Ebola?

Is Zef IanC?

11th Immortal or Benny Hill?

The talk last year the Dogs had gone in hard with an offer of $500k + a season for Staines.... I believe we dodged a bullet. He’s just a taller version of The Newsreader , he ain’t worth big coin we threw at him. 

Behind a decent pack the Newsreader is a more than capable FB. I still reckon thst when Lewis returns from injury Baz should put him in lock, he's got a decent kick, is a left footer and could cover the left side of the ruck. I'm just a pleb fan but even I can see that move as a drastic improvement.

Staines obviously don’t do the work hitting the ball up that To’o does but he’s not built for that, and I reckon Momo has impacted his try scoring potentia. The bloke never looks to pass the ball and definitely cost the Panthers a try last night... Will be interesting to see what happens next couple of weeks with Naden back inside him...

The way to get the ball of Momo is ,

... use a sledgehammer.

I noticed that with Rovski too.
He didnt even feign to pass to Staines. 
I think even the Broncos were surprised how bad a hog he was....

Anybody heard the rumours about us offering JT, Paps and Grant big money?

Seems far fetched to  me, the salary cap auditor will  be at our door, and those guys are probably all under contract.

Maybe we need to dig up those old posts from Dman saying Grant wasn't worth big money.

Too much time spent hanging around with Des and Crusher.

I'll say it again...

Theres nothing prettier in rugby league than when your hooker has the instinct and desire to run first and pass second.

I dont know why we persist with passers of the ball.... I just dont.

WTF would Dman know.....

Twice as much as you... so if my maths is correct 2 x nuthin is nuthin....

The chooks got out of gaol for a scoreless game.  Throughout the ref was clearly "aiding" them and all but scored that try on full time for them. Doesn't the game have more appeal without all those fvcking 6 agains hampering play.

The play of the night for me was Pappy who ran in support passed Grant who was tackled 5m from the line. 

Pappy runs around the ruck quickly and gets himself into an attacking position again, and receives a short pass from B Smith at dummy half to score.

It was just desire. Desire to get back into the attacking line and make a difference.

There is not 1 player in our team that I can think of that would do this. 

Cant wait till we can play Dietz again.
He will transform our team.
He will give us hope for the future.
And he will convince everyone that we've been playing the game wrongly for way too long.

Grant also does the defensive side of the game, for Dietz defence is a bit of an unknown quantity.

But we can start Topine, with Dietz or Wakeham off the bench.

For a 14 defence is not so critical, we want them to make an impact in attack and they don't need to play long minutes. 

You've finally made your maths teacher happy.

You don't need to work a whinge about our team into every post. Sometimes it is enough to simply admire great play.

HD, I dont sugar coat our team and falsely think they are a small change from being competitive. We arent.

There's so many facets of the game that we are behind on. The only saving grace is that I believe Barrett knows what these are and what needs to change. I just hope he can change them fast enough before everyone's patience is tested.

For fans to buy into the change, they need to be rewarded with some improvement. A win will go a fair way to achieving this. Let's hope it happens this weekend otherwise we will find ourselves even further behind.

1 dummy half run for 2 metres and 4 total runs for 22 metres last week against reserve grade opposition. Needs to show more than that to get into first grade

Sounds like double that of any of our first graders!

In all honesty though, yeah that's about as bad as our hookers of the last decade and doesnt bang on the door for selection. Having said that, if he's the better option than what you have, you pick him. 

I wouldnt necessarily pick him ahead of Topine but think the 2 of them can play the position on rotation. 

I agree that reserve graders need to fully earn an NRL spot.

However if they are a borderline selection a young player should get a run on basis of future potential, energy and enthusiasm.

Compared to the better teams one thing that stands out to me is lower levels of effort and commitment.
That might be a lack of confidence, but it may be that some players are lazy, going through the motions or not focused on the job.

The start was better against Souths.

We may need team changes at sometime because players are simply poor, lazy or on autopilot.
The coach may need to send a message.
If the players are as bad as I think they are, we lose little even if the replacement is no better, at least the coach is sending a message and attempting to set stsndards.

My list is Napa, Katoa and Hoppa in that order, if we are only dropping 1 player drop Napa.
Jacko getting injured is not ideal, I would run with Britt, he tries hard and does some good things.

For Katoa, Dietz is the odvious answer, I don't mind if he sits on the bench for 65 mins.
But if we are trailing by 12 or more with 15 mins to play, he is the player most likely to do something.

We could use Schoupp in a similar manner, if Topine can play 80 mins at hooker or someone else can fill in.

Wakeham can be used if we want a more traditional hooker roation.

Against the Cows if we bring the energy levels of the Souths game with the attack of the Storm game we should at least put in a competitive performance.

If we start badly and are never in the game, the coach has to look at changes, the players have had plenty of opportunities to show their worth, and it seems they have shown it.
, 

Pardon the pun but gees it was good to see the chooks get "roasted" last night.

It’s the next best thing after watching bulldogs win... 

A Schoupp added into the squad for tomorrow as 19th man

Manly must have a new coach, perhaps the coaches swapped teams?

Anyway it is still Des's fault.

So you’ll spend the game praying for 3 game ending HIAs???...

No need to pray..... Hoppa, Napa & Katoa have clearly shown they’ve failed their HIA’s for the past 5 weeks

the bad teams are being competitive so far this weekend, fingers crossed our team can aim up

Unfortunately Napa is HIA proof...