Watching the Storm tonight...

[2026]

It now turns out that the Broncos game we won was a sucker punch.

Damn you Bennett!

[elo]

We fluffed it against the Panthers and we fluffed it against the Storm, that simple really. We now have the sad record of 13 premierships from 19 minor premierships, it's an embarrassing strike rate compared to the ferrets across the road at Redfern.

[2026]

The NRL rule book must have some type of split personality disorder.

Last nights ruck and 10 metres bares no resemblance to our week 1 final vs the Storm.

[Tommy Smith]

It now turns out that the Broncos game we won was a sucker punch.

I don't buy into that. We should have won by 20.

And it's not like the Broncos blew us off the park on Friday. We blew ourselves off the park with the same dumb errors we've been making for two years.

That Broncos game was defining, but ultimately because of the season ending injuries to JWH and Pearce.

Deep down it felt like season over. And it turned out to be true. The best and fittest team will win the comp 19/20. That continues to hold true.

[dice]

TS, I agree the season was over with those injuries. We have done nothing since those injuries to suggest we could have beaten the Broncos or Cowboys at their best. People not realising the importance of Pearce's role in the brief comeback on Friday night.

It doesn't excuse Robbo for making the same mistakes Sticky made. People scratch their heads as to why we can't go up a gear in the finals. The answer is we don't have another gear and have shown the opposition our hand. Having two players suspended last year round 26 took the cake for mine. The height of stupidity sacrificing a premiership for a minor premiership.

[chopstiks]

Not blowing smoke up Bennett. It is a criticism of Robbo and Sticky. I remember in 2003 when we blew the Panthers off the park just before the finals. We showed them our best hand when we didn't need to, the Panthers planned the Grand Final on the lessons learnt from that game. Bennett, Hasler, and Bellamy always hold something back for the finals.

We show all tricks in our bag, still be the team to beat after all that, yet fail to address all the sh*te in the game that Brisbane said they would serve up beforehand. Nor can we overcome a wrestle-athon with Melbourne for an entire 80 minutes. I think it comes back to having the in-game smarts mentality and is probably a big reason why a lot of these guys look to and rely on Pearce (or a Mini), because their in-game management without that goes out the window, basically. I'm not anyone's apologist, just trying to make sense of the 'disconnect' there in Finals time, and the dumb and dumber things we do. These missed opportunities aren't because of a lack of talent, to state the bleedin obvious, and I'm not so sure it's because the coach didn't change a winning way. I think it's much more philosophical, an attitude. Melbourne wanted it badly, Broncos were running for every ball like their lives depended on it, and Bennett sat back "like he was at the tennis", watching us fark it all up.

[Guest]

We fluffed it against the Panthers and we fluffed it against the Storm, that simple really. We now have the sad record of 13 premierships from 19 minor premierships, it's an embarrassing strike rate compared to the ferrets across the road at Redfern.

If you are embarrassed about that strike rate than perhaps you should have a lot at the records of the Cronulla Sutherland Sharks, Auckland Warriors, North Queensland Cowboys, Canberra Raiders, Newcastle Knights, Gold Coast Titans, Penrith Panthers or Wests Tigers.

We are an exceptionally successful club and one of the proudest and most historic in over 100 years of rugby league football in Australia as well as being the only team to have played in every season of the top grade competition in this country. We will continue to be successful.