Who are the genuine title threats for this year?

[Danish]

I see us bouncing back from our GF defeat ala Manly rather than crumbling ala parramatta, although no idea if we'll be able to take out the whole thing.

Dragons will be top 2 again, top 4 at worst. Storm will be there, as will the titans and panthers but none will be a real shot.

Tigers.... well who knows. They haven't put together 2 good seasons in over a decade of trying, perhaps this is their time now. Personally though I just don't see it. Top 8 for sure, top 4 is probably 50-50.

 

[Noa]

i was proven right more then any other person in here,
and if you think the roosters do have another attacking alternative which will threat the good defenses then you are the biggest flog here

With pearce at halfback the roosters will not win the premiership , he is predictable which makes carney a more easy target then hayne was

:lol:, Thurston and Sandow apart, every half in the league is pretty predictable, Pearce less so then others.

And again Parras poor year came down to not tweaking there offence and thinking they could offload there way to the GF again.

The Roosters have a far more varied attack then that and will be so much harder to prepare for, only a fool would think they will be as easy to stop.

 

[Gaba]

:lol:, Thurston and Sandow apart, every half in the league is pretty predictable, Pearce less so then others.

And again Parras poor year came down to not tweaking there offence and thinking they could offload there way to the GF again.

The Roosters have a far more varied attack then that and will be so much harder to prepare for, only a fool would think they will be as easy to stop.

:lol::lol::lol:

you are a joke thinking pearce is not predictable .

with pearce at halfback the roosters havent scored more then 12 points against the dragons

the dragons know pearce only kicks against defense he isnt going to hurt you in attack, stop the 5/8 at roosters when anasta was there and now carney

why the roosters struggle against the dragons

 

[Tonearm Terrorwrist]

f**king Moffo. merkin.

:lol::lol::lol:

you are a joke thinking pearce is not predictable .

with pearce at halfback the roosters havent scored more then 12 points against the dragons

the dragons know pearce only kicks against defense he isnt going to hurt you in attack, stop the 5/8 at roosters when anasta was there and now carney

why the roosters struggle against the dragons

We struggle agains the Dragons because we don't have props not because of Pearce. Your vendetta against Pearce is amusing.

 

[Noa]

If all Pearce does is organise, catch and pass, deploys a good kicking game and defends well he's done his job.

No different to Hornby, Cronk, Wallace, Hodkinson, and 90% of halfbacks since the dawn of time.

You really are embarresing yourself gaba/information if your arguing the Roosters will fall in a heap like the Eels.

 

[Godz Illa]

you are a joke thinking pearce is not predictable .

with pearce at halfback the roosters havent scored more then 12 points against the dragons

the dragons know pearce only kicks against defense he isnt going to hurt you in attack, stop the 5/8 at roosters when anasta was there and now carney

why the roosters struggle against the dragons

Pretty weak argument. The Dragons defence made most halfbacks look predictable, even Thurston

 

[Packy]

If K Moore cant get that line-up into the top 4 he should be punted.

Shhhh. This is the year of no expectations please.

 

[Slackboy72]

Hi folks,

Please stop saying the Dogs are contenders. We aren't. At least not yet. Our team in it's current form hasn't even played together and may not click for ages.

The teams to beat have to be Dragons, Roosters and Tigers.

Totally agree. The big concern is how to replace Kimmorley. Barba is good but the dogs need an organiser. A coach wouldn't be bad either.

 

[beave]

Tigers, Chooks, Dragons and Bulldogs IMO will be the top 4.

Pray to god my team improves a bit, with the amount of deadwood we let go, surely we have to go a bit better???

 

[Galeforce]

cracking myself with some of the views , especially on the Souths halves.
folks who keep saying the "souths cannot win " with their halves , well i do not think they really watch souths games.

as for Sutton , gone missing.
wow , yes he has been missing and souths have lost most games when is missing. most of the time he has been missing is when he has been injured, like the backend of last season.
dahhhhh , just look at the number of tries the souths backline has scored when Sutton has played.
and as for Sandow , there are a couple of better halves in the NRL , however Sandow up there in the top halves and he has plenty of heart.

Souths could have won 2010, if injuries had not made the run home tougher , specifically to Sutton/Lowe/Luke/taylor had not occurred during second half ( not to mention stuart/geddes/champion also suffering season ending injuries during second half of season) . So yes , with a fair injuries in 2011, souths are a real deal.

 

[Ike E Bear]

Totally agree. The big concern is how to replace Kimmorley. Barba is good but the dogs need an organiser. A coach wouldn't be bad either.

Hodkinson's kicking game was pretty poor in 2010. That would be my concern if I was the Dogs.

Teams with a good general play kicker have a big advantage.

I've watched the Eels and Souths struggle in this department for years.

 

[Godz Illa]

Galeforce... yes, you really are cracking yourself

 

[Ike E Bear]

cracking myself with some of the views , especially on the Souths halves.
folks who keep saying the "souths cannot win " with their halves , well i do not think they really watch souths games.

as for Sutton , gone missing.
wow , yes he has been missing and souths have lost most games when is missing. most of the time he has been missing is when he has been injured, like the backend of last season.
dahhhhh , just look at the number of tries the souths backline has scored when Sutton has played.
and as for Sandow , there are a couple of better halves in the NRL , however Sandow up there in the top halves and he has plenty of heart.

Souths could have won 2010, if injuries had not made the run home tougher , specifically to Sutton/Lowe/Luke/taylor had not occurred during second half ( not to mention stuart/geddes/champion also suffering season ending injuries during second half of season) . So yes , with a fair injuries in 2011, souths are a real deal.

I think Sandow is better than he is credited for too, but he is a liability in defence and I don't see how he will get much better. He's going to have to be protected better.

Sandow is just a kid, too. When Sutton got injured last year I think Sandow showed some good glimpses.

He needs to play a little less selfishly and much more disciplined, but he has the potential to have a good kicking game and I think 2011 will be his best season in NRL.

 

[BunniesMan]

Tigers, Roosters, Storm and Bulldogs will be 3-6 (in that order) and the outside contenders. 1 and 2 (and the grand finalists) will be Dragons and Souths. The greatest attacking team in the modern era will just be too much for Dragons hyped defense. Rabbitohs with a comfortable win. GI, Clive Churchill Medallist.

 

[LESStar58]

I'm going to have to say:

- Rabbits
- Dogs
- Storm
- Tigers
- Roosters

Can't see a team outside of this doing the business in 2011

Unfortunately for St Merge fans, I can see them falling in to a very familiar hole in 2011. Teams will work out how to play against their defensive line and they will have no Plan B. They also have a number of guys on the wrong side of their career who will lack the firepower to back up for another year.

Cheers,
Moffo

My predicition is Storm vs Dragons for the Sunday twilight in October with Storm getting up in extra time with Hitman Manu poleaxing Soward out of the game (with the most controversial- but legal- hit in a grand final since Terry Lamb took out Ellery Hanley in 1988) and Ryan Hinchliffe snapping at the heels of Mark Gasnier like a little Jack Russell in a ploy similar to the one one used by Bennett in the 2006 decider with Shaun Berrigan's defense nullifying Greg Ingliss' impact.

I'll also nominate Roosters and Tigers... in fact I reckon those 4 teams will make up the top half of the eight. Throw in Titans, Raiders, Panthers and Parramatta as the rest of the finals contenders.

I don't think South Sydney will make the finals.

 

[Ausguy]

No campese, no raiders.

 

[SoftSydney]

Tigers, Roosters, Storm and Bulldogs will be 3-6 (in that order) and the outside contenders. 1 and 2 (and the grand finalists) will be Dragons and Souths. The greatest attacking team in the modern era will just be too much for Dragons hyped defense. Rabbitohs with a comfortable win. GI, Clive Churchill Medallist.

Who are these players?
#9 is a gun but what about 6-7-1, these are the players that create the attack, these are the players Inglis will run off... what happens if GI doesnt fire or gets injured? What happens if 6-7-9-1 get injured who are the back ups?
ur way ahead of ur self

 

[Red Bear]

I think the Dragons, Roosters and Tigers deserve to have a bit of favouritism going in. Tigers especially if Moltzen fires again in halfback and McKinnon stays fit, very dangerous backline and solid forward pack. Roosters played very well last year and should be able to continue in that side, with a number of players on the improve rather than the slide. Dragons will be good again, the Bennett factor obviously there, although compared to the last two seasons they dont seem to have that same forward depth with the loss of Costigan, Smith and Saffy. Gasnier with a full off season could be pretty dangerous however.

I think the Warriors are going in the right direction and could easily be up there next year, but still have queries over their halves. If John gets fit can form a good combo with Maloney, but Seymour is absolute tripe IMO.

Other than that Souths I feel are a year off (and a halfback off) but should be finalists, and no one else really leaps out. Penrith could go well but could just as easily be rubbish ditto Canberra (especially with the Campese injury), Newcastle might surprise, seemed to be building ok the end of last season after a horror off season, much more settled this year.

Edit - Melbourne will be good as well, with Smith Cronk and Slater, and I think Champion will be a good buy, but their depth again isnt the same as there cap-cheating years.

 

[RHCP]

Melbourne are going to have a point to prove. They've lost some star power but the nucleus of their side remains, and Bellamy has a knack for turning deadweight forwards into decent first graders (Ryan Tandy being the most recent example). If I had to put one team down and say they were the team to beat, it would be the Storm. I think they are Top 4 bound.

Brisbane had some injury problems this year, but even then still had a decent season. A lot of young talent, the return of Justin Hodges and the acquisition of Ben Hannant are all positives. They also have somewhat of a point to prove, it can't be a great feeling being the only Broncos side not to make the finals in such a long time.

Melbourne and Brisbane are the two teams to beat in my eyes, but once it's finals time, anything can happen.

 

[mongoose]

Add new coach and this is the same thing I remember reading 2 years ago and they killed it in 2009.

Yes this is true. One thing I will give the Bulldogs is they rarely ever have 2 bad seasons in a row. I didn't expect them to go well in 2009 either so there you go....