The Greenhouse

BadnMean wrote: ↑August 11, 2019, 5:55 pm Halves didn’t win that.

Tupou n Latrell gave our 3/4 line a bath.

Our one out rucking from the back 5 _ was_ lame n predictable.

Simonson is an solid FG winger- middle of the pack, no more. Rapana hasn’t recovered his best form n may not. CNK spilled 2 bombs. Toots missed s couple of big tackles n died with the ball on some big plays. My respect for those players shouldn’t cloud that they collectively were under par and outplayed for a premiership contender.

They squashed our strength.

We were outplayed across the backline, halves not so much.

If Croker can’t fix his defence, the Storm will get out to a 20 point lead in 10 mins like the round 2 start, I think we are still a rung or two down from the Storm and Roosters

The Rickman wrote: ↑August 12, 2019, 9:52 am I still think we'll win the comp this year and last night's game only solidified that feeling.

Can you explain why? I'm genuinely curious.

Kryptonite wrote: ↑August 12, 2019, 9:54 am

BadnMean wrote: ↑August 11, 2019, 5:55 pm Halves didn’t win that.

Tupou n Latrell gave our 3/4 line a bath.

Our one out rucking from the back 5 _ was_ lame n predictable.

Simonson is an solid FG winger- middle of the pack, no more. Rapana hasn’t recovered his best form n may not. CNK spilled 2 bombs. Toots missed s couple of big tackles n died with the ball on some big plays. My respect for those players shouldn’t cloud that they collectively were under par and outplayed for a premiership contender.

They squashed our strength.

We were outplayed across the backline, halves not so much.

If Croker can’t fix his defence, the Storm will get out to a 20 point lead in 10 mins like the round 2 start, I think we are still a rung or two down from the Storm and Roosters

There was one try let in on that side of the field yesterday, and it was caused by Jack rushing up and in leaving the our 2 outside men 3 on 2, and JC was forced to slide in, giving Teddy the space to burn him (and lets remember - it is Tedesco - he is pretty bloody amazing).

JC has had some bad reads this year, undoubtably, but yesterday is not a good game to use an example.

Azza wrote: ↑August 12, 2019, 10:23 am

The Rickman wrote: ↑August 12, 2019, 9:52 am I still think we'll win the comp this year and last night's game only solidified that feeling.

Can you explain why? I'm genuinely curious.

I really like our team, it's quality across the park. And they have a good attitude and mongrel in defence. We've still got a few more levels to go to, and I just feel that come finals time we'll be in absolute peak form, hopefully with Joey back on the field and blown the cobwebs out.

I have a really good feeling about this.

The Rickman wrote: ↑August 12, 2019, 9:52 am I still think we'll win the comp this year and last night's game only solidified that feeling.

I agree.

A lot of people say the Roosters take a lot from that game but so do we.

I think Hodgson had his worst game for us in quite a while.

In big games, he seems to overplay his hand more than he needs to. When we went up the middle with offloads, we were threatening - we should have continued with this plan.

Our defensive line speed was too slow to start with. We need to adopt a plan where we go 'hell for leather' with line speed to start big matches.

What was very apparent to me (and has become more obvious through the season) is that Josh Papalii needs a front row foil.

Papalii was a beast yesterday and you can see the minute he steps off the pitch, the opposition gain the ascendancy.

I think Red Horse can potentially fill that gap, but he's a little young atm and needs further development.

We had the Roosters on the rack at 12-6 but a brain explosion from Cotric lets them off.

We were 1 poor video ref decision and 2 poor player decisions from taking the 2 points - not that it matters. I think the bigger picture is psychologically we need a big scalp in the run in to give ourselves belief more than anything.

It's not the fact we missed two points yesterday, but rather that opportunity to get the monkey off our back. I think we can do this in Melbourne and potentially build into a run.

Next week will tell us everything IMO. I still think we have the best chance since 1994 to win the GF this year. We are better than the 2016 Raiders team IMO.

I think the one positive to come out of losing yesterday is that we will more than likely face the Roosters in week 1 of the finals away from home and our team will be well up for that battle coming off this loss.

The key will be whether Ricky can get them to bounce back in Melbourne.

Losing that game makes it a whole lot harder, because a top two finish is now a whole lot less likely. I was expecting that we'd lose to the Storm... but the Raiders are now in the position where they have to beat the Storm in Melbourne next weekend if they're to stay in the hunt for the top two... and we now have to rely on the Roosters slipping up.

It worries me that the Raiders have not beaten a top four team in four encounters so far. We had the match stats yesterday of a winning team, but didn't come away with the win. The Raiders were lacking that extra bit of polish and composure from the play makers, that the Roosters had. The Raiders had more opportunity, but didn't convert as well as the Roosters did. I'm not sure how they're going to get the advantage in the same sort of small moments in the same sort of games to come. I hope they can, but I'm worried...

I agree with you GE. We just keep falling short in these matches against the big teams. It's incredibly frustrating. Come finals footy we are going to get only a handful of opportunities and we have to take them, or we'll end up on the wrong side the score again.

I'm not to worried about finishing in the top 2 - I'd be happy with 3rd. 4th will be tough.

Yes.

Lock the thread.

Dear god yes and we aren't even playing at our best

If this team can find it in themselves to stay composed and play smart then they can and will beat everybody

If we play our best footy, the only team who can hang with us is the roosters.
That'll be a battle but no reason to think we cant beat them

‘Bout time you all started seeing things my way


Only took most of ya 22 rounds

The Rickman wrote: ↑August 17, 2019, 9:19 pm ‘Bout time you all started seeing things my way


Only took most of ya 22 rounds

Yep I’m actually changing my tune on this, my answer is now firmly YES.

And go check the colour of the sky, I assure you that it’s Green.

One of the more enjoyable nights I’ve had in a while.
You can see this team really believes they can win, and that’s the most important thing.

YES. YES WE ARE!!!!!

We're coming off a huge high right now. I really want to see how we back this up against the Sea Eagles, who to me are going to be right up there at the point end. Hasler has long had the knack to build strong momentum in his finals bound sides.

As good as this win has been, it'd be hard to ignore a 1-5 record against the top 4 should be lose next week.

Again, its not about are we favourites... contenders simply means, can we win it all... and we just beat the competition front runners, spoting them them 18 and playing a man down for 20 minutes

We can beat any team in the comp and are playing well enough to put ourselves into position to give ourselves a shot. We got a shot. We're a contender.

Melbourne are now 2-3 against top 4 teams.

I don't mean favourites - I do mean (genuine) contenders. Perhaps it depends on an individual's definition of the term. Technically and quite realistically anyone making the top 8 has a shot.

In terms of favourites, even if we win the remainder of our games I don't believe we'll get that tag. The Storm and Roosters deserve it; they've been there and done that, we haven't. Their coaches have shown in very recent history that they've got what it takes, and their players have all the big match experience.

The difference between winning a regular season game and a finals/GF game against the same opposition are miles apart - we saw that in 2016. Playing the Storm tonight will be vastly different to the Storm we may face in September/October.

Oh it absolutely comes down to individual's definition of the term

afgtnk wrote: ↑August 17, 2019, 10:21 pm I don't mean favourites - I do mean (genuine) contenders. Perhaps it depends on an individual's definition of the term. Technically and quite realistically anyone making the top 8 has a shot.

In terms of favourites, even if we win the remainder of our games I don't believe we'll get that tag. The Storm and Roosters deserve it; they've been there and done that, we haven't. Their coaches have shown in very recent history that they've got what it takes, and their players have all the big match experience.

The difference between winning a regular season game and a finals/GF game against the same opposition are miles apart - we saw that in 2016. Playing the Storm tonight will be vastly different to the Storm we may face in September/October.

That's reasonable, however we have a lot of players coming from that 2016 campaign. That experience will be invaluable.

Northern Raider wrote:

afgtnk wrote: ↑August 17, 2019, 10:21 pm I don't mean favourites - I do mean (genuine) contenders. Perhaps it depends on an individual's definition of the term. Technically and quite realistically anyone making the top 8 has a shot.

In terms of favourites, even if we win the remainder of our games I don't believe we'll get that tag. The Storm and Roosters deserve it; they've been there and done that, we haven't. Their coaches have shown in very recent history that they've got what it takes, and their players have all the big match experience.

The difference between winning a regular season game and a finals/GF game against the same opposition are miles apart - we saw that in 2016. Playing the Storm tonight will be vastly different to the Storm we may face in September/October.

That's reasonable, however we have a lot of players coming from that 2016 campaign. That experience will be invaluable.

Plus a few guys with Origin experience, and some internationals/superleague winners

We're in a good place

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Yeah the match against Manly is crucial, obviously. To backup two weeks in a row to beat the Storm and then win against Manly would be huge - but won't be easy.

Have to admit I'm really **** happy how the team has acquitted themselves in the past month. It was conceivable we could have gone 0-4. Came up against Panthers on a winning streak and put them in their place. Then had to travel to NZ on the short backup but blew them away. Came up short against Roosters but far from disgraced. Now we've gone to Melbourne and come away with the goods.

I'll take that 3-1 run any day.

I was of the belief for a long time that we'd ultimately fall short for areas were lacking in such as kicking from our halves but they proved to me tonight that they're definitely capable. We were putting pressure on them throughout the match and didn't let the errors get to us this time. It was great to see. From here it's just about keeping our performance up, anything could happen in the finals and with a few things going our way we are capable of winning the comp.

There were a couple moments that really stood out to me as far as showing how much the team has evolved. One that comes to mind was that strip we got late in the game... we'd been denied two attempts by the refs earlier and they could have gone in to their shells and put the strips away for the game. But they came up with one at a crucial moment which put the Storm on the back foot. The exact type of will power you need in finals games.

I knew we were contenders after the roosters game. the storm win just reaffirmed that. We just did something no other side has done to the side that was 6 points top of the table on their home ground with 12 men for 20 minutes. Of course we're **** contenders.

We are contenders no doubt but...
In the finals I would say any one of the top 6 plus the Sharks could get a win over one of the top 4.
Then another loss to a top 4 team and you're eliminated.

Raiders_Pat wrote: ↑August 18, 2019, 12:03 am There were a couple moments that really stood out to me as far as showing how much the team has evolved. One that comes to mind was that strip we got late in the game... we'd been denied two attempts by the refs earlier and they could have gone in to their shells and put the strips away for the game. But they came up with one at a crucial moment which put the Storm on the back foot. The exact type of will power you need in finals games.

For all the hullaballoo about the strip rule and how difficult it must be to rule on, I have nonetheless admired the refs in making the correct decision on these almost all the time. I had no issue with them penalising for the first two, and credit to them for getting that last one right too.

I hope the rule is here to stay. The return of contested possession has been an added bonus to watching the Greatest Game this year.

Ezy wrote: ↑August 21, 2019, 1:57 pm

Raiders_Pat wrote: ↑August 18, 2019, 12:03 am There were a couple moments that really stood out to me as far as showing how much the team has evolved. One that comes to mind was that strip we got late in the game... we'd been denied two attempts by the refs earlier and they could have gone in to their shells and put the strips away for the game. But they came up with one at a crucial moment which put the Storm on the back foot. The exact type of will power you need in finals games.

For all the hullaballoo about the strip rule and how difficult it must be to rule on, I have nonetheless admired the refs in making the correct decision on these almost all the time. I had no issue with them penalising for the first two, and credit to them for getting that last one right too.

I hope the rule is here to stay. The return of contested possession has been an added bonus to watching the Greatest Game this year.

I like the rule too and agree that the referees have ruled correctly on it in most circumstances this season

Yes we are contenders and need 7 more weeks of consistent form to expand on the contender tag.

Yes - we remain premiership contenders. If we were outplayed today I’d be questioning things but I truly think we have Manly’s measure. That loss highlighted a few things about discipline and composure that I hope Ricky addresses. If we clean that up and go on to win the premiership we might look back at this one as a useful loss. Not sold BJ gets a run in our best side but yes we absolutely are premiership contenders!

Only if we learn to not get sucked into the niggle.

Azza wrote: ↑August 25, 2019, 7:56 pm Only if we learn to not get sucked into the niggle.

That’s like saying only if we win every finals match. Do you think we will find a way to fix the discipline? I think we will. It will start with BJ copping a suspension and Cotric finding form at centre.

The question and answer is exactly the same as it was in 2016.

The answer is composure, building pressure, game management, critical plays. That comes from a decent halfback and pretty much only from him.