I got a feeling now that the boys will be fired up Manly are vulnerable. I think they played their best games already. Home semi-final I think with a full team I don't think they want to lose three in a row at Home..

I see it also, but i dont think its anything sinister. 
They just looked fatigued. They look like they have played their final and they dont look like they have the desire to go that extra mile. 

Its psychological so it will come down to how the coach prepares them this week.

I feel we need intervention by past Bulldog champions on how to approach and prepare for finals games.

We aren't gonna win it, but id like guys from the '98 side speak to them. That team also had no right in the finals, yet made a GF

If we win the first final against Manly it’s a massive season for us. Just one more win and I’ll be ecstatic. 

We know the formula Manly are going to use.

The key will be getting a off to a good start and getting more then 50% possession in the first 20 mins.

If we start well our confidence should lift. 

Past Dogs champions  might help pump the boys up, but we also need some confidence from a good game plan. In yardage,  I think that we need runners in close support.  A 40/20 from Burton early would also be big. Also early long kick from Burto with a good chase.

In good ball we need some variations that are not a hit up and are not playing around the opposition. 

Also nail the short kicks at the opponent's end. 

Get some energy by being fired up by Dogs champions,  nail early execution then gain some confidence and energy.

Why is our game the Sunday game?


Knights need to travel to Townsville on Saturday. 

Should be a record crowd. Best idea was to make it a Sunday. 

Also gives the winner of the Townsville game time to travel down to Sydney. Big advantage for the Cows,  Knights travelling on a short turn around. I think Sunday day games in Townsville are problematic because fans travel long distances. 

If there is any physical fatigue issue then the extra day should help us.

The crowd should help,  I hope our players can rise to the occasion.  

For once the NRL has a schedule that maximises the chances that fans can attend.

To be fair, even if you swap Hutch with Burton, we lose that game easily.

Burtons long kicks would have turned the cows deeper but Drinkwater and their backs were making easy kick return metres anyway. Our kick chase wasn't as good as last 5 weeks before the Manly game. 

Still, having the long kicks in your arsenal is better than not having them at all.

It wasn't just kicks. Hutch was dropping balls and missing tackles, I wasn't surprised when Cirro hooked him. His stats are a very ugly set of numbers that back up my impressions. Perhaps he can reset over the offseason.

We lost against Manly with Burton in the team, and the Cows played better than Manly.

I agree that even with Burton, we lose to the Cows, possibly narrow the margin a but.

Anyway I am happy to rule a line on both games, the home semi is an exciting prospect. 

Knights looked surprisingly good, not necessarily easier than Manly. 

If I was into compiracy theories, I would say that the NRL wants us to win I  round 1, it guarantees large crowds for round 2. Not only are the Dogs drawing big crowds we are pumping up the general level of excitement and increasing all crowds.

I am still very happy with the form of Sua and Clark on debut, only slightly surprised but happy.

I hope that we lock up both of these lads long term. 

With additional options for wing and centre we can experiment with Wilson and Papalii as replacement fullbacks and try Taaffe in the halves in reserve grade. 

For Hutch a one off game like that was tough, I think that his days of being a regular option in the halves are almost over. Converting to a lock/second row might be possible.  A few former halves have walked that road.

I do think Wilson could end up being a good fullback and Sua is definitely going to be a great winger.

I am very confident of next week. Had heard rumour that during the week leadingup to the manly game, the 'flu swept through the squad and that is why we have been exceptionally flat the past two games. Sunday will be a test to see if that rumour as true.

We had a flu like bug earlier, could be another one.

I am confident, if we look at our game and the Sharks game Manly tried to win by being physical in the forwards both times. If the club looks at video we should be able to devise strategies to move their big boys around.

If we can turn the game into a contest of fitness that favours us. 

I don't know what happened the last 2 weeks, but I don't expect to see that on Sunday. 

Having just watched a full replay im abit more optimistic in that i feel guys like Chrighton and Kikau had 1 eye on the finals instead of the job at hand, and took it abit easy.

The Hutch and Mahoney errors in the first half proved costly. But in both halves, we kept them tryless for best part of 15mins.

Theres no doubt we still lose with Burton playing. Luki terrorised our right side defence and everytime Preston was caught at marker, we had inadquate cover in his defensive line position. As mentioned above, Chrighton was taking it easy and left Sexton deal with Luki.

I doubt that happens next week. I also doubt Mahoney makes such uncharacteristic errors at dummy half. They are coach killers.

Tracey i have mentioned afew times here, is not a food positional fullback. Really needs to work on his game. Should have never been so deep on the ad lib play by Holmes and he is lucky the ball bounced savagely for Drinkwater when he was found out of position and in the defence line.

Someone like DCE is very smart at detecting an out of position fullback and with his kicking ability, he is capable of setting up tries out of nothing.

I hope we are switched on against Manly. I expect big games from Crighton and Kikau and less errors from Mahoney and Tracey. 

The morons over at TK were blaming Salmon, but he hardly did anything wrong in that game. 

Tracey might be injured and at big more cautious about body contact,  in a semi I think that he will step up, no next week to save himself for.

The Warriors and Parra also scored a try running inside Critter I think that there is an issue that we need to work on.

Since Avo took the intercept a few teams have had success, we also need to address that.

These might be the types of things Cirro is saying that we need to fix.

The dropped balls from Marhoney are hard to explain. 

Since the Warriors game there have been several consistent issues.
1. Slower linespeed and kick chase.
2. Losing the ruck 1. & 2. Can form a feedback loop.
3. Running one out and slower in yardage.
4. Dropped balls.

Since the issue isn’t fitness and we work hard on skills there is no fundamental issue that I can think of.

As I mentioned I think that we need more variety in attack dummy-half running off a fast play the ball is effective against Manly.

I am expecting that most of the problems above will simply disappear on Sunday and we will never know what caused them.

The Canberra game at Belmore is an example of good kick chase and linespeed.  The crowd was cheering everytime we took yards off Canberra which was most tackles for the first 20 mins. If the boys start doing that against Manly, I hope that the big crowd responds that should give the players a lift.

While I think Salmon did nothing wrong against the Cows, I would start King, Curran and Hayes in the middle against Manly and bring Salmon on after 15-20 mins. I think that the footwork, leg speed and short passing of Hayes and Curran can help set the tone in attack . Bringing Salmon on as soon as required can stiffen the defence. If Hughes comes on closer to half-time he gets a break at half-time and it gives us some size in that phase.

If Cirro doesn't do something like this then I hope that we get off to a good start anyway. 

So Hutch might play winger.....

No way...
If there's an issue, a 1 week ban in Rd 1 next year is the going rate for a bloke with a leg injury...

He would make the Guinness Book of Records for the slowest winger in history, 

He has some good attributes,  but our winning record with him in the halves is poor.

Gus said that Foxy got the all clear from the cops, the story is a media beat up.

Sua is a very good replacement for Fox. The main reason I want Fox in the side is experience. 

We can rule out our recent drop in form being a deliberate plan.

I never fully understood how we were winning with a smaller pack, so I also don't understand why it stopped working.

But it all seems related to energy and effort.

I am confident that we are the fittest team in the comp. Our best chance is making that work for us. 

I think it had a lot to do with simple effort. 

Our earlier success was often due to more effort, composure, execution and fitness than the opposition, 

Funny thing is we beat Newcastle easily twice, on recent form they look like a better team than us.

Standout game for execution was the Broncos, but I question the quality of the opposition. 

Standout game for effort was against Canberra at Belmore.  No questions about the quality of the opposition. Canberra turned up ready to play and put in for the full 80, a good side who wanted to win just as much as we did.

Our chances of winning hinge on getting back to that level of effort. 

Sua 20 runs for 175 metres in a badly beaten side with 44% possession. Him replacing Fox might work for us in this game.

The young guys stood out in that game because they were fresh and keen. I hope that he can reproduce that effort.

Defence for Clark and Sua wasn't much worse than Xerri and Fox in the last few weeks. 

In any case I doubt that one player will be the difference between winning and losing. 

There is only one reason why I am not 100% confident,  if we are cooked,  we are cooked. Most of the other top 8 sides have had more squad rotation and probably have fewer injured players on the field. 

We will get the answer on Sunday and we will also have the answer on Fox. I would love to see Fox lining up for us the following weekend, because that is the best possible outcome from here.

You are 100% correct Micko.
It wasnt long ago you and i predicted that this increased level of enthusiasm and desire from the team was not sustainable and that we'd be found out (most likely next year). 

Unfortunately it came earlier. Teams around us have lifted and now its down to skill and personnel. It is now that our roster is exposed as weak compared to the other finals teams.

I still think we have it in us to go on abit of a roll, but like 2014, i think it can only go so far. 

We need to improve our roster still to compete with the heavyweights. Our spine is still one of the worst of the top 8 and even worse than teams that have missed finals. 

Fingers crossed the team can put on a show for the fans this Sunday.

Sometimes Marki, I wonder why you even bother to follow this club. They never, ever meet your high expectations and you are always comparing our squad (and its supposed deficiencies) against other fancied teams. I hope they win and win well just to slow your negativity down. We have  very capable team, don't let the past fortnight perturb you.

I have fired up the "HD Team Selection Spectlator" the machine has gone berserk.

These players are getting a rest but might be back if we make it to next week - Tracey, Morrin and Hayes.

These players are in - Sua, Patolo, Hopoi.

Kiraz is playing fullback which is an enormous gamble, but Tracey might be injured and regardless seems to me like he needs a week's rest. DCE might carve up Kiraz with his kicking game, but for this game it is worth a shot.

Patolo starting with Salmon going back to the bench, Hopoi added to the bench.

IMO unless he is confident that the side can beat Manly, Cirro should gamble because no one should criticise him for having a go.

Sua, Skelton, Patolo and Hopoi are fresh players 3 of these guys had last week off and I am banking on Sua being able to repeat last week's effort.

We don't  need to worry about Manly playing an up-tempo set-for-set game and attacking us with speed up the middle. 

If it comes down to set-for-set, how many yardage carries is Turbo going to take?

We have a big fast back 3 and they should spot up the Manly halves on yardage  carries, in fact, let's give DCE some tackling practice, after the back 3, Xerri,  Burton and Kiks can run at him...

Nothing wrong with wanting to be both the best on field and on paper. Its a building process. You cant rest on your laurels. Salary cap wont allow it.

The team reminds me of 2014. Not all that skillful or fancied on paper, but worked together in the back end of season and got themselves into grinding games where they managed to get on top. 

Unfortunately that type of footy doesn't last long and doesn't cut it enough to win you premierships. 

I still believe our spine is weak and Micko believes our middle is lacking size. CC has done well to get this group into finals but i feel there are still changes needed to go to the next level.

The response this Sunday will be important. Turn it around and many will keep the faith into next year. Play poorly again and go out in a whimper and suspicions will resurface.

If they had been fit at least one out of Patolo,  Sutton or Fifita would have played each week.

Fully fit Karl O walks into our side.

2 years ago,  Hayward, Hughes, Hayes, Clark and Sua were all playing Flegg together. 

Last week our 3rd placed Flegg team thrashed the 2nd placed Panthers in a semi.  It is fairly likely there are some future first graders in that side and Woods wasn't even playing. 

When judging the coaching we should factor in injuries and player development.

We are not going to spend a fortune on spine players when we can develop our own.

We need some middles but a lot of the lack of size this season is due to injuries. 

The other factor this season is that we needed to develop Sexton before he could play NRL which meant a slow start to the season. 

I am not expecting a poor performance against Manly, I think that we will win, but we may be  beaten by a better side with more size in the forwards and more experience in the spine.

That would not wipe out what has been achieved this season or put us on the backfoot for next season. 

If we can't muster the energy to give the game our best shot, then the coach has learned a valuable lesson and I doubt that he will forget. He will make the necessary adjustments.  Like players good coaches learn from their mistakes. 

My speculative side below was the extreme end of the range of possibilities. Our next game is on a short turnaround v Chooks/Panthers.  I do expect Patolo to play.  What is probably happening is we are not risking Patolo until we have to. We have needed to be conservative about injury management.  

We are lacking in size in the front row. I think our young guys can improve that. Although a couple of experienced middles would really help. 

Patolo is off contract. Along with Perham, Knight and Topine. Probably all released by the club. Hopefully some of the young big boys can take those positions. 

Go back and watch the first 5 NRL games for the following players, Cooper Cronk, Jerome Hughes, Bailey Hayward.

Which player shows more playmaking smarts at the start of their career?

IMO it isn't even a contest Hayward is the best simply because the other guys started out very limited and improved a lot over the years. 

Hayward also played a lot more halfback in the lower grades. 

We need to credit the players for working hard on their game and the Storm coaching system for helping the guys to improve. 

In recent seasons the Roosters always ensure that they have good depth in the halves with one seasoned vet able to step in and play to NRL standard. 

Hutch isn't that guy, and we don't necessarily want to throw Woods in too early, I don't know if O'Neill is staying or if he is ready.

The young Flegg half Tia might be OK for rapid promotion. 

Longer term we can probably convert Taffee into a good half.

That is one spine position I would consider recruiting, veteran halfback only needs to be good for 1-2 seasons. 

Back up hooker is another position that we may be able to improve,  it is lucky that Marhoney plays 80 minutes, doesn't make rep teams and is rarely injured or suspended. 

It would be good to have a fullback with more X-Factor but try Wilson or Papalii first.  Quality is important and we are only going to get affordable quality with an unknown player. There may be some good options in the lower grades at other clubs.

We will see if Patolo plays and how well he goes.

Injuries have been the concern. It doesn't help that Sutton is also injured.

I will not be surprised if we let Farmer and Patolo go, equally I will not be surprised if we keep both. Most likely we keep one of the 2 but only with a 1 year extension. Sutton has 1 more year.

Some of the good young props can get development contacts.

Topine, Knight and Tetevano definitely leaving.  Armone and Toups coming, room for 1 more forward signing which might be Kobe Hetherington, 

Backs Perham and Skelton going, Clark and Sua promoted.

Cap space and slots in the top 30 pretty tight, we may sign some good young forwards from  other clubs.