Ponga's BIG Kiwi Switch, The Battle Against Rugby Union & Could State Of Origin Land On Netflix?

This podcast is brought to you by a good friend at Love Broke's Charlie Friday night, two of the NRL's biggest rivalry,

self-sidney rabbit holes and the Sydney Roosters go head-to-head.

The book affudes Jimmy another chapter and it's the Sydney Roosters against the South Sydney

rabbit holes. The roosters are slight favorites, paying a dollar and 80 cents while the bunnies are

two dollars and two cents. Do you want to know what AJ is for two tries, Jimmy? Go on, give it to me.

Three dollars and five cents. And what's the odds on a pitch invasion? Love Broke's not promoting that

market. The NRL aren't promoting it, but we are hopefully AJ can back to what a place to do it.

One dollar and three cents for the pitch invasion of my eyes, Jimmy. I think we will see it,

should Johnson go over for two, but I've been on the lab broke set up and I was going to do a

same game, multi myself, but I've been looking at the popular same game multi's and this is all

about some try-scoring action. So Alex Johnson, anytime, try-score, James Tadesco is in anytime,

try-score and La Trelle Mitchell, who is in fine form in that left centre, expect to see him get

plenty of opportunities against his old club that three legs same game multi is paying seven dollars

and thirty nine cents. Wow, a lot of popular same game multi as well, takes the guesswork away, Jimmy.

Season C's apply and available on the website. Odds are subject to change. What's gambling really

costing you for free and confidential support? Visit gamblingcubonline.org.au. Back again,

for season 2026, we are being powered by Hyundai Charlie. The footies back, Jimmy. Hyundai's back

and the sun is shining. Rugby League is here. How bloody good. But I'll tell you what's really good.

The deals at Hyundai, you can get incredible deals currently across a range of new and demonstrator

models. Yes, you can jump in the dynamic Tucson, a car that I proudly possess, a hybrid as well

from 44-990 drive away. That's not the only deal, Jimmy. You've got the anti-ordinary

corner hybrid. That's from 39-990 drive away and the electric, the award-winning insta from 35-990

drive away. And get this all are eligible for up to seven years warranty when servicing with

Hyundai. Visit your participating Hyundai dealer today. Season C's apply. Hello and welcome everybody

to another edition of the buy-around podcast. I'm your host, James Graham and I'm joined by Charlie

White. James Graham, great to be here. How are you, my friend? You look well. Thank you. Back

in Australia for eight days. Got a bit of a routine going on. Mental health is going well.

Physical health going well. Football is back. Kind of feel like I'm

piecing my life together nicely. Podcasts going great. You make me smile. The union is starting

to peel back on. Charlie White is true colors. I started to show. What do you mean by that?

Hey, look, Charlie, I'm one of your biggest fans. Look, I really am. And I think it's important for

all listeners to know, like we've all been around these type of people that went success

and fame get to them and how they start to think that rules don't apply to them.

It's not being late today, is it? No. Oh, well, no. I mean, any time that I'm fractionally late,

it does come up on the show. You know, we know you've been on Sunrise. Yeah, you know.

June Saturday, guys, on Sunrise, if you want. Are you six again?

We can't Sunrise, yeah. You on every weekend. No, not every weekend, but I'm on this weekend,

so tune in. Nice on your Monday as well. What's up, man? What really, you know,

just gobsmacked me, put my jaw to the floor, meeting a potential partner for coffee for the

Montoyers. And by the way, if you do know anybody that is keen to partner up with the hugely

successful and genuinely funny Montoyers podcast, please get in touch with us and let us know.

They're amazing. If you do listen to the show as well, they just started their own Patreon.

So they basically are doing an extra show a week exclusively on Patreon. But they're hilarious.

I've loved working with both of them as well. I love Taylor. I love my cello, my cello, sorry.

They're two fantastic human beings. They are really good human beings. They're really good people,

genuine people, and for me, more importantly, they're good company. We want to help them out.

So look, if you are looking to maybe partner up with someone, getting such a list of the

buy-around, we can help you out and connect you with them. But we don't meet this potential client.

And we're meeting at a cafe. So there's two Charlie parks up. There's two spots that say

takeaway only, maximum five minutes. This is obviously not a council run car park, but it's

clearly that the owners of the cafe, the one that that chair over of takeaway clients because it

wasn't quite a geographically streamed. So I roll up and Charlie just goes, just parking there,

mate. Like parking in the takeaway only spot, what are they going to do? I'm like, I didn't say

what are they going to do. No spots, like what are they going to do? What are you supposed to do?

What are they going to do, mate? You just say whatever. I'm like, mate, I am not parking in there.

Take away the fact of being somewhat recognizable. If someone cuts you off in traffic,

and you don't know who they are, you're just like, eh, get it, whatever. But as we've spoken about

before, any sort of that has been an incident of a bit of a, let's call, a misunderstanding with

a fellow road user in Giamia, whose mum actually met. I think I've spoken about this. And brother,

you were there when we met as brother? Yeah, you were clearly, you were lunatic on the roads,

we were like, no, no, you've got a road rage. No, it's the only one incident. It's the only

incident that's come back to bite you, and has been revealed publicly. If you've seen Jimmy

blowing up on the roads, please get in touch to buyradatgmail.com.

Well, I think most people have been on my side in a, in a pedestrian road, pretty much a

pedestrian road street, close to being a pedestrian road street pedestrian, what's that?

pedestrianized it. Oh, sorry, it's not pedestrianized pedestrian pedestrian, pedestrianized means

where there's no traffic at all. But this main road shops, you know, there's those angled car parks

yeah, angled parks. And you know, if you're put, if you're pulling in, then people go round,

yeah, it's like, what do you do, mate? You've got to be patient or you can't get angry that people

are waiting for cars to come out because you're on a major, it's, it's, it's, that's, you're driving

through that road. Anyway, I, I'm consciously aware of, I stand out a bit more because that's,

you know, because of the football career or podcasts, whatever. And so I'm, I'm not going in,

you go, I'll just go in there, I'm like, mate, if you're willing to give up your legitimate two-hour

spot, I'll take that, you go in there, you run the risk, and you're just like, oh, what are they

going to do? I'm a sunlight star. And what I did, I did it to be nice to you. I saw you struggling

around, you were, you did like three laps for car park spots. And I might, mate, I didn't care,

I'll park and that's being, I'll deal with your open interaction because I'm going to be a good

bloke for you. And maybe you, you wouldn't want to be late for the media. I know you'd like,

when you're late, you stress out. I was like, you get in there, mate, getting the cafe, I'll,

I'll, I'll move my car, I'll park in there. You know, good bloke, you know, that's a good bloke

move for me. No, I was good bloke, I was to you. I was willing to drive around and or be patient.

Yeah, but there was no park. So it wasn't a choice of driving around, be patient. It was like,

let's cancel the meeting. No, it wasn't. And then anyway, low and behold, you park in there,

I take your spot. And then after about 10 minutes of us sitting there, the cafe owner comes out and

like, oh, excuse me, you have to move. And you basically just put your foot down refused.

That's not true. You just stayed, mate, did you, did you or did you not stay in that spot?

I did stay in this spot, but let's, let's be genuine what happened. I stood up, walked over to

dinner. He was like, oh, you park in there. I was like, oh, no, it's a barrier. And that's what

you can't get in. He's like, oh, no, there is two. And I'm like, oh, mate, you've got the other

spot there. We're only going to be quick. We're having a coffee. I'll just stay here if that's

it like into it. And if someone comes and needs it, I'm happy to move my car. No one needs a spot

to stay there for the whole 45 minutes. So the world are calling to Charlie, wait, the sunrise star.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It really did reveal a lot. I did it right.

Eastern suburbs, you know, wealthy, wealthy upbringing, privilege, privilege, privilege,

privilege of bringing just like, no, I don't wait for parks. He parks where he wants.

I went to a public school. It was not wealthy growing up. Just want the record to show, not wealthy

now, living a sharehouse because you meet us and pay us any money in this place.

No, you live in a sharehouse because basically you're tight as cramp and you want.

You've got that extra bed. Do they have bedroom tacks over here?

They bought the bedroom tacks. I think it was for people in England. I don't know. I know

people that blow up. It's called a bedroom tacks. I think if you had like, I think they

were trying to encourage like empty nesters to get the hell out of there. I don't know if it was

for like, you know, housing commission. If you had like a spare room, you go to a textile

whether it was for general people, but basically you're filling up all your bedrooms with,

you know, migrant workers, anyone that will call Jordan, Jordan listen to me, say,

not a migrant worker, but you're basically running a hostel. Yeah. Well,

you know, Jordan's moved in. There's part of the bar end when we hire you full-time

to move into the house. Jordan, just so you know, that's not, that's not a

clause in the contract. You're free to leave Charlie's residence at any time.

With his big tub of hummus. This podcast is bought to you by a good friend at Labroaks. Charlie,

it seems strange to say this, but there's a lot riding on this game between the Manly Seagulls

at home against last year's Walden Spooners, the Newcastle Knights. Yeah, a lot of pressure already

on the Manly Seagulls and Anthony Seabob. The Seagulls paying $1.57, the Newcastle Knights,

$2.45, of course, without Fletcher Sharp, and the line is four and a half points. Yeah, Charlie,

like you say, a lot riding on this one. I want to stay away from the match betting and just go

focus purely on the tri-scores for my same game multi. I'm going to throw in Dom Young anytime,

Cola anytime, and Tommy Tobore, which anytime, which is paying $8.55. I like your thinking, Jimmy,

it's going to be a hot Sunday afternoon, 26 degrees at Brookie Oval, a fast, dry track, plenty of

points. Yeah, probably should have threw in the overs on the total point, but I want to stick with

those three tri-scores, TZC's apply, and available on the website. Odds are subject to change.

What's gambling really costing you for free and confidential support? Visit gamblinghelponline.org.au.

What we should talk about is we mentioned the Patreon for the Montois. We do have a Patreon now for

ourselves. We do two bonus shows a week, which you'll get on a Monday and a Friday. The first one

came out Monday. It was basically a to ask you anything. It's like a mailbag from the weekend

a footy. We had a bunch of the Patreon people submit questions. One of them that we didn't get to,

or sorry, one of them that we did do on the show, we're going to do now as part of this,

it's just sort of a plug to say, hey, if you like this kind of stuff, go get the Patreon.

Ian wanted to know, Jimmy, who was the best referee you ever had? And how did it affect?

And sorry, there's two parts this question. I'll do that again. Ian asks, who is the best referee

you've had? And also, did you notice any changes on the six again rule change?

Best referee I've had, or best referee at the moment, I'd certainly say Adam G.

The G string? The G string. I think he controls the game well, generally speaking when

he's in charge, things seem to run a little bit smoother, the placing of a respect for him,

what you see is what you get, the real penalty. It's a hard one, really, because it's always that

game of cat and mouse. But I think generally speaking, Adam G would be the best. I'm going to pivot

here and tell you the worst. I had one in when I was playing in the soup league. He was a

Frenchman. Oh, no. And he was shocking. Is that because he hates the English, though?

Terry Albeiro's name was literally, he was broken English and he didn't know the rules.

Yeah, well, I can remember St. Helens, we played someone and you know one of those like six or

one half, it doesn't know the other, like, who knocked on? And he just goes, scrum down. I'm like,

who's heading feed? And he's like, banged. And we're like, no, no, who's heading feed? And like,

both teams just stood there just going, who's ball? And he was like, banged. That's all he kept

saying. And we were like, mate, you need to tell us who's who's feeding the scrum. And he's like,

no, no, no, banged. Just had no idea. So someone just grabbed the ball then. Well, he said,

yeah, no worries, ref. Someone grabbed the ball. I can just remember this. He was just a shock

amount. I think it was a tokenistic. We've got a French team and we've got a French match

official. He was shocking poor, Terry Albert. Yeah, poor lad, poor lad. It's funny how Grant,

because I grew to Adam G's the best referee in the game now. But he sort of fell out of,

they fell out of love with him a little bit there at the NRL, because now Grant Hatt Kins is

obviously, he got the grandfather almost recently. Ashley Klein did a bit of origin and he was the

golden boy for a little while there. But I do agree to that, Adam G's the best. Yeah. It is,

I guess, you know, the, I think it's Jared Maxwell that is in charge of the match officially.

And Anna's league, it looks like it's under Anna's league as well. Yeah, like maybe they're looking

for different things that that that we're looking for. And you know, match officials are always

going to be in the spotlight that I don't envy their job by any stretch of the imagination.

And the bunker is there to support and help them. I think, unfortunately, the match officials

at times get lumped in with the same, the same sort of maybe mistakes that sometimes is a

fall to the bunker or, you know, a lack of, you know, the bunkers, you know, when the bunker

decides to interfere or not interfere, I think that can impact the referee and all the match

officials. So yeah, they probably get a bit of unfair criticism at times because of decisions

made by the bunker. Like if the book, if the bunker's there to take away the the shocker or

provide clarity on a decision that what, what supposed to happen is a hundred percent of the game

goes, people watching players, administrators, staff, whatever you, whatever you say go. Okay,

was that an obstruction or not? Was that a knock on or a strip? The, ideally you go,

we're all on board with that call because of here's the laws of the game, but sometimes it

doesn't work like that. And unfortunately, the match officials get, get, get, get a bit of the

criticism when it's more the bunker in my opinion. And you asked about the notable difference in

the six again, I think, I speak to some fans and they get incredibly frustrated with six

against because they just hear that being, that ding dong noise and come through rock infringement.

And it's not really explained, but I might, does it need to be? So, and it's a better way to act

than just penalising that all the time because that, the reason the six again came in is because

players were holding down penalties would be, we, we quickly forget, don't we? I can remember

the time when I was playing attacking tri-lines. If you were up by four or more points,

that, that team that was, if they were defending, they would just hold down on tri-line all the time

because of the value of a quick rook. You just hold down, you, you, the last, before you can see

the tri, don't can see the quick rook on tri-line. Because if we get time, we'll defend that all day.

It's actually, it's counter-intuitive, you know, the closer you are to tri-line, it, it, it becomes

negative returns. Like, once you get inside that 10, it's actually harder to, to score, believe

it or not. And then maybe when you're like 20 or 30 minutes out, so teams would hold down,

then they'd get a penalty, which would make it even slower that the, the, the defences is set.

But the, the idea of the six again is, you take away that break that was given in the penalty

to speed up to make it more consequential to the defending side for holding down. Like I say,

there was a time where penalty was blown, captain would go and speak to the referee, say,

what's going on? You're holding down, there's time that's been bought by the defend, defensive side

to get their energy back and reset. Now with the six again, they don't get that time back. So it's,

it's punishing the defending side more than it usually would. That said, obviously the consequences

of holding down now, after the 20 meter line, a rook infringement penalty, say on kick return,

is less because so you're, you're encouraged to do that more because the consequence of

conceding a six again versus conceding an old school penalty is, well, it's one more tackle

versus they kick the ball down and get better field position. So there's pros and cons to it,

but I for once certainly wouldn't want to go back to how it used to be. I think the six again

has done wonders for our game. Yeah. I wonder if we might see a couple of them be called as

professional fows as the as the year goes on because some of those ones that were quite obvious

blatant holding people down. I think that should be a professional fowl. There was a couple I

think in the Dolphins Bunnings game that really stood out and you were like, yeah, this guy's just

they're clearly intentionally giving away six again. Yeah. But yeah, so we'll see how that goes.

Well, that's it, Charlie. And this is arguably going to put more pressure on the match officials

to make these calls because it's subjective about when it becomes a professional fowl. But I think

that will de-insensivise the deliberate six again because it is a professional fowl. Like,

if a player makes a break, a line break and you hold that player down for too long,

it's not six again. It's you're off. Yeah. So it's not too dissimilar. It's close. And I think

the roosters maybe conceded three six again in the space of maybe 10 to 12 plays in that warriors game.

Yeah. Well, someone's got to go there. And also made the penalty count. They got a warning about

in that game, they got a warning about fowl play and infringement. But then they kept on giving

a penalty to no one was simbing. It was quite strange. Well, yeah, it is. I guess nobody wants to see

players simbing. We, you know, the image of our sport is really important. I compare what happened

in the South Sydney Dolphins game with what I would describe as a minor altercation between

some some forwards that were going after each other. And yet it repeated itself. It was

for featuring to Flagler and then for featuring to Tom Gilbert a little bit like I don't know what

for feet is supposed to do. Both of those players are sent to the bin. Well, for me, I'd rather

a team that concedes multiple six again on purpose be punished with a player in the bin than

what we witnessed on Sunday, which was much to do about nothing really. Yeah. Now I grew to you.

If you like those questions and answers, do jump on the page and you get a full episode of this

on a Monday. So yeah, go and grab that. There's a link in the in the show notes. And we've also got

our all of the business. Yeah, exactly. With all the sports today. We're going to be looking into

the NBA. Yeah. And denying the the strip club partnership fell to a halt for the Atlanta Hawks.

So we can't talk about that. Also, Major League Baseball netflix are on board for opening day.

That's big. Yeah. Well, it's funny. You mentioned Netflix. They have pulled out of the race

for the NRL right. So that came out today. And I don't think that's really so came yesterday.

Sorry. And I don't think that really surprises anyone. They're looking for those sports that

have global reach as much as we love rugby league. Obviously, it doesn't have a global reach yet.

But I think the NRL are an amazing position for these current rides still that's coming up.

They are. But I think what Netflix have said and they want like major showpiece one off events.

Hello, Origin. That is a that is a product that could lead us into going global. Look,

something I can't be a part of. It's unique within all of world sport. I can't think of an

interstate rivalry concept one V one state V one state. It's either international or it's

city based or it's, you know, the old stars, the East V West, the North, the South, the

Conference stuff. It's the only example in world sport that I know that has that interstate

rivalry and that not even now does does cut into rugby union. We hear about, you know, Gordon

Tiles on Sunday, Simbin, talking about the kangaroo stayed in the same hotel as the wallabies.

They were all fascinated by the origin, like they loved origin. It already cuts through into that

rugby union market. I think there's something there for the potential for a Netflix to have those

three games and we know what comes with Netflix in terms of the build up. The net for the origin

rights would be worth probably $100 million a year. It's worth a lot of money. Would you give

something like that to free to Netflix for them to broadcast it on a global scale? Be a big,

big call. I don't know if you could do it for free. No, you couldn't. Unless you have that subsidized

by the partners of origin. Yeah. So whoever partners with state of origin now would be

the impact and the impressions and all that stuff that comes with building a partner base

would be, you know, would be would be completely blown out of the water compared to where it's at.

Now, like origin already you could say is a global product, but should it land on Netflix then,

yeah, while we'd be being for some serious business. Yeah, because they've got a huge opportunity

for these rights and I'd love to see a game a weekend up on Channel 7. I think that could be a

massive opportunity for the NRL to have the rugby league on the two biggest networks in Australia.

Yes, it would only be probably one game a week on Channel 7, but if that's on a Saturday when

Channel 9 doesn't have any rugby league or if that's on a Monday or a Sunday night, depending

on what this new slot is, I think it's a good opportunity for NRL to reach a lot more, you know,

especially in places like Melbourne and Perth and Adelaide. Yeah, the 7 thing does make sense and,

you know, just going back to that, that origin play on Netflix. You know what, the more I think it

probably has to be on free to air. Origin? Yeah. Well, there is something you lose in Australia,

isn't there anti-siphoning laws? I don't know if Origin falls into it. Yeah, so is that where the

where certain events are protected and have to be given to the public for free up in like test cricket?

Yeah, if origin isn't in that category, then it certainly should be. Yeah, like the FIFA World Cup

is going to be on SPS. Yeah, and there's certain sporting events, the Olympics, you know,

has to be available on free to air. Well, I know Amazon, they go a big play for Boxing Day

with the Premier League. Yeah, all Boxing Day games are only available on Amazon. Obviously,

they pay a huge whack for that. But then they said, you know, enter into the conversation around,

you know, magic crown being only available on a certain platform. Obviously, you get your free

to air games as well. Yeah. There's so many possibilities and this world, Charlie, as we know, is

is constantly evolving, expanding in one of the greatest assets of how we consume our media

is live sport. Yeah, like it is. It is so important to any media company and that is a huge umbrella

that a lot of things fall under live sport. It is sort of, which is great for NRL and Rugby

League. Yeah. The range of deals from our proud partner, Hyundai, is difficult to believe, Charlie,

across a range of new and demonstrator models that deals are flying. They certainly are, Jimmy,

much like the Penroth Panthers this year. They're going to excel in the NRL, where Hyundai is

excelling in their deals like the Tucson hybrid from just 44 990 drive away. You drive this car.

It's in the car park here. It is sexy. When I saw that car, I assumed $100,000 car. The fact

you can get it for 44 990 is incredible. Well, you know, I couldn't afford that. So you can see

right. I got the deal with the Tucson. What about this? You can hop in the award winning electric

insta from 35 990 drive away and electric car means no petrol stops. So stock up on your Coke

zeros or your Pepsi Max's whatever it may be, stash them in the glove compartment because there's

no stopping in electric vehicles. And Jimmy, they're all eligible for up to seven years warranty

when you service with Hyundai. They look after you that peace of mind that you can go, hey,

I know this car's looked after. Absolutely, Charlie. So visit your participating Hyundai dealer

today, season sees apply. And our real, whether we like it or not, and this is why I've

actually been a bit disappointed that low mix has gone, but whether you like or not,

Rubbie leagues and a code wars with Rubbie Union, they're fighting them at all times and

I think that that hearing Australia that that is not over, but it's, but it's like we dominate,

we dominate domestically, but on an international scale, WallaBees would blow Rubbie League out of

the water because of the, well, they're doing an international level. Of course they would,

they think about this homeworld car, yes, is going to dominate, but that's not because of

internationally, that's not because of the WallaBees. There's a matter though, just is that Rubbie Union,

we're at a code wars with the Rubbie Union, we're not necessarily just going against the WallaBees,

we're going up against Rubbie Union as well. Well, we should be like, Rubbie League should be trying

to compete with Rubbie Union. But in this country, I think it's, you know, we've got our competitors,

which I actually think we need each other, like it's no good just being a one-trick pony,

where we're not celebrating if Rubbie Union, you know, becoming solvent in this country,

not that I think it ever would, or the AFL, and they would feel the same about

league, we need each other to almost prop each other or 100%. But we should be trying Rubbie League

to compete with Rubbie Union and that's why I think losing someone like Zach Loemax to the game,

Rubbie Union, whether you think he's an important player in Rubbie League or not, it still gets extra

eyeballs on Rubbie Union. People are watching, going to watch the Western Force as a result,

people are going to tune in for his first game. When I reckon, I didn't even know the Western

Force existed from being honest. I had no idea the Western Force was still in the Super Rugby,

but then Zach Loemax signed to them and now they're back, people are talking about the Western

Force. They average like 5,000 people watching their games in person. They're irrelevant. The

Western Force through, as irrelevant, the A-Leagues got more eyeballs on it than bloody the Western

Force. No offense to Tony who loves the A-League. But I think where league could make some inroads

in Rubbie Union or where Rubbie Union could make some inroads in Rubbie League, I think it's an

opportunity for both Union and Rubbie League is at the junior level and is to introduce

weight categories for junior kids because you will get every single parent signing their

kid up for the sport that is weighted, especially when the kids that have, you know, the parents

that have smaller kids and things like that, they're going to put them in the weight categories

because like you saw it and it does work in New Zealand, they do it and they produce Nathan

Cleary. So weight categories do work and it's a way you will get kids playing the sport

because parents, more and more, every single year get more nervous around their children

and people want to protect their children more and more. That's just the world we're living in.

We're living in a society that is valuing safety over everything else. So how do you do that?

Will you let these junior kids play in weight categories and I guarantee you more parents will

be signing their kids up for that code over the other. So it's a huge chance for Rubbie League

or Rubbie Union to do that in my opinion. It's incredibly complex and obviously

the tradition has been age categories and that seems to have worked and obviously

through changing demographics and changes in societal norms, there is the idea of the weight

category being introduced. So I'd like to keep it and this is really difficult because it is

so complex. I think by having it purely weighted, you have a huge disparity in ability

because there are some and some smaller kids that would play against, that would be all that

and play against the same weight but much younger and that does nothing for their development.

But obviously you're looking out through the prism of safety. I think maybe

it becomes a capped weight. So on the 9s or under 10s or under 11s or under 12s and hey look

this opens up a huge can of worms around. You identify a kid and you have to say like an

obviously you don't want kids cutting weight but maybe there's just an honest conversation of

you've got to play or per year. You've got to put in laws in place and you've got to put

in systems in place. You can't just be like, oh, case by case trust me mate, you're too good

to be playing this. No, it's not about being too good. It's all you've been too big. Yeah.

And mate, if the kids, if you're a little kid and you're playing Rubbie Union, what are you going to

watch? You're going to watch the Rubbie Union over Rubbie League because you want to watch what

you're playing and if you're a little kid playing Rubbie League, you're going to watch Rubbie League.

So I think it's an opportunity where one of these codes can come in, put this in and watch all

the juniors play this sport or a huge majority of the juniors and some parents might be listening

saying, no, I'd still have my kid play Rubbie Union. And you might, but I think the majority of people

would lean towards the weight category because you've got young kids mate. How worried are parents

with safety around children? Yeah, of course, yeah. It is the primary concern of any parents and

for every, I think back to me playing as a kid and go, Jesus, how did my dad watch that and different,

you're watching your son be confrontational with another human being and another bloke and

sometimes get the best, sometimes get the worst, sometimes be on the receiving end of a big shot.

Be confront for a parent or watch and it's sometimes you've got to let your kids figure out

like what they're capable of, what they're not capable of and what's them develop and grow.

And there is advantages to playing people that are bigger than you, smaller than you,

older than you, more skillful than you, you know, I look at, I've looked into youth development

in New Zealand, not just necessarily New Zealand, but there are, there are some countries that it's

just you move up on that age, the day you turn that it's, so it's, you're always, you have experience

of being the youngest in the group and then you have experience being the middle and then experience

being the oldest because it used to be the old, the birthday was like was a big predictor of,

or sorry, the month of birth was a predictor of professional athlete, so in New Zealand.

I mean, still is. So in Australia, it would be January February March because that's when the

year group begins to spend, well, often the January kids start the year after. So it's probably more

March, April, I'd say, would be the oldest kids in their age. So in England, the school year is,

it's, it's black and white, it starts on the face of September. So that means in most European

sporting cultures, especially team sport, the September, October, November kids, a disproportionate

represented in professional sport and all through youth teams. So there's, there's an idea there

about looking at how, because obviously they are, they're playing against kids that are, you know,

9, 10, 11 months younger than them, they've got that advantage, they've got a, an age advantage,

distinct age advantage. So that, what, what some countries do is that program where you get different

experiences about being the youngest and the oldest because you're laying so much from that. But

on the, the, the way to category, I think it opens up a lot, a lot, a lot, it leads to a lot more

problems that, that would, you could counteract obviously. But I think Ruby Union faces the

bigger difficulty. They've got much more diversity in the size and body shape of their athletes

and what Ruby League, yeah. Well, I actually think Ruby Union, the ones that should do it. If

anyone, because League is dominating on a domestic level and Ruby Union, you need to do something

to shake it up. This would be an easy way to shake it up. And also, because the issue with Ruby

Union faces, it's a private school sport, isn't it? It's played by mostly private school kids,

this is a way to maybe get a more broader range of children playing your sport, which is what you

want. Like, that's the issue they've had is they've been too self-focused on their, on themselves,

and their setups they have. And then we've got Mercedes sponsoring us. How good is this?

Yeah, it's great. But also, you're not, no one's playing it at a junior level compared to

Ruby League. I do, I do however think, you know, the positive side of the pathway system that

Ruby League is producing, especially now with touch, which has always been around Oztag League Tag.

There are multiple versions of the game that you can play in a minimal contact way.

But eventually, you've got to graduate to the tackle. And tackling people your own size actually

helps you build good tackle technique. It helps you get better at tackling. Like, taking down the

big kid by grabbing around the ankles. Yeah, sure, that's obviously going to be important, you know.

But like, I think you can build up to that. So it's like, all right, when you're at this weight

category, you build that tackle technique and make that really important for coaching.

The only thing is it's going to go back to the, the Beth month problem. So you're going to have,

say you've got a weight category of between 50 and 60 kilos. Like, where's the age range?

So you might have an age range between 11 and 14. So the 14-year-old playing against an 11-year-old,

yeah, they're the same weight, but they're completely different abilities.

But then that's going to help that 11-year-old. If he's playing a 14-year-old,

he's actually going to improve his skills. But potentially, or they could just get blown away,

then they lose interest. But it's better than the 11-year-old running over, you know,

being 60 kilos and running over a bunch of 35, 40 kilo kids and just running through and building

no skillset whatsoever. The amount of players you see that like, you know, these big young kids

who dominate at 12, 13, and then it gets seen like, oh, I've developed no ability. All I've done is

run over a trial and with four guys holding on to me. Oh, I know what you're saying, Charlie,

but the system works. They built Nathan Cleary. Nathan Cleary says that he would not be the player he

was if it wasn't for the fact that he was playing in weight category. Look, I'm not going to

disagree with Nathan Cleary, but he doesn't know what he doesn't know. I think he could.

It produced the best player in the game, though. Yeah, and look at the non-weight categories and

all the great players that that's produced. Of course, 100%. But this is the way.

Reese Walsh would never have been the player he is unless it wasn't for the pathway system that he

came through. I thought, and it was age division. But I think we've lost track of the point,

which was get that you'll get more junior kids playing the sport with parents if you do this.

And it's an opportunity for rugby league or rugby union to get the majority of kids playing

that sport. Well, you're making some ball predictions, Charlie. I am making some ball predictions.

About what could or could not happen for the future of our game, rugby union.

But we've got a bit of a section here, haven't we, about predictions we'd like back.

I'm going to start. Oh, I'm hesitant to put this out there, but I think my prediction for the

nights of the spoon, I'd like that one back. Would you? Yeah. I've seen that game. Yeah.

See, I went with the dragons. And after watching that game, I was like, well, if that's the

wooden spoon team, we've got a very good competition. I think I've probably got it wrong with the

dragons as well. Yeah. I think the Titans might be much. That's where I'm leaning, but

I don't know. Yeah. The eye, for me, Jimmy, I actually, I'm happy to back every prediction I made

before we started. I reckon if you look at my ladder, I did a decent job of predicting where

every team was. Where'd you have power? Power I had like 12th. All right. Okay. Yeah. Which I'm

happy with. I think power matter end up 12th. All right. Yeah. Yeah. I want to stick to my guns,

but I reckon the new castle and the spoon. I think that might be too hard. Yeah. I'm with you.

I don't think they get the spoon. Fletcher shot was amazing. Yeah. He's out for two weeks and

Ponga. Ponga, he reminded the comp just out good. He is. And, you know, we all fell. Well,

we all fell in love with reswalsh mania. And we we forgot that there's a couple of other decent

fullbacks that come from Queensland as well, representing Queensland. One of those being

Caleb Ponga who has announced his desire to play for the QEs. Yeah. I like it. I mean,

the rules are there in place. I don't think he's going to be Queensland's fullback anyway. He

probably would have made that six man bench. He would assume Caleb Ponga given his

attacking versatility. But yeah, I've got no problem with it. What do you think? Well,

he's he's going to be the first player that you see in a Marone's jersey, I think. Perhaps off

the bench. The six six or well, sorry, four or five months later, you see in a QE jersey. And

that's going to be maybe a surprise for some people, especially that New Zealand are going to play

Australia in the opening game of the World Cup. And that might shock a few people and say,

they might not like it, but I love it. Start with the band. Well, but we've already seen

Stephen Crichton play for New South Wales and then play against Australia in a World Cup final,

like against Australia. Yeah. So this should be nothing new. Like this whole idea that

England, New Zealand, Australia, these tier one nations, like that, that now is that argument is,

I think, is redundant with the emergence of Tonga and Samar feed you not far behind.

Papua New Guinea, who knows where they could get to with the introduction of them,

having a full-time NRL team. Like what, what is the difference other than nostalgia and

and what not than seeing like a petro-seven receiver that is very proud for you represent

Queensland, Australia, and then Fiji or having like I say, Stephen Crichton, Jerome, Luai,

play for New South Wales, respectively, and then play for Tonga. Yeah. And Ponga.

Sorry, Samar. And it's not like Ponga has represented the kangaroos, like he played Aussie Nines.

Yeah, exactly. Yeah, I think this is a boost for the international game. We'll likely see

Adam Fnoor Blake be made available for the years available for New South Wales. I think you'll

play for New South Wales. And then he'll play for Tonga at the World Cup at the end of the year.

But we've seen, I think we've seen for the harvesting. He'll play for New South Wales and then

play for Samar. Yeah, we've seen, we're not sure where he's going to go yet.

What we've seen this before and the fact that a player is going to represent a state and then

go and play for a different country from Australia. And just because that happens to be New Zealand,

I think this horse has already bolted. And I think I've got to applaud the NRL for allowing this

because it makes origin better without destroying the fabric. I spoke before about the distinct

nature of the New South Wales versus Queensland and how it's not done in world sport. It's the

tightest regulation on eligibility that exists in world sport. You can't marry you away in,

you can't reside you way in. Like it's a different, the criteria is incredibly,

incredibly strict. You can't have a grandparent that lived there or was claims to be from that

country and go in there and qualify like it's incredibly strict. We've got to, we've got to

guard that as a game. We don't want to open the floodgate to make it an all-star game. Nobody's

saying that, but incredibly strict. I think it's going in the right way. I think it really helps

the international game. Some people have said, oh, what about Keanu Keeney? Well, that's international

football. The jersey is not yours. It never is. It never was. Like you just happened to own it for

a bit. Like Keanu Keeney, if he shoots the lights up this year, maybe he gets ahead of Keanu Ponga.

I don't know, but he's in pole position at the moment to get that Kiwi jersey and that is,

you should have that Keanu Keeney not getting the jersey is not a reason not to do this.

Good on Ponga for making this decision. I love he's done it early in the years. He'll probably

still get picked for origin. I think in that six-man bench, but I can't see that

deterring coach slater. No. Same with Britain, Nikola, should he be banging down the door?

I can't see that deterring that the coach is from picking him. I should also say, I should have

shadowed that bar to be big more hot for the weight idea because we discussed it while going

for a swim recently. So he's the man who sparked that idea. He's a genius. By our fans, we are

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The buyaround studio is open and ready for you. This podcast is bought you by Nord VPN. And as you

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year plan and a 30 day money back guarantee. Click on the link in the show notes. Now let's

preview the round. Jimmy, huge round of footy. Starts tonight. Broncos against the eels.

I'd love to know what you're thinking on this one, because Ezra Mams now back in the starting line up.

He's going to play five eight. We, we, we are told that he had an injury niggle last week,

which is why I came off the bench. Do we believe that or not? Not 100% sure, but Fox is also back

for the eels as well. Yeah, be inclusion for Paramata, Josh Ello,

car, obviously, we know the excitement and finishing ability that he brings. I think there

was a late switch last week with Ezra was correct. Correct. And Ben Hunt coming in to start.

For me, it's a no brain. Ezra Mams is your best five eight. Yeah.

Would you have hung off the bench or would you have pikes off the bench?

I think, I think I'd rather have Ben Hunt come off the bench.

It's like, would you just like Corey taking that first 20 minutes to make tackles and then

bring hunt on for us together? Yeah. And it's more of a utility because there's always the,

you know, the danger of Reynolds or, um, if Reynolds or Mams go down, I don't think you'd

want to have started at Hawker and then go in as a backup half. It's doable, but it's not

ideal. I think, you know, let's not forget like Ben and Adam Reynolds are into their mid 30s.

Like it's not the same as it used to be. Like you've got to, you've got to manage their workload

and manage them through. Like I, um, if I was on the opposition, I might feel differently,

but watching South Sydney on Sunday, and once they had the game wrapped off, you know,

there was no sentiment about Cody Walker. There was no super coach points. He was off. He was

put on to the sideline because South Sydney know that they're going to need him at a late

to date. Yeah. And they need him fresh. Yeah. And they don't want to unnecessarily risk injury.

So I, um, I feel that Ben Hunt is best suited for the bench for those reasons. I don't think he

needs to play too many 80 minutes. He might have to at times, but I think he's, he's better off

the bench, but this is a, this is a big game for the Broncos. The obviously won the competition

last year. And I, I've said this before that, you know, let's look at some, well, some of the

some of the new kids on the block of recent years with sharks winning, um, uh, the, the,

the comp in 16, the cowboys in 15. Yeah. They had plenty of room way after that. Like they

were celebrated and how good the, the, the, the, the champs of the premierships, the premiers.

Like Pemryf last year, like even when they were at the bottom of the table, people were still talking

them up. Like, you know, I think they'll make, you know, it was a debate will they won't they make

the playoffs? Some people said, yes. Some people said very few people said no. Well, the, the,

the Broncos, they're a different beast. They're being, yeah, they won the premiership. People are

talking about how many minutes they were ahead during the whole final series. They lost over in,

in whole, which is same as Pemryf, but didn't face the same level of scrutiny.

They, they lose their opening game. They don't register a point. The, the spotlight, everything

they do or they don't do is going to be spoken about. And this is a, another layer of,

of complexity and a, another layer of coaching and, you know, running an organization that

make them a guy has staff and the administration staff have to deal with. Yeah, definitely.

You know, we're doing predictions earlier. I'll take, I'll tell you a prediction. I'll take back

the Broncos to make the eight. I had them six, I think. I reckon paramount. I don't think they make

the eight. I think it's going to be a huge surprise, but I think they'll miss the eight. I think

they'll finish ninth. Yeah. That's my prediction. I'm going to take back though, because I think

paramount to go up to some call and get the win, Jimmy. You, you think? Yeah. Well, that's a,

it's a big call. I, I just didn't see enough in power last week. I'm actually not that worried

about paramount. I think they just got, they had a performance that was poor, but the signs,

it's fixable. It's fixable. It's errors. It was, you know, just poor discipline against the

Melbourne storm and the Melbourne storm got to momentum and they just ran right. And that's

what the Melbourne storm have done for the last few years when, when they get their tails up,

they score points, you know, they score points in a hurry and, and so do Brisbane. It's so

to Brisbane, yeah. So look, Brisbane, I've got plenty of points in them against this power of

defense. Maybe, but I think paramount will score a few points against the Bronx as well.

I think it's going to be a big upset, but I think, I think paramount will pull off the upset.

So I think Brisbane are going to respond. I think they, in a big way. Yeah. Okay. I do. I

really do think they're going to, they're going to respond. They, they almost have to.

So to paramount, paramount, I have to respond. A lot of people tipping them for the eight this year.

Too difficult, like incredibly difficult. Like, you play last year's grand finalists.

Week one, two. Yeah. Yeah, cheers. My main worry for paramount is their forward pack.

This seems to be lacking a little bit of punch. I mean, their back rowers,

Kiteonika Tonga, I thought looked really good. Jack Williams on an edge. I'm not sure how much I

love that. Yeah, I prefer him in the middle. And he's playing in the middle this week because

Hopkins obviously suspended. Yeah. And didn't roll the dice, which was interesting. Obviously,

Braden band did. Nathan Cleary did. So there's, there's an incentive there. Like, it's the,

the match, not the matter of you committee. Sorry, the, the judiciary seem to be open to change,

which over the past year or two from memory, it hasn't been as open. It pretty much seems,

your fight, you know, you, you really are up against it going to fight your case, but

two from two to start the year, the, the hot good one, you know, I think it was a reaction to

the injury, the symphony. It looked to me at first, got at first and second viewing, like a

genuine head class, which I didn't think warranted foul play, but anyway, he's out.

But I just, I just don't know. I think they're the type of team that I'm going to take some

get get them going. They need an easier fixture to, to, to settle in. Yeah, fair enough. And we'll

say it would be very, it's a huge, they're huge outsiders. There's four bucks, but I think they

get the win. The, um, well, on the Broncos, you worried a little about their edges. Kajewski

and Jordan Ricky. Now, Kajewski, I reckon he got knocked out in that game last week. And then

he, because there was a try scored on him, Dylan, Dylan Edwards, probably about 10 minutes later,

maybe. I don't think it was not even having fun. And Kajewski, the way he moved,

last really, it was like he was still fine in his legs. It was like he was not there with us.

He got knocked out. He should have at least gone for a HIA. Look, for me, there was enough there

to suggest that playing needs to go and get you. Yeah. And then I feel like, did you not feel like

he just didn't have his legs under himself, probably an Edward, just easily stepped inside him

and scored. I felt like he was groggy out there. It appeared, something was wrong. It was the same

with Fetchershopper, um, um, uh, Vegas round with his knee injury without any. And I said,

like, look, just give the ball to he and Lukey and he'll walk over because he's not capable of

making a tackle here. And that's where you, and that's exactly what happened. And,

Jugeth? Jugethski? Jugethski? Jugethski? Jugethski?

You'll polish that name. Yeah. Um, was, yeah, it appeared to be, yeah, um,

yeah, not, not able to um, to tackle us as as standard. Uh, Warrior's Raiders on Friday.

I mean, this is a cracking contest. Another prediction, if maybe I was going to have one

back, would be I'd probably have the warriors in the eight. Maybe if I could do things all over again.

and however it's early days, obviously in the season,

the roosters were quite poor,

but they go up against camera radicides.

Another big test for them.

Keep an eye out for Joe Roddy.

I love this guy so much.

He's in jazz number 19.

You look at their bench, their 14 to 17,

and they've got Tomoko and Braille on the bench.

I think it's unlikely Tomoko would get used

unless there's an injury in the outside back.

So we could be seeing Joe Roddy,

who in his debut against the Dolphins last year scored two tries.

I was lucky enough to go to the trial

and sat in the sideline for the Raiders trial against the Kunal Sharks

and just watched Joe Roddy,

and he's a physical specimen.

He moves away.

He looks like almost Hudson Young.

And I asked the Raiders about it on game day about Joe Roddy,

and they think he's a 250 game player for them.

They love him.

They think he's going to be an absolute star.

So hopefully we see Joe Roddy in action.

Obviously, Josh Papaletti ruled out with concussion,

so keeping up for him.

Yeah, Smithy comes in to start in the front row.

I think I'm fancy in the Raiders going over to play the Warriors.

Although they dominated the Roosters,

I still think there's some holes there defensively.

And the Raiders now had a big learning curve

in terms of possession.

At the start of that game,

I can't see another NRL game going that way with 12 minutes

without touching the football.

I like the Raiders in this one.

They're on a high after that travel to Manly Victory.

I think they go over there to a New Zealand team

that are full of confidence after beating the Roosters,

but I just think the Raiders and their quality

should have enough.

And obviously that forward pack of the Raiders

is making a statement.

To say we're the best in the comp,

you just have to look at who's not in, who can't get a game.

When everybody's fit,

the competition for spaces at the Raiders is huge.

I think they go over there and get the win.

Well, they've gone straight from the Manly game.

They had that night in Sydney

and then they flew straight to New Zealand.

So they spent the whole week there.

Sure they're still here.

Yeah, it's almost like a little camp for them almost.

I like that.

Friday night, the late game,

Book of Fudes, Jimmy.

Roosters beat Bunnies.

I'm very excited for this.

Roosters started the week on Ladbrooks as big favourites.

Huge favourites.

They've drifted massively.

I guess a lot of that will be down

to the Ravado's performance against the Dolphins

and the Roosters performance against the Warriors.

I think the Bunnies at $2 is very good value on Ladbrooks.

I'm with your child, I really do.

And had you have asked me about making predictions

for this game a week ago,

I would have said all the Roosters all day.

But for me, selfs answered a lot of questions.

They really did.

The Fefita being able to knock ATR.

I think this will be a different type of game,

obviously more emotional,

given the atmosphere and the history

between the two sides.

But I liked what I saw from self-signate,

especially through the middle.

And obviously, Roosters with no lanyu, no robson,

it puts pressure on them.

And I think Cammory, Kalamatangi,

those two are probably enough with a little bit of help

to get the job done.

And then we know that left edge

and you know who they target.

And it's only going to take one mistake.

And you're going to be able to predict the headlines.

Huge boost that Robert Toy comes in.

He's obviously going to be a much better defensive player

than Ponga was or is.

So that's big.

It is big for that right edge in general.

But like, let's look who you're coming up.

There's not a worse site for right edge defenders

than the middle and green this year.

I don't believe.

Well, no, that's going to be amazing.

For feeder looks fit.

Like, let's try to look, let's try on the centers.

It's just, he's just a, he's a best center

in the game when he plays in the centers.

And it was great hearing Luke Kiri talk about him

on Monday's episode, where he spoke about how

reminded him of when let's try which was playing left center

for the Roosters when Luke Kiri,

when they won those multiple premierships.

Like, it's, it's just, he, him close to the line.

No, I don't think anyone can stop him.

There's not a center in the game who could stop him

close to the line.

He scored that try with ease,

where he busted through about three dolphins

plays close to the line scored.

He'll score 15 tries like that this year in all honesty.

Yeah, the, the, the strength of the, the human being

is phenomenal.

If he gets on the outside, if you're that winger,

you've got a jam and he's got that pass in him as well.

So, I still think there's more to come from him too.

And think back to last year, Charlie, you know,

debate around whether he's a center or a fallback.

He's still putting some amazing displays from the back.

Yeah, well, that gave me it's the Broncos.

Yeah, that was a 10 out of 10 performance last year.

And when he's, when he's on, on ball,

when he gets that, like, almost first or second receive him,

play, but that pass of his, like, is, is insane.

Like, he's playing in the center.

I can't see him.

He won't be able to do that,

but you might just change the formation a little bit.

And we might see that advancement come later in the year

because it's a weapon that you just can't,

you can't afford to just keep locked away.

Yeah.

This is going to be my same game multi.

Obviously, we're going head to head and same game

multi's all year, Jimmy.

And my one for this game, yeah, I'm going to go

the bunnies to win.

And I've got Alex Johnson to get the record,

break the record.

You've got him to bring us tries $5.19.

I just think this is set up.

I think the Rabados, in all honesty, win quite comfortably.

And I think this is set up perfectly for,

they're going to try and get this for Alex Johnson

against the roosters.

It's the perfect moment to do it.

I think fans will storm the field.

And I, and I see the bunnies winning this one quite easily.

I don't know about quite easily.

What, just when we passed your same game multi again,

what you've got?

I've got the Rabados to win.

Yeah.

And I've got Alex Johnson two tries.

Two plus two plus.

That's paying $5.19.

All right, OK, well, if you can just keep that up open.

Yeah, of course, it's my same game multi for this game.

I'm just going to go try scorers only any time to desk

go any time, let's sell Mitchell any time.

And Alex Johnson any time also.

Now is that because you think that this game's too close

to call, is that what you're only doing try scorers?

It's not too close to call.

It's just, I think there's more value in that.

So that was Alex Johnson, James Sidesco,

was trail Mitchell, the trail Mitchell, any time, try scorer.

Jimmy, that one is paying $7.39 on Ladbrokes, of course.

Gamble responsibly.

And what are you really gambling with for free

and confidential support?

Visit gamblinghelponline.org.au.

Great game that one.

I can't wait for it.

The next game, Jimmy, Tigers Cowboys, Saturday,

Lava, three o'clock.

I think it's the most important match of the round.

And that's because if the Cowboys lose this,

a lot of pressure is going to come on Todd Payton.

That will be they've lost to the Winspooners in round one

and another team that struggled in round two.

The next weekend, they go to the Gold Coast Titans.

And if they lose that one, he may not last much longer.

A lot of pressure on the Cowboys.

Well, there's pressure on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday,

Thursday night, the Broncos, Friday night,

the roosters and their right edge.

Saturday is headlined by the Cowboys

playing the Tigers in their first game.

Sunday, then, all eyes will be on Manly Seagulls

and their second home game of the year.

But you're right that there's so much...

It appears there's so much riding on this.

I don't think Coach Payton can afford to start

o' and two against last year's Winspooners

and aside that didn't make the eight.

There's a lot of optimism in around the Tigers.

We saw Benji Marshall laying down the law

to an extent about standards.

And if you don't want to be supposed to be hard,

these are all the right messages.

These are all the correct things to say.

And I think the more I observe that group,

the more it's not the message, it's the messenger.

And they seem to idolize the messenger.

And that is really important.

Your message can be absolutely spot on,

but unless the messenger is the right one.

You're on a losing battle.

You've got to get people believing in you.

And what Benji's saying is 100% correct.

Yeah, of course, preseason's going to be hard.

He's been backed by the powers that be

with a long-term deal.

So he's got plenty of runway.

There will be an expectation, I think,

amongst the group that they will play finals this year

for the first time in a long time.

If that comes true, then we'll all stand and applaud.

I think they're in that middle,

they have the potential to be in that middle section.

Still got a few reservations.

I've spoke about some players or some teams,

separating themselves or Makacini could be the absolute difference.

He could be the next big thing in NRL.

He's got a bit of the mark,

no one can need to ask us about him,

where I feel like he's going to produce all these incredible

players that make him must watch every single week.

And yes, we're obviously hyped in this kid up so much.

He's got a couple of tries in the trials,

and I think Josh Realms compared him to Israel for LOW.

It's a bit, yes.

There's a lot of hyperbole getting thrown around this kid,

but I'm excited to see him through all the junior setups.

They all say he's one of the best players that have come around

those setups in recent times,

and I can't wait to watch him in the centers this week as well.

So not on the wing, obviously,

Stafford Toa is out at the moment with an injury.

So I'm fascinated to see what he's like in the centers,

particularly defensively.

Yeah, that's it.

It's the defensive reads of the centers that,

you know, the untrained eye can fall away from.

Like they are split second decisions.

The consequence of being, you know,

two tenths or two one hundredth of a second,

two tenths of a second late is the difference between a trial

and not a try.

Shooting down the play or not shooting down the play.

So yeah, a lot of expectation on him.

Against the aside, that can attack,

but struggle defensively, I think there'll be plenty of points

in this one, and I think the Tigers get the win.

Yeah, I think the Cowboys win.

I've just, they've had a lot of contests,

the Tigers and the Cowboys in the last year,

and the Cowboys more often than not get the Tigers.

I know they had that year where both teams put 70 or 60 points

on each other.

That was a weird year, but I think the Cowboys win this one

in a close game.

It's really tough to say.

It is.

Yeah, for me, it's the, the Tigers,

they're going to be like a ball out of a gate,

I think they're going to be excited to play where I think,

you know, the Cowboys come back from Vegas long trip home,

you know, people will point back to warriors last year,

but Tigers for me.

Yeah, Saturday 530, Dragons against the Storm.

Dragons obviously did manage to beat the Storm last year,

that a good win against them.

In the pouring down Trenchal rain.

Correct.

Correct.

Storm, absolutely all day.

Huge effort from the Dragons.

I just can't see them, can't see them even being close

to holding on.

I think the Storm could win comfortably here.

I mean, it was just incredible what the Storm did on Thursday.

Like, all the doubters had come for them.

Oh, they've lost all these players.

Turns out Joe Chanza, a superstar, turns out, you know,

they've got all these fantastic players still.

It's too far longer.

So far long was brilliant.

I would have to chip in Chase.

Is there a better try in the game than a Chase?

No, there isn't.

There isn't a better try than a chip in Chase.

A chip chase where you gather.

A chip chase where you gather is the best thing

to watch in rugby league.

Yeah, it is good.

Yeah, we should do bonuses for players

for pulling it off so that they try it more often,

because it's so good to watch.

No, you can't.

You can't, because people will be trained in LaFrance.

Yeah, Sean Blum might be great for the product, but yeah, be.

Yeah, Sean Blum might be back.

That's a huge inclusion from Storm.

He's in the extended bench, so if he comes in,

be interesting to see who makes way.

I mean, Joe Chan looked incredible.

LaSati looked incredible.

So which one of them drops out?

If I was predicting, I'd say LaSati's probably

going to be the guy who makes way for Sean Blum, but we'll see.

Yeah, I think Joe Chan's got the, you know,

you mentioned before about, you know, 250 game.

I think Joe Chan's got that look of him.

Obviously, the son of Alex Chan,

beast for the Catalan's playing against them.

He was huge.

Yeah, I think care the Storm win, doing comfortably.

Saturday night, Panther Sharks, two contenders going ahead to head.

Really big test early for the Sharks to see where they're out.

They're going against the Panther side,

who looked incredible, Jimmy.

26th Neil, the opening weekend.

No changes for either side.

Tango obviously had that late switch to the bench.

He's not in the team.

He's in the extended bench, so I think we can expect

that Jenkins has that wingspot moving forward,

and Alamochi will play in the centers.

It's a big call from Coach Cleary.

They invested a lot in Asak Tango,

and you'd think that it looked as though he was their man.

He was their next big superstar center.

And last year, he probably didn't have his best season.

And you thought, well, he'll come back,

and he'll just, you know, maybe that was a little blip,

but just forward every reason.

People have skipped the head, obviously,

McLean, who's phenomenal.

Yeah.

Alamochi's brilliant as well.

Yeah, Alamochi's just like underrated player last year.

Probably, yeah, he's underrated.

Yeah, he is.

But you've got to feel for those types of players

that aren't getting the game, that aren't

extended bench, and no guarantees are getting on.

But just on this game, important to Sharks

don't start where they left off,

because the second half was a bit met against the Titans.

They're going to be completely dialed in.

And even the first half, to be fair,

they're not going to get those opportunities against this team.

It's going to be a different approach for Cronoa.

If they think it's going to be anywhere near comparable,

they're gone.

They've got Pemrifle exposed you.

I still think the Panthers will be too strong for the Sharks,

although there's a lot of upbeat, a lot of boars.

I think this could be a reality check.

But it's just, oh, yeah, let's pull back a bit.

Yeah, I think the Sharks can win this game,

but I will go with the Panthers as well.

I think it's going to be really close there, Jimmy.

I mean, Sharks at 3.30, I like that on Ladbrokes in terms of value.

I think that's what they should be paying, but I just

Pemiss defense are just Trindle and Hines,

Brailly.

They've got their hands full.

Sunday afternoon, Seagal's Nights,

no sharp, which is going to be a huge loss per cent of Smith.

It is, it's good, but sharp.

I was on press sharp in the open three minutes.

That's 20 minutes.

Any player had, also, I'll make a Trindle.

Maybe Trindle had a pretty good half.

But I thought Sharp was incredible in that game.

And he showed so much potential.

I think it's a big loss for me, right?

Smith, they've got depth.

Well, the debate wasn't about who they were going to go with.

And according to some sources, it was Smith and Brown in the halves.

They've obviously, you know, that change is forced.

But the Nights, really, the feature of their spine play was

the number one.

Like, he was their best halfback.

He was doing a fair bit of the kicking.

He wanted the football.

Like, he was the...

Ponga was almost a dominant half.

Like, he played like a fallback,

but also like a 5-8 at the same time.

So, and he was on everything in that opening game.

So, expect to see more of that.

I do feel the Seagals will respond though.

Like, they almost have to.

Like, you have...

You look at the draw when it comes out.

You've got two home games.

You've been eyeing four points.

It would be...

be heartbreaking for the manly side if they don't get a win.

Like, I think they've got to.

I think Newcastle, like...

Yeah, they were good.

Don't want four to and love with them just yet.

Like I said, I think they're too good now for spoon,

based off what we saw in that opening night, 80 minutes.

But, no, manly for me.

And with the manly, the late game,

then Dolphin's Titans.

Plats back, stones back.

No change for Titans.

Campbell's still out there, hamstring injury.

Dolphin's huge favourites.

I think the Dolphins win comfortably.

Points, points more.

Points, this will be a high scoring affair.

Dolphins for me, Charlie, all the way.

You know I've backed them.

Yeah, you know I like what they do.

Bit of a slap in the face last week.

Yeah, Dolphins.

Not easily, just Titans off throw a bit out here.

Well, I just checked the weather,

because obviously we were in Brisbane on Sunday

for the Dolphins game and it was pissing down all day.

Wasn't great.

And it's raining again this weekend in Brisbane.

So a lot of rain for Brisbane.

That's the point.

Which could affect this contest.

Yeah, but Dolphins all should have an orphan, I think.

If they don't land from last weekend's game in the wet,

then that's on them, but they should have.

Great show, Jimmy, as always, my friend.

You're an absolute super star of the game of rugby league.

Thanks, Charlie.

Enjoy your sunrise appearance.

Thank you.

You park wherever you want, Paul.

You've got that sunrise privilege, buddy.

I'll keep doing that.

Tune in channel seven, Saturday morning.

And you can see me.

Who?

What a sell.

Cheers, guys.

We'll catch you soon.

All we go for there.

Hour?

Yeah, help fucking.

This podcast is brought to you by our good friends

at Lovebrook's Charlie.

The Pen with Panthers are off to Bathurst to take on

the Cranola Sharks.

We'll get a true read on those Cranola Sharks

that were dominant in the opening round.

No one does it better for country rugby league

than the Pen with Panthers.

They take so many games there every year.

And this Bathurst fixture is going to be incredible.

Two Premiership Heavyweights, but the Panthers are huge favorites.

Dollar 33.

The Cranola Sharks are $3.35.

The line is eight and a half points.

Have you got a same game multi-James game?

Yeah, Charlie, I sure do.

I do think there's a little bit of value there

for the Sharks, but look, Panthers,

I think they're back to their absolute best.

So I want to take them in the same game multi

to cover the line of minus eight and a half points

and then my favorite feature on the Lovebrook's app,

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Combined with that, covering the line,

$3.44.

I love it, Jimmy.

You're one of the best tips is going around, mate.

And I'm with you.

I think if you like the Sharks, $3.35 is very tempting.

Sure is, Charlie.

Season C is applied and available on the website.

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The rugby league season is back.

So is the buy round and back with us again

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