World Cup edition?

Yeah, World Cup edition.

The, the Mark is like, like either Mark Riddell or, you know, Mark "MG" Geyer, one of your favorites.

We'll be listening.

Yeah, good and good luck with the show over the summer, Trent.

Don't do too good a job because the continuous call team wants to return on Las Vegas weekend next year.

All right?

[laughs]

And then, then James Tedesco is emerging, and then Reece Walsh is emerging, then there's Tommy Turbo.

But during COVID, a few of them were injured-

Can find a gig.

No, my job [laughs], my full-time job is to work for the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.

But I keep getting roped into doing these things here, and the only reason I came today was 'cause when I said I didn't wanna do it, the World Cup podcast, One Iron started crying.

Had a few little operations here and there to get the body right for next year, and same old, just watching

sport.

Can I ask him a question? Of course you can, sure.

It's my podcast, but you can take over.

You can take over.

You can take over in a sec.

So...

It's just about buying into what the coach wants to do, really.

Watch it at home.

Jesus, I, I'm glad I did.

The funny thing about going to the footy, i- if, unless you're, you know, sideline like you are, you can miss a lot-

No.

I, I was at Eden Park, I can't remember the year now.

Was it 2019 or something when Australia lost to Tonga?

Had a few little operations here and there to get the body right for next year, and same old, just watching

sport.

Can I ask him a question? Of course you can, sure.

It's my podcast, but you can take over.

You can take over.

You can take over in a sec.

So...

It's just about buying into what the coach wants to do, really.

Watch it at home.

Jesus, I, I'm glad I did.

The funny thing about going to the footy, i- if, unless you're, you know, sideline like you are, y- you can miss a lot-

Yeah

... 20 midline was challenging it.

And I said, "Gus, can...

Just off the record, I just wanna write a column about it.

Can you explain it to me?" He goes, "It's easy." Right? He goes, "There's defensive system A, B, and C, and each of them can be used at any time, depending on any scenario in the match, and players just have to adapt and go to this." And, and I just said, "Okay.

Is it simply down to the fact she is a Queenslander?

No, it's not.

That helps, of course.

But Queensland's quite a rebellious state.

And it's a rebellious state against authority from the south.

It's why Queenslanders' eyes roll on the back of their heads about state of origin.

It's about beating New South Wales.

And even we've spoken with the NRL off air now a couple of times, and it's difficult to get a straight answer on whether it's a sellout or not.

Well, it

was great.

It wasn't as good as the play when he took the quick tap.

Well, actually, it wasn't a quick tap.

It wasn't even a quick tap, mate.

No, it was just a tap, and the referee was in position, and he gave him the mark, and he looked up Sandon Smith, and he realised that the...

Penrith players had turned their backs.

What do you think?

Well, it

quite possibly is.

I know we have short memories.

The Broncos versus the Raiders second half performance last year when Reece Lightning turned into Reece Frightening and just sliced them to ribbons was pretty magnificent as well.

Plus the Broncos against Penrith in the prelim last year.

But we've never seen a team down 14-6 at halftime, reduced to 12 men, up against the might of the four-time premiers.

Okay, they didn't win it last year, Penrith, but They'd been in the last seven preliminary finals, won four premierships in a row this decade.

It wasn't

Well, it

was great.

It wasn't as good as the play when he took the quick tap.

Well, actually, it wasn't a quick tap.

It wasn't even a quick tap, mate.

No, it was just a tap, and the referee was in position, and he gave him the mark, and he looked up Sandon Smith, and he realised that the...

Penrith players had turned their backs.

What do you think?

Seriously, Neil, this is ridiculous, isn't it?

Well, no, there's nobody, and...

This is what happened.

The AFL has always been very aggressive about pre-match entertainment all through the years.

And it makes no secret of the fact that it believes grand final day is a celebration.

And it's a time for the game to thank fans.

Not whom are paying.

cares?

What do you make of all this, Bernie?

Yeah, well, it was interesting because just a couple of weeks ago, Peter Volandis went on Mark Burris' podcast and he gave us that explanation about the KPIs that referees have to meet.

And on Monday at NRL headquarters, they go through every referee's performance from the eight matches on the weekend and rank them in scores about, you know, How long it took for play, the balls down to the point one of a second on average across a match for each team against each other, all these different KPIs.

And one of the KPIs that we've learned today here at the Sydney Morning Herald and published the story today was there's a ranking of howlers.

And so if there's a decision that's wrong, they rank it, oh, one, it didn't have much effect, you know, it wasn't that big a deal, all the way up to five, which is an absolute howler, which has directly affected the result of the match.

And Klein's howler on the weekend with Tyson Frizzell and not awarding a penalty and would have given the Warriors a kick in front, it would have been 12 all and golden point.

They ranked it a five, only the second one of the year.

He's a briny because he hasn't been on the field too much.

What do you make of all this, Bernie?

Yeah, well, it was interesting because just a couple of weeks ago, Peter Volandis went on Mark Burris' podcast and he gave us that explanation about the KPIs that referees have to meet.

And on Monday at NRL headquarters, they go through every referee's performance from the eight matches on the weekend and rank them in scores about, you know, How long it took for play, the balls down to the point one of a second on average across a match for each team against each other, all these different KPIs.

And one of the KPIs that we've learned today here at the Sydney Morning Herald and published the story today was there's a ranking of howlers.

And so if there's a decision that's wrong, they rank it, oh, one, it didn't have much effect, you know, it wasn't that big a deal, all the way up to five, which is an absolute howler, which has directly affected the result of the match.

And Klein's howler on the weekend with Tyson Frizzell and not awarding a penalty and would have given the Warriors a kick in front, it would have been 12 all and golden point.

They ranked it a five, only the second one of the year.

He's a briny because he hasn't been on the field too much.

What do you make of all this, Bernie?

Yeah, well, it was interesting because just a couple of weeks ago, Peter Volandis went on Mark Burris' podcast and he gave us that explanation about the KPIs that referees have to meet.

And on Monday at NRL headquarters, they go through every referee's performance from the eight matches on the weekend and rank them in scores about, you know, How long it took for play, the balls down to the point one of a second on average across a match for each team against each other, all these different KPIs.

And one of the KPIs that we've learned today here at the Sydney Morning Herald and published the story today was there's a ranking of howlers.

And so if there's a decision that's wrong, they rank it, oh, one, it didn't have much effect, you know, it wasn't that big a deal, all the way up to five, which is an absolute howler, which has directly affected the result of the match.

And Klein's howler on the weekend with Tyson Frizzell and not awarding a penalty and would have given the Warriors a kick in front, it would have been 12 all and golden point.

They ranked it a five, only the second one of the year.

He's a briny because he hasn't been on the field too much.

People's champion would love that.

Let's tell the great Ray Hadley that Andrew's done all this right.

I tell you, I stole Olivia off him.

Oh, producer.

Yeah, the producer, Olivia.

And I reckon Ray phoned me at midday and ten seconds.

Right.

Great

Good afternoon, Breeny.

Good afternoon to you, boys.

Like you, this afternoon's game I've been looking forward to all weekend.

Look, I've watched the AFL over the weekend.

They've had some epics.

They've had some epic finals.

Like last night, Lions and Hawthorne was one of the greatest games of football you'll ever see.

Like, what a shame.

Your thoughts on that one at Eden Park?

Well, the Warriors at home, you'd think, but I couldn't believe how many people during the week were just talking up the Knights.

Left, right and centre.

What have you boys been saying? We've been saying the Knights.

I like the Knights.

Do you like them? Yeah.

What, the halves for the Warriors?

If the Knights can withstand the first 20 minutes and get the emotion out of the game, they'll play the better footy, I think.

What do you think of the Warriors? They had a real chance, didn't they, to stay in New Zealand right through to the grand final, but the Dolphins just ran over the top of them.

They had them.

They were up 16 points to eight.

They went on a frenzy of kicking penalty goals.

And I don't know.

You know...

In the immediate aftermath of the match, I thought to myself, Horsey, I just wonder whether they stifled themselves by continually taking the two.

I said on this podcast last week, if this wasn't sold out days in advance of the game, someone's not doing their job, and they only got $22,000 there.

What do you think of the Warriors? They had a real chance, didn't they, to stay in New Zealand right through to the grand final, but the Dolphins just ran over the top of them.

They had them.

They were up 16 points to eight.

They went on a frenzy of kicking penalty goals.

And I don't know.

You know...

In the immediate aftermath of the match, I thought to myself, Horsey, I just wonder whether they stifled themselves by continually taking the two.

I said on this podcast last week, if this wasn't sold out days in advance of the game, someone's not doing their job, and they only got $22,000 there.

What do you think of the Warriors? They had a real chance, didn't they, to stay in New Zealand right through to the grand final, but the Dolphins just ran over the top of them.

They had them.

They were up 16 points to eight.

They went on a frenzy of kicking penalty goals.

And I don't know.

You know...

In the immediate aftermath of the match, I thought to myself, Horsey, I just wonder whether they stifled themselves by continually taking the two.

I said on this podcast last week, if this wasn't sold out days in advance of the game, someone's not doing their job, and they only got $22,000 there.

What do you make of this? Because PVL, Peter Volandis has hit back.

Yeah, I'll talk you through it, Horsey.

So Harry Grant was the one who started it after the Storms season finished when they had that win over the Sharks on the weekend.

And Harry Grant said, what, are we playing touch football as a tag? He was very critical of the six again restart rule.

Now, up until last year, you couldn't give away a six again rule until the 40-meter line.

And so now it's gone back to the 20-meter line.

So 80 meters of the field is able to be a six again rather than 60 meters.

Just take us through this little, another brouhaha, perhaps.

What do you make of this? Because PVL, Peter Volandis has hit back.

Yeah, I'll talk you through it, Horsey.

So Harry Grant was the one who started it after the Storms season finished when they had that win over the Sharks on the weekend.

And Harry Grant said, what, are we playing touch football as a tag? He was very critical of the six again restart rule.

Now, up until last year, you couldn't give away a six again rule until the 40-meter line.

And so now it's gone back to the 20-meter line.

So 80 meters of the field is able to be a six again rather than 60 meters.

Just take us through this little, another brouhaha, perhaps.

What do you make of this? Because PVL, Peter Volandis has hit back.

Yeah, I'll talk you through it, Horsey.

So Harry Grant was the one who started it after the Storms season finished when they had that win over the Sharks on the weekend.

And Harry Grant said, what, are we playing touch football as a tag? He was very critical of the six again restart rule.

Now, up until last year, you couldn't give away a six again rule until the 40-meter line.

And so now it's gone back to the 20-meter line.

So 80 meters of the field is able to be a six again rather than 60 meters.

Just take us through this little, another brouhaha, perhaps.

So this is just another chapter in this sorry saga.

Look, it's crazy stuff.

Now, he signed for the P&G Chiefs from 2028, player number one, blah, blah, brings a lot of benefits.

We know that there's companies up there keen to sponsor players.

Suddenly, he's done a deal with Pepsi.

He's supposed to be the third arm or third removed from a club if you want to be a third-party sponsor.

And here we got Pepsi signing him up when he happened to be up there signing his contract a couple of months ago.

Has this got legs or what's happening here?

So this is just another chapter in this sorry saga.

Look, it's crazy stuff.

Now, he signed for the P&G Chiefs from 2028, player number one, blah, blah, brings a lot of benefits.

We know that there's companies up there keen to sponsor players.

Suddenly, he's done a deal with Pepsi.

He's supposed to be the third arm or third removed from a club if you want to be a third-party sponsor.

And here we got Pepsi signing him up when he happened to be up there signing his contract a couple of months ago.

Has this got legs or what's happening here?