Hope for a Eels, loss a Souths win is the only downside... lesser of 2 evils.... and I mean evils.

Exactly what we need.

We can promote young Jackson Topine, we need one more prop with a bit of size (can be a young pup).

I  think that we will have a good pack.

Half and hooker are the remaining priorities.

Spewing the a Titans have snared Patrick Herbert from the Warriors.... he’d be a good back up backline player that wouldn’t cost us a lot. 

Oh dear what a sh!t game. Souffs plsying like sh!t and the scum are just sh!t. At least they have the ref on their side.

Is this another back to back choke from Parra?

Yes. 
The choke is complete.

Des will never be forgiven for letting Cooky go.
Never be forgiven 

Ha ha, another heaheartbreaking loss for Parra conceeding 30 points in the 2nd half, I loved it.

I hope we see a Penrith vs Canberra Grand Final. I couldn’t stand another South’s wankfest or Melbourne cheating to another win

Micko, that would have been my choice also. I don't want to see a Souffs wankfest or a Melbourne cheatathon but I am not happy with the other options being Tamau the gouge crying ar$ehole or CHN the traitor get rewarded.

After watching Damian Cook develop as a player I am now convinced that Hasler and Cleal wouldn't recognise talent if it kicked them in the nuts.

Fwit Des.... that’s his name

I’m looking forward to the remaining 3 games more than any final series without The Dogs in it that I can remember. I reckon any of the 4 teams left can win it and any of the 4 teams left would be deserving of winning it. I really think this is the legit top 4 teams in the comp, Canberra and Souths we’re far more impressive over the home straight than Easts and especially The Lemons and so I’m glad this is the top 4 shootout we got.

And I also don’t have a “thing” about any of the teams left, unlike the two looooooosers of the weekend, so I can live with this years Premiers without a bad taste in my mouth whoever they are.

And I don’t buy into this “Claytons Premiership” thing about this years comp just because it’s 4 rounds shorter. In fact given COVID and what it’ caused - no byes so 18 games straight, reduced squad to cover injuries, the bubble, playing in front of no crowds and then reduced crowds and a thousand other COVID related issues, this is perhaps the hardest Premiership to win so whoever gets it will be well deserved.

For record I’m tipping The Storm v Canberra with Storm being the premiers but with no surety. It could be any combination for the GF and any Premiers at near enough even money IMO.

Good luck to them. Bring it on.

EDIT: Bwahahaha! It can’t be Storm v Canberra as they’re next weekend. OK then - Storm v Souths, Storm Premiers. 

And btw I’m not marking down The Panthers, I just reckon the week off wouldn’t have done them any good more than any other team, momentum really counted with them I think.

However if the win next week I may just change my tip for Premiers and back them home, momentum restored.

I agree anyone can win it and as you say, whoever does, deserves it. Storm probably the most disadvantaged given they had to play 2000kms away. Maybe the warmer weather helped them.

But I'll also add that the top 6 was indeed the top 6. There was a clear gap to the rest of  teams in the comp in the way of consistency or the way the top 6 play. 

Any of the top 6 could have realistically won it.
I'm glad those two dropped out. Now need Souths to lose as I just dont like the club- although I do like the way they play. Interesting that they are playing alot better with this gamestyle than when Latrell was there.....

I agree all 4 teams can win it, i'm glad 4 got down to this 4.

The stardard of footy has been good all year, especially the semis, IMO this shows how much mid-season SOO degrades the comp.

I don't want the Storm in the GF because the media circus about Cam Smith will be sickening.

I admit that he is a good player, while I admire a lot about the Storm I also dislike a lot of their tackling techniques over the years.

Same with old man Bennett, he is good, no denying it, but he has the personality of a dead fish.

So Canberra v Penrith is my preferred GF, don't care who wins. But I can definitely win with any other result, especially if I ignore the media coverage.

Somewhere last night the great Ray Price would have been watching as that Mitchell Moses kick ricocheted off the goal posts....he was yelling " I would have caught it and scored"....if only the slimey ones had the intestinal fortitude of that great warrior.

Them folding like a house of cards in the semis is great entertainment, like your favourite move, you've seen it many times before but you still enjoy watching.

Blade Runner is my favourite, but Parra choking is also great viewing.

Good comparison HD...the warden has just chucked a rock through Andy DuFresne's Racquel Welch picture and wondered how he vanished like a fart in the breeze..

Whether or not the "Clayton's Cup" is appropriate is debatable.  To claim that the only point of debate is that the premiership is 4 rounds less is simplistic.

Yes 4 rounds less, six again introduced mid season, one referee, changes to the bunker, six week layoff between round 2 and round 3, no crowds for the first few weeks, no canterbury cup. Probably not your regular season.

It’s not a regular season, but it shouldn’t be dismissed as a claytons cup...
the only true claytons cup was 2002...

Fly in fly out same day.  Home ground advantage to some.

I live that line....
Although I always thought he says "disappeared like a fart in the wind"

* love that line "

We had a 29 man squad in 2002.

Including :-
Adam Brideson
Glen Hall
Glen Hughes 
Corey Hughes
Gavin Lester
Steve Reardon
Travis Norton
Dennis Scott
Nathan Sologinkin
Tony Grimaldi 
Jamie Feeney
Todd Ploglase

Tricky Trindall - import
Significant imports, Anasta, O'Meley, Patten, Darren Smith, Vagana, Rauhihi?

So around 12 out of 29 were solid club players, 5-6 quality imports and one experienced import towards the end of his career. Smith and O'Meley may have been the only guys playing regular rep footy when we signed them.
I don't think Folkes was an outstanding coach, but sometimes a team just comes together.
It is mostly a mix of sold clubmen and locally developed talent.

This shows the value of developing talent and keeping solid clubmen.
For many of the clubmen list above this was their only real shot.

I also remember being at the 2003 semi final vs the chooks, Folkes preferred Glen Hughes to Asotasi, when it came to team selection Folkes and Pay are very similar.

2002 is the most interesting Dogs season ever, the team achieved right up to their potential and eeked out some great wins. For some of the more ordinary players in the team, this was a once in a lifetime opportunity.

Other really funny thing from around 2000.

In Ricky Stewart's flegg team everyone was raving about SBW, the other Williams and this guy Don Johnson (or something like that). Thurston might have got a mention.
Anyway Thurston was brilliant, Johnson was playing injured, but didn't do much.

Outside of Thurston funnily enough the other player that really impressed was Trent Culter.

It is worth watching the Johnsons and Culters in the lower grades to see a Thurston, it is even better when we keep Thurston.

We have some good young players coming through, we need to keep them and give them opportunities.

hd, you talk about solid clubmen and given the right team around him Tolman was just that a solid clubman. I know a lot of people only saw the 4th and 5th tackle hitups, but if he had a decent pack around him and a backline that were playing in their correct position and had an idea of what they were doing he would not have been put in that position (constantly). He was just doing his job and looking for work to help the team.

I guess our biggest problem is solid clubmen. We have too many of them. Almost every forward in our side is a solid clubman. That’s why CHN stood out. He had some ‘x-factor’ 

ODF, Tolman's greatest attribute was his consistency. But he was a very limited player.

Unfortunately, in a team like ours with little to no footy nous or brains, he found himself getting in the way.
Consistency is not a hallmark of a team that is in the lower part of the ladder. Usually these teams have the ability to score and play well but do it far too infrequently and that is why they miss the finals. Tigers, St George and Manly are perfect examples of this.

When Tolman won the premiership in 2009, he was playing with Smith, Slater, Cronk and Inglis. They even had Brett Finch in the spine who was an organising half.
That team just needed a player in the middle to clean up in defence. Tolman did this along with Dallas Johnson who was another clone of him.

For a team like ours that need to develop into a 2020 rugby league team, we need both x-factor players (even if they are rocks and diamonds) as well as players that have the natural instinct to play what is in front of them. These are the hallmarks of players with nous and footy brains. Unfortunately, they dont come easy. It can take years to either develop these types of players or inherit them from outside.

First things first. Lets get the x-factor players, lets get the team playing 2020 style footy and then hopefully confidence will result into wins and the team will learn to WIN games.
I still think we are 3 years from getting into finals