for Australia? That wasn't my priority." "I hadn't taken a lot of notice of the rules. I couldn't believe we were playing extra time," Bennett said. "I'm in denial about that. Why the hell do they want to play extra time? "It's not a fixture match. It's a London exhibition game per se. "Really they're not playing for anything else but pride and the club."[/i Link www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2015 ... over-wigan'" I'd be expecting a 40 point smashing listening to how good the aussie sides are. Their coaches are. Their S&Cs are. Their sports science people are. Their training regimes are. etc etc. Didn't happen though. End of.

Quote ="Buggo"Maybe if you put things into context. The English teams have home grown advantage English Refs SL Rules English weather/conditions Two weeks into the season. The Australian teams are in pre season Have traveled around the World They have still manged to beat England's second & third best teams using their eighth and eleventh best teams from last year. How would Widnes or Hull FC do against the Roosters, Manly or Canterbury played in Australia in their pre season? Not real good.......is my guess. Its a promotional vehicle to help build the game in England. Broncos Coach Wayne Bennett had this to say on the importance of the game. [i"I didn't know it was a series until (the media) told me (after the game)," an amused Bennett said. "No one talked about it back home. I certainly didn't know it was the case. "Am I pleased that we won the series for Australia? That wasn't my priority." "I hadn't taken a lot of notice of the rules. I couldn't believe we were playing extra time," Bennett said. "I'm in denial about that. Why the hell do they want to play extra time? "It's not a fixture match. It's a London exhibition game per se. "Really they're not playing for anything else but pride and the club."[/i Link www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2015 ... over-wigan'" I'd be expecting a 40 point smashing listening to how good the aussie sides are. Their coaches are. Their S&Cs are. Their sports science people are. Their training regimes are. etc etc. Didn't happen though. End of.

Obstruction from Bateman- that was a joke from the ref. There is no way that Bateman deliberately tried to block the player. I am afraid the ref was conned there.

Offside that led to Brisbane second try - watching the replay, the ref clearly got this wrong. Even Cummings agreed.

So the game should never have gone to extra time IMO but even so the ref was a plonker at the end giving the penalty. Given all the infringements that went unpunished throughout the game I thought the game deserved to be won by a good piece of play. Can you honestly say that had this been in Australia with an Aussie ref that he would have handed the game to Wigan?

So the result should have been different and we wouldn't have had all the posts about the result justifying the NRL being better than SL etc.

We would have had a 40 page treatise about how the pitch made them lose and how jet lagged they were, and Wayne Bennet would have made a statement about how the game meant so little he only remembered they were playing in the morning when he saw it in the newspaper. Whether they win or lose they are always sore about it.

End of



You should know the gap, you're a strapper at the Coogee Crocodiles aren't you

The pitch was a disgrace and took a lot away from what a spectacle the game could have been.
Same for both sides yes, not fit for purpose YES

Why is it when its an Australian ref they are blatant cheats
When Its an English Ref they are pandering and are intimidated by the Australians so they are biased to them?

Maybe its the fans one eyed view of the game or in some cases total lack of knowledge of the game or its rules.
I remember years ago the fans when mental when Inglis cored a try in a Test and he was air born but grounded the ball ok, it was wrong you cant fly over the line like that etc, it was like yokels arguing the toss.
Not many English fans thought for a second that Hall did not score with a finger nail last year when it was far from conclusive frame by frame that he scored.
One eyed and all that.
Good luck tomorrow, may the best team win.

Could be that Wayne Bennett's comment are a reflection on Nigel Wood's skills at organising a booze up in the world's largest brewery.

But then, I'm only a Halifax fan so what do I know...

Quote ="Buggo"Maybe if you put things into context. The English teams have home grown advantage English Refs SL Rules English weather/conditions Two weeks into the season. The Australian teams are in pre season Have traveled around the World They have still manged to beat England's second & third best teams using their eighth and eleventh best teams from last year. How would Widnes or Hull FC do against the Roosters, Manly or Canterbury played in Australia in their pre season? Not real good.......is my guess. Its a promotional vehicle to help build the game in England. Broncos Coach Wayne Bennett had this to say on the importance of the game. [i"I didn't know it was a series until (the media) told me (after the game)," an amused Bennett said. "No one talked about it back home. I certainly didn't know it was the case. "Am I pleased that we won the series for Australia? That wasn't my priority." "I hadn't taken a lot of notice of the rules. I couldn't believe we were playing extra time," Bennett said. "I'm in denial about that. Why the hell do they want to play extra time? "It's not a fixture match. It's a London exhibition game per se. "Really they're not playing for anything else but pride and the club."[/i Link www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2015 ... over-wigan'" The remarks by Wayne Bennet are to [iHIS [/ishame, not Super League's. What an ungracious guest! He is clearly not so much an RL 'legend' as an NRL 'legend' if he shows so little interest in his team playing in a match thousands of miles from home.

Quote ="Buggo"Maybe if you put things into context. The English teams have home grown advantage English Refs SL Rules English weather/conditions Two weeks into the season. The Australian teams are in pre season Have traveled around the World They have still manged to beat England's second & third best teams using their eighth and eleventh best teams from last year. How would Widnes or Hull FC do against the Roosters, Manly or Canterbury played in Australia in their pre season? Not real good.......is my guess. Its a promotional vehicle to help build the game in England. Broncos Coach Wayne Bennett had this to say on the importance of the game. [i"I didn't know it was a series until (the media) told me (after the game)," an amused Bennett said. "No one talked about it back home. I certainly didn't know it was the case. "Am I pleased that we won the series for Australia? That wasn't my priority." "I hadn't taken a lot of notice of the rules. I couldn't believe we were playing extra time," Bennett said. "I'm in denial about that. Why the hell do they want to play extra time? "It's not a fixture match. It's a London exhibition game per se. "Really they're not playing for anything else but pride and the club."[/i Link www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2015 ... over-wigan'" The remarks by Wayne Bennet are to [iHIS [/ishame, not Super League's. What an ungracious guest! He is clearly not so much an RL 'legend' as an NRL 'legend' if he shows so little interest in his team playing in a match thousands of miles from home.

Thoroughly enjoyed the game, it was like a throwback to winter rugby.

It was strange seeing a team outmuscle Wigan.

The only disappointment for me was Ben Hunt’s performance, after watching his progress in the NRL, last night he looked average.

Congratulations to both teams to have such intensity, in what was ultimately a pointless game.

I agree. Very disappointing, but not in the least bit surprising from Bennett. His team showed that they could well be mid table mediocrity in the NRL again by not winning that game comfortably with the possession and territory they had in the 2nd half. So he belittles the comp to suggest they weren't really trying all that hard

could it be that, like the previous night, Wigan and Warrington just weren't good enough to win the games?

yes there were dubious calls from the officials, but watch any game of rugby league anywhere and there are dubious calls from the officials, like the players they make mistakes.

we all like to moan at ref's when things aren't going our way but it's not them that give silly penalties away or miss tackles is it?
the last penalty to Brisbane last night i think i heard them say was a ball strip by sarginson, although why Tomkins felt the need to grab hold of the head is beyond me, surely by doing that you are risking giving away a penalty under the sticks, in golden point extra time that is suicide, but all i read is how the ref shouldn't have given the penalty? anywhere else on the field it's a penalty!
but let's just blame the ref when our teams play dumb eh

Yeah that's right Buggo. When trying to take the mickey out of someone it's best you get the name of a club that actually exists. Even if you are completely wrong anyway.

Keep going champ, you're looking knowledgeable.

Coogee Crocodiles. How funny.

Thats a big bite.
Ok, The Clovelly Crocodiles assistant coach.

Cannot believe some of the posts on here, I was at the game last night and it was fantastic. Gutted about the score but it went the right way in the end

well done to Wolves on Fri night, thought you played your socks off, plus ref was even worse than we had last night! Good luck to Saints later (that's coming from a Warrior- always a rugby league fan before a Wigan Warrior

) can't wait for the game and hoping saints come up with the win x

Wigan were good enough to draw! And Warrington were only just off the pace.

i don't blame refs for the silly penalties which are correct but I do blame them for making significant errors at key points in the game. The offside that wasn't that led to brisbane's second try was a key turning point. Then he was conned by the Aussie who clearly ran into Bateman who was entitled to be where he was. Yes they make mistakes but those were very significant and it wasn't like it needed a video replay several times to judge the decision. I thought those were harsh seen live and my view is confirmed having seen the one replay. In close games we need our officials to be better than that.

Ahh mistakes by match officials that "cost the game".

It's a good job that dropping the ball, mistiming a pass, failing a conversion, mistiming a tackle, failing to pass, slipping (all done by the players) were NOT the cause of defeat.

At least all the "match officials", at the ground and watching on TV knew who the people responsible were. If only Thaler and Bentham had scored more tries. I never realised it was that obvious before.

Quote ="Buggo"Maybe if you put things into context. The English teams have home grown advantage English Refs SL Rules English weather/conditions Two weeks into the season. The Australian teams are in pre season Have traveled around the World They have still manged to beat England's second & third best teams using their eighth and eleventh best teams from last year. How would Widnes or Hull FC do against the Roosters, Manly or Canterbury played in Australia in their pre season? Not real good.......is my guess. Its a promotional vehicle to help build the game in England. Broncos Coach Wayne Bennett had this to say on the importance of the game. [i"I didn't know it was a series until (the media) told me (after the game)," an amused Bennett said. "No one talked about it back home. I certainly didn't know it was the case. "Am I pleased that we won the series for Australia? That wasn't my priority." "I hadn't taken a lot of notice of the rules. I couldn't believe we were playing extra time," Bennett said. "I'm in denial about that. Why the hell do they want to play extra time? "It's not a fixture match. It's a London exhibition game per se. "Really they're not playing for anything else but pride and the club."[/i Link www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2015 ... over-wigan'" Seems like time is catching up with Wayne Bennett. Might be time to put him out to pasture. Thinking he was playing a London exhibition game should worry his family. He was in Wigan. Forgetting the rules, not knowing what comp he was playing in. Sounds worrying.

Quote ="Buggo"Maybe if you put things into context. The English teams have home grown advantage English Refs SL Rules English weather/conditions Two weeks into the season. The Australian teams are in pre season Have traveled around the World They have still manged to beat England's second & third best teams using their eighth and eleventh best teams from last year. How would Widnes or Hull FC do against the Roosters, Manly or Canterbury played in Australia in their pre season? Not real good.......is my guess. Its a promotional vehicle to help build the game in England. Broncos Coach Wayne Bennett had this to say on the importance of the game. [i"I didn't know it was a series until (the media) told me (after the game)," an amused Bennett said. "No one talked about it back home. I certainly didn't know it was the case. "Am I pleased that we won the series for Australia? That wasn't my priority." "I hadn't taken a lot of notice of the rules. I couldn't believe we were playing extra time," Bennett said. "I'm in denial about that. Why the hell do they want to play extra time? "It's not a fixture match. It's a London exhibition game per se. "Really they're not playing for anything else but pride and the club."[/i Link www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2015 ... over-wigan'" Seems like time is catching up with Wayne Bennett. Might be time to put him out to pasture. Thinking he was playing a London exhibition game should worry his family. He was in Wigan. Forgetting the rules, not knowing what comp he was playing in. Sounds worrying.

You do keep banging that drum Leaguefan don't you. Do you think anyone has ever fallen for your logical fallacy?

Absolutely! Yet another example of charmless patronising from the Aussies.

It's a big drum and there is a lot of space to fill between some ears.

The south stand at Leeds have had years of practice!

the penalty against bateman..if that was a super league game against Wigan everyone would be saying it was the correct decision, you can't just accept decisions when it suits, bateman took 2 or 3 steps towards the broncos player ( who yes did milk it a little) but as everyone bar Phil Clarke said at the time, if he stands still,then no penalty is awarded, the fact is he kept moving towards the Brisbane player making the referee's decision easier, it might not have been much movement but he moved towards the ball carrier.. regardless that didn't alter the result of the game, the last minute penalty for ball stripping/head grabbing did and you can't say that wasn't the right call surely?

I didn't think the decision against Bateman was wrong. Yeah, the Brisbane player dived but Batman did move towards him.
Phil Clarke's reaction though? Priceless.

The last minute penalty was given for alleged ball stealing. IMO it was a loose carry. There was no head grabbing so stop trying to embellish the situation.

Bateman did not move towards the Broncos player. He had his back to him an moved sideways. The Broncos player deliberately and cleverly spotted the opportunity for a penalty and to say he milked it is an under statement.

Ouch.

If Wigan's pack were 'smashed', your lot rolled over, spread 'em wide and applied a liberal dose of KY jelly to a soundtrack of Barry White.

I'd even suggest checking the Saints' betting accounts. Again.

PLEASE, someone tell me half a dozen Saints players have been spotted at a bookies, we need an excuse quick! That was more embarressing than our attendances in SL last year

.........well, maybe not that bad, lol