Something about the Grand Final

[The Wheel]

One thing that hasn't been mentioned is the performance of Tony Archer.

I would suggest that as he hasn't been mentioned he must have done a great job, so thank you Tony for not having your usual Melbourne Storm performance (ie ignoring grapples, Storm delaying tactics etc).

 

[Canteen Worker]

I thought the same. Reasonable job by Archer and apart from Lyon getting flattened when chasing a kick there was little controversy. Slater could have been penalised several times, both at try time and when he flattened Snake without the ball.

 

[Dan]

Yeah I said this on the night I thought it was one of the better ref performances in a long time. He let the game flow and didn't get too involved without needing to be

 

[Bradza]

That's was usually happens in a thrashing, the ref fades into insignificance. Still, while it was tighter in the first half we did seem to have actually learned something from our earlier problems with Archer. Most importantly, you have to do something really obvious around the ruck area for him to blow a penalty.

I also thought Ox's acceptance speech was a bit disappointing (missed the coach, staff and sponsors but did thank the fans) but we'll let him off as he was probably a bit spun out by the whole dream sequence!

 

[Guest]

Archer didn't have anything to ref on sunday as the NRL made sure that the storm no longer used grapples. chicken wings etc.  Amazing how ordinary they were without being able to use their usual **** slow the play the ball down tactics. 

Manly also owe a lot to Nathan Brown who started the downfall of the storm.

 

[eggson]

Ox wanted to say as little as possible so he could get straight to lifting that magnificent trophy!!!!

 

[Chip and Chase]

He did manage to go to the video ref on just about everyone of Manly's tries though.

Thankfully we were so dominant that he didn't have a chance to influence the game.

 

[TokyoEagle]

I actually felt that Archer was on our side this time. In the first 15, while in defense, it seemed as if he policed the Storm 10 a lot heavier than he policed ours. 

 

[DSM5]

I thought he could have penalized Matai for running Falou off the ball, but didn't.  Reasonable effort by him but he still let them lay over us and the two pushes, Lyon and Snake were worthy of penalties.  We won, so who cares now. 

 

[Duff]

Well, with Smith being suspended & Slater copping a warning about the slide tackles, it appears that the Storm aren't a protected species anymore. Someone has stopped the payments & Archer, like the rest of the league has started treating the Storm the same as everyome else.

 

[Kiwi Eagle]

I actually felt that Archer was on our side this time. In the first 15, while in defense, it seemed as if he policed the Storm 10 a lot heavier than he policed ours. 

He wasn't policeing them too much mate, i was watching it closely, many times the Storm played standing directly beside him was up to 3m offside

 

[DSM5]

I think all the boys could do with some public speaking lessons and the club should pass out cue cards when any of them are asked to talk.  On fan day they all were terrible.  None of them thanked Max which I thought was unfortunate.  Zorba did at the end, but the boys should have.  "I luv youse all", "awesome", really isn't good enough.   

 

[Dan]

I think all the boys could do with some public speaking lessons and the club should pass out cue cards when any of them are asked to talk.  On fan day they all were terrible.  None of them thanked Max which I thought was unfortunate.  Zorba did at the end, but the boys should have.  \"I luv youse all\", \"awesome\", really isn't good enough.   

I would take great footballers over great Orators any day