Next season both Clark and Sua will be options, so we will not miss Skelton. 

I would play young Clark probably on the wing outside Critter.

A bigger worry is if Burto is ruled out HIA. 

If we can't beat the Cows at home we are making up the numbers in the semis  is anyway.

For the last 5 weeks Cirro has run with a skinny squad because we didn't have experienced depth and every game was vital.

If would have preferred a bit more squad rotation and giving a few more young players some experience. 

Ultimately our slow start to the season has cost us, 2 more wins in the first 12 rounds we are top 4 now.

Get the win next game and we are back on track.

So far the game against the Broncos is our best performance. 

The attack was clinical and appart from the soft try to Marty our defence was great.

Their earlier trys were individual brilliance with a fair bit of arsy luck on the Staggs try.

In more intense games our attack hasn't got to that level, parttially because we can't lay a platform in the forwards and quick line speed can stiffle us. 

We know how we want to play and the defence side is energy and effort, we can bring that. The coaches are going to have to sort out the attack and yardage against semi final standard defence . We know what we want to do, I am not sure how to get the ball rolling. 

The players know how hard they have all worked to get this far, that is why we should have the energy, and energy is a great start.

It will be annoying if lazy inconsistent sides like the Broncos,  Manly, Cows and Dragons go further than we do on the back of talent switching on at the business end. 

Why are they still people saying no one won the competition from outside the top four? We did it in 1995 from six position even Andrew John's  the idiot said no one's won it  is it  just everyone is in denial that we wrecked Manly's dream run in 1995..  The Seven try tackle was legendary. 😎. 

Dumb eels are costing us from playing Dragons in the finals....

Good point about making good contact in tackles. These days there are very few options to slow the game down and as a result teams can get a huge roll on. 

Being able to make good contact and either hold players up to chew some seconds or roll them on their backs to waste a second or two, can be tge difference in re-setting your defensive line or not.

On many occasions yesterday, Manly got quick PTB and steamrolled through us. DCE's kivking game then had us playing from inside our 20m every set.

Its very important we use other tactics to play the game at our speed.

I must say that Curran was clearly underdone and looked tired after about 5mins 

One of his worst performances for us. Coaches should have known better.

We were in the mix around that time, this season most experts predicted that we would miss the 8.

I knew this would bite us in the bum...
Averillo and tye dolphins will get 8th spot and he'll probably score a finals try against us.

God forbid its a winning try......

That is where we missed Mann more than expected, he hits hard in tackles.

Similar to the Broncos game except the Manly forwards ran harder than the Broncos. We didn't get a dominant tackle early in their sets.

Other side of the ball the Manly defensive line was very compressed, only difference to the Broncos game was Manly backed off and slid in the edges. Our execution was not as clinical.

Manly played every well and would have beaten a lot of sides.  But if we played up to the standard of our performance against the Broncos we probably still win.

Broncos had a big pack of forwards. Skelton played much better against the Broncos we often had them short on that side.

I hope Cirro can make the adjustments. My hunch is if we played a bit better in the first 20 mins, Manly would have faded at the end.

Fins deserve it more than the Broncos.

We need to worry about beating the Cows,

I still back us in a home semi with a big crowd.

I wonder if Kevvie is still confident about making the semis.

2 very hard to understand results this season.

1. Dragons beating the Storm in Melbourne. 
2. Broncos beating the Cows in Townsville. 

Kevvie at least stayed in the Presser a bit later than whinging Flanno.

According to the Flannos, it is never their fault. 

Yep... Releasing Avo to get to a pont where we have Critter and Xerri has been an awful decision for us...

Doc's plan was to play Avo at prop. 

Well... I... I guess that is a good plan... Which of the other 16 fullbacks will play the second prop???...

lol. I hope so champion

1. Melb had a bad night at the office ..
2. They were both playing touch footy...

Watching the Sharks, lose is always great, loving it.

Beat the Cows 68-0 and Manly beat the Sharks 1-0, perfect way to finish top four. 

I think the top four was always too hard a task. Our team built slowly. Numerous players improved in first grade or reserves and played a part in getting us the wins Kate in the season. 

That’s my point. I think we Jack some big mobile props to stop other similar props. 

It’s a crazy weekend of footy. I wouldn’t be surprised if Canberra win tomorrow. 

So are all the "upsets" a co-incidence, or are the teams just following the "script" to align the semis the way nrLOL have planned. In the words of a famous Led Zeppelin song 'Ooh and it makes me wonder'.

The only game that surprised me was the Fins / Broncos, I was hoping for a Fins win, but expected a close game. The media criticism of old man Bennett would have helped the Fins.

Dragons/Parra was a lame defensive effort from both sides.  Not surprising from Parra.

We can't expect our team to be perfect when the teams are close and upsets happen.

The Dragons and Broncos failed miserably when it mattered most. We were just a bit off, and  the opposition team, who switched right on, and played their best game for years.

Cirro has options to play some bigger players. We just have to trust him and hope that we can find the right formula. 

The loss to Manly might turn out to be the best thing that has happened to us this season.

We clearly have issues that we need to address,  if that loss happens in the semis, we are out.

We know what needs to be fixed, and if we can't fix it we need to recruit / develop some players who can help us fix it.

Cirro seems to think that the current team can fix it.

If The Broncs start slow next season I reckon they’ll move on Kevvie.

I personally don’t think he’s got the mentality to be an NRL coach, certainly the knowledge but not the temperament.

He’s almost schizo, gets way too high and way too low. That stupid prediction of last week being an example of the former and last nights presser an example of the latter.

The press gets under his skin, rival coaches get under his skin, he can be played like a fiddle.

I’m sure he’ll be involved in NRL for life, plenty of talent for that, but I think it’ll be in an assistants role or similar, don’t think he’ll get another head coaching gig once The Broncs pull the trigger.

And I reckon The Broncs will move as soon as they think they reasonably can because the don’t want to miss out on potential targets of which there are few and likely to be less if they don’t jump quick enough.

Specifically either of The SOO coaches. Slater may seem the better fit being a QLDer but it might be Madge who the better option and I think for them he would be.

And he’d jump at it.

Flanno is the other  oach I have doubts about. 

He doesn't have a lot to work with, but he is happy to take all of the credit for success, and none of the blame for failure. 

Old man Bennett is a classic, his Pressers can be very funny, And the journos only get what he wants them to get which close to nothing. 

The Broncos fans and the club in general are used to the days when they had more talent than most other clubs and winning was easy. The Fins are a grass roots club like the Dogs, prepared to work hard for success. The Fins have got a damn ugly jersey but a lot of spirit. 

I hope that the refs stick to sin binning players after contact with the head regardless. 

They painted themselves into a corner with the controversy over Critter. 

Binning of a Sharks player in dubious circumstances probably changed the result of that game. 

Out of all the teams we handle being a man down better than anyone, we get numbers in the tackle and don't go for many big hits.

If they keep binning players they will ruin some contests but at least that is consistent.  If they stop binning players it will look like a total joke.

The only way to fix the problem is replace Annesley with someone competent. 

They need to apply consistent standards all season, not have a knee jerk reaction in response to media pressure 2 weeks before the semis.

Refs need to try to stay out of the contest in the semis, we want the games to flow. 

Fans, coaches and players are all frustrated with the refs.

Interesting weekend of footy...

Just heard the NRLol have approved first of its kind late season interclub swap deal... Walker for SJ, JRey, Foz, Hunt, and Moses for the remainder of 24...
#innovation...