Week 2 finals Eels v Souths at Bankwest (and team list)

[Gronk]

Lets discuss BA future once the season has finished ffs.

Yeah Souths beat Lnights easy but Titans beat them by 30 the week before.
Bulldogs also beat Souths who where playing for a home final at the time.

Some of you guys are pussies on here. I do not fear South Sydney.

Souths appear to be the form side right now, but can they play their fast feet game against relentless defence that hit and stick ?

We only need 51% of possession to beat them IMO. Possession is a an odd thing and is often spoken of like it is a random thing which occurs in a game organically and is out of our control. Clearly that is not the case and a high possession stat comes from finishing your sets past the halfway line and forcing them to start their sets deep inside their half. Low errors and high completion rate and good line speed.

We have that game in us, but we’ll need to be the best we can be. Which is fair enough because if you are not playing at your best, you don’t deserve to play in the GF qualifier.

 

[IFR33K]

Souths appear to be the form side right now, but can they play their fast feet game against relentless defence that hit and stick ?

We only need 51% of possession to beat them IMO. Possession is a an odd thing and is often spoken of like it is a random thing which occurs in a game organically and is put of our control. Clearly that is not the case and a high possession stat comes from finishing your sets past the halfway line and forcing them to start their sets deep inside their half. Low errors and high completion rate and good line speed.

We have that game in us, but we’ll need to be the best we can be. Which is fair enough because if you are not playing at your best, you don’t deserve to play in the GF qualifier.

Only 51%? What happens if we get 50%?

 

[Gronk]

Only 51%? What happens if we get 50%?

We don’t get the chocolates and we can enjoy a full off season of merkins on here wanting the coach, staff, team list and GM Football sacked.

 

[Tooooks]

I've been watching the game since 1977, seen plenty come and go but one coach that instantly springs to mind is Brian Smith. By all reports from players and other coaches the most methodical tactician ever. He used to exploit the opposition weaknesses and dismantle them with players that stuck to the plan and not necessarily with superstars. It's a modern day tragedy that he never won a comp but getting to 4 grand finals still is a massive achievement.

Arthur is all about effort and completions. Sadly he doesn't get it and appears to have a football brain (at least to me) that is average at best. All year we have had problems on our left edge ( a well-documented fact by all) and everytime the opposition attacks there I panic. What has he done to rectify it? Nothing. Sweet f**k all. The same players get picked again and again. He is very similar to Paul McGregor and like him, I think he will be sacked prematurely.

Thanks for articulating what you meant so well. I can’t disagree.

 

[Avenger]

Thanks for articulating what you meant so well. I can’t disagree.

I however hope I’m wrong as being vindicated on a board is nowhere near as good as being proven wrong by your team winning.

The Souths game will show us how BA has evolved as a coach because there are many weaknesses in that side that are there to be exploited. A team like the Storm or Canberra would easily dismantle that side. Not so sure about the Roosters as their fierce rivalry and hatred towards each other always come into play and I think the Roosters are regressing as a side.

 

[84 Baby]

Just man mark Walker knowing as soon as Cook passes it’s going to Walker. And then run relentlessly at him when we have the ball.

 

[Incorrect]

I don't think we'll see any major surprises when the team is named on TLT. Gennings replacing Sivo and Fergo to be named. Taka to the centres and Blake pushed to wing if Fergo succumbs to injury later in the week.

I'll be staggered if BA takes a punt on Dunster or Salmon, but I wouldn't be against it. Much easier for Souffs to prepare for a team with the usual suspects than a couple of newbies/recent absentees... Might as well throw a few curveballs at them...

 

[Gronk]

Did anyone get tickets? Ticketek are saying not enough tix for me in every category.

 

[emjaycee]

Did anyone get tickets? Ticketek are saying not enough tix for me in every category.

Split your group

 

[Twizzle]

you can have mine, I keep getting txts

 

[Kornstar]

Did anyone get tickets? Ticketek are saying not enough tix for me in every category.

I got them.....finally. It is f**king stupid. Once you make your selection ONE, TWO, THREE etc. that locks you in to 3 tickets for example and then you choose 1, not 3 in the options. 1 will get you 3 in my example.

It is f**king dumb!!!

 

[TheParraboy]

Did anyone get tickets? Ticketek are saying not enough tix for me in every category.

I purchased 3 tickets, no problem, this was an hour ago, soon after we were able to buy

 

[IFR33K]

Big game this one. So far under BA we’ve never produced anything remotely good enough for the second week of the finals.

a win Will result in this season being deemed successful IMO. A Loss should have everyone asking questions of our coaching structure.

 

[Soren Lorenson]

Tried to get 8 but no luck. Will watch with my seven mates from a lounge.

 

[84 Baby]

I’ve got a surplus 8000 tickets if anyone wants one

 

[Poupou Escobar]

Panthers have one origin player from last years series. The Storm have 3 (one of them only played the third game). It’s incredibly lazy to measure a teams ability solely by the number of origin players they have.

It is a blunt instrument, for sure. But three is 300% of one.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

Pou is never lazy, just comes up with some absolute BS when he is getting desperate to have win every single argument on LU.

The roster was fine when we were playing well earlier in the year and Bea Arthur had done the most amazing job putting it together now when the team struggled it was never good enough in the first place......

I tipped us to finish sixth, so the roster is decent. It's just not the best.

 

[murraymob]

About as many hypothetical Origin players as we have if you ask our unicorn fans. The problem is hypothetical Origin matches don't provide big game experience for finals time. Arthur described us as dumb last night, and in the context of rugby league, dumb is another way of saying inexperienced. Just like how the Panthers dropped their bundle and scraped home against a busted Roosters side with no dummy half.

But yet they still won

 

[Avenger]

Did anyone get tickets? Ticketek are saying not enough tix for me in every category.

I just bought mine. I was allowed to buy 3 in sequence. Category 1.

 

[Avenger]

I got them.....finally. It is f**king stupid. Once you make your selection ONE, TWO, THREE etc. that locks you in to 3 tickets for example and then you choose 1, not 3 in the options. 1 will get you 3 in my example.

It is f**king dumb!!!

I agree. It was very confusing.