Thought I would chuck a few reports up
Eels, Dragons confident despite problems
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By Steve Jancetic AAP Sun, 21 Feb 2010 20:09:21
Their playing stocks may have taken a battering but NRL premiership heavyweights St George Illawarra and Parramatta claim their confidence levels remain healthy despite indifferent trial performances over the weekend.
Both clubs were left sweating on the results of scans with Eels backrower Ben Smith suffering a suspected fractured cheekbone in his side's 32-12 loss to Penrith on Saturday night.
The prognosis appears more dire for new Dragons recruit Peni Tagive, whose shocking run with injuries continued as he suffered a suspected torn cruciate ligament in the 16-14 win over Canterbury at WIN Stadium.
Injuries have limited Tagive to just eight first grade appearances since 2008, including just two games last year when his season was cut short by a shoulder reconstruction.
The Dragons are adamant their attack won't need a similar overhaul despite Wayne Bennett's first-choice line-up failing to score a point against the Bulldogs.
The red and whites had all the ball during the opening 40 minutes, but the likes of Jamie Soward, Ben Hornby and Test winger Brett Morris were unable to engineer any action on the scoreboard.
Instead it was left to 2009 Toyota Cup player of the year Beau Henry and halves partner Kyle Stanley - the younger brother of Melbourne centre Chase Stanley - to get the Dragons back into the game after they were down 14-4 midway through the second period.
Despite the scoreless first half, Soward said the Dragons attack was better placed than at the same stage last year.
"The first three rounds last year everyone was writing about our attack saying it wasn't going anywhere and you saw (against the Bulldogs) we created opportunities," Soward said.
"Last year we were probably a little bit off the pace and more worried about our defence and the attack took a while to get going.
"We showed some good signs ... in the end it is a trial, we don't want to show all our plays, we want to keep some in the bag for when we play the real stuff.
"Hopefully we get that fine-tuned for round one."
Premiership favourites the Eels were expected to do it easy against a Panthers side missing Test quartet Petero Civoniceva, Luke Lewis, Michael Jennings and Trent Waterhouse, as well as energetic fullback Jarrod Sammut.
While their cause wasn't helped by injuries to Smith, Daniel Mortimer (head gash) and Dally M player of the year Jarryd Hayne (sternum), the Eels failed to match the Panthers for enthusiasm, though coach Daniel Anderson said his side remained on track for the season proper.
"You want them to trial to get a bit of fluency," Anderson said.
"We've got some new players at the club, we need to find a dynamic that suits us.
"As a club, we're probably mentally preparing for March 12 (the season opener), rather than tonight."
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Prince leads Titans to win over Souths
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AAP Sat, 20 Feb 2010 22:20:43
Gold Coast coach John Cartwright rated Scott Prince's combination with new five-eighth Greg Bird as the most pleasing aspect of his side's 28-22 NRL trial win over Souths at Coffs Harbour on Saturday night.
A week after playing for the Indigenous All Stars team, Prince showed the benefit of such a high standard hit-out early in the season by creating two tries with deftly weighted kicks to the left side before scoring on his own in the second half.
"I thought Bird grew as the game went on and Prince pulled the strings like he usually does," Cartwright said.
"That was probably the most pleasing aspect of the night the way those two worked with each other."
"I think when the games open up even more they'll be even more dangerous."
Souths coach John Lang opted for a second string forward pack, with Roy Asotasi, Michael Crocker, Dave Taylor and Sam Burgess all absent.
But the Rabbitohs forwards still more than held their own against an experienced Titans line-up.
Scores were level after 60 minutes before the Gold Coast scored two late tries in the space five minutes to give themselves enough breathing space over their plucky opponent.
New Souths coach John Lang admitted that he was impressed with the way the club's lesser lights handled themselves while making the step up to the top level.
"We had some young guys come on like John Kaifoto and he was coming off the bench for the Bears last year and quite a few of them made their debut at this level tonight and I thought it was a good step in the right direction," Lang said.
The crowd of 5,500 was brought to life by a Luke Capewell double but it was the controlling influence that Prince had over the Titans outfit that proved the difference between the two teams.
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Warriors win another:
The Warriors continued their good pre-season form to notch a 28-6 win over the North Queensland Cowboys in Cairns on Saturday night.
The Warriors will now take back-to-back successes into their final trial against Manly Sea Eagles at Mt Smart on Saturday after the recent win.
The performance followed last Saturday's 26-8 victory over the Sydney Roosters in Rotorua.
The Warriors fielded a more experienced side against the Cowboys than the previous week but were still without key players in captain Simon Mannering, Steve Price, Brent Tate, Manu Vatuvei, Wade McKinnon and Ian Henderson.
North Queensland fielded a strong side with new recruit Willie Mason getting a run although had to make-do without play-maker Johnathon Thurston.
The Warriors looked comfortable in the less than satisfactory playing conditions and opened their scoring in the 20th minute through hooker Aaron Heremaia.
The Cowboys had drawn it up six-all by halftime however but didn't have an answer to the visiting side in the second half.
The first try in the second spell came after 10 minutes when Lance Hohaia, who played the whole match at fullback, speared through on a short side play.
Fifteen minutes later North Queensland failed to cover a James Maloney kick to the right, allowing it to bounce and watching helplessly as Patrick Ah Van swooped to seize the opportunity and race 20 metres for a try under the bar. Heremaia's conversion took his side to an 18-6 lead.
With five minutes to go, the Warriors converted a worrying defensive situation into the try of the night when second rower Ben Matulino intercepted on his line and managed to get into the other half before Hohaia executed a clever kick and re-gathered to score.
One more try to Warriors youngster Bill Tupou put the nail in the coffin for the Cowboy's as the New Zealand side made amends for its 10-26 trial match against the same side in 2008.
New Zealand Warriors 28 (Hohaia 2, Heremaia, Ah Van, Tupou tries; Seymour con; Locke con; Heremaia con; Johnson con)
North Queensland Cowboys 6 (Geia try; Williams con)
HT: 6-6
Eels, Dragons confident despite problems
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By Steve Jancetic AAP Sun, 21 Feb 2010 20:09:21
Their playing stocks may have taken a battering but NRL premiership heavyweights St George Illawarra and Parramatta claim their confidence levels remain healthy despite indifferent trial performances over the weekend.
Both clubs were left sweating on the results of scans with Eels backrower Ben Smith suffering a suspected fractured cheekbone in his side's 32-12 loss to Penrith on Saturday night.
The prognosis appears more dire for new Dragons recruit Peni Tagive, whose shocking run with injuries continued as he suffered a suspected torn cruciate ligament in the 16-14 win over Canterbury at WIN Stadium.
Injuries have limited Tagive to just eight first grade appearances since 2008, including just two games last year when his season was cut short by a shoulder reconstruction.
The Dragons are adamant their attack won't need a similar overhaul despite Wayne Bennett's first-choice line-up failing to score a point against the Bulldogs.
The red and whites had all the ball during the opening 40 minutes, but the likes of Jamie Soward, Ben Hornby and Test winger Brett Morris were unable to engineer any action on the scoreboard.
Instead it was left to 2009 Toyota Cup player of the year Beau Henry and halves partner Kyle Stanley - the younger brother of Melbourne centre Chase Stanley - to get the Dragons back into the game after they were down 14-4 midway through the second period.
Despite the scoreless first half, Soward said the Dragons attack was better placed than at the same stage last year.
"The first three rounds last year everyone was writing about our attack saying it wasn't going anywhere and you saw (against the Bulldogs) we created opportunities," Soward said.
"Last year we were probably a little bit off the pace and more worried about our defence and the attack took a while to get going.
"We showed some good signs ... in the end it is a trial, we don't want to show all our plays, we want to keep some in the bag for when we play the real stuff.
"Hopefully we get that fine-tuned for round one."
Premiership favourites the Eels were expected to do it easy against a Panthers side missing Test quartet Petero Civoniceva, Luke Lewis, Michael Jennings and Trent Waterhouse, as well as energetic fullback Jarrod Sammut.
While their cause wasn't helped by injuries to Smith, Daniel Mortimer (head gash) and Dally M player of the year Jarryd Hayne (sternum), the Eels failed to match the Panthers for enthusiasm, though coach Daniel Anderson said his side remained on track for the season proper.
"You want them to trial to get a bit of fluency," Anderson said.
"We've got some new players at the club, we need to find a dynamic that suits us.
"As a club, we're probably mentally preparing for March 12 (the season opener), rather than tonight."
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Prince leads Titans to win over Souths
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AAP Sat, 20 Feb 2010 22:20:43
Gold Coast coach John Cartwright rated Scott Prince's combination with new five-eighth Greg Bird as the most pleasing aspect of his side's 28-22 NRL trial win over Souths at Coffs Harbour on Saturday night.
A week after playing for the Indigenous All Stars team, Prince showed the benefit of such a high standard hit-out early in the season by creating two tries with deftly weighted kicks to the left side before scoring on his own in the second half.
"I thought Bird grew as the game went on and Prince pulled the strings like he usually does," Cartwright said.
"That was probably the most pleasing aspect of the night the way those two worked with each other."
"I think when the games open up even more they'll be even more dangerous."
Souths coach John Lang opted for a second string forward pack, with Roy Asotasi, Michael Crocker, Dave Taylor and Sam Burgess all absent.
But the Rabbitohs forwards still more than held their own against an experienced Titans line-up.
Scores were level after 60 minutes before the Gold Coast scored two late tries in the space five minutes to give themselves enough breathing space over their plucky opponent.
New Souths coach John Lang admitted that he was impressed with the way the club's lesser lights handled themselves while making the step up to the top level.
"We had some young guys come on like John Kaifoto and he was coming off the bench for the Bears last year and quite a few of them made their debut at this level tonight and I thought it was a good step in the right direction," Lang said.
The crowd of 5,500 was brought to life by a Luke Capewell double but it was the controlling influence that Prince had over the Titans outfit that proved the difference between the two teams.
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Warriors win another:
The Warriors continued their good pre-season form to notch a 28-6 win over the North Queensland Cowboys in Cairns on Saturday night.
The Warriors will now take back-to-back successes into their final trial against Manly Sea Eagles at Mt Smart on Saturday after the recent win.
The performance followed last Saturday's 26-8 victory over the Sydney Roosters in Rotorua.
The Warriors fielded a more experienced side against the Cowboys than the previous week but were still without key players in captain Simon Mannering, Steve Price, Brent Tate, Manu Vatuvei, Wade McKinnon and Ian Henderson.
North Queensland fielded a strong side with new recruit Willie Mason getting a run although had to make-do without play-maker Johnathon Thurston.
The Warriors looked comfortable in the less than satisfactory playing conditions and opened their scoring in the 20th minute through hooker Aaron Heremaia.
The Cowboys had drawn it up six-all by halftime however but didn't have an answer to the visiting side in the second half.
The first try in the second spell came after 10 minutes when Lance Hohaia, who played the whole match at fullback, speared through on a short side play.
Fifteen minutes later North Queensland failed to cover a James Maloney kick to the right, allowing it to bounce and watching helplessly as Patrick Ah Van swooped to seize the opportunity and race 20 metres for a try under the bar. Heremaia's conversion took his side to an 18-6 lead.
With five minutes to go, the Warriors converted a worrying defensive situation into the try of the night when second rower Ben Matulino intercepted on his line and managed to get into the other half before Hohaia executed a clever kick and re-gathered to score.
One more try to Warriors youngster Bill Tupou put the nail in the coffin for the Cowboy's as the New Zealand side made amends for its 10-26 trial match against the same side in 2008.
New Zealand Warriors 28 (Hohaia 2, Heremaia, Ah Van, Tupou tries; Seymour con; Locke con; Heremaia con; Johnson con)
North Queensland Cowboys 6 (Geia try; Williams con)
HT: 6-6