The problem with being an expert (circa 2019)

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Woodsie

Feast yer eyes ..
Tipping Member
Back in the 60's, if you said St.George were going to go well, and that Gasnier was a good player .... chances are you would be correct ...

And in the 70's, if you said Manly will be there at the end of the year, and that bloke Fulton could play ... chances are you would be correct ...

... and in the 80's and 90's if you followed the games, and knew the form .... chances are you would be leading the tipping contest ..... or at least you would be beating the receptionist who picks teams on the colour of their jerseys ....

Not any more .... The problem that the pontificating experts have today is ..... they are full of shiite ..... and if they aren't .... wait a week, a month or a year and they will be .....

Brad Arffur is a good coach .... sack Brad Arffur ... wait Arffur is the Messiah!! ..... wait .....
Seibold is the world's best coach .... Seibold is a goose ... wait ...
Manly has a bottom 4 roster .... wait we have a good team .. wait ...
Manly's forwards over-rated and lack depth .... wait ... we have a great pack and a couple of great reserves ..
Parra win the spoon .... wait .. Parra top 5 bound ....
Mitchell Moses is shiitehouse release him .... wait he is a genius .. re-sign him ....
Opposing teams will have a field day against the GingaNinja .. wait .... he bashed them ...

You get my drift .... I don't think there has been more than 2 things the pontificators have got correct over the past 12 months ... and the jury is still out on those ..

It's really hard to say anything these days without qualifying your opinion with the words "I think" or "I believe" ... Unless of course you are a pontificator ... then you just tell us the way it is .... but wait ....

Bring back a simpler time when experts could be relied on to be correct more often than they were wrong ...
 
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I think a lot of the experts grossly over estimate their intelligence and are that stoopid that they think us mere mortals are more stoopider. Geez most of them struggle to string two words together and also can’t see past their ‘dislike’ of certain teams to make a fair assessment. Pretty sad state of affairs
 
The real folly of having such strong opinions these days is the complete lack of recognizable factors that influence results .... it is almost an excercise in chaos theory written large ....

For example ..... Can somebody please tell we why Parra couldn't beat time with a stick last season .... even last week .... and yet come out an flog the opposition this week .... same team .. same players ....

What has changed that has made that difference .....

Why are some teams and players world beaters today ... and mugs tomorrow ..... why are coaches the chosen one only to be useless the next year .....
 
Happened in microcosm during yesterdays Parra V Tigers game. Fox commentators saying that Parra were really struggling just before the first try. Next thing you know the game is all but over before half time.

A team will pull 7 penalties in a row to get back into a game and the 'experts' will rave about their courage and commitment to fight back, seemingly forgetting the huge piggyback that penalties provide in the modern game.

Fox commentators sail with the wind and are very quick to write Manly off on the flimsiest of evidence too. Works in our favour everytime we fly under the radar to pull their pants down.
 
There used to be a time when skill and real footballing ability mattered. These days it's about penalties and momentum. If a team gets the rub of the green on any given day by the refs they will be hard to beat. No one understands the rules anymore, they are rarely applied within the spirit with which they were written. Who here can confidently say they understand the obstruction rule ? the knock on rule ? the ruck ? Refs have too much influence on results with the way their dynamic interpretation of the laws of the game evolves over the course of the season, or even the course of an 80 minute game.

Anyway I challenge you to name these pontifcators - you may see expert where others see muppet.
 
Back in the 60's, if you said St.George were going to go well, and that Gasnier was a good player .... chances are you would be correct ...

And in the 70's, if you said Manly will be there at the end of the year, and that bloke Fulton could play ... chances are you would be correct ...

... and in the 80's and 90's if you followed the games, and knew the form .... chances are you would be leading the tipping contest ..... or at least you would be beating the receptionist who picks teams on the colour of their jerseys ....

Not any more .... The problem that the pontificating experts have today is ..... they are full of shiite ..... and if they aren't .... wait a week, a month or a year and they will be .....

Brad Arffur is a good coach .... sack Brad Arffur ... wait Arffur is the Messiah!! ..... wait .....
Seibold is the world's best coach .... Seibold is a goose ... wait ...
Manly has a bottom 4 roster .... wait we have a good team .. wait ...
Manly's forwards over-rated and lack depth .... wait ... we have a great pack and a couple of great reserves ..
Parra win the spoon .... wait .. Parra top 5 bound ....
Mitchell Moses is shiitehouse release him .... wait he is a genius .. re-sign him ....
Opposing teams will have a field day against the GingaNinja .. wait .... he bashed them ...

You get my drift .... I don't think there has been more than 2 things the pontificators have got correct over the past 12 months ... and the jury is still out on those ..

It's really hard to say anything these days without qualifying your opinion with the words "I think" or "I believe" ... Unless of course you are a pontificator ... then you just tell us the way it is .... but wait ....

Bring back a simpler time when experts could be relied on to be correct more often than they were wrong ...
Ohhhh come on ....... Controversy Corner with Rex and the boys or Ron Casey ...... they could stand tall the best of todays bull****ters ......
 
There used to be a time when skill and real footballing ability mattered. These days it's about penalties and momentum. If a team gets the rub of the green on any given day by the refs they will be hard to beat. No one understands the rules anymore, they are rarely applied within the spirit with which they were written. Who here can confidently say they understand the obstruction rule ? the knock on rule ? the ruck ? Refs have too much influence on results with the way their dynamic interpretation of the laws of the game evolves over the course of the season, or even the course of an 80 minute game.

Anyway I challenge you to name these pontifcators - you may see expert where others see muppet.

True C&C, spot on, yesterdays game when the game was in the balance early ( maybe 6-0 ?) the non knock on call for Parra was a huge momentum shift.
99/100 when the ball goes to ground it's called on knock on whether it is or not.
The commentators called it, the crowd thought it, the players thought it, we saw it, the commentators called it again on viewing the replay.
Instead of the Tigers starting getting the ball in Parra's half, they couldn't defend that set and the game was as good as gone.
Some my say it's a moot point when you look at the final scoreline but the Tigers knew their day was going to be one of those days after that.

There could've been two crucial calls against Gutho also - a shoulder charge and a forearm to the head of the tackler - but with momentum the way of the Eels and the way Gutho was playing there wasn't much done.
 
If this is about results being hard to predict then that’s exactly what the NRL has been trying to engineer for years. They also don’t want blow-out scorelines (unless celebrating new stadia) hence the second half catch-up penalty counts.
All in all I still know exactly what is happening though usually keep it to myself now @:D
 
There could've been two crucial calls against Gutho also - a shoulder charge and a forearm to the head of the tackler - but with momentum the way of the Eels and the way Gutho was playing there wasn't much done.
I wouldn’t have minded a slow-mo look at Gutho picking that ball before the quick tap that led to the first runaway try, he was very close to being still in the field when he first touched it!
 
If this is about results being hard to predict then that’s exactly what the NRL has been trying to engineer for years. They also don’t want blow-out scorelines (unless celebrating new stadia) hence the second half catch-up penalty counts.
All in all I still know exactly what is happening though usually keep it to myself now @:D

Not just results ... everything .... opinions on teams, players, coaches, .... all of them are great or shiite one minute .... and shiite or great the next ....
 
There used to be a time when skill and real footballing ability mattered. These days it's about penalties and momentum. If a team gets the rub of the green on any given day by the refs they will be hard to beat. No one understands the rules anymore, they are rarely applied within the spirit with which they were written. Who here can confidently say they understand the obstruction rule ? the knock on rule ? the ruck ? Refs have too much influence on results with the way their dynamic interpretation of the laws of the game evolves over the course of the season, or even the course of an 80 minute game.

Anyway I challenge you to name these pontifcators - you may see expert where others see muppet.

I'll give you a case in point about knock on's.

Referee's these days are way too quick to jump on just about any ball that hits the ground as being a knock on. Even balls that clearly go backwards are called knock on's like if it hit the ground, it must have been knocked on. In Sunday's game in Canberra, at one point in the second half, Josh Hodgson got called for a knock on about 10 metres from Brisbane's line. Yet when Ch.9 showed a replay before the scrum had even packed.....Hodgson had dropped the ball, but it hit his knee first before coming off his foot, all before the ball got anywhere near the grass. Nick Cotric had chased the ball through as players do and put the ball down over the line. Cotric had come from an onside position so for all intents and purposes, he scored a try because it was a kick, not a knock on. Yet despite the replays clearly showing this, no one in the bunker got in the refs ears about it and the knock on stood.

That actually highlights two problems. The refs being too quick to call any ball that hits the ground without being a purpose kick as a knock on. And when can the bunker get involved without actually being called upon by the on field refs?
 
Not just results ... everything .... opinions on teams, players, coaches, .... all of them are great or shiite one minute .... and shiite or great the next ....
I was thinking the other day just how average most of the teams in this comp this year are.Apart from the roosters who look specials,everyone else looks like being vulnerable,even the storm who are winning are far from what they were.Teams struggle to maintain form for more than a couple of weeks,I think there is a dilution of talent in terms of proven depth and I don't think it takes much for a team to be sailing along and struggling soon after.The pace and intensity,power etc...is hard to maintain for weeks on end too. I think there is a serious lack of proven quality coaches too,everyone wants results now and no one seems to stick with a young/new coach,if they win they are safe for now,but if they lose then they are under immense scrutiny straight away.Years past you could name a whole bunch of proven quality coaches in the league,but this year when you look at the list the success level/experience seems threadbare.Hasler/Bellamy/Robinson are proven,Bennett is up and done but still has regular success(I am not talking about whether they are good coaches just proven/successful and experienced),but the rest are unproven or have had mixed results in the years they have been coaching and are therefore not considered successes and unless they show immediate success will probably be under threat.For me this is they way that things are going to continue no matter what,for all the reasons mentioned earlier it is hard for most coaches to be constantly successful and will have down years.I guess it is up to the front office as to how strong they are and whether they are prepared to stick with a coach through the lean times or cave in to outside pressures...For me (just my humble opinion) I don't think player ability changes at all,I think a player has ability or doesn't and often depends on what the coach wants or expects or how they are utilised.Parker started well on the left at centre,last year he was asked to play on the right outside of Suli on the wing and struggled,this year he is back on the left at centre and is playing well.Some coaches are good at recognizing a players abilities and how or whether it fits what they are looking for or whether it fits into what they want a player in a certain position to do(one mans trash is another mans treasure...) Better get used to a toss of a coin to pick a winner,doesn't help that refs have so much influence on momentum etc....Anyway long winded rant over....P.S. don't care for paragraphs,like it or lump it..
 
Good post Woodsie.

I believe @;) that the problem can be put down to a sensationalist media culture in 2019. There are no grey areas to anything anymore and everything is black and white and really good or really bad.

The best two exhibits to examine are Andrew Voss and the special comments on Fox from the likes of Anasta, Hodges, Corey Parker and co. Every sentence they utter is a hyperbole of some sort. It's painful. The way Vossy carries on trying to manufacture excitement is horrifying to me. He trots out the lame "dad jokes" in between and that doesn't help either. But next time you hear him call a game, listen to how over the top everything is. Everything is "sensational" at the top of his voice....sometimes it is just a mandatory hit up and he will label the player an "absolute wrecking ball" or a player will run fast and he'll say "I thought it was Usain Bolt, OH MY GOD".

Then you have those NRL360 and Controversy Corner shows that hinge entirely on either pumping up someone's tires or slashing them completely until there is nothing left. Sack this person and that person, put this person in jail, sign this player up on a lifetime contract. It's just garbage.

When you go back and watch some of the "classic matches" on Foxtel, you hear the marked difference in the commentary. They used to just call the action as it happened, now they spend 3/4 of the match sensationalising the qualities of each player and commenting on how the season is going for each club. Call the bloody football game FFS.
 
I wouldn’t have minded a slow-mo look at Gutho picking that ball before the quick tap that led to the first runaway try, he was very close to being still in the field when he first touched it!

Agreed, I believe he had both feet in the in-goal area & caught it before it hit the ground , hence the ball hadn’t gone dead.
 
Team P W L PD Pts
3 3 0 48 6
4 3 1 28 6
3 2 1 10 6
4 2 2 39 4
3 2 1 28 4
3 2 1 15 4
3 2 1 14 4
2 1 1 13 4
2 1 1 6 4
3 2 1 -3 4
3 1 2 0 2
3 1 2 -5 2
3 1 2 -15 2
3 1 2 -22 2
3 1 2 -36 2
2 0 2 -56 2
3 0 3 -64 0
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