blogging it real

I went fishing yesterday afternoon thinking the Warriors game was live on Prime at 6 and turned up at my parents at about 5:30 to pick something up only to find the second half was starting and we were getting done 20-6. That's what I thought might happen given the players coming back for the Knights, their first game at Marathon Stadium with the new stand, Johns giving his players a serve during the week and a bumper crowd turing out.

So I head for home wondering what the final score might end up and got a shock which sent me skipping down the hallway to watch the DELAYED broadcast on Prime. Good to see what a difference Monty Betham makes. ie. fuck all. All it means is some decent forward like Villasanti has a chance to step up and play like a man instead of a "fairy puff" as Peter Peters called him recently.

Anyway, here's the stats:
Canterbury 16 Roosters 29 (27,111)
Cowboys 44 Wests Tigers 20 (20,361)
Melbourne 14 Parramatta 26 (9,649)
Rabbitohs 6 Penrith 36 (11,108)
Newcastle 26 Warriors 30 (18,173)
St Geo-Illa 24 Brisbane 34 (17,287)
Sea Eagles 36 Canberra (17,061)

Season Ave: 17,639 (2004:14,836, 2003:14,632, 2002:13,157)

Top Points
68 Clinton Schifcofske
56 Preston Campbell
56 Stacy Jones

Tries
7 Billy Slater
7 Rhys Wesser
5 Steven Bell, Shaun Berrigan, Leon Bott, Ryan Cross, Matt King, Matt Orford, Matt Sing, Jason Smith, Brent Tate, Paul Whatuira
4 Todd Byrne (top Warrior)

Goals
25 Clinton Schifcofske
24 Stacy Jones
22 Preston Campbell

Tackles
225 Nathan Hindmarsh
214 David Stagg
206 Glenn Morrison

164 Wairangi Koopu (top Warrior at 19th on the list)

Offloads
23 Craig Fitzgibbon
18 Ryan Cross
18 Shannon Hegarty
18 Carl Webb

15 Clinton Toopi (top Warrior in 8th
13 Awen Guttenbeil (11th)
12 Sione Faumuina (16th)

Kicks
69 Joe Williams
58 Matt Orford
55 Andrew Johns

51 Stacy Jones (7th)

Try Assists
7 Tim Smith
7 Johnathon Thurston
6 Brett Kimmorley
6 John Morris

3 Stacy Jones (14th)

Line Breaks
9 Steve Bell
9 Rhys Wesser
8 Billy Slater

5 Clinton Toopi (9th)

Hitups
107 Paul Rauhihi
104 Rhys Wesser
103 Steve Price

Metres Gained
1098 Rhys Wesser
1016 Steve Price
972 Clinton Schifcofske

The Warriors went into the last round sitting in 8th spot, won their game and found themselves in 9th spot which is a bit odd but down to points for and against. With the two points this round for the bye they should move up to about 7th but it's 'tighter than a nun's...(how does that line finish up?).

Table with teams I think will make the playoffs bolded...
10 Raiders
10 Sea Eagles
10 Sharks
who would have believed those three?
8 Cowboys
8 Broncos
8 Tigers (what the?!)
6 Storm
6 Panthers
6 Warriors
6 Roosters
6 Eels
4 Rabbitohs
4 Bulldogs
2 Dragons
2 Knights
(Can't believe the bottom 3 sides, well the Knights were no real surprise but the other two?)

This weekends draw:
Eels v Tigers
Panthers v Cowboys
Sharks v Broncos
Raiders v Storm
Knights v Bulldogs
Sea Eagles v Rabbitohs
Roosters v Dragons