Parra Officially Out of Semi Finals

[Old Timer]

One we have a bye
Second is stand alone SOO.

So just 1 game effect.

You also have the effect of the next game after origin as some may not back up especially if we have a high representation.
Teams that have 1 or 2 players much less likely effected to teams that have 4 or more players involved.

 

[ouryears]

You also have the effect of the next game after origin as some may not back up especially if we have a high representation.
Teams that have 1 or 2 players much less likely effected to teams that have 4 or more players involved.

Well the Storm, Broncos and Cowboys have proven that is not correct over the past many many years.

Must be a NSW disease.

Just another one we have I guess. That they don't have.

Maybe it's the cane toad juice.

Or they are just way tougher and passionate up there in QLD and down there in Melbourne.

Who would have thought.....

 

[Old Timer]

Well the Storm, Broncos and Cowboys have proven that is not correct over the past many many years.

Must be a NSW disease.

Just another one we have I guess. That they don't have.

Maybe it's the cane toad juice.

Or they are just way tougher and passionate up there in QLD and down there in Melbourne.

Who would have thought.....

Storm, Broncos and Cowboys have had for the most of it great depth and a lot of youngsters well prepared for the challenge and coaches that were well seasoned in dealing with SOO
Last time we had a big representation our season went pear shape despite having a great coach and we lost the almost un-loseable comp as a result of SOO so our history is appalling and we should take heed of it.

 

[Gareth67]

That was the year where the bookies " stopped " betting on the minor premiership after our start if I recall.

Its very much a case of " what could have been ".

That's right Tru Saint , if memory servers me correct we had only lost 1 game and it was to Cronulla. Up to that point we were really flying high , many said that it was the ' loss that we had to have ' .

A great side put together by old smiley - Bennett himself , built for a 3 year domination of the Premiership. They stuttered against Parramatta in '09 - won in '10 - and came 3rd in '11 . Still there's no point me whinging about what could had been as the teams that beat us in those games were simply better on the day - berstards .

 

[Life's Good]

A little off topic, but my concern is having potentially half our squad out for SOO.

Drop a couple of games during that period, can quickly bring us back into the field. Depth in key positions worries me.

Im reasonably confident that the hype around our SOO selections won't amount to more than 4 maybe 5 players. I expect Hunt, Frizz, JDB, Vaughan and maybe Sims as contenders. Let's face it, for back row, they will go with Cordner, Frizz/Jackson(plodder extraordinaire) & J Turbo. JDB makes the bench along with either Frizz/Jackson, Vaughan & RCG. They will run with Cook for DH with Jackson playing minutes at DH to give Cook a breather.

 

[ouryears]

Storm, Broncos and Cowboys have had for the most of it great depth and a lot of youngsters well prepared for the challenge and coaches that were well seasoned in dealing with SOO
Last time we had a big representation our season went pear shape despite having a great coach and we lost the almost un-loseable comp as a result of SOO so our history is appalling and we should take heed of it.

All Wayne had to do was to give the boys from SOO 2 weeks off, lose 2 games and not 10.

They would have had two weeks off, come back refreshed and went on to win.

Even storm rest a few after many SOO, including Smith and Slater.

At the time we could easily have afforded to rest 6 players for two weeks, two losses would not have mattered.

Wayne screwed up in my opinion.

 

[possm]

All Wayne had to do was to give the boys from SOO 2 weeks off, lose 2 games and not 10.

They would have had two weeks off, come back refreshed and went on to win.

Even storm rest a few after many SOO, including Smith and Slater.

At the time we could easily have afforded to rest 6 players for two weeks, two losses would not have mattered.

Wayne screwed up in my opinion.

All Doust had to do was:
To tell Bennett not to announce his intention to leave the Dragons.
To tell Gasnier not to announce his intention to retire.
To appoint an experienced coach and not announce this until season's end.

And you are correct, Bennett should have rested the boys and brought in someone to uplift their spirits for the home streight.

 

[ouryears]

All Doust had to do was:
To tell Bennett not to announce his intention to leave the Dragons.
To tell Gasnier not to announce his intention to retire.
To appoint an experienced coach and not announce this until season's end.

And you are correct, Bennett should have rested the boys and brought in someone to uplift their spirits for the home streight.

Doust screwed up too didn't he mate. Announcing that mid season was poorly done.

And the golden point loss to the broncos in the semi was heartbreaking stuff.

So close.

 

[Old Timer]

Doust screwed up too didn't he mate. Announcing that mid season was poorly done.

And the golden point loss to the broncos in the semi was heartbreaking stuff.

So close.

Possm has hit on a couple of salient points but the issue is Bennett was there short term to get a job done i.e. win a premiership or 2 and for him the end would always justify the means.
What was needed was a long term coach with a long term view who had in fact blooded players from the lower grades in 1st grade and made sure we had adequate cover.
The thought that you can afford to lose / throw away a couple of games IMO brings the wrong culture to a team and helps create downward spirals and a lack of confidence in the squad.
That is why I am hard in my criticism of Mc Fooknuckle as he is a long term coach and he refuses to give adequate game time to the lower grade players who will be needed at some point and when they don't perform they get dropped and people point the finger at them and say I told you so.
The thought that only your best players being picked all the time is the only way to run your team and that you can afford to lose games by giving them a rest is totally abhorrent to me.
Have confidence that you can rest a player / players knowing that the replacements will do a more than adequate job and you still can wins games IMO is the epitome of good coaching and builds self belief and greater confidence..
Recognising we could be better if we make changes despite the fact we are winning is the vision that the great coaches have and is what ensures you remain close to the top season after season.

 

[ALSGI]

Possm has hit on a couple of salient points but the issue is Bennett was there short term to get a job done i.e. win a premiership or 2 and for him the end would always justify the means.
What was needed was a long term coach with a long term view who had in fact blooded players from the lower grades in 1st grade and made sure we had adequate cover.
The thought that you can afford to lose / throw away a couple of games IMO brings the wrong culture to a team and helps create downward spirals and a lack of confidence in the squad.
That is why I am hard in my criticism of Mc Fooknuckle as he is a long term coach and he refuses to give adequate game time to the lower grade players who will be needed at some point and when they don't perform they get dropped and people point the finger at them and say I told you so.
The thought that only your best players being picked all the time is the only way to run your team and that you can afford to lose games by giving them a rest is totally abhorrent to me.
Have confidence that you can rest a player / players knowing that the replacements will do a more than adequate job and you still can wins games IMO is the epitome of good coaching and builds self belief and greater confidence..
Recognising we could be better if we make changes despite the fact we are winning is the vision that the great coaches have and is what ensures you remain close to the top season after season.

Agree to a point OT.
I’m in the ‘always change a winning team’ rather than ‘never change a winning team’ camp. I understand your point that we need to prepare replacements for the inevitable and I think Mary’s doing that with LL, Host, Sele, Lawrie (last year) albeit not enough minutes in FG but they haven’t commanded more minutes when the rest of the pack is going so well.
As for ‘always change a winning team’ just a tweak here and there when we are going so well and I think Mann or Lomax must replace
Nighty, Lafai needs to find some form.

 

[Crush]

won't affect us at all. we will only be missing our origin player's once and that's against storm.

Is that game against storm? Others have posted its against parra.
Storm would be better.

 

[Lovemedragons]

All Wayne had to do was to give the boys from SOO 2 weeks off, lose 2 games and not 10.

They would have had two weeks off, come back refreshed and went on to win.

Even storm rest a few after many SOO, including Smith and Slater.

At the time we could easily have afforded to rest 6 players for two weeks, two losses would not have mattered.

Wayne screwed up in my opinion.

people forget that Wayne did announce about the same time that he was leaving the club at the end of the year, this more than anything shook the team up in '11

 

[Lovemedragons]

Possm has hit on a couple of salient points but the issue is Bennett was there short term to get a job done i.e. win a premiership or 2 and for him the end would always justify the means.
What was needed was a long term coach with a long term view who had in fact blooded players from the lower grades in 1st grade and made sure we had adequate cover.
The thought that you can afford to lose / throw away a couple of games IMO brings the wrong culture to a team and helps create downward spirals and a lack of confidence in the squad.
That is why I am hard in my criticism of Mc Fooknuckle as he is a long term coach and he refuses to give adequate game time to the lower grade players who will be needed at some point and when they don't perform they get dropped and people point the finger at them and say I told you so.
The thought that only your best players being picked all the time is the only way to run your team and that you can afford to lose games by giving them a rest is totally abhorrent to me.
Have confidence that you can rest a player / players knowing that the replacements will do a more than adequate job and you still can wins games IMO is the epitome of good coaching and builds self belief and greater confidence..
Recognising we could be better if we make changes despite the fact we are winning is the vision that the great coaches have and is what ensures you remain close to the top season after season.

Bennett did a short term job because we only signed him for 3 years and not 5. might have been a bad call hey.

 

[Lovemedragons]

Im reasonably confident that the hype around our SOO selections won't amount to more than 4 maybe 5 players. I expect Hunt, Frizz, JDB, Vaughan and maybe Sims as contenders. Let's face it, for back row, they will go with Cordner, Frizz/Jackson(plodder extraordinaire) & J Turbo. JDB makes the bench along with either Frizz/Jackson, Vaughan & RCG. They will run with Cook for DH with Jackson playing minutes at DH to give Cook a breather.

you're probably right about the NSW team selections which is of course why NSW continue to lose SOO series. Freddy may breathe some fresh air into the stale joint and pick players on form.

 

[Old Timer]

Bennett did a short term job because we only signed him for 3 years and not 5. might have been a bad call hey.

You are a 100% correct.
He wanted 5 and Doust negotiated it back to 3 what a genius.
We could have very well bagged 2 or 3 premierships with the squad we had (providing we could have kept most).
We clearly snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.

 

[giboz71]

Storm, Broncos and Cowboys have had for the most of it great depth and a lot of youngsters well prepared for the challenge and coaches that were well seasoned in dealing with SOO
Last time we had a big representation our season went pear shape despite having a great coach and we lost the almost un-loseable comp as a result of SOO so our history is appalling and we should take heed of it.

I hardly think the we lost an “unloseable” comp in 2011.

No one has repeated as NRL premiers since the Broncos in 92/93 when they practically had the whole Qld side as their team.

So it’s been roughly 25 years since we’ve had repeat premiers.

So I hardly think we were a shoe in for the comp in 2011 despite what Origin did to us.

 

[Old Timer]

I hardly think the we lost an “unloseable” comp in 2011.

No one has repeated as NRL premiers since the Broncos in 92/93 when they practically had the whole Qld side as their team.

So it’s been roughly 25 years since we’ve had repeat premiers.

So I hardly think we were a shoe in for the comp in 2011 despite what Origin did to us.

That's why I said "almost un-loseable"
It was certainly more there for the winning rather than the losing but shit happens and it is hard to go back to back.
Not sure too many sides had a better chance than us to do that but SOO, coach & player announcements etc certainly didn't enhance our chances.

 

[ouryears]

Bump

 

[mickeylane]

Parra are just a shit heartless team!! To lose to the Bulldogs the worst team in the NRL apart from the mighty Titans is a total disgrace..deserve to be last.. As for Brad Arthur.. Your an imposter .. !! Love it!! Just love it...

 

[Gareth67]

Parra are just a shit heartless team!! To lose to the Bulldogs the worst team in the NRL apart from the mighty Titans is a total disgrace..deserve to be last.. As for Brad Arthur.. Your an imposter .. !! Love it!! Just love it...

mickeylane Arthurs no imposter mate , he has already proved that last year by taking them to the semi's . It's the players who are not turning up for one another or their coach for that matter . Something rotten in the eels camp and it has destroyed their 2018 campaign , but it's not the coach .