Team v Canberra

[Meth]

we can probably expect to be as close to full strength as we have been all year for this one

I expect that Green for Lino might be the only change. Maybe Beale comes in for Pulu.

But I’d go-

1- RTS
2- Fusitu’a
3- Beale
4- Kata
5- Maumalo
6- Green
7- Johnson
8- Paasi
9- Luke
10- Gavet
11- Pulu
12- Harris
13- Mannering

Res- Afoa, Blair, Sao, Tevaga

Hiku and Papali’i out, as neither of their selections make that much sense.

 

[Leber]

Same team, Beale in for hiku, green in for Lino.

It picks itself really.

But just watch Kearney put hiku on the bloody bench

 

[Leber]

I hope we are far enough in front at the end so that mannering can take a penalty kick or conversion.

 

[playdaball]

I bet Fus loves playing with Hiku inside of him ( on the field) .... he runs such good lines, his straight running leaves space for Fus.

 

[sup42]

Hiku has played his hand well.

Pretty shrewed game from him.

Before he was dropped he had started to overplay his hand and bombed some Trys by trying it on with a fancy reverse flick pass.

I am sure he would have been watching Beale bomb Trys by not giving Fus early ball.

The one area where Pita could put his hand up was to play a no glory draw and pass pivot role.

He played that beautifully last night and must have made our attack coaches + Kearney sit up and take notice.

It's like a watching a Magician use misdirection as the same player gets bounced like a pin ball and leaks Try's.

 

[Rich102]

Luke looks to be badly hampered by a leg injury.
Should he get a week off? Lino did enough to get the gig.

 

[ZEROMISSTACKLES]

Luke looks to be badly hampered by a leg injury.
Should he get a week off?

Yep. If it helps to get the best outta him come finals. The Raiders is a dead rubber game anyway I think.

 

[Blair]

Yep. If it helps to get the best outta him come finals. The Raiders is a dead rubber game anyway I think.

We can't get pumped in the last round. It's crucial to go into our first finals game off the back of a good win.

 

[SpaceMonkey]

Yep. If it helps to get the best outta him come finals. The Raiders is a dead rubber game anyway I think.

No dead rubbers yet. 5th-8th all still to be determined depending on what else happens this weekend. I think the Dragons and Sharks will get up on emotion though because of Lance Thompson which might mean it’s really only 6th-8th left as potential finishes. But 6th is worth gunning for.

 

[Leber]

The Raiders game is not a dead rubber, it's crucial.

We win it, and providing the storm beat the broncos and the Panthers lose to the storm next week, we get a home semi.

 

[sup42]

Raiders are in scary form.

 

[sup42]

Wow great defence Raiders. Two weeks in a row...that is a real worry.

 

[Meth]

Raiders are in scary form.

/ the Bunnies have been crap in this second half

 

[Big Marn]

canberra looked pretty good today. souths played with no patience in that first half. butchered 2 tries before canberra even got on the board.

 

[Big Marn]

The Raiders game is not a dead rubber, it's crucial.

We win it, and providing the Roosters beat the broncos and the Panthers lose to the storm next week, we get a home semi.

corrected to avoid confusion.

 

[sup42]

/ the Bunnies have been crap in this second half

Yeah
Raiders wore them out with all that possession in the first half then playing with 12 men finished them off.

 

[VillaTheGorilla]

Tricky little situation here....Panthers to lose to Storm next week, meaning who ever out of Warriors and Broncos win their game by the most points will end up with a home final the week after.

While a win will give us confidence, I think we should come out firing and try to put the Raiders under huge pressure.
A win of 4-12 points probably means we still finish 7th or 8th (unless Dragons bottle it next week too), so we need to come out and try and but 20-30 points on them, even though Raiders are playing well...

Ahh exciting times, I'm just happy were there the next week!

 

[SpaceMonkey]

I hope we are far enough in front at the end so that mannering can take a penalty kick or conversion.

TBH I don’t think there’s any chance of that given we play first and it’s currently a four way race on for and against. And Simon being the kind of player he is I reckon he’d see it that way too. Unless of course he actually can kick ok from the tee and gets one from in front.

 

[Rich102]

Or maybe let Simon take a drop-out instead of one of SJ's shorts.

 

[ozenzud]

I will read the team will interest this week. Our attack looked outstanding this week. No doubt Hiku is the better attacking player and Beale the better defender. But with Harris back, we have solid insides to secure our edge defence (on both sides actually) and Mannering is definitely better at lock then 2nd row.