Ideal position on the ladder

[Mickey_Raider]

I would say when the finals start there would clearly be one team above all others whom teams would not want to come up against and that is the Roosters.

Outside of them I honestly reckon that not much separates Raiders, Panthers and Storm in being in the next tier of teams you want to avoid.

While the latter two may be better placed than us and better sides at the moment, the Storm have for the last couple years found themselves lacking that highest gear when the whips are cracking. Panthers may just get a shock when they have to play 3 elite sides in a row when things have tightened up in the finals. I think teams would give themselves a chance of upsetting them.

I by no means think we are favourites or anything more than a decent punchers chance, but I think the character in the team means that we will be in the fight up to our eyeballs, and I don't think it would shock anyone to see us march through deep into the finals.

[-PJ-]

So..what you're trying to say is

WE ROCK !!!

[Hong Kong Raider]

@Hong Kong..

The losses to Newcastle and Manly are still burning a hole in me.

Especially when you look at the ladder and see how Manly are travelling..

OUCH !!

Especially the Newcastle game we were full strength coming off a win against Melbourne, favourites for the comp for the first time in 26 years, Hodgson rated best hooker etc.... we were reading our own press and getting a big head. But both games showed our defensive frailties, although Scott was not the only one to blame. And the Manly game - they lost Walker, Parker and Tom T during the game. And w/o Taupau.

But in hindsight we know about Scott and the ordeal he faced and the travel in the beginning must have been tiring with no home games and travelling on the day by bus.

[papabear]

I can’t see Parramatta losing to either Broncos or Tigers. Think there’s a lot of wishful thinking.

tigers at leichhardt for benjis last game, no pressure of playing for 8th with 9th already locked in the bag it could happen.

The tigers always come home strong, just need to stay with parra for the first 60 mins.

[The Nickman]

@Hong Kong..

The losses to Newcastle and Manly are still burning a hole in me.

Especially when you look at the ladder and see how Manly are travelling..

OUCH !!

Especially the Newcastle game we were full strength coming off a win against Melbourne, favourites for the comp for the first time in 26 years, Hodgson rated best hooker etc.... we were reading our own press and getting a big head. But both games showed our defensive frailties, although Scott was not the only one to blame. And the Manly game - they lost Walker, Parker and Tom T during the game. And w/o Taupau.

But in hindsight we know about Scott and the ordeal he faced and the travel in the beginning must have been tiring with no home games and travelling on the day by bus.

I prefer the expression "sniffing our own farts".

[Northern Raider]

@Hong Kong..

The losses to Newcastle and Manly are still burning a hole in me.

Especially when you look at the ladder and see how Manly are travelling..

OUCH !!

Especially the Newcastle game we were full strength coming off a win against Melbourne, favourites for the comp for the first time in 26 years, Hodgson rated best hooker etc.... we were reading our own press and getting a big head. But both games showed our defensive frailties, although Scott was not the only one to blame. And the Manly game - they lost Walker, Parker and Tom T during the game. And w/o Taupau.

But in hindsight we know about Scott and the ordeal he faced and the travel in the beginning must have been tiring with no home games and travelling on the day by bus.

Knights game we were flat as a tack while they played very well. Could have been some let down after being so good the week prior. Not much excuse to be offered though.

I'm somewhat more forgiving of the Manly loss. We can't forget our 'home' games were all in Sydney and this was our 4th consecutive week on the road. Same day travel is the real killer. I don't think we had enough petrol in the tank to take advantage of the situation Manly were in. Also have to give the opposition some credit for galvanising their effort in adversity. They lifted when it mattered.

[RedRaider]

Top 4 spot always preferable as a second chance available should the first of the finals not go to plan. But 5th is not the end of the World. Home match likely against the Sharks and then the loser of probably Eels v Panthers. Once we are that deep into the finals series anything can happen.

[Brew]

For some reason I don’t want to play the Knights Week 1 of the Finals.


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[BadnMean]

For some reason I don’t want to play the Knights Week 1 of the Finals.


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Agee. They've got some experienced big game players and some real young talents. They worry me more than any other 5-8 side, including Rabbits. Almost rather play the Eels at the moment than the Knights who had he wood on us earlier on too.

[Botman]

We'll **** them up.
If you take care of Ponga, they're nothing.

[afgtnk]

That's a hell of a lot easier said than done.

Ponga in any sort of decent form would murder our retreating defences, slow line speed, and slow fringes. Need to avoid them in the first week at all costs.

[Botman]

A lot of teams manage to do it though... He doesnt show up as much as you'd like for the guy you're paying that kind of money too.

The knights dont worry me at all. They're a team that will only beat us if we play incredibly poorly and if we play incredibly poorly, we'd get beat by any of those bottom 3 teams... We have nothing to fear from any of those teams, we dont need to avoid any of them... we handle our business and play good footy and none of those bottom 3 teams will beat us.

[raiderskater]

I think we're also a lot better than the last time we played any of the 5-8 teams, and better than when we played Parra, Melbourne and Penrith.

[gangrenous]

We played Penrith like 2 weeks ago!

Of course we look better beating up on a crap St.George team.

Thread overflowing with wishful thinking...

[Botman]

I think we'd be long odds to beat either the roosters or panthers, i think we could beat them... but they'd be rightful favourites

But i do draw the line at fearing the sharks, knights and bunnies... we're better than them all, and all things being equal, we beat those teams 8/10 times.

[Seiffert82]

IMO the top 3 teams this season are up there because they play like a team. There are some individually very talented players in those sides, like Cleary, Smith and Tedesco who are critical to their performance, but when those teams are firing, nobody overplays their hand.

I think we have enough raw talent to compete with those sides, but we just need guys like Wighton, Williams and Bateman to make the other players around them reach their potential.

That's the difference. Smith, Tedesco and Cleary stand out because they rarely make mistakes, take good options and trust their teammates to do a job. They also have the likes of Munster, Keary and Koroisau as top tier support, but those three teams are striking in the way they almost always work together to get results. I think our team works hard and they play for each other, but we can tend to play as individuals when under the pump.

[BadnMean]

I think we'd be long odds to beat either the roosters or panthers, i think we could beat them... but they'd be rightful favourites

But i do draw the line at fearing the sharks, knights and bunnies... we're better than them all, and all things being equal, we beat those teams 8/10 times.

We'd need to be riding a wave of momentum. Which we would be if we got there. Then we actually have more finals footy experience and more hard nuts in the team than Pamfers- a finals match could look a whole lot different. I wouldn't put us favourites but it'd be an in the trenches kind of game.

Roosters in a final- grudge match time. Bloody tough though.

[The Nickman]

I think we'd be long odds to beat either the roosters or panthers, i think we could beat them... but they'd be rightful favourites

But i do draw the line at fearing the sharks, knights and bunnies... we're better than them all, and all things being equal, we beat those teams 8/10 times.

Yeah agreed, some absolutely ludicrous assertions here. Throw in the Eels too, if we play well we beat them pretty easily too I think based on recent form.

And seriously, if we hit the finals and don’t play well, then it’s all over anyway.

[The Nickman]

I’d also just like to throw in that there’s no team I fear, I genuinely think we can win this comp if we play at our best and as the great man himself says “to be the best you’ve got to beat the best WOOOOO!!”

My preference is and will always be Top 4 and we play the Panthers first. **** em, knock em over first week of the finals and march to the Prelims!

[Horace Dove-Edwin]

We have to accept we won't be top 4. Parra won't lose a game.
I have a feeling we have more in our game that we haven't shown yet.

We have a chance to go easy the next two weeks with resting players which means a 4 week run is achievable.
We've already shown we can beat Melbourne and Roosters this season, should have beat Parra.
Only loss was Penrith.

I like to think the Canterbury run in 1995 can be repeated by us this year.

The wildcard is Curtis Scott.
Really hoping that now the cloud of the court case is no longer there he can fire.
We've been missing a weapon in the centres all year.
Could be the missing piece.

[Sid]

It’s a shame that the Raiders game in the last round is just before the eels game and not after. Players from top 8 teams being rested in the last 2 rounds could throw up some unusual results, like Raiders last round in 2019 against the warriors treated like a trial match

[The Nickman]

We have to accept we won't be top 4. Parra won't lose a game.
I have a feeling we have more in our game that we haven't shown yet.

We have a chance to go easy the next two weeks with resting players which means a 4 week run is achievable.
We've already shown we can beat Melbourne and Roosters this season, should have beat Parra.
Only loss was Penrith.

I like to think the Canterbury run in 1995 can be repeated by us this year.

The wildcard is Curtis Scott.
Really hoping that now the cloud of the court case is no longer there he can fire.
We've been missing a weapon in the centres all year.
Could be the missing piece.

You can accept it, but I'm not going to.

Let's reconvene in two weeks time and THEN we'll see who has the hardest job!

EDIT: Nice work bringing up Canterbury though, people love to crap on that no team has won from outside the top 4 under this finals system and they're just plain wrong.

[Matt]

I want 4th, but thats no longer in our hands. We need the undermanned Wonkey Donkeys to make their **** smell like roses, OR, rely on the Tigers fate of finishing 9th by jagging a win next wk; both against the Eels.

I do think we can get to a prelim from 5th though.

[tragic]

I think our best position is 8th, so we travel Week 1 of the finals and get battle hardened for the wars to come. Also, we then get to play the eels if they lose to Penrith Week 1 of the finals.

Doesn't matter really. We've got no attack, our coach is stubborn, and Croker can't captain

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[The Nickman]

I think our best position is 8th, so we travel Week 1 of the finals and get battle hardened for the wars to come. Also, we then get to play the eels if they lose to Penrith Week 1 of the finals.

Doesn't matter really. We've got no attack, our coach is stubborn, and Croker can't captain

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Good point, sledgod. Complete lack of leadership all-round.

[reptar]

I think our best position is 8th, so we travel Week 1 of the finals and get battle hardened for the wars to come. Also, we then get to play the eels if they lose to Penrith Week 1 of the finals.

Doesn't matter really. We've got no attack, our coach is stubborn, and Croker can't captain

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Good point, sledgod. Complete lack of leadership all-round.

Less speed than a Blue Light Disco.

[Seiffert82]

I think our best position is 8th, so we travel Week 1 of the finals and get battle hardened for the wars to come. Also, we then get to play the eels if they lose to Penrith Week 1 of the finals.

Doesn't matter really. We've got no attack, our coach is stubborn, and Croker can't captain

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Good point, sledgod. Complete lack of leadership all-round.

Less speed than a Blue Light Disco.

I like it! Works on a number of levels.

[FuiFui BradBrad]

Im quietly confident we can still make the 4. I reckon there's a Parra loss coming in the next two weeks.
1. Surely the Broncos are due... surely?
2. Tigers will want to send Benji and Chris Lawrence out on a high note.

All we have to do is just keep winning. Just keep winning. Winning, winning..

[zim]

Im quietly confident we can still make the 4. I reckon there's a Parra loss coming in the next two weeks.
1. Surely the Broncos are due... surely?
2. Tigers will want to send Benji and Chris Lawrence out on a high note.

All we have to do is just keep winning. Just keep winning. Winning, winning..

Broncos are so short they're starting Ben Teo in the forwards this week. So we'll have to pin our hopes on Benji.

[GreenMachine]

Roosters are rightfully the favourites AND the best team this season.
Had Hodgson not been injured, I had a grand final rematch for 2020.
Penrith have had the softest of draws with very little travel.