Will we make the Finals 2013?

[DavidBouveng]

Agree


It's time to bring all this to a head.
Those players last week showed to me they had lost faith in the so called game plan. They were individualals.

Also the comment from Carty saying we are not a high profile team is just as disturbing. But it is easier to lower
expectations then to raise your standards.

We have no chance IMO. And even if we do, we are so friggin boring to watch who would care???

That comment was ironic to me, because he was saying that if we were high profile the Ref blunders would be front page. but if we were high profile, he wouldnt have lasted as our coach past 2011.

Our low profile keeps him in a job.

Also, we finally get a game on a Friday night and that was we show the league world?

[Toads]

I have watched all games this weekend and by far we are the most boring to watch, and watching the games even the teams that lost didnt play as bad as we did, atm i think we would struggle to beat the tigers who basically have a NSW cup side on the field, i have a feeling we will get rolled this weekend by the eels.

I am expecting a long and frustrating rest of season, its even hard to pick out positives from all this all tho i am trying to.

You only have to watch a handful of other games each weekend 'n you see how boring we are. Admittedly, we did show a lot of promise in the first few Rounds. But for reason/s unknown to me. That has all gone south since, and there's very little signs of improvement in the near future.

[karnage]

You only have to watch a handful of other games each weekend 'n you see how boring we are. Admittedly, we did show a lot of promise in the first few Rounds. But for reason/s unknown to me. That has all gone south since, and there's very little signs of improvement in the near future.

I disagree. It was obvious to me from Round 1 that we were not any different from previous years.

I had a fairly substantial wager on the Titans at the start of the season to miss the top 8, and I haven't seen anything to tell me that this was a poor bet. My only mistake was betting too early - I probably could have got set at much better odds after we beat Manly...

[TITAN FAN]

With origin approaching and Falloon and Mead out who have been two of our best this year its not looking to promising

[karnage]

Right now there are two teams* outside the 8 that look like genuine finals contenders - the BULLDOGS and the RAIDERS.

The Raiders have a lot of home games to come and they showed on Saturday night versus the Sea Eagles that they are a quality side.

The BULLDOGS are too good to ignore now that KASIANO, JAMES and BARBA are back to playing good football.

The three teams in the eight that look the most vulnerable are the PANTHERS, BRONCOS and (unfortunately given our schedule over the last 8 weeks of the competition) the TITANS.

So I have two coming into the 8 and I think the two dropping out will come from the three mentioned. The Panthers will be one so our finals hopes rest on getting the better of the Broncos in the run home.

(*NOTE: I have left the Cowboys out of my top 8 equation - losing to the Warriors and Tigers has cruelled their chances given that they lose their entire front row and their halfback during the Origin period.)

[DIEHARD]

Right now there are two teams* outside the 8 that look like genuine finals contenders - the BULLDOGS and the RAIDERS.

The Raiders have a lot of home games to come and they showed on Saturday night versus the Sea Eagles that they are a quality side.

The BULLDOGS are too good to ignore now that KASIANO, JAMES and BARBA are back to playing good football.

The three teams in the eight that look the most vulnerable are the PANTHERS, BRONCOS and (unfortunately given our schedule over the last 8 weeks of the competition) the TITANS.

So I have two coming into the 8 and I think the two dropping out will come from the three mentioned. The Panthers will be one so our finals hopes rest on getting the better of the Broncos in the run home.

(*NOTE: I have left the Cowboys out of my top 8 equation - losing to the Warriors and Tigers has cruelled their chances given that they lose their entire front row and their halfback during the Origin period.)

Very good analysis Karnage, I agree. Let's see how it unfolds. How does the Broncos run home look?

[Geeman]

Very good analysis Karnage, I agree. Let's see how it unfolds. How does the Broncos run home look?

Looks like they get a decent run home, Rd17 against Storm(at AAMI), none against Souths, Manly or Roosters, and Bulldogs at Suncorp for the final round.

[Titanic]

They'll be carrying Prince by then.

[karnage]

Well since my original post the Sharks have forced their way into the 8 also. Completely forgot about them. They have been given a huge boost by the non selection of Carney and Wade Graham.

I think their is going to be a lot of battling to do over spots 5-8.

[Noddy1979]

I can't see us making the eight because of one factor (Consistancy). I hope I'm proved wrong but when you can't have confidence from week to week that's a problem.

[Smakked]

yeah i am no where near convinced after beating Parra, come back to me when we knock of a full strength Rabbitohs , Storm, Bulldogs, Manly and Sharks.

[karnage]

yeah i am no where near convinced after beating Parra, come back to me when we knock of a full strength Rabbitohs , Storm, Bulldogs, Manly and Sharks.

I don't really buy into that idea. The Parramatta win was against a bad team but there is no doubt that it was our best performance in a long time. At least the equal of the win against Manly.

Penrith have beaten the storm and were narrowly defeated by the Rabbits but I don't see them as any sort of premiership contender. At this stage, the style of footy we play is more important to me than results. If we can play with the sort of fluency that we displayed in the second half against Parramatta a lot of people (myself included) are going to be a lot happier than grinding out dour wins like the one we got against the Dragons.

[C-Whiz]

I don't really buy into that idea. The Parramatta win was against a bad team but there is no doubt that it was our best performance in a long time.

The Parra game showed we have the natural ability to score points. The ability to break a club record when Cartwright doesn't give them a game plan to play to.

With all due respect Karnage, I hope you did your doe betting against the Titans, but you are betting on poor coaching, not team quality.

What a sorry state for a team, a club, and it's fans to find themselves in.

[karnage]

The Parra game showed we have the natural ability to score points. The ability to break a club record when Cartwright doesn't give them a game plan to play to.

With all due respect Karnage, I hope you did your doe betting against the Titans, but you are betting on poor coaching, not team quality.

What a sorry state for a team, a club, and it's fans to find themselves in.

I bet a lot more than the average person so the Titans to miss the Top 8 is just another bet to me. A little bit of win-win really mate. If we make the finals I'll be the first guy on a plane to anywhere to watch the game. If we don't, I collect.

So don't take my bet as any sort of commentary on the team, it was just a matter of the team being what I perceived to be 'over the odds'.

But what you say is spot on about the quality of the team. My old man came back from a 6-week overseas holiday and we were talking about our team and he kept coming back to where we would be if we had Trent Robinson (the new Easts coach) and they had John Cartwright. Our team is every bit as good as the Roosters, so I put it to anybody that we would be a top 4 moral if he was in charge of our side.

But.....

I've said I will no longer bag Carty on here so you're bringing out the worst in me!!!

I haven't given up hope we will make it, however I fear the last 2 months of the season are going to be dreary.

[Titanic]

I have read opinions on here for years and the whole forum group as become a part of my life, thanks for the camaraderie. The debate around coaching is hardly a knee-jerk reaction to a few poor results. We have endured a wooden spoon and below par performances for years. The whole process of team development and its link to performance is way out of kilter ... for years fellas, years.