The positivity thread

[Mickey_Raider]

I think it is fair to say that the vast majority of Raiders fans are pretty pessimistic about how our year is going so far.

I think, in light of the pervasive doom and gloom ripping through the GH, it is time we get a bit of positivity through the joint and maybe also balance it with a bit of perspective.

I will start us off:

- Despite being well below our best we are 5-3. That is a very healthy start to the year and a launching pad for a top 4 finish should we start to hit form.

People are quick to forget that we were by no means a finished product last year, even up until the latest rounds of the regular season. We were clunky in attack and couldn’t beat the best sides. We managed to build throughout the season though and found an identity being solid in defence and extracting a lot out of our good players.

We may well look back on this form slump with a bit of revisionism down the track. Come the end of the season no one remembers the manner in which you racked up unimpressive wins, it’s all just about making sure you have them in the bank.

- Our best players haven’t hit form yet. The hallmark of a rubbish team Such as the cowboys is often collective dross across the board and then consistent performances from their stud LoLo. You feel sorry for such players and believe they deserve better.

Contrast that with us - it is our unsung players like havili and whitehead who are playing well with Hodgson and Wighton etc yet to hit their straps. Once they do we will see an uptick in performance and I believe we will be able to compete against the better sides.

- Williams. I watch him and believe he is a tangible upgrade on Sezer. And that is without even being the finished product yet. Once he polishes up his short kicking game we will improve another 5%.

-CNK is improving his playmaking. He gets lambasted for lacking these abilities, but over the last two weeks he has begun to throw lovely cut out passes which have led to tries. He will continue to improve this aspect and we will improve even more.

-Finally, it’s a weird comp this year. We got battered by the Knights, who got flogged against the Cowboys, who got battered by the Eels, who we took to golden point. Massive ups and downs. There is no need to write us off just because we haven’t hit our straps yet, particularly with our disruptive travel schedule which puts us at a distinct disadvantage.

In summary, while I have probably revised my expectations from “premiership or bust”
to “I think we can still compete with the best teams”, I still remain of the view that the season is not lost.

Let me know if you believe the above is rose tinted dribble or otherwise and feel free to chime in with some of your own thoughts.

[gangrenous]

I feel positive that the above is rose tinted drivel

You make a lot of reasonable arguments. But I’m just not seeing the right strategy to run this season

[Northern Raider]

The team is playing well below their best yet we're sitting in 5th spot, golden point loss to the top team, beat the 2nd team and our 3 losses are against other top 8 sides. This is the NRL equivalent of First World Problems.

They say you don't win a premiership in March (for 2020 that means June). Plenty of scope to improve and our **** up travel schedule has mostly finished. Form at the back end of the season is what really counts. No need to step out onto the ledge just yet.

[-PJ-]

We'll make the 8, that I don't doubt.

I'm positive in the positivity thread..

[GreenMachine]

I’ll revisit in 3 weeks time, however:

Personally I like what Young, Sutton, Horsburgh and Guler have offered...

it’s a shame well miss a couple of them the next month or so...

I think Cotric, Williams and CNK (to an event) have played well.

We’re not playing well and on 10 points. I hope we find our best soon.

[Raider47]

My main three concerns:

-Injuries and depth. Looks as though we will be without 3 of our 4 props for an extended period.

-Our next two games. On our current form I can't see us winning against Melbourne or Roosters and those two losses will really dent our top 4 chances. Shorter season means we can probably only lose two more games to assure ourselves of a top 4 finish.

-We need to evolve our game because it doesn't suit the fast paced changes which the NRL have implemented.

But yep we're in 5th after some very questionable form so can't complain too much right now.

[Botman]

The biggest and best positive is as stated by a few
We basically couldn’t be playing worse, and were 5-3
Which confirms to me that if we get it together we can challenge for a premiership

[raiderskater]

I found myself thinking a lot in the last couple of weeks about some of the truly awful games we played last year too. Remember that disaster in Darwin against the Eels?

I feel like we have the calibre of team that will actually rise to the difficulty of playing Storm-Roosters-Souths in the next few weeks, while down on troops, underdogs and written off...this is our time.

[bonehead]

in 3 weeks we could well be 5 and 6 or 6 and 5

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[Dr Zaius]

Broncos have lost 6 in a row. That's a positive.

[Botman]

Broncos have lost 6 in a row. That's a positive.

I saw Broncos players weeping. I had a no touch incident

[bonehead]

Broncos have lost 6 in a row. That's a positive.

I saw Broncos players weeping. I had a no touch incident

it made me smile, don't dob me in to Albi

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[greeneyed]

Broncos have lost 6 in a row. That's a positive.

I saw Broncos players weeping. I had a no touch incident

it made me smile, don't dob me in to Albi

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Albi! AAALLLBBBIII!

[FuiFui BradBrad]

Where is Albi?!

[Dr Zaius]

Where is Albi?!

Not attending to personal grooming, I'll give you the tip

[kona_dream]

Clearly the next 2 weeks are massive. But looking at the draw the last 10 games there is only 3 games against currently top 8 teams. The game against the Panthers after a late game to Townsville will be a nightmare. But hopefully by then we can stay the night before the game.

[Botman]

Where is Albi?!

Not attending to personal grooming, I'll give you the tip

[BadnMean]

Rewatched the Dragons game. Plenty of positives.

The right edge defence was good for 75 minutes. Only became a bit scrappy at the end- Oldfields first chance to play + Young barely back a week so understandable they were gassed. Overall that edge looked more solid than the right for 75 minutes (Croker had a tough night with Lomax).

CNK threw a lovely double pump for Cotric to score and _did_ try another quick catch and pass on the other side. The latter didn't come off but it was a couple of promising signs instead of his tendency to have "sticky fingers" and have the play die with him when rushed at.

G Willy was very good. A threat with run, boot and pass. Some smart kicks for touch when trying to cool the game second half too.

Cotric found the form he had before the break. A very classy all round display.

Oldfield does what Scott doesn't- hits the line hard and gets his nose through, forces a quick play the ball and retreating line.

Whitehead is in vintage form.

We made quite a few chances- it wasn't like we looked bereft of ideas or toothless or one dimensional. We ripped them up any number of ways but a few times the last pass went just behind or the ball bounced for Saints not us.

Hodgo stunk. That's good. We were cruising for 70 minutes of that game on the back of everyone else's good play even with Hodgo having a bit of a bumbler. When he clicks back on, we go up another gear.

An undermanned team controlled the game pretty comfortably for 70 minutes, without even playing near their best.

My worries- Tapine is never going to become more disciplined. Penalties and restarts late in the set from him are a killer.
Mounting injury toll.
Ricky will pick Scott again because he is determined to force the issue into a good buy.

[GMGT]

Great thread, I agree with most/all of the original points.

I don't have a doubt that we will be top 4 when it actually matters. It feels like we should be on the bottom of the ladder right now due to the way we have played, but we aren't. We aren't because we have been managing wins while playing at pretty much our worst.

When we click, and let me tell you we will click.. we will be near unstoppable again. This season actually has plenty of similarities to last year. Quite clearly Ricky is coaching us as we should be coached and is setting us up to peak at the end of the season just like we did last year. It is impossible to be at your peak for a 20+ week competition. If you did that you would get to the finals and have nothing left in the tank.

I think we are quite well placed for a very good 2nd half of the year. The tides will turn earlier if we can beat 2 or 3 of the next 3, storm, roosters, rabbits. Those 3 games will make or break our season. Either we will win most/all of them and that will kickstart us. I think if we have the confidence of beating those 3 teams in a row we won't be looking back and wont lose many more games for the rest of the year. If we lose them our confidence will be cactus and it will more likely be a downward spiral from that point onwards .

[GMGT]

Our run home also seems to be very soft, with the only 2 real challenges coming against the roosters and Panthers.

I'm also quietly confident that when Johnny bateman comes back he is going to be giving it his all and will push us towards the promised land for one final time. I reckon he will still have that same positive influence on the team. That "win and succeed at all costs" type mentality will be the boost we need for the 2nd half of the year.

[Seiffert82]

As has been pointed out, our draw at the end of the season is reasonably good.

Hopefully we can win 2 of the next 3. If we can do that we are obviously we'll positioned.

As always, Hodgo's form will be the key. We really need to sign another decent middle to cover for Sia and Red Rage. We should have some cap space to do so.

I'm nowhere near as concerned about CNK as others and I'm happy that Scott had retained a bench spot as it's important he still has an opportunity to press his claims.

[Azza]

We're screwed. Goodbye.

[bonehead]

up by 12 10mins to go just slot the 1, game iced, wind gone from dragons wet sails.

2 sets on their line in the last 6mins just slot the 1

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