General Discussion Thread

[OldPanther]

I am sure your tipping comp standings would say otherwise

I'm not doing to bad actually. Eels and Cows are an easy win until they fix the issues. I'd love to play the Roosters this week.

Conversely Dragons, Tigers, Full strength Titans(to a lesser extent), Warriors(Maybe) look like they are going to be tough to beat.

 

[mxlegend99]

Nobody is carrying on like we are premiership favourites.

What you are saying how ever, is floored, it’s just plain wrong.

You are suggesting that we can’t tell how good we are going until we beat teams with what you believe to have stronger rosters. That is wrong.

The only actual way to tell how good a team is going is to watch them play.

We are just getting a bit sick of you banging on about this “Top4” crap. It’s wrong, it’s an extremely narrow point of view and thankfully not the way our coaching staff would be looking at our performances.

Did you think we were in good form Round 4 last year after beating Knights 40 nil? We kept 2 teams tryless and put on 70+ points in Rounds 2 and 4. We lost to a top 4 side in Round 3 with a controversial call.

Those 3 games together appear to be pretty good and like we bounced back after a shocking Round 1. Yet we then went on to lose 5 in a row.

Beating average teams is a terrible way to judge a team. Otherwise there would be 5 premiership contenders on beating the Eels alone. Every year theres a team or two that has a decent run of form against lesser teams. They usually get brought back to earth in great fashion when facing a quality 80 minute side. While a select few prove thry are the real deal.

No side we have faced is looking like a top 4 side. Fringe top 8 sides perhaps. But one thing we have been great at these past 2 years is beating fringe top 8 or worse sides. So realistically we havent shown anything we didnt show in 2016 or 2017.

Last year their were 3 teams a class above. I dont think any team is in that class this year. However I think we have potentially 6 teams just shy of that class and that we will be one of them. I think our we cant start to honesty evaluate based on how we compete with

Where we rank among those teams is impossible to judge without having faced them. Are we better than Dragons? Warriors? Tigers? Its impossible to judge without facing them. Can we beat Storm now? Sadly we cant find out if that curse is broken until the final round.

Im not saying we're bad. Im just looking at our season so far from the same perspective any other clubs fans would. Great start do far. But we havent proven ourselves against premiership contenders as we havent faced any .

Thats not our fault. Nobody saw the Cowboys being this shit. Eels is really not a surprise though... they do have an average roster. Many (includong myself) just thought Brad Arthur could work magic. It seems Ivan Cleary has robbed him of that ability.

Again. Im not bagging the team out. Im just waiting to see how we perform against a team thats in good form and likely to be a premiership threat. As those are the sides you face in the finals. I will back us to beat any team6th or worse in the finals. As I believe at our worst we are a top 6 team. We've proven that the past 2 years and i believe at worst we will match those seasons.thats worst case scenario though. Not what I think will happen.

I have us smashing Sharks 13+ this week and potentially sitting first depending on the Warriors/Dragons match. I dont think were the form team. But i think we have a great shot at that happening. Sharks are average. Missing a few players. We are class and have confidence and best of sll lits of motivation to destroy them (Moylan).

 

[mxlegend99]

I mentioned us beating Manly last year when they were running 3rd as us beating a top 4 team. He was in the group to say it doesn't count as they finished 6th. Wouldn't that be the same in these cases? After round 25 we can judge the difficulty of the draw or is that just for when you want figures to bag the coach?

Manly dropped to 6th because they went on a losing streak and were in poor form.

6th is reflective of their season as a whole and of the quality of team we faced. 6th is reflective of their season after they faced some tougher teams. Including us as a tougher team.

If they lose 4 in a row. 4 teams have faced the same difficulty of opposition yet week 1 could be ranked 3rd. Then 4th. Then 6th. Then out of the 8.

The only fair way to rank teams is on a completed season. If you ranked us at Round 10 last year we were shit. Simply because we were yet to face the easier teams. 7th place is a fair judgement of us though.

The difficulty of the draw at differrnt periods ends up mostly evening out as much as possible. Although its still going to be easier for some sides.

 

[OldPanther]

Did you think we were in good form Round 4 last year after beating Knights 40 nil? We kept 2 teams tryless and put on 70+ points in Rounds 2 and 4. We lost to a top 4 side in Round 3 with a controversial call.

Those 3 games together appear to be pretty good and like we bounced back after a shocking Round 1. Yet we then went on to lose 5 in a row.

Beating average teams is a terrible way to judge a team. Otherwise there would be 5 premiership contenders on beating the Eels alone. Every year theres a team or two that has a decent run of form against lesser teams. They usually get brought back to earth in great fashion when facing a quality 80 minute side. While a select few prove thry are the real deal.

No side we have faced is looking like a top 4 side. Fringe top 8 sides perhaps. But one thing we have been great at these past 2 years is beating fringe top 8 or worse sides. So realistically we havent shown anything we didnt show in 2016 or 2017.

Last year their were 3 teams a class above. I dont think any team is in that class this year. However I think we have potentially 6 teams just shy of that class and that we will be one of them. I think our we cant start to honesty evaluate based on how we compete with

Where we rank among those teams is impossible to judge without having faced them. Are we better than Dragons? Warriors? Tigers? Its impossible to judge without facing them. Can we beat Storm now? Sadly we cant find out if that curse is broken until the final round.

Im not saying we're bad. Im just looking at our season so far from the same perspective any other clubs fans would. Great start do far. But we havent proven ourselves against premiership contenders as we havent faced any .

Thats not our fault. Nobody saw the Cowboys being this shit. Eels is really not a surprise though... they do have an average roster. Many (includong myself) just thought Brad Arthur could work magic. It seems Ivan Cleary has robbed him of that ability.

Again. Im not bagging the team out. Im just waiting to see how we perform against a team thats in good form and likely to be a premiership threat. As those are the sides you face in the finals. I will back us to beat any team6th or worse in the finals. As I believe at our worst we are a top 6 team. We've proven that the past 2 years and i believe at worst we will match those seasons.thats worst case scenario though. Not what I think will happen.

I have us smashing Sharks 13+ this week and potentially sitting first depending on the Warriors/Dragons match. I dont think were the form team. But i think we have a great shot at that happening. Sharks are average. Missing a few players. We are class and have confidence and best of sll lits of motivation to destroy them (Moylan).

I wonder if such a well written post will get the respect it deserves(even if people disagree)

 

[Luke Bowden]

Did you think we were in good form Round 4 last year after beating Knights 40 nil? We kept 2 teams tryless and put on 70+ points in Rounds 2 and 4. We lost to a top 4 side in Round 3 with a controversial call.

Those 3 games together appear to be pretty good and like we bounced back after a shocking Round 1. Yet we then went on to lose 5 in a row.

Beating average teams is a terrible way to judge a team. Otherwise there would be 5 premiership contenders on beating the Eels alone. Every year theres a team or two that has a decent run of form against lesser teams. They usually get brought back to earth in great fashion when facing a quality 80 minute side. While a select few prove thry are the real deal.

No side we have faced is looking like a top 4 side. Fringe top 8 sides perhaps. But one thing we have been great at these past 2 years is beating fringe top 8 or worse sides. So realistically we havent shown anything we didnt show in 2016 or 2017.

Last year their were 3 teams a class above. I dont think any team is in that class this year. However I think we have potentially 6 teams just shy of that class and that we will be one of them. I think our we cant start to honesty evaluate based on how we compete with

Where we rank among those teams is impossible to judge without having faced them. Are we better than Dragons? Warriors? Tigers? Its impossible to judge without facing them. Can we beat Storm now? Sadly we cant find out if that curse is broken until the final round.

Im not saying we're bad. Im just looking at our season so far from the same perspective any other clubs fans would. Great start do far. But we havent proven ourselves against premiership contenders as we havent faced any .

Thats not our fault. Nobody saw the Cowboys being this shit. Eels is really not a surprise though... they do have an average roster. Many (includong myself) just thought Brad Arthur could work magic. It seems Ivan Cleary has robbed him of that ability.

Again. Im not bagging the team out. Im just waiting to see how we perform against a team thats in good form and likely to be a premiership threat. As those are the sides you face in the finals. I will back us to beat any team6th or worse in the finals. As I believe at our worst we are a top 6 team. We've proven that the past 2 years and i believe at worst we will match those seasons.thats worst case scenario though. Not what I think will happen.

I have us smashing Sharks 13+ this week and potentially sitting first depending on the Warriors/Dragons match. I dont think were the form team. But i think we have a great shot at that happening. Sharks are average. Missing a few players. We are class and have confidence and best of sll lits of motivation to destroy them (Moylan).

No I didn’t think we were in good form, our 1st ten rounds weren’t good, we ran into some form and dug our way out of a hole.

You judge a team on how they are playing, not who they are playing.

We are playing really good footy and deserve our position on the ladder, it matters not who we have beaten, there is no false economy in the NRL. If we were talking about the ESL or Super Rugby, I might agree. The competition is way too tight for your point to be valid.

 

[mxlegend99]

They made the GF after team after team underestimated them. They were lucky to finish 8th. That is their standard. It does not surprise me that they are struggling.'

As to our draw, it has only been easy with hindsight. We all thought we had a pretty tough opening 10 games before a ball was kicked. Now it look like the tough part is towards the end.

Agreed 100%.

Cowboys literally lucked into the finals. I guess we all overrated them thinking they would get a peak Thurston and Scott back.

More importantly it looks like the whole side thought the same thing. Its crazy how bad they are this year.

I thought we had 3 50/50 gsmes that we have faced. Yet those have been the easiest games we've had Eelsx2 and Cowboys.

Souths. Bulldogs and Titans. Prior to Round 1 I would have rated us as 80% chance in sll of them.

The best thing we have done though is fox our starts. The Bulldogs loss was a wakeup call. You cant keep spotting teams a 14 point lead. But after losing we took it more seriously and have not given up more than a 6 point lead bow.

I dunno who was responsible or how. But its great to see we can adapt through the season. That's why I cant wait to face real sides and see if we can adapt to fix our flaws in them aswell

If we can then the more tough games the better. Tough games mould champion teams. If we compete in our first and lose. Then win our second that's a pass from me.

 

[superpanther]

Did you think we were in good form Round 4 last year after beating Knights 40 nil? We kept 2 teams tryless and put on 70+ points in Rounds 2 and 4. We lost to a top 4 side in Round 3 with a controversial call.

Those 3 games together appear to be pretty good and like we bounced back after a shocking Round 1. Yet we then went on to lose 5 in a row.

Beating average teams is a terrible way to judge a team. Otherwise there would be 5 premiership contenders on beating the Eels alone. Every year theres a team or two that has a decent run of form against lesser teams. They usually get brought back to earth in great fashion when facing a quality 80 minute side. While a select few prove thry are the real deal.

No side we have faced is looking like a top 4 side. Fringe top 8 sides perhaps. But one thing we have been great at these past 2 years is beating fringe top 8 or worse sides. So realistically we havent shown anything we didnt show in 2016 or 2017.

Last year their were 3 teams a class above. I dont think any team is in that class this year. However I think we have potentially 6 teams just shy of that class and that we will be one of them. I think our we cant start to honesty evaluate based on how we compete with

Where we rank among those teams is impossible to judge without having faced them. Are we better than Dragons? Warriors? Tigers? Its impossible to judge without facing them. Can we beat Storm now? Sadly we cant find out if that curse is broken until the final round.

Im not saying we're bad. Im just looking at our season so far from the same perspective any other clubs fans would. Great start do far. But we havent proven ourselves against premiership contenders as we havent faced any .

Thats not our fault. Nobody saw the Cowboys being this shit. Eels is really not a surprise though... they do have an average roster. Many (includong myself) just thought Brad Arthur could work magic. It seems Ivan Cleary has robbed him of that ability.

Again. Im not bagging the team out. Im just waiting to see how we perform against a team thats in good form and likely to be a premiership threat. As those are the sides you face in the finals. I will back us to beat any team6th or worse in the finals. As I believe at our worst we are a top 6 team. We've proven that the past 2 years and i believe at worst we will match those seasons.thats worst case scenario though. Not what I think will happen.

I have us smashing Sharks 13+ this week and potentially sitting first depending on the Warriors/Dragons match. I dont think were the form team. But i think we have a great shot at that happening. Sharks are average. Missing a few players. We are class and have confidence and best of sll lits of motivation to destroy them (Moylan).

A good point MX, I agree with what you have said. One difference I have seen ( so far this year) is the aggressiveness of the pack in defence which has not been there ( closest I can think is the 91 team). Hopefully they can maintain this mentality for the entrie season which is difficult!!!!

 

[OldPanther]

A good point MX, I agree with what you have said. One difference I have seen ( so far this year) is the aggressiveness of the pack in defence which has not been there ( closest I can think is the 91 team). Hopefully they can maintain this mentality for the entrie season which is difficult!!!!

To add to your point we are the 2nd best defencive team behind the Tigers so far.

 

[mxlegend99]

No I didn’t think we were in good form, our 1st ten rounds weren’t good, we ran into some form and dug our way out of a hole.

You judge a team on how they are playing, not who they are playing.

We are playing really good footy and deserve our position on the ladder, it matters not who we have beaten, there is no false economy in the NRL. If we were talking about the ESL or Super Rugby, I might agree. The competition is way too tight for your point to be valid.

Only time will tell where we truly stand. The ladder after 6 games (only 1 of the teams we've faced are in the 8) is simply too early to judge us.

We havent played a tough team yet. Or shown we can maintain form yet.

We could easily pull a 2017 Dragons. Or we could grow in confidence and do what the Storm did last year.

Yet being realistic about that gets us crucified in here.

Be honest... which of the teams we have faced do you expect to be in the top 4?
Which do you expect to be in the top 8?

Im calling none of them to be near the top 4. And maybe if lucky one of Souths, Bulldogs or Cowboys will scrape into the 8.

They won't be a threat though. They will be cannon fodder for us.

 

[franklin2323]

I'm not doing to bad actually. Eels and Cows are an easy win until they fix the issues. I'd love to play the Roosters this week.

Conversely Dragons, Tigers, Full strength Titans(to a lesser extent), Warriors(Maybe) look like they are going to be tough to beat.

Dragons have very limited depth I think Roosters and Storm beat them next 2 games. SOO will hit them bad. Roosters will be fired up this week the dogs will cop it

 

[superpanther]

Dragons have very limited depth I think Roosters and Storm beat them next 2 games. SOO will hit them bad. Roosters will be fired up this week the dogs will cop it

Interesting to see what happens with the dragons if they get any injuries.........at this stage they do not have 1!!!!

 

[TheEroticGamer]

Titans were in relatively good form and we made them look like nothing with Cleary and a bunch of other players out.

If we weren't so good this would have been a tough game but it was a walk in the park for us.

 

[OldPanther]

Dragons have very limited depth I think Roosters and Storm beat them next 2 games. SOO will hit them bad. Roosters will be fired up this week the dogs will cop it

Yeah they've thrown all their eggs into 1 basket. Could hurt them a lot though Cows did it in 2015.

Titans were in relatively good form and we made them look like nothing with Cleary and a bunch of other players out.

If we weren't so good this would have been a tough game but it was a walk in the park for us.

We did it easily because they had injuries mid game.

 

[Luke Bowden]

Only time will tell where we truly stand. The ladder after 6 games (only 1 of the teams we've faced are in the 8) is simply too early to judge us.

We havent played a tough team yet. Or shown we can maintain form yet.

We could easily pull a 2017 Dragons. Or we could grow in confidence and do what the Storm did last year.

Yet being realistic about that gets us crucified in here.

Be honest... which of the teams we have faced do you expect to be in the top 4?
Which do you expect to be in the top 8?

Im calling none of them to be near the top 4. And maybe if lucky one of Souths, Bulldogs or Cowboys will scrape into the 8.

They won't be a threat though. They will be cannon fodder for us.

It doesn't matter. What matters is the way we are playing.

Be Honest, what area of our game do you think is not Top 4 quality. What is Hook super stressed about. That's the only way to truely judge how we are travelling.

 

[OldPanther]

It doesn't matter. What matters is the way we are playing.

Be Honest, what area of our game do you think is not Top 4 quality. What is Hook super stressed about. That's the only way to truely judge how we are travelling.

Griffin has said our attack needs to be better. Obviously the injuries don't help but it's the coach's words.

 

[mxlegend99]

It doesn't matter. What matters is the way we are playing.

Be Honest, what area of our game do you think is not Top 4 quality. What is Hook super stressed about. That's the only way to truely judge how we are travelling.

We can't judge how any area of our game stacks up against top 4 teams without playing them.

We have no idea if we can defend against them. If our pack can match them. If we have the discipline or patience against them. We have no idea how our attack will go against them. If we can adapt during the game if something's not eorking.

That's the point. Other teams have beaten the sides weve beaten by bigger margins. You cant tell how we stack up against Dragons by how much we both put on Titans.

The past 2 years weve won the majority of our games against 7th placed or lower teams. Many comfortably. Panthers vs top 4 teams has been incredibly poor as opposed to us against bottom 4 teams. Its impossible to know if that has changed by playing bottom 4 teams.

 

[franklin2323]

Interesting to see what happens with the dragons if they get any injuries.........at this stage they do not have 1!!!!

Hunt and a few forwards will play SOO. So even that will show what they have

 

[OldPanther]

Hunt and a few forwards will play SOO. So even that will show what they have

The bye rounds will help depending how they get theirs.

 

[franklin2323]

The bye rounds will help depending how they get theirs.

Only 1 bye this year. The test will be next week. Play Wednesday after playing Friday night

 

[TheEroticGamer]

Mansour went off injured as well ffs