NRL Thread (2 Viewers)

[matt#1]

Its called a joke....

Putting money on the Roosters ti get the wooden spoon would be very risky. You would be better off putting all the money you would have put on them for the wooden spoon on them winning the comp this year. Im predicting they will easily take out the Premiership this year, they've bought that many good players on top of the ones they already had they cant possibly lose....

I can't believe it...you actually made a comment that was not sharks-biased. The only explanation for that is that your a rorters supporter now, right?

 

[Jiga]

Ah no, Ive stated b4 I will mention other sides when its required....as it was. In every other situation, as a SUPPORTER of the sharks, I will talk about them...simple

 

[Bobcat]

I think the 2005 Premiership will pan out like this

ha...lol...yeh...

 

[copious]

Look at the Cowgirls team to play the sharks in the nxt trial, geez, thats a VERY strong side

Toyota Cowboys
1 Matt Bowen
2 Brenton Bowen
3 Josh Hannay
4 Paul Bowman
5 Matt Sing
6 David Myles
7 Chris Sheppard
8 Paul Rauhihi ©
9 Aaron Payne
10 Shane Tronc
11 Steve Southern
12 Carl Webb
13 Luke O'Donnell
Bench
14 Johnathan Thurston
15 Rod Jensen
16 Leigh McWilliams
17 Justin Smith
18 Mitchell Sargent

they are gonna be up there there this season. but will miss the veteran leadership of kevin campion.

 

[M | |< E]

The Roosters still have a good side but I don't think they'll make the grand final this year. My bet would be the Dragons v the Bulldogs but anything can happen. Depending on how the Cowboys recruit this year I reckon they could be a strong top 4 contender next year and definitely push for the premiership next year.

Meanwhile Melbourne will be the best offensive side this year while the Dragons will be the best defensive side.

 

[snickerdoodle]

The Roosters still have a good side but I don't think they'll make the grand final this year. My bet would be the Dragons v the Bulldogs but anything can happen. Depending on how the Cowboys recruit this year I reckon they could be a strong top 4 contender next year and definitely push for the premiership next year.

Meanwhile Melbourne will be the best offensive side this year while the Dragons will be the best defensive side.

I agree with the first bit. But I think that the Cowboys will be the best defensive and the Dragons or Bulldogs will be the best offensive. I'm tipping that the Raiders will get the spoon this year...key players are gone and recruitment hasn't been good at all. I'm actually hoping the Sea Eagles make the eight. They were playing well near the end of last season and I think it would be interesting to see them in a final series.

 

[copious]

The dark horse of this season will be the Warriors. They have recruited strongly, bringing in experience that was missing last year from the departures of Cleary and Campion, who coincidently took them to the finals. Now they are both back in the coaching ranks of the warriors, along with veterans price and wiki, and the playoff experience of byrne and fien. Rumour was that Sterlo has joined the Warriors to be a tech consultant, dunno if that was fully true or not.

 

[M | |< E]

I reckon the Warriors will go very well this year. The Eels, the Warriors and the Sea Eagles all have promising line ups, in my opinion these 3 clubs will definitely have a chance at grabbing a finals spot this year but it will all come down to committment. It'll be interesting to see how new coaches Tony Kemp and Des Hasler go this year, both are heading into their 2nd year of coaching. Although these coaches are new Ive heard many great things about the management of both clubs and this will certainly help in some way.

 

[ohwhenthesaints]

I agree that the Warriors could do very well this year. Experienced leaders like Price and Wiki are what they needed, and they've got that much talent that they really are capable of anything. Bloody unpredictable though, but I'm expecting definitely top 8 and depending on consistency and injuries pushing for a top 4 spot.

Rorters its hard to say... I'm certainly not giving them the premiership just yet. There's alot of question marks about the side... how will they cope without Fittler... will any of the backline actually be able to tackle... will the disappointment of 2 grand final losses disappoint them etc etc.

Their backline is extremely talented but there is certainly a defensive weakness there, so that will be interesting. I think they have enough talent and experience to bounce back from the disappointment. As for Fittler's leadership, well we can only wait and see. The reason I'm predicting the Rorters to be right up there again... is Brett Firman. The guy is a deadset superstar, I rate him very highly. This year if he manages to stay injury free he will cement himself as one of the best halfbacks in the game. He carried us in 2003, and that was behind a regularly beaten forward pack. Look at the Rorters forward pack, the attacking ability of the backline and the playmakers to comopliment his deficiencies (Finch, Wing, Soward) and for mine that is why both and they will have a very big season.

P.s. Hope they get busted for cheating the cap or a lower tier cap is brought in to stop their cheating ways. Hope they miss the 8 but realistically wil be very competitive again this year.

 

[Squeak69]

GO THE KNIGHTS !!!!!

 

[Jiga]

they are gonna be up there there this season. but will miss the veteran leadership of kevin campion.

They will miss him but I see big things for the Cowgirls this year. That side I showed above isnt even full strength! Theres still Williams and Norton who have been left out The only issue for them is depth, to me theyve got a great 17 man run on side but there isnt to much behind that (in the backline at least). This also goes for Parra, but abit worse. They have a gun 13 man run on side but their bench isnt that good and depth wise it just gets worse. Its all good if they dont have injuries throughout the season, but a major injury to a key player like Hindmarsh etc could minimise their impact on the league

The dark horse of this season will be the Warriors

Im not quite sure if there they r the dark horse, but they will go better this year. They are going to have the/one of the best forward packs in the league thats for sure, its just a matter of whether their backs can finish it off once in good field position.

The guy is a deadset superstar, I rate him very highly. This year if he manages to stay injury free he will cement himself as one of the best halfbacks in the game

Firman is a great player...yeah right. I think your going abit out there saying he will be one of the best halfbacks in the game when you've already got players like Sherwin, Kimmorley, Finch and Johns who have already proven themselves. Firman was that good he was dropped from 1st grade at St George - yes he was injured, but such a great player should have made it back in n e way.

 

[matt#1]

Firman is a great player...yeah right. I think your going abit out there saying he will be one of the best halfbacks in the game when you've already got players like Sherwin, Kimmorley, Finch and Johns who have already proven themselves.

There was a time when Johnsy and the other halfbacks mentioned above had not proven themselves...but that didn't mean that they were not to become great players. I think that ohwhenthesaints meant to say that Firman definitely has the potential to be a great halfback...and from what i've seen of him, there is no reason why he cannot be one of the great halfbacks in the game. This year at the Roosters, he will have a perfect opportunity to prove himself.

 

[Jiga]

St George knew how good he was to, Head or Firman - Who did they choose again?

 

[matt#1]

St George knew how good he was to, Head or Firman - Who did they choose again?

Matthew Head proved himself after Firman got injured...so they just stuck with him I guess.

 

[Constip8edSkunk]

theyre both very good halfbacks, and while ppl were praising firman as the next big thing pre-origin last yr, there was no way the dragons was gonna drop head with the form that he was in after firman got injured. Theres even less chance that they'll drop barrett... so where would you fit firman into the team? pretty unlucky for him, but i remember reading that if firman hadnt been injured, head would have looked for a new club...

as for the roosters backs, yeah, theres a few defensive worries, especially now that fitler's left(hodges was pretty good defensively too despite his retardedness... still was glad that he left tho) but they generally improve once they come to the roosters... eg. chris walker is alot better now than he was at broncos and souths.

 

[ohwhenthesaints]

Yeah I guess I could have worded it better.

I just think he will have a huge year and really dominate and be a standout. You yourself put Finch in a category with Johns, Sherwin and Scummorley. I'd say thats mostly on the back of last year... before that he hadn't really done much. And he has been moved to 5/8 for Firman...

As for Head v Firman, well I'm still not entirely convinced we made the right choice. Firman IMO has more potential to be one of the best halfbacks, and will almost definitely play rep football. Head is a very different style of halfback, however I have become more and more convinced that he is the right choice for St George. The key to this is Santa staying on the field. Barrett and Head's games compliment each other, and with limited time together they were already developing a good combination. Firman and Barrett on the other hand, have very similar games and I'm starting to believe Head is the right choice. If Barrett gets injured again though (highly likely) we're really gonna miss Firman.

In reality I guess we were always going to choose Head, even though its not what I wanted at the time. Head was the one on the field putting in good performance week after week whereas Firman was just another name on our already long enough injury list. Add to that Head is a 'local junior'. We wanted to keep Firman as possibly a hooker and make them fight for the halfback spot but he said halfback or nothing, so we released him. Wouldn't be surprised if it turns out to be similar to the Amos Roberts situation.

Speaking of halfbacks, IMO a very talented and underrated half is Dean Byrne.... Although I guess that sounds funny to most considering he can't even make FG at Souths...

 

[ohwhenthesaints]

Only 12 hours until gates open!

FUCK ME FIRE UP!!!

 

[Bobcat]

The begining is so close....i can smell a win...

 

[FlawlessBassist]

Go the Bunnies, ill be cheering them on tonight, St george are going to get smashed...lol

 

[mizz_smee]

is that the match that is on at gosford tonight???
i hope people don't go coz of the rain and lightning
im going to troppo and want a half decent spot.