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Message: [QUOTE="Big Pete, post: 3522652, member: 1899"] The Cowboys have a good opportunity to surge up the ladder when they take on the Panthers. Slater has finally done the Cows a solid and named AJ as his 18th man, allowing the Cowboys to largely keep their team in place. Meanwhile the Panthers haven't been as lucky with Crichton on 18th man duties for NSW. It's a good opportunity for the Cowboys to go back to back against Top 4 teams and establish momentum on the run home. I think Top 4 is still unlikely, but they could easily make the finals from here. Big game coming up for both Newcastle and Sydney. Both are in similar positions on the ladder with the Roosters in a very precarious situation without their stars. Similarly to the Cowboys, the Roosters just have to find a way to get the job done and then focus on the run home when they get their stars back and a few of their players get games under their belt. It's been an amazing drop-off from them and it can't all be blamed on injuries either. Still, the Roosters are never out of the game long and even if things are looking dicey for 2023 and even 2024, I'm sure 2025 they'll be there about. I'm curious to see which version of the Knights we get. Do we get the Knights who were unlucky against the Broncos and Panthers, or do we get the Knights who were more interested in going to Bali? Manly/Eels is another big game in determining Top 8 placements. At the start of the season, it seemed like this was one of those games the Eels could cruise to victory but with Brown & Moses out it really levels the playing field. This is one of those games that really shows you how good the underbelly of both teams are and how they perform without their generals. I'm especially interested in watching Schuster play, he failed his first assignment against Newcastle, can he learn from that? I forgot I had the Tigers ahead of the Broncos on my pre-season ladder. If memory serves, they were actually on equal points on my predictor, but I just gave the Tigers the biccies. It's a shame for them as they had just turned a corner and while I think they can jag a win without him, it's going to be tough against Melbourne who have been going as well as I expected them to. I'm curious to watch De Silva play, I hadn't heard of him until he was named in reserves, but Tigers fans swear by him and rate him as the next Robbie Farah in waiting. Certainly I wouldn't expect him to play like vintage Farah, but this is the type of selection I like out of this squad. Bring these young players in, give them a taste and slowly but surely build for 2025. It worked in 2005, it can work again. It's going to be a really tough week for the loser of the Sharks/Bulldogs. I'd most likely say the Bulldogs who are just doing it really tough with injury and haven't quite got the squad they want. There's clearly a few guys on the roster who aren't destined to be around for much longer and they're not doing anything to change anyone's minds. Throw in a few kids auditioning for spots, a few fill-ins being asked to play above their pay grade and it's gotten tough for them. This is a big week for a few Sharks players. Fitzy has shown them patience and is willing to work with what he has and fix some of the issues plaguing the team. If they don't respond, then you'd have to think there's some big changes afoot. In particular, players like Matty Moylan, Dale Finucane, Wade Graham etc. really need to step it up. I expect they will and it'll allow Fitzy to make the changes on his terms but there's just cogs in this team holding it back from being a genuine contender. [/QUOTE]

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