bruce
Contributor
Not reading any more of your posts then
Playing rugby league is not for fun, it is a professional game right back to its roots in the north of England. To win at rugby league saved you from going back down the coal mines. Sure in NZ it was played as a sport but the ethic was still the same, you play to win, you want fun, play tiddly winks.
Warriors fans don't want to see the players have fun, they want to see a team of Simon Mannerings playing their guts out. Sure he is well paid but I suspect he doesn't worry about the money. He doesn't have time while chasing all the tackles other players are missing.
Try Michael Luck, nobody had heard of him until he came over here and did all the tackling with Simon Mannering.
Sure you have to be polite and acknowledge the winner, he deserves it. To be smiling like that means you haven't put enough effort in. You shouldn't have the energy to laughing like it is tea break at Mathew and Son. If you have that energy left after the game it shows why you lost, because you didn't really want to win...not really. Would those guys have bee smiling if they had been given the death sentence, losing a league game should be the same feeling.
Miket12
mt.wellington
Warriors Orange Peeler
Really? Surely the reason you play or continue to do so as a kid is cause it's fun. Even those playing Masters must enjoy it even if its just for the comradery and beers after the game. Can't be just dad kicking your ass out the door for training and games as he tries to live vicariously.
Your view on its participation cant really be that bleak? You make it sound like conscription lol...
jonno
Bruce is like me, in that he comes from an individualist world. You're not allowed to just go along with whatever the clever guy says. You have to come up with your own thoughts and ideas about everything. And you have to provide everything for yourself financially as well. You live in a society, but you stand alone as yourself.
Really? Surely the reason you play or continue to do so as a kid is cause it's fun. Even those playing Masters must enjoy it even if its just for the comradery and beers after the game. Can't be just dad kicking your ass out the door for training and games as he tries to live vicariously.
Your view on its participation cant really be that bleak? You make it sound like conscription lol...
So footy is only really any fun for us if we are able to do everything at a high level and then win the games we need to win. Anything else is a disaster. You're better off not being there as your individual reputation will get shredded. That's where the will to win comes from. The will to stand up completely unassisted and gain recognition from the wider world.
It's an infinitely better feeling which is totally worth chasing IMO.
I can sit at home and watch a good movie and be perfectly happy. No effort required. But winning something that's near impossible to win. That's entertainment that lasts a lifetime.
bruce
Contributor
I am dead bloody serious. Go into a tackle half hearted and you have a missed tackle. Geez how many Warriors think like you Welly? This is depressing me badly.
mt.wellington
Warriors Orange Peeler
Thats sounds amazing but havent you been in the same dead end job for shit pay for 20 years???
I am dead bloody serious. Go into a tackle half hearted and you have a missed tackle. Geez how many Warriors think like you Welly? This is depressing me badly.
You really didnt have any fun playing league???
bruce
Contributor
Eek! You guys are depressing me on game day! It's depressing enough knowing the Warriors could muck up my weekend before it evens starts.
jonno
I'm a currency trader. I have a job to get me out of the house and make a useful contribution to something other than myself. Work is good for the soul after all.
Gizzyfan
Some of my best memories of playing were in losses. That has nothing to do with the will to win. It might be a good team performance that came up short, or individual moments.
Sport essentially is getting out there with your mates. It seems to me over a lot of sports a disrespect towards the opposition has come to the fore. Surely any result is measured against the quality of opposition.
Sport essentially is getting out there with your mates. It seems to me over a lot of sports a disrespect towards the opposition has come to the fore. Surely any result is measured against the quality of opposition.
jonno
If you're playing for fun that's great. Just don't expect to pack a stadium full of paying fans if that's the case.
What enjoyment do the spectators get if the players are just out to chuck the ball around and have a laugh?
Gizzyfan
Sorry, where did I say that, the will to win doesn't mean you have to disrespect the opposition if you do lose. Although the most common form is to blame the Refs. I do say paying customers have the right to express frustration but it is essentially pointless.
I think the Warriors have the will to win games. However, I don't think they COLLECTIVELY have the same will to prepare themselves physically and mentally for the rigours of long hard seasons.
Does this team have the same will to win 3 tough games in 3 weeks like that '77 team, that's the question. They are big, fast and strong enough, they are fit enough. That leaves do they have the will to win, to prepare and to play for each other.
Loztralianz
Nothing that makes me feel the rage more than after the game the players post on social media ; "Not the result we wanted but there's always next week". i.e "We lost but who really cares"?
Also, I just don't get the prayer huddle at the end of games.
This may have something to do with the fact that I think religion is the world's greatest mental illness but I just cannot draw the comparison between the absolute desire to willfully physically dominate your opponent and then 2 minutes later thanking "God"for all his / her blessings.
Also, I just don't get the prayer huddle at the end of games.
This may have something to do with the fact that I think religion is the world's greatest mental illness but I just cannot draw the comparison between the absolute desire to willfully physically dominate your opponent and then 2 minutes later thanking "God"for all his / her blessings.
tajhay
🏉
Its an interesting debate. I always played to win. Sure it was fun to play with mates but i always wanted to be on the victorious side. I found being on the winning side more important than just playing. Looking back 20 years on i cannot recall any scorelines, just personal achievements within games and times when we beat more teams with better/bigger players. Those were special.
Also been on school teams which sucked ass. Cannot recall it much other than it was depressing times knowing we hardly ever won or were competitive.
IMO the definition of being a professional athlete is someone who gets paid to win. Having fun whilst doing so shouldnt come into it. They are employed to do a job. If they put having fun above fulfilling their obligations to their employer they should seek a career change.
Also been on school teams which sucked ass. Cannot recall it much other than it was depressing times knowing we hardly ever won or were competitive.
IMO the definition of being a professional athlete is someone who gets paid to win. Having fun whilst doing so shouldnt come into it. They are employed to do a job. If they put having fun above fulfilling their obligations to their employer they should seek a career change.
Gizzyfan
My definition is a professional is paid to train and prepare. It is a mindset, really being paid means more time to prepare.
jonno
I think it's very important to do all you can to win. But in saying that you should always also aim to be able to hold your head up if you lose.
Sam Burgess getting busted for a squirrel grip a few years back is a classic example of shaming yourself for victory.
Play a good positive game and have a real crack at it, right till the final whistle..
Even if the only thing left to win is some pride with a consolation try at the death, go all out for it. And if you're in the lead bust your ass to stop them fuckers getting that consolation try. Win every little thing along the way if you can.
Both teams want the other team to suffer a defeat, so it's a fair contest. Fucken get into it ya mongrels.
Sam Burgess getting busted for a squirrel grip a few years back is a classic example of shaming yourself for victory.
Play a good positive game and have a real crack at it, right till the final whistle..
Even if the only thing left to win is some pride with a consolation try at the death, go all out for it. And if you're in the lead bust your ass to stop them fuckers getting that consolation try. Win every little thing along the way if you can.
Both teams want the other team to suffer a defeat, so it's a fair contest. Fucken get into it ya mongrels.
jonno
mt.wellington
Warriors Orange Peeler
That was pretty shithouse that squirrel grip but Surgess' effort against the Dogs in the 2014 Grand Final will always be his finest moment. Breaking his face in the first five minutes, saying in the halftime interlude that he was 'fooked' and crying when he knew he had achieved his dream will go down in folklore as the defining moment of that season.
Not sure where that fire of his went but he and the rest of the Rabbitohs team seem to have lost it now. Ole Surgess has never looked the same after his failed stint at rugby.
Does that will to win make that much of a difference? As with Surgess in 2014 do the stars and planets need to align to get to that level? You got me thinking man...
bruce
Contributor
Graham Lowe said that only allowed you to turn up to the game.
I was watching the after match last night and they were interviewing the 1977 Auckland team that beat the Poms, Aussies and French in 1977.
They were speaking with Dane O'Hara asking him about motivation to win. He started to describe the feeling of owing effort to your mates and the fans and he broke down with emotion, after forty years. They got a $20 win bonus for each win.
They all had full time jobs, came home had dinner and then went to training. They were playing full time professionals from England and Australia.
I remember O'Hara stopping a try against England. The English player was over the line, O'Hara got him from behind and turned him over. I remember thinking at the time that was the will to win.
Those guys had ticker in spades, and hated losing, yet I cannot remember any of them being dirty players. They were hard, very hard, but not dirty.
That was generations ago but SK is linked to that generation so I reckon he is choosing players who fit the mould. I am glad that he sees Maumolo as fitting the mould, this kid could be really something.
