So who backs up against Melbourne?

[HunchoRooster]

I see all of them but Angus playing. Lindsay will probably play reduced mins.

Connor and Spencer should be raring to go.

[HunchoRooster]

Interesting that while there is some talk of us being flat track bullies, as we have only beaten one top-8 side this year, the Storm have also only beaten one top-8 side since we last played them. That was a 6-point win against the Dolphins (where the Dolphins were probably the better team). You'd have to admit that our form over the past 3-months (since we played them) has been a lot better than theirs.

Both sides are also 8-2 since that game, with us losing to the Sharks and Cowboys, and the Storm losing to the Sharks and Manly.

Interesting context. Melb have been as efficient as ever without setting the world alight. They’ve built up an impressive lead at the top without really doing much of note. We need to be on to beat them though as they’ll never give us an edge with silly errors and they seem to sneak by with their influence on the refs.

Hughes and Wishart have probably been the only standouts for them in what is quite an average Melb side by comparison to years gone by.

[BraveTheWorld]

Interesting context. Melb have been as efficient as ever without setting the world alight. They’ve built up an impressive lead at the top without really doing much of note. We need to be on to beat them though as they’ll never give us an edge with silly errors and they seem to sneak by with their influence on the refs.

Hughes and Wishart have probably been the only standouts for them in what is quite an average Melb side by comparison to years gone by.

Would agree with all of this. I posted somewhere on here a few weeks ago, that I'm certain if we play them in a finals game with a relatively healthy roster, we'll win well - but obviously we have to get there first.

From what I've noticed, they seem to play roughly to the strength of their opposition. I don't consider Munster a huge out for them (against us), as we tend to handle him very well, and Wishart has been strong. Hughes is the one that particularly troubles me.

I don't think it's unfair to say that they should have lost to the Bulldogs, Titans and Warriors, but to their credit they've won some ugly contests. It has reminded me a little bit of us in 2017.

I also don't think it's unreasonable to comment on the number of 50-50's they seem to get in their favour. The final 15-minutes against the Titans was pretty horrendous in that respect, from memory.

We also didn't have Dom Young, Sandon Smith, Leniu or Walker when we played them last time, and fielded a bench of Whyte, May, E Butcher and Docker-Clay, which seems relatively weak in retrospect.

[zac]

robbo saying that at this stage all of them will back up.
maybe jenko comes in for sitili at centre with sitili going to the bench to play mins if any of crichton, collins or leniu are struggling

[The Bondi spy]

Season defining game for me. We need to beat the top teams to have a crack at the GF. Storm knocked us out last year and beat us this year. Penrith too. Unless we can do that then it’s a two team race this year. Just beating the lower teams won’t get us the trophy.

cant agree that we absolutely need to win. This is the toughest of road trips and the weather and origin will play their parts. Of course I’ll be upset if we lose, but we are at least as good as them

[roosterchook]

cant agree that we absolutely need to win. This is the toughest of road trips and the weather and origin will play their parts. Of course I’ll be upset if we lose, but we are at least as good as them

What then is it with us that we keep getting rolled by the top teams? Last year in the finals and now this year all top 3 teams have beaten us. If we’re as good as them why do we keep getting beaten by them?

[King Salvo]

Ethan King (18) and Siua Wong(19) are the two remaining reserves. Siua Wong could come into the 17 if Angus Crichton is rested or Sitili Tupouniua moved back to the forwards and Ethan King plays centre.

SOO Game 3 Minutes played

• Lindsay Collins - 32
• Connor Watson - 16
• Angus Crichton - 65
• Spencer Leniu - 26

[Batemans Bay Rooster]

What then is it with us that we keep getting rolled by the top teams? Last year in the finals and now this year all top 3 teams have beaten us. If we’re as good as them why do we keep getting beaten by them?

It's a long season, and we're in a nice position with a nice run home. Be nice to win tonight, pretty tough to go down there on the back of the third origin with so many of us involved. They're a very good side obviously. Even so it's hard to see us not being very competitive. But it's not the be all and end all. We've beaten them in a grand final. They've never beaten us

[Andrew Walker]

Nice try