Seriously these Samoa Tonga Kiwi s games piss all over State of Origin and the current Aus England tests
Great games
Great games
International Pacific Championship
- Thread starter Shogun
- Start date
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And the crowds are such an important element, without them the games are flat and sad....for purist eyes only.
The Up the Wahs movement and these games are all linked, there is something going on for the man in the street in the pop culture of sport in NZ and it all ties in together.
The NRL seem to be starting to understand that, having said that a game at Comm bank is ignorant on their part, should be either back in Brisbane or at Eden Park.
tajhay
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How is it ignorant? You realise that pacific islanders exist in NSW too right? And they are just as feverish to support their team as in QLD. Commbank is a great stadium to watch the game at and hoping itll be rocking with support from Samoa and NZ crowd on Sunday.
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Lets hope the atmosphere is better than the games in Sydney past. Probably will be.
My bias is towards having the final in Polynesia, to have it elsewhere is why I call it ignorant. It should be in Auckland. I added Brisbane as an option because of how well that crowd turned out.
2 games in Auck
1 game in Bris
1 game in Syd
Heaps of PI in Western Sydney and heaps of kiwis
Think it’s quite fair
Recognises Auck is the PI capital but supports their Aus supporters with games in Bris (1) and Syd(1)
A lot of Pi s come direct from Tonga Samoa to Aus and not via Auck or other Nz towns
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tajhay
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Would be great if the final could be held in Apia or Nukualofa in the future. Stadiums probably need upgrades to accomodate it though. Anyone know how the stadiums there compare to the one where PNG played, or Fiji (Lautoka) where they have had NRL games via the Storm? The winners of this years Pacific Cup has been the PI crowds for sure. Freaking loved what they have brought into it.
If you're judging by just game one then sure, i say Walsh just edges out brown. But their is no way you could still be saying that if you watched game 2 vs england. Unless brown has a stinker next week and Walsh has blinder, than I think brown has been the more impactful player this series.
Not my opinion.
Just what I expected the Judges would do....until it was pointed out to me that Walsh was binned which rules him ineligible.
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That’s like ages ago you were talking about Rosehill
I though you were talking about Rosehill near Parramatta
Couple days later I realised you were talking about Rosehill Papakura
Australia is the West Island
I had also forgotten about that rule
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I can't recall a better forward rotation for us.
Leota, Fish &Tapine into Whyte, Clark & Big X
Fuck off.
Considering age, he's definitely the one I'd take too. He was a top 5 prop this year. I never thought he'd be this good a few years back.
No pack has a better middle rotation. All of them are good ball carriers, but they also can bring constant line speed. It's hard to get meters on them.
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Xavier Willison and Naufahu Whyte both 23 getting experience and eventually take over from JFH and Tapine. Ensure our forward pack will remain strong for many years to come. Not to mention Thompson and Neame.
What will we do should Jahrome Hughes goes down in the future, and he also 31.
Johnson played last year.
Foran bailed us out this year.
But who next year?
Brown has been outstanding this series.
Casey McLean is a future fullback IMO.
Kini must play from now on. He has proven how dangerous he is.
What will we do should Jahrome Hughes goes down in the future, and he also 31.
Johnson played last year.
Foran bailed us out this year.
But who next year?
Brown has been outstanding this series.
Casey McLean is a future fullback IMO.
Kini must play from now on. He has proven how dangerous he is.
Katoa taken to hospital, Woolf defends ‘by the book’ medical decisions | Sporting News Australia
Tongan coach Kristian Woolf has defended his team’s handling of star forward Eli Katoa following a series of heavy head knocks in the Pacific Championships.
Going to be a lot of questions put to Tongan coaches and management and doctors how this came to happen. Can see the storm certainly wanting answers
Katoa taken to hospital, Woolf defends ‘by the book’ medical decisions | Sporting News Australia
Tongan coach Kristian Woolf has defended his team’s handling of star forward Eli Katoa following a series of heavy head knocks in the Pacific Championships.www.sportingnews.com
Going to be a lot of questions put to Tongan coaches and management and doctors how this came to happen. Can see the storm certainly wanting answers
Some where in the chain therefore the NRL protocols failed Eli. Remembering this is why they have an independent Doctor, because team Doctors cannot be trusted.
Imagine making the cold decision that a game of football is more important than a young mans life.
I just hope when Katoa got to Auckland Hospital that they were not too busy. These days with all the health cuts your chances of decent and prompt care are pretty grim.
No fault on the hospitals. But rapid treatment and assessment is vital in the prognosis of brain injury.
Anyway Woolf lied:
"they have done all their HIA's" well that is complete bullshit.
Rugby league: Health status of Tongan star Eliesa Katoa overshadows Kiwis win
There are concerns over Tongan forward Eliesa Katoa after heavy blows to his head before and during their test against the Kiwis.
www.rnz.co.nz
Anyway while i'm fuming about it, the truth is I keep checking the updates hoping to read he is ok.
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They may not get the same amount of eligible players if they realise that die for Tonga is literalI have lost all respect for Woolf.
We now know they did not test Katoa after the worst collision which was the Warm up where we saw him felled to the ground in a boxing style knock down.
So they deliberately fiddled the books by not putting him in front of a medical assessor in case he failed.
Some where in the chain therefore the NRL protocols failed Eli. Remembering this is why they have an independent Doctor, because team Doctors cannot be trusted.
Imagine making the cold decision that a game of football is more important than a young mans life.
I just hope when Katoa got to Auckland Hospital that they were not too busy. These days with all the health cuts your chances of decent and prompt care are pretty grim.
No fault on the hospitals. But rapid treatment and assessment is vital in the prognosis of brain injury.
Anyway Woolf lied:
"they have done all their HIA's" well that is complete bullshit.
Rugby league: Health status of Tongan star Eliesa Katoa overshadows Kiwis win
There are concerns over Tongan forward Eliesa Katoa after heavy blows to his head before and during their test against the Kiwis.
Anyway while i'm fuming about it, the truth is I keep checking the updates hoping to read he is ok.
The longer we hear nothing the more it speaks to the seriousness of the condition.
I feel for the players and their families eh. They will be very worried for their mate. No closure the way things ended after a big loss and exiting the tournament, quite emotionally distressing for the Tongan playing group.
Hopefully, the senior players take a stance internally and demand answers (probably won't because of the chance you get overlooked on the next selection cycle).
But this is an example of where player power is important, when no one else is looking out for you, this is when players voices should be heard.
I keep thinking about Shaun Johnson's reaction in the SKY build up to the sickening scenes of the warm up knock out - SJ say's what we all are thinking "surely he cannot play after that".
As someone else pointed out, Bellamy's voice is likely to be powerful in the background in all of this. It shits me that you need to rely on that type of dynamic (Katoa is a super star from a Super club) one wonders if the noise would be as loud for someone like Havili for example....would a relative nobody in the NRL pop culture garner as much concern and advocacy as a high profile super star? [rhetorical].
Anyway, I like everyone else was wondering how Katoa passed the HIA after the warm up TKO (it really was a technical knock out in boxing parlance).
It never occurred to me that they passed Katoa by not testing him.
The whole world can see he was Category one under the NRL rules (failing to protect himself as he falls clause in "CAT One immediate 11 day stand down" criteria met).
If ever there were a moment for the RL players association to prove their worth this is it.
51K views · 156 reactions | Eli Katoa lucky to be running out for Tonga today after copping a brutal friendly fire hit during the warm up! Must have passed all concussion assessments - hopefully no more heavy blows to the head for him today 🤞 | NRL
Eli Katoa lucky to be running out for Tonga today after copping a brutal friendly fire hit during the warm up! Must have passed all concussion assessments - hopefully no more heavy blows to the head...
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