Our Finals Chances.

[franklin2323]

I bet Manly and Parra wish they could beat the bottom 8 teams consistently.

It is truly a great feat to go on long winning runs in this comp. Everyone can beat anyone. 11/13 is crazy

 

[franklin2323]

Yeah that's an interesting proposition.

Better to come 4th, lose to Melbourne & play the next week in Sydney

Or

Come 5th & win against 8th place?



Obviously it seems better to come 4th but it could be a demoralising loss to Melbourne, top 4 teams have gone out in straight sets before. (Panthers 2010 comes to mind)

Come 5th and possibly be out 1st week? I will take Melbourne down there. We are a far better team now than early in the year. Should be a good game

 

[kinghippo]

It's irrelevant really, we just need to keep winning, the higher we place the better.
Luck is going our way at the moment, results are favouring us, and we keep getting the points.
If we can fix up our shonky starts we can trouble everyone and be a real threat in the finals.

 

[Tronald Crump]

Of which games do you speak?

We play any other team apart from the Warriors in round 10 down 28 - 6 we lose the match.
Got out of a loss against Canberra in R14 with Moylan brilliance.
Against the Tits in R20 some argue Blake knocked on before he picked up the ball to score a run away try. Some think Moylan was off side when he took that intercept. 2 tries that could have been over turned. I don't know if that would have changed the result.

Conversely we might have beaten the Roosters R3 if their forward pass was picked up.
We may have beaten Souths R6 if Moylan played.

I could go through any year really with us and say we should have won an extra match or 2 if the refs got the calls right. Yet I could probably find a game we won that we should have lost due to luck or a call that favoured us.

Ebbs and flows. It usually balances out.

 

[TheFrog]

Ebbs and flows. It usually balances out.

I think this is the size of it. We've had a couple that went our way and a couple that didn't, but apart from having had a really nice draw as it has turned out, we're where we deserve to be.

 

[franklin2323]

I think this is the size of it. We've had a couple that went our way and a couple that didn't, but apart from having had a really nice draw as it has turned out, we're where we deserve to be.

4 weeks ago we were 4 points behind the 8. Dragons had the easiest run home according to some. Yet we not only jumped them but jumped NQ and Manly too. So no such thing as an easy draw.

Parra play every game since Round 16 at ANZ. Like us played Dogs, GC, WT and Souths twice. They beat the Storm missing 6 players in SOO and NQ without no Granville, JT or Coote.

Yet we get all the shit about the easy draw

 

[betcats]

I don't look at other clubs but think our draw has been easy when you look at who we play twice and who we don't, especially up until this point. Its not a knock on the club but I don't think its something you can just ignore, if we fail to take advantage of it(which we shouldn't from here) then it will be a knock. But as of the weekend the team are doing what they should be doing and racking up wins albeit in an ugly way most of the time lol.

 

[TheEroticGamer]

Although we've beaten shit teams in recent weeks, we've done it when they've put in better performances than usual.

Bulldogs, Titans and Tigers all played much better against us than their ladder positions suggested.

Not the most convincing wins regardless, but still.

I mean Canberra beat a Cronulla team that put in an absolutely god awful performance and won by 18 and got more hype surrounding that than our entire six game winning streak.

Sometimes it's best to look at how a team performed in a game over where they are positioned.

 

[herbert henry1908]

Come 5th and possibly be out 1st week? I will take Melbourne down there. We are a far better team now than early in the year. Should be a good game

I know it seems crazy but sometimes momentum can be a big thing in finals. Demoralising loss to Melbourne could hurt.

 

[franklin2323]

I don't look at other clubs but think our draw has been easy when you look at who we play twice and who we don't, especially up until this point. Its not a knock on the club but I don't think its something you can just ignore, if we fail to take advantage of it(which we shouldn't from here) then it will be a knock. But as of the weekend the team are doing what they should be doing and racking up wins albeit in an ugly way most of the time lol.

The only team that is dreadful this year is Bulldogs and even they can defend. Most games too we have had near misses for tries - eg that BS Obstruction call against WT or that ankle tap against CHN on the weekend. Last year those half chances were being taken. I guess time will tell if we have become a good team or not during this time

 

[franklin2323]

I know it seems crazy but sometimes momentum can be a big thing in finals. Demoralising loss to Melbourne could hurt.

Yeah but I feel we are holding back. Like Bryce is getting stuff all gametime. Seemed to not rush Moylan. So imo a final in Melbourne is the boost we need

 

[TheEroticGamer]

It really comes down to who finishes 5th if we finish 4th or who finishes 4th if we finish 5th.

If it's an interstate team, 4th would definitely be better.If it's a team like Parra then it doesn't matter regardless.

A demoralising loss would signal to me that we wouldn't have had what it takes to be in the finals anyway.We should at least be making it close and get a kick out of it like Roosters most likely will after the weekend.

But hey, that's if we even make the finals.

 

[TheFrog]

I mean Canberra beat a Cronulla team that put in an absolutely god awful performance and won by 18 and got more hype surrounding that than our entire six game winning streak.

I'm happy about that. Sooner or later the media is going to latch onto our side if we keep winning and that might make it much tougher. At the moment we are under the radar despite 10 wins from the last 12 starts.

If it's an interstate team, 4th would definitely be better.If it's a team like Parra then it doesn't matter regardless.

4th is definitely better. If beaten by the Storm in the first week we won't have to play them again until the GF. I think we would be a decent show of beating any other team in the finals, even the Broncos in Brisbane.

 

[age.s]

Nah that Roosters pass wasn't equivalent to the 50/50s you see go either way each game (like the calls against the Titans). The pass was really really really forward. The high tackle against Peachey in that game is probably a better example.

I agree with the general point that luck can swing either way in footy. I just don't think calls that awful should be put in with the general bucked of official incompetence.

Agree we're probably about where we deserve to be at this stage though.

 

[mxlegend99]

We cant finish top 4 and we shouldnt expect to win any matches in the finals. Griffin told us anyone who expect us to be top 4 or a premiership threat doesn't know football.

Which is fair enough... you don't beat top 4 teams on individual brilliance.

 

[Kilkenny]

It is truly a great feat to go on long winning runs in this comp. Everyone can beat anyone. 11/13 is crazy

It is strange. It doesn't feel like 11/13 given some of our performances have been average to say the least. At almost any time in our 50 year history is you had said we had won 11 from 13 we would have all been cock a hoop so to speak and yet we for the most less than satisfied.

Maybe we expect too much. It is a difficult competition. I think we are at the crossroads of season 2017 given the three tough games we have left. To win two or even all our remaining games we need 30-40% improvement overall, less mistakes, improved completion rate. less missed tackles and most importantly significantly improvement on our last tackle plays.

The win against the Cowboys was enjoyable but still not the sort of victory which stamps us as contenders as opposed to just making up the numbers if we do make the eight.

 

[age.s]

If we were 10-2 (not 11-2 ) I doubt anyone would be complaining. We can't ignore the first 9 rounds however much we wish they didn't happen.

This season really could go in a bunch of different directions.

 

[maple_69]

What's our side look like once Mez is back? I reckon get all the guns in there. We've been getting by on talent and we ain't gonna fix our structure and bad habits at this point so why not get all the talent we have out there.

Edwards, Mansour, Whare, Blake, DWZ, Moylan, Cleary, Merrin, Wallace, Tamou, CHN, Yeo, May, Peachey, Cartwright, RCG, JFH

 

[OldPanther]

We cant finish top 4 and we shouldnt expect to win any matches in the finals. Griffin told us anyone who expect us to be top 4 or a premiership threat doesn't know football.

Which is fair enough... you don't beat top 4 teams on individual brilliance.

If we win all 3 and certain results go our way we can make top 4. I agree with the rest.

What's our side look like once Mez is back? I reckon get all the guns in there. We've been getting by on talent and we ain't gonna fix our structure and bad habits at this point so why not get all the talent we have out there.

Edwards, Mansour, Whare, Blake, DWZ, Moylan, Cleary, Merrin, Wallace, Tamou, CHN, Yeo, May, Peachey, Cartwright, RCG, JFH

I don't consider Whare as part of our "talent". Others do but it's nostalgia based and I'm not like that with current players. Same thing with Hayne when he came back.

 

[franklin2323]

What's our side look like once Mez is back? I reckon get all the guns in there. We've been getting by on talent and we ain't gonna fix our structure and bad habits at this point so why not get all the talent we have out there.

Edwards, Mansour, Whare, Blake, DWZ, Moylan, Cleary, Merrin, Wallace, Tamou, CHN, Yeo, May, Peachey, Cartwright, RCG, JFH

Good 17. I'd swap Peachey and May around but that side would take some beating