Been an interesting season so far. Dragons have been very surpising although I think their bubble will burst. I'm not buying all the hype. Widdop has finally stopped being a myth. Panthers have been surprisingly poor but I couldn't believe anyone had them as title favourites before the year started. Roosters, as some of us predicted, were way underrated. Storm is Storm. Just keep rolling on. Cowboys have been shite. Hess is a machine though. Lots of stuff to talk about....
I expected St George to start reasonably well -- the fact that their simple style is more consistently effectively early season before teams properly gel is precisely what's kept them mid-table rather than bottom four the last few seasons. They've obviously taken it to a new level though and they're much improved with Widdop playing a lot more direct and Vaughan adding so much in the middle third. I still don't think they're in premiership contention but it'd be hard to see them missing the eight from here; they might even sneak into the top four.
Penrith still haven't learnt their lesson. Surprise surprise, going wide on 2nd tackle every set doesn't work.
I heard that Gould is giving a hand in the coaching department.....could be a case of too many cooks?
The fuck is all this hype about Ashley Taylor? Meninga saying he is a future, all-time great. Triple M saying he's a consummate halfback and superstar. Talk about him being Thurston's replacement next year. The fuck are these people watching?
Cowboys have been pretty shit but with losing JT, Granville, Coote and Scott I can kind of understand it on this occasion. Hess is a gun for sure though.
What does everyone think of the standard of play so far this season? I personally think it has been a massive improvement on last year. It seems like every single club in the off season realised that everyone was becoming so predictable and completely changed their attacking mentality. Some have adapted better than others *cough* penrith *cough* and the unstructured play has led to some awful decision making but it has created some great moments and overall made this season more enjoyable so far IMO.
It's more interesting for sure because of the variation. And yeah I think the standard is better. I still don't like the 'play risky/fast' mentality but it makes for good viewing. On the other hand I think general play kicking has been going downhill each year.
I don't really like all the second phase ad-lib crap much tbh, but I've enjoyed the more direct play and increased pace of the game.
