Bookie said:
Hornby v The Peach; Hard one, to very different styles of play, one is one of the best at playing the game and backing up as a half with his skills, and the other a veteran of 224 games with 108 tries to his name who every time he touches the ball, you dont have a clue what hes gonna do. We'll miss ya Peach *sobs* [his last derby]
Bestie v Simmo One leaves, the other comes in for the Sharks. Bestie is beasting it and Simmo needs to pick up his game if he wants to not be a speedhump.
Gasnier v Vagana Awesome contest. Two of the most prolific tryscorers in the game. Bang bang! Hopefully Vagana will pull off more of those cheeky hidden high tackles on the monster Fire up Bitch
Cooper v Mellars/Mellor All the Drags tries will be down here.
Naiqama v Merritt All the Sharks tries will be down here.
Barrett v Dykes The clash of the week. One is an insanely overrated lock who takes cheapshots, and one is a local hero who plays for nothing but the derby. Love to see this matchup.
Sheppard v Noddy Noddy seems a bit recovered from his knee injury he's been carrying for the past month and a half, if he's fully fit, Sheps got no chance against the best in the world.
FORWARDS
Timmins v Gallen Timmins is a slow lock who brings out the best in the players around him. Gallen is a fast player who fucks up tries. But Miles per Gallen is the biggest metre maker in the NRL this year alongside Asotasi so look for another 220m game. Add 35 tackles as well.
Thomo v Bails Two of the biggest derros in the South of Sydney. Ones a workhorse whos never been selected for origin. The other is one of the best tryscoring forwards in the comp who has played for NSW and Australia.
Creagh v Ise/Williams Pretty neutral contest here, not very interesting.
Ryles v Nutley The most overrated piece of fickel cunt little piece of overeated piece of crap of 140 m only when his teams on fire overatted cat against the God of men. Nutley 200m, Ryles 10m, then onto the bench.[size=+2]Ryles is the biggest cat in the NRL [/size]
Young v Kingston/Hilder Hope Waltzing gets back, that'll be awesome, if not Kingstons a hard worker. Dean Young is Piggy II.
Bailey v Hutch Both of these guys are overrated by commentators. Bailey can have a good day, and Hutch can have impact, when he's off the bench.
BENCH
Sims v Galloway Two young prospects, Sims set to become the next Webcke, Galloway set to become the next Ryles [read Ryles description above].
Poore and Payne (hahahaha, poor and pain) v Leuls and Ise/Williams Neutral contest.
Ennis v Sully If Sully fires, he's the best player to watch in the NRL. Dont know if he'll fire,but he should cos its the derby. In saying that, Ennis isnt too bad himself but hes not as exciting as Sully.
VERDICT
Its the derby. No verdict. Cant wait come Sunday.
It'll be Greenshields vs Peachey. Honours to Peachey, but Greenshields should make more metres over the course of the match.
Best over Simmons.
Gaz and Vagana should be a cracker. Can't see a clear winner here.
As you said, Coops pisses all over Mellor and Mellars.
This will be a test for Naiqama. He's a very, very solid winger, but he doesn't have the speed to match Merritt. Cooper will have to help him out in defence this week more than normal. Should be good to watch.
Baz vs Dykes... if the forwards deliver the same performance they did on Sunday, Barrett will tear apart the Sharks defence. If they don't, though, this battle evens up. Honours to Barrett, though.
Hornby vs Kimmorley. On present form, Hornby wins this hands down. In the last twelve Dragons matches, Hornby has played nine full games. We have won every single one. He has missed one and been injured during the other two (and not returned). We have lost all three. However, there's nothing like a local derby to lift Noddy's game. If he rises, he has the goods. At the moment, though, Hornby to win.
Timmins vs Gallen. Clear win to Gallen here, though Timmins provides leadership, and he is by far a likelier match-winner than Gallen.
Thompson vs Bailey ... since Bailey repped, he's done virtually nothing. Thompson wears his heart on his sleeve and has never played poorly in this fixture. Bailey has the potential to score tries, but Thompson's second phase play could create havoc for a retreating Sharks defence. Interesting matchup.
Creagh vs Williams (I would presume) --- Creagh's stunning return to form on Sunday signals danger for your team. He's our biggest hitter in defence, and he made two line breaks last week as well. Chosen in the 30 man Origin squad too. He is way in front of a hard-working Williams.
Ryles vs Nutley is a cracker. NSW #10 vs Qld #10. Nutley works harder and makes more metres but Ryles is more skilful and has the offload. He led by example last week with the (c) next to his name, and I wouldn't disagree with leaving it there this weekend despite the return of Barrett. Can't wait to see these two rip into each other.
Young vs Hilder/Kingston/anyone. Doesn't matter who Youngie is up against, he wins. He'll play for Australia one day, and probably captain them too. He's not at the top of the St George Bank Medal 2005 for nothing. Hasn't played a poor game all year.
Bailey vs Maiava --- a prop who's done everything before 25 in Bailey. His performance last week was brilliant. He has the goods here. Maiava is definitely a better impact player, but he has to start due to Stevens's idiocy.
Sims vs Galloway --- interested to see how these two go under this sort of pressure. Sims should play for Australia by 2009 or so. Galloway is accused of being a pretender, but he still does good things. Either way, Sims right on top in this battle despite his lack of form. Sunday was his best match of the season, though.
Poore vs Leulaui (not sure how the spelling is here :S) --- Poore also to play for Australia in the future. Imagine a Dragons front row for Australia (8. Sims 9. Young 10. Poore hahaha). Big Phil is an impact player, but he is outshone here by his younger counterpart considerably.
Payne vs Isemonger --- interesting tussle. Isemonger consistently solid. Payne a bit on-and-off. Isemonger ahead, I'd say.
Ennis vs Sullivan --- all year everyone's been waiting for Ennis to shine. He still hasn't done this. Sullivan is super-exciting and creates a lot of danger off the bench. He definitely takes the points here.
Overall, player for player, the Sharks to lose by 30.
However, team vs team, Dragons by 10.
The fact that it's a derby, though, throws everything up in the air. Could be one team by 2, one by 10, or one by 40.
Dragons aren't afraid of the Sharks recently, though:
PAST CLASHES
2004 - Round 20 -
Dragons 26 - 14
2004 - Round 8 -
Dragons 42 - 12
2003 - Round 23 - Sharks 25 - 16
2003 - Round 8 -
Dragons 28 - 12
Oh well. Can't wait until Sunday. Should be a bloody ripper.
