GAME THREAD: Steelers v Storm: CUP: Sat 2nd Nov

[Steve]

Just read there coaches playing career stats,enough said

[greeny]

Pleased with victory but at what cost ?. Sensless injuries are just what we do not need. I dont mind teams playing physical but to be outright dirty is another matter, players livelyhoods are on the line here. Hope watling injury is not as bad as it looked at the time. Terrible standard of reffing.

[ginger]

I don't like criticising refs too much but that was a shocker last night. The lack of initial calls on the Hebert hit on Balmas was awful and set the tone for players to start running around.

Real shame as I actually think Storm have the foundations of a really good team - Weninger, Morrow, Ullett, Critchlow all very good players who they could build a very solid roster around. Ullett I really like - got way more to his game than just big hits/fights. And whilst he plays on the edge, he's more often on the right side of the line than he steps over it (certainly in terms of hits).

Watling injury didn't look good - looks like we may be looking at injury cover being required. There's a number of movements happening in Europe at the moment so hopefully we can pick up a good solid replacement if Watling is out for 10+ weeks. Hopefully someone who can get the PP going!

[mark]

I don't like criticising refs too much but that was a shocker last night. The lack of initial calls on the Hebert hit on Balmas was awful and set the tone for players to start running around.

Real shame as I actually think Storm have the foundations of a really good team - Weninger, Morrow, Ullett, Critchlow all very good players who they could build a very solid roster around. Ullett I really like - got way more to his game than just big hits/fights. And whilst he plays on the edge, he's more often on the right side of the line than he steps over it (certainly in terms of hits).

Watling injury didn't look good - looks like we may be looking at injury cover being required. There's a number of movements happening in Europe at the moment so hopefully we can pick up a good solid replacement if Watling is out for 10+ weeks. Hopefully someone who can get the PP going!

In the old days that match would have been self policed by the likes of a Dennis Vial, I don't know what happened with the referees last night but there were some strange non calls and decisions but no one carries a policeman on their roster anymore so people got hurt. Maybe we get a big guy on a 2 way with the dogs just to sit him on the bench as a warning to the likes of Manchester but I'd rather see the referees doing a better job at dealing with the nonsense early in a game and stop players getting hurt.

[mark]

Herbert has been fined by DOPS for the Balmas incident , see the DOPS thread for details

[ginger]

I don't like criticising refs too much but that was a shocker last night. The lack of initial calls on the Hebert hit on Balmas was awful and set the tone for players to start running around.

Real shame as I actually think Storm have the foundations of a really good team - Weninger, Morrow, Ullett, Critchlow all very good players who they could build a very solid roster around. Ullett I really like - got way more to his game than just big hits/fights. And whilst he plays on the edge, he's more often on the right side of the line than he steps over it (certainly in terms of hits).

Watling injury didn't look good - looks like we may be looking at injury cover being required. There's a number of movements happening in Europe at the moment so hopefully we can pick up a good solid replacement if Watling is out for 10+ weeks. Hopefully someone who can get the PP going!

In the old days that match would have been self policed by the likes of a Dennis Vial, I don't know what happened with the referees last night but there were some strange non calls and decisions but no one carries a policeman on their roster anymore so people got hurt. Maybe we get a big guy on a 2 way with the dogs just to sit him on the bench as a warning to the likes of Manchester but I'd rather see the referees doing a better job at dealing with the nonsense early in a game and stop players getting hurt.

To be fair though, even with players like Vial etc on the roster, we still had games that got out of hand (New year's eve Vs Storm a classic example).

Don't get me wrong, I want the instigator penalty gone, or changed so only called when a player is continuously trying to start a fight with an unwilling combatant (not unwilling if you've just cross checked someone in the head though!). That would help, but really the only way to stop it is refs being really tight from the off - it's way easier to gradually relax the calls as the game goes on, than it is to get it back under control if too lax initially.

CHL (apart from the 2 5+game calls against Sparta) were reffed brilliantly. Basically every call was correct, and whilst they might have missed the odd thing, enough were called to let players know they couldn't get away with much.

[smbmetal]

I didn’t watch the game, but from reading the comments it would suggest that it was a tough physical game with a bit of old fashioned slap shot hockey?

I hope Watling is ok and he recovers quickly.

A couple of quick observations though. If these hits were bad enough and with 5 minute penalties would suggest there were, how come there’s no DOPS suspensions, only a fine? If the refs were rubbish then there’s an opportunity to dish out retrospective action?

Lake has already been suspended from his 5 minute penalty last night. Surely if the big bad Storm penalties were bad enough, there’d be two further suspensions, not just a fine?

With Tansey missing who is capable of policing the game to an extent, the Storm took advantage. No one wants to see players get injured of course not, but sometimes you have to be ready for some physical play which crosses the line. Generally Fox teams aren't so we will get a handful games like this one.

It didn’t quite work for the Storm on this occasion, but I wonder how many of our players aren’t looking forward to the next Storm game?

And @mark, I am more than happy to support any signing of a ‘tough guy’ at any point

[mark]

I didn’t watch the game, but from reading the comments it would suggest that it was a tough physical game with a bit of old fashioned slap shot hockey?

I hope Watling is ok and he recovers quickly.

A couple of quick observations though. If these hits were bad enough and with 5 minute penalties would suggest there were, how come there’s no DOPS suspensions, only a fine? If the refs were rubbish then there’s an opportunity to dish out retrospective action?

Lake has already been suspended from his 5 minute penalty last night. Surely if the big bad Storm penalties were bad enough, there’d be two further suspensions, not just a fine?

With Tansey missing who is capable of policing the game to an extent, the Storm took advantage. No one wants to see players get injured of course not, but sometimes you have to be ready for some physical play which crosses the line. Generally Fox teams aren't so we will get a handful games like this one.

It didn’t quite work for the Storm on this occasion, but I wonder how many of our players aren’t looking forward to the next Storm game?

And @mark, I am more than happy to support any signing of a ‘tough guy’ at any point

See that's the problem, it wasn't a tough physical game, it was a cheap shot game, they want to throw big checks, take the body, then that's fine, this was intentional dirty play, sticks high and Fox indicated as much by his comments afterwards.

[smbmetal]

I didn’t watch the game, but from reading the comments it would suggest that it was a tough physical game with a bit of old fashioned slap shot hockey?

I hope Watling is ok and he recovers quickly.

A couple of quick observations though. If these hits were bad enough and with 5 minute penalties would suggest there were, how come there’s no DOPS suspensions, only a fine? If the refs were rubbish then there’s an opportunity to dish out retrospective action?

Lake has already been suspended from his 5 minute penalty last night. Surely if the big bad Storm penalties were bad enough, there’d be two further suspensions, not just a fine?

With Tansey missing who is capable of policing the game to an extent, the Storm took advantage. No one wants to see players get injured of course not, but sometimes you have to be ready for some physical play which crosses the line. Generally Fox teams aren't so we will get a handful games like this one.

It didn’t quite work for the Storm on this occasion, but I wonder how many of our players aren’t looking forward to the next Storm game?

And @mark, I am more than happy to support any signing of a ‘tough guy’ at any point

See that's the problem, it wasn't a tough physical game, it was a cheap shot game, they want to throw big checks, take the body, then that's fine, this was intentional dirty play, sticks high and Fox indicated as much by his comments afterwards.

Well if that’s the case then we don’t have the players that are capable of policing that type of game. If the refs aren’t spotting it then we’ll need to give Vial and Allison a call

Might pop Storm back on my watch list if there’s something spicy to watch. Last season’s team appeared to go away from those shenanigans, so I took them off my watch list as the games were generally drab to watch.

[steeler pete]

I think Hebert was careless which ended up dangerous and like the rest of the team over-zealous trying to play a hard checking game. So, I think a fine on top of the 5 + game is ok.

The hit on Watling was the same and also late, so
I’m surprised there’s no fine for him given the injury.

I think the comments about the refs are spot on. The disappointment is that the move to bring in more female refs is being damaged by this one. They don’t need to be better than men but they do need to be competent.