NRL 2012: Finals week 3 - At least the Tigers didn't make it this far

And then there were four- the Doggies, the Bunnies, the Stormies and the Manlies.  It’s not really that surprising, struth be told, as they have been the best teams all year.  It actually makes the previous 26 weeks fairly redundant, except I would gladly sit through a marathon of Panthers vs Eels games next year if it means that the Tigers are given another massive reality check by missing the finals when everyone thought they would romp it in unchallenged and waltz away with the cup.   There’s something about seeing Benji Marshall sitting down in his pleated skirt crying his eyes out because he lost a footy game. 

This weekend will sort out who is going to fight it out in the grand final.  SPOILER ALERT:  I’m tipping Bunnies vs Storm.

Why?  Because I have a soft spot for the Rabbitohs (that, and I’m scared that Russell Crowe will find me and beat me/eat me), and also because (and this will shock everyone), that I really, really don’t like Manly.  I know it wasn’t entirely their fault that they won last week.  It wasn’t their fault that the referees made a lot of mistakes – they had other things on their minds, like “where did this brand new Mercedes on my driveway come from?” and  “Geoff Toovey sounds a bit like Batman” and “I can’t believe Brett Stewart asked my daughter to the formal!”

In any case, the Cowboys played like dick and didn’t deserve to win either.  At times like that, the NRL should just say, “Fuck it, you’re both shit and that was an unspectacular game.  You’re both out.”  I don’t think anyone would be able to complain about that.  Except Manly, of course, but you come to expect that.    

Manly vs Melbourne

Souths vs Doggies

Raiders 2012 summary:

The Raiders were bungled out of the comp in unspectacular form against the Bunnies last Saturday night.  It was a fairly representative performance from the mighty Lime Green Machine, as they ranged from “oh fucking hell, that was shit” to “oh yeah, that’s not bad” on average eighteen times a minute.  In the end, there was way too much dropped ball, missed tackles, silly penalties and inept line running, and that was all from Blake Ferguson. 

However, I think the main thing that Canberra can take from this year is that their young team that was as easy to beat as the Mighty Ducks before Emilio Estevez came along have developed well together, and in the next two seasons will be outright premiership contenders.  Williams and McCrone are as dangerous as any other halves combination running around, Sandor Earl is an ex-underwear model, Josh Papali will mature into a freakin monster, and Jarrod Croker learnt how to tackle.  I’d like to think that I had a bit to do with it, despite what Dave Furner had to say when I told him that on the phone this morning at 4am.

Here's a fun game to play at home - based on Terry Campese's facial expression here, which ligament do you think he has just torn?