Wests Tigers installed as Premiership favourites

[pedro]

Premiership favourites without a recognised halfback. really? 😱pen_mouth:

 

[LaT]

Outright favourites? Can't remember that happening before. And we don't even have a set halfback for 2012…

 

[Kul]

We were Premiership favourites in the week leading up to the Grand Final
Granted, we've never been favourties at the start of the year

 

[happy_tiger]

Premiership favourites without a recognised halfback. really? 😱pen_mouth:

We have heaps of recognized halfbacks
Problem is they can only be recognized by Wests Tigers fans

 

[prattenpark]

Ridiculous. We shouldn't be favourites without a recognised 1 or 7.

 

[alex]

Tigers become favourites after Manly sack Hasler?

I think it's Tigers become favourites after Tigers release Lui!! Haha

 

[spudoakes]

i really hope newcastle flail/fail its hard enough livin in newy with them without them gloatin, i refuse to buy the newcastle rag cause u get 1/2 the paper on the knights

 

[Flippedy]

Obviously the bookies are expecting the Broncos to struggle post-Lockyer, but I beg to differ. I still think they will go really well. I guess with the current Manly fiasco, the Dragons losing Bennett and Boyd, Melbourne losing Blair and New Zealand being such an enigma, I can see why they have gone for us as favourites early on. Doesn't mean I like it though. We may not have a recognised halfback, at present, but compared to the ones mentioned above, the loss of Lui is quite insignificant.

 

[Rambo2714]

Well done to Sheens and humphries , this is an indication of the great work have done in assembling a great playing roster for next year .
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[tigergirlz]

For this to come to pass Farah and Marshall need to play out the season, and the likes of Lawrence, Blair, Ellis, Galloway need to stay fit. Tiger supporters well know that this is not a given.

 

[biggest_tigers_fan]

We should make a play for johnny morris or bring donuts back to play 7 😛ray:

 

[Tigerdave]

why wouldn't the Storm be favourites? no halfback at this stage for us, it doesn't make too much sense for us to be favourites

 

[steve-o]

I agree tigerdave. Storm should be favourites

 

[tigergirlz]

The Storm come from Melbourne. That could be the reason.

 

[Wildcat777]

Bulldogs $15 with Foran next year. Would be a good bet??? Think he will help them go a long way. But Tigers will stop them!

 

[palms]

Bulldogs $15 with Foran next year. Would be a good bet??? Think he will help them go a long way. But Tigers will stop them!

Foran isn't going to the Bulldogs next year, he is staying with Manly

http://wwos.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=8372557

Manly star Kieran Foran says he will remain with the Sea Eagles for 2012 despite the likelihood of an early exit from the NRL club for Canterbury-bound coach Des Hasler.

There has been speculation the Bulldogs are circling five-eighth Foran, who has a clause in his contract allowing him to walk should Hasler leave Manly.

Hasler's time with the Sea Eagles appears to be over after the two-time premiership-winning coach was ordered to front the Sea Eagles board over alleged breaches of contract.

Those claims are thought to include alleged attempts to lure players and staff to the Bulldogs.

Foran, who is in Leeds preparing for New Zealand's Four Nations clash with England on Sunday, said he was committed to the NRL premiers for next year.

"I do have a (get-out) clause but I'm at Manly next year and I'll be there next year," Foran said.

"I haven't heard too much about it to be honest. Over here I miss out on most of the stuff that's going on back there."

Hasler, who last month agreed to a four-year deal to coach Canterbury from 2013, was issued with a breach notice for what Manly chairman Scott Penn described as "serious breaches of contract".

It came after a seven-hour meeting of board members at Manly Leagues Club on Wednesday night.

Hasler is still to respond to the notice but Sea Eagles officials believe the issue could be resolved as soon as Friday.

Premiership winning halfback Daly Cherry-Evans, who is a member of the Australian Four Nations squad in England, admits things have turned "ugly" at Manly.

"I've not had time to really hear what's been going on back home but it's fairly shocking news that Des isn't going to be around," Cherry-Evans said.

"It's turned ugly pretty quickly since the grand final but we have a pretty close group of boys at Manly.

"As a player I don't want to see any of the boys leaving, but at the end of the day, it's a business and they'll make their own decisions."

Cherry-Evans said he had no intention of leaving the club and was hopeful halves partner Foran would stick around too.

"I am under contract for two more (years) and there are no get-out clauses for me," Cherry-Evans said.

"He's (Foran) not the only one who has that clause and he'd be a massive loss and we don't want him going anywhere and hopefully he stays."

Several members of Hasler's backroom staff have announced they too are off to the Bulldogs, including recruitment guru Noel Cleal and assistant coach Kelly Egan.

Australia and Sea Eagles backrower Anthony Watmough insists the club will always be bigger than the coach and players will stay.

"At the end of the day Dessie can point us in the right direction but it's the boys that have that bond," Watmough said from the Australian team hotel in Manchester.

"And they'd have to look their mate in the eye and then say to them they're going to leave for a member of the coaching staff."

 

[Cultured_Bogan]

He'd be mad to leave Manly. They're more likely to win the premiership than the Dogs next year.
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[Tiger_Watto]

<big>**The Newcastle Knights have firmed to be 8/1 equal favourites for the 2012 NRL premiership**</big>
by: Dean Ritchie From: The Daily Telegraph November 24, 2011 12:00AM

THE incredible influence of supercoach Wayne Bennett has prompted one of Australia's biggest bookmakers to install Newcastle as 2012 premiership favourites. Bennett will walk into Ausgrid Stadium for the first time next Tuesday morning under immediate and immense pressure.

According to Sportsbet.com.au, the Knights sit alongside Manly and Wests Tigers as equal NRL favourites at $8 ahead of Melbourne ($9) and New Zealand ($10).

Newcastle won just 12 of 24 games this year and were eliminated in week one of the finals by Melbourne. But new owner Nathan Tinkler has recruited Bennett along with star players Darius Boyd, Danny Buderus, Timana Tahu and Kade Snowden.

"We don't take a great deal of notice about what the markets say but it does suggest an appreciation of the potential in our squad and the experienced coaching staff we have acquired," said Knights chief executive Matt Gidley.

"Wayne will come to town on Tuesday and address the players for the first time. That is when it will really hit home that we have a coach of Wayne's calibre here - seeing him in the Newcastle training gear.

"That was beyond everyone's wildest dreams. Wayne is comfortable with the squad we have here.

"While we are ambitious, we also know things will take time. Wayne's philosophy from his days at Brisbane and St George Illawarra won't change.

"He will expect everyone to work hard for each other. We have some great individual players but we are a team. Wayne will want everyone believing in themselves. That is Wayne's great strength."

TAB Sportsbet don't rate Newcastle quite as highly, installing the Knights seventh favourites at $11 behind Wests Tigers, premiers Manly, Melbourne, Warriors, Brisbane and Canterbury.

Sportsbet.com.au though like what they see in the Hunter.

"The influence Bennett will have on the team and club, as seen at the Broncos and Dragons, is immeasurable," said Sportsbet.com.au's PR manager Ben Hawes.

"He has proved time and time again that he gets the best out of his players, keeps them focused and his teams always play with confidence.

"Boyd's arrival will free up Kurt Gidley to play at five-eighth alongside Jarrod Mullen and Kade Snowden is one of the NRL's premier props," he said.

"They have one of the best spines in the NRL, the game's best winger in Akuila Uate and, with Wayne Bennett at the helm, it makes for the ideal combination."

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/nrl/the-newcastle-knights-have-firmed-to-be-81-equal-favourites-for-the-2012-nrl-premiership/story-e6frexnr-1226204101513

 

[underdog]

Ha! Farcical.
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No wonder you get condescending ads on TV at the moment such as the Waterhouse kid spruiking the likes of "increasing your Betting IQ" - The average punter to them is such a mug, they are offering to "educate" the masses…. :roll

The Bookies must be pissing themselves laughing if our mob and Newcastle are equal favorites.

Get on the Sharks and the Titans for Darkhorses - they are both good odds even to make the top 8.

 

[Cultured_Bogan]

Took Bennett at least a year with a crack squad at St. George to win a premiership, I don't think he'll be able to buy half a new squad and expect them to walk away with the premiership in the first year. They'll definitely make the 8, but I highly doubt they'll get the silverware.