Are we genuine contenders??

[ouryears]

Mate it varies depending on the severity. No different to a hamstring strain, they can go from 1 week to god knows how long. I had a cork earlier this year that took me about 3 weeks.. but I also don’t have a full time physio and medical team.

Most corks though shouldn’t last longer than 4 weeks. I think you’ll find Hunt is over the cork (given he had no strapping yesterday) and that ties into roughly that 4 week timeline .. remembering he did re-do it.

Cheers mate, then he needs to start playing and running again.
And control the game.
His SOO game was way better than yesterday. And grubs halves are shite.

 

[muzby]

Anyone know how long a cork takes to fully recover?

It’s around 9-10 years..

Takes the bark around a decade to fully regrow to a where it can be harvested again..

However with the increased proliferation of the stelvin cap, the overall cork industry is in decline so the trees are not being harvested as much these days..

 

[st penguin]

It’s around 9-10 years..

Takes the bark around a decade to fully regrow to a where it can be harvested again..

However with the increased proliferation of the stelvin cap, the overall cork industry is in decline so the trees are not being harvested as much these days..

Actually the cork industry has regained a lot of its lost ground. While many at Aussie wines have gone to screw caps, there is increased demand for cork in the us and China.

Therefore, I’d say Benny should be fine for the next round.

 

[Slippery Morris]

Was expecting Muzby to provide some facts about cork. Cheers mate.

My worry is Saints don't have depth and Mary's lack of trust or use of the bench is going to come back to bite.

In saying that Saints are 8 clear of 9th. No need to come 1st just make the 8. Coming 5th is the best as you play 8th which you should win and build your momentum, then player a loser of the top 4 semi the following week. Good momentum games to lead into the GF Prelim and GF.

If Saints get to 30pts, Mary then has the luxury of resting his gun players or easing their load and preparing them for finals. Saints full strength have been awesome. Their poor form lately is due to injuries to 2 key players in JDB and Hunt. Against the Dogs Saints played well and could of had 2 or 3 more tries. Dogs only played better than Saints for about 10-15 mins and that is it. Dogs beat the Panthers and Roosters only beat them 6-0. Sharks needed 2 late tries as well. The game that Saints won yesterday they would have lost last year and the year before but yesterday they did not panic and got the lead pretty easy. Hate to say this but Brett Morris did the damage in those minutes with his break down the middle for the 1st try and scoring the second. Apart from that they had nothing at all.

It is good practice for the Dragons playing these tight games and will do them good come finals. They gain more out of a close win then a flogging.

 

[Drag Queen]

Was expecting Muzby to provide some facts about cork. Cheers mate.

My worry is Saints don't have depth and Mary's lack of trust or use of the bench is going to come back to bite.

In saying that Saints are 8 clear of 9th. No need to come 1st just make the 8. Coming 5th is the best as you play 8th which you should win and build your momentum, then player a loser of the top 4 semi the following week. Good momentum games to lead into the GF Prelim and GF.

If Saints get to 30pts, Mary then has the luxury of resting his gun players or easing their load and preparing them for finals. Saints full strength have been awesome. Their poor form lately is due to injuries to 2 key players in JDB and Hunt. Against the Dogs Saints played well and could of had 2 or 3 more tries. Dogs only played better than Saints for about 10-15 mins and that is it. Dogs beat the Panthers and Roosters only beat them 6-0. Sharks needed 2 late tries as well. The game that Saints won yesterday they would have lost last year and the year before but yesterday they did not panic and got the lead pretty easy. Hate to say this but Brett Morris did the damage in those minutes with his break down the middle for the 1st try and scoring the second. Apart from that they had nothing at all.

It is good practice for the Dragons playing these tight games and will do them good come finals. They gain more out of a close win then a flogging.

I actually thought Brett Morris was the best player on field yesterday. Klemmer and Mbye also standouts. The rest were pretty bloody ordinary. It's these games we need to get our forwards off the bloody bench even if it does lead to a loss or two. We are going to regret it if we sustain some serious injuries and we throw a rookie in the deep end. Cheers.

 

[denis preston]

How can we nearly have a state of origin pack yet commentators are saying the best way through us is down the middle ? Someones not pulling their weight !

Can someone please explain this to me ?

 

[RufusRex]

The only way we are contenders is if there are absolutely no injuries to any of our players (not even niggles) from now until the end of the season.

Otherwise we are sunk the moment someone needs to step up as the next tier of players are completely underdone.

 

[watatank]

How can we nearly have a state of origin pack yet commentators are saying the best way through us is down the middle ? Someones not pulling their weight !

Can someone please explain this to me ?

There's the perception that we fold under pressure.

 

[Dr Fruitbasket Returns]

We're not contenders. Massive and admirable over achievement this year. Two big first grade standard forwards and three backs short of the mark. Souths, Penrith, Melbourne, Brisbane and probably even the Scum better than us. I regret to say.

 

[BennyV]

Was expecting Muzby to provide some facts about cork. Cheers mate.

My worry is Saints don't have depth and Mary's lack of trust or use of the bench is going to come back to bite.

In saying that Saints are 8 clear of 9th. No need to come 1st just make the 8. Coming 5th is the best as you play 8th which you should win and build your momentum, then player a loser of the top 4 semi the following week. Good momentum games to lead into the GF Prelim and GF.

If Saints get to 30pts, Mary then has the luxury of resting his gun players or easing their load and preparing them for finals. Saints full strength have been awesome. Their poor form lately is due to injuries to 2 key players in JDB and Hunt. Against the Dogs Saints played well and could of had 2 or 3 more tries. Dogs only played better than Saints for about 10-15 mins and that is it. Dogs beat the Panthers and Roosters only beat them 6-0. Sharks needed 2 late tries as well. The game that Saints won yesterday they would have lost last year and the year before but yesterday they did not panic and got the lead pretty easy. Hate to say this but Brett Morris did the damage in those minutes with his break down the middle for the 1st try and scoring the second. Apart from that they had nothing at all.

It is good practice for the Dragons playing these tight games and will do them good come finals. They gain more out of a close win then a flogging.

Welcome to the forum Paul.

 

[Frank Facer]

I actually think there are 6 genuine contenders for the comp this year. Saints, Easts, Penrith, Souths, Warriors and Cronulla.

I have to correct myself. I think there are actually 7 genuine premiership contenders. Saints, Easts, Melbourne, Souths, Cronulla, Penrith and Warriors.

 

[Old Kogarah Boy 1]

If i'm honest, NO!

I think we’ve been punching above our weight and if we were genuine contenders, we’d have quality back ups.

We don’t, we have mainly untried youngsters ( through no fault of their own )

Unfortunately, we are just flogging 1-13 until they can’t get back up again.

Hate being negative but we are a recipe for disaster/ an accident waiting to happen..... and when it does, the coach will shrug his shoulders and say we were great until the injuries kicked in.

Such a thought process is not acceptable after the past several seasons.

I’ll just have to keep my fingers crossed!

 

[slippery5]

When it comes time to playing in the semi's, I think the team will lift to resemble the performances we played when putting the sword to Bronco's, Shark's, Titan's, Roosters, Storm, If that's the case, then we will be contenders.
I'm confident we can.

 

[Crossbow]

Can’t we just gloat in beating the bulldogs for a couple of weeks.Get that up yas ya bullgrubs scum woohoo.Although not pretty to watch.Woohoo get that up yas ohh yeah.We might find our mojo deep into the semis.

 

[Drag Queen]

If i'm honest, NO!

I think we’ve been punching above our weight and if we were genuine contenders, we’d have quality back ups.

We don’t, we have mainly untried youngsters ( through no fault of their own )

Unfortunately, we are just flogging 1-13 until they can’t get back up again.

Hate being negative but we are a recipe for disaster/ an accident waiting to happen..... and when it does, the coach will shrug his shoulders and say we were great until the injuries kicked in.

Such a thought process is not acceptable after the past several seasons.

I’ll just have to keep my fingers crossed!

Spot on Sir.

 

[Simon]

How can we nearly have a state of origin pack yet commentators are saying the best way through us is down the middle ? Someones not pulling their weight !

Can someone please explain this to me ?

This is our biggest issue at present. Teams with speed around have the ruck have the potential to kill us. Luke and Cook had field days in 2 of our losses. Even Lichaa yesterday caused us issues and he's been in reggies.

When JDB and Graham are off at the same time, usually the end of the first half and early in the second we seem to get opened up through the middle. We either need to ensure one of them is on at all times or get some line speed and dominant tackles in defence out of other forwards. Vaughan, Latimore and Ah Mau offer good go forward but lack the speed in defence that JDB and Graham offer. Hopefully they or McInnes lift in this area as I see this as an area where opposition can exploit us further.

 

[Crush]

I think we are contenders and I think that if we get an injury or two we have the guys that can step in and do a job.
Except for positions 6, 7, 9, 1. Any of those guys get injured (especially 6, 7) we are up the creek.
Widdop and Hunt are so important to our success, lets just hope that they continue to be available for the whole season. I think they will, I have a good feeling about this year.

 

[Dennis Papaioannou]

Take your red and white glasses off and ask yourself the question
We were shit today diabolical against the panthers f**ked against the raiders and south’s yet we find ourselves leading the comp at the half way mark
Our attack is shit one out crap if we don’t improve 100% in the coming weeks we will only be cannon fodder come September
Go the saints let’s lift for the second half of the season I don’t want to wait another 30 years

So Hunt coming on board has ensured us a place in the finals.
A lot of pack leader talk regarding Graham but Sims, McInnes and a developing JDB are the ones that have kept our pack competitive.
The original question was "Are we real contenders"
On yesterday's performance, the answer in unequivocally - NO!

 

[Dennis Papaioannou]

I think we are contenders and I think that if we get an injury or two we have the guys that can step in and do a job.
Except for positions 6, 7, 9, 1. Any of those guys get injured (especially 6, 7) we are up the creek.
Widdop and Hunt are so important to our success, lets just hope that they continue to be available for the whole season. I think they will, I have a good feeling about this year.

Sorry Crush
Premierships are not won "hoping" we will always be able to field our top players.
What's happening with the ISP players and the bench rotation is what will compromise us if there are injuries.

 

[Crush]

Sorry Crush
Premierships are not won "hoping" we will always be able to field our top players.
What's happening with the ISP players and the bench rotation is what will compromise us if there are injuries.

Yeah, nah.
Take the top playmakers out of any team and they won't win a premiership. Without Sowie we never win 2010. Storm don't win the comp without Smith. Sharks without Ennis.
There are some players that just make the team what they are and without them the team isn't the same.
And there is no planning for injuries to these guys. If it happens you deal with it as best you can.
We do have guys in ISP doing a good job but they are not anywhere near Hunt and Widdop just as the backup hooker for Storm isn't going to be able to perform to Cameron Smiths level.