Why are we premiership favourites?

[Goose]

After watching the Foundation Cup against the chooks, and this game agaisnt the Sharks, its obvious our defence is lacking (or even non existent).

I would say our attacking style cannot be rated (some weeks crazy good, other weeks appalling) but our defence is bad on a weekly basis.

Attacking wise, we are probably in the top 3 teams, but defensively, I would say we are in the bottom 3 (Cowboys have to be at the bottom - cos we offloaded Lui to them LOL)

we let in 16 points on a hot day, the other game was a trial. and this makes us one of the worst defensive teams in the comp, massive over reaction

 

[Saturnalia]

To the OP

Have you seen our team?

 

[flash]

If we play like that over the next 3 weeks we be lucky to be in the market to make the 8\. Benji and his last tackle options were very ordinary in the second half, that lob pass he threw back inside was just ridiculous and could have cost us the game.

 

[Colonel]

We were one of (although not the) favourites going into last season's comp. That was basically on the basis of our top 4 finish in 2010, and how close we came to making the grand final.

This year, we've added one of the best regarded forwards in the game, as well as some other solid first graders, without losing too much quality. I think a lot of punters and book makers think that after two top 4 finishes and plenty of stability amongst the key playmakers (the core Lawrence, Marshall, Farah, Ellis, Galloway, Tuqiri, Ayshford have all been together for a couple of years now and have all broken into, or are about to break into, rep football) we're ready to go that extra step.

All that said, the fact we've become favourites didn't really occur until after Manly (who were favourites immediately after their grand final win) self-destructed with all the in-fighting that surrounded the departure of Hasler. Now that may turn out to be over-blown but I think the punters and book makers saw the favourites marred by in-fighting and threats of departure and so installed the Tigers as favourites instead.

That and there's no other real clear cut favourite who doesn't have question marks. The Dragons would have probably been favourites had Bennett stayed, but he's gone to Newcastle and they've lost Boyd and Gasnier. Melbourne continue to watch their team get gutted in the wake of the salary cap scandal (this season it is Blair that's left) and don't have huge depth behind their big three. Brisbane has great young squad, but people have plenty of questions around how they'll do without Lockyer. And Newcastle hasn't proven anything yet, despite the addition of Bennett.

So long story short, I think the Tiger's favouritism, is really more to do with the close-ness of the comp and the various comings and goings that have gone on at other clubs. There's no real clear cut favourite and the Tigers, with a stable and quality line up that's gone close two years before seem a good option. None of this really means much this early in the season. Someone's got to be favourites and it seems people have settled on the Tigers for the time being.

That'll probably change at least a dozen times as the season progresses…

 

[Joel Helmes]

We were one of (although not the) favourites going into last season's comp. That was basically on the basis of our top 4 finish in 2010, and how close we came to making the grand final.

This year, we've added one of the best regarded forwards in the game, as well as some other solid first graders, without losing too much quality. I think a lot of punters and book makers think that after two top 4 finishes and plenty of stability amongst the key playmakers (the core Lawrence, Marshall, Farah, Ellis, Galloway, Tuqiri, Ayshford have all been together for a couple of years now and have all broken into, or are about to break into, rep football) we're ready to go that extra step.

All that said, the fact we've become favourites didn't really occur until after Manly (who were favourites immediately after their grand final win) self-destructed with all the in-fighting that surrounded the departure of Hasler. Now that may turn out to be over-blown but I think the punters and book makers saw the favourites marred by in-fighting and threats of departure and so installed the Tigers as favourites instead.

That and there's no other real clear cut favourite who doesn't have question marks. The Dragons would have probably been favourites had Bennett stayed, but he's gone to Newcastle and they've lost Boyd and Gasnier. Melbourne continue to watch their team get gutted in the wake of the salary cap scandal (this season it is Blair that's left) and don't have huge depth behind their big three. Brisbane has great young squad, but people have plenty of questions around how they'll do without Lockyer. And Newcastle hasn't proven anything yet, despite the addition of Bennett.

So long story short, I think the Tiger's favouritism, is really more to do with the close-ness of the comp and the various comings and goings that have gone on at other clubs. There's no real clear cut favourite and the Tigers, with a stable and quality line up that's gone close two years before seem a good option. None of this really means much this early in the season. Someone's got to be favourites and it seems people have settled on the Tigers for the time being.

That'll probably change at least a dozen times as the season progresses…

Nice summary Colonel