The Rumours Thread

[Crush]

I love the Gus Pod (my favourite of the week), but after hearing him praise us so glowingly again this year.. it just got me thinking whats going on here? We were minutes away from a spoon last year.... and he was loving us in 2023 also..

In 2024 he obviously thinks the tigers will run last... but the other 16 sides he has in the Top 10.. and my conclusion... is that I think he is just being really nice because its the smart play.. being negative just turns fans away...... secretly he knows full well that he pulled half a dozen blokes to his club that we were hoping to sign.

Lets look at the Dogs team for this week.
I've highlighted who I think is the stronger player.
Dragons have a stronger roster than Dogs for me.

Taaffe - Sloan (even)
Wilson - Lomax
Kiraz - Suli
Chrichton - Bird
JAC - Rava
Burton - Flano
Hutchinson - Hunt
King - F Molo
Mahoney - Liddle (even)
Faamausili - Lawrie
Kikau - Eisenhuth
Preston - Su'a
Salmon - JDB

 

[Gold_Coast Dragon]

Lets look at the Dogs team for this week.
I've highlighted who I think is the stronger player.
Dragons have a stronger roster than Dogs for me.

Taaffe - Sloan (even)
Wilson - Lomax
Kiraz - Suli
Chrichton - Bird
JAC - Rava
Burton - Flano
Hutchinson - Hunt
King - F Molo
Mahoney - Liddle (even)
Faamausili - Lawrie
Kikau - Eisenhuth
Preston - Su'a
Salmon - JDB

I would take Rava over JAC. Just sayin.

No-one else could have scored 20+ tries in our 2023 team. Very few were set up by smart play. Pure beast.

 

[maestro1]

Dude, we won 5 games last year. WE were the biggest disappointments.

Dude, "disappointment" is tied to expectations. Every "expert" predicted the spoon for us. Any position above last means we over-achieved on expectation. Roosters and Dogs were expected to fly.... They didn't, so the were bigger disappointments than us.
Not a hard concept to comprehend.

Yes, I was very disappointed with our season, but if you tie it to my expectations, then we probably landed where everyone expected.

Buzz Rothfield tipped us for the spoon in 2023 and also this season. He then came out and said how disappointing we were in 2023. How could he be disappointed when we performed better than he expected.

 

[Crush]

Dude, "disappointment" is tied to expectations. Every "expert" predicted the spoon for us. Any position above last means we over-achieved on expectation. Roosters and Dogs were expected to fly.... They didn't, so the were bugger disappointments than us.
Not a hard concept to comprehend.

Yes, I was very disappointed with our season, but if you tie it to my expectations, then we probably landed where everyone expected.

Buzz Rothfield tipped us for the spoon in 2023 and also this season. He then came out and said how disappointing we were in 2023. How could he be disappointed when we performed better than he expected.

What’s your expectations for this year?

 

[AyiosYiorgos]

I love the Gus Pod (my favourite of the week), but after hearing him praise us so glowingly again this year.. it just got me thinking whats going on here? We were minutes away from a spoon last year.... and he was loving us in 2023 also..

In 2024 he obviously thinks the tigers will run last... but the other 16 sides he has in the Top 10.. and my conclusion... is that I think he is just being really nice because its the smart play.. being negative just turns fans away...... secretly he knows full well that he pulled half a dozen blokes to his club that we were hoping to sign.

Gus is too smart, talks us up, knowing that our roster is not great, gets fan's exited, when we start losing and blaming the club and putting pressure and destabilizing the club, because Gus said we are a top squad, job done, well played Gus, well played..

 

[maestro1]

Purely on the fact that I thought we were the least fit team in 2023 and Flanno has whipped these buggers into shape, both in body and mind, I expect a reasonable amount of improvement. I don't think we have that bad a squad, especially with the additions. My belief is that we will play smarter, harder, faster, stronger, fitter and with a different commitment. We will be nudging the top 8. Our depth worries me as we don't have the luxury of having an Angus Chrichton, Connor Watson, Ethan Butcher who can't crack our 17.

If we are treated fairly by the MRC and lady luck (injuries) we will nudge the 8 and cause a fair few upsets along the way. Flanno is our best signing since Bennett.

What is your expectation for season 2024?

 

[Nanadragon]

Purely on the fact that I thought we were the least fit team in 2023 and Flanno has whipped these buggers into shape, both in body and mind, I expect a reasonable amount of improvement. I don't think we have that bad a squad, especially with the additions. My belief is that we will play smarter, harder, faster, stronger, fitter and with a different commitment. We will be nudging the top 8. Our depth worries me as we don't have the luxury of having an Angus Chrichton, Connor Watson, Ethan Butcher who can't crack our 17.

If we are treated fairly by the MRC and lady luck (injuries) we will nudge the 8 and cause a fair few upsets along the way. Flanno is our best signing since Bennett.

What is your expectation for season 2024?

To make the top 8 or better.

 

[Saints Forever]

9-12th would exceed my expectations

 

[maestro1]

To make the top 8 or better.

What worries you about season 2024?

 

[maestro1]

I also think Flanno won't put up with shit decisions against us and he won't let them make us the whipping boys.

Also, at the Sharks, he had Gallen as the on field leader who played it smart with the refs and cleverly challenged the refs so they would make up for a dud call later in the game. Gallen was forever pointing out the oppositions indiscretions. Invariably at half time he would walk off the ground in deep discussions with the on field ref.

Just planting seeds. "Oh sir, their markers haven't been square all 1st half and it is unfairly nullifying our speed around the rucks".

Our on field leader doesn't seem to talk to the refs at all. We need to be better here. Cleary, Tedesco, DCE, Reynolds are fantastic at this.

 

[TheRev]

Lets look at the Dogs team for this week.
I've highlighted who I think is the stronger player.
Dragons have a stronger roster than Dogs for me.

Taaffe - Sloan (even)
Wilson - Lomax
Kiraz - Suli
Chrichton - Bird
JAC - Rava
Burton - Flano
Hutchinson - Hunt
King - F Molo
Mahoney - Liddle (even)
Faamausili - Lawrie
Kikau - Eisenhuth
Preston - Su'a
Salmon - JDB

I mean tigers, dragons and dogs were 17th, 16th, 15th last year.. the jump up from us three to 14th (i.e. Titans) is monumental, but I still think you over-valuing our roster vs the dogs.

The ones I would challenge:

o Fullback: Ur obviously a Sloan fan which is all good.. but Sloan would be 4th choice at the dogs... Taaffe is a way better player than ppl r giving him credit for in this forum, Tracey is #2, both would be easy choices for Flanno.. Papalii @ #3 from their cup side even... might push out both of them with in a year. This is not even factoring in Chrichton who signed to play the position.
o Centre: Kiraz is basically a young Lomax with pace.. one of the most exciting kids going around with his future in front of him... Suli is a 2nd rower playing in the centres.. I mean we can only go so far with our bash boys.. Kiraz would be a cult here if he was ours. Even Xerri would be an upgrade on Bird, hes a speculator.. not bad as a 3rd centre. Chrichton is more than just a small upgrade over any of our options also.. Burton would also be a gun in this position if needed.
o Wing: Rava who struggles to read defence... over a nsw and aussie star with pace... not sure how to respond to that one! I actually have no idea who Wilson even is though.
o Hooker: Man Mahoney was the man for parras big run, easy win.. and Turpin wouldnt be far behind Liddle in the pecking order.
o 2nd Rowers: Preston is probably the hottest young 2nd rower going round.. south of the border anyway.. would love to have him over Leilua or Sua..this guy is the future man... Kikau still in his prime also.. I mean I love Sua (hes one of our best) but man Preston is a man ur building the club around.
o Lock: I would take Curran over JDB, I assume Salmon is playing even better than Curran since he has the jersey.. there is also Mann as a 3rd option... JDB is a prop for me.. we just dont have anyone more skillful.. JDB is a rly good prop mind you.. def better than the dogs current ones.

The guys that arent in their side like Knight, Xerri, Tracey, Mann, Sexton, Turpin.. their NSW Cup side will be stacked... I mean their roster is in a rebuild, its true its not in the league of the 1-14 clubs from last season, but geez still pretty good, they probably have 2 comparable options to every 1 of ours, in every position. 2nd Row would be our strongest since we recruited 4 of em in the off-season.

 

[Crush]

Purely on the fact that I thought we were the least fit team in 2023 and Flanno has whipped these buggers into shape, both in body and mind, I expect a reasonable amount of improvement. I don't think we have that bad a squad, especially with the additions. My belief is that we will play smarter, harder, faster, stronger, fitter and with a different commitment. We will be nudging the top 8. Our depth worries me as we don't have the luxury of having an Angus Chrichton, Connor Watson, Ethan Butcher who can't crack our 17.

If we are treated fairly by the MRC and lady luck (injuries) we will nudge the 8 and cause a fair few upsets along the way. Flanno is our best signing since Bennett.

What is your expectation for season 2024?

Around 10th will be acceptable, above that exceeding expectations, below 12th terribly disappointing.

 

[TheRev]

I feel like there will be a sorting out period this next 2 months.. fresh sides bashing each-other, up one week, down the next... the competition has never been more even, but we will need some of those mid-tier sides to collapse if we are going to get into that Top 10 or even Top 14.. we need the Raiders, the Sharks, the Eels, the Titans, the Dolphins, the Knights etc to fall over and die..

I reckon it will come back to depth & luck with injury, i.e. which clubs get a couple of ACL's or serious injuries that will probably be the difference... knock a few sides down 10%.

 

[Dragon David]

Me? My expectations are that we will be trying to get on top in every match but just not able to get the prize. I'm thinking that for Flanno's first year we will be 14th come the end of 2024.

 

[Dragons4me]

Expectation: Bottom half of the ladder in anticipation for a better 2025.
Hope: We play an expansive game in attack with rock tight defence. Get at least 50% of the contentious decisions and minimal injuries.

I am with them no matter what though!

 

[krispykebab]

It's really too early to judge but I think if everything goes perfectly we can finish as high as 7th. Anything below 10th is dissapointing, I really think we can rattle some of the top teams, depth is an obvious issue but injuries permitting I think we can squeeze into the finals.

 

[rasaint]

I note The Rev’s comment has that interesting irony ‘ a young Lomax with pace’. Too true. The one issue that has held Zac back from rising to rep level, can’t be trained; genuine speed.

 

[Crush]

I mean tigers, dragons and dogs were 17th, 16th, 15th last year.. the jump up from us three to 14th (i.e. Titans) is monumental, but I still think you over-valuing our roster vs the dogs.

The ones I would challenge:

o Fullback: Ur obviously a Sloan fan which is all good.. but Sloan would be 4th choice at the dogs... Taaffe is a way better player than ppl r giving him credit for in this forum, Tracey is #2, both would be easy choices for Flanno.. Papalii @ #3 from their cup side even... might push out both of them with in a year. This is not even factoring in Chrichton who signed to play the position.
o Centre: Kiraz is basically a young Lomax with pace.. one of the most exciting kids going around with his future in front of him... Suli is a 2nd rower playing in the centres.. I mean we can only go so far with our bash boys.. Kiraz would be a cult here if he was ours. Even Xerri would be an upgrade on Bird, hes a speculator.. not bad as a 3rd centre. Chrichton is more than just a small upgrade over any of our options also.. Burton would also be a gun in this position if needed.
o Wing: Rava who struggles to read defence... over a nsw and aussie star with pace... not sure how to respond to that one! I actually have no idea who Wilson even is though.
o Hooker: Man Mahoney was the man for parras big run, easy win.. and Turpin wouldnt be far behind Liddle in the pecking order.
o 2nd Rowers: Preston is probably the hottest young 2nd rower going round.. south of the border anyway.. would love to have him over Leilua or Sua..this guy is the future man... Kikau still in his prime also.. I mean I love Sua (hes one of our best) but man Preston is a man ur building the club around.
o Lock: I would take Curran over JDB, I assume Salmon is playing even better than Curran since he has the jersey.. there is also Mann as a 3rd option... JDB is a prop for me.. we just dont have anyone more skillful.. JDB is a rly good prop mind you.. def better than the dogs current ones.

The guys that arent in their side like Knight, Xerri, Tracey, Mann, Sexton, Turpin.. their NSW Cup side will be stacked... I mean their roster is in a rebuild, its true its not in the league of the 1-14 clubs from last season, but geez still pretty good, they probably have 2 comparable options to every 1 of ours, in every position. 2nd Row would be our strongest since we recruited 4 of em in the off-season.

Taaffe looks like a good ESL player, similar to Sloan at this stage.
Suli is going to kill it at centre this year, let’s check back in later in the year but I bet he has a huge season and blows Kiraz away.
JAC more valuable than Rava, as I said, no need to respond to that one.
Liddle, you’re underestimating him, he’s as good if not better than Mahoney.
Su’a over Preston any day not the week.
And guys like Kurt Mann, Tracey etc are nothing flash, they’ve struggled to get starting spots at their previous clubs.
I reckon we will have a better season than dogs, we are tougher. Their pack looks soft.

 

[TheRev]

It's hard watching this game tonight, my heart is cheering for the underdog like always.. but really we want the underdogs losing every game possible. Feels great to have proper footy on again though.

 

[Parko1310]

Dogs and Tigers will fight it out for the spoon. I reckon it will be the Dogs. They are god awful and don't have a single first grade prop bar maybe Max King who wouldn't play at some clubs