Yeah Mad and Reef, i'm not sure about my theory to be honest. Id be much more certain if the Mucus ran over the top of sides regularly at home, but that doesn't really happen. I spoke to a chap who is heavily involved with the club and he couldn't put his finger on why Bruce is such a god damn fortress. The best he could come up is opposing teams have an image of Canberra in winter in their heads and that's enough to put them off. He reckons the cold doesn't really worry sides anymore because they warm up and hit the field in the right "shape" as he put it.
I still remember a blockbuster Broncos v Raiders match at Bruce that had an epic Meninga intercept, and with wind chill it must have been below zero, and the Broncos looked paralyzed with cold all night.
Europeans might laugh at how "cold" we think Canberra is, but it is a lot colder than Sydney in winter, and a lot less humid, which has to affect your breathing (it is the asthma capital of Australia). I am sure it has an effect on teams, it has an effect on every visitor from Sydney who hasn't been in winter before- everyone complains at how much colder it is than they expected.
Hoping Cornish can get a good run, and the Goulburn/Mulwaree boys continue to excel in NRL (and Tyler pairing with Toddy would be cool Goulburn/Mulwaree pairing, if he turns into a long term prospect). But I do think the Raiders team is not that intimidating, and in tough games, packs like ours, Manly, Souths, Roosters and Knights should handle their pack without too much difficulty. Still can't see them being as poor as Tigers/Dragons, so should be in with a chance of jagging a run to the finals in the last few weeks (as most teams but the bottom 2 or 3 are).
I think we were a hamstring away from playing the Roosters for the title, so with a bit of luck (ha!) we can easily threaten the best of teams and win. Because we play that forward dominated style game, we are never out of a game, but neither are our opponents, so we could also easily Cronullafy a few tries a few games in a row that our forwards dominated, and be in that same "chasing a few wins to jag the last spots of the 8" as 4 or 5 other teams.
ASADA, injuries and rotten luck not withstanding, we are a top 4 team capable of winning any finals match vs any opposition due to a dominating pack.
