I'm feeling a lot of man love for our pigs.

[Guest]

We have got a really good forward pack developing at the moment.

Ryles has been a standout and has lead the younger guys from the front all year, JWH, Conn, FNP and Mose are developing nicely. Maubs has been a revelation and is killing it running wide. I also think Myles has bulked up a bit since the start of the season and his move back to prop suits. Anasta has found his feet at lock and Jake the rake is a little cherry on top.

While a lot of focus has been on our backs our young forward pack is fast becoming one of the best. They may not be flash individually but they are all contributing. Whatever BS is feeding em, keep it up.

Chook.

[Guest]

I also like the flexibility of our pigs. Myles, Nuuausala, Hargreaves, Masoe and Conn can play both up front and out wide. Anasta can play in the halves, Morbs can play in the centres, Koops can play at hooker.

I'd like for us to regularly field a pack of:

Ryles
Friend
Myles
Nuuausala
Aubusson
Anasta

Kouparitsas
Conn/Kennedy
Hargreaves
Masoe

But against the bigger packs, I wouldn't mind a bit of a reshuffle to field:

Ryles
Friend
Masoe
Nuuausala
Myles
Anasta

Kouparitsas
Aubusson
Hargreaves
Conn/Kennedy

...at least for the start of the game. A giant backrow of Myles and Nuuausala, then bring on Morbs to run them around a bit while Myles shifts into the prop rotation again.

[Guest]

I'm not worried about our forwards delivering. It's our backs that pose the biggest problems.

[TheLoneRooster]

I'm liking the forward pack A LOT too and it is mostly down to their hard work and Carney's brilliance that the Roosters find themselves in 4th (could have been 3rd if not for an insipid cowgirls display). As BigMike stated, the backs (I mean 1 through 5 here) are where the weaknesses lie and it is there that attention needs to be focused.

[redwhiteandbluester]

We have got good depth in the back row, especially. Guerra is yet to return and all the players in there at the moment are going well.

And yet, Kouparitsis still gets a guernsey?

Edit: Symonds adds to the depth, too.

[Guest]

We have got good depth in the back row, especially. Guerra is yet to return and all the players in there at the moment are going well.

And yet, Kouparitsis still gets a guernsey?

As someone said previously, Koups is our Daniel Wagon.

Chook.

[Guest]

agreed, thinking of our pack in 2 or 3 years is really exciting

going really good now but with 1 or 2 more years under kennedy, mose, jwh's belts and myles playing the ryles role we could really be the dominant pack in the comp

fpn, conn, maubs keep improving along with the young halves, linnett, bj we really could be anything

[Guest]

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news...-1225894270402

SYDNEY Roosters match-winner Mitch Aubusson says there is finally belief.

Teammate Jared Waerea-Hargreaves says the feeling around the team is awesome. Captain Braith Anasta says his team can be there on grand final day.

The Roosters have won five of their past seven games, including the last three in a row, lifting the hopes of the 2009 wooden-spooners. The last time the Roosters collected a hat-trick was in 2008 -- the same year they made the semi-finals.

That was a rare bright season for the Bondi Junction club in a bleak five-year period.

In 2005 they finished 9th; in 2006 15th; 2007 10th; and 2009 16th -- rock bottom.

"It makes you appreciate the good times more than you normally would after coming off a year like we had last year," Aubusson said yesterday having scored the winning try against Canterbury on Sunday.

He did the same thing against South Sydney the week before -- something of a lucky charm for the at-times luckless Roosters.

"Mate, don't put that sort of pressure on me," Aubusson said.

"I was just lucky to be in the right position at the right time. The team is doing a lot of hard work and it's paying off."

Unlike 12 months ago, when the Roosters could not halt their downward spiral, Aubusson said there was real belief this time.

"It's something we're doing well -- continuing to build," he said.

"And if we do that we'll be very hard to beat at the back end of the season."

Anasta is not happy with just making the finals. He thinks his side can be there on October 3 at ANZ Stadium.

"I do, I do. I thoroughly believe that and I think the boys do too," he said. "You can see that in the confidence, in the way they're playing their football."

Waerea-Hargreaves puts the purple form of the past month down to two things -- mateship and a settled "spine".

"I believe we're playing as a team. We want to play for each other now," he said.

"When someone makes a bust, everyone is on board now. At the start of the year only one or two defenders would chase."

Former Golden Boot winner Anthony Minichiello has returned to fullback with Todd Carney into his preferred position at five-eighth alongside halfback Mitchell Pearce.

"We're just building around Mitch and Toddie," Waerea-Hargreaves said.

"And Braith playing on that left edge with Toddie is brilliant. I just love playing with the calibre of those players."

New coach Brian Smith was given a fair bit of the credit since he came on board from Newcastle for 2010.

"He's shown a lot of structure. He's got a lot of new ideas. He's helped me with a lot of self-belief personally," Aubusson said.
__________________________________________________ _____________

The team is really upbeat these days, sounds like they are all in their happy place.

Chook.

[BUDDY]

I loved Smithy's statement the other day how the guys on the bench were jumping up and down looking up at the glass box busting to get on the field.

That's how Koups was warming up

[TheLoneRooster]

Really enjoy reading articles like that one.
I am cautiously optimistic the Roosters will continue to build on their good form of late but hope that their defensive deficiencies are rectified forthwith.

[Guest]

Noooo. Stop talking about the grand final and get out of the papers. I hate it when this happens, it's like a rubber band waiting to pull back.

Week by week.

[BUDDY]

Noooo. Stop talking about the grand final and get out of the papers. I hate it when this happens, it's like a rubber band waiting to pull back.

Week by week.

I don't mind the fans having a bit of fun with it but I hate the players talking about it. If they defend like they did on the weekend then we won't get anywhere near the GF.

[Guest]

Exactly. It's only funny when souffs do it and we can laugh about the best forward pack in the comp.

The last time there was any mention about the grand final we got hammered by the dogs. A lot can happen between now and the semis. If we've just won three only to go and lose our next three I think I'll crawl under a rock somewhere.

[Guest]

I like man love.

I also like cheering for a team with potential. As far as I'm concerned, 2009 never happened.

[Cockadoodledoo]

Noooo. Stop talking about the grand final and get out of the papers. I hate it when this happens, it's like a rubber band waiting to pull back.

Week by week.

That was the worst thing to say. You are putting a target on your back.. The last time Braith said we could score tries from anywhere, we struggled to score a try for a month.