CWB's 2005 NRL Preview

[Stranger]

Last year there were shown to be unintrested... leaderless. They are anyones guess but id say the warriors will be top 8 next year.

as for manly they will shit on tigers.

 

[Misanthrope]

Higgins? It's Liam Fulton

Dammit, that's what I meant. I was talking to my mate Higgo while I wrote it, and he kept telling me to to put his name in, knowing I would. :S

 

[douglasallen91]

Last year there were shown to be unintrested... leaderless. They are anyones guess but id say the warriors will be top 8 next year.

as for manly they will sh*t on tigers.

thats what steven price and ruben wiki can fix

 

[Iafeta]

How can you seriously say they dominate us when they have no form on the board? Who knows how they'll play this year. With Kemp in charge there's a very real chance the Warriors will be just as bad as last year.

I've said it before, I'll say it again.

How the hell can Tony Kemp be judged YET in his career? He wasn't given a sh!t show last year. Anyone who thinks otherwise is deluded.

He came into the head coaches role, and promptly lost all Daniel Anderson's assistant coaches, leaving it to himself, and a part timer to run. He also had Mission Impossible - Anderson's fitness regime was atrocious during the off season, and the players were never going to be able to achieve condition from midway through the season that would allow them to play well for more than 30 minutes, let alone 80. For all the problems at the club last year, not even God himself would have saved the Warriors.

As for his own record? He's had reserve grade championships in the ESL. As well as being assistant coach to the Warriors prior to his appointment, which aside from that last year was a very successful period.

Chripes, if we want to get into the coaching side of it, I read a stat that Tim Sheens has a 50.2% winning record. Awfully low given his time at Canberra.

Only a few people are 'bracing themselves for a long season', nearly every tigers fan is hugely optimistic about 2005 and truely believes we can get into the top 8. Not enough talent? You have no idea what you are talking about.

Its hard to really see how, for mine they've lost too many wise old heads. Sattler, Senter, Moodie, they are big losses to your club for mine. You can't replace experience, the Warriors themselves tried and got shown up for it.

Talent gets you so far, every club will tell you they have talent, its the top 2 inches and the experience with it that often translates an also ran year to a good year.

 

[cadburys]

8. WestsTigers
9. Saints
10. Knights
11. Sharks
12. Warriors
13. Manly
14. Souths
15. Raiders

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: mate get real... Saints outta the 8? :lol:

And what makes you think that Saints are shoe-ins for the 8, having already lost 2 damaging forwards in Riddell and kite.

They also have the same continuous injury clouds hanging over them to their key big guns, in Barrett, Gasnier, Timmins and Ryles.

If any or all of these are missing from their lineup this year, they are the team that will be facing a very long season.

I think that talent wise, apart from the squads of the Dogs and the Roosters, that the competition looks pretty evenly balanced.

Of those other squads, the Eels have recruited the best, and should they
fire in the halves department, they will be the big improvers, probably even pushing for a top 4 spot.

As for Chris Walkers's ultimate summation, the only one i can fire back any salvo's with is his prediction of Manly in 10th spot.

They acquired 2 big units in Kite and Kennedy, but the latter is an ageing
niggly injured backrower, damaging when fit, but that's the key, apart from that, their side is pretty much the same.

Their backline does'nt exatly strike the fear of god into you, Brett Stewart
being the exception, a young fullback with blistering excelleration.

They will win their fair share of home games as usual, but not enough to suggest that they'll finish as high as 10th, i think that's being very generous. :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock:

Cheers
Cadburys

 

[Billybob]

They rode into the semi-final on emotion, and in the end, the class of Sydney shone through.

What game were you watching 3 tries to 2 and the ref screwing them over with Luke the cat and the last minute fiasco yeah that class of sydney shone right thru #-o

 

[Misanthrope]

Hehe, truth be told I agree 100% with you. The Cowboys were the better team in that game, but you can't take anything away from them. It wasn't their fault the ref decided to ignore the rule regarding time off being called for a set scrum. Even though the Cowboys did outscore them try-wise, the fact remains that at fulltime, the Roosters had it won.

 

[mightypanther]

Wildcard: Paul Whatuira. In 2003, riding the success of his Penrith team, Whatuira was amongst the game’s most damaging runners- but last year struggled with injury and poor form in a star-studded Panthers’ backline.

No offense........but where the hell did you come up with this info ? You really should check your facts before you go making statements like that.

For your information........Whatuira did NOT struggle with injury last season, and he was definitely NOT suffering from bad form. How could
Whatuira, who was one of only 3 players in Penrith's 1st grade side to have played all 24 games plus 2 finals possibly have been struggling with
injury or bad form ??? BTW.....the other 2 players to have played every single game were Martin Lang and Luke Priddis.


And Whatuira was only pushed from the run on side to the bench when Girds returned to the field after injury, because Roberts was showing such
blistering form at the time.


But NEVER at any time did Whatuira's form drop. From the bench he still managed to be one of our most damaging runners, and he certainly made
one helluva lot of try saving one on one tackles. There were a few games that he saved for us with his determined and rugged defense.

John Lang could not give him enough praise all through last season. and said that he was one of the most dedicated and hardworking team players
that he had ever seen, and that he was very disappointed that Panthers were unable to retain him under the salary cap.

There are many people at Penrith, coaching staff, administrators, players and fans alike, who believe that the Tigers have made the buy of the season
in Whatuira, and we were all very sad to see him leave our club.

I hope that he can reproduce the same brilliant form and dedication at the Tigers, that he showed for Penrith the entire time that he was at our club.

And I can not believe that when you finally admitted to the shortcomings of your original Tigers preview, you then failed to even mention Whatuira
at all in your amended version.

So what are you saying now ?.......that he has managed to go from being their biggest signing, to being so far down in the pecking order, that he's
not worth mentioning at all ?

Talk about swinging from one extreme to the other... :roll:


.

 

[redVgirl]

wow great piece CBW! excellent read

im a st george fan (obviously) but i agree with you about the missing x-factor. its like they have all the parts there but dont know how to work them properly. or they are missing their mojo or something! come on boys, dont choke in 2005...dont break my heart again..lol :lol:

 

[Misanthrope]

Talk about swinging from one extreme to the other...

Ah, no offense mate, but how about you read further down where I did a total re-write of the Wests thing for the exact reason that I hadn't had time to research it?

wow great piece CBW! excellent read

Thanks, it was a pleasure to write. I'm glad some people are enjoying it, lol.

 

[Iafeta]

CWB, in hindsight you could have the Warriors running 15th. I'd let you off, given that nice avatar you're sporting ;-)

 

[Manly Lad]

First post people so be nice

I don't know how anyone can see Manly finishing 13th or 14th as has been posted on other threads. I am a Manly supporter but am being realistic when I say that they will sneak into the 8. The way they finished last season is very similar to Penrith circa 2002 and 2003. Penrith finished 2002 off very well and then proceeded to win the comp in 03. Manly have a similar look to Penrith. Manly had a lot of young kids coming through in 04, a la Penrith in 2002. They finished off 2004 very well winning 5 of their last 8. They have bought class in Kennedy and Kite and may also look to get Hill on the books in the next few days. Manly are a team on the rise. Watch out for them this year. They will be the big improvers.

Manly have the attacking potency to compete with most sides. If they can plug the leaks in defence they will go a fair way to making the eight.

Thats just my opinion.

Cheers