The Top 8 will be ...

[pantherz9103]

What the hell, I haven't done a ladder prediction for at least a week. Trials have given plenty of food for thought.

1. Melbourne Storm
2. New Zealand Warriors
3. Brisbane Broncos
4. Canberra Raiders
5. Gold Coast Titans
6. South Sydney Rabbitohs
7. Newcastle Knights
8. Canterbury Bulldogs

9. Manly Sea Eagles
10. North Queensland Cowboys
11. Parramatta Eels
12. Wests Tigers
13. Sydney Roosters
14. Cronulla Sharks
15. St. George Illawarra Dragons
16. Penrith Panthers

Raiders top 4, panthers spoon, Souths 6th, dragons 2nd last.

Seriously WTF, WTF, WTF??!!

 

[skeepe]

Raiders top 4, panthers spoon, Souths 6th, dragons 2nd last.

Seriously WTF, WTF, WTF??!!

Just you wait and see ;-)

 

[dice]

Yeah, aren't they usually more strict at the beginning of the season with rule changes?
And don't forget the run that the Tigers had with injury last year, especially B. Marshall...

You just have to look back to 2002 to see the significance of the interpretation of the rules. Roosters perfected the dominant tackle, Sharks perfected the quick play the balls. Both teams sought clarification of the rules before the semis, and the NRL ruled that Sharks were submitting in tackles which effectively handed the premiership to the roosters. Sharks would have won otherwise.

In 2005, the NRL did a back flip on this interpretation. In 2006, the NRL did another backflip and stopped hammering teams for slowing the play the ball.

Fair enough, Marshall was injured last year. IMO, it wouldn't have made a diff and unless the NRL clamp down on slowing the play the ball it won't make a diff this year either.

 

[mxlegend99]

What the hell, I haven't done a ladder prediction for at least a week. Trials have given plenty of food for thought.

1. Melbourne Storm
2. New Zealand Warriors
3. Brisbane Broncos
4. Canberra Raiders
5. Gold Coast Titans
6. South Sydney Rabbitohs
7. Newcastle Knights
8. Canterbury Bulldogs

9. Manly Sea Eagles
10. North Queensland Cowboys
11. Parramatta Eels
12. Wests Tigers
13. Sydney Roosters
14. Cronulla Sharks
15. St. George Illawarra Dragons
16. Penrith Panthers

Raiders top 4, panthers spoon, Souths 6th, dragons 2nd last.

Seriously WTF, WTF, WTF??!!

The entire bottom 8 teams would make a more beleivable top 8 then one with Raiders in the top 4 :lol:

 

[mepelthwack]

Fair enough, Marshall was injured last year. IMO, it wouldn't have made a diff and unless the NRL clamp down on slowing the play the ball it won't make a diff this year either.

considering the Tigers lost twice in GP, 5 times in the last 5-10 minutes and narrowly missed the 8 I'd say Benji's injuries made a hell of a difference.

 

[Marshall_magic]

considering the Tigers lost twice in GP, 5 times in the last 5-10 minutes and narrowly missed the 8 I'd say Benji's injuries made a hell of a difference.

could Benji REALLY of won all of those, he did play in the Manly and the Newwie one, and went off the the dying stages of the Panthers one, the golden point games we could of won at least one of them with Marshall, but its stupid to say we missed the 8 soley because he was missing.

 

[mxlegend99]

could Benji REALLY of won all of those, he did play in the Manly and the Newwie one, and went off the the dying stages of the Panthers one, the golden point games we could of won at least one of them with Marshall, but its stupid to say we missed the 8 soley because he was missing.

Agreed.

Many teams who missed the 8 by one or 2 wins could say the same thing. No real way of proving it though. Panthers similarly, lost 2 Gold Point games, lost a few in dying minutes, and we were missing Gower for the majority of the games. :lol: I think we even finished on the same amount of competition points, with a worse F/A.

Just look forward to a year with hopefully no injuries I want too see Australia play New Zealand with all their boys playing... so i hope SBW and Benji are fit.

 

[brooksy19]

I thought that semi final win against North Queensland was pretty flukey though. They were pretty lucky to win by 46. :roll:

We also were lucky to defeat Brisbane the following week, by 30.:lol:

 

[Tom Shines]

Okay folks, here it is. Feel free to bookmark it and bring it up when it's horribly wrong.

1. Melbourne Storm
2. Brisbane Broncos
3. Manly Sea Eagles
4. Bulldogs
5. North Queensland Cowboys
6. New Zealand Warriors
7. Parramatta Eels
8. Wests Tigers

9. Newcastle Knights
10. St George Illawarra
11. Penrith Panthers
12. Sydney Roosters
13. South Sydney Rabbitohs
14. Cronulla Sharks
15. Gold Coast Titans
16. Canberra Raiders

 

[Raider_69]

Raiders top 4, panthers spoon, Souths 6th, dragons 2nd last.

Seriously WTF, WTF, WTF??!!

with elliott in charge, the spoon is a real change to head to the rith
the rest i dont agree with skeepe on, canberra should sneak 8th spot, dragons will not come top 2, nor will souths make the top 8

 

[simon says]

Far out its hard to predict where evryone is going to come.....

All I can say now is that Melbourne and the Broncs look on paper to be way in front of the other teams as far as their rosters go.Most other teams have lost players to other teams or have crucial injuries.

But.......2005 GF teams both missed the top 8.

Anway....Broncs and Storm for 1 and 2.....

3-16 could be bloody anyone.

 

[VictorTheViking]

Far out its hard to predict where evryone is going to come.....

All I can say now is that Melbourne and the Broncs look on paper to be way in front of the other teams as far as their rosters go.Most other teams have lost players to other teams or have crucial injuries.

But.......2005 GF teams both missed the top 8.

Anway....Broncs and Storm for 1 and 2.....

3-16 could be bloody anyone.

Thats the first thing ive seen you post that makes sense :lol: :lol:

 

[pantherz9103]

But.......2005 GF teams both missed the top 8.

So did 2004 GF teams Bulldogs and Roosters but I very much doubt that trend will continue.

 

[Marshall_magic]

Agreed.

Many teams who missed the 8 by one or 2 wins could say the same thing. No real way of proving it though. Panthers similarly, lost 2 Gold Point games, lost a few in dying minutes, and we were missing Gower for the majority of the games. :lol: I think we even finished on the same amount of competition points, with a worse F/A.

Just look forward to a year with hopefully no injuries I want too see Australia play New Zealand with all their boys playing... so i hope SBW and Benji are fit.

IN my opinion Panthers choked, they had Souths, Roosters and Sharks in consecutive weeks, at the time the 3 bottom teams, and they only one once, if they won all 3 they would of been right up with a chance, not to mention getting carved by Joey-less Newcastle.

 

[mepelthwack]

but its stupid to say we missed the 8 soley because he was missing.

Not exactly what I said was it? Read again.

 

[simon says]

Look,thers no doubt that last year was horrible for the Tigers.....and it wasnt just Marshall out....half our fricken team was out,and for quite a hit our 1,6 and 9 were on the sidelines.

There arent too many tmeas that could cope with that,not forgetting the half a dozen last minute/golden point losses.

 

[tbone10]

about that time of year to bring this up again...

 

[The Tax Man]

1. Storm
2. Eagles
3. Cowboys
4. Eels
5. Warriors
6. Bulldogs
7. Souths
8. Tigers

 

[JW]

That'll probably be it Tax Man.

I think we're odds on to finish 9th.

Beat Parramatta and we could move to 5th if other results work in our favour. Lose and we'll be soley relying on Newcastle to dispose of Wests, which is obviously less than ideal, lol.

 

[gong_eagle]

1. Storm
2. Sea Eagles
3. Cowboys
4. Bulldogs
5. Eels
6. Warriors
7. Tigers
8. Souths