StGeorge vs Parramatta Rnd92001

Saints On TV
ST GEORGE ILLAWARRA
DRAGONS

RUGBY LEAGUE FOOTBALL: TV PICS, RESULTS, REPORTS

ROUND 9 - 14 APRIL 2001 - WIN STADIUM
SAINTS V PARRAMATTA

KICKOFF: Saturday 7:30pm

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SOTV PREVIEW:
Saturday night 7.30, 14 April: Saints take on Parramatta at WIN Stadium in what promises to be a cracker of a match. Coach Andrew Farrar has named an unchanged squad (see below) to the one which thrashed Penrith in round 8. Mark Riddell who was previously in doubt has improved and is now expected to play.
There should be some great one on one tussles in the forwards with Nathan Hindmarsh squaring off against Darren Treacy and Jason Hooper facing up gainst ex-Dragon, Daniel Wagon. Willie Peters has the task of taking on danger man, Jason Taylor.
In the 3 previous encounters, Brian Smith's Eels have taken the honours but we reckon that's about to change. OUR TIP: SAINTS BY 24
FOOTY TAB: Head to head: Saints $1.60, Eels $2.20; Handicap: Eels 3. 5 start.
WEATHER FORECAST AT KICKOFF: 15ºC Fine, mild. Light NNE winds
Referee: Sean Hampstead
TEAMS ANNOUNCED EARLIER IN THE WEEK (SUBJECT TO CHANGE):
DRAGONS: 1. Amos Roberts, 2. Nathan Blacklock, 3. Mark Gasnier, 4. Lee Hookey, 5. Jamie Ainscough, 6. Trent Barrett, 7. Willie Peters, 13. Jason Hooper*, 12. Andrew Hart, 11. Darren Treacy, 10. Chris Leikvoll*, 9. Mark Riddell*, 8.Craig Smith (c) Res: 14. Jason Ryles*, 15. Jamie Fitzgerald, 16. Lance Thompson*, 17. Wayne Bartrim*
*Hooper, Leikvoll, Riddell move to bench. Ryles, Thompson, Bartrim into run on side.
PARRAMATTA: 1. Brett Hodgson, 2. Pat Richards, 3. Jamie Lyon, 4. David Vaealiki, 5. Jason Moodie, 6. Michael Buettner, 7. Jason Taylor*, 13. Daniel Wagon, 12. Ian Hindmarsh, 11. Nathan Hindmarsh, 10. Michael Vella,
9. Daniel Irvine, 8. Nathan Cayless (c) Res: 14. PJ Marsh, 15. Jason Cayless, 16. David Solomona, 17. David Westley, 18. Andrew Ryan (one to be omitted) *Taylor out, PJ Marsh into halfback.

TEAMS AT KICK OFF

RESULTS:
SAINTS 6 (Hookey try. Riddell 1/1 goal, Bartrim 0/1 goal)
PARRAMATTA 24 (Buettner, B.Hodgson, Wagon, Moodie tries. B.Hodgson 4/5 goals, Marsh 0/1 goal)
CROWD: 13,404

MATCH SUMMARY:

WIN Stadium, Saturday 14 April 2001: Saints struggled to maintain possession and were ultimately outplayed by Parramatta to the tune of 24-6.
In a match which had plenty of controversy, Wayne Bartrim was sent off on a charge of kicking in the 67th minute. The replay shows a knee, not a boot being pushed forward in the marker area but we'll have to wait and see.
Additionally, Trent Barrett may be on report for a dangerous tackle.
Poor handling and poor defence just wide of the ruck were the main reasons why Saints were unable to cut it tonight against a more committed Eels outfit.
The ref was involved from the outset and caned Saints

consistently in the first half. By fulltime the penalty count was 11-8 (half time: 7-3) in favour of Parra and many felt that this was too high. Sean Hampstead's control of the match was at best 'questionable'.
But the reality is that Parramatta dug out a hard fought victory with Nathan Hindmarsh making more than one break up the middle and Saints finishing the match with only 2 line breaks in total.

MATCH REPORT:
In a match which rarely rose to any great heights, St George Illawarra have been downed by Parramatta 24-6.
The Eels scored 4 tries to 1 including a try just before half time and and another just after half time.
The best players on the park were Parramatta's Nathan Hindmarsh and PJ Marsh. A number of Dragon's players never gave in but they were undone in the the end by poor handling and lack of discipline.
BY THE CLOCK:
4 min: Try Buettner. Hodgson misses conversion. Parra 4-0
12 min: Penalty to Parramatta. Goal Hodgson. Parra 6-0
16 min: Try Hookey after Hooper catches Barrett bomb. Conversion attempt from Batrim hits uprights and misses. Possession in favour of Eels 64%. Parra 6-4
21 min: Craig Smith go down after a head clash which leaves an open wound. He is blood binned without a stop in play. Leikvoll comes on and immediately has to defend out wide.
33 min: Hodgson penalty goal. Parra 8-4
39 min: Try Hodgson. Conversion Hodgson. Parra 14-4

HALF TIME

43 min: Riddell penalty goal. Parra 14-6
50 min: Following a huge run from Nathan Hindmarsh and then repeated sets of six, Parra score. Saints have been defending their line for an eternity and it is a bomb that finally delivers the points to Parramatta via an ex-Dragon. Try Wagon. Goal Hodgson. Parra 20-6
63 min: Ryles takes a great pass from Barrett and crashes through the Eels defence only to have the ball dislodged whilst over the try line. A good effort but no try and this was Saints' final chance.
67 min: Bartrim sent off
73 min: Try Moodie. PJ Marsh conversion misses. Parra 24-6

FULL TIME

SOTV BEST PLAYERS:
Craig Smith (3pts) Worked the house down before being knocked out. Came back with 20 stitches in the forehead and tried hard to turn things around.
Jason Hooper (2pts) Was on the recieving end of a huge workload in defence but still backed up in attack.
Jason Ryles (1pt) Made a few errors but he wasn't alone in that department. Made a glorious break late in the match. With Saints still a chance, he was unlucky not to score while attempting to ground the ball.

SOUND FILES:
(HINT: best way to download sound files is to right click on pic and use 'save link' or 'save target' option, then save WAV file to desktop or folder of choice)

WAV (963 Kb) Click on the speaker to hear coach, Andrew Farrar talking before the match

REF REPORT:

Agent 86, Sean Hampstead

Sean Hampstead put in his usual display of missed opportunities by trying to make a big man of himself while losing touch with the reality of the match at hand.
He over-enforced the latest NRL directive to clamp down on laying over tackled players. He went on a mission against the Dragons in the 1st 20 minutes and effectively destroyed the spectacle with constant stoppages. With the match barely 10 minutes old, the penalties were flowing freely in favour of the Eels by 4-1.
However, throughout the match, he allowed dangerous play to go unabated.
About mid way through the 1st half, the ref began threatening the captains that he would sin bin the next player who was slow getting off the tackled player. However, he kept with the penalties but never sin binned anyone. Incredibly, Hampstead awarded a scrum penalty against Saints when 2 props had a bit of push & shove going on. A decent ref would have just warned the players and ordered the scrum

to be reset. But Hampstead was in a mood. Sean also slipped into the habit of mis-reading knock-ons. Both teams have something to complain about here.
Things turned even more bizzarre in the 30th minute when Hampstead chose to penalised Saints for mythically holding on to Hindmarsh who kicked the ball on his toe while playing the ball.
In the 38th minute, Hampstead missed his first back slam of the match when Solomona rolled Riddell.
At half time, the penalty count favoured Parramatta 7-3.
In the 55th minute, the ref was once again unable to see things at all when Trent Barrett was accused of back slamming Brett Hodgson. The ref ask the touch judge who said, 'no...not a back slam'. the replay shows a simple push down but there should have been a penalty - the ref had no idea.
The ref missed another knock on and another Solomona back slam. And then, despite being in full view, was unable award a penalty against Parramatta when a blatant obstruction took Willie Peters out of play.
By now both teams were laying the play the ball area & flopping in late. The ref now seemed unwilling to threaten players with the sin binned but he was clearly agitated.
Hampstead's credibility was taking further nose dives and his frustration culminated in the 67th minute when Bartrim was sent off on a charge of kicking. Unfortunately, the ref got it wrong and Barto never kicked (see pics below). Parramatta's, Andrew Ryan lashed out with his boot and caught Wayne Bartrim with his studs. It looked to be an accident. Barto pushed his knee forward in the would-be marker area never making contact with the tackled player. The ref's reaction appears to be one of over-reaction and his view was clearly obstructed.

In the 67th minute Wayne Bartrim was sent off on a charge of kicking.
1st pic: Barto gets kicked by Parra's, Andrew Ryan.

2nd pic: Barto pushes his knee forward & never makes contact with the Parramatta player

We await the poste script of this and other events. Final penalty count: Parra 11-8.
With the Referee sponsor FAI, going into liquidation, the ref's jumper now sports a blank spot which beckons for a new sponsor. Perhaps, spectacle firm, OPSM are interested.
However, we suggest that Panadol have their name stitched across the referee's chest. Afterall, we always have a headache after witnessing efforts like tonight's woeful display.
Overall ref rating:
The 'Hamster' gets a point for not being noticeable for a total of 8 minutes of the match. 1 out of 10

Poste Script:
Wayne Bartrim copped a one week suspension after pleading guilty. A not guilty plea would see greater punishment.
Trent Barrett was cited for back slamming and although maintaining his innocence, he also pleaded guilty so as to avoid further punishment. He was suspended for 2 weeks.
Craig Smith was also cited for lifting his knee and defended his charge only to receive a 2 week suspension.
More about this can be read on the main page in a SOTV article entitled, 'WHAT A DISGRACE'. Later the article will be stored in the News2001 section.

MATCH PICS:


Jason Hooper leaps high & Hookey looks on	Lee Hookey accepts the pill to score
Nathan Hindmarsh is bundled into touch	An easy fend for Trent
Tingha - almost through	Smith shares a word with Nathan Brown
Craig Smith, unconcious on the ground, cops a facial from Cayless	20 stitches later, Smith returns
The 'head slamming' incident Barrett has his hand on the back of the Parramatta fullback's head as they both are heading earth bound.	Barrett delivers Hodgson to the turf and was later charged by the match review committee which is headed by Jim Hall who is also the Juduciary Commissioner.
Half time and a few heads are hanging	The knee incident - missed by all except Jim Hall
Jamie Fitzgerald	Jason Hooper
The missed incident - Parra's Solomona has his arms around Riddell's head	Solomona spins and sends Riddel to the ground