This Saturday night, the National Rugby League competition will take it's biggest gamble yet when it kicks off at Sin City. It's going to be a double header with the opening game: Manly vs. South Sydney, taking place LIVE on Fox Sports 1 at 9:30pm ET. So far only 33,000 tickets have been sold at Allegiant Stadium (65,000) capacity, but the NRL plans on hosting more games over there as they try to break into your market.

I think I know the answer, but has there been any traction at all over in the US?

Manly Sea Eagles vs. South Sydney Rabbitohs
Allegiant Stadium, Saturday 2 March 2024
Kick Off: 9:30pm (ET)

Backs: 1. Tom Trbojevic 2. Jason Saab 3. Tolutau Koula 4. Reuben Garrick 5. Jaxson Paulo 

Halves: 6. Luke Brooks 7. Daly Cherry-Evans 

Forwards: 8. Taniela Paseka 9. Lachlan Croker 10. Josh Aloiai 11. Haumole Olakau'atu 12. Ben Trbojevic 13. Jake Trbojevic 

Interchange: 14. Karl Lawton 15. Corey Waddell 16. Ethan Bullemor 17. Nathan Brown 

Reserves: 18. Jakob Arthur 19. Raymond Tuiamalo Vaega 20. Aaron Woods 21. Tommy Talau 22. Brad Parker

Backs: 1. Latrell Mitchell 2. Alex Johnston 3. Isaiah Tass 4. Richard Kennar 5. Jacob Gagai 

Halves: 6. Cody Walker 7. Lachlan Ilias 

Forwards: 8. Tevita Tatola 9. Damien Cook 10. Sean Keppie 11. Keaon Koloamatangi 12. Jai Arrow 13. Cameron Murray 

Interchange: 14. Siliva Havili 15. Jacob Host 16. Davvy Moale 17. Thomas Burgess

Reserves: 18. Tallis Duncan 19. Michael Chee Kam 20. Shaquai Mitchell 21. Peter Mamouzelos 24. Dean Hawkins

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Manly:

After missing out on the post-season, both teams will have a point to prove in the season opener.

For the Sea Eagles, they welcome back one of the most destructive players in the competition Tom Trbojevic (Treh-voy-evich). After obliterating the competition in 2021, Tom has had an unfortunate run of injuries these past couple of seasons missing most of last season after tearing his pectorial for New South Wales in a representative game. He will be their main strike weapon down the fringes where he'll be looking to combine with speedsters Tolutau Koula and the 6'6 Jason Saab.

At halfback they have Queensland captain Daly (Daily) Cherry-Evans who will be lining up for his 14th season at the club. The whiley veteran still has a few tricks up his sleeve and his kicking game close to the try-line (end-zone) ranks as one of the best you'll see in the combination. Cherry-Evans often links with the strapping Haumole Ola'kauatu (Ola-caw-atu) down the right edge and the 6'5 second row is often too big to handle.

Daly will be joined by Luke Brooks who makes his way over from the Wests Tigers after 10 seasons with the club. Despite being compared to some of the greatest halfbacks in the history of the game, Brooks struggled to live up to expectations. With a new lease on life, the veteran will get to play a supporting role that should allow him to simplify his game and focus on running the ball. There's a lot of question marks surrounding his future, but if Brooks can find his footing on the Northern Beaches, he'll form one of the best halves combinations in the game.

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Souths:

Half-way through last season, South Sydney were the form team of competition with victories over both would-be grand finalists the Penrith Panthers & Brisbane Broncos. Then they lost their best players to representative duty and when they returned they collapsed in a heat. There was a lot of blame to go around, but one player who found themselves in the centre of it was fullback Latrell Mitchell.

When I covered the competition back in 2018-19, Latrell was with South Sydney's biggest rivals the Sydney Roosters as they won back to back premierships. Latrell defected to South Sydney in 2020 with the allure of playing fullback but has yet to fulfill his promise in the new role. In fact when South Sydney qualified for the 2021 Grand Final, Latrell Mitchell was busy serving a six game suspension. South Sydney would go onto lose the game 14-12, had Latrell played, he could have been the difference just like he was in 2019. Like his opposite, Tom Trbojevic, there's little doubt that on his day Latrell is one of the most dangerous players in the game and his form in the first half of 2023 reflected that. However it's a matter of his commitment and how hard he's willing to work for his team mates.

Otherwise this South Sydney core of Damien Cook, Cameron Murray and Cody Walker has been one of the most consistent since 2018. While he's getting on in age, the 32 year old Damien Cook is still lightening quick out of dummy half which opens up plenty of space for Murray and Walker to combine with the outside backs. One beneficiary is Alex Johnston, who is close to breaking the all-time try-scoring record of 212 tries set by Ken Irvine back in 1965. Johnston sits at 187 tries so if he maintains his average he will go close to breaking it.

South Sydney will be doing it tough in the outside backs. They have lost two representative outside backs in recruit Jack Wighton and centre Campbell Graham. With further injuries, they've had to dig deep into their depth chart and pull Jacob Gagai (Gag-eye - one Aussie commentator used to pronounce it Gay-guy - don't listen to him) from reserve grade. The 28 year old utility back has been at several clubs vying for an opportunity and finally an opportunity has presented itself. Jacob is the younger brother of Dane, who has represented Australia and is remembered as a great representative for Queensland. Not a lot is expected of either Gagai or Kennar, but both have the capacity to catch Manly off-guard.

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If both teams play to potential this should be a power-keg of football with a lot of free flowing football along with some big hits in the middle. Look for Jake Trbojevic and Jai Arrow to go hammer and tong.

Hugh 'Wolverine' Jackman is a huge Manly Sea Eagles supporter, while Russell 'Maximus' Crowe is the co-owner of the Rabbitohs and has been constantly pushing their brand whenever celebrities venture out here or on your late night television.

There is another game featuring my Brisbane Broncos taking on Sydney, but I don't think that's going to air so I'll spare you the details.

We’re still trying to catch up to soccer.

There’s a small passionate rugby fan base but emphasis on small.

Feb 29, 2024 17:57:02 GMT Gyro LC said:

We’re still trying to catch up to soccer.

There’s a small passionate rugby fan base but emphasis on small.

I was moreso wondering if there has been any promotion whatsoever about this game.

They've been trying to hype it down here in Queensland like we're taking over, but it just seems like an excuse to let the boys go on an extended holiday.

We're less than an hour away from kick-off.

Both games on Fox Sports 1.

Apparently College Basketball ran over-time, so the US audience missed the opening 20 minutes.

Souths on top early here, as Saab makes a huge 60m run, only for Cherry-Evans to turn the ball over with a poor kick.

HT

Sea Eagles lead 12-10 after a 60m intercept try (the NRL version of a pick-six) from giant winger Jason Saab.

Here's that DCE-Oloka'atu combination I was talking about earlier.

Curious to see what they announce the figure as. Definitely not a sell-out, but it looks like there's 35 000-40 000 in attendance.

The NRL are reporting a crowd of 40,000+. Not bad, but not a runaway success.

The spectacle produced two upsets with Manly prevaling over South Sydney in a high scoring contest, 36-20.

Meanwhile Sydney were too good for the Broncos with a 20-10 win.

Guessing no one in the US on this forum knew this even happened, the NRL channel have been talking non-stop (it plays on repeat at work ) about what a success it was.

Mar 6, 2024 12:52:33 GMT System said:

Guessing no one in the US on this forum knew this even happened, the NRL channel have been talking non-stop (it plays on repeat at work ) about what a success it was.

The TV ratings weren't much to write home about either, 61K and 44K respectively. I don't believe the rest of the season is being broadcast and Americans are expected to pay $150USD for a streaming service.

Apparantly they plan on doing it for another four years.

Americans seemed way more interested in the NFL Combine than anything that was happening with our sport.

Meanwhile, I'd imagine down in your neck of the woods the city would be buzzing for the season opener tonight.

Sea Eagles > Rabbitohs 36-24
Roosters > Broncos 20-10
Raiders > Knights 28-12
Sharks > Warriors 16-12
Storm > Panthers 8-0
Eels > Bulldogs 26-8
Dragons > Titans 28-4
Cowboys 43 > Dolphins 18

Decided to follow the Dolphins has they won me the tipping competition last year & didn’t really follow NRL before that but off to a rough start and to a lesser extent as are the knights (sandylea).

The week ahead

Broncos VS Rabbitohs
Sharks VS Bulldogs
Panthers VS Eels
Raiders VS West Tigers
Cowboys VS Knights
Storm VS Warriors
Sea Eagles VS Roosters
Dolphins VS Dragons

Broncos VS Rabbitohs
Sharks VS Bulldogs
Panthers VS Eels
Raiders VS West Tigers
Cowboys VS Knights
Storm VS Warriors
Sea Eagles VS Roosters

Dolphins VS Dragons

Round 2 & 3 are always the toughest to pick. It's difficult to get a feel off one game and teams aren't usually bringing their A game this early into the season.

Did you get a chance to watch the Dawn of the Dolphins documentary on Stan, System? It's one of the better specials the NRL has ever put together and does a really good job of explaining all the challenges the club faced and the experts that turned the dream into a reality.

Unfortunately it's shaping up to be a lean season for the Dolphins. One of their star forwards, Tom Gilbert, tore his ACL during the final trial and he's out for the season. Then on the weekend Connelly Lemuelu dislocated his knee and Gilbert's replacement, Ray Stone, suffered a concussion and will be rested for this weekend's clash against the Dolphins. It means they're already scraping down their depth chart and having to make compromises - so they've got this under-sized utility player in Max Plath named to start.

Still, they're trending in the right direction. Recruitment has been a challenge, but the players they have been able to sign like Tom Flegler, Herbie Farnworth and Jake Averillo are all good players just entering their prime. They've been responsible with their salary cap as well, so they should be able to retain and recruit some quality talent and they've got some quality juniors coming through who'll start making their way into the team in the next couple of years.

I expect the Dragons to be too strong, but expect a much better effort than the 18-43 loss. The Dolphins have always had lapses but usually take their opportunities and can be competitive even when they're well behind in the scoreline (they equalled the NRL record for the biggest comeback in their debut season). They made some really bizarre choices, and Bennett is usually pretty good at getting his team to respond after a bad performance.

I was really disappointed in Newcastle's performance against the Raiders. I don't rate their roster but after such an impressive back-end of the season and all the hype down there I thought they'd pile on the points. Instead they just looked lethargic, lost and ultimately bullied. It's going to be a tough assignment against a North Queensland team with a point to prove after a disappointing 2023 - I'm curious to see more of Pearce-Paul. 6'6 and he looks agile/skillful with the footy, if he can build on his performance he could become one of the elite forwards in the game.

this was sick

Mar 17, 2024 1:55:43 GMT @admin said:

this was sick

There's been some remarkable put-downs over the years but that just leap-frogged all of them. I feel for the Warriors who came back from 6-18 down minus two key playmakers to lose it in the final three, but that was special. 

I just wish Xavier was still with the Broncos.

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My tipping was going well until today. Granted, Manly/Sydney shaped as the most difficult contest to tip. Went with Sydney based off of their efforts in LA and thought Sydney would only be better for the return of Dominic Young while Manly could only get worse without Saab. It certainly didn't pan out that way and Manly played a top shelf game and were unfortunate not to walk away with a more comprehensive scoreline. A couple of tough calls and intercepts kept Sydney in the game before Cherry-Evans eventually put it to bed.

Dolphins with the biggest shock of the weekend, putting behind a disappointing 18-43 loss to shut-out a resurgent St George Illawarra 38-0. Wayne Bennett coach teams are known for their early season bounce backs and that was as vintage as it gets. They took advantage of every opportunity, forced errors out of the Dragon and were able to up the ante and ramp home their advantage. Young Isaiya Katoa had his best game of NRL coming into the halves and Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow ended his try drought with a hat-trick of quality tries.