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Are teams lifting as they realise we are the real deal

Messages
3,582
I have been watching a few interviews lately from players on other teams.

Trent Merrin was pumped that Penrith got over the top of us. He said Penrith prepared all week as if it was a finals game.

I am thinking Souths and Warriors approached their games against us in the same way.

We appear to be approaching each game as just another game in a long season.

Could mean that provided we don’t suffer any major injuries that we will be seriously in the Hunt (no pun intended) at seasons end.
 

2010Dragons

Bench
Messages
3,929
It's not just the other teams lifting.
It's also our Dragons just going through the motions, like in the Raiders game the Dogs game our boys made too many errors, too many cheap penalties given away.
Poor completion rates and just enough effort to win these games.
 

TRUE TRAGIC

Juniors
Messages
12
and this is why i hate most of our so called fans. disgraceful and still sitting 1st.
Totally agree with you. The unwillingness of some of these posters to concede things are OK is mind boggling. If they accept things are pretty good at the moment with the Mighty Red and Whites they may have to concede Mary is partly responsible for it. That would be a nightmare for them. They need to accept when circumstances and results change it is OK to alter your opinion. We are in a better position now than we have been in since 2011. Mary is the coach. He is getting better in my opinion in a lot of areas. The results are showing this. The players give Mary the thumbs up. He has not lost the sheds. In the last 2 years we had a lot of injuries which most blamed on Mary's training regime. Now we have had an unchanged team for most of this year - little or no injuries. Mary changed his training team this year. Give him a little credit for this. All I hear now is whinging because he does not use the bench in the way fans perceive it should be used. What I see is - He is putting the best players in the club on the field at all times and they are fit enough to cope with it. So too do the SOS selectors.
Lighten up Mary haters and enjoy the ride.
 

RufusRex

Post Whore
Messages
62,231
blah blah blah … the mistakes of the past are not being learned from ..

Last season at the mid way mark we were close to the best attack and best defence, not running first but close to it with a really nice points differential.

The back end of the season we had minor injuries and instead of allowing players to rest/recuperate he played them but in shorter multiple stints doubling down on the inefficiency of the bench rotation (sound familiar).

Towards the end of the year we were playing poorly, losing winnable games and being out bustled in the forwards.

Sound familiar? It is happening again. Opposition teams with quality coaching and disciplined players have our measure.

The potential to be better is there but the willingness to get there is absent. I mean what kind of lunatic has a wing on the bench and gives them 8 minutes at the end to play as a forward when there is a fresh forward there twiddling their thumbs.


We will make the 8 for sure, however beating the likes of Penrith/Souths/Warriors is another thing .. Out in straight sets again.
 

Mickthedragon

Juniors
Messages
1,673
The fact is we are in a bit of a slump at present but at least we got the pts vs raiders and dogs. Our game and intensity has dropped off and some of us in here, including myself are worried cause we have seen this movie before.
The positive is you cannot stay up for all 26 rounds and now some other teams are peaking. Hopefully we are just in a lull for a bit before coming out the other side and going hard at it. The player fatigue factor is very concerning though.
 

dragonssamy61

First Grade
Messages
5,549
I have been watching a few interviews lately from players on other teams.

Trent Merrin was pumped that Penrith got over the top of us. He said Penrith prepared all week as if it was a finals game.

I am thinking Souths and Warriors approached their games against us in the same way.

We appear to be approaching each game as just another game in a long season.

Could mean that provided we don’t suffer any major injuries that we will be seriously in the Hunt (no pun intended) at seasons end.


Agree.
All teams lift against the team that is leading the comp.
Manly will lift everyone's writing them of.
They have nothing to lose
 
Last edited:

Life's Good

Coach
Messages
13,971
I look at it a couple of weeks ways. Teams are lifting against us because they have to & we’ve been leading the comp since round 1.

The other way of looking at is that teams are lifting because there is a genuine chance to win the comp. With Storm & Easts(pre season favourites)blowing hot & cold, NQ out of the running the comp is open unlike last year where it was Melbourne’s to lose.
 

Gareth67

First Grade
Messages
8,406
6 of 1 and half a dozen of the other . . .

The similarities of last year are definitely there , no doubt about that , however there does seem to be more enthusiasm then the last few seasons . That can only be a good thing , plus we do now have a few match winners - on their day , put it all together and imo we are a better outfit than in 2017 .

The opposition teams are also lifting because of the big ' front runners ' target we have on our back , that is mainly due to our tremendous early season form and also in part to Mr. Craig Bellamy who was more then happy to thrust the tag of ' the NRL benchmark ' upon the Dragons so as his mob can now have the luxury of flying under the radar - bet the bloke is still having a good chuckle about that .
 
Messages
2,910
Low teams are always going to lift against teams leading or in the 8, they did last year and we couldn’t handle it, the jury is still out if we can this year in my humble opinion.
 

BennyV

Referee
Messages
22,441
Real deal.
Benchmark.
Serious team.
Best forward pack.

Tell ya what, this forum loves prematurely ejaculating as much as it loves beating us down!!
 

giboz71

First Grade
Messages
8,895
Our 3 losses have been against teams 2, 3 and 4 on the ladder, each playing arguably their best game of the season.

Our start to the season definitely put a target on our back which is fine. You need big game experience to win a comp.

As for the way this forum leans, I have yet to see a thread stating we’ll win the comp or that we are the “benchmark”.

But the “Sack McGregor” thread is up to 300 pages and almost 6000 posts. FMD, imagine if we were having a season like the Cows or Eels.
 

BalmainBoy_1969

Juniors
Messages
114
Our 3 losses have been against teams 2, 3 and 4 on the ladder, each playing arguably their best game of the season.

Our start to the season definitely put a target on our back which is fine. You need big game experience to win a comp.

As for the way this forum leans, I have yet to see a thread stating we’ll win the comp or that we are the “benchmark”.

But the “Sack McGregor” thread is up to 300 pages and almost 6000 posts. FMD, imagine if we were having a season like the Cows or Eels.

After round 14, us Tigers fans are just happy that we still have a chance to play in the finals.

As for you guys, It must truly suck to be sitting in first? ;)
 

slippery5

Juniors
Messages
1,661
Teams are pumped when playing us, just like we will be, come semi finals, each individual will leave nothing in the tank, which should mean we WILL be hard to beat............
 

2010

Bench
Messages
3,490
Any team wherever they are on the ladder can on the day beat any team. We are up there so let’s enjoy that and take one game at a time
 

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