Morning Folks
This season has flown by, I suppose I was away for 8 weeks of footy so that has shortened my year as well.

Congrats to Footy Chick, Big Pete and Jack Starky for some outstanding tipping throughout the year.
I can see the Raiders getting home in a tight one on Sunday.
First try scorer - Latrell Mitchell
Clive Churchill winner- Jarrod Croker
Thanks to everyone for a great year of banter, hope that we can all return next year and give Footy Chick a run for her money.
My prediction for 2020, Tigers to make the 8 and Rocket to take the wooden spoon on this site.

Take Care

No apologies necessary Mr Ashford 😁. Just as long as we get a good game I’m happy. Someone has to win and someone has to lose. I’ll take either result. Bring It On!

P.S. Might pop my head into the "off season page" from time to time just to see what y'all are up to... Cheers.

Morning Newbie - from The Eastern States for this fine Wednesday.
Hang around mate and do have a peep in here during the "off-season", even if its once a week or fortnight, as you'll be able to give the knuckles a bit of a well earned rest, as you wont have an NRL Season to give us those mighty fine comprehensive predictions and form guides on.

HOWEVER - don't forget, there is still an EPL Season going on in UK (yes, we had a draw this round - Devils and Gunners) and a new A-League to kick-off this month, along with the two new additions to make the comp a bit more realistic. Mind you Big Bash League in Cricket which I don't mind, as like golfers (which I'm not), you get to see some "big hitters", amongst them.

Cheers mate and great having you here on the site, like many of our regulars who leave a post/blog and keep in touch.

Keep well - Big Pete in Bx Country (gearing up for V8's......vroom, vroom).

Good Wednesday morning to you Mark.
Mate the season went like a rocket to the moon.
I think Thinkers prelude to the grand final, just about spells it out.

Not sure on Cordner for Thinkers Clive Medal, but if Easts win, it could be Cronk or Keary, if its is either that decides the match. They both possess a good kicking game, where the whole team knows how to run off them.
Canberra has a few there in contention - it will depend on player involvement and who stands up to be counted, right through until the final whistle.

Enjoy The Sunshine Coast hospitality when that comes around. I'm sure the liquids will be plentiful. Send us down some precipitation, if you happen to get some bucket loads, before Christmas. I'll take it that Mark Santa sent it.

On that note mate - I'm signing off, to head to the daily grind. Someone has to assist supplement the retiree's and Centrelink queue's. That's to be taken in humour, as a retired friend of mine puts it.

Cheers and keep well - Big Pete in Bx

Cheers,to you as well,mate.

Before this week’s commentary on the “big dance” (which will be up in a day or two), just wanna give a (huge) “thank you” to the Boss and his Little Helper for keeping this place up and running for another year. Here’s hoping for many more to come 😍

And thank you too to all you wonderful people on here. It’s been great interacting with you all and I’m looking forward to doing it all again next year. I’m also looking forward to seeing Eugene on here under his own moniker as well, not to mention the 8 others who comment as “anonymous” 🤪

From memory, I don’t think anyone’s ever thanked the following group of people who frequent the Thinker’s wonderful site so I might just take this opportunity to give a big shout-out to all those fans from overseas who “lurk” here during the season. To all of you living in the UK, New Zealand, Japan, Colombia, Spain, Canada, Peru, Sweden, Thailand, Germany, USA or wherever, thanks for visiting and keep it up next year OK?

OK, that’s all for now. Catch y’all soon. Peace…

A BIG thank you to The Thinker & his little helper.
Although I had a fairly dismal season tipping wise. I've enjoyed being in The Thinkers competition, and I think I've made a few new friends.
Looking forward to finally meeting Steel Panther in a few weeks, and yes, Mark, I've put myself in cotton wool so that I can make the trip to the Sunny Coast.
I'll definitely be checking the "off season" page, and I'm looking forward to being a member of this wonderful group of people again next year. Thank you again Thinker, and good "off season" to all.
May the team you follow, or the team that you've tipped, win the GF.
Bye for now, manyana.

Hello everyone, it's grand final time folks!!!! My tip for the grand final of 2019 is:

Roosters by 10 - Both teams have has similar paths en route to the grand final and both teams have defended phenomenally en route to the grand final. So many storylines to look forward to. The viking clap will be in full force, will the Raiders have more fans at ANZ than the Roosters?, Will the Raiders win their first grand final in 25 years?, Will the Roosters go back-to-back, the first time that a team will go back-to-back since 1992-93. So many potential feel-good stories that can come out of this game. Both sides don't have many changes to their sides at the moment. I saw that Bateman caught a virus, Hodgson must've gave it to him. But other than that, the Raiders are unchanged, the Roosters on the other hand, will welcome back Waera-Hargreaves with Taukieaho on the bench and Collins out of the side in the reserves. There may be some more changes made but I doubt that very much. As much as I want the Raiders to win, I feel that the Roosters will just be too strong and will be the first team to go back-to-back since 1992-93. The grand final experience of players and the team will really help the Roosters and will be the difference with who wins in the end. Plus, they'll send out Cooper Cronk a winner who has been such a champion player for such a long time. But this grand final will be a very interesting one and is very intriguing that's for sure. I just hope that the refs don't ruin it or that there's a very bad call that'll have a huge impact on the result of the match.

Awesome. Good luck with everyone's tips for this week and with Roosters and Raiders fans on this site with your teams for this week. Before I go, I would just like to thank Thinker and TLH for yet another amazing season of footy on this amazing site and also to everyone who has commented for some good interactions throughout the season. There are some real good people on this site and I'm very glad to be apart of it. Congrats to Footy Chick on finishing on top yet again. You are a champion tipster on this site and is always consistently on the top of the tree so good onya Footy Chick! And also congrats to Jack Starcky and Big Pete for a top 3 finish, well done guys! A special mention someone who is a regular in the comments who's taken so much time and effort into his comments along with me, and that is Newbie, you've done an amazing job this season buddy! Thank you so much for your amazing insight, keep that up next season man so I'm not the only one who does it (besides Thinker of course). It's been a pleasure and I'm so very grateful to have found this site and to be able to be an integral member on this site. Cya all next season if I don't comment on the off-season page but I may comment on the off-season page, I'll see how I'll go. Cheers and enjoy the grand final y'all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Big Pete
I believe you are spot on with that email address. Just remember there's a dot between mark & ashford. Hey "Sherlock" anytime you feel like shooting off a catch up it will be most welcome.
As others have said the people on this site are just incredible. I feel privaledged to be involved with you guys & gals.

Mark - its been great and its been fun. I'll drop you a line in surprise.
Might even make it a Bcc job and include Johnny A in it, as well.

BTW - do you recall at the start of season, predictions for a top 8 from each of those who wished to submit.
I wonder how it all panned out/finished up!

Cheers and keep well mate
Big Pete

Sa-wat-dee krup,

We have 2 possible “fairytale” endings on the cards this weekend. Will the Roosters become the first side in 26 years to get back-to-back premierships and send Cronk out with his third-straight grand final win OR will the Raiders win their first appearance in a grand final in 25 years? Ah, the stuff dreams are made of. Not gonna say anything about the Dally M as that would just be self indulgent and showing off 😉 And just quickly … Dragons FB – mate, stop it, you’re making me blush. Thanks for the kind words brother and I’ll send mine right back at ya. Your posts are similar in length (but not so much this week 😁) as well as being astute and well thought out. Well done and looking forward to seeing more of the same next year. OK, enough of that, let’s get into it…

Roosters vs Raiders 65-35
When - Sun 6th October 2019
Time - 6.30pm (local)
Where - ANZ Stadium
Bookies Favourite - Roosters

Roosters
The Roosters kept the Storm scoreless in the first half last week and then shared the points in the second and managed to get up 14-6 to earn their ticket to the “big dance” against the Raiders on Sunday. What a tough, brutal encounter last week was. First tackle, 15 seconds into the match and Nelson Asofa-Solomona tries to assert his authority and Siosiua Taukeiaho stands up to him and says “bring it on”. Both got binned and rightly so. Thanks for the 2 points Nelson 👍. Interesting to see the biggest bloke on the field putting his head down and backing away from the ensuing push and shove though. Might get into trouble for saying this but maybe he’s not that tough and only feels comfortable pushing around little fellas. Hmmm.

A good first 40 from the Roosters but the Storm came back in the second half and caused a lot of concern for the Roosters but the Chooks stood up in defence and did enough to get home. Plenty of big hits from both sides but the Storm appeared to come off second best in that battle. The Roosters were dudded (in my humble and unbiased opinion) when Joey Manu’s try was disallowed in the 57th minute. Seriously, Tedesco knocked it on with his thumb? Yeah, whatever 😒. Not that it mattered. A great line break from Crichton and backing up from Cronk led to Tedesco’s try with roughly 11 minutes to go. That was the “nail in the coffin” for the Storm.

The Roosters could’ve possibly won by more had they not made some pretty average attempts at tackling. It’s one of the few things that continue to plague their game and it continues to drive me insane at the same time. Do that in the grand final and the likes of Bateman, Papalii and maybe Croker will punish them. Coming off the bench, Angus Crichton had a burster. One of the best games I’ve seen from him for a while I reckon. If he can replicate that attitude it’ll certainly help the Roosters’ cause. Great efforts from Cronk and Cordner as well.

The Roosters did make some mistakes in the match (so too the Storm) but the Roosters defence proved the difference, especially when they were up against it in the second half. I’ll tell you something for nothing, that Brandon Smith is one hell of a player. I rate him very highly indeed. He’s as tough as boots, never gives up and has no fear (or no brain?). Man, I wish the Roosters had 2 of him playing for them 😁

The Roosters can expect a tough one here against the Raiders but I’m thinking their experience and class plus the motivation with the back-to-back thing and sending out Cronk in style might just get them over the line here. Look, they’ll have JWH back and that should in theory, be a big plus. Not saying their opposition so far was lacking but grand finals bring out the best in sides. Well, most times anyway. Pretty sure the Raiders will be just as committed to be winning this but the memory of getting beaten twice this year by the Chooks might play on their minds (hopefully). The Roosters really need to work hard at cracking the Raiders’ defence if they’re to be any chance.

Stats-wise the Roosters were sort of OK last week. On the positive side they had more tackle breaks (38-29), had a better kick defusal (71%-50%), missed less tackles (29-38) and conceded less penalties (6-8). Things they need to fine tune are possession (49%-51%), completion (71%-79%), post contact metres (392-440), ineffective tackles (23-12) and errors (12-9). Address those and they’re “gold”.

Raiders
Great first half from both the Raiders and the (surprisingly good) Rabbitohs last week. Some great Raiders defence stood them in good stead and they eventually prevailed 16-10 in a hard fought encounter in front of their biggest ever home crowd. And that with only 12 blokes for the last 10 minutes. How Charnze gets binned confuses me just a little. Yeah, he got done for the strip but I’m not totally convinced on that. Then again, what’s a bloke to do? Hey, it’s finals footy and things like that happen. I didn’t really think it was “blatant” as such. I would’ve maybe, possibly, just let it slide if it was me. Meh … whatever.

Don’t know if it’s just me but I didn’t see the same Raiders side last week that I’m accustomed to seeing. Dunno, they just looked a little anxious and tentative in the beginning of proceedings. It might’ve been an improved showing from the Rabbitohs, not sure. Whatever the reason, the Raiders saw off the challenge and that’s all that matters.

I reckon the result could’ve gone either way but Canberra held fast after CN-K was binned and in typical Raiders fashion, they never gave up, never doubted and got themselves the chocolates thanks to a match winning try from Papalii with 6 or 7 minutes to go.

What impressed me the most about the Raiders’ win was their defence. We’ve been talking about it and witnessing it firsthand all year and again, it was certainly on display last week. As hard as Souths tried (especially in the second 40), they just couldn’t get past them when it mattered. All credit to the Raiders and the Roosters need to try and find a way around this determined Raiders side to be in with a chance. This could quite easily be a lot closer than the bookies prices suggest.

Magnificent effort from Josh Papalii. I haven’t seen a whole lot of Raiders games this year so I’ll have to take the commentators’ word for it when they said it was probably his best game all year. Ran for 179 metres, scored the match winning try and threatened all night. Hogson had a blinder too. Thought he was gone when he got “barrelled” early on but he most probably “lied” to the trainer and said he was good to go. But man, he looked pretty shaky when he got up from that hit. Went on and had a big game and managed that huge try saver on Cody Walker. And what about Wighton’s try eh? That was a superb piece of footy to be honest. Just a shame the bunker took so long to give it the all clear.

One of the few things the Raiders might have on their minds is that the Roosters have beaten them twice this year. Great defence or not, if they let the Roosters get a quick start and allow them to apply some pressure like the Bunnies did last week, the Raiders might be in a little trouble. But then again, it’s a funny ol’ game as I always say and unexpected things sometimes happen in grand finals.

I’m thinking the Roosters might be able to put the Raiders under more pressure than the Bunnies did last week and if so, the Raiders’ defensive game will need to go up just that little bit more. It’s not impossible by any means and it’ll be very interesting to see how they handle it.

Stats-wise, the Raiders were beaten in quite a few key areas. They had less possession (44%-56%), less running metres (1421-1675), less line breaks (2-5), less tackle breaks (30-36), less forced drop outs (0-6) and had more missed tackles (36-30). And yet they won, even with one in the bin 🤔 Who would’ve thunk it eh?

Final Words
Can I make a case for the Raiders in this one? Absolutely… but I keep thinking about the following. On the road to the GF (where both these sides beat the same opposition), the Raiders beat the Storm by 2 but the Roosters beat the Storm by 8. The Raiders beat the Bunnies by 6 but the Roosters beat the Bunnies by 24. Combined winning margins come out Raiders 8 and the Roosters 32. Hmmm, is that a pointer or am I just clutching at straws? Doesn’t really matter as I’m tipping the Roosters to go back-to-back here. Begurk! 🐔 Begurk! 🐔

Let’s finish off with another “Song of the Week”…

Apparently, the lyrics in this song tell a story about a guy who is reunited with an old flame and tries to rekindle a romantic relationship with her before discovering that said romantic relationship never really existed. One of my all-time favourite songs from one of my all-time favourite albums. Might have something to do with the story 😉

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJe1iUuAW4M

OK kids, I’m outta here. Good luck to both sides this weekend but I’m hoping (obviously) for a Roosters win. Don’t forget to pop into the “off season” page from time to time. Cheers y’all.

Hey anonymous classic comeback from you on Steel Panther, I mean no one would have realised the humour in his reply to Newbie.....oh actually clearly it was just you who didn’t.........but great 2nd shot on where he lives, that’s so clever and witty....actually really F witty

Hi Voyeur,
The comments by anonymous to Steel, reminded me of a potato that used to post, but he went rotten so left.

He didn't see humour either, when it stared him him in the face, and relied on the sarcastic and snide, much like this anonymous!!!

Enjoy the match on Sunday everyone - should be a cracker!

Cheers to all,
Mary

Ha Ha
Anonymous versions 1 through 8 (I wonder which one) has returned with a couple of ignorant comments. Pal if you couldn't read the humour in Steel's comment then you're overdue a visit to Specsavers.
Before you try and claim humour, there is nothing funny about insulting someone because they live in NZ.

Good evenin Mark - between Thinker, Newbie and Dragons FB, I reckon we have journo's going here, through thick and thin, who would make some of the newspaper erratics, look like "new kids on the block/books".

Cheers mate and have a great long weekend and enjoyable NRL G/Final.
Keep well - Big Pete in Bx

Big Pete
Couldn't agree more. Between Thinker, Newbie and DFB we get an amazing array of stats and opinions to help with picks.
Unfortunately some like me jump in early without reading the mail.
Explains my position on the ladder, maybe I'll be a little more cautious next year. With Bathurst being a little closer to Canberra than Bondi do you have a soft spot for the boys in green?

Hi Big Pete,
Your question to Mark re predictions for this season, sparked my curiosity, so I returned to posts at the beginning of the season, and found predictions from Dragon FB, a and Islander in Round 1 comments, who all predicted Roosters as No. 1 but Raiders well down the list.

The part I really enjoyed, in going back to the beginning of the season, was re-reading the comments and appreciating, once again, some of the humour and friendly banter!!!

Cheers, and many thanks, to all contributors over the season.
Mary

Newbie - we appreciate it and the banter. I agree with the "you know who bit". Never fear, it walks among us, but which one, I'll keep my reservations, with its change of tact.

A-League will be interesting with Perth Glory (I'm always with the Smurfs) and if they can go the extra distance this season. BBL with Perth Scorchers will be another, for you to keep an eye on.

Enjoy the G/Final and all the best with The Chookies.
Cheers, keep well - Big Pete (vroom, vroom - getting near).

Anonymous
What a fine fairy tale you have penned. The Brothers Grimm would have loved to include you in their circle but unfortunately they passed away over 150 years ago. Among many others they wrote "sleeping beauty".
Are you our "sleeping beauty" waiting for that princely kiss to awaken you? Don't hold your breath, princess it's not coming.

Newbie from Perth,

All good brother. Yet another cracker of a comment yet again this week. You turned just saying "I'm going for my team in the grand final" into something that was worth the read. Great effort yet again. How about that Anonymous huh, jeez isn't he a cracker himself with his brilliant fairy tales. I hope this turns into a regular thing next season!!

Cheers!!!