While I am hoping the Tigers end up with the wooden spoon, I expect it will be Souths yet again.
And I expect that the Cowboys will not make the 8 this season.
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Bunnies' bubble bursts
By Steve Mascord
February 26, 2005 - 12:50AM
Bulldogs 40 Souths 16
Prop Mark O'Meley made a successful return from knee and elbow surgery as premiers Bulldogs broke their pre-season duck against South Sydney last night.
After losses to Leeds and Canberra earlier this month, the Bulldogs found themselves 6-0 down early in last night's match at Perth's Members Equity Stadium.
However, a sublime offload from second-rower Sonny Bill Williams put five-eighth Braith Anasta over for the Dogs' first try and they ran away with the contest during the closing stages to win 40-16.
Centre Willie Tonga finished with three tries and the only negative for Steve Folkes's side was a twisted ankle suffered by second-rower Reni Maitua.
Souths started the game, watched by about 9,000 fans, as they had left off in last weekend's Charity Shield but the Bulldogs' power game wore the Rabbitohs down in the end.
Roy Asotasi, Trent Cutler and Trevor Thurling also went over for the Dogs with Hazem El Masri adding six goals.
Ashley Harrison and David Fa'alogo scored tries for Souths with Shane Rigon reducing the deficit with a third late on.
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Turner a casualty as Melbourne storm home
February 26, 2005
Melbourne scored 24 unanswered points in the second half to swamp North Queensland 30-18 in a NRL trial match in Cairns last night.
But the Storm's five tries to three victory was marred by a foot injury to winger Steve Turner, who was hoping to secure a first grade spot this season following a frustrating 2004.
Turner had a suspected dislocated foot and was taken straight to hospital for X-rays.
Halfback Matt Orford had a hand in four of Melbourne's five tries to help his side overcome an 18-6 halftime deficit following a lacklustre opening quarter.
The Cowboys completed 17 of 22 sets in the first half to lay the platform for three converted tries while Melbourne struggled in the heat at Barlow Park and had an awful completion rate of two from 17.
Electrifying fullback Matt Bowen opened the scoring in the fifth minute following a Billy Slater error in the in-goal area.
Halfback Chris Sheppard was instrumental in the second try, providing a marginal inside ball to a rampaging Scott Tronc to score close to the uprights on 11 minutes.
Cameron Smith got the Storm on the board after 27 minutes with a soft try on the back of a scurry out of dummy half, with Orford converting.
Matt Sing crossed in the right-hand corner in the 36th minute and Hannay converted from out wide as North Queensland led 18-6 at the major break.
The Storm hit back in the third quarter with tries to Jake Webster and captain Robbie Kearns before Ryan Hoffman sealed victory with a four-pointer in the final stanza.
Storm coach Craig Bellamy said the foot injury to Turner was a major disappointment for the 20-year-old, who had trained hard in the off-season to make up for a frustrating 2004 season restricted to just seven games because of knee and ankle injuries.
"It is a struggle for us a bit in the outside backs and after Steve (Turner) went off the young blokes went OK," Bellamy added.
"Ordinary would be a kind way to describe our first half but you could say the same about the Cowboys' second half.
"At the end of the day I was happy with the way we came back. I thought we controlled things very well in the second half.
"We had a lot of work to do after dropping so much footy in the first half.
"We just didn't set the fundamentals properly. We know we can score points but we have to earn the right to score."
Murray claimed his players should have handled the steamy conditions better.
"We will have to have a look at things before round one, he said.
"We stopped completing in the second half and dropped too much ball which meant we were always digging out of our own end. But it was good play by Melbourne.
"I am very disappointed, these are the conditions we train in all the time.
"We will have to compete better than we did in the second half."
Justin Smith hurt a shoulder and Johnathan Thurston suffered a cork but both are expected to be ready for round one against Brisbane at Suncorp Stadium on March 13.
Articles from www.news.com.au
Bubbles burst
Moderator: GH Moderators
yeh that is a massive blow for the bunnies
after the stgeorge win they would have been hoping for a lot better than that.
still the dogs are the premiers and could do that to anyone so hopefully for the bunnies sake they can be competetive and even if they dont get near the semis hopefully they can get off the bottom of the ladder
after the stgeorge win they would have been hoping for a lot better than that.
still the dogs are the premiers and could do that to anyone so hopefully for the bunnies sake they can be competetive and even if they dont get near the semis hopefully they can get off the bottom of the ladder
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