I'm writing something different at the end of this,if you don't want to read it then don't.

If there is every a time to go against the Sharks it is right now on this game,the Sharks lost last week after looking odds on to win that game but they faded badly at the death,the Tigers get a few players back this week and stromed home over the Bunnies last week,I fancy the Tigers here today.

The Sharks get Gallen back today for this match and wil be looking to right the ship after last weeks loss,but even with Gallen back i'm going against them today,the effort the Sharks put on in last weeks game against the Panthers was pretty big,Anderson made over 51 tackles on his own in that game and although the Sharks are stil a very good side their error rate is going to bite them soon and I think it might just be this week against a Tigers side who have little problems scoring points.

The Tigers have been having a very mixed season , a win one week a loss the next,their early season form is all but forgotten now but where they stand out in this match today is the fact that they can score points,their defence is getting better and with Marshalll back this week and I am also hearing that Farah will be a game time inclusion in the squad i think the Tigers have more than enough to get home against the Sharks today.

Wests have beaten the Sharks in their last 8 matches and there last 3 at Toyota Park home of the Sharkies.

The Sharks might have a very committed defensive line but they are awful with the ball only averaging 14ppg on the season,their defence is great and can hold them in games and with Gallen back he will make a big impact,but unless they can fix their scoring woes they will still struggle against sides who can manufacture scoring chances and they meet that today in the Tigers,the Tigers average 20ppg on the season and are a very committed side in defence and attack,eveyone does their job and it all works rather well once it gets going,I don't think thgat Marshall will be a big influence in this game but I just think the Tigers have more than enough in their defence and their attack to force the issue,the Sharks are still in the top 4 sides with mistakes per game and I think that it wil catch up with them this week..Take the Tigers to win here...Good Luck.

STILL THINKING ABOUT LEAVING NEW ZEALAND!!



I think about leaving NZ alot as with my background I can never really escape from it unless I do,NZ is just to small and I have travelled this Country from top to bottom,there is no where in this country that I can go where I don't know anyone,there are onl 4 million of us living here and most of NZ is Country living and I have spent most of my life living both Country and City although I far prefer Country.

I know that I have to leave NZ in order to get my family away from the people I have known all my life,but I honestly don't know how I would get along outside of NZ,Last week as I was watching my Kids play with all their cousins on the Marae I realised that taking them away from NZ would make them miss out on all the things that Kids here get to experience the way I did and my missus did,Riding Horses,Diving for Paua,Mussels and Kinas,fighting with each other,laughing with each other and I really don't want my kids to grow up not growing up with a big Maori Influence from being on the Marae or being with all mine and Missus older Aunties and Uncles who can all speak Maori like we do and can teach my kids things that are important to us,maybe not important to everyone but to us it is.Maoris were beatn when my mother was young for even talking Maori or behaving like one.

Also the other reason's that I have my doubting as to whether leave or not is that this is NZ,You can walk down the road here in barefeet,no t-shirt even on Queen St our biggest City here and no one cares,everyone is called Bro and I am a Maori,as are my kids and my Missus,This is our Country,our land,there are not that many of us left still living here and as proud as my Family is,Maoris in this Country in my lifetime have been shunned by White Society in NZ,some people might say that i'm racsist,I'm not, foreingners I don't have a problem with and although I have many White NZ mates,I also hate the majority of White Nzers as they have no understanding of what it is to be a Maori who less than 150 years ago we were still living up in the bush and were still living in tribes,in 150 years of colonisation,we have been slaughtered when we would'nt fight (Thats both my Family and my Missus from the Land wars in Taranaki) Our men were taken and locked away in Canterbury untill they died,our land was taken from us never to be given back and to us Land is eveything,it is all we have,I still own some in fact me and my Missus own quite a bit,but we can't develop it or make any money off it as are the rules of having land if you are a Maori living in NZ.

People wonder why we are the way we are,why we seem to not care about the so called rules given to us by the European Goverment here and why we are always fighting against it,because now we have lived in this society for so long that it affects you,I grew up with White kids calling me "Nigga" and "Dirty Maori" or "Poor Maori" and thats what i got from teachers as well at school.if anything ever went wrong me and my mates were held to blame whether it was us or not,Cops would stop me on the way home from primary School at age 7 to pick on me or give me a whack with their torch and say shit like "It's for your own good,you don't want to grow up and be a waste of space like the rest of you Maoris do you?" And we are meant to be cool about all of that and grow up and live in a society that allows that to happen by turning a blind eye to it unless it affects them personally?? Fuck That,Considering we have only been out of the Bush for less than 200 years I think we do pretty well,go and look at any other countrys societys before they were around for 100's of years and they were far worse than what we are now,in fact it took them closer to 500 years before they even came up with a system of Goverment and even in most cases that was flawed,we have also just realised that alot of the stuff that did happen to us was illegal and now all those laws have been changed to make them right and us wrong,My Koro used to tell us the story of his Father my great Grandad of how he lost his land when we were young and he was still alive,"A Pakeha (European) Man showed up on his land one day,My Great granfateher inivited him in and gave him a feed and a drink,he asked what the Man was doing,he said Surveying,My Koro had no idea what he was talking about,so he feed him and allowed him to go about his bussieness,the man put 4 white pegs up around my Koros Land and measured it with white rope,he then cam back asked for a drink of my Koro and left,A month later a man showed up with two police offocers and said that his land had been surveyed and he now owed 500 Pound for it,this was in 1886 (My Koro lived untill I was 10 so 1984) 500 pound was huge back then and my Koro had no money,in ore=der to get hius land heard about in the Land Courts he had to stay outside the Courthouse without leaving town for 5 months,you could'nt leave there a or else you wonuld lose your claim to the land,as the court officials used to do a name check every day and if you were'nt there your land would be taken by the Crown,My Great Granfather never got to go before the court,he waited there for 13 months while his family inculding my Koro were forced off their land and told to leave the area,two of my great Aunties were killed and probaly raped by the Soldiers who came to do it and my Great Koro died on the way back home,Now we have the land back,I own it,but as I said I am not allowed to do anything with it,I cannot make profit off it,I really don't care,the land is more important than Money anyway.

But besides that I am a Maori,I am proud to be one,I am gratetfull for the way i grew up as it has made me as hard as I am today,I know I have to Leave NZ for myself,but I wonder the affect it will have on my kids growing up in another country that is not ours,we have a connection with the land here as it is our home,I never feel more at home than when i'm standing up on a hill in the bush overlooking the bush in silence with only the sounds of Nature around me,or sitting on a horse at the beach or on top of a hill late at night with my cousins with me,those are the things I want my Kids to grow up with,but what I don't want my kids to grow up with is already happening,all of my kids have been shunned by White Kids at their schools for being Maoris,they of course have friends now at school,White .Black or any colour but they are constanly told by others that they are Maoris and that they can't be trusted or stupid shit like that.

I'm just once again getting some shit off my chest,I love NZ and i don't want my kids to grow up without the freedom that they can have here,My race here are all decendants of Warriors who the English never beat in battle,we were the only colonised Country who the English had to write a treaty with because they could'nt beat us and so they tricked us instead of warring with us and thats the truth,thats why we are the way we are,Will I leave NZ with my Family?? You know what..I really don't know.This is home,even with all the Problems we have here,I never want my Kids to be ashamed of what they are or where they have come from,we are a proud race,I want them to be proud of what they are to and I reallky don't know If I can get them to be that way growing up in another country,so i geuss i'll have to wait and see.

There are less than 70,000 of us Maoris left in NZ,most have left as they just could'nt take the bullshit anymore,which means there are more Asians living in NZ than us now,we are the face of NZ,they use our culture to show the world what we are,I really don't know whether I want to join the exodus and let them win,I really don't know what to do.

Pick : Tigers WIN
Odds : 2.38
Stake : 9 / 10
Bookmaker : Stan James
Date : 2008-04-27
Match Result : 16-20
Tipster Personal Link/Sponsor:

Viewed 223 times.