NRL 2010

[Noah]

Oh you have got to be joking.....

[Noah]

Eels boss Paul Osborne caught shoplifting

Osborne has been issued with an infringement notice.

Parramatta CEO Paul Osborne will fight a shoplifting notice after walking out of a Woolworths store without paying.

Osborne, a former police officer, has been issued with a $300 infringement notice after scanning items at a self-service checkout at the Woolworths store in Dural, north-western Sydney, before leaving without entering his card.

CCTV footage caught him leaving with the 11 items worth a total of $49.18.

Osborne says he had a lot on his mind and simply forgot to pay.

"This is a store I visit three times every week," Osborne told News Ltd. "I simply went in to buy some dinner for my kids and got them a DVD too. A couple of weeks later some police came to my door because of shoplifting. Obviously I was embarrassed and went straight to the shop to pay up."

Osborne has asked the police commissioner to use his powers to withdraw the notice and says if that is unsuccessful he will fight it in court

Been an interesting couple of weeks for the Eels.

[Noah]

Souths sneak past Storm in a thriller

By Justin Chadwick AAP

Sat, 26 Jun 2010 23:37:00

A botched try from Melbourne Storm winger Justin O'Neill and a missed conversion from Cameron Smith proved costly as South Sydney notched a fighting 16-14 NRL victory in Perth on Saturday night.

The Storm were leading 10-4 in the 50th minute when O'Neill, under absolutely no pressure, dropped a simple cross-field kick with the tryline at his mercy.

South Sydney scored the next 12 points to edge out to a 16-10 lead, but the Storm were back in the contest when O'Neill scored his second try of the night in the 70th minute.

However, Smith couldn't land the tricky conversion from the sideline, with the Rabbitohs surviving a surging run from Billy Slater in the 77th minute to secure the points.

The Rabbitohs' eighth win of the season, which sees them go a game clear of Parramatta and the Warriors (who have a game to play on Sunday), also snapped an eight-game losing streak to the Storm.

O'Neill finished with two tries for Melbourne and Greg Inglis one, while Rabbitohs winger Fetuli Talanoa bagged a brace to go with Chris Sandow's try.

Both sides had a case of the fumbles early but it was the Rabbitohs who adjusted better to the greasy conditions, with Talanoa twisting and turning his way through two tackles while pressed up on the touch line to notch the first try of the night in the 15th minute.

But slack defensive work from the Rabbitohs, when two defenders failed to attack a Smith grubber kick, saw O'Neill ghost in for the Storm's opening try just five minutes later.

Slater was almost left red faced three minutes before half-time when his attempt to shepherd a grubber kick over the dead-ball line almost led to a try to Nathan Merritt.

The Storm survived that scare as the teams went into the break locked at 4-4, and a miracle pass from O'Neill in the 43rd minute, which gifted Greg Inglis a try, gave the Storm a handy lead.

But O'Neill undid all of his good work when he couldn't grasp Brett Finch's pin-point kick over the goal-line, with the Rabbitohs swiftly running the ball down the other end for Sandow's try.

Issac Luke's conversion followed by a penalty five minutes later put the Rabbitohs ahead 12-10, and the margin stretched to six points in the 61st minute when Dane Nielsen's missed tackle on Rabbitohs centre Colin Best allowed Talanoa to bag his second.

O'Neill's try 10 minutes from time gave the Storm hope but it wasn't to be, with the Rabbitohs holding on in front of owner Russell Crowe and 13,164 fans.

Boy what a thriller.

The team really needed that, as going into the bye and a tough run home on the back of 3 straight losses may have been enough to cost us a shot at the finals.

[Noah]

Souths lose Luke for 6-8 weeks

Frustrated South Sydney coach John Lang will rely on "classic old-style hooker" Beau Falloon to get the Rabbitohs to the NRL finals with Issac Luke ruled out for up to two months.

Out of action: Issac Luke. (Getty Images: Corey Davis)

Star hooker Luke will miss 6-8 weeks of action despite avoiding surgery on his injured shoulder.

The 23-year-old dislocated his shoulder at training on Tuesday but MRI scans have determined he will not require an operation.

The loss of the Kiwi international is a massive blow to the fifth-placed Rabbitohs, whose campaign to make the finals will now be played almost entirely without him.

Luke is currently running second in the Dally M Medal count after his superb form in 2010.

"He's been having a terrific year and was a big shot for the Dally M," Lang said."He's been our best player this year and having a great season and to hurt it at training's so frustrating, but that's just the way it is."

Falloon, 23, will be the Rabbitohs' back-up but is unlikely to play 80 minutes with Jason Clark, Jamie Simpson and Luke Capewell also in the frame to spend time at dummy half.

"He's a classic old-style hooker," Lang said of Falloon. "He's a strong defender, he's quick and strong out of dummy half, he's got a nice pass both sides, he can kick a ball. He hasn't got the flair of Issac, I don't think I've ever seen another hooker that has. The running game that Issac's got, it's the best I've seen. I know Beau will do his bit, he'll do a good job but he's not Issac Luke."

Lang, though, is adamant Souths will be in the top eight come September.

"If we fell out of contention while Issac was away it would be a very poor excuse," he said. "You can't rely on one person. I think everybody's got to pick it up a little bit and hopefully make sure we're still in the finals when Issac gets back."

- AAP

Just when we got ourselves into a good position, a win over a quality team, this happens.

Now the team faces a tough run home, without the star player and creative driving force.

The finals campaign may be over, before Luke comes back,

[Noah]

Sandow brilliance inspires Souths

July 25, 2010 - 4:27PM

Fetuli Talanoa of the Rabbitohs crosses to score. Photo: Getty Images

A second-half master-class from halfback Chris Sandow has seen South Sydney snap a two-match NRL losing streak to beat the Warriors 38-28 at ANZ Stadium on Sunday.

Sandow inspired his side with several explosive plays in the second half, which turned the match and ended the Warriors' hopes of a six-match winning streak and entry into the top four.

After two heart-breaking losses to the Roosters and St George Illawarra, it shaped as a must-win game for the Bunnies who desperately needed to rediscover their confidence.

The lead changed five times throughout the match and it was the smallest man on the field who made all the difference and propelled his side back into the eight.

In the 45th minute with his side trailing by 10 points, the fiery Sandow put one of his trademark big shoulder-charge hits on opposite number Brett Seymour which forced a mistake.

Fetuli Talanoa scored to get Souths within a converted try, and then Sandow took charge again in the 50th minute with a nice half-break and offload to Ben Lowe who then sent Beau Falloon away to make it 20-20.

A soft-stripping penalty against Sam Burgess allowed the Warriors to kick a penalty goal to get their noses ahead at 22-20 - before Sandow set ANZ stadium alight and got Souths' finals hopes back on track.

Centre Colin Best made a long run down the left-hand side before linking up with Sandow who bumped off a would-be tackle from Kevin Locke to dash away for the corner, salute the crowd, nail the sideline conversion and give Souths all the momentum.

The Rabbitohs moved closer to a win 15 minutes from fulltime, when a Sandow bomb was batted back and a few passes later Talanoa powered over for his second.

Sandow again converted from the sideline to put the home side up 32-22.

Warriors second rower Lewis Brown crossed for his double with eight minutes left, and Souths had to endure some testy moments defending their own line, before interchange Jamie Simpson scored in the 79th minute to seal the result.

The Warriors started the match terribly, conceding a try to Eddy Pettybourne within the first three minutes, before hitting back with tries to Brown, Manu Vatuvei, Jeremy Latimore and an intercept from James Maloney to take a 20-10 halftime lead.

A major concern for Souths appears to be a broken collarbone to hard-running forward Dave Taylor.

SOUTH SYDNEY 38 (F Talanoa 2 B Falloon N Merritt E Pettybourne C Sandow J Simpson tries C Sandow 5 goals) bt NZ WARRIORS 28 (L Brown 2 J Latimore J Maloney M Vatuvei tries J Maloney 4 goals) at ANZ Stadium. Referee: Gavin Badger, Tony De Las Heras. Crowd: 13,895.

AAP

For the Warriors fans out there.

[Slogger]

We were up by 10 at half time, What the hell happened?

Warriors were the only team 5-0 in their last 5 up until this game.

Why did we let Souths back into the competition in the first place?

[Noah]

Fear us and our mighty injury toll!

[Slogger]

I personally blame Russell Crowe.

[Australian of the Moment]

Why have I only just found this thread? Weird. I'm a die-hard Bunnies fan and what a weekend it was to be one! Our injury toll (with Sutton out now as well) doesn't look good going into the semi's but hopefully we can make it. Who does everyone think will make it to the gf? For me the Roosters are hitting some strong form, I'm backing them to make it... and the Sharks

[Notorious P.O.T]

Why have I only just found this thread? Weird. I'm a die-hard Bunnies fan and what a weekend it was to be one! Our injury toll (with Sutton out now as well) doesn't look good going into the semi's but hopefully we can make it. Who does everyone think will make it to the gf? For me the Roosters are hitting some strong form, I'm backing them to make it... and the Sharks

So many people I know are Bunnies fans, everyone from some of my mates, to my father, to my business studies teacher, it's sort of annoying being one of the only Doggies fans haha.

[Noah]

Us Bunnies fans breed like........do I really need to complete that sentence?

Must win game against the Panthers on Friday. They've been out of form but are still a quality team. If we can pull it off, still in the hunt for a top 8 finish.

[Australian of the Moment]

Haha Doggies. I think of Beau Ryan everytike i say that. Hopefully we can get the win this weekend, we still played well last week even without Sutton. Fingers crossed we can make the 8.

[Noah]

Well that sucked. At least the broncos lost to though. Beat the Eels next week and we may just still be in this.

[Australian of the Moment]

Didn't get to see the game, was out at dinner. Fuck me, we got hammered, at least it wasn't by the Sharks. Knights had a good win over the Broncs, still can't believe Israel is going to GayFL next year, such a waste.

[Noah]

Really going to be interesting if the Broncos and the Raiders lose this coming weekend.

If the Knights take advantage of that and win also and us vs Parra has a winner.....

That would make it four teams chasing the last spot in the top 8, going into the final week of the season.

[Australian of the Moment]

Pray for a win then. The eels were sloppy last weekend and are still in 'comeback' mode every week they play. Hope we can just shut them out.

[Australian of the Moment]

EDIT: Stupid phone, double post.

Edited August 25, 2010 by Australian of the Year

[Noah]

Take that Eels!

[Slogger]

WARRIORS!

Suck it Brisbane! Parramatta is on the slide so we should be in a good position to win next week as well.

[Noah]

Wayne Bennett will likely put out a second string side against us next week and I'm confident if that's the case, we can beat the Dragons.

Then it's down to Canberra losing at least one of their next two and my beloved Rabbitohs should make it.