Did Lippy Hippy play a minute???... 

A special about out to those on socials bagging Xerri the past week... I expect they'll spend this week bagging Burto...

Zero 50/50s in our favour today... Them getting the ball back before their last try was baffling... Tracii Guns not a knock on... And a few others...
Good sides overcome that... 
Guess what....

Good to come away with that win.
Some crucial decisions and the typical raiders "out of the ordinary" plays, nearly took the win away from us, but we managed to find a way in the end.

Butchering tries is what makes our wins harder than they need to be. 

Huge game next week. Its a shame these suburban grounds cant fit enough people in.

I doubt the Dragons will move the game to Allianz though. Certainly not to Accor. Roosters have the Bye and its not A-league season so if im mot mistaken, Allianz would be available?

Crazy stuff happens around rapana every well... But that's a credit to him...

Agree re butchered trys... It's been a season long thing... But happy to have the D in order and keep working on final touches... We are creating more opportunities than ever.. and with without creating opportunities there's no butchering... 

No way they move the game...  Why would they???... If they were to move it it would be to the Gong, with less fans... I still reckon we outnumber them with savvy Dos fans having purchases tickets well in advance...

What's A league???...

Hopoi didn't get on the field, not the first time. 

Cirro tends to bring him on when we have it won, or perhaps when we need to score. 

Hanging on to a narrow lead I don't think that we have faith in him yet. Still young and inexperienced. 

Glad U watched the game...
Sad U posted elsewhere first MockstraTapine...

Good to see that our players clapped  big pappa off the field after his 300th game.

You're allowed to blow a fuse early over at TK.
Here, you get called out for it.

I admit i was worried about us passing way too early in the first half and the Raiders picking us off with just a simple slide defence.

But CC obviously corrected this at half time especially with Kikau's runs. 

Still some nervous moments. I dont think Tracey is the answer at FB. He's goid at chiming into the line in sweep moves and probably best option for this year, but his positional play and nous worries me. Needs work. 

Good on them and well done to him.
300 games is quite an achievement. 
If you assume 25 games in a regular season it means a good 12 years of uninterrupted games.

Add some injuries and suspensions and you probably need 13-14 years to get there. 

Disagree on Tracey. He is our best fullback since Patten. And is getting better consistently. 

Raiders were up quickly in defence and scrambled well.

I agree on Tracey he is like a version of Dylan Edwards with better passing skills.

After the easy game against the Broncos we were impatient in attack,but still scored some great trys.

Defence good except for the lapses that allowed trys, I think we should have stopped the first or the last Raiders try. The try off the kick was one where we were just beaten by a smarter play.

There is apparently a media interview where Xerri mentioned saving room for a tattoo when the Dogs win a comp.

There may be a YouTube interview video that the club isn't posting until he signs?

I think that the Dragqueens should be a step down in class from the Raiders, but harder to beat than the Broncos.

I didn't see their game against the Storm, I don't know if the Dragons defence has improved. 

Dragons are more of a team than the Broncos. By that i mean they dont score many individual tries but rather work as a unit to create points. Lomax is their x-factor. 

The danger with them is that they can play a grinding game and can back their defence -sinilar to us. I fear that Hunt though is smarter than our halves pairing. 

If they are up for the game, they will trouble us.

Im expecting a 4 point margin.. could be a 16-12 type scoreline.

What i dont understand is why the ref was calling our players off the tackled player so quickly yet didnt do the same for the Raiders.

It allowed them far quicker PTB and to get on a roll. We contained them sufficiently enough, but made it all that much harder. 

We nullified it abit in the second half with more direct running and passing closer to the line but its concerning when a ref doesnt offer the sane latitude to the 2 teams.

I don't think that they have the fitness to go with us for 80 mins, provided we get a 50/50 split of possession 
.
A bigger side is always dangerous if they get more ball.

Definitely a tougher challenge than the Broncos. 

In the halves we have more smarts and creativity  Sexton > Hunt, Burton > Flanno

Every now and then Hunt has a great game.

I rate the Raiders half Fogarty highly, 

Lots of clangers from the ref IMO. 

The most charitable explanation I can think of is that he was trying not to be influenced by the crowd.

Our fans do need to be smarter and more selective about when they boo, but I love the passion. 

1. He called a knock on against Kiks when the ball came off the body of Xerri.  I am not sure Kiks was even in the frame.

2. Soft penalty against Kiks for marginal contact on the kicker. 2-3  similar incidents with Marhoney,  when Marhoney had a whinge and swore at the ref penalty against us.

3. 2 knock on calls that were not at critical times that were off the knee and knocked back.

4. Skinny 10 and slow PTB for us.

Not being critical but I wonder how good his eyesight is, we won 2 challenges and could have won more.

I reckon stats would reveal it's that way most weeks...

I doubt that other teams can easily copy our style of attack. 

It requires a lot of energy, fitness, skill and coordination.

We added another dimension against the Raiders with Presto and Kiks in motion and running hard up the middle. 

The try Kiks almost scored was a well constructed play.

Teams are starting to copy some elements of our style. 

Our timing on revealing the style turned out to be good.

Presto and Kiks run a lot of different lines, then we have the pace and threat outside of them.

Our spine, second rowers and centres are the key players in attack. Middles and .hooker the key players in defence. 

With regards to #2, i dont know if the ref is actually looking at the contact on the kicker or he looks downfield to where the ball is going. 

I feel like they look back, see the kicker on the ground and immediately think he was taken out.

Id rather they just allowed the bunker to review it within next 30secs and then tip off the on fiekd ref if there is foul play.

That decision was garbage. This rule of protecting the kicker has gone too far.

Some of the other teams look like they are playing in slow motion in attack, compared to us.

They look like 5 year olds passing the ball, we look like adults.

They take a lot of one out nothing yardage plays.

Our attack flowed against the Broncos, because we had the element of surprise.

The Raiders defended us very well, the ball strip by the Raiders fullback was an excellent try save.

Preston and others  made a lot of yards punching through the middle. 

We are a well drilled side with a lot of variety in attack, the coaches couldn't do more.

Our spine players are playing well, and close to the limit of their ability.  Sexton is in career best  form week after week. 

The team effort in attack and defence can't be questioned. 

As long as we keep playing like this, I will be happy even when we are beaten by a better side,  it will take a better side. 

Panthers are the only side we can't beat, but others might be able to beat them. 

We should be too good for the Dragons, but the Fins and Warriors bother me, but I am hoping that the Warriors have given up on the season.

Bulldogs on the brink of making finals, big win at Belmore and the terror alert is raised... 
Slanderous!!!...

No I think that the other teams being terrified is very sensible  😀

Patolo and Fifita came back in reserve grade, probably a month away.

Farmer is ready now, as is Knight though Knight doesn't seem to be up to NRL standard at present. 

Todd and Underhill great prospects and we have a few good young middles. 

The best backrow / Middle prospect is Hayes, hard working,  good defender, good leg speed,  runs great lines.

Cirro definitely has options for more size in the pack if he wants to use them.

Hayes is probably already better than Salmon and that probably includes filling in in the backline.  Next year Toups will be even better. 

I still think that we could be beaten by a bigger side,  but few sides have more size, speed, smarts and ability to fluke a great play than Canberra. Chooks are the side that has that and they can fluke 3 great plays in a row, with Walker doing 2 of them, if  Canberra don't make the 8 this year,  I can see them having a good season next year. 

Corey Horsbough is apparently sick of the tough love from Sticky and wants an out. We would need to improve his discipline and decision making and get him fully fit.  But he would suit us,  attitude and desire to compete unquestionable.  A gamble worth taking if we get the chance. 

Never like him. Never will. Hope we dont go near him.

Harry Hayes has really impressed me. He is a good size and runs great lines into gaps.

He straightened our attack the other day with direct runs in between defenders. Got us back on an even keel when we were dominated prior.

I look forward to seeing more of him.

I think V'Lad and abdo are taking the piss out if us. They have scheduled.... you guessed it... Gerard Sutton to ref our game. Who would have thought!.

Bugger. It will be a stop start game,

Hayes is a ex-winger, still a very lean frame.

Now he is a forward I can see him bim bulking up a bit.

Most impressive transition since Preston hard to split them, 

I will not be surprised if Underhill debuts this week Curran may be 50/50 for this week.

If not underhill perhaps Farmer.

I watched a bit of Dragons/:Storm. Hard game to get a read on, seemed to me like the game was played in 2nd gear. No doubt that the Dragons have improved. Will be tough without Curran.

Underhill apparently impressive in reserve grade, might be ready for NRL or Curran might be OK. 

Curran's injury may have contributed to the first Raiders try.