Halfway through the regular season, with the run home we have, we're well positioned

[Batemans Bay Rooster]

It's been a long start to the season, what with Vegas and everything. We haven't had a bye yet, ironically the only 2 teams who haven't had a bye yet are us and the Cowboys. They don't get one until Rd 16. Melbourne, the competition leaders, have already had 2 byes.

Last season our byes were in rounds 4, 14 and 19. This year it's 14, 19, and 23.

We have a nice run home. And not too many injuries so far.

Won 7 lost 6, we've played (and beaten) Brisbane twice, don't have to play Penrith again.

Unsurprising to have a flat game around Origin time after a long start to a season with no breaks.

Run home
bye
Eels A
Dogs H
Tigers H
Dragons H
bye
Storm A
Manly H
Dolphins A
bye
Eels H
Titans A
Raiders H
Souths A

There'll be plenty of wins, and 3 byes amongst all that

We're going fine.

Some of you must be teenagers, to think that the best side on paper just wins every week. And when the best side on paper doesn't win, they must all be "idiots", and the coach is "hopeless", and blah blah blah.

It's an even comp, lots of very good footballers. and a very, very long season.

We're going along fine, don't worry about that.

[The Godfather]

I think that depends on your expectations. If you think a prelim final is a great result for this team , then yes we are going fine. A top 4 finish I’d say is winning 8 or 9 from those 11 to scrape in to the top 4 and realistically challenge for the title. I don’t see that happening . We still lack composure , discipline and leadership

I do think we are better than last couple of years though. Better depth. Will be interesting to see if we go deeper than last year though

[milanja]

Fingers crossed, we continue to have a reasonable run with injuries this year to our crucial players, our top 8 rivals have lost key players for quite a while, but are still ahead of us on the table,Penrith (Cleary) storm(pappy,Munster) broncos(haas,Reynolds) manly(turbo) so no doubt they will be stronger as they return later in the year.

as pointed out, we do have our 3 byes to come, and we have dropped two games we probably shouldn’t have(dogs,cows), so it’s hard to say we should win the so called easy games.

we have a strong for&against, and a good draw coming up, out of 12 points available in the next 6 weeks(2byes) Parra is the only team that could trouble us.(although we do lose our origin players against the dogs)

looking at the ladder, a single win is separating 4th from 12th!

[BTRD]

The reality is, there are no easy games for us. We have already lost 6 games, that is 3 or 4 to much. We should never lose to the Bulldogs, and we play them again - and we should of won yesterday.

With the roster we have, I believe anything but a GF appearance is a huge failure.

[Bates]

This team is starting to feel like the class of 2010.

[Jacks Fur Coat]

Good post BBR.

It's been a strong 6 weeks or so for us. Two close losses when we just didn't have the quality of defence you expect from Easts. Otherwise we are healthier points wise and physically than we have been at this point in the season in recent years.

Plenty of room for optimism...lots of footy to be played yet.

[Thirteen]

Good thread. Good times aren’t far away.

[mightyrooster]

We just need to stay injury and suspension free. We always finish the season stronger annd are in a better position at the midway point than the last few years.

[ism22]

Look we are but we SHOULD be better positioned and there's a lot of hard work ahead. Noting, teams like the Eels and the Bulldogs are on the rise (and will probably be keen to notch up wins against us).

[Batemans Bay Rooster]

The reality is, there are no easy games for us. We have already lost 6 games, that is 3 or 4 to much. We should never lose to the Bulldogs, and we play them again - and we should of won yesterday.

With the roster we have, I believe anything but a GF appearance is a huge failure.

the reality is, there are no easy games for anyone.

[Kentucky_Fried_Rooster]

the reality is, there are no easy games for anyone.

We are going to make the 8 but might miss the 4.
We will win most our games until the finals but the teams around us are in a similar position to us.
I done the NRL later predictor and tried to do it as how it should play out which had us finishing 5th without having us win every game or trying to have teams lose to make our position better.
The only game I had us losing was against the Storm in Melbourne.
Obviously there will be upsets and games that are 50-50 could go the other way then I predicated but the comp is that close this year bar a couple of teams.

The eight came out as
1: Panthers
2: Storm
3: Sharks
4: Brisbane
5: Roosters
6: Sea Eagles
7: Raiders
8: Dolphins

[Vasco]

I've been supporting Easts long enough to know that you should never look at the draw and pencil in wins and losses. Last Sunday proves that.

[Inflictor]

Way too much emphasis on this last game.
We were in a position to win it and stuff ups from non-regular players were costly. We had 7 out from our recent excellent form plus JWH only played 20 minutes leaving us with one pig. Our rotation of Sitili and Wong are unfortunately so far off their best and they both made costly dumb errors. SOO period is a lottery. Panthers lost to a Dragons side without their two only decent players. Sharks lost to the Eels. Dolphins lost. Everyone assuming the teams above us will just go on their merry way winning while the at full strength in-form team are going to struggle to make up a couple of games given 3 byes plus a fairly favourable draw. Prior to this week when we were at full strength who else was playing as dominant as us?
We get Teddy, Suaalii, Collins, Gus, Leniu, Watto and I'll add JWH back in that team.
The teams above us will play each other and have their own issues losing to lesser teams. We are in a better position going forward than the majority of the teams above us given the form we were in and the players coming back. We just need to have luck with injuries.

Just f-unbelievable some base the rest of the year on the last game ignoring what we did the past few when we had our full squad.

FFS

[Steggles]

We are going to make the 8 but might miss the 4.
We will win most our games until the finals but the teams around us are in a similar position to us.
I done the NRL later predictor and tried to do it as how it should play out which had us finishing 5th without having us win every game or trying to have teams lose to make our position better.
The only game I had us losing was against the Storm in Melbourne.
Obviously there will be upsets and games that are 50-50 could go the other way then I predicated but the comp is that close this year bar a couple of teams.

The eight came out as
1: Panthers
2: Storm
3: Sharks
4: Brisbane
5: Roosters
6: Sea Eagles
7: Raiders
8: Dolphins

I did the same with us losing just the one game and had us finishing =4th with Brisbane and Canberra, but with a much better for and against. If we lose 2 games, we won’t be in the top four. If we lose 3 games, we will scrape into the finals in 8th. Lose 4 games and we miss the 8. Are we consistent enough just to lose one more game?

In saying that, are we seeing the start of a capitulation from Cronulla? That would help us significantly.

[HunchoRooster]

Penriff had both their halves out, their fullback out and their main forwards out. Dragons are woeful yes but the rain was a huge equaliser in that game.

We lost because of attitude and a complete lack of cohesion from a far more winnable position. I don’t like excuses being made. Going off that performance, none of those games left over are given. We know we can win the majority of them, but we can’t gloss over the clear deficiencies in this squad because we win well every 3 weeks and we’ll make the 8.

We are well positioned to finish 5th and bow out week 2 of the semis which for us should be looked at as mediocrity. Need a major turnaround in attitude and application in the next few weeks, the footy element takes care of itself. The only thing I’m blaming Robbo for these days is too much loyalty. I can’t put the blame on him for anything else, it’s the players that constantly seem to be content being a good team and not a great team.