What chance the 8?

[Manu Vatuvei]

I see plenty of things every week to suggest we should be carving up, but there's a major lack of intensity across the board. Are the players actually fit? Seems to be a lot of guys running in quicksand.

 

[mikeob]

Not going to make the 8 this year but next year when Bluey is out of his NRL apprenticeship it will be a different story.

 

[ozbash]

Team of individual champions, no defensive structure whatsoever, and a raging inability to concentrate for 80 minutes. Sure signs of a team with a load of NYC talent. To me, tonight just says to me in 2 years time we'll have a sweet team, but be too inconsistent due to inexperience to do anything sustained in the meantime.

Youth and lack of experience.

We'll make the 8.

 

[Blair]

Playing Manly in Perth will help us (bar travel). An upset win there and that's two points we probably wouldn't have got at Brookie. In the end we'll only scrape in by a couple of points!

Who doesn't feel confident after such a good day today?

 

[vvvrulz]

We've got all the weapons but we can't keep falling asleep in the second half like we are almost every week. I think we'll scrape the eight but don't see us going anywhere beyond that.

 

[Brando]

Worried about playing in Perth. Kick off over there will feel like midnight to the boys.

 

[Blair]

Worried about playing in Perth. Kick off over there will feel like midnight to the boys.

It's not ideal but there should be a fair bit of Kiwi support. We play the previous Sat and this game's on Sat, so it's not too bad. Look, I'd rather play them there than at Brookvale.

I'm more concerned with the Cowboys situation, where we might have to beat them to jump over them on the table. Yet, have we ever beaten them in Townsville (or anywhere we've played them in FNQ)?

 

[LeagueNut]

Interesting to look at some history here...

After Round 17:

2012 - 9th

2011 - 9th (eventually finish 6th)

2010 - 8th (eventually finish 5th)

2009 - let's just pretend that year didn't happen

2008 - 13th (eventually finish 8th)

2007 - 11th (eventually finish 4th)

Our form at the moment doesn't fill me with confidence, but the pretty consistent pattern of late season charges does.

 

[Benek]

Worried about playing in Perth. Kick off over there will feel like midnight to the boys.

Extremely good point. Every time we play late games away from home where it feels like 11 or 12 to the guys they always look extremely flat and tired and lose badly. And of course they do! Who can perform at their best at midnight?

I would not be surprised if we look like we didn't even show up to play for that game. The timezone difference is a huge disadvantage for the Warriors that rarely gets a mention but seems obvious to me.

 

[Penrose Warrior]

It's not ideal but there should be a fair bit of Kiwi support. We play the previous Sat and this game's on Sat, so it's not too bad. Look, I'd rather play them there than at Brookvale.

I'm more concerned with the Cowboys situation, where we might have to beat them to jump over them on the table. Yet, have we ever beaten them in Townsville (or anywhere we've played them in FNQ)?

Last beat them there in 2002. Lance Hohaia's debut, if that hits home for ya.

The Perth game will definitely be detrimental in terms of body clocks, but remember Manly will be out of theirs as well - and they never have to deal with that (apart from one game a season over here)..do they not? Whereas we do it regularly.

 

[Akkerz]

Take them over earlier & do the training in Perth.

Today was a better effort but the intensity/ hunger still seems to be missing.
I don't think we are going too far above the 8 this year. They have had some lucky breaks in the past & have just scraped into the playoffs, doubt they can rely on that as a team tactic.

 

[hitman82]

Interesting to look at some history here...

After Round 17:

2012 - 9th

2011 - 9th (eventually finish 6th)

2010 - 8th (eventually finish 5th)

2009 - let's just pretend that year didn't happen

2008 - 13th (eventually finish 8th)

2007 - 11th (eventually finish 4th)

Our form at the moment doesn't fill me with confidence, but the pretty consistent pattern of late season charges does.

I'm a fan of patterns and such, but I also wonder how much of a role Ivan Cleary played in preparing us for those late season charges. He started in 2006, the year before the pattern began.

Also, the current state of the Top 8 is a bit different to recent seasons. 5-8 aren't as vulnerable as they have been in the past.

 

[Brando]

Manly will be out of theirs as well - and they never have to deal with that (apart from one game a season over here)..do they not? Whereas we do it regularly.

Fair Point!

 

[Blair]

Yes, there is an 'issue' with time-zones for us, however it's not like flying to London or Paris to play. It's two hours and we should be getting used to it by now (after 17 years).

Furthermore, if WA get a team up (and it looks like they will - how could the NRL resist all that mining dough?) then we'd better accept that five hour difference.

I'm hoping for this Perth clash with Manly we'll fly in mid-week. It'll give the Kiwis over there some quality time with them. It's a forerunner to the future anyway.

Can you imagine being a life-long league fan (or union fan) and living in Perth/WA? Thousands of migrants from NZ, Qld, NSW, Southern Africa, UK, the Pacific Islands, Ireland, etc have done it for years. I assume many just follow AFL because it's so prevelant.

 

[jamaman]

50/50