reds and maroons

[Ken Gargett]

i am not happy. reds lose another player.

if we do not win the state of origin, i will be exceedingly grumpy. and i am hardly confident. as good as the team is, when the older blokes start picking up injuries, it never goes well. it is blindingly obvious that nsw has no intention of playing decent football - just hoping to bash the qlders into submission and win from there. it might work.

as for the reds, news just in.

so this season we can add james hanson to the exodus of players fleeing the sinking ship. hard to blame him.

along with horwill, genia, probably quade and gill. schatz? browning?

in recent years we have lost these qlders or failed to keep them in qld - mitchell chapman, izzy folau (state of origin qualifies him as a qlder), jono lance, angus cottrell, dom shipperley, luke moraghan, digby Ioane, sean mcmahon, higginbotham, laurie weekes, placid, samo, ah wong, rod davies, mike harris, will chambers, guy shepherdson, ben lucas, butler, robbie coleman, tevita kurandrani, matt toomua, david pocock, blake enever, adian toua, jessie mogg, stephen moore, joe tomane, etc etc. i’m sure i’ve missed a few.

and how many before that?

in return, we have attracted a drug dealer and justin beiber. who were both qlders in the first place. plus beau robinson who was last fit in 2012 (and cost threepence because he was working in a pub not actually playing rugby) and an old kiwi – who is still one of our best.

and we brought in a coach who needs a coach brought in to coach him on how to coach.

it is one of the great disgraces on this planet that the qld administrators have not had the decency to shoot themselves. only telstra and qantas tolerate this level of monumental incompetence. even the government would be embarrassed.

it is that bad that you could put kevin rudd in charge of the qru and things would improve.

the aru might be beyond saving but hard to blame them when they see these dysfunctional fools making such a farce of it.

given the amount of money we’ve saved on players, one can assume we’ll be making a bid for lionel messi?

the only bloke who exceeds expectations at the qld reds is the bloke who counts the crowd.

[Ken Gargett]

and while on the daily rant, i see endless morons in comments sections on rugby posts elsewhere saying cooper will be no loss, good riddance and so on. hard to imagine people can be so stupid.

every single kiwi i ask just laughs at us. there is only one aussie rugby player they fear - cooper. they cannot understand why we treat him so poorly. i asked one on the weekend who he'd rather face in the world cup - foley or cooper (and i think foley is a very solid player but...). he couldn't stop laughing at the choice. but we'll get it wrong.

and as for phibbs. holy crap. his selection makes the aussie cricket team picking watto look like a no brainer. hard to recall a worse halfback at any level.

i am sincerely hoping we get dumped before the 1/4s so we can have the necessary cleanout. starting with administrators.

seriously not happy.

[JohnS]

It's been a significant decline for the Reds since 2013. 2011 seems like a distant memory in comparison to the fortunes of the current squad.

[jat]

Really. Follow the Western Force and then you'll know what true disappointment is like. The only difference between the Reds and the Force is that the Red's defence leaks like a bottomless bucket. Seriously questioning my membership for next year. And we're playing the Hurricanes this weekend, so I'm expecting a flogging.

Regarding the WC, I have zero expectations. Just so long was we beat England.

[JohnS]

Agreed...I'm not holding high hopes for the World Cup either.

[Ken Gargett]

Really. Follow the Western Force and then you'll know what true disappointment is like. The only difference between the Reds and the Force is that the Red's defence leaks like a bottomless bucket. Seriously questioning my membership for next year. And we're playing the Hurricanes this weekend, so I'm expecting a flogging.

Regarding the WC, I have zero expectations. Just so long was we beat England.

i am even at the stage where, provided it is once only, i could cop being done by england.

and the blocks.

as long as we win the ashes (we already have the cricket world cup), i can live with that for a year. as long as the nsw rugby mob doesn't win super xv again. and toss in a recovery by rg3 and i'll be happy (state of origin is assumed).

as for the force, they stole more reds players in the early days than even the brumbies or the rebels. though those pair have caught up.

i would also argue that they have always been crap. hence it hurts less. when you have been the greatest provincial side on the planet, sometimes for lengthy periods, it hurts way more. i can remember us beating a full strength all black side. now, we could not tie their boots up.

[JohnS]

Beat an all-strength All Black side? When was that Ken...I can't recall that so it's probably a while ago. Were the All-Blacks as strong a team as they are now?

[Guest rob]

The maroons look like they're good enough, and experienced enough to win it easy this year.

The blues will do well not to get thrashed.

[Ken Gargett]

Beat an all-strength All Black side? When was that Ken...I can't recall that so it's probably a while ago. Were the All-Blacks as strong a team as they are now?

from memory july 1980. i have a feeling it was the same week as the very first state of origin. went to both. sensational days.

the all blacks were as good then as now, if not better. but we were better than we are now. it was in the days of full tours. the all blacks declared that the game v qld (if i recall, the rugby team was actually called the maroons in those days) would be the fourth test and picked the full strength test team - from memory, it was on the weekend between the 2nd and third tests. we won the first, the all blacks came to ballymore and won the 2nd, i think. then the game v qld on the next weekend. then the final test - a great month. we won the 3rd test from memory but it was in the days of a great qld side and the wallabies was not polluted by endless useless nsw players. just a few.

score was 9-3. no tries but an amazing game. i was in tears. penalty each in the first half and then early in the 2nd, paul mclean (and if i may quote a former and famous wallaby captain, anyone who thinks ella was a better player than paul mclean either never saw mclean play or doesn't understand rugby) caught it low and behind himself and swivelled 360 as elegantly as any ballerina ever did and slotted a superb field goal. a bit later, roger gould caught the ball on the sideline, 10 metres on his own side (i know this as just in front of me). took a couple of steps and a monster field goal. would have cleared the crossbar by near 10 metres. wow! then we held on. sobbed like a baby.

[NaFFe]

go the blues

[JohnS]

Thanks Ken for describing the 1980 tour...it was a little before the time I remember following the Wallabies in the mid-eighties, although when you say the AllBlacks were strong, I believe it as I recall soon after the furore over the Springbok Rugby tour to New Zealand.

I lament the 1990s when Australian rugby was strong, when we had a champion as a leader, John Eales, and we won two World Cups. Sometimes I wonder if Australian Rugby will see a 'glory' era like that again.

[Ken Gargett]

Thanks Ken for describing the 1980 tour...it was a little before the time I remember following the Wallabies in the mid-eighties, although when you say the AllBlacks were strong, I believe it as I recall soon after that the furore over the Springbok Rugby tour to New Zealand.

I lament the 1990s when Australian rugby was strong, when we had a champion as a leader, John Eales, and we won two World Cups. Sometimes I wonder if Australian Rugby will see a 'glory' era like that again.

just back from the reds finding a new way to lose. check the highlights. justin beiber came up with a shocker.

agreed re eales. compare him to that moron hooper jumping on cars when pissed at christmas. an embarrassment to us all - good player but that does not excuse it.

we will never challenge while the pair of gumbies - pulver and hawker - stumble around patting each other on the back while utterly blind to the truly inept job they are doing.

[frenchkiwi]

OK i just saw the "Bieber" clearance vid under the headline "Worst Clearance Ever?"

It was made even more spectacular as if you watch the bloke who scores, he pulls up lame in the defensive line (hammy) so hangs back and 2s later receives the clanger kick in the breadbasket and hobbles 10m to the line and falls awkwardly to score.

to be fair most teams will have a season where nothing goes their way. But something going wrong at Reds HQ. We have had it at the Canes where a terrible rookie coach failed dismally in his 1st season and then got given 3 more seasons to prove just how inept he is (and has just proven it further overseas this year i hear). A strange feeling we all had supporting the team but being unable to support them fully even in victory. My commiserations

just back from the reds finding a new way to lose. check the highlights. justin beiber came up with a shocker.

agreed re eales. compare him to that moron hooper jumping on cars when pissed at christmas. an embarrassment to us all - good player but that does not excuse it.

we will never challenge while the pair of gumbies - pulver and hawker - stumble around patting each other on the back while utterly blind to the truly inept job they are doing.

[Ken Gargett]

OK i just saw the "Bieber" clearance vid under the headline "Worst Clearance Ever?"

It was made even more spectacular as if you watch the bloke who scores, he pulls up lame in the defensive line (hammy) so hangs back and 2s later receives the clanger kick in the breadbasket and hobbles 10m to the line and falls awkwardly to score.

to be fair most teams will have a season where nothing goes their way. But something going wrong at Reds HQ. We have had it at the Canes where a terrible rookie coach failed dismally in his 1st season and then got given 3 more seasons to prove just how inept he is (and has just proven it further overseas this year i hear). A strange feeling we all had supporting the team but being unable to support them fully even in victory. My commiserations

absolutely.

strong rumour that gill, the future of the team and surely the next captain and a future wallaby captain, will go if graham not sacked by next week. or if at the very least, he is told graham is going.

as for beiber, it is the blooper of the year - but he'd already had a kick charged down. a few minutes later, two of the backs fell over each other chasing a ball. it was horrible. genia, slipper and gill played superbly. they always do. the rest?

i saw the half start for beiber when genia passed it back. and pull up. i thought immediately bad cramp but hammy could well be. then kicked into him. but if you look, he really only needs to go about 2 metres. not ten. it is that bad.

[Ken Gargett]

OK i just saw the "Bieber" clearance vid under the headline "Worst Clearance Ever?"

It was made even more spectacular as if you watch the bloke who scores, he pulls up lame in the defensive line (hammy) so hangs back and 2s later receives the clanger kick in the breadbasket and hobbles 10m to the line and falls awkwardly to score.

to be fair most teams will have a season where nothing goes their way. But something going wrong at Reds HQ. We have had it at the Canes where a terrible rookie coach failed dismally in his 1st season and then got given 3 more seasons to prove just how inept he is (and has just proven it further overseas this year i hear). A strange feeling we all had supporting the team but being unable to support them fully even in victory. My commiserations

the other thing worth mentioning was that beiber was having a blue with adam thompson on the way off at halftime,apparently. thompson is one of those kiwis most aussies admired, before he even came over. has worked tirelessly and played well. that little pumped up featherduster is not a patch on the bloke. of all the players we have lost, i wish he was top of list.