The 2012 Australian National Rugby League season thread

[kenyan_cheena]

Regular season kicks off a month from today!

Trial matches (like the pre-season in the NFL) start this weekend, with the official season curtain raiser being the annual Indigenous All-Stars vs NRL All-Stars game on Saturday night.

www.nrl.com

[LFC1892]

Not confident, but..............

[kenyan_cheena]

Bon Jovi back in NRL's house

[LFC1892]

Are you doing any NRL fantasy or tipping k_c?

[kenyan_cheena]

Nah, can't be bothered. Not even sure if I'll enter a tipping comp this year.

[kenyan_cheena]

Week One schedule (March 1 – 5)

Knights vs. Dragons, Ausgrid Stadium, Thursday 7.30pm
Eels vs. Broncos, Parramatta Stadium, Friday 7.30pm
Raiders vs. Storm, Canberra Stadium, Saturday 5.30pm
Panthers vs. Bulldogs, Centrebet Stadium, Saturday 7.30pm
Cowboys vs. Titans, Dairy Farmers Stadium, Saturday 8.30pm
Warriors vs. Sea Eagles, Eden Park, Sunday 2.00pm
Tigers vs. Sharks, Leichhardt Oval, Sunday 2.00pm
Rabbitohs vs. Roosters, ANZ Stadium, Monday 7.00pm

[kenyan_cheena]

The opening game of the season has gone into overtime, with the hometown Newcastle Knights fighting back from a 14-6 second half deficit to tie it up at 14-14 a few minutes before full time. The Dragons have just won it 15-14 five minutes into OT.

[kenyan_cheena]

Bizarre start to the season, with all five games so far won by the visiting team.

Dragons 15 KNIGHTS 14 (OT)
Broncos 18 EELS 6
Storm 24 RAIDERS 19
Bulldogs 22 PANTHERS 14
Titans 18 COWBOYS 0

Hopefully my Tigers can break that trend when they host the Sharks today.

[kenyan_cheena]

A couple of Sunday thrillers.

In the grand final rematch, the Sea Eagles jumped out to a 16-0 lead midway thorugh the first half. But the Warriors slowly fought their way back into it and got as close as two points at 22-20 with fifteen to play. But the Sea Eagles scored their 5th try with eight minutes remaining to bring about the final 26-20 scoreline. The Warriors had a chance to tie it up in the final minute but fell short, stretching the road team's record to 6-0 on the season's opening weekend.

At one of their two historical home grounds, Leichhardt Oval, my Wests Tigers took a 12-4 lead against the Sharks into halftime. In humid, heavy conditions, the Sharks came out and dominated the 2nd half and led 16-12 with five minutes to play. But Tigers winger Beau Ryan scored in the right hand corner on a fantastic kick and chase play to tie it up at 16-16. Benji Marshall was unsuccessful with the sideline conversion but became the hero when he was on target with a wobbly 35-metre field goal two minutes into extra-time, giving them a 17-16 victory.

An epic of heroics and heartbreak

[kenyan_cheena]

If anyone in the USA is interested in watching some NRL games, they are showing two games per week on the Fox Soccer channel this season.

http://www.nrl.com/fox-soccer-to-tel...3/default.aspx

[kenyan_cheena]

This will make Cooleyvol happy...

...and Bobbuttons sad.

Roosters stun Rabbitohs in NRL thriller

[kenyan_cheena]

Comparing it to the NFL, the Roosters' win was like a team trailing by 10 points with three minutes to play and then scoring two touchdowns to win it.

[kenyan_cheena]

Week Two (March 9 – 12)

Sea Eagles vs. Tigers, Bluetongue Stadium, Friday 7.30pm
Broncos vs. Cowboys, Suncorp Stadium, Friday 7.30pm
Titans vs. Raiders, Skilled Park, Saturday 4.30pm
Bulldogs vs. Dragons, ANZ Stadium, Saturday 7.30pm
Sharks vs. Knights, Toyota Stadium, Sunday 2.00pm
Roosters vs. Panthers, Sydney Football Stadium, Sunday 3.00pm
Storm vs. Rabbitohs, AAMI Park, Sunday 7.00pm
Eels vs. Warriors, Parramatta Stadium, Monday 7.00pm

[kenyan_cheena]

Friday night results

SEA EAGLES 22 Tigers 18
Cowboys 28 BRONCOS 26

[kenyan_cheena]

SATURDAY

Raiders 24 TITANS 12
BULLDOGS 30 Dragons 4

SUNDAY

Knights 18 SHARKS 6
Panthers 18 ROOSTERS 0
STORM 24 Rabbitohs 10

MONDAY

Warriors 36 EELS 20

***

Bizarre stat from the first two weeks. The home teams are 4-12.

The Tigers are the ONLY team with both a home win and a road loss. Everyone else has had either a road win or a home loss.

[kenyan_cheena]

Week 3 (16-19 March)

Friday, March 16

Dragons v Wests Tigers, WIN Jubilee Stadium
Knights v Broncos, Hunter Stadium

Saturday, March 17

Titans v Storm, Skilled Park
Cowboys v Eels, Dairy Farmers Stadium

Sunday, March 18

Warriors v Bulldogs, Mt Smart Stadium
Roosters v Raiders, Sydney Football Stadium
Panthers v Rabbitohs, Centrebet Stadium

Monday, March 19

Sharks v Sea Eagles, Toyota Stadium

[kenyan_cheena]

Haven't posted here for the last couple of weeks, not that anyone cares.

Anyway, here's the results from weeks 3 and 4...

WEEK 3

DRAGONS 36 Tigers 12
Broncos 24 KNIGHTS 10
Storm 30 TITANS 6
COWBOYS 42 Eels 6
Bulldogs 32 WARRIORS 18
ROOSTERS 14 Raiders 8
Rabbitohs 40 PANTHERS 24
SHARKS 17 Sea Eagles 14

WEEK 4

Panthers 39 EELS 6
Broncos 20 RABBITOHS 12
WARRIORS 26 Titans 6
DRAGONS 17 Sea Eagles 6
Sharks 20 COWBOYS 14
STORM 44 Roosters 4
Knights 20 BULLDOGS 6
Raiders 30 TIGERS 16

Standings after week 4...

Storm 4-0
Bulldogs 3-1
Broncos 3-1
Dragons 3-1
Panthers 2-2
Warriors 2-2
Raiders 2-2
Cowboys 2-2

Knights 2-2
Sea Eagles 2-2
Sharks 2-2
Roosters 2-2
Rabbitohs 1-3
Titans 1-3
Tigers 1-3
Eels 0-4

Home teams are 11-21 after four weeks.

Panthers and Knights are 0-2 at home and 2-0 on the road. Broncos are 0-1 at home and 3-0 on the road. Warriors are 1-2 at home, 1-0 on the road. Raiders 0-1 at home, 2-1 away. Cowboys 1-2 at home, 1-0 away. Rabbioths and Titans both 0-2 at home, 1-1 away. Bulldogs 1-1 at home, 2-0 away.

So combined, that's 3-15 at home and 15-3 on the road.

Eels are really stinking up the joint, but my Tigers aren't too much better. They have been disgraceful the last couple of weeks and are lucky not to be 0-4 also as they won their first game in extra time. Meanwhile, the Storm have picked up from where they left off last season. Their fullback Billy Slater has become the first player ever to score two tries in each of the first four games of the season.

[kenyan_cheena]

I haven't posted in this thread for a month and no one cares. But just in case ANYONE is interested, here's the schedule with results from the first eight weeks of the season:

NRL fixtures 2012 | League HQ

And here's the standings:

NRL Live Scores | Rugby League Live Scores | League HQ

The Melbourne Storm have been unstoppable so far, winning all eight of their games, and by an average score of 30-12.

[Bobbuttons]

My Rabbitohs have made a valiant comeback to get to .500.

[kenyan_cheena]

Originally Posted by Bobbuttons

My Rabbitohs have made a valiant comeback to get to .500.

Yep. In that first game of the season they let in two tries in the last three minutes to steal defeat from the jaws of victory, then against my Tigers in week five they were down 16-4 with five to play before scoring two tries to tie it and then win in overtime. They have a number of injuries, so have gone quite well so far.