Reply to thread

Message: [QUOTE="Big Pete, post: 3111334, member: 1899"] Merry Team List Tuesday everyone! I hope Seibold was kind to you all and gave you all the selections you wanted. Reading through a lot of predicted line-ups, I don't expect there to be too many surprises. I've got my fingers crossed for a few changes but right now the most daring selection news we've heard is 28 year former Melbourne and Manly reserve grade centre Braden Williame coming in for Aitken. Mary is such a bore, apparently his other bold move is switching Frizell and Sims to different edges. I'll marathon every game, but outside of the obvious Sea Eagles/Storm game which 90% of the time deliver, I'm going to be glued to the couch for all three Saturday games. The Warriors will be in dire straights if RTS is ruled out and I'm keen to see what a real coach will do for the Knights. I've been harsh on Brown, but it was clear he was nothing more than a caretaker to take the blame as the Knights rebuilt, he was never going to be the coach to take them to the next level. I'm curious to see how the players will respond to O'Brien, particularly the two young Queensland centres. Tuala in particular sounds like he's really been impressive. I'd keep an eye on him, Green has a knack of letting good up and comers walk out on the team (B. Smith, Viliame, Horsburgh, Hamlin-Uele etc.). I'm keen to see how South Sydney start the competition. On paper they have a premiership winning roster, but we've got to see that in practice and see how Bennett handles what appears to be an inbalance in the squad. They've moved on Doueihi but they could afford to move on another back and bolster their forward pack with a physically mature player. It's a shame they couldn't find their own version of O'Donnell because that would be the final piece of the puzzle. I'm curious to see how they handle life without Sam Burgess and if somebody can step up alongside Cameron Murray. I know they've got Tom Burgess, but Cam is the only player I consider World Class. This is will be a good test to start the season, they should win, but the Sharks have a few forwards who can just win it for their team. In fact that's what happened last time when Wade Graham, in one of his rare 2019 appearances, just ripped up. Similarly, I'm curious to see how Sydney will go. At their best, nobody could go with them, but they could never maintain that standard and they had some really dicey moments through out their back to back title campaigns. Now they're without Latrell, Cronk and with their depth in the shape that it is, a couple of changes could really knock them down a peg or three. They'll still have games where they'll simply outclass their opposition and win easy, but I'm wary of them at this stage. Penrith should shape up as a good challenge as well. For the past however many years, they've been trying to find the identity of the side. Every senior player has let them down and that class of 2013 didn't pan out either. I'm talking about guys like DWZ, Waqa, the Jet, Bryce, RCG etc. the pick of the lot and they just never delivered for Penrith. I think now that they've cut bait, they'll be closer to an Ivan Cleary side, which means they'll be more gritty in defence and will do enough with the football to make it a contest. This is a style that the Roosters don't like and now that they're missing some key personnel, they'll actually have to play well if they want to win. [/QUOTE]

Verification

Active Now

No members online now.

Total: 45 (members: 0, guests: 45)

Reply to thread

Log in

Active Now