Ladder position.

[SupermanSupportsEasts4Eva]

Jumping from 9th place to 5th on the ladder after one week goes to show how close the comp is. For instance instead of winning by 14 points, had we lost by 1 point we would currently be sitting in 10th place.
Rather than jumping to far ahead I'd really like for the tesm to focus on consolidating a spot in the top 3 or 4 over the next few weeks and putting a bit of space between us and the current log jam of teams.

[Danish]

The ladder is artificially close through the bye and bye points, not to mention some absolutely ridiculous refereeing that is clearly used to control results.

Without our bye points we’d drop out of the 8

[elo]

Our ladder position considering strength of draw (5 out of 8 matches against top 8 teams, including 2nd, 3rd and 4th) is more than acceptable. The key is not dropping games we should be winning like we did in round 1, we were dropping games all over the place this time last season and it came back to bite us in the bum on final ladder position. The Cowboys are a very good test on Sunday to see if we have turned the corner, we simply have to be winning matches like this if we are a serious premiership contender.

Get in the 4 and stay in the 4.

[Inflictor]

The ladder is artificially close through the bye and bye points, not to mention some absolutely ridiculous refereeing that is clearly used to control results.

Without our bye points we’d drop out of the 8

Actually we wouldn't. We would be equal 3rd plus we would have a game in hand.

[Bruce Pickett]

The ladder is artificially close through the bye and bye points, not to mention some absolutely ridiculous refereeing that is clearly used to control results.

Without our bye points we’d drop out of the 8

But won't that be the case for other teams that have had the bye too?

[ism22]

The ladder is artificially close through the bye and bye points, not to mention some absolutely ridiculous refereeing that is clearly used to control results.

Without our bye points we’d drop out of the 8

1. Agreed... IMO if the Sharks hadn't had the refs engineer a win against us and teams like Souffs had been allowed to lose by a proper margin (rather than being engineered back onto the game, giving us some silly tight wins that shoulda been Roosters blow-outs) then we'd have 1 more win and a positive PD.

2. Who hasn't had a bye yet? Warriors, Dolphins, Eels, Bulldogs, Knights, Cowboys, Bunnies and Broncos have all played 9. IMO there's no guarantee that we'd be pushed outta the 8 if they'd all had a bye. If anything (as an example), Souffs mighta had a bye instead of a massive win over the Bulldogs... giving them a lesser PD. We mighta flogged the Tigpies 50-0 instead of having a bye. Too many 'what ifs' IMO.

[Andrew Walker]

It’s all tight now But surely most have been around long enough to know it all sorts itself out in the back third of the competition and that is where the cream rises to the top

[weplayforprems]

It’s a big two weeks. If we can win these two I reckon we’re nailed on for top 4 given the games in and around the bye

[TK1990]

We have a very favourable draw over the next chunk of the season.
Over the next ten weeks we have Penrith twice, cowboys, knights, raiders, bulldogs, eagles, dragons and two byes. Statistically we would generally drop a couple of ‘easy games’ and it’s hard to look ahead given the number of variables (potential for injuries, state of origin etc) but if we could come out of this stretch splitting games with the panthers and then winning the rest, we’d be in a very good spot.
left the run too late last year, 8 wins in a row just to scrape into the finals. Ideally this year, if we win the games we ‘should’ win, then we might be in a position to rest some players a couple of weeks out from finals.

[ism22]

It’s a big two weeks. If we can win these two I reckon we’re nailed on for top 4 given the games in and around the bye

Yeah I forget how Robbo said it during the presser but noting that the competition's really dense, he said it'll spread out over the next few weeks with us solidifying our position.

I hope we start knocking off some top-4 teams this season. We've already beaten Souffs and shoulda beaten Cronulla (did... Collins scored but for the Bunker deciding to go off the worst angle possible within a split second rather than reviewing the conclusive angle that went to air and was visible to everybody else). No reason we can't beat the Riff as they've been beaten this year already.

[mattyh]

yea well do our usual shit of beating panthers and maybe nulla, then lose to the raiders or tigers or some such thing.

[Mickie Lane]

When’s the last time the Chooks beat the Panthers?

[Random Rooster]

Yes our ladder position is flattering considering in most of our 8 games we have been clunky in attack and the edge defence has some major issues. Effort has been great, execution has been ordinary.

The positive is there is a shitload room for improvement!!

Early days for all teams-injuries will play its part in the last 2 months

[Rooster36]

Our ladder position considering strength of draw (5 out of 8 matches against top 8 teams, including 2nd, 3rd and 4th) is more than acceptable. The key is not dropping games we should be winning like we did in round 1, we were dropping games all over the place this time last season and it came back to bite us in the bum on final ladder position. The Cowboys are a very good test on Sunday to see if we have turned the corner, we simply have to be winning matches like this if we are a serious premiership contender.

Get in the 4 and stay in the 4.

Agree however to be fair re the dolphins They have shown they are no mugs unlike the dragons and dogs who we lost to last year

[Danish]

Actually we wouldn't. We would be equal 3rd plus we would have a game in hand.

A game in hand doesn’t mean anything when you give 2 points for the bye.

a game in hand just means we have an extra opportunity to not get 2 points, while teams that have 1 less game to play have a free 2 points coming from their bye