Official Match Thread - St George-Illawarra Dragons vs Sydney Roosters

[The Brain]

seriously dufty duck should be exposed what he is ...small like Verne Troya
Nightingale is full of errors kick to him over him slowest winger in the comp.
Forwards? well we only have to match them defensively.
Will the real Napa arise? he could make a difference.
also our right hand attack must not suffer because of Aubs Keary must get in there.
Then there is my Hero Latrell ...give him a tiny bit of space and watch him go.
Then Tedesco could be the x factor

[novice chook]

Is there a pre match?

Aus armed forces team v NZ armed forces team. Starts at 1.15 pm apparently.

[Vasco]

Looks like heavy showers on Wednesday,spewing..

That actually might help us.

[Johnny Brass]

Doesn't look good for us guys we got the Klein /Badger combination tomorrow. Ones incompetent and the others a raging Souths fan , not expecting too many penalties.
Badger as pocket ref will be sweating on incorrect play the balls .

[Guest]

I'm not confident about this one. These bastards always seem to rise up on Anzac Day, or lay down in the case of that grub in the centres, but I really hope that we win by any margin because it's really the one game of the year I hate losing with the history and magnitude or what Anzac Day means to us as a people and a country.

Australians, New Zealanders, Johnnies and Mehmets. We will remember them. Lest We Forget.

[Jacks Fur Coat]

The privilege continues...we are so lucky as a club and fans to participate in/and honour this special day for Australia.

[Lydon]

Weather Gods have decided to change the forecast to clear..
Cant wait for this one,dry track and playing the top team should bring out the best in us!

[bondi paul]

I would like the NRL to schedule the game as a true game day match without the lights coming on in the second half for tv broadcasts.
Up Easts.

[Random Rooster]

Doesn't look good for us guys we got the Klein /Badger combination tomorrow. Ones incompetent and the others a raging Souths fan , not expecting too many penalties.
Badger as pocket ref will be sweating on incorrect play the balls .

JWH will be penalised for breathing.
What hold does Klein have over the NRL? No ref in NRL history has influenced the outcomes of games than this bumbling moron yet he still gets a start. I really thought his fark up in extra time of the Tigers/Broncos game would see the end of him......and now he has control of one of the biggest games of the year. HOW????

[King Salvo]

interesting that Robbo has got the team going into camp tomorrow ahead of the game.

We went into camp in under 10`s I remember for our grand final - rained all week up to our major semi against Camden Rams which we lost 6-5 in a mud heap at Bradbury oval- Campbelltown. The final was cancelled as it continued raining all that next week and no grounds were playable - As the higher finisher (minor premiers) we would go through to the grand final. It stopped raining on the Saturday afternoon of what would have been the final and I remember getting a call from our coach on the Saturday night saying we would be playing the final on Wednesday afternoon (3pm) at Victoria Park at Picton.

Went to school on that Wednesday in our club tracksuit like all the players - not much school done that day - we got on the bus at 1:00pm to travel to Picton - 15 or so minutes away - we won the game 12-3 to make it to the grand final- the school principal gave us the Thursday and Friday off - wow great no school :-)- our coach then after the principal left the change room said we would be going into camp next two days as the GF was on the Saturday.

Stayed at our assistant coaches double story house from that Wednesday till game day(our parents brought change of clothes etc for this camp to the ground - they knew about this camp- we didn't) - trained on both Thursday and Friday and did game play scenarios as well for the GF game on Saturday - Ended up winning the Grand Final against Camden Rams - 18- 5 - - It worked for us this camp hope it does for the Chookies too.

It`s rubbish the way junior football to certain ages is played nowadays - limited field/ limited number on the field/ no scoring to certain ages / no kicking at certain ages /limited playing time etc etc .

From under 7's upwards we would play the whole field / 13 a side / 30 minute halves (increased to 35 under 14's onwards) - 10 minute half time (real oranges too at 1/2 time) /proper scoring and rules etc etc etc like teams in the NSWRL comp would play under.

No wonder the standard of player coming through and skills are limited as a result of the lack of development of these skills from a young age.

[Random Rooster]

Stayed at our assistant coaches double story house from that Wednesday till game day(our parents brought change of clothes etc for this camp to the ground - they knew about this camp- we didn't)

I felt slightly uncomfortable reading this

[King Salvo]

I felt slightly uncomfortable reading this

All above board if your thinking otherwise although I am not sure what your really thinking?? - the whole team stayed there and all parents knew about it too - the coach/ assistant coach and their wives and sons (2- 1 each) who also played in our team as well - the assistant coach had a mini bus and took our side to outside Campbelltown games in group 6 as it was then.

It wasn`t the only time we did this either especially for further away games such as against Oakdale/The Oaks/ Mittagong/Moss vale/ Bowral/Appin/Thirlmere-Tahmoor/Warragamba/Picton/Camden/Narellan etc for instance. Happened quite regularly from under 7's to under 18's as many parents were unable to take kids to away games for various reasons-work and or taking their other kids to sporting fields(cannot be in multiple places at the same time) etc - easier for us all to be in the one place (i.e on a Friday night mostly) than have to pick up x many kids from various locations on the Saturday morning.

[4 the all in brawl]

Hope we win and derail their season like last year......

[4 the all in brawl]

We went into camp in under 10`s I remember for our grand final - rained all week up to our major semi against Camden Rams which we lost 6-5 in a mud heap at Bradbury oval- Campbelltown. The final was cancelled as it continued raining all that next week and no grounds were playable - As the higher finisher (minor premiers) we would go through to the grand final. It stopped raining on the Saturday afternoon of what would have been the final and I remember getting a call from our coach on the Saturday night saying we would be playing the final on Wednesday afternoon (3pm) at Victoria Park at Picton.

Went to school on that Wednesday in our club tracksuit like all the players - not much school done that day - we got on the bus at 1:00pm to travel to Picton - 15 or so minutes away - we won the game 12-3 to make it to the grand final- the school principal gave us the Thursday and Friday off - wow great no school :-)- our coach then after the principal left the change room said we would be going into camp next two days as the GF was on the Saturday.

Stayed at our assistant coaches double story house from that Wednesday till game day(our parents brought change of clothes etc for this camp to the ground - they knew about this camp- we didn't) - trained on both Thursday and Friday and did game play scenarios as well for the GF game on Saturday - Ended up winning the Grand Final against Camden Rams - 18- 5 - - It worked for us this camp hope it does for the Chookies too.

It`s rubbish the way junior football to certain ages is played nowadays - limited field/ limited number on the field/ no scoring to certain ages / no kicking at certain ages /limited playing time etc etc .

From under 7's upwards we would play the whole field / 13 a side / 30 minute halves (increased to 35 under 14's onwards) - 10 minute half time (real oranges too at 1/2 time) /proper scoring and rules etc etc etc like teams in the NSWRL comp would play under.

No wonder the standard of player coming through and skills are limited as a result of the lack of development of these skills from a young age.

Bit over the top for an u10s GF but glad your team won King......

[King Salvo]

Bit over the top for an u10s GF but glad your team won King......

It was quite serious footy back then i tell you - Group 6 from Juniors to grade was tough opposition and comps in what was then the strongest country group in NSW - we had the all in brawl against Picton Magpies in the under 12`s grand final - 3 sent off from both sides and some committee meeting later on to decide if we would be still be awarded the premiership- in the end we were.

Don't think kids nowadays would be able to handle such footy -but that was the 1970's- Picton Magpies played like Western Suburbs did in the Sydney Comp- lots of swinging arms and coat hangers - we had some players that were quite handy in boxing type skills and they did too - a few of the fathers were amateur boxers and some of these kids from our team and theirs used to box unofficially if you know what I mean.

I was delicate and used to move if any swinging arm or fist came my way- they used to call me Fairy 2 the other teams as I had the long hair and slight build -but luckily the sidestep too :-)