How good is Reimis Smith. Literally can’t believe how well he has stepped up in 1st grade.

Steve has done a great job and it was great to see Lewis praise Deano up. I like Ogden too.

He always had the goods but his compound leg fracture really set him back but now has all the confidence back and is playing great.

100% agree on Anna’s & Nancy’s comments..... the one player that has really bounced back & lifted since his Raiders game shocker has been K Holland..... he’s played really well and combines well with R Smith

Defensively he needs more work, but his attack & combination with Smith & Jackson is exciting


Next year.... Lewis is a must in the halves

He’ll have to work hard combining with new players outside of him once B & J Moz go


I still think, even with a few games to go... Pay must give Woolford a run off the bench

He’s worth keeping from what I’ve seen

He's a star. Behind Lewis no player has impressed me more this season. So much so that I think he should be given a go at the vacant center position next year, in fact unless we nab someone else specifically for the spot with runs under their belt, I think he deserves first shot at it.

I stand by what I said a few years about him, and I stand by what I say now about him.

The Lewis try against the Warriors has to be close to the best try we have posted all season.

If is one of the few long range tries, involving multiple passes, and no element of luck, every player did their job in the play perfectly. 

It is great to finish the season playing our best footy of the year, you can make a strong argument that we are doing that. 

Lewis, Smith, Holland & Martin are making a difference.

But Pay has got most of the team playing fairly well.

Anyone think of a better try this year?

Did anyone notice brave dog
When the team ran out of the
Tunnel he was @ the front
I loved it on ya brave dog

Smith's no look pass to Holland against the Knights. Also Hopoate's try against the Broncos from an infield kick off Holland.

Like you, I savaged him for his poor defensive reads when he first played first grade, but hasn't he turned it around!
I am so impressed and so happy for him and the team.

Im also impressed with Holland's calmness. When he made the break (good one too bursting onto the ball), I wanted him to kick over RTS so the chasers can get to the ball, but he calmly summed up the situation and threw the pass to Hoppa on the inside who then also calmly put Lewis over with an inside ball.

A couple of years ago, we would make a rare break and feel as though we just HAD to score from it, so we kept throwing it around until we lost it or scored.
Now, we seem to have players who show patience and take the right option (sometimes take the tackle). I like it. It is a good sign.

We haven't scored many pretty tries over the years, but we have certainly scored more of them in the last 8 or so weeks than we have in the last 3 years

….and what about the kicking accuracy of Rhys Martin?

He went at 100% yesterday (again) and is probably sitting on about 97% for the year. I only remember seeing him miss 1 goal, but I could be wrong...

Well said Marki on both posts

I agree it is great to see improvement in this area.

The Hoppa try against the Broncos is right up there. I still prefer the Lewis try, but there are 3-4 good contenders.

The Jackson, Holland, Smith combination is looking great in attack without a lot of help from the half.

The Lewis kicking/passing game is looking great again with minimal help from his halves partner.

With the Morris Bro's moving on we need to find a potent attacking combination for the left.

I agree that Woolford is worth trying in 2019.

I think we can enjoy the off season and genuinely look forward to 2019.

whats the story with Foran? I saw him yesterday, where is his head space. Is He happy, does he get actively involved with helping out the team, mentoring (footy stuff) just wondering 

The dressing sheds seem a whole lot happier and positive these days post Despot :)

We're getting back to where we want to be.

https://www.bulldogs.com.au/news/2018/08/20/pay-it-was-a-fantastic-effort/

I never understood why people critised Smith after one game when he was only a teenager who was a last minute call up. Probably the same people who would pass on Latrell Mitchell and Cameron Munster

I dont retract my criticism of him and doubt Zef does either.
He was a liability for the team. 
But.... he has fixed up his defensive woes and is now quite a threat. I'm glad.

Parramatta in big salary cap trouble for providing 'under priced' rental properties to players.
What's worse for them is they only recently replaced their board of directors for causing them so much trouble & now it's one of the new ones that was forced out early this year that's turned whistle-blower on the club. I suppose it'll have to be huge fines because they can hardly be stripped of the wooden spoon.

In a victory for diversity, Austrlalia could be the first country to have a potato as PM by the end of the day.

Definitely not, he was appalling.

At the time i think I said that Remis Smith had about as much chance of playing NRL again as a potato being PM.....
....
.... hey, wait a minute..... anyway..

.... He's come a long way since then. And I guess, so has the potato.

Carry over points for next season would be fair lol.

The eyes have it ;)

Now let's see...who would Labor want? Dutton is facing a massive advertising campaign against him even now in his own electorate and is up against it to even win his seat they say up here in Qld. 

Kick them out for good :)

It's on!

I think the way this all ends, whether it's in one year or five, is The Lib Party goes through what Labor did in the... what was it... 50's or so?

The conservatives in The Libs will never be happy with the liberal part of the Liberal Party so they'll split, probably all go to Cory Bernadi's Conservative Party. What's left of The Libs will stay with The Libs, but there'll effectively be 4 parties of gov in Aus - Labor, Liberal, National, Conservatives.

The latter three will have to form a coalition to form gov and that won't be easy, but doable, but doubtful... at least until the war ends.

And the war won't end until they fight it, Libs can't survive... correction they can survive... but they won't govern again (nor the Nats or Cons with or without The Libs) for a looooong time until the cold war becomes a hot one and it's behind them, a long way behind them.

Late mail (as I'm typing) - The Potato failed 48-35.... but so did Turnbull - 35 votes against him, There'll be another spill because they're pathetic numbers.

The scariest thing would be to have Bill Shorten as PM. Maybe he will undertake an election promise of sending his construction union mates round to do a free reno for all his constituents.

I voted for Klem for sports dad on the year get on and vote people:-http://sportsdads.com.au/

I hope he wins.

I don't think Labor would care. If The Potato gets the gig pre-election, he'll save and possibly win some QLD seats, maybe.. probably... some western Sydney seats but be decimated just about everywhere else. Write off Vic, SA all the inner Sydney seats (Wentworth will go to The Greens) all the coastal NSW seats - a massacre.

Turnbull stays just reverse the equation, decimated in QLD and western Sydney.

It'd be allright if they had numbers to lose but any losses will be more than the gains by plenty.

Labor wins by default. The best thing they can do for the next 6-9 months is..... NOTHING!

Is Dutton the best alternative they have got?

The problem is Turnbull is damaged, and Dutton isn't going to appeal to voters.

The best chance for the LNP is probably Julie Bishop, or someone who isn't Dutton. 

The Cons despise Bishop, Morrison, Pyne ESPECIALLY Pyne, as much if not more than Turnbull.

I reckon they've only got one electable leader, and he'd be a good chance - Frydenburg.

But I don't think The Cons are really that interested in winning the election, they want to win The Liberal Party and if it costs them the election so be it.

Turnbull's only chance of leading The Libs to the next election is to call the election ASAP, like NOW!

And don't be surprised if he does. Not to win, I doubt he's stupid enough to think he has a hope, but to scuttle the ship before the cons do. Captain goes down with the ship, he won't want the Potato at the helm when she sinks.