Canberra Raiders for the spoon ?

[ozboy]

Just what exactly is Matthew Elliot trying to do at the Raiders ???

In an off-season where the club loses stars such as Ruben Wiki, Luke Davico, Brad Drew, Mark McLinden & Joel Monaghan, you would expect the club to come out all guns blazing looking to spend a lot of cash to replace the out going players. Not the Raiders.

The Raiders have just gone through the worst off-season recruitment drive I can remember. They have lost 6 star players and replaced them with Jason Smith, Matt Adamson and a bunch of reserve graders and fringe youngsters from other clubs.

They might as well have brought Laurie Daley, Glenn Lazarus, Steve Walters and Brett Mullins out of retirement, as at least they would have brought some more supporters through the gate.

What Matthew Elliott has done to this club, for me, will damage the club for years to come, and the wooden spoon in 2005 will be all that the Raiders win.

 

[TIGERPies]

your certainly not the first to suggest such a thing

 

[Raider_69]

**bookmarks page along with others for post season 05 humbe pie**

if everyone who thinks we are shoe ins for the spoon could post as much and more here it would be much appreicated, dont hold back fellas, unleash...

 

[TIGERPies]

Ahhh raiders_69 the eternal optomist,


on another note someone i know spoke of your crack pot posting today, lol your well known :twisted:

 

[Dread]

I certainly can't see them achieving much.. but hey, they might prove me wrong. They're my tip for the spoon though.

 

[Raider_69]

Ahhh raiders_69 the eternal optomist,


on another note someone i know spoke of your crack pot posting today, lol your well known :twisted:

thats awesome :lol:

 

[Sea_Eagles_Rock]

**bookmarks page along with others for post season 05 humbe pie**

if everyone who thinks we are shoe ins for the spoon could post as much and more here it would be much appreicated, dont hold back fellas, unleash...

Just curious.... If you are wrong and you did get the wooden spoon, are you going to pull all these bookmarks out???

I think Souths are favourites, but the Raiders will need to pull some amazing rookies out to avoid being close to the spoon. It's possible you have them, but on paper I would be concerned as a fan. Manly is/has been on that boat for a few years now. Rookies and inexperience do not win the close matches. It's the results of the close matches that determines a seasons success.

 

[Phillips]

Raiders will not win the spoon, not with the likes of Cronulla & Souths around

 

[Jae]

$50 says the word "Carney" gets mentioned about 5 billion times in this thread.

 

[gregstar]

i don't think they'll win the spoon - elliott is not that bad a coach

 

[Raider_69]

**bookmarks page along with others for post season 05 humbe pie**

if everyone who thinks we are shoe ins for the spoon could post as much and more here it would be much appreicated, dont hold back fellas, unleash...

Just curious.... If you are wrong and you did get the wooden spoon, are you going to pull all these bookmarks out???

I think Souths are favourites, but the Raiders will need to pull some amazing rookies out to avoid being close to the spoon. It's possible you have them, but on paper I would be concerned as a fan. Manly is/has been on that boat for a few years now. Rookies and inexperience do not win the close matches. It's the results of the close matches that determines a seasons success.

if we win the spoon ill dredge this thread back up and cop the treatment, im that confident, amazing rookies, you all know the names i would mention so no point rattling them off again, wait and see

 

[thickos]

:sleeper:

Heard it all before ozboy, you're entitled to your opinion but as an outsider (I'm sure you are not a Raiders fan) you are probably not in the know.

Matt Elliott certainly did not want all those players to leave. Far from it. And it was not a mass exodus because of disharmony or something like that. Drew was punted (and rightly so), Davico was granted a release but had issues with management due to his behaviour, Wiki wanted to return home afer 11 years of loyal service and McLinden probably thought his time was up in the ACT. The only dodgy one is Joel Monaghan, but that has been the subject of many threads.

Sure, that is a big chunk of the 2004 team. You can't replace some of those guys, especially Wiki. But I think we have come out of it better than expected. Lincoln Withers is a great buy. Kinda takes over the Brad Drew role, a hooker/half utility that will fill in for Woolford when he's off. Plus he is a better defender than Drewy.

Craig Frawley will do a good job replacing Monas. Frawley seemed to be in really good form this year before a late injury. He came down from Brisbane looking for an opportunity and I hope he shines.

You have to remember that we didn't have Phil Graham for all of 2004 bar 4 games - he adds a lot of strike power to the team and will walk into the backline no dramas.

Matt Adamson seemed a strange buy but I see the logic behind it somewhat. The biggest thing we have lost is experience - Wiki and Davico add up to 400 games between them. With a pack of good young kids coming through we need some old heads to guide the way, and with Adamson's aggression he could come in handy. I think he can still offer something in his final year. I would have preferred to keep Wiki but you can't have everything.

Jason Smith is the real wild card - if his shoulder holds up he is the kind of player we could have really used over the past two seasons with our power game in the forwards. We've been lacking a stable head in the halves and he can provide that either in the 6 or the 13 jersey. With Campese and Carney waiting in the wings, his experience will hopefully counteract the rash decisions those guys may make in their youth.

I'm sure you've read plenty on Todd Carney - the kid comes with big wraps - straight from SG Ball to the First grade squad in 2004. Junior Kangaroo and origin. He went well in his 5 first grade games this season. Hopefully he gets given an extended run in the #7. Good enough - old enough.

With Weyman also an exciting prospect in the forwards, plus the nucleus of the 2003 PL champions I think we will be OK. We wont win it and we may miss the 8, but I think we will surprise all of you.

But, being footy, you just never know.

 

[ByRd]

My tip for the spoon:



























TIGERS

 

[ozboy]

Sure you have some good youngsters, the likes of Weyman, O'Hara and perhaps Carney (have not seen enough of him), but a few good youngsters dot make a team.

The Raiders for me have huge problems with their team.
- Schifofscke is nearing 30 and was nowhere near the player he was before 2004.
- Jason Croker is too old yet still gets 2 year contract extensions.
- Phil Graham has gone from future rep star in 2002, to an injury prone player who has lost a yard of pace at a very young age.
- Simon Woolford and Tyran Smith are getting old and are likely to leave at the end of 2005.
- There are no game-breakers in the three quarter line.
- No halves apart from a raw youngster and a player who should be either in a retirement home or hospital.

 

[westie]

:sleeper:

Heard it all before ozboy, you're entitled to your opinion but as an outsider (I'm sure you are not a Raiders fan) you are probably not in the know.

Matt Elliott certainly did not want all those players to leave. Far from it. And it was not a mass exodus because of disharmony or something like that. Drew was punted (and rightly so), Davico was granted a release but had issues with management due to his behaviour, Wiki wanted to return home afer 11 years of loyal service and McLinden probably thought his time was up in the ACT. The only dodgy one is Joel Monaghan, but that has been the subject of many threads.

Sure, that is a big chunk of the 2004 team. You can't replace some of those guys, especially Wiki. But I think we have come out of it better than expected. Lincoln Withers is a great buy. Kinda takes over the Brad Drew role, a hooker/half utility that will fill in for Woolford when he's off. Plus he is a better defender than Drewy.

Craig Frawley will do a good job replacing Monas. Frawley seemed to be in really good form this year before a late injury. He came down from Brisbane looking for an opportunity and I hope he shines.

You have to remember that we didn't have Phil Graham for all of 2004 bar 4 games - he adds a lot of strike power to the team and will walk into the backline no dramas.

Matt Adamson seemed a strange buy but I see the logic behind it somewhat. The biggest thing we have lost is experience - Wiki and Davico add up to 400 games between them. With a pack of good young kids coming through we need some old heads to guide the way, and with Adamson's aggression he could come in handy. I think he can still offer something in his final year. I would have preferred to keep Wiki but you can't have everything.

Jason Smith is the real wild card - if his shoulder holds up he is the kind of player we could have really used over the past two seasons with our power game in the forwards. We've been lacking a stable head in the halves and he can provide that either in the 6 or the 13 jersey. With Campese and Carney waiting in the wings, his experience will hopefully counteract the rash decisions those guys may make in their youth.

I'm sure you've read plenty on Todd Carney - the kid comes with big wraps - straight from SG Ball to the First grade squad in 2004. Junior Kangaroo and origin. He went well in his 5 first grade games this season. Hopefully he gets given an extended run in the #7. Good enough - old enough.

With Weyman also an exciting prospect in the forwards, plus the nucleus of the 2003 PL champions I think we will be OK. We wont win it and we may miss the 8, but I think we will surprise all of you.

But, being footy, you just never know.

That and 500,000 big ones.

 

[legend]

I'll admit to being a concerned Raiders fan and my main are of concern is the ability of the forward pack to dominate other packs and not be intimidated and pushed around.

A lot of responsibility rests on the shoulders of Ryan O'Hara who was a major disappointment in 2004 and needs to get some mongrel in his game if he is ever going to get near another rep jumper.

I have no problem with the backs and they have genuine pace to worry most sides but again, unless the forwards are laying the platform, the backs wont even be a factor.

I don't think we will win the sppon as I see us as having more depth than both the Tigers and Souths but with Elliott's hair brained coaching scheme's and his desire to make off the cuff witty remarks, I sometimes wonder where his priorities really lie. Is he setting himself up for a job in tv or does he really want to see the Raiders as a dominant force in the NRL. Only time will tell and every year the NRL throws up a team that nobody expects to do well. In the past two seasons alone we have seen the Panthers and Cowboys emerge from the shadows to assert themselves as genuine contenders.

 

[Timbo]

Carney x 5 Billion.

As an objective fan I think only two things can happen this season for us-Either everyone gels and we're a top 4 side, shoe in. Or disaster strikes (and unfortunately I'm leaning toward disaster) and we go bottom 4.

However no way on the spoon.

 

[*Paul*]

Just win the majority of home games, that's what I'm looking for.

I hate the "We probably won't win this one" feeling when making the trek to Bruce.

 

[Rooster Cogburn.]

Canberra won't win the spoon for one very good reason.....Souths are so inept. Thr Raiders will finish 2nd last.

 

[thickos]

As an objective fan I think only two things can happen this season for us-Either everyone gels and we're a top 4 side, shoe in. Or disaster strikes (and unfortunately I'm leaning toward disaster) and we go bottom 4.

I know what you're saying champ but we came bottom 4 in 2001 (11th out of 14) and IMO that team was terrible compared to the 2005 lineup. In 2001 the team was something like

Schifcofske
Odell Manuel
Shane Kelly
Rod Jensen
(an injury prone) Ken Nagas
Finch
McFadden
Brad Kelly
Jason Croker
Wiki
Darren Mapp
Davico
Woolford
Payten

with Thompson, Rutgerson, Hodgson and McLinden.

There were a lot of nuffies in that team who have moved on. Our pack is a lot stronger now with O'Hara and Weyman, plus solid first graders like Ian Hindmarsh and others. I agree with legend that our backs, while not household names, can get the job done - but they need a platform.

Comparing the two teams (2001 vs 2005) I'd be shattered if we came bottom 4.