It’s a Penalty Try, It’s a Penalty Try….Yes Gus Gould, you were right about that one, and anyone who says differently should probably swap the colour of jerseys, rewatch and then make their decision. But this week’s edition of the Weekly Gripe is not about the awarding of the penalty try, more about the usual serving of dross and self indulgent tripe offered up by Channel Nein.
And, we can’t be accused of moaning about this just because one side lost, we have been pretty consistent on this over the life of The Gurgler website.
2016 State of Origin Power Rankings
2017 State of Origin Power Rankings
Sunday night’s extravaganza and series clinching win for the Blues was yet another example of why Origin sucks, and it’s not the result. It is the fan based commentary of Gus Gould which is so sickening and woeful it is almost funny.
The beauty of Channel Nein is their arrogance. Shown by their insistence that everyone loved the Channel Nein Cricket Commentary team and they were great and anyone who hated it was an idiot, until they lost the TV rights and that no one is really fighting over the majority of their boys club to go to other channels. This attitude means Gus Gould is here to stay. until the rugby league goes down the same path of the cricket.
Sure, Gus Gould has one of the better minds within rugby league, and has some refreshing attitudes about the game at a time when the NRL seems reasonably hopeless at running their own game, but when he doesn’t like something he is also completely arrogant to anything that doesn’t suit him.
Take the Magic Weekend. Gus Gould quickly took to social media to view his thoughts about it, which of course were negative. Of course the first downside is that the regular Sunday afternoon game has been craned out of Sydney, but there was also doubt about the concept. Has he even been to a Magic Weekend? We have, in Edinburgh in the UK, and it is still fondly remembered as one of the great rugby league experiences I’ve had that doesn’t involve the PNG Hunters. Watching 7 games of league over 2 days featuring teams I didn’t really care about (except for London Harlequins of which our group of five were the sole fan representatives in Scotland) was a top weekend. Not that Gus Gould would know.
There’s plenty more examples on his twitter account, which we admit is one of the better ways to get news and views on rugby league. As long as he agrees with your viewpoint. Or you with his.
But back to the commentary. The justification of Gus Gould’s complete bias is always countered by Channel Nein spokespeople or producers by pointing out the amount of Queenslanders on the commentary team. But that’s not the point, it’s not a matter of evening up the score with Maroon, it is about the coverage being balanced, and less about the men in the box, no matter the amount of origin misery the relevant state has endured.
And Channel Nein make no apologies about it. Perhaps their rugby league arrogance will go down the path of the cricket, which Channel Nein lost a few months ago after many years in charge of the game on FTA.
Thankfully now we have Fox League, which means no more Gus Gould after the third State of Origin game for a few more months.
At the end of the day, 50% of the Channel Nein rugby league is down for the season. And we just have to suffer the other half. And hope neither the Roosters or Panthers make the Grand Final.
