The Way to the Title

[Johnny Tobin]

We know we have to beat Dogs then Brisbane.

No denying we have made it hard for ourselves.

But if we win this week I will be confident against Brisbane.

But what about the other side of the draw?

I don't give Sharks much hope this week. Then the following week I want Melbourne to beat the Cows.

The reason?

I would much prefer another crack at Melbourne.

If it's the Cows there will be Souffs-type hysteria all week. Melbourne won't be getting the positive press.

But also, I don't think Melbourne would get anything like the leeway Cummins gave them again.

I would be confident that we would dust Melbourne in the big one.

What that all means is that the biggest hurdle, as I see it, is this Friday.

[BallyChook]

All makes sense, except that Brisbane in Brisbane will also be a significant hurdle.

[Johnny Tobin]

All makes sense, except that Brisbane in Brisbane will also be a significant hurdle.

I would be a lot more confident about that than this week.

Just something about them dirty dooogs.

[Tommy Smith]

We'll relish a Prelim at Suncorp.

Great surface. Dry track. Big crowd. Fast game against a retreating defensive line.

So I agree, it's just a matter of getting through Friday. We should win. But then we should have beaten the Storm, and Souffs before that, and Penrith before that.

I have no idea which Roosters team will up. The effort will be there but we just haven't handled pressure well the past two years which worries me.

FWIW, now we've had a loss I rate our chances higher. I reckon we would have got burned by the Cowboys on the back of an easy run to the Prelim.

But this path, whilst tougher, should see us galvanised and tuned in for every big game. IF we have the balls to handle the pressure.

[dice]

I was sweating on a Broncos win on the weekend. Cows definitely the NRL faves, big pack, and in steamy Townsville. Even if we had beaten them our forwards would have been drained.

[BUDDY]

I am more nervous about this week's game than I would be any of the other games. The Dogs were grubs on the weekend with trying to snap Benji in half (accident my arrse) and then two cheap shots on Widdop in the space of 10 seconds. They couldn't score and the next best option was to make sure the Dragons couldn't score. They will target the likes of Pearce (if he plays), BBQ and RTS with similar cheap shots.

If we pass this hurdle and then Brisbane, the Storm would probably be our best hope providing they want an open game of footy for the GF.
I give the Sharks a big hope this weekend. The Cowboys have been playing well below their best for a few weeks. The Sharks have beaten them twice already this year.
If the Sharks make it through to the GF then Holt will be presenting them the trophy.

[Johnny.]

If the Sharks make it through to the GF then Holt will be presenting them the trophy.

You have such an eloquent turn of phrase.

[BallyChook]

We'll relish a Prelim at Suncorp.

Great surface. Dry track. Big crowd. Fast game against a retreating defensive line.

So I agree, it's just a matter of getting through Friday. We should win. But then we should have beaten the Storm, and Souffs before that, and Penrith before that.

I have no idea which Roosters team will up. The effort will be there but we just haven't handled pressure well the past two years which worries me.

FWIW, now we've had a loss I rate our chances higher. I reckon we would have got burned by the Cowboys on the back of an easy run to the Prelim.

But this path, whilst tougher, should see us galvanised and tuned in for every big game. IF we have the balls to handle the pressure.

All things being equal, I agree we should relish it. However, the last couple of times we have been there we've been hammered in the officiating and with a rabid QLD crowd baying for blood together with Gus cheering for an all QLD GF I do get a bit worried. This week however is obviously the priority.

[ROC181]

Who's coming to Brisbane?

[Ray Stehr]

It'll be embarrassing if we go out in straight sets.

[Gary Worthless]

This week: Roosters beat Dogs, Cows beat Sharks then
Next week: Roosters beat Broncos, Storm beat Cows.

Roosters V Storm Grand Final.

I'm jumping on early for Ray's dream to come true.

This is the only hope I cling to as my head says that we will lose to Broncos next week and Broncos will win the GF against Storm.

The true way to a win a title is to be consistently one of the two best teams all year (tick) and then win your first semi for the week off (epic fail Panthers 2014, epic fail Storm 2015) as the road back is just too hard - fatigue, injuries and suspensions.

Tomorrow I leave for 2 weeks surfing holiday in the South Pacific with no TV or internet and any access to NRL news. It will be interesting to find out what I come back to for NRL Grand Final week.

[infidelrooster]

Everyone has written us off now,this could play into the teams hands or we could do suffs.

[stephenj]

i was all set to go to brisbane then realised i8m committed to travel to bathursr to play golden oldies that weekend, hotel paid for!i guess i9 get to see it in a pub drinking lots of cold beer!

[Johnny Tobin]

Everyone has written us off now,this could play into the teams hands or we could do suffs.

Written us off?

We are still equal favourites for the comp!

Ridiculous but true.

[ROC181]

Everyone has written us off now,this could play into the teams hands or we could do suffs.

Who has written us off? We are still favourites and rightly so. We have lost 1 game in 13. This loss should wake everyone up. Those big forwards from the dogs should tire out. They could hardly beat a dragons side without fully functioning halves and average forwards. There was nothing shown by them that would give them an advantage.