The Tip Sheet is also available on Spotify and iTunes!
After copping weeks of brutal Match Review Committee decisions that left Dylan Brown, Ryley Smith, Will Penisini and Kelma Tuilagi sidelined for a collective 9 games, the MRC has found a way to outdo itself after slapping Izack Tago with an embarrassingly weak 1 game suspension for a hip drop tackle that has rubbed Kitione Kautoga out for 8 weeks. It is a damning indictment on both the post-game process and the match officials as the wild inequities of the NRL rise to the surface.
Sixties and Forty20 unload on the broken system and the maddening inconsistency of the NRL after the Eels find themselves on the wrong side of the ledger yet again.
Jack De Belin’s signing was confirmed by the club and the boys do a quick once over with other Tuesday staples on the docket including Team List Tuesday and the weekend recap.
Newcastle dominate the NRL headlines this week with the axe rumoured to be coming for Adam O’Brien while Kalyn Ponga could be looking for the exit with speculation swirling his manager is shopping the star fullback around. The Dogs pull another switcheroo while Cody Walker is done for the year as a calf injury shuts him down.
Join the boys at 7:30PM to discuss all of the latest from the NRL.
So what can we do re the officials and the MRC ??
Not a damn thing.
Can you imagine the Roosters or the Dogs copping this kind of crap from the MRC ?
You don’t think certain top officials dont meet certain board members of top teams in Gentlemen’s Clubs ???
What the hell do you think they talk about ?
Any time the Roosters get a bum deal, it’s all sorted out away from the public gaze and in these dark corridors.
The game has always been built on favours given and favours paid back.
Peter V’landys and Gus Gould are the best of mates.
If V’landys held a BBQ at his mansion, most of the Roosters board would be there.
They are all mates and mates play the BIG LONG game.
Plenty of money to be made and everyone’s in on it except for the poor fans.
A business friend of mine who I used to play footy with is a player agent ( yes they sometimes have friends) and he has told me for years that if the general public knew how corrupt the game was, they wouldn’t even bother watching it.
Deals are made and people are on the take left right and centre.
It has as much credibility as wrestling.
Whenever we catch up I moan about things like the MRC and he just has a big laugh and pats me on the head like I’m a wide eyed schoolboy who still thinks Santa Claus is real.
I watch some games and I’m incredulous just how blatant the cheating is and the very fact that they can do it in front of such an audience and get away with it !!!!!!
Where does this leave us ?
We should just enjoy the theatre of it all because we can do stuff all about it.
Why would the MRC be embarrassed when they have been shafting us for years? From long sentences for minor infractions (as in lifting tackle by Ryley Smith which I thought pretty innocuous) to low or even no sentences for crimes committed against us. We’re here for the numbers not to be competitive against the favoured teams like Broncos, Storm and Roosters.
We are near bottom of ladder so calls all basically go against us if it’s 50/50
Browns been MIA in attack this year and barely runs the ball some games
Really hope we can snag some more wins this year but it’s going to be a tough job
Best wishes to Kautoga the young man has been playing very well and developing nicely into his role
Sorry I mean best wishes to him on his recovery.
And for anyone who cannot work out how bad the calls are, etc etc
The NRL is rigged – and even players question this and speak about it
I actually know someone who is friends / acquaintances with one of the blues origin forwards from this series
He straight out spoke about this and even questioned his team mates missing those kicks in game 2, and the refereeing
I can promise you that there’s blues players from this series openly talking about if the game is rigged and even have questions on their own team mates missing those not just the referees
As somebody said behind closed doors Gus, roosters board members, some refs, panthers head honchos, in different groups meet up behind close doors for beers and barbecues at each others houses
There’s not only corruption in the nrl there’s also players who question the legitimacy of the referees even more than we do
And I can personally vouch for this first hand – without naming any names
I used to think this was far fetched until players who go to a barber I know go in complaining and saying the same things we do
(Not all of them) but plenty of them are highly suspicious of the game – some younger islander players have bigger mouths and will straight out say the game is somewhat a scam
And there’s origin players from this year I can confirm themselves believed the referee in game 2 made it so a game 3 decider was almost certain
players go into barbers and massage places and if you are friends with them, some of them will openly say this without filter
And if it’s even 1/10 of as bad as some speculate, then even that’s still a huge problem
The games completely unfair and full of biases when it comes to the officiating in particular
Muz there’s a big reason why a lot of the ex players dont watch the game now.
It’s been an open secret for years.
Sure there will be those who will read this and say ” Come on I refuse to believe it ‘ and that’s fine.
It’s why the game continues to grow.
The fans just truly believe it’s a even playing field and it will be promoted as such but the reality is unfortunately far from this.
The fans have to understand it’s just entertainment.
On Origin – yes 100% I think the scales are deliberately tipped in QLDs favour. Origin keeps QLDers interested in Rugby League between Broncos premierships. With the lack of QLD success in the premiership over the last 20 years, it’s not hard to see why they would do this to ensure that market isn’t isolated.
The broader premiership, I find it hard to believe there’s wide-scale plotting and corruption. I certainly think there are biases, favouritism, edges given etc. but corruption to the scale implied is a bit of a stretch. And just because there are players who speculate, doesn’t make it true. Let’s be honest, the average player isn’t exactly a genius.
I enjoyed the pod though. MRC is farsical, as is the refereeing. Penalty counts and 6-agains seem to end up reasonably balanced over the course of the year (going off what I can recall of the Rugby League Eye Test). It implies all teams have approximately equal discipline, which is not the case. To me that suggests we should be pushing the limits harder on infringements. If regardless of our discipline, the ledger will roughly square up, we may as well play dirtier.
Mate it’s a fair take but I believe it’s more insidious and nuanced than straight – here’s some money to the officials.
You a referee who wants to advance his career, boss calls you into the office.
“I’ve just had coach X on the phone complaining about .. .I’ve had a look at it and he has a point, we have to watch …. ”
Official referee goes out and makes sure that he doesn’t get called back into the office again.
Boss says ” you did a good job😃 everyone (Coach x ) is happy. You are going great”
You see – it’s bloody easy.
Cameron Smith was sinned binned for the first time in his career in 2018 and it effectively ended Matt Checchins career.
Matt was a terrific referee but although favourite for the rep games that year again , he was dumped.
Matts main challenge throughout his referring career was that he was, until the end, a closeted gay man, a point that was apparently used to lever him many times according to those in the know.
6 agains and penalties in advantageous positions on the field give an extraordinary advantage to a certain team.
As for money/favours changing hands, are we really that nieve to assume that no NRL referees haven’t been bought by powerful figures ? Really ???
Massive money at stake here and with blackmail/wine/women etc
Not saying it’s happened but damn the odds against a major referee not being bought out by a criminal organisation is astronomically low.
Happens in the US all the time and they have much better surveillance techniques and funds to police it whereas we have no funds assigned to police it here and also their games are much more tightly regimented.
Easy to do, target the top referres in the game, find some shit on them, blackmail them to do certain things.
Once they do something, you have them on the hook. Easy.
Origin hahaha yea right it’s only there so NSW can cry a little bit more…hahaha
Tks men, a mate who was at the game and rarely buys into refereeing problems phoned me and launched into a colourful bake of what went on. A couple of things he said that I haven’t seen comment on were: Gough seemed to be talking to our players constantly, and there was a blatant loss of ball into the marker by Lindsay Smith later in the game which nobody cared about by then, a schoolyard error, play on.
I can still picture Ryley Smith barely lifting the opponents legs and another Eel at the same moment taking the torso to the ground and causing the spear look. It was the softest, least angled spear I’ve ever seen, Ryley didn’t put any exertion into a slightly angled tackle to endanger the head/neck. The whole Kautonga thing is diabolical.
In 2021 the Penrith trainer enters the field illegally, gets them into the Grand Final, fined $25000 but probably recovered that plus another $2million. The Panthers seem to love that feather that whips them for being naughty.
I know that people have taken the stance of corruption. I don’t see it that way but I might be naive. But what is blatantly clear is that there are teams who are officiated different to others for whatever reason, or who face MRC consequences different to others. Those who can recruit differently. Those who are treated differently by some in the media. To ignore that is to ignore what hits you in the face every week, and not just in Eels games. Be it preconceived ideas about teams, flawed unintentional biases, whatever it might be, I’ve had enough. It’s just not good enough.
Sixties, I find the inequity in NRL the biggest turn-off. Every since my Mapgies fan friend used to whine about Manly taking Dorahy and Ray Brown off them. The power that Peter Moore had over the League. The insane idea that it is a level playing field when it comes to recruitment. Are you telling me that third party payments are above-board as far as the salary cap is concerned?
When the Storm were stripped of the 2009 premiership and the Eels were not awarded it, I could not believe it. In the Olympics, Silver medalists get Gold if the top gong goes to a drug cheat.
Then when I saw on TV Bellamy standing there after he had the primership stripped, with all his players defiantly saying to the world “we done nothing wrong”, I thought to myself “THIS STINKS”. Somebody CHEATED! They lied. They stole. And they are defiant?
There is something very smelly about that corner of the NRL. It’s a real turn-off. It is so blatant, the one rule for one, another rule for the other rubbish in the NRL, I don’t blame fans claiming it to be corruption.
The Eels have never been the club that screams and bites when things are biased against us. May be we need a bit of Ricky Stuart’s tactics in us
I’m still in recovery mode from the seething at what I witnessed at last Sunday’s game. A clear knock-on after the play the ball – that gave Panthers a last second first half try – clearly “passed” by bunker – during which Eels were down to 12 players in defensive line as Kitione Kautoga was out of the play due to an illegal tackle. No penalty, no report, no sin bin, nothing. Zilch. The punishment for Izack Tago was to only miss the Souths game. For Kitone, put out of the game for 2 months. well he can only look forward to next season. That is putrid.
If the club hasn’t written to the NRL about that hip drop we are setting up for repeated failures to be sent our way.
Ricky. He will speak out and call a spade a spade.Hes been fined but doesn’t care. The referees know they will get a bake and they consciously even things up.
The narrative decides the game!
Billy “glass houses” or Billy “the grub” or the loss of a parent. These are all used as motivation and a narrative to build up publicity for the game. Just watch the narrative build up and the outcome flows according to the story line. Channel 9 commentators heavily involved in Origin teams… Do the officials also get caught up in the narrative? Does the game have an eye on the betting markets? Does the NRL want outcomes that will grow the game? I think we all know the answers to these. The game is very successful and that’s all that matters to NRL HQ.
Origin – the first try in game 3 an obvious forward pass set the scene for that game. Qld received the green light.
I noticed in the first half we were attacking down Penrith’s end of field and after 2 tackles got a 6 again for Panthers being inside the ten. the later in the half, Panthers attacking down our end, we’re deemed inside the 10 & they get a penalty. I think the Panthers kicked a goal from that. Why does the same infringement attract two different outcomes???
Really enjoyed reading your take Shelley, always good to have a appreciation for what others are thinking.
Like many others I’ll have to respectfully disagree. I haven’t been a fan of the club or rugby league for all that long. I’ve only followed the Eels since Magic Round last year.
Whilst I don’t have the history that a lot of fans of the club will have, I can absolutely see and get behind the vision that JR is trying to achieve. Seeing how much some of our younger players have improved this year based on their experience in the NRL, thinking Kitione, Rylie, Isiah, etc., just gets me so pumped for what the future may bring. I can see the improvement across our game as these younger players adapt to the NRL and welcome the opportunity for Joash to get some real reps under his belt and make his mark at the Eels.
Not to bash on Dylan, but as others have said, we have only won 5 games with him in the side this year (not that the results fall only on him) and I’m really excited to see what we can do with the fresh injection of Joash at 6 and hopefully the return of MM in Round 21.
Bring on the Eels V Broncos watch party at Parra Leagues!
Sorry put this in the wrong thread 😉
Yes sixties there are other players in the team that have contributed to the losses not just Dylan but guess what the likes of junior are not leaving the club next year and Dylan is.
If we left it till 2026 to give Joash a crack at five eight and realise he is not up to it then there would be plenty lining up to have a crack at Ryles saying why did he play Dylan.
He is doing the right thing in leaving Dylan out and looking to next year to make an early decision on if we need to sign a Doueihi or the likes to start next season next to Moses.
I know you desperately did not want Dylan to go but he has made his decision and because of his decision and the timing we lost him and blaze and Sanders and then missing out on Galvin means we are struggling to find out next five eight.
Time to act now not wait till next year.
I think a lot of us are fans of what we saw with Joash in nsw cup he will not play as a fullback in nrl while Iongi os here so we need to see if he can play nrl five eight.
He will not be on the bench now we have signed Da Silva.