The Quick Tap

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Everybody is entitled to their own opinion despite some in this modern world that believe otherwise. Rugby league fans are no different. If you buy a ticket, you’re allowed to cheer or boo whomever you please.

On Saturday I called the Intrust Super Premiership match between Wests Tigers and Newtown Jets for Steele Sports and I can safely say this was the most outrageous NSW Cup I’ll ever be a part of.

It started from the moment we drove in. Reporters and news trucks were everywhere and the man everyone came to see, Robbie Farah, pulled up next to us in the car park. He saw exactly what we saw and it most definitely brought a smile to his face.

By the time kick-off came around, there were 3000 fans inside the ground and officials were forced to open up the hill for the first time in the history of the Intrust Super Premiership.

Farah was brilliant and had a hand in no less than five Wests Tigers tries on his way to our Wests Ashfield Man of the Match. Newtown simply couldn’t handle his talent. Most knew he would dominate and there’s every chance he’ll get man of the match in every game he plays at this level. But that doesn’t mean NRL coach Jason Taylor is going to change his mind. The club is going in another direction and it was there for all to see on Sunday as Mitch Moses, Luke Brooks and James Tedesco took the first grade side to victory against St George Illawarra.

I do have issue with a couple of things that went down on Saturday at Leichhardt:

*A couple of idiots in the crowd decided to make up signs which were quickly confiscated. The first one we saw said ‘We Like Farah but we Love Fa’alogo’ – in reference to David Fa’alogo king hitting Taylor when they were at South Sydney. Another read ‘F##K JT’ and another called JT a ‘DOG’. You would honestly think Taylor had assassinated the Prime Minister (maybe that’s what they thought).

*On the scoreboard next to ‘2040’ were the numbers 247 – the amount of first grade games Farah has played. The scoreboard attendant might be getting his own tap on the shoulder from club officials shortly.

*I can understand if a few of the fans wanted to jump the fence post-match and shake Farah’s hand but I was in shock when Farah was mobbed by at least 500 people in the centre of the ground. You would have thought Martin Luther King or Elvis Presley had come back from the dead. There were ‘Bring back Robbie’ and ‘Sack JT’ chants as Farah headed toward the sheds. I spoke to different club officials throughout the day and all were backing Taylor to the hilt. It’s time to move on.

*I can also understand Robbie wanting to give his side of the story on an emotional day but walking into the sheds and straight out the back of the grandstand to chat to the waiting mass of media also seems a little too much.

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And you thought the Super League’s playoff system was a joke. Get this. Country Rugby League’s Group 6 has approved a six team finals series (there’s eight teams in the competition) with no eliminations in the opening week. Yes that’s right, the fifth and sixth placed teams get a second bite at the cherry. There’s also no incentive to finishing first or second as all venues have already been allocated for the finals. Savvy coaches might rest their best players until the playoffs considering there’s no difference where they finish.

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How good would a Cronulla versus Canberra grand final be! While there’s more clinical teams in the premiership, these two sides know how to entertain and it would be great to see two of the smaller franchises – with all due respect to Sharks and Raiders fans – in the big dance. No matter what you’re going to have a feel good finish to the season.

@woodward_curtis

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