In and out of 8?

[Butters]

Storm
Eels
Rabbitohs
Sharks
Cowboys
Roosters
Dragons
Warriors

So Bulldogs, Broncos and Manly out. Sharks, Roosters and Dragons in.

 

[Tommax25]

well, for the bulldogs they have nothing left except SBW you'd have to admit that, no halves or good forwards really (except SBW obviosuly), the dragons just dont have enough quality throughout there roster IMO outside gasnier/creah/ryles i dont rate the rest too much cooper is decent but not as good as dragons fans make out IMO, hornby/wollford are past it, sowrad is great when he is on but isnt on enough, young would be great but if he doesnt stay injury free whats the point?, I just dont rate them, the roosters have bulked up in the forward pack and have a decent backline (again not as good as the fans make out) but I just feel that another year of disppointment awaits them, im not convinced by pearce although thats only 1 player

and as for penrith obviosuly there halves are shocking but if certain players in the team start putting in the effort they can make the 8 with civ a great forward leading (hopefully) improved players like pritchard and puletua, as well as helping along the development of tim grant, waterhouse to name a few. only braith anasta is decent out of all those teams halves

 

[yobbo84]

Bunnies did exceptionally well last year with their 1st competitive side they have had for some time, however like good rookies with 2nd year syndrome the same can be said for the entire Bunnies side.

They will be there abouts again, and although on paper you look like a stronger team in 2008 I'm not so sure.
IMO you won about 4-5 games early in the season last year on the back of Joe Williams kicking game. You will miss his 40-20 conversions this year more than you realise.
You also have a few boys not getting any younger and you also had to BUY many players into the club, which is good for one year when their is a goal to make the 8 but just maybe these players might start counting cash rather than playing footy!!

In saying this you lost some close games over the past 2 seasons and if you can change this trend YES you will make the 8!

Souths made the 8 last year with probably the worst halves in the competition. Joe Williams' 40/20's got us 2 tries last year. Whoop-de-doo. He also cost us games too.

Souths in 2007 had the third best defence in the competition. To that side we have removed turnstile No.1 in Williams and replaced him with Craig Wing. Cusack will be replaced by Luke Stuart who is more effective than him anyway. David Kidwell returns to add further starch. As a unit from left to right we are a very solid defensive team who will not leak many points.

In attack, well JT and the team have a whole offseason to work on it. We have a very dynamic attacking core in Merritt, Wing, Paea and Luke. Add to them Talanoa, who has come on in leaps and bounds, as well as the ball-playing abilities of Asotasi and Sutton, and we will prove a handful to defences. Once we get rid of Joe "MIA" Williams and Jeremy "can't pass left to right" Smith, our attack will benefit enormously.

We have young guys in Talanoa, Gordon and Merritt who have a habit of finding the line.
We have Issac Luke who showed all what he can do - both in attack and defence.
We have 2 great running halves with good passing and kicking games.

All in all, the only thing that IMO would stop Souths from improving in 2008 would be season-ending injuries to key personnel. Other than that we have the strength, variety, depth and solidarity in the roster that other teams would love to have.

 

[yobbo84]

As for the motor of Houston, I remember reading a stat where he only averaged 6.5m per carry, and 10 carries per game. I wouldn't say that's too impressive.

Didn't he get put on his ass by Nathan Merritt at WIN just short of the tryline (front-on mind you), costing his team a chance at victory? :lol:

 

[Shaun Hewitt]

Is Macavity trying to bait and people are biting or is he really delusional?

 

[macavity]

Every club says that every year.

we didn't last year

and at any rate im not talking the official line

we will see hey - im confident we are going to be big improvers, obviously you would be confident too, having the best team non-newsltd money can buy.

we do have a lot of second stringers and off-casts, but im confident we have the right coach, and the right core, to be successful. I dont think we will challenge Melb & NQ (by far the standouts IMO) but we can certainly make the 8 and collect some scalps along the way.

 

[Johnny Bravo]

Didn't he get put on his ass by Nathan Merritt at WIN just short of the tryline (front-on mind you), costing his team a chance at victory? :lol:

It wouldn't surprise me, the guy is a complete and utter nuffy. The guy couldn't break or bend the line if his life depended on it.

Danny Wicks could if there was a burger waiting on the other side for him.

 

[LeagueLegend]

would be intrested to hear why you think we are spoon material.

Two words: Brian Smith

 

[_Johnsy]

I think any supporters would be disappointed if they missed the 8, apart from Raiders, of course :sarcasm:

 

[Johnny Bravo]

we didn't last year

and at any rate im not talking the official line

we will see hey - im confident we are going to be big improvers, obviously you would be confident too, having the best team non-newsltd money can buy.

we do have a lot of second stringers and off-casts, but im confident we have the right coach, and the right core, to be successful. I dont think we will challenge Melb & NQ (by far the standouts IMO) but we can certainly make the 8 and collect some scalps along the way.

I'm not confident... I think we'll just scrape into the 8, but thats as far as we'll go.

We simply don't have the depth in the forwards, and our backline is pretty ordinary in terms of offense.

Like with any side, if injuries hit us, we'll be cellar dwellers again.

 

[Tommax25]

also macavity, how can you say the cowboyd were standouts this seaons with a negative points diff. and shocking defence? it would have been worse only for some blowout score in the last few games

 

[Freak2]

Souths made the 8 last year with probably the worst halves in the competition. Joe Williams' 40/20's got us 2 tries last year. Whoop-de-doo. He also cost us games too.

Souths in 2007 had the third best defence in the competition. To that side we have removed turnstile No.1 in Williams and replaced him with Craig Wing. Cusack will be replaced by Luke Stuart who is more effective than him anyway. David Kidwell returns to add further starch. As a unit from left to right we are a very solid defensive team who will not leak many points.

In attack, well JT and the team have a whole offseason to work on it. We have a very dynamic attacking core in Merritt, Wing, Paea and Luke. Add to them Talanoa, who has come on in leaps and bounds, as well as the ball-playing abilities of Asotasi and Sutton, and we will prove a handful to defences. Once we get rid of Joe "MIA" Williams and Jeremy "can't pass left to right" Smith, our attack will benefit enormously.

We have young guys in Talanoa, Gordon and Merritt who have a habit of finding the line.
We have Issac Luke who showed all what he can do - both in attack and defence.
We have 2 great running halves with good passing and kicking games.

All in all, the only thing that IMO would stop Souths from improving in 2008 would be season-ending injuries to key personnel. Other than that we have the strength, variety, depth and solidarity in the roster that other teams would love to have.

But still Richo wants to pay overs for Hayne and Gidley

Obviously your biased opinion is going to vary from mine.

My 1st 2008 prediction: David Kidwell to be voted most over rated player in the NRL

 

[mxlegend99]

Yet you suggest Penrith whose halves will be Richie Williams (or Jarrod Sammut) and Joe Williams in 2008 :lol:

Those will not be the halves. :crazy:

Luke Lewis is the favourite to play 5/8, with either Jarrod Sammut or Joe Williams playing halfback. Richie Williams won't be anywhere near first grade barring injury or major defence improvements.
I'm expecting our backs and halves to be:
1. Rhys Wesser
2. Geoff Daniela/Luke Rooney/Brad Tighe
3. Michael Jennings
4. Maurice Blair
5. Michael Gordon
6. Luke Lewis
7. Jarrod Sammut
Which is quiet a pacey backline with plenty to offer in attack.

 

[macavity]

also macavity, how can you say the cowboyd were standouts this seaons with a negative points diff. and shocking defence? it would have been worse only for some blowout score in the last few games

not this season - next season.

I think they have bought very well, and their main strike weapons are still at the peak of their powers.

add LOD back into the mix, and I think they will give it a real shake.



oh and wrestler boy, im really delusional - I think we can make the 8.

 

[macavity]

It wouldn't surprise me, the guy is a complete and utter nuffy. The guy couldn't break or bend the line if his life depended on it.

we dont need him to break the line - we need him to have good hands, take a few hit ups each game, and tackle his freckle off. at any rate word is he is bulking up well.

Danny Wicks could if there was a burger waiting on the other side for him.

sorted - we are sponsored by Hungry Jacks.

 

[Bicey_18]

I find it odd that many people think manly will drop out at the expense of ridiculous teams, they lost monnas and hicks, hicks is covered by bani who showed he is up to 1st grade in the finals last yr and monnas is great and is a loss but ballin is a decent replacement and he was on fire at hooker early on last yr when monnas was at 7. teams being mentioned arent good enough, definetly not the dragons, maybe the roosters but I dont think so, the bulldogs are shocking now so they will miss out and penrith should fill that gap:

In: Penrith
Out: Bulldogs

Top 8:
Melbourne
Eels
Cowboys
Manly
Broncos
Warriors
Penrith
Rabbits

Bottom 8:
Sharks
Tigers
Roosters
Dragons
Titans
Bulldogs
Raiders
Knights

:lol::lol:


No Gower, No Panthers.... Will not make the 8

 

[mongoose]

I think any supporters would be disappointed if they missed the 8, apart from Raiders, of course :sarcasm:

Write us off at your peril. The raiders have more attacking options than most teams and can potentially score 26-27 points a game if we learn how to turn up away from home. Our defence needs to improve a lot though.

I think the dogs and warriors will drop out of the 8. Knights and Raiders to replace them.

 

[Where Eagles Dare]

It's funny how no-one rates us still. The 'Manly will crumble and turn to crap' calls started halfway through last season when we were equal first with Melbourne, but we kept on winning. Sure we stuffed up the GF but that's one game against the best team all season who were on fire. We will be thereabouts next season, don't you worry about that. Once we get hurt by the salary cap in a few years and return to the pack I bet we'll hear a lot of 'see, I told you they'd crumble!' calls. I guess we'll just put it down to the Manly hatred, I look forward the mighty Eagles destroying your teams next year;-)

Edit: Especially the Knights. LOL @ macavity.

 

[skeepe]

1. North Queensland Cowboys
2. New Zealand Warriors
3. Melbourne Storm
4. Canberra Raiders
5. Brisbane Broncos
6. South Sydney Rabbitohs
7. Manly Sea Eagles
8. Parramatta Eels
9. Cronulla Sharks
10. Gold Coast Titans
11. Sydney Roosters
12. St George Illawarra Dragons
13. Canterbury Bulldogs
14. Penrith Panthers
15. Newcastle Knights
16. Wests Tigers

 

[Marshall_magic]

OUT Bulldogs, Souths and Brisbane

IN Sharks, Roosters and Dragons/Knights