Half-Season Report/Predictions

Discussion in 'The Cesspit: Rugby League Discussion' started by morgieb, Jun 8, 2016.

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  1. morgieb MC Burridge

    So halfway through the season, how do you think this season has gone thus far and how do you think it'll continue?

    Format borrowed from the same thread last year.

    Biggest Surprise: Titans. Thought they'd spoon it, now I think they'll make the 8. HM to Cronulla, who I thought might stagnate because their pack was getting older and they still lacked a bit of flair, but clearly they are the real deal. Dogs have held up better than I expected but I still don't really rate them and I think they're getting lucky because there's a lot of really average sides this year.
    Biggest Disappointment: Warriors. That side should be Top 4, now they'll be lucky to make the 8. Manly have also been reallly below par too.
    Best Buy: Not sure. Whitehead? Hard to think of real standouts here unlike last year.
    Worst Buy: I'll go Dylan Walker. 5/8th my arse. Bonus points for his shit Origin performance.

    Premiership: I'm gonna be bold and say Cronulla. I think they've got the most going for them and know how to win. Brisbane, Melbourne and the Cows all close, but no cigar.
    Spoon: Newcastle. They're fucked. Will be lucky to win 5 games this season.
    Top 8: Cronulla, Brisbane, North Queensland and Melbourne are all locks. I think Canberra and Canterbury make it as well though I doubt they are threats. For the final two spots.... I'll say Gold Coast and St George. Looks a fair bit tighter than what it has in the past.
    Rookie of the Year: Probably Ash Taylor. Has the most hype, at least.
    Dally M: I'll tip Cronk.
     
    morgieb, Jun 8, 2016
    #1

  2. Maroon_Faithful M Faithful

    The Warriors shouldn't be top 4. They've done a lot shitter than I expected but they're not a top 4 side even on the best of days. They're a middling top 8 side with a roster full of overhyped, overrated, marquee players and passengers.

    Some of the better signings, I'd say: Maloney, Townsend, Merrin, Tapine, Packer...

    Some of the worst: Luke, Walker, Roberts, Hodkinson, Vunivalu, Hopoate, Garvey...
     
    Maroon_Faithful, Jun 8, 2016
    #2

  3. Julian BJ Taylor

    Biggest Surprise: Was actually how good Parramatta were IMO. They cheated to do it, so fuck them, but I was surprised how good they were considering their roster was pretty shit in certain areas.

    Biggest Disappointment: Has to be the Warriors. They've been atrocious and have a good enough core of players to be much, much better.

    Best Buys: Chad Townsend, Joseph Tapine, Elliott Whitehead, Ash Taylor and there may be room yet to add Te Maire Martin Ryan Matterson. The way I rate these is by considering value for money but more importantly how much better they are than the people they replace. Townsend essentially replaced Robson, Tapine - FPN/Shillington/Tilse, Whitehead - Jarrad Kennedy and Taylor pretty much came in when the Titans had no one. Oh and Junior Paulo.

    Worst Buys: Will Hopoate, Jeff Robson, Blake Ayshford, every Parra recruit, Nate Myles. They're all fucking shit. No 2 ways about it. And Hopoate and Myles get paid a fucking fortune to stink it up.

    Premiership: Cowboys. There's not a fault in their team when everyone is fit.

    Spoon: Knights.

    Top 8: Obvious top 4, Canberra, Canterbury, Panthers, Manly/Easts

    Rookie of the Year: Probably Ash Taylor.

    Dally M: ​Anthony Milford
     
    Julian, Jun 8, 2016
    #3

  4. Fiery GR Smith

    Biggest Surprise: Didn't expect Cronulla to be quite this good.

    Biggest Disappointment: Outside of my Warriors...Manly. Honestly thought they had put a pretty good squad together and might be top 4....got that badly wrong.

    Best Buys: Junior Paulo.

    Worst Buys: RTS for obvious reasons. Might as well have flushed that money down the dunny if he doesn't get back to 100%.

    Premiership: Cronulla.

    Spoon: Knights.

    Top 8: Sharks, Cowboys, Broncos, Storm, Warriors, Eels, Raiders, Panthers

    Rookie of the Year: Dunno. Ash Taylor.

    Dally M: ​Milford
     
    Last edited: Jun 8, 2016
    Fiery, Jun 8, 2016
    #4

  5. Magic AJ Parker

    Biggest Surprise: Titans - Didn't give them a hope in hell of making the 8 after everything that had gone wrong with their recruitment/retention.

    Biggest Disappointment: Raiders, I mean they're only a point out of the top 4 but they're honestly not playing like a team who's on the fringe of the top 4. Just haven't clicked yet like I thought they would with Sezer coming in and a lot of their 2nd & 3rd year players taking another leap in their development.

    Best Buys: Trent Merrin & James Maloney

    Worst Buys: Issac Luke & Nate Myles

    Premiership: Melbourne Storm, such an underrated pack.

    Spoon: Knights

    Top 8: 1. Sharks 2. Storm 3. Cowboys 4. Raiders 5. Broncos 6. Bulldogs 7. Panthers 8. Dragons

    Rookie of the Year: Latrell Mitchell

    Dally M: Cooper Cronk
     
    Magic, Jun 9, 2016
    #5

  6. Magic AJ Parker

    Daniel Saifiti is the other one I'd nominate foor Rookie of the year, been really impressive for a 20 year old.
     
    Magic, Jun 9, 2016
    #6

  7. Fiery GR Smith

    Reckon Luke is hitting his straps now tbh. Getting match fit.
     
    Fiery, Jun 9, 2016
    #7

  8. Magic AJ Parker

    That just kind of backs up my point though.

    A professional athlete getting paid 600k a year is only now getting into the right conditioning when it's halfway through the season. If that's not a dud buy I don't know what is?
     
    Magic, Jun 9, 2016
    #8

  9. Fiery GR Smith

    I wholeheartedly agree. No one has been more disgusted with his fitness and form than me. He has some ground to make up but he looked in pretty good nick last weekend.
     
    Fiery, Jun 9, 2016
    #9

  10. Alex AJ O'Driscoll

    Biggest Surprise: Titans - Henry has done a great job. Hurrell could yet be another huge weapon for them and Peats is still being worked into their game. Should make the top 8 on current form.

    Biggest Disappointment: Warriors - they should have been a lock to make the 8 this year. Stinks of shit culture.

    Best Buys: Peats -> Titans, Tapine + Paulo -> Raiders, I think each of these has made their side far better moving forward. Mostly the potential impact they will have.
    Worst Buy: Nate Myles - the bloke just has not been turning up for club footy for years. Great rep player but fucking hell $500k a year he plays like a $125k a year player. Just not a good way to build a side.

    Premiership: Broncos were my pre-season tip - I'll stick with them

    Spoon: Knights.

    Top 8: Sharks, Cowboys, Storm, Broncos, Raiders, Bulldogs, Panthers, Titans

    Rookie of the Year: Taylor

    Dally M: ​Josh Hodgson​
     
    Alex, Jun 9, 2016
    #10

  11. Fiery GR Smith

    People who don't think the Warriors will make the 8 make me lol.
     
    Fiery, Jun 9, 2016
    #11

  12. Old Mate M Perry

    Nah fairly decent prediction.
     
    Old Mate, Jun 9, 2016
    #12

  13. Ged GEC King

    We all know how it goes with the Warriors - it's the same every year. Struggle early, get on a roll around origin while everyone else has players out, stink up the end of season and come 10th -13th. Won't be any different this season.
     
    Ged, Jun 9, 2016
    #13

  14. Ged GEC King

    Biggest Surprise: Gold Coast and Melbourne.

    Biggest Disappointment: Warriors and Manly

    Best Buys: James Maloney. I don't care what anyone says - his input has taken the Sharks from a top 6 side to a bonafide contender. Nathan Peats and Ash Taylor are up there too.
    Worst Buys: Nate Myles, RTS

    Premiership: Cows. I can't see why we can't go back to back. Green's got form in back to back prems and the side is better than last year. It'll be a GF with Cronulla and I give Cronulla half a hope. I just can see Barba, Maloney, Townsend, Ennis choking on the big stage against a better spine.

    Spoon: Knights.

    Top 8: Cronulla, Cows, Melbourne, Brisbane, Canberra, Tits, Penrith, Dogs - In that order. The top 5 are miles ahead of the rest. I fully expect the prelim finals to be Cronulla v Melbourne and Cows v Brisbane.

    Rookie of the Year: Ash Taylor.

    Dally M: ​Ben Barba. Cronulla have a pretty easy run home and he's hitting 2012 form.
    ​
     
    Ged, Jun 9, 2016
    #14

  15. Sultan Pepper HG Emm

    Raiders for the 4
     
    Sultan Pepper, Jun 9, 2016
    #15

  16. Cribbage RG Cribb

    Biggest Surprise - Gold Coast and Cronulla. Obvious reasons given above.

    Biggest Disappointment - Warriors. I expected Manly to be pretty shit -- I certainly expected them to start shit -- and they've had heaps of injuries as well. If anything they've probably won more often than I've actually tipped them in tbh. Unlike MF I really did expect the Warriors to finish in the top four though. Honourable mention to Easts who have been massively under-strength but have still managed to under-perform IMO.

    Best Buys - Maloney (reasons given) and Beau Scott (completely transformed Parra's defence). Honourable mention to Elijah Taylor who has been perfect for the Tigers as a mid-season pickup

    Worst Buys - Issac Luke (reasons given), Nate Myles (reasons given), Kurt Mann (flopped), Damien Cook (flopped), Michael Jennings (cost his team 12 competition points), Hodkinson (sigh)

    Premiership: North Queensland

    Spoon: Newcastle

    Top 8: Cronulla, North Queensland, Brisbane, Melbourne, Canberra, Canterbury, Warriors, Penrith*
    *if they can stop fucking around with their fucking selection so much

    Rookie: Leilani Latu if he counts! He played a few games last year but he debuted really late so I'm thinking it had to be <5, and they were all off the bench. Leaves Mitchell and Taylor for dead if he's eligible for this IMO.

    Dally M: Milford
     
    Last edited: Jun 9, 2016
    Cribbage, Jun 9, 2016
    #16

  17. Wilson SB Wilson

    Harsh on Cook. Definitely flopped but I don't think that's necessarily to do with him personally. He's been given sweet f/a of a chance at Souths. Should have been looking for a mid-season offload.
     
    Wilson, Jun 9, 2016
    #17

  18. Cribbage RG Cribb

    Yeah I really rate Cook but shit signings aren't shit players necessarily. He was a shit signing by Souths if they were only going to give him the role they gave him and then drop him to reserve grade if he couldn't turn water into wine with it.
     
    Last edited: Jun 12, 2016
    Cribbage, Jun 9, 2016
    #18

  19. Maroon_Faithful M Faithful

    That is very surprising to me. Doing the top 4 at season's start I picked Brisbane, Nth QLD and Cronulla, in that order. I never even considered the Warriors in 4th.

    They're just so incredibly inconsistent.
     
    Maroon_Faithful, Jun 9, 2016
    #19

  20. Old Mate M Perry

    And gay.
     
    Old Mate, Jun 10, 2016
    #20
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