Think the doggies are going to be eating wabbit stew!!!!!

I loved watching this boy player with our magpie tigers. Was disappointed when he went to the seabeagles. I would be surprised if Trent used him/ advised him to be a Hopoate thug. I hope not. Unfortunately i think we will miss seeing him on the paddock for several weeks. Sad, and I hope Martin sees this comment.

I know what you mean Andy. They give penalties for a slap, and then the worst they do is put someone on report.

17 weeks or whatever it was for Travis Burns on Martin Kennedy. Wasn't half as bad as Tupou's. You really cop it at the judiciary if you aren't a popular player, and you get off Scott free if you are one of the darlings. Revised sentence. 1-2 weeks bloody koala court.

Bulldogs will beat Bunnies, Cowboys will beat Broncos on Good Friday is my guess, cool, going have to consult with alien space monsters for rest of my picks : https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=PgiLBvPGoT4 ;-D

Consider this. With coward punches headline news, was Taupau's effort anything short of that description? Bird definitely did not provoke, had no idea it was coming, and no way to defend. Isn't that the definition? Was the force of the hit equivalent to King hits that have killed? He's no weakling.

Hypothetically, let's say Taupau's identical act killed someone on the field last weekend. Would the suspension still only be one week judiciary? Would that be an appropriate outcome from the judiciary for someone who would likely be facing manslaughter charges and the other man sentenced to life in a coffin? Is this what they are waiting for to happen before they get tough on these ones.

Sure there's plenty of high hits every week we see, but a majority are a bit reflex, a bit careless, a slight error in timing.

Marty Taupau's effort fits none if these categories. The player's Union should appeal the one week ban, on behalf of all players, and request he be sent back to the judiciary for a fair dinkum judgement.

Coach agree totally with your Marty Taupau comments. That was a bad hit and deserved more.
My tips (for what their worth)
Rabbits
Broncos
Raiders
Manly
Panthers
Warriors
Eels
Storm.

I ask Jesus the same question coach ! Seriously what was I smoking man when I said this was going to be the year of NZ Warriors ! Dude I got that wrong https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zFbc5MzAxk :-(

Who out there is still in the closet about their team?

Took s
A team effort and several weeks work to 'out' the Thinker, but there's still plenty both new and old that need to fess up about who they follow.

Footy Chick, who are you again? tcorte, what about you? Andy Browne and the rest?

Bulldogs
Cowboys
Raiders (In Golden Point)
Sea Eagles
Panthers
Warriors
Eels
Storm

You must also have been a fan of the Newtown Jets.

1967? It's around then I'm pretty sure.
Nah I only follow the Warriors. ..they provide more than enough stress/tears/diarrhea

The forward pass - by Coach Potato

To understand the forward pass, when it is truly forward and when it is not, one needs to understand some level of physics and that's often all a bit much for the average fan, player, commentator, and now Bunker.

To say that a ball caught in front of the mark where it was thrown is always a forward pass. That is not a 100% true statement. This circumstance is indeed often a true statement, but it can sometimes and often be false. Herein lies the difficulty. I'll try my best to explain.

First we need to understand that the ball itself after being passed carries energy. It carries energy mostly in the direction it's being thrown, but it also carries energy based on the speed and direction the player was running before releasing the ball. If a player is running at top speed goalpost to goalpost before throwing a long pass, that ball will still have forwards moving energy even though it was passed in a slightly backwards direction. If the player was running at 15kph, the ball will also possess some of that 15kph forward moving energy upon release. Think hypothetically of standing on top of the last carriage of a moving train and facing towards the side. The train maybe going at 80kph. Now imagine yourself throwing a footy as far as you can - 45 degrees back so yoh know its been thrown back. You would find that the forwards energy from the speed of the train would totally dominate even your fiercest throw. The footy would finish miles in front of the mark from where it was released. The old line about the ball floating towards, it's not really a fair description. It's more like a battle between this fowards energy and the direction that you released the ball.

The other extreme is the player standing still, moving only slowly, or sideways before passing. In these cases, it is generally fair to say that a ball caught in front of where the player passes the ball was a forward pass. This is because the ball had little or no forward moving energy at the point of release.

Watch this video, it's not a great comparison to footy. They are mostly interested in what happens after the ball hits the ground and loses its energy. We are interested in what it does through the air. What I want you to see is about the one minute mark of the video. They track the ball released with a red line. Then they show the ball released again. Although thrown almost sideways, the ball travels in sync at the same speed as the car !!!! The ball has forwards energy consistent with the speed of the carrier. See this and you will understand that a ball has forward moving energy and a player at speed can throw a truly backwards pass, and the catcher be in front of the initial release point.

I hope it opens the eyes of those think its just about marking where the ball was caught and released from.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VJzr_aSSE4

You have to be the oldest 14 yr old I have ever seen Andy. Still having a laugh at the penalty for Tapou's hit, one week for a) a late hit b) a high hit c) a hit without the ball d) premeditated. We were annoyed about the nonsense with some players charged with touching the ref and others not, now this farce for a hit that is easily the equivalent of the shoulder charge that laid out Dean Young? Minimum 8 weeks.

Here are my tips, I have entered them, so it's all good.

Bulldogs - Sam Burgess is a great player and will be a big loss, and the Bulldogs were hindered by a forward pack not going forward. I think that they will miss Sam and allow the Bulldogs to get a roll on and make a game of it. I'm going with Bulldogs to get the roll on and win in a tight one.

Cowboys - Ben Hunt with a drop, the same team for the Cowboys, a huge 50/50 split of the crowd support. This is a great game, and I think that the Cowboys will prove that they are the better team.

Raiders - Because why the hell not. Being at home is always a boost for the Raiders, and the Titans are a rough team to get a read upon. I like the Raiders this year and they seem to be doing good things down there.

Sea Eagles - Roosters were and have been abysmal this year. 40-0 is a horrible result and Manly got up for a moral boosting win. Might be a dead cat bounce but I think that Manly can hold off a 3 loss Roosters.

Panthers - The Dragons will be high after a good win, so will the Panthers. A mostly full strength Bronco's, rates better with me than a broken Bunnies side in the rain. Think that the Panthers are back where they should be.

Warriors - Same as the Titans, Not sure that they are able to go 2 from 2 with good games. Warriors are bad, Knights are bad, flipping a mental coin to work out a winner is bad. Lets just go with the bad idea and back the Warriors.

Eels - Go the BOYS, we were better last week, edge defence was a hell of a lot better. That, the last try from the Dogs hurt, might have included a obstruction, but it was so so so so soft. It was a fatal clock off inside the last few minutes. But I my heart is saying we are going 3/4 with another good win.

Storm - Sharks should have been better against Manly last week, but they stalled, If the did that against the Storm they are going to get spanked, and a spanking I think they are about to receive.

Here we go guys, hopefully we can all do a little better than last week!

Bulldogs
Cowboys
Raiders
Manly
Dragons
Warriors
Eels
Storm

Good luck everyone.

Here are my ideas for the people who didn't make the tipping ladder I can update them with the scores here

parrafan 14

Islander 14

The_NRL_Whisperer 13

Raiderpete 11

Dragons fanboy 2007 11

BigPeteBx 9

Annonymous 3

So what do you think is that a good idea to keep all the people who are not on the ladder for me to update the scores round after round

Mark it's a bit too complicated for the NRL and whether they believe the world is round and stuff.

Basically they could use a Torpedo like world record tracking line at the pace the player is running when passing the ball. The tracking line continues on, whether the player stops or not, and the player would need to catch the ball somewhere before the line.

That's how something like a Bunker could assess a forward pass if they wanted to but chances are high they don't. They are happy to keep going with a call from a touchie through a series of video monitors that don't have the sound turned on.

Thanks Parrafan for supporting the the idea but I doubled check round 1 and I could still only count 6

Hi everyone,

Based on last week’s results, I have a guaranteed system for you. Just tip the opposite of what I tip. Easy? You betcha! Saved from absolute humiliation by the Knights and Raiders draw but if you take that out of the equation, I had a total wipeout! Newbie’s gotta get some “street cred” back somehow. Maybe it’s just a case of softly, softly, catchee monkey as they say. Seems sort of cosmic that both Newbie and his beloved Roosters are sitting on the bottom of their respective ladders. Oh well, as that old classic goes … “the only way is up, baby”. Check it …

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtKADQnjQmc

I reckon this should be the Roosters’ (and mine too) new “anthem” for this year! OK, let’s get into it…

Rabbitohs - based on current rankings for attack and defense you’d think the Fluffy Ones would win in a canter. Then again, without Big Sam the Bulldogs forward pack might cause some trouble. Nah, I’ll stick with the Rabbitohs.

Broncos - yeah, the Cowboys absolutely flogged my boys last week but methinks the Ponies are a tad better opposition than we were. Brisbane will want to bounce back from last week’s loss and they’re playing at Suncorp so it’s the Boys from the Bronx for me.

Raiders - might be a bit cold for the Titans down in Canberra this week. Raiders a bit too big and the Titans poor record so far this year with missed tackles has me leaning ever so slightly towards the Green Machine.

Roosters - I was reading on the NRL website about the “post-Cronulla factor and I’m hoping like hell that it holds true. That and my beautiful boys need to get some pride back after last week’s abysmal effort. Against my better judgement I find myself tipping them to win yet again. Go you mighty Roosters!

Panthers - I thought to myself “who had the more admirable win last week, was it the Dragons solid win against Souths or the Panthers upset win against the classy Brisbane?” The Dragons’ form seems a little confusing to me while the Panthers recent form stands up as not too bad. Hmm, might put my tick alongside the Panthers this week.

Newcastle - both of these clubs are travelling pretty ordinary and it’s hard to make up my mind on who to tip. Based solely on how they fought their way back last week to grab the draw, I’m tipping the Knights in this one.

Tigers - this has me scratching my head. The Tigers have been pretty good so far but their fade out last week has me worried. Eels on the other hand had a pretty ordinary start but then had some nice wins against the Cowboys and Dogs. What the hey, let’s go the Tigers.

Storm - think the Storm are playing better footy at the moment and feel fairly confident picking them here. Storm Troopers for me.

OK kids, good luck with your tipping and may your team win by 40 points! Have a great Easter break and see you all next week. Cheers.

P.S. Why does quicksand work so slowly? Hmmm…