All throughout the finals series, thereโs no doubt you would have heard Aussie NRL slang terms like โgrubber kickโ, โhit-upโ, โplay-the-ballโ, โconversionโ, โmeat pieโ and โdummyโ, but what do they all mean?
If you get into a โblueโ after someone floors you with a shoulder charge and youโve got โclaretโ everywhere, could you recover in time to give off a few of your own โdonโt arguesโ before the gameโs end?
If you canโt make any sense of that, donโt worry, youโre not alone in scratching your head.
To keep you up to date with all the Aussie NRL slang, weโve partnered with Aussie bookie, Palmerbet, to bring you all the phrases you need to know!
Advantage line: An imaginary line drawn across the field at each play-the-ball. Crossing the advantage line means a gain in territory for the attacking team.
Ankle tap: When a defender reaches out or dives towards a fleeing opponent, tapping their ankle and causing them to trip or slow down.
Blinder: When someone is having a brilliant game, E.g. โCameron Smith is having a blinder!โ
Blindside: The narrow side of the field from a scrum or play-the-ball.
Boil-over:ย When a team expected to lose easily wins the match.
Bomb: A ball kicked skyward, giving defenders extra time to chase downfield and place pressure on the ball-receiver.
Blue: A fight or melee.
Bust: When an attacking player breaks through a tackle.
Changeover: After the sixth tackle is completed, the attacking team must handover the ball to the opposition.
Charge-down: When a defender blocks a kick from the attacking player with outstretched arms.
Chicken wing: An illegal tackling technique used by defenders to slow the play-the-ball, by twisting the opponentโs arm into a vulnerable position.
Claret: Blood on a player.
Conversion: Following a try, a player from the attacking team attempts to covert the four points earned into six, by kicking the ball from the ground through the uprights and over the crossbar of the goalposts.
Cut-out pass: When an attacking player throws a pass across the face of his teammate to another player further away. It โcuts-outโ both the attacking teammate and their defensive opponent.
Donโt argue: When a player sticks their arm out to fend off another player while being tackled.
Double movement: An illegal movement to score a try. This occurs when an attacker loses all forward momentum just short of the try line while being tackled, then tries to take the ball over the line with a second movement of the ball forward.
Dummy: When a player fakes to pass to a teammate, but holds the ball instead.
Falcon: When a player is hit in the head with the ball.
Field goal: When a player kicks a drop goal during play, meaning the ball touches the ground before being kicked by the attacking player. It is worth one point.
Forward pass: When a pass is thrown forwards and caught by a receiver who is ahead of the player who passed the ball.
Goal line drop-out: When the defending team must kick the ball from under their own posts if a defending player grounds the ball in their own in-goal area, is tackled with the ball in that area, or plays the ball into touch behind the goal line.
Golden point: When the game is tied at the end of the match, the match will move into golden point. Golden point is two five-minute halves, and the first score by either team wins.
Grubber kick: A short kick that bounces end over end, making it tough for defenders to judge the bounce and cleanly catch the ball.
Hit-up: When a player receives the ball, then runs straight at the defensive line with pace.
Knock-on: When a player drops the ball and it travels forwards as he loses possession.
Line break: When an attacking player breaks through the defensive line into open space.
Marker: A defensive player who stands in front of the play-the-ball after each tackle.
Meat pie: Rhyming slang for โtryโ. When an attacking player grounds the ball inside the oppositionโs in-goal area โ worth four points.
Milk it: An attempt to fake or accentuate illegal contact/interference to gain a penalty.
Obstruction: When an attacking player gets in the way of, or compromises the position of a defender, denying them a fair chance to tackle their opponent.
Offload: When the player getting tackled throws a pass to a teammate before the tackle is ruled complete.
On the pine: Sitting on the bench.
One-on-one strip: A defensive player can steal the ball from an attacking player, but only when there is one defender making the tackle.
Penalty kick: If a team commits an infringement, the attacking team can choose to have a shot at goal from the point of the infringement. It is worth two points.
Play-the-ball: It is used to restart the game after a player is tackled.
Playmaker: The player who has control of the ball and makes things happen for his team during the game.
Prowler tackle: When a third player waits for his teammates to make a tackle, before coming in late and brining the attacking player to the ground.
Spray: Being yelled at by the coach.
White line fever: A change in a personโs behaviour when they step onto a sports field.
40/20: When a player kicks the ball behind his sideโs 40-metre line, and it bounces into touch in the oppositionโs final 20-metre area.
Youโre sure to hear all of these terms and more during Sundayโs game, and although the Cowboys come into the match with a lot of momentum, the Storm are strong favourites to avenge last seasonโs grand final loss.
Melbourne are $1.27 favourites for the grand final with Palmerbet, while North Queensland are $4.00 outsiders.
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