When in doubt fall to the ground and the captain should make a scene. Our acting ability should be the envy of all Portuguese soccer players.

Funny how obstruction was outside shoulder all last season, regardless of how much contact.

Burns needed to throw himself on the floor like the comical acting from DCE last season.

Still very poor work from Okunbor on both plays, also Duffty not in the frame.

Still overall we played well in a high standard contest we were the better side, just lack a bit of combination and a lucky bounce.

Burton, JWK, Wardell all fantastic, TPJ much better in the middle, great fowards rotation.

I'm very happy to be proven wrong about Wardell, in a better side he is just doing his job, rsther than trying to produce a miracle.

Offloads from TPJ and King great, most offloads I can remeber from a dogs side in a willing contest for years.

We just need to keep up the standard and drop Okunbor.

Bad calls from the ref snd bunker are beyond our control.

Overall the ref was good, better than any ref called Sutton by a long way.

Yeah I agree and we got a very good run from the ref but they have to be more consistant with the rules. I hope our next meeting with the Groncos we give them a fair touch up.

It's hard to see how Okunbar holds his spot. His physical limitations, mainly poor acceleration and slow turning circle, need to be compensated by football smarts.  Unfortunately he does not demonstrate any. Constantly loses his winger, doesn't trust his inside defenders and doesn't shut down the attack when he jams in. Must go.

Cameron Green, batting 6, time to get some serious runs.

Agreed. The rule I thought was obvious. If you make contact on the outside of a player it is obstruction. It really hurts the game that the refs boss has backed a decision that even the Broncos coach thought was incorrect. 

It’s a shame Corey Allen is injured. He would combine very well with Burns. 

We all know what a liability Okunbor is and I really hate bagging players out but he has to go. Unfortunately Jake Averillo is in a similar situation, where he is not a halfback so please end this madness now and move him to the centres. If Baz has zero confidence in playing Flanagan then BBO is the person to slot in at half because next year the No.9 position is sorted and I would hate to lose a talent like BBO because we never looked after his playing future.

I’m starting to doubt BBO’s ability. Some of his passes from dummy half were shocking. The more he plays first grade the worst he looks. If anybody deserves a go at half it would be Wakeham. 

IMO Averillo more deserving of a few more chances than Okunbor, he does some good things, just needs to cut down on the unforced errors and poor kicks.

The viable options are Wakeham to 7.

Or Duffty to 7 and Averillo / Credence to fullback.

For now the 14 role suits BBO and his form  doesn't deserve any more minutes.

Even Okunbor kept his spot this week (so far). I'm happy for Baz to make minimal changes.

Burto even stuffs up the odd pass, the halves handle the ball a lot and the opposition try to rush them, the odd error isn't unusual.

That round 2 performance is our best effort for at least 5 years, We need more of the same.

Agreed.

Wakeham had a dynamic running game in reserve grade, he has always had it.
If he gets another chance at NRL he needs to play the same way.

BBO is still young, as an impact 14, he is a good fit, though I wouldn't mind seeing Wakes get a crack at it.
BBO needs 40-50 games of NRL like most young players, then we cssn judge his potential.
Too young / inexperienced to play regular NRL in the halves IMO.
The next step for him is to turn a game off the bench in 14, he has the potential to do that.
When he gets on a roll 2 quick tries, perhaps with a slice of luck are possible, a few dumb plays are also possible.

For BBO, do we put him on when leading by 6 with 7 minutes to play? I say no, not unless JMK is out of gas.

Happy with BBO at 14 but he certainly could use a run in reserves to improve his game. Wakeham should be given his role eventually just to see if their is any improvement. It also gives us the chance to play him in the halves if we are in front or behind by plenty. 

We don't have another year to "waste" Barrett knew who was coming to the squad this year and should have been getting players he wanted in position to compliment them last year. With all the fvcking around trying out players out of position I can see another year wasted. Baz should have had this sorted and trying out blokes to work positions, with Kiks and Mahoney coming next year.

Also I think the coaching position is gonski. The persistance of okunbor will be the nail in the coffin. Tom however-you-spell Trbo will lose his title this weekend. Him and Saab will be blasting that fast and often past him, he will be spinning faster than a fully spooled up Garrett T35

40-50 games?
Really? 3 years?

In my opinion, if you have had 10 games where you have played min 50mins and you haven't proven yourself as a first grader, you are on the B list.

I'm of the opinion that players who have consistently looked the goods in reserve grade, should get a crack at first grade at some stage this year.

Lets face it, we arent going to win the thing this year. So if we get to back end of year and are out of contention, or if 1st graders are well down on form, we need to give the fringe reserves a crack. A real crack. Either starting role or off the bench but play significant minutes (50).

I'm stunned OK gets another shot this week... It's rhe same crap the past two weeks for which Villi used to blame Dutchy... 
Chopper and Hoff are on the extended bench so I guess we can hope for a change on Friday...

The top 1% of players are an instant hit in the NRL after a handful of games.

If you think we have any chance of an NRL squad composed of the top 1% of players, well good luck with that.

The Panthers had Jimmy Maloney around while Cleary was learning the ropes, no doubt Cleary is in the top 1%.
Was Cleary an instant hit after 10 games?
Why didn't the Panthers team up Cleary and Luai on day 1 when they had played together in the lower grades?

The answer is simple thrown into NRL together Cleary and Luai would have strugged, sometimes that is a great way to kill off a talented young player.

See Luke Brooks and Mitch Moses, were they consistent from day 1?
Is Brooks a player who's NRL career has gone backwards in a big way?

50/50 there is a late change.

Speaking of Villi, I strongly suspect some attractive female dominatrix has him locked up in a cellar.

Don't be a fool an escape quickly like I did.

Exactly. The difference in playing reserve grade and first grade is enormous. It’s the main reason we went after an experienced halfback to help Burto. Unfortunately we missed out. 

I wasn't talking about players reaching their peak.
I was talking about how many games before you consider them first graders.

I can usually tell after only a couple of games but thought I might say 10 so I don't get ridiculed.

If you need 40-50 games to figure out if you have it or not, then you don't. Maybe change clubs and see if the environment brings out something better in you.

I don’t think this year is going to be wasted. But it’s certainly not a year we look like a real chance to win the comp. So we certainly should be using this year to play players in positions that aren’t locked down in the future. Halfback and fullback. At least two outside back spots. And an edge and middle. 

This year is about building confidence and combinations, also finding the right players for some positions and determining where we need to sign more players.

I think that the game against the Broncs was a good indication of how the season will go.
We played well but were beaten by a slightly better / luckier side.

Except for the top 3-4 sides we should be in most games.

We should win 40-55% of games.

Most likely finish 8th-10th.

If true that is a big step forward in on season.
If it all comes together this week, maybe we can finish even higher.

Just seeing the team competing and playing fairly well is a breath of fresh air.

Fans who think we are going to win the comp each year are often disappointed.

Better to be surprised by better than expected results and we might be surprised.

Exactly. 

Love a good MSM narrative... "Sharks could've been 2 from 2 and leading the comp"... 
They couldve easily have been 0 from 2...

This 'with force' interpretation is absolute crap.. it's either illegal or not... Subjective measures of force is asinine...

Wish we could defend like Cronulla 

299 games later... "Tolman is shit"...

You mean let twice as many trys in in the first two weeks???...

Ziggy a better ref than any Cummins.... Ever...