Tag Archives: Cooper Cronk

My Night at the Dally M’s

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No one ever likes attending an event by themselves. It is actually very preferable that you don’t go by yourself. But when it comes to something you’re so bleedingly passionate about, you’d be willing to overlook that fact if you couldn’t take anyone with you, right? Well, that’s what I did when I attended this year’s Dally M awards.

Smile, Watmough!

Smile, Watmough!

Rocking up to the Star by myself and waiting in the registration line by myself was a bit daunting. After being escorted to the red carpet (behind a security gate unfortunately), the stars rolled out and I was literally starstruck. It was big star after big star after big star – Anthony Watmough, Adam Reynolds, Jake Friend, Paul Gallen, Jared Waerea-Hargreaves… they kept popping out on the red carpet. I didn’t get any pictures with them but I got a few of them. I got to speak to Greg Inglis for a hot second as well, which was bloody amazing.

After the red-carpet shenanigans were done, the registered fans in attendance were hurried off to the Marquee room where we received free drinks and a complimentary meat pie or sausage roll. Seeing as I’m a vegetarian, I got my fill in of free bevs.

We were sat down in the top seating area for the Dally M’s in the main room (I got a pretty decent seat) and were (unfortunately) treated with a Justice Crew/Timomatic performance. Kudos to both of them for doing well in their careers but I personally do not care in the slightest for either of them. The awards finally begun and I have to say the production was terrible. There were a few lengthy gaps in between announcements and it just looked as if the crew didn’t know what they were doing.

The award winners were as follows:

Dally M 2013 Winner: Cooper Cronk (Storm)
Fullback of the Year: Greg Inglis (Rabbitohs)
Try of the Year: David Nofoaluma (Wests Tigers)
Five Eighth of the Year: Johnathan Thurston (Cowboys) / Todd Carney (Sharks) tied
Halfback of the Year: Cooper Cronk (Storm)
Headline Moment of the Year: Burgess Brothers (Rabbitohs)
Hooker of the Year: Cameron Smith (Storm)
Lock of the Year: Corey Parker (Broncos)
Prop of the Year: Andrew Fifita (Sharks)
Winger of the Year: Roger Tuivasa-Sheck (Roosters)
Centre of the Year: Jamie Lyon (Sea Eagles)
Captain of the Year: Cameron Smith (Storm)
Coach of the Year: Trent Robinson (Roosters)
Rookie of the Year: George Burgess (Rabbitohs)
Provan Summons Medal: Greg Inglis (Rabbitohs)
Under-20s Player of the Year: Bryce Cartwright (Panthers)

I definitely recommend attending a Dally M ceremony to all of the NRL fans out there. I got close to the Burgess brothers, had Beau Ryan do the Whakatane pose right in front of me and witnessed my favourite Corey Parker rightfully gain Lock of the Year. I may or may not have shouted “YES!” in triumph while the room was dead silent when this happened. It was an absolutely amazing experience and it was free as well!

– by The Black Widow

Queensland Make It 8

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I am on the highest of highs… of highs. QUEENSLAND TAKE OUT ORIGIN FOR THE 8TH TIME IN A ROW!!

This needs no caption.

This needs no caption. SOURCE: NRL Facebook page

Tension was running high as the players ran out onto the field for the ultimate decider of the Origin series 2013. This was it. This was the moment. This was the moment for the Blues to shut up their naysayers and stop Queensland’s dominating streak, and the moment for the Maroons to continue their momentum from game two.

Queensland made the first half count with some early points from Queensland playmaker Johnathan Thurston who racked up a converted try and a penalty conversion. The Blues mounted a comeback with a try from McManus and ended the half at 8 – 4.

I could not sit down during the second half because I can honestly say a game of footy has not kept me on my toes like this in a very long time. The gruelling second half was intense and was nearly too hard for me to watch until my Broncos boy Hodges scored a try at the 61st minute which wasn’t successfully converted. All was well in the Queensland department until SolSat’s Golden Boy Corey Parker let in a try from Merrin at the 71st minute. My poor Parker.

In the final minutes of the game, 10-12 to the Maroons, it was all coming down to whoever was in possession. Just as I thought one of my personal favourites, the underrated Matt Scott would score a try, a stupid, fat, ignorant streaker ran onto the field to disrupt not only the brilliant game that had been played but Scott’s try. An array of colourful language threatened to escape my mouth but I managed to stop it. Streakers – be ready to see an opinion piece on them.

Queensland managed to keep possession in the final seconds of play and seize the victory over the Blues for their 8th straight victory in what was an unforgettable defeat.

Now, it’s time for the SOLST-O-METER!

Solst-o-meter
Even with what I perceived to be shotty officiating from one Shayne Hayne and an absolutely horrendous try-ruining streaker, my boys still managed to scrape up the victory and make it #8inarow.

1. Billy Slater – still exhibits his fine footy finesse and shows why he IS the greatest fullback in the game, despite your personal feelings for the man. RATING: Satisfied.
2. Darius Boyd – bleh first half, somewhat decent second half. If he didn’t ground that ball, I would’ve torn him a new one. RATING: Neither satisfied or dissatisfied.
3. Greg Inglis – I was still expecting a classic GI moment from him but didn’t get any of the sort. RATING: Neither satisfied or dissatisfied.
4. Justin Hodges – my bucking Bronco played excellent! Now if only he could bring that back to the Broncos, that’d be great. RATING: Satisfied.
5. Brent Tate – excellent form here by the Cowboy Tate. RATING: Satisfied.
6. Johnathan Thurston – hands down Man of the Match. RATING: Very Satisfied.
7. Cooper Cronk – some great play from Cronk, nothing earth shattering like I’m used to from him but still good. RATING: Satisfied.
8. Matt Scott – my poor Scotty, his Origin moment was taken from him. Either way, he was still incredible tonight. RATING: Satisfied.
9. Cameron Smith – the Captain of the Squad demonstrated exactly why he is the greatest player in the game today. RATING: Satisfied.
10. Nate Myles – good ol’ Myles, no punch ups this time thank goodness. Wasn’t outstanding but wasn’t bad either. RATING: Neither satisfied or dissatisfied.
11. Chris McQueen – good ol’ McQueen and his green eyes also did not wow me with his performance but he still played pretty well. RATING: Neither satisfied or dissatisfied.
12. Sam Thaiday – Thaiday started off the game firing on all cylinders then kind of went down after that but finished the game on a high. RATING: Satisfied.
13. Corey Parker – SolSat’s darling Corey Parker played the whole game excellently keeping up his great form… until he let that try in from Merrin. You could see that he was tired so I may let that one slide. RATING: Satisfied.
14. Daly Cherry-Evans – DCE didn’t play as well as he did in the second game but he was still fired up keeping me impressed nevertheless. RATING: Satisfied.
15. Ben Te’o – some excellent plays there from the former Bronco. He let out a penalty but also kept up some great defense. RATING: Satisfied.
16. Matt Gillett – my Bronco played well tonight despite giving away a penalty. Deserves a good pat on the back. RATING: Satisfied.
17. Josh Papali’i – the soft-spoken gentle giant’s defense is damn unmatched. His heavy hitting tackles are cringeworthy and then he just gets up with a cute smile on his face. RATING: Satisfied.

Congratulations Queensland Maroons, a well deserved win from all of you. Keep up the good work and make it 9 in a row in 2014! Now to celebrate my victory by decking myself out in Maroon when I go to college tomorrow. Noah out!

– by The Black Widow