Contenders and Pretenders - Halfway Mark

So we are halfway through the season and we've had one of the most eventful years so far IMO. What's your assessment of the comp, the teams, the refs and what ever else you feel the need to carry on about.

Current Ladder

1\. Dragons
2\. Panthers
3\. Sea Eagles
4\. Rabbitohs
5\. **Tigers**
6\. Titans
7\. Broncos
8\. Eels
–--------------------------
9\. Roosters
10\. Raiders
11\. Warriors
12\. Knights
13\. Sharks
14\. Bulldogs
15\. Cowboys
16\. Storm

**Dragons: 9/10** These blokes are like a well oiled machine! They play smart and very disciplined! Their halves control the game and Hornby has been playing great imo. Boyd has been for me, the best player so far this season! He's everywhere and if anything happens to him i think the Dragons will loose quite a bit of strike power. That said, I still don't know about their ability to play catch up footy! They've lost 3 games this year and each time they trailed each game at half-time... whereas all the games they've won... they've led at half-time.

**Panthers: 9/10** Every week I wait for them to come back to reality but they just keep going! Probably playing out of their skin, but so did the Dogs last season (although they had an absolute dream draw last year). Weather or not they can go the distance... I still don't know, but they are playing some very smart and great footy! Unlike the Dragons, they've shown they can win a game from anywhere.

**Sea Eagles: 6/10** Their position flatters them massively! To be honest I don't really see how they've managed to get into the position they are in. A solid side but have been very unimpressive in some games, particularly given the strength in their forward pack and outside backs.

**Rabbitohs: 6/10** See above comments... also how they are under the cap is beyond me! Sam Burgess on 150k... you must be kidding! God I hate this team...

**Tigers: 7/10** We've shown some brilliant passages of footy this year and some of the best footy I've seen in years! Marshall has matured and for the first time in a very long time our forwards are looking strong and imposing themselves on other sides! No doubt we have an amazing side, but the 4 games we lost brought back some horrible traits from years gone by and the suspicion that not much has changed. I think we have what it takes and as long as we stay injury free in the halves, we can build upon every game and stabilize our game.

**Titans: 7/10** The Titans have suprised me abit this year, there was no denying the quality of their side, but i had questions on what would happen if injury struck. Injury did come and they kept up their winning ways. Still looking shakey away from home, but much improved on seasons gone-by.

**Broncos: 5/10** Had an abysmal start to the season but have since had a huge change in form and key players return from injury. Lockyer, while brilliant for QLD seems to be pretty hot and cold for the Broncos. I don't think they'll have the legs to make the finals and another slump in form is around the corner.

**Eels: 5/10** OVER-RATED! Hayne isn't the world beater he is made out to be, Moi Moi is easily handled now-a-days and they've got an aging pack and terrible halves. WON'T be there finals time...

**Roosters: 5/10** Start the season well, but reminds of the Tigers in past season. They have the ability to turn it on and bit anyone... but are plagued by silly mistakes and at times very questionable defense. Anything could happen with these guys and I think they'll sneak in.

**Raiders: 4/10** Some stand-outs in the side, but they've got some serious issues when it comes to depth and discipline. For mine they are under-performing and have good enough talent spread across the field to cause a few teams some headaches but just don't... Probably lack a decent dummy half...

**Warriors: 6/10** Suffering a few injuries at the moment and throughout the season which hasn't helped, but given the side they have, I think they've performed well. Don't have the personnel to make the eight though. Brought very well for next season so far though, so they'll use this year as a building block.

**Knights: 3/10** Disappointing... not sure what else to say really.

**Sharks: 2/10** Probably the worst side i have seen in quite some time... Dull... dull.... DULLLL. Smith's inclusion will bring some moments of brilliance, but for every moment... there will be 8 brain explosions.

**Dogs: 0/10** Got a dream draw last season and punched above their weight. They, like the Sharks are a terrible side! Will come last (or second last) this season imo. Dud forwards and a half and dummy half without an ounce of creativity....

**Cowboys: 2/10** What a side.... why don't they win? Injury seems to have hurt these guys alot in seasons gone-by. Looked good against Manly and should have won... they had the big 3 back and I thought they would start to show what they can do.... Against Souths last night... they were TERRIBLE!

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**Refs:** They've been terrible and probably the worst I have seen. Poor calls in almost every part of the game. Several refs have already spent time on the side-lines for their performances and have cost quite a few sides games already. I do think though the game has over complicated rulings and basic rules which doesn't make things easy. Something needs to be done ASAP!

**Top Eight Season End**

I think we can put a big cross through a few sides really... Cowboys, Dogs, Canberra, Warriors, Knights and Sharks. Which only leaves 9 teams for 8 spots... If history is anything to go by, only 2 sides missed the eight last year who were inside the 8 come the halfway mark. Roosters and Eels will fight out the final spot in the eight and a late surge from any of the above sides could put pressure on the Bronco's imo. Realistically there are 6 sides who are leaps and bounds above the rest.

1\. Dragons
2\. Panthers
3\. Tigers
4\. Rabbitohs
5\. Sea Eagles
6\. Titans
7\. Broncos
8\. Roosters
 
u only give the Rabbits 6 and us 7?

i would have put it the other way around and even given the Rabbits 8… i think between them and Penrith are the biggest improvers of the lot

nothing better to see the cowgirls stuggling
 
I think you've under rated the Broncos too. As much as i hate to say it.
With their young side I think they'll only get better.(Unless Lockyer & thaiday get injured).
Otherwise a fair assessment.
And the more souths win the more I hate em.Particularly with the Burgess thing.
 
I think you have underrated both Souths and the Broncos. The Broncos young players are now looking confident and comfortable, they've got some strikepower out wide and their forward pack while not the strongest in the comp, is pretty consistent and Lockyer and Wallace in the halves offer good direction and a good kicking game.

Souths are now rolling forward well up the middle of the field and Isaac Luke is thriving playing behind a monster forward pack. When guys like Burgess and Taylor take 3 blokes to put them down, Luke tends to scoot out from dummyhalf and he leads the comp in dummyhalf linebreaks this season. Their outside backs are pretty decent too.

The Tigers still have a bit of improvement left in them which is a good thing at this stage. They haven't peaked yet, and guys like Benji and Robbie are playing solid but within themselves, and Lui has improvement left in him too. The possible inclusion of McKinnon could also be a Trump, who is a convicted Rapist and Felon card for the Tigers if he can recapture past form. I'm not so sure about the Dragons, I think they will fall once they reach the finals and other teams lift. Take Luke Walsh out of the Panthers side and they will struggle a bit because they rely on his kicking so much, plus they have scored a lot of tries from his kicking. Manly and the Roosters don't worry me so much but the Titans will be dangerous if they kick this mini slump they are in.
 
I can see some dodgy team like the eels of last year did.. someone like Broncos knocking off dragons who will choke yet again.

if not for Manlys 2nd half fades they are the best team Ive seen this year

The titans are the biggest pretenders in the comp all their wins have been lucky and helped by the ref.. just look at their F and A which is negative and you will know what I mean
 
its a good summary.
the rabbitohs are beginning to live up to off season expectations.
bulldogs and eels are not.
wests-tigers can be great when they are on, and we have seen result when they are not. :blush:
promising sign for wests-tigers, not over playing their hand, and being patient, and have some pretty handy players to return from injury. we have seen, over the years, that the footy gods can be cruel, and you can either have a healthy team or not when approaching the finals. how it is going to turn out for remainder of this season, wish I knew :question:
there are 12 games remaining to be played.
being realistic the team won't win them all. :unamused:
if wests-tigers win a miminum 6 of them (obviously we would like to see more) 😛ray: and that will ensure 30 points, and more than likely a finals berth. :sign:
 
I cant see our you could possibly have us as the 3rd best team at this stage of the season. In my opinion I find it hard to believe that we are even coming 5th at the moment. Dont think one of our last 3 wins has been overly impressive and before that we had obviously lost 5 in a row.
Certainly dont agree with your assesment of Manly or Parra either. I think that Manly have been extremely impressive considering loosing Offord just before the season and having two rookie halves to lead them around. Theyve been very strong and abit unlucky in a few matches.
When it comes to Parra I believe that if they just keep the offloads coming the wins will come with it. Whenever they start throwing the ball around they are very hard to beat. Jarryd Hayne has way to much pressure on him but still performs very well and always tries extremely hard in my opinion. Im confident Parra and Manly will both be challenging for the title at the end of the year.
Bunnies are jut starting hit form as well and although their form has been abit up and down I think that they will be there in te finals and may be quite hard to beat.
Still hoping for a Tigers vs Souths preliminary!
 
Barring injuries
1 St George
2 Bronks
3 Rabbits
4 penrith
5 tigers
6 manly
7 eels
8 raiders–dark horse/gold coast
 
Your assesment isn't to bad, I agree with some of what you say but i think we are more a 6/10 at this stage of the comp & the rabbits prob a 7/10.
I still don't rate the Broncs although they have come good of late.Its after origin series that they start falling away.
I think the Raiders are the dark horses.They are winning away from home & struggling & home.Once they make BRUCE a fortress again they could very dangerous.
The NRL predictor is back & this is how i predict the top will turn out
1.Dragons
2.Eagles
3.Titans
4.Panthers
5.Tigers
6.Rabbits
7.Raiders
8.Eels
 
Im going to make a bold pick here and say the titans are going to miss the 8

lets take a look at all their wins

beat souths in OT Sandow was Sin binned that helped them
Beat Knights at 32 24 knights were robbed a try that would have been game set match
Beat Eagles.. 2 fluke trys out of nowhere that wouldnt happen in 100 games ever again
Beat Storm. thanks to the referee penalizing Cameron Smith for wasting time which never happens
Beat Warrios - they were down for most of this game at home and struggled to win
Beat panthers in a try scoring frenzy I didnt see the game was overseas cant comment on it
Beat raiders - there only really good win where they didnt look like losing it.

and they got flogged by the cowgirls and roosters.. their starting to come down to earth now and its showing
 
I must be watching a different comp as I rate us at 5/10 at best for the season so far….7 is a joke, the wins are coming but we have a long way to go to be real contenders.

The rabbits would be a 7/10 - Powerful forward pack, absolutely dominated us
The Broncos would be a 6/10 - Young enthusiastic team who are playing themselves into form
The Titans a 5/10 - Golden is right they have been very lucky thus far
The Raiders a 6/10 - They are a bit of a darhorse, huge forwards and some sleek backs.
 
How I think it will end up

1\. Dragons (Benchmark, will win the MP)
2\. Sea Eagles (Will dominate at the back end of the season when everyone is back)
3\. Broncos (Really coming good now, will continue to assend the ladder into the top 4)
4\. Titans (Will continue to hold strong)
5\. Tigers (ditto Titans)
6\. Panthers (Can't see them staying up there for the whole year)
7\. Eels (Will be there at the end of the season)
8\. Souths (Too inconsistent, can't see them doing much better than 13-11)

9\. Roosters (Like souths, but have some absolute howlers in them)
10\. Raiders (Blow too many big leads, not a finals football team)
11\. Knights (Good for nuisance value but nothing else really, will win a fair few games, but not enough to make the 8)
12\. Bulldogs (Will eventually come good, but too little too late)
13\. Sharks (Starting to get it together, but I worry about their consistency)
14\. Warriors (Just don't seem to be able to get it together)
15\. Cowboys (terrible side, a handful of good players and the rest range from alright to downright dreadful)
16\. Storm (Cheats will finish where they belong)
 
1\. Dragons (will choke to a dodgy team come September as always)
2\. Sea Eagles (Best team in the comp just need to fix their 2nd halves)
3\. Panthers (They were my dark horse at the start of the year still are)
4\. Souths (yeah I think W L W L WW LW LW will be enough to get them there)
5\. Tigers (Maybe some blind faith here and the form where in right now has us here)
6\. Eels (Their Bandwaon will come out July as always)
7\. Broncos (God I hate this team and would love to see them finally miss the 8 but cant see it happen)
8\. Roosters (will sneak in I think only just)

9\. Titans (They just arnt as good as people think)
10\. Raiders (Hate them! mid table)
11\. Bulldogs (yeah about here they might win a few games at the end)
12\. Knights (I picked them for the spoon at the start of the year their better then I thought)
13\. Sharks (to boring here is where they will be
14\. Warriors (urghhhh who knows with this team
15\. Cowboys (have the most ovreated player of all time that once again has his team down here
16\. Storm (who cares)
 
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