8th spot is there for the taking.

@innsaneink said:
I don't think he said it would be easy

To play a team of the Bulldogs quality and only get beaten by the margin we did,shows how far this team has developed…credit must go to JT and the coaching staff,the defensive structures are starting to work,however there is a way to go...if this was the team of old we would have had 50 put on us by such a huge quality team and score bugger all.......
 
Last night we played great given our squad

The games that hurt our top 8 chances are
- Loosing to Knights - only ones to do so
- Getting Flogged by Raiders not the loss so much but the F/A
- Missing 2 FGs at Leichardt either of which beat the storm

Those 3 matches will cost us a finals birth imo and in fact if we win 2 and other a close loss then we are in top 8 now
 
@Boonboon2 said:
Last night we played great given our squad

The games that hurt our top 8 chances are
- Loosing to Knights - only ones to do so
- Getting Flogged by Raiders not the loss so much but the F/A
- Missing 2 FGs at Leichardt either of which beat the storm

Those 3 matches will cost us a finals birth imo and in fact if we win 2 and other a close loss then we are in top 8 now

We have a decent run home. If we make 100% effort each week, we'll come close.
 
@TrueTiger said:
@innsaneink said:
I don't think he said it would be easy

To play a team of the Bulldogs quality and only get beaten by the margin we did,shows how far this team has developed…credit must go to JT and the coaching staff,the defensive structures are starting to work,however there is a way to go...if this was the team of old we would have had 50 put on us by such a huge quality team and score bugger all.......

We were very good with ball in hand, and our kick chase was pretty decent for the most part. We copped a couple of bad bounces (eg Brooks kick going dead, Perret's staying in) which cost us a couple of sets late on - pure bad luck IMO.

That said, credit for the defensive structures? Not for me. We have the second worst defence in the competition. Conceded 32 points last night, and it could have been 10-15 more if not for some superb scrambling.
Our attitude and work ethic in defence is great, evidenced by the scrambling, but the structures are garbage. Teams get outside us at will and will continue to do so.
 
@TrueTiger said:
@innsaneink said:
I don't think he said it would be easy

To play a team of the Bulldogs quality and only get beaten by the margin we did,shows how far this team has developed…credit must go to JT and the coaching staff,the defensive structures are starting to work,however there is a way to go...if this was the team of old we would have had 50 put on us by such a huge quality team and score bugger all.......

What real evidence is there that the defensive structures are starting to work??

For me that is just rubbish.

We can praise the team in plenty of different areas this year, but that would not be one of them for mine.

Racing out of the line defensive structure has not worked for me.
 
@ricksen said:
@TrueTiger said:
@innsaneink said:
I don't think he said it would be easy

To play a team of the Bulldogs quality and only get beaten by the margin we did,shows how far this team has developed…credit must go to JT and the coaching staff,the defensive structures are starting to work,however there is a way to go...if this was the team of old we would have had 50 put on us by such a huge quality team and score bugger all.......

We were very good with ball in hand, and our kick chase was pretty decent for the most part. We copped a couple of bad bounces (eg Brooks kick going dead, Perret's staying in) which cost us a couple of sets late on - pure bad luck IMO.

That said, credit for the defensive structures? Not for me. We have the second worst defence in the competition. Conceded 32 points last night, and it could have been 10-15 more if not for some superb scrambling.
Our attitude and work ethic in defence is great, evidenced by the scrambling, but the structures are garbage. Teams get outside us at will and will continue to do so.

Correct Ricksen.
We might get away with scrambling like headless chooks against teams on a par with us….extreme effort is tiring, until we defend with capable composure we will run out of gas at the back end
 
@Eddie said:
@TrueTiger said:
@innsaneink said:
I don't think he said it would be easy

To play a team of the Bulldogs quality and only get beaten by the margin we did,shows how far this team has developed…credit must go to JT and the coaching staff,the defensive structures are starting to work,however there is a way to go...if this was the team of old we would have had 50 put on us by such a huge quality team and score bugger all.......

What real evidence is there that the defensive structures are starting to work??

For me that is just rubbish.

We can praise the team in plenty of different areas this year, but that would not be one of them for mine.

Racing out of the line defensive structure has not worked for me.

Sign some quality players and the structures and defence will look after themselves .
 
Seriously… We aren't a top 8 team.
Finals footy is a couple of rungs above competition round footy, and we are only just competing here.
We'd be cannon fodder if we fell. Into the 8
 
@innsaneink said:
Seriously… We aren't a top 8 team.
Finals footy is a couple of rungs above competition round footy, and we are only just competing here.
We'd be cannon fodder if we fell. Into the 8

To be fair, it's a pretty poor (or too heavy) comp this year - 3 or 4 of the teams that eventually make it will be cannon fodder.
Your earlier point on scrambling is spot on. We got away with it last week, but it's not a strategy that's going to work in the medium term, let alone long term.
 
When we are on in attack, we look like a Top 4 team. But unfortunately most of the time in defence we look like a bottom 4 team and thats the reason we are where we are on the ladder. But i have to say on a positive not, we are looking better as a team and im starting to enjoy watching us play on the weekend. We are either winning or just losing so hopefully more consistent success is not far away. The only thing not improving is our right side defence and unfortunately we were found out again and probably cost us the game.
 
Ill say it again these are the teams we are to beat home .

Penrith - Playing poorly and we get to play them again in Round 24

Dragons - playing poorly and we play them next week

Gold Coast - Battling away but not world beaters. We play them at Cotwn

We can do it if we keep a full strength side. However we would need to beat all 3 of these teams. Something teels me we will fall 1 game short. Newcastle loss very costly.

I can see a similar finish to 2009 on the cards. I think we might make a sneaky late charge.
 
Our destiny is in our own hands. If we beat these teams and go on a run we will sneak in, if we cant beat them then we dont deserve to be in the 8\. Go the mighty tigers!!!
 
Penrith are a weird team - they really could have had a good crack at the top four this season had they kept both Segeyaro and Soward. Hell, even with their current squad they should be doing a lot better IMO.
 
@innsaneink said:
Seriously… We aren't a top 8 team.
Finals footy is a couple of rungs above competition round footy, and we are only just competing here.
We'd be cannon fodder if we fell. Into the 8

Even so, falling into the 8 and copping a thumping would not be the worst thing to happen to this squad.
 
@ricksen said:
Penrith are a weird team - they really could have had a good crack at the top four this season had they kept both Segeyaro and Soward. Hell, even with their current squad they should be doing a lot better IMO.

What's the problem at Penrith?
Was it the massive clean out. Luke Lewis ripped them a new one.
Or is it Gould ?
Why let all your experienced players go.
 
Have a look at the table after Wests Tigers receive their bye points. We will be hot on the heels of the top 8 if we can defeat Dragons in our next match which will be held at ANZ. After that we play Eels also at ANZ. These two matches will go a very long way to deciding whether we make the top 8\. A lot will also depend upon our supporters, a big Wests Tigers support crowd at each of these two matches would be fantastic.
 
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