Four Nations

Team named today

Gerard Beale, Adam Blair, Lewis Brown, Nathan Fien, Kieran Foran, Alex Glenn, Thomas Leuluai, Kevin Locke, Shaun Johnson, Issac Luke, Sam McKendry, Simon Mannering, Sika Manu, Benji Marshall (capt), Steve Matai, Ben Matulino, Fuifui Moimoi, Jason Nightingale, Russell Packer, Kevin Proctor, Jeremy Smith, Manu Vatuvei, Jared Waerea-Hargreaves.

I really like that squad, when you compare it against the Aussies, we look to be pretty equal. Once again it will come down to partnerships forming over the course of the competition to combat those formed in State of O that the Aussies have the advantage of having.

My first choice team from that lineup:

1. Kevin Locke
2. Jason Nightingale
3. Gerard Beale
4. Steve Matai
5. Manu Vatuvei
6. Benji Marshall
7. Kieran Foran
8. Sam McKendry
9. Isaac Luke
10. Russell Packer
11. Simon Mannering
12. Adam Blair but because he will be suspended for the first 3 (?) games, Alex Glenn
13. Jeremy Smith

14. Shaun Johnson
15. Ben Matulino
16. Fuifui Moimoi
17. Sika Manu

I went for Packer and Glenn starting because I think Benny, Moimoi and Manu are better impact players and Foran and Marshall to start because they have the established combination and Johnson to play as second hooker/roving playmaker role. When Blair does come back, I would be really tempted to move Alex Glenn into the centres at Gerard Beales expense. He's been awesome this year and I think he deserves to have his place in the team finally.

Oh and Aussies squad:

Darren Lockyer (c) (Brisbane Broncos)
Corey Parker (Brisbane Broncos)
Sam Thaiday (Brisbane Broncos)
Jharal Yow Yeh (Brisbane Broncos)
David Shillington (Canberra Raiders)
Paul Gallen (Cronulla Sharks)
Daly Cherry-Evans (Manly Sea Eagles)
Brett Stewart (Manly Sea Eagles)
Glenn Stewart (Manly Sea Eagles)
Anthony Watmough (Manly Sea Eagles)
Tony Williams (Manly Sea Eagles)
Cooper Cronk (Melbourne Storm)
Billy Slater (Melbourne Storm)
Cameron Smith (Melbourne Storm)
Akuila Uate (Newcastle Knights)
Matt Scott (North Qld Cowboys)
Johnathan Thurston (North Qld Cowboys)
Luke Lewis (Penrith Panthers)
Darius Boyd (St George Illawarra Dragons)
Greg Inglis (South Sydney Rabbitohs)
David Taylor (South Sydney Rabbitohs)
Keith Galloway (Wests Tigers)
Robbie Farah (Wests Tigers)
Chris Lawrence (Wests Tigers)

Which is a pretty damn good squad too... But... I think Aussie missed a trick in selecting Tony Williams over Feleti Mateo. The most damaging and dangerous second rower in the competition overlooked for an impact player. I don't think so Tim...

Disappointed Pritchard has chosen Samoa!

Definitely agree about Mateo as well - Tony Williams is an impact player in the NRL and I don't think he his name fits in with the names in the Aussie list there at all.

Alex Glenn has been a weapon for the Broncs and is a no-brainer already, I think. There's talk that Foran could play in the centres and Johnson at 7 no? I actually thought with his speed and now pushing 90kg that Johnson would be better on the outside a bit more, but I guess it's pretty hard to fit those 3 guys in at the moment!



gc.

needs more geoff daniela.. unfortunately he's injured

I thought Feleti was captian of Tonga and wasnt eligible for Roos or SoO If thats wrong I look fowardf to Mateo and Maloyne wearing NSW colours next season

Who the hell is Kevin Procter?

if it's not a world cup game then you can just apply to play for another country.
So he might not be eligible to play for the kangaroos in the world cup, but that ineligibly doesn't necessarily apply to four nations.

oh, and he's played City vs Country Origin before...

Yes it does. The rule, as it currently stands now (they changed it before the last world cup) is that you declare an allegiance for a country and that allegiance stands until the next world cup. After which you may elect to change it. Frank Pritchard declared his allegiance for Samoa for this World Cup which means he can't play for New Zealand until after next year, which is when the next World Cup is.

Feleti has declared allegiance to Australia for this World Cup making him eligible for NSW and Australia. He said on the Footy show a few weeks back that while he loves playing for Tonga, he had made himself available for Aussie.

The real debate at the moment is over England selecting Rangi Chase who only last year played for the New Zealand Maori. He qualifies under residency rules but all the England old boys are spitting tacks at the moment.

And Maestro, you need to watch more league! Kevin Proctor has been tearing it up for Melbourne this season!

Oh yeah thats right I remember him now, his name withiut Melbourne beside it didnt register for some reason. The Tigers and Melb are pretty much the only non-Warriors games I occasionally watch

League eligibility rules Hes a good player and seems a decent bloke but I look forward to Fiens retirement tbh

Yeah the residency clause needs to be longer really. It's 3 years in league compared to say 4 years in cricket. Speaking of cricket Neil Wagner hits his residency at the beginning of next year, which ironically means he is eligible to play against South Africa. :>

Also the switching back and forth is a bit :-/ but I can understand the pragmatism behind it.

Yeah I dunno... We tried Foran at centre in '09 and it didn't work very well. He made a defensive blunder at one point which lead to us getting knocked out of the Four Nations. I see what you're saying with Johnson on the outside but his defense is probably not quite up to international standard yet for a centre. I'd like to see him included in there somehow though. I think maybe a month ago, Kearney wouldn't have entertained the thought or maybe thought of just taking him along with the squad without playing him but after getting the experience of playing in finals football and playing in the Grand Final and not only that but showing that he could handle the pressure and keep a cool head has forced his hand. I think he'll get the nod above Fien and Leuluai.

Kevin Proctor has indeed been carving up, ridiculous haircut though. I had absolutely no idea he was a Kiwi!

Johnson will surely get the nod over the journeyman Fien and has-been Leulai. Though I wouldn't be surprised if Foran gets another crack at centre, his defence has come on leaps and bounds since 09, he was a kid then and he's tough as nails now

So Manu, Johnson and Matai are out. In they have brough Elijah Taylor, Kalifa Fai fai loa and...... Krisnan Inu. :-/

Hah... No way!



gc.

Dalai/SMF rejoice - http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/league/5762036/Krisnan-Inu-withdraws-from-Kiwis-touring-team

I wasn't convinced he was going to get a game anyhow. I could also make a snide comment here about commitment ot the cause but I'll give him the benefit of the doubt so I'm sure it must be real important for him.

Crazy that the Kiwis have so many injuries but still look a class side. Every player that fits into the top 17 all look like they belong there.

Good to see Taylor there, if it wasn't for Johnson we'd be raving about him right now.

Elijah is the man! Shaunie has stolen all the attention, as the flashy players do, but for mine, Elijah deserved to be rookie of the year. He's been a mantis!

I told you cunts earlier this /after his firsa few games that Taylor was the man (in fact I think I said he would go on to be on of our greatest kiwis)

As for the Inu saga that will not lie down, ...... its pretty hard for me to defend that as I agree with much of what you say dalai. BUT....(cos I have to try) ...what was the deal when he got kicked out? of the Kiwis last time? Pretty sure that would have been Kearneys era? I bcant remember what happened but They must be some bad blood and if his selection wasnt handled without adderessing previous issues, and knowing Kearneys "flog-em" approach to training, its not hard to see why Krisnan opted out

shrug whats the full story? Did they just tell him he selected and to turn up to training? Or did the NZRL actually make an effort to sit him dowm and try and address the previous situation? Who knows...

Randomly ran into mate of mine at the pool who knows Krisnan and Feleti well ...as both their missus work at his bar/restuanrant. I'll just spew what he told me and hope its legit (dont see why it wouldnt be)

Contary to popular belief/wiki etc Inu is NOT a hard out Mormon and drinks piss. Maybe you will hate him less now smf?

Regarding the Kiwis thing, apparently Bluey wants the boys in pre season training in about 4 weeks. So Krisnan was looking at literally no break and simply wanted one to spend time with family etc, as well as wanting to be on the ground early to get good with Bluey. He desperatly wants to be a Warrior, Feleti is his best mate and he wants to stay. Truth in what grinder posted way back in the NRL 2011 thread that they came here as a package deal

Turned it off after the 2nd try, was pretty obvious what was going to hapen and I was too wound up about the rugby anyway.... lets assmue that was just a training run. I did appreciate Packers effort to halt to crappy continous Lockyear farewell schedule though

Yeah Packer had a pretty good game... him and Locke were about the only ones though. Stopped watching after about 60 minutes when the AB bus drove past my mates apartment and the entire street went mental

Nice work lulling them for the ambush in the final.

*sigh*

We really could have done with that warm up against the Cook Islands first... The team looked just so disjointed and out of sorts with each other. In both defense and attack.

On the positive side, Locke looked completely at home at international level.

Ha ha yep. Keeps the odds good too

We selected exactly the same side that got pounded minus Packer?

I have a bad feelign about this series

I actually want England to win, a resurgant Pommy side would be good for the game

We'll be better for the run. The guys needed a while to get used to playing next to each other, particularly in defence. So many young debutants in one team was always going to be a worry. Mutts needed to be in that side regardless, I'm glad he's back in. Next week Blair will be available again too which will be an asset.

How many NRL games did we see where teams got trounced when they only completed at 50% or in our case, less. If we hold on to the ball and maintain field position, we will be a lot more competitive. Which is all we want really.

No we wont. 30-12 I reckon

Perhaps we can get closer in the final, if we make it

Whatever happens, if a few smartass Aussies get belted, I'll be happy.

26-12..Im a sick0 when it comes to sports right now

What all this fuss about the cannonball tackle, didnt even see it

So Isaac Luke really is a grub

Havent/didnt see the latest incident, thought the game was quite boring/hard to watch. Must have missed it

That underneath-type camera angle they kept showing of Kearny shows he has possibly the worlds biggest nostrils

Go England in the final, cant see it though. They didnt really play that well vs us

Agreed, this latest incident is his worst I reckon.

Nothing but intent to injure. I'm out of making up excuses for the guy, if Paul Gallen had done that to one of our players I would want his head on a spike.

Maestro: He had Rangi Chase tackled on the ground, trapped his knee beneath him, and twisted his lower leg and ankle HARD, it could have done serious damage to the knee or ankle, and looked bloody painful.

Poor game by us, some mystifying calls by the ref, but not the reason we lost the game. They beat us up in the forwards, Tomkins is a PLAYER, Matulino is a beast, and Mannering has some serious heart to make that try saving tackle.

Well that was pretty underwhelming really. A few of our top players underperformed. I'm gonna pin it on fatigue. :-/


And Isaac Luke is still awesome. He's a cheeky shit but he's our cheeky shit.

Isaac Luke is an amazing player and he doesn't get into a lot of trouble for the Rabbitohs. Unfortunately he appears to have lost all discipline over this tour... that leg grab was MALICE.

Which you'd say must be a coaching thing? Kearney seems to have NO order over this squad! Maybe he's actually just a shite coach overall...look at the Eels.

Perhaps...this tour the kiwis def didnt play to their potential. But I dont think we can use the Eels as evidence of his failure after just season with a terribly limited squad that he inherited. No Mateo and Inu and a misfiring marquee prop and somewhat inconsistant marquee back (Moimoi/Hayne)..maybe give him 2 more seasons to prove his NRL worth *he might just get one though lol

and hey...now that Bluey is Warriors coach, things could get very slippery for Kearney very quickly on both job fronts. Who would be a coach imo. Worse than being a referee

The Eels had some wicked players. Fuifui Moimoi, Jarrad Hayne, Nathan Hindmarsh, Joel Reddy, Luke Burt...they kind of seemed to just come undone and forgot how to win. But you're right its probably too early to judge Kearney on his first season of NRL coaching.

I can't remember much of Kearney's early playing career but loved him in the Storm in his later years. He was always bit of a "smash'em" bro himself. Maybe needs to tell his players to settle down a bit though.

Leuliai all set to join Warriors

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/league/news/article.cfm?c_id=79&objectid=10767547

Awesome news I reckon! I was a bit harsh calling him a has-been earlier. He is solid if nothing else. Good utility value at 6/7/9 (bearing in mind that Friend is an 80min hooker)

It does signal that Maloney might indeed be halfway out the door though... boooo.