NRL Nines 2014 team predictions As the NRL season draws to a close and we get closer to this year’s exciting World Cup, I’m looking a bit further ahead, to next year’s Inaugural Auckland Nines competition. Hoping to bring the flair and excitement to the sport that rugby sevens has created, this competition will bring incredible revenue to New Zealand and could be an incredible opportunity for the 16 NRL teams with a prize pool around $2 million. Playing just nine minute halves, this is the game the exciting backs have been waiting for. While it may be a glorified touch football competition, I personally can’t wait to see the likes of Jarryd Hayne, Josh Dugan, Johnathan Thurston, Billy Slater and Shaun Johnson show what they can do with a bit extra space. So with this, I have gone through and predicted what I think each of the 16 teams will look like and where I predict them to finish. These are the teams I would like to see, not necessarily the way I think they will look as I have avoided all front rowers and mainly chosen just from the top roster of each team. Warriors nines – first 1. Tomkins 2. Locke 3. Vatuvai 4. Hurrell 5. Fisiiahi 6. Mateo 7. Johnson 8. Henry 9. Laumape 10. Nielsen 11. Peyroux 12. Townsend 13. Lino 14. Tuimavave Roosters nines – second 1. Tuivasa-Sheck 2. Tupou 3. Jennings 4. Kenny-Dowell 5. Minichiello 6. Maloney 7. Pearce 8. Sonny Bill Williams 9. Cordner 10. Friend 11. Reuben 12. Oldfield 13. Mortimer 14. Aubusson Storm nines – third 1. Slater 2. Fonua 3. Chambers 4. Hunt 5. O’Neill 6. Walker 7. Cronk 8. Hinchcliffe 9. Smith 10. Robinson 11. McLean 12. Hoffman 13. Sau 14. Hampton Panthers nines – fourth 1. Moylan 2. Simmons 3. Roberts 4. Whare 5. Mansour 6. Soward 7. John 8. Brown 9. Segeyaro 10. Peachey 11. Taylor 12. Kingston 13. Naiqama 14. Humble Titans nines – fifth 1. Zillman 2. Gordon 3. Blair 4. Idris 5. Mead 6. Sezer 7. Kelly 8. Bird 9. Srama 10. Falloon 11. Irwin 12. Henry 13. Don 14. Takairangi Rabbitohs nines – sixth 1. Inglis 2. Merritt 3. Walker 4. Reddy 5. Goodwin 6. Sutton 7. Reynolds 8. Luke 9. McQueen 10. Keary 11. Champion 12. Buckett 13. Turner 14. Teo Cowboys nines – seventh 1. Coote 2. Feldt 3. Linnett 4. Tate 5. Winterstein 6. Thurston 7. Lui 8. Cooper 9. Kostjasyn 10. FaiFai Loa 11. Greenshields 12. Thompson 13. Morgan 14. Ulugia Dragons nines – eighth 1. Dugan 2. Morris 3. Beale 4. Runciman 5. Nightingale 6. Widdop 7. Williams 8. Vidot 9. Thompson 10. Siejka 11. Rein 12. Merrin 13. Green 14. Frizell Sharks nines – ninth 1. Gordon 2. Ryan 3. Ayshford 4. Pomeroy 5. Feki 6. Carney 7. Robson 8. Lewis 9. Gallen 10. Morris 11. Gardner 12. Graham 13. Wright 14. De Gois Sea Eagles nines – 10th 1. Stewart 2. Taufua 3. Lyon 4. Williams 5. Hiku 6. Foran 7. Cherry-Evans 8. Horo 9. Symonds 10. Buhrer 11. Ballin 12. Stewart 13. Watmough 14. Blair Broncos nines – 11th 1. Hoffman 2. Copley 3. Hodges 4. Reed 5. Kahu 6. Barba 7. Hunt 8. Gillett 9. McCullogh 10. Glenn 11. Baptiste 12. Yow Yeh 13. Oates 14. Kemp Tigers nines – 12th 1. Tedesco 2. Koroibete 3. Simona 4. Lawrence 5. Nofoaluma 6. Moltzen 7. Brooks 8. Sironen 9. Farah 10. Richards 11. Halatau 12. Iosefa 13. Anasta 14. Fulton Knights nines – 13th 1. Boyd 2. McManus 3. Leilua 4. Gagai 5. Uate 6. Gidley 7. Mullen 8. Rochow 9. Roberts 10. Hilder 11. Quinn 12. Tahu 13. Mantellato 14. Clydesdale Eels nines – 14th 1. Norman 2. Sio 3. Morgan 4. Hopoate 5. Radradra 6. Hayne 7. Sandow 8. Paulo 9. Peats 10. Hunt 11. Pritchard 12. Loko 13. Roberts 14. Kelly Raiders nines – 15th 1. Milford 2. Robinson 3. Croker 4. Wighton 5. Lee 6. Campese 7. McCrone 8. Buttriss 9. Berrigan 10. Sauiluma 11. Hodge 12. McIlwrick 13. Rapana 14. Cornish Bulldogs nines – 16th 1. Morris 2. Perrett 3. Inu 4. Lafai 5. Brown 6. Reynolds 7. Hodkinson 8. Williams 9. Ennis 10. Low 11. Eastwood 12. Romelo 13. Jackson 14. NSW Cup/NYC player I should mention it was very difficult to determine placings, particularly for the bottom eight teams, but I think the Warriors will be too strong with the home crowd support and playing an open, free-flowing style of game that suits them.
Posted on: Fri, 04 Oct 2013 13:55:52 +0000
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