a couple of notable things this weekend
sam burgess ran for over 200m which must be the holy grail for a prop forward (despite the new nrl match centre having him down for 10m - slight glitch i think as they had george burgess down for 3m) and he spent a bit of time off the field either side of half time
the eels v warriors game perhaps set a record for the most tries decided by the video ref
gareth widdop made a fine start to his new career with the dragons (involved in 5 tries and kicking 8 goals)

finally that nrl match centre thing again - needs a bit of ironing out as some of the player stats look a bit dodgy

Are you a Hull FC fan by any chance?

I watched the Bunnies vs the oosters on Tursday and then bits of other games over the weekend...


I think the new rule interpretations have resulted in the game looking frantic... I didnt enjoy the first game at all as most of the subtleties and skills had been replaced by the need for speed.

The first half in particular was so fast I struggled to follow it!

I hope things settle a bit as the season progresses.

173 metres for S.Burgess according to [url=http://live.nrlstats.com/matches/nrl/match25641.htmlTHIS[/url.

Whatever he ran he was rightly given mom over hat trick hero Inglis, superb performance.

Taumalolo made 226 metres for the Cowboys.

Bit of a mixed bag for me. Souths-Roosters was pretty entertaining, but if games continue to be played at that tempo, expect to see the return of the scooting hooker, because there's acres to be made once teams tire.

Broncos-Dogs was a poor quality game between two teams entirely devoid of quality at halfback. Broncos' kicking game needs to improve 100% or they'll be smashed regularly.

Dragons-Tigers was a bit odd, but once the Dragons got on top it was one-way traffic. A very long season for the Tigers, who need to work out how to protect Brooks in defence. Both teams let in very soft tries on their own line, which they'll need to improve.

Haven't seen the Warriors game, but in terms of British players, Graham was OK, Widdopp got better as the game progressed (but to me seems to be almost entirely left-sided player - even some regulation passes to the right looked slow and awkward) and Cooper looked strong and not off the pace, which was a reasonable effort in his first game.

In terms of the English players over there. Graham did well with a few good touches. Cooper impressed me took in loads of runs and actually made meters. and Widdop had a good game on his debut setting up trys and his goal kicking was phenomenal.

Taumalolo was fantastic, absolutely rampant on that left edge.

I agree to an extent but I thought the Broncos goal line defence was excellent and they took their chances in attack well. The Dogs approach work was much less impressive, they looked hesitant and almost as if they'd all met just before kick off. Your point about the halfbacks for both teams is well made.

The Dogs have some great forwards yet their ball security was poor. I expect they'll get better. Will the Broncos? Barba slotted in well IMO.

The Warriors/Eels game was an anticlimax. V poor defence by Warriors, too many video replays. Not seen any of the other games yet.

One thing that has struck a chord with me over this weekend in the NRL, I'm absolutely hating how the shoulder charge is being interpreted - the game is being sanitised far too much.

I know it's an old arguement, but I really think the game will suffer if they stick with this clampdown on all things aggressive.

I get the need to punish head shots and to look after player welfare, but removing the legitimate shoulder charge tackle has taken away a part of the spectacle - I don't think it's a coincidence that since the hard line rules on shoulder charges and punching has been introduced, crowds in the NRL have dropped.

The players want the legitamate shoulder charge to stay and the fans generally want it to stay - why on earth have we dropped it. They site player welfare and the risk of litigation, but it's a risk associated with this sport - just like it's a risk associated with boxing or UFC (the fastest growing 'sport' in the world).

Glad to see it back, also, I like the zero tackle rule when the balls kicked dead. I know it’s only one extra tackle, but people might think twice about aimlessly booting it dead.