Well! What a first week of FINALS FOOTY!
As a RL fan simply sitting on the finals fence (once again), it was outstanding to see some big upsets to shake up the competition.
The biggest result has to go to the Penny Panthers, those Chocolate Soldiers from the Blue Mountains, who came back from 18-12 down with six minutes left on the clock to win the match 19-18 thanks to a bit of Jamie Soward magic.
The Bulldogs also sprung a surprise, outlasting the Melbourne Storm in Melbourne with a hard fought 28-4 elimination final victory. See the match reports below.
So the Panthers and Rabbits, who hammered the Sea Eagles 40-24 on Friday night, will get a week's rest while the Cowboys, who eliminated their QLD neighbors The Broncos on Saturday with a convincing 32-20 win in Townsville, Roosters, Manly and Bulldogs will play off to earn places in the Preliminary Finals in two weeks time.
In our Tipping Competition, not a lot changed at the top with many tipsters not brave enough to go against the favorites, in particular the Roosters and Storm. Simply The Bears still leads the Tipping Championship table by 4 points with 5 games to go. See the table below.
THE FINAL PRIZES
TOTAL PRIZE POOL - $1560 (NZ)
1st Prize: $560
3rd Prize: $150
Pool Prize: $100
The first Week of the NRL finals kicked off in amazing style on Friday night.
South Sydney progressed straight to the preliminary finals with a 40-24 drubbing of Manly at the Sydney Football Stadium.
The Rabbitohs were nearly perfect for the first hour of Friday night's qualifying final against a hapless Sea Eagles outfit, claiming brutal retribution for their loss to the same opponents in last year's preliminary final.Souths bashed their way to a 40-0 lead after 56 minutes before Manly added some respectability to the scoreline with four tries in the last 16 minutes.
Adam Reynolds scored two tries, as did Alex Johnston, in a personal haul of 20 points as the Rabbitohs progressed to the third week of the finals and their third successive preliminary final.
Already hit hard by injuries to Glenn Stewart, Matt Ballin and Jamie Buhrer, Manly's cause was not helped by a neck injury to stand-in dummy half Jayden Hodges, who went down after a 14th-minute tackle on Greg Inglis and was taken to hospital at half-time for precautionary scans.
It is doubtful whether a fit Hodges would have made any difference as the Sea Eagles, in their 10th successive finals series, were swamped before 25,733 fans.
Manly next meet Canterbury at Allianz Stadium and Anthony Watmough (dangerous throw), Jamie Lyon (dangerous throw) and Kieran Foran (high tackle) face nervous waits over their availability.
On Saturday, in six quick minutes, Penrith turned the NRL title race on its head with a miraculous last-gasp qualifying win over the Sydney Roosters at the Sydney Football Stadium.A low-trajectory Jamie Soward field goal with less than 10 seconds left on the clock earned the Panthers an extraordinary 19-18 victory on Saturday night after the Roosters looked to have snatched the match just minutes earlier.
A solo try six minutes from full-time to half-back Mitchell Pearce, and a controversial conversion to five-eighth James Maloney, had given the Roosters an 18-12 lead.
But an incredible reply from the Panthers with three minutes remaining sent Penrith's travelling fans into a frenzy.
A freakish effort from winger Dallin Watene-Zelezniak to keep a Soward chip alive led to a try for Dean Whare and Soward slotted the wide conversion to level the scores at 18.
A Michael Jennings knock-on gave the Panthers one last look, and Soward drilled a last-minute field goal that barely snuck over the cross bar and sent Penrith to the preliminary finals.
While the Panthers will enjoy next weekend off and sit one win away from a first grand final berth since winning the title in 2003, the Roosters now face a sudden-death showdown on Friday night against North Queensland.
The Cowboys earnt their right to week two of the finals ousting Brisbane 32-20 in their NRL elimination final clash at 1300 Smiles Stadium in Townsville to set up a semi-final showdown with Sydney.After refereeing howlers ended their finals campaign the last two years, the Cowboys left little to chance on Saturday night.
They took matters into their own hands and rushed to a 24-0 half-time lead before finally putting away their Queensland rivals in front of a delirious 25,120-strong home crowd.
In 2004, the Cowboys came of age when they downed Brisbane for the first time in a semi-final in Townsville.
Fast forward 10 years and the Cowboys look to have made another bold statement against their old foes, defying a horror finals history to stake a serious claim as NRL title threats.
Still, North Queensland would have been forgiven for feeling paranoid when they arrived on Saturday night.
First there was the undetected "Hand of Foran" knock-on that sparked Manly's 22-12 semi-final win over North Queensland in 2012.
A year later and the Cowboys were screaming blue murder again, even conjuring Sydney-centric conspiracy theories, when a seventh-tackle try sparked Cronulla's 20-18 finals win over North Queensland.
However, they had tongues wagging for all the right reasons this year when they ended coach Anthony Griffin's Broncos tenure with their eighth win in nine games.
It marked the Cowboys' third straight NRL finals win over Brisbane in Townsville since that fateful day 10 years ago.
Lastly on Sunday, Canterbury roared back into NRL title contention after stunning the Melbourne Storm 28-4 in their elimination final at AAMI Park.The Bulldogs will now face their coach Des Hasler's old side Manly in a semi-final next Saturday night at the Sydney Football Stadium while the shell-shocked Storm's season is over.
Heading into Sunday's match with just two wins from their last eight matches, the Bulldogs erased any doubts about their form with a 40-minute blast that saw them lead 24-0 by half-time.
Centre Tim Lafai scored a hat-trick for the day as the Bulldogs forwards, led by James Graham and Greg Eastwood, bullied their opponents.
Melbourne skipper Cameron Smith overcame a serious ankle injury to play but his presence was not enough to stop the Canterbury onslaught.
Sydney Roosters v NQ Cowboys at the SFS - Friday, September 19, 7:55pm AEST
Manly Sea Eagles v Canterbury Bulldogs at the SFS - Saturday, September 20, 7:45pm AEST
Not much has changed at the top of the Tipping Championship ladder with Simply The Bears (173) holding his 4 point lead over Redv4me (169). 3rd placed Feet Little is a further point back on 168 and 2 points ahead of The Neighbour (166) in 4th place.
The defending champion Scotsta (164), however, lost ground on the top 4 with a 0 from 4 tipping round which saw those below him gain some ground.
Sincas (163), NZ Tiger (162), Lainey (162), Butch (160) and sava4 (160) round off the Top 10 with 5 games to go.
The defending champion Scotsta (164), however, lost ground on the top 4 with a 0 from 4 tipping round which saw those below him gain some ground.
Sincas (163), NZ Tiger (162), Lainey (162), Butch (160) and sava4 (160) round off the Top 10 with 5 games to go.
RANK
|
TIPPER
|
FINALS WEEK 1 SCORE
|
FINALS WEEK 1 MARGIN
|
TOTAL SCORE
|
TOTAL MARGIN
|
1
|
Simply The Bears
|
2
|
8
|
173
|
376
|
2
|
Redv4me
|
2
|
3
|
169
|
337
|
3
|
Feet Little
|
2
|
10
|
168
|
323
|
4
|
The Neighbour
|
2
|
4
|
166
|
271
|
5
|
Scotsta
|
0
|
23
|
164
|
334
|
6
|
Sincas
|
2
|
10
|
163
|
301
|
7
|
NZ Tiger
|
2
|
10
|
162
|
341
|
8
|
Lainey
|
3
|
6
|
162
|
350
|
9
|
Butch
|
2
|
4
|
160
|
312
|
10
|
sava4
|
1
|
26
|
160
|
332
|
11
|
Richard McCourt
|
2
|
6
|
159
|
311
|
12
|
cmcnls+1day
|
2
|
6
|
159
|
353
|
13
|
kazgriffo
|
2
|
10
|
159
|
362
|
14
|
steven bowers
|
2
|
23
|
157
|
330
|
15
|
Tonz
|
2
|
6
|
157
|
347
|
16
|
Warmess
|
2
|
12
|
157
|
365
|
17
|
Heath Caldwell
|
2
|
12
|
156
|
340
|
18
|
Steve Rootsey
|
2
|
2
|
156
|
347
|
19
|
Brad Ellison
|
1
|
26
|
156
|
362
|
20
|
Yo Mama
|
1
|
26
|
156
|
385
|
21
|
danz ??
|
2
|
9
|
155
|
332
|
22
|
Anotherstranger
|
2
|
8
|
155
|
358
|
23
|
Mr Busy
|
2
|
8
|
154
|
355
|
24
|
Vee8head
|
2
|
9
|
153
|
337
|
25
|
jall091 (2014 Champion)
|
2
|
8
|
153
|
362
|
26
|
Titta
|
2
|
6
|
152
|
346
|
27
|
BT Ross
|
2
|
9
|
152
|
380
|
28
|
Anu
|
2
|
14
|
152
|
380
|
29
|
Misty Taylor
|
4
|
10
|
151
|
358
|
30
|
trey waldron
|
4
|
22
|
151
|
367
|
31
|
Alfie
|
2
|
10
|
150
|
350
|
32
|
emmy_k
|
2
|
10
|
149
|
374
|
33
|
Darren Scott
|
2
|
4
|
149
|
428
|
34
|
Bearass
|
4
|
9
|
148
|
340
|
35
|
Bronco2020
|
2
|
6
|
148
|
358
|
36
|
mickeytheboot
|
2
|
10
|
147
|
341
|
37
|
melz
|
2
|
10
|
147
|
435
|
38
|
Link Abrams
|
2
|
9
|
146
|
328
|
39
|
Keith Wilton
|
2
|
22
|
146
|
389
|
40
|
Rex Kwando
|
2
|
10
|
145
|
362
|
41
|
Jessamine
|
2
|
8
|
144
|
351
|
42
|
boogs_nz
|
1
|
20
|
144
|
375
|
43
|
NO1QPRNZ
|
1
|
24
|
142
|
304
|
44
|
BEARHUG
|
1
|
24
|
142
|
348
|
45
|
tais1
|
0
|
16
|
140
|
384
|
46
|
Balmainadrian
|
1
|
24
|
139
|
438
|
47
|
haze13
|
1
|
32
|
139
|
457
|
48
|
Westroar
|
4
|
4
|
138
|
339
|
49
|
eaglesrock
|
2
|
24
|
138
|
348
|
50
|
blo1
|
2
|
28
|
138
|
435
|
51
|
taijay
|
0
|
16
|
138
|
444
|
52
|
Burnside_NZ
|
2
|
10
|
137
|
359
|
53
|
Desire Wilton
|
2
|
10
|
136
|
359
|
54
|
killswitch
|
2
|
8
|
135
|
325
|
55
|
Toddy
|
2
|
6
|
135
|
375
|
56
|
Kye Hudson
|
3
|
10
|
134
|
344
|
57
|
Craig Carnihan
|
0
|
16
|
131
|
397
|
58
|
Team Upton
|
0
|
16
|
129
|
377
|
59
|
eviltwin
|
2
|
6
|
124
|
369
|
60
|
HUDS99
|
0
|
16
|
124
|
400
|
61
|
rog the dodge
|
1
|
26
|
124
|
469
|
62
|
1YEARWONDERBARBA
|
1
|
26
|
116
|
435
|
63
|
campbell roberts
|
0
|
16
|
96
|
385
|
64
|
LOUNGIN SON
|
0
|
16
|
84
|
423
|
65
|
Bruiser
|
0
|
16
|
67
|
403
|
66
|
Joejoez
|
0
|
16
|
60
|
397
|
67
|
Stevefromoz(2009 Champion)
|
0
|
16
|
53
|
380
|
68
|
Wilshere Wonderland
|
0
|
16
|
47
|
418
|
69
|
pimp machine
|
0
|
16
|
33
|
382
|
Where do you sit in your POOLS TABLE? Check out the LATEST POOLS TABLES link at the top of the blog site!
That's it for this update.....enjoy week 02 of the finals!!
Til next week....
Mark
aka NZ Tiger
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