Talking Footy

Beaussie wrote:

Newcastle last night thumped Penrith 34-14

Melbourne thumped the Warriors 32-14

Brisbane thumped the Gold Coast 26-6 on Friday night.

Cronulla thumped Canberra on Saturday night 44-22

Real competitive competition eh?

IT was supposed to be the most competitive battleground in Australian sport.

The AFL outlaid $100 million to invade rugby league's heartland, pitching its GWS Giants against traditional and well-entrenched NRL clubs Parramatta, Penrith and the Wests Tigers.

Instead, it's become nothing but a battle of the also-rans with crowds falling and merchandise down by 50 per cent. Between the four clubs they've won only six games from a possible 29.

GWS are running last and getting smashed every week, as was expected.

But the NRL clubs have failed to capitalise on the AFL rookies' tough start to life.

Parramatta are on the bottom of the ladder too with just one victory.

Gus Gould's Panthers went a fortnight without scoring a point, yet conceded 60 in two games.

And the NRL's pre-season premiership favourites the Wests Tigers are going so badly they conceded 30 points in 15 minutes against a useless Parramatta.

A punter on Twitter @jamiec06 summed it up well by tweeting: "People of Sydney's west spoilt for choice this year - eels, panthers, GWS. No wonder A-League fast tracking a team."

Former legend Peter Wynn runs a sports store in Church St, Parramatta, which is normally thriving at this time of the year.

"It's had a huge impact on retail sales," he said. "Parra had seven of their first 10 games at home and we were looking forward to a strong start. Instead, it's been a disaster.

"The Eels and Wests Tigers are our most popular clubs but their jersey sales are down by 50 per cent.

"They played last Sunday and it should have been our busiest day but it was nothing like it."

The NRL hoped to combat the AFL invasion by winning footy games.

Penrith hired Phil Gould and Ivan Cleary to restore pride but they've gone backwards.

The Eels signed Chris Sandow to light up their attack but he can't even make the team. And the Wests Tigers ... they've only just recovered from losing five in a row.

NRL marketing boss Paul Kind is cheering for a revival of the rugby league teams.

"While all our clubs work hard to build membership and their supporter base regardless of results, it helps to win," he said.

"There's no question that success on the field brings fans to our games. Like their passionate fans, we'd like to see them winning more often."

Beaussie wrote:

Talk about a lopside competition

Bulldogs 46 def Eels 12

Cowboys 34 def Dragons 6

Friday night thumpings

Like it or not GWS and GC ( except for the odd team that chances their luck too much) are bye games.

You go in expecting the 4 points, hoping you don't get injuries, resting players that may add to your team in more difficult games and allowing you to blood young kids who may exposed in a harder game.

GC and GWS supporters won't like but they accepted that situation when they hoarded the first round picks and did not sign players who could contribute immediately.

For the reasons set out above that is also why teams who play them more often than not do not pass the line set for them in the betting.

The team that plays GC or GWS gets a winning lead, sits on the lead and incrementally increasing the lead as their kids get game time and they try to come out injury free.

Someone will lose to them but the teams playing them will win a lot more than they lose.

eelofwest wrote:

Beaussie wrote:

Talk about a lopside competition

Bulldogs 46 def Eels 12

Cowboys 34 def Dragons 6

Friday night thumpings

Yep parra leading 30mins into the game 12-4 and got beaton bad.

eelofwest wrote:

Tell me guys how many times has GWS/GCS and the Demons led games or won games this year?

Beaussie wrote:

eelofwest wrote:

Beaussie wrote:

Talk about a lopside competition

Bulldogs 46 def Eels 12

Cowboys 34 def Dragons 6

Friday night thumpings

Yep parra leading 30mins into the game 12-4 and got beaton bad.

Doesn't change the fact the final result was still a thumping as appears to be the norm each week this season.

eelofwest wrote:

Tell me guys how many times has GWS/GCS and the Demons led games or won games this year?

No wins as yet for what is essentially teams made up of kids. That said however, just last week GWS were leading the Bulldogs and couple of weeks back the Suns were leading the Bombers. Both teams are getting more and more competitive.

eelofwest wrote:

Beaussie wrote:

eelofwest wrote:

Yep parra leading 30mins into the game 12-4 and got beaton bad.

Doesn't change the fact the final result was still a thumping as appears to be the norm each week this season.

eelofwest wrote:

Tell me guys how many times has GWS/GCS and the Demons led games or won games this year?

No wins as yet for what is essentially teams made up of kids. That said however, just last week GWS were leading the Bulldogs and couple of weeks back the Suns were leading the Bombers. Both teams are getting more and more competitive.

So with that statement what your conceding is that your pathetic attempt to make the NRL look lopsided are just that, Pathetic.
And when we compare the lopsidedness of the NRL to the AFL its no comparison at all.
In the history books AFL 2012 will be known as the year of the THRASHINGS/No contests
And with some luck this tag might disappear from the AFL's side in 2017, but even i am not optimistic it will be gone by then.

eelofwest wrote:

Beaussie wrote:

eelofwest wrote:

Yep parra leading 30mins into the game 12-4 and got beaton bad.

Doesn't change the fact the final result was still a thumping as appears to be the norm each week this season.

eelofwest wrote:

Tell me guys how many times has GWS/GCS and the Demons led games or won games this year?

No wins as yet for what is essentially teams made up of kids. That said however, just last week GWS were leading the Bulldogs and couple of weeks back the Suns were leading the Bombers. Both teams are getting more and more competitive.

So with that statement what your conceding is that your pathetic attempt to make the NRL look lopsided are just that, Pathetic.
And when we compare the lopsidedness of the NRL to the AFL its no comparison at all.
In the history books AFL 2012 will be known as the year of the THRASHINGS/No contests
And with some luck this tag might disappear from the AFL's side in 2017, but even i am not optimistic it will be gone by then.

eelofwest wrote:

eelofwest wrote:

Beaussie wrote:

Doesn't change the fact the final result was still a thumping as appears to be the norm each week this season.
No wins as yet for what is essentially teams made up of kids. That said however, just last week GWS were leading the Bulldogs and couple of weeks back the Suns were leading the Bombers. Both teams are getting more and more competitive.

So with that statement what your conceding is that your pathetic attempt to make the NRL look lopsided are just that, Pathetic.
And when we compare the lopsidedness of the NRL to the AFL its no comparison at all.
In the history books AFL 2012 will be known as the year of the THRASHINGS/No contests
And with some luck this tag might disappear from the AFL's side in 2017, but even i am not optimistic it will be gone by then.

Bump?