Round 1 Discussion

[Big Pete]

Thursday
7:05pm - Cronulla Sharks vs Brisbane Broncos

Friday
5:00pm - Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs vs Melbourne Storm
7:05pm - South Sydney Rabbitohs vs Wests Tigers

Saturday
3:30pm - St George Illawarra Dragons vs Penrith Panthers
6:00pm - North Queensland Cowboys vs Canberra Raiders
8:00pm - Gold Coast Titans vs Sydney Roosters

Sunday
1:00pm - Warriors vs Newcastle Knights
3:00pm - Manly Sea Eagles vs Parramatta Eels

 

[ZTop]

WOOOOOHOOOO

 

[Big Pete]

A reminder that teams will be announced at 3pm tomorrow.

Each club will announce a 21 man squad, which will be reduced to 19, 24 hours before game-day before a final side is announced an hour before kick-off.

In extreme cases, the NRL will allow clubs to name players outside of the 21 man squad.

Not long now boys.

 

[Cult]

A reminder that teams will be announced at 3pm tomorrow.

Each club will announce a 21 man squad, which will be reduced to 19, 24 hours before game-day before a final side is announced an hour before kick-off.

In extreme cases, the NRL will allow clubs to name players outside of the 21 man squad.

Not long now boys.

Will all 21 players travel with the team or will they just announce players knowing who will play and leave the others at home to play Q Cup or NYC?

 

[Big Pete]

That's up to the clubs @Cult3.

On the whole, I expect it to be the latter and we'll see a case where the ISC games will spoil the final 17s.

 

[Big Pete]

More details...

'Reserve' players have to be named in their Qld/NSW Cup and NYC sides.

Any reserves will be deemed ineligible if they played Qld/NSW Cup or NYC prior to the game.

NYC sides will have 23 man squads.

 

[Morkel]

I still think it's going to be just as farcical.

Injured who are still 3 weeks away from returning will be named to start anyway, with the replacement obviously coming from the bench or one of the "reserves" that is named for their affiliated team. So it'll have a ripple-on effect to those team lists too.

 

[Big Pete]

Sure, but I don't see any drawbacks either.

Team-List Tuesday was never about the competition. It was about the media and the fans, by eliminating shadow announcements and making it a continuous process it makes life easier.

It's not a big change or anything, it just provides fans with more engagement and makes life easier for fantasy competitions.

It's a shame we didn't learn about it until it was too late. It would be really handy in the SVRL.

 

[Broncs_Fan]

I like the new team naming process. Fans can see who is in contention to come into the team. Coaches can't pull a huge shock like when Ponga was included on the wing in our semi last season.

 

[mrslong]

Tyrone Roberts, Tyrone Roberts-Davis playing for the same club.

Not going to be confusing at all.

 

[Morkel]

Haha TyRD

 

[Big Pete]

By this time tomorrow, we'll all be knee's deep in post-game analysis, exploring the good, the bad and the ugly following the Broncos first hit-out.

This makes tonight very special as we bid farewell to the silly season. Hallelujah! Finally the footy is back but folks I want you to do me a big favour and remember a few things about the pre-season.

Namely, I want you to remember the general expectations going into 2017.

According to the experts (eg. not you and me) the Top 8 will consist of Canberra, Melbourne, Penrith, North Queensland, Brisbane, Cronulla, Sydney and Canterbury in that order with only the Warriors as an outside chance.

Of those eight teams, the favourites are Canberra, Penrith, North Queensland and Melbourne with no other team rating a mention.

The stars of 2017 will consist of: Jarryd Hayne, Matt Moylan, Roger Tuivasa-Sheck, Latrell Mitchell, Mitchell Pearce, Ash Taylor, Valentine Holmes, Joey Leilua and Bryce Cartwright.

And St. George Illawarra, Newcastle, Manly and Wests are the also-rans of the competition.

Take note of this and look back on it in Round 26. Were the critics right? Ask why, learn from it and see what lessons you can take ahead of Season 2018.

One lesson I'm going to learn this year is to be more open-minded. Too often I let my personal prejudices get in the way and rarely allow myself to live in the moment. If there's one lesson I've learned in Rugby League, it's ever changing and an entire competition can be decided in an instant.

So I'm going to forget about my personal top 8, I'll trust the critics and keep a close eye on the Raiders, Panthers, Storm and Cowboys and see what lessons can be learned.

 

[BroncosAlways]

Good idea BP.

I'm not one for posting much on other games and teams performances, but going to try to change this starting with a few predictions and key question marks over this season.

1.Farah at Souths.
As much of an ego as he is, he's going to bring a spark to the rabbitohs ruck and if they're forwards have go forward they'll be a real threat. That, or he'll constantly overplay his hand and see him relegated to the bench with Cook earning a call up.

2. Foran.
Where to start, not even going to bother delving into the question mark of the Warriors consistency.
Can Foran get back to his best, and if he does where does that leave him in 2018?
Stay injury free? Drama free?

3. Ben Hunt...
The number 7 jersey this year will be a hot topic amongst Broncos fans, despite his departure I believe he is the best option we currently have on the books for 2017.
However, a string of bad performances will undoubtedly have fans reading far too into it, saying he's given up already.
Can Hunt help steer us to a top 4 finish this season with the squad we have, or is that too far a stretch?

4.Does Hasler deserve the pressure?
I'll be watching the bulldogs games purely for this reason to start the season, we all know the pressure Dessies under. A few years ago, Hasler was known as of the most intense fitness focused coach's out there, and his move to Belmore with Hodkinson was a coup.
So what's changed, besides the boring and uninspiring attack?
One thing that's certain is that if Des gets the sack, he'll be head coach of another NRL team by the end of next season.

 

[Unbreakable]

Tyrone Roberts, Tyrone Roberts-Davis playing for the same club.

Not going to be confusing at all.

Technically at one point they had..

Tyrone Roberts
Tyrone Roberts-Davis
James Roberts
Nathan Davis

 

[Huge]

By this time tomorrow, we'll all be knee's deep in post-game analysis, exploring the good, the bad and the ugly following the Broncos first hit-out.

This makes tonight very special as we bid farewell to the silly season. Hallelujah! Finally the footy is back but folks I want you to do me a big favour and remember a few things about the pre-season.

Namely, I want you to remember the general expectations going into 2017.

According to the experts (eg. not you and me) the Top 8 will consist of Canberra, Melbourne, Penrith, North Queensland, Brisbane, Cronulla, Sydney and Canterbury in that order with only the Warriors as an outside chance.

Of those eight teams, the favourites are Canberra, Penrith, North Queensland and Melbourne with no other team rating a mention.

The stars of 2017 will consist of: Jarryd Hayne, Matt Moylan, Roger Tuivasa-Sheck, Latrell Mitchell, Mitchell Pearce, Ash Taylor, Valentine Holmes, Joey Leilua and Bryce Cartwright.

And St. George Illawarra, Newcastle, Manly and Wests are the also-rans of the competition.

Take note of this and look back on it in Round 26. Were the critics right? Ask why, learn from it and see what lessons you can take ahead of Season 2018.

One lesson I'm going to learn this year is to be more open-minded. Too often I let my personal prejudices get in the way and rarely allow myself to live in the moment. If there's one lesson I've learned in Rugby League, it's ever changing and an entire competition can be decided in an instant.

So I'm going to forget about my personal top 8, I'll trust the critics and keep a close eye on the Raiders, Panthers, Storm and Cowboys and see what lessons can be learned.

I am not sure what experts had the Broncos in the eight but I seem to remember that quite a few had us missing the eight altogether .

I expect we will have a good season with a rocky start and the usual origin hangover. 6 or 7 is where we will finish which will still be a good season given the poor start and origin. This year, where we finish won't stop the music and we will be a force and not a casualty in the finals.

The Sharks will start with a bang but fade and fold before the finals. The Roosters and Canberra, Melbourne and Penrith will have big seasons. The Cows will go through the motions but will never be the club that strikes fear. JT and Scott will struggle. No hope for the Warriors again, just nuisances who will go missing after beating some big names. 8th will be fought over by St George , Titans and Manly with the Dogs in the 6/7/8/9/10 fight. We will be in that fight too.

WestTigers will finish 10thish and of course Newcastle will double last seasons wins to come last. I just can't see the Rabbits being a force but with Farrah giving them direction, well and finally Parra. I know they felt cheated last year and this year could see a revival. I think this is shaping up as a highly competitive season with only Newcastle certain to eat shit all year.

 

[ZTop]

I expecting Manly to go all right this year

 

[Broncoman]

Sharks - Thought long and hard about it but I feel Cronulla's strength up front will give them the edge over us. Their record over us in recent years has been very good as well winning 4 of the last 5 and they only lost once in the Shire last year. Expecting a very tight struggle tonight

Storm - They are great starters and I'm not convinced by the Bulldogs

Souths - Farah will fire against his former team even though they are without Reynolds. 50/50 pick but I went with Souths

Panthers - Looked very good in the pre season and the Dragons still have a lot of issues especially in attack that they need to address

Cowboys - Raiders are without Croker and the Cowboys usually start the year with a win

Roosters - Roosters will be out to impress after a poor 2016 and the team is a lot more settled than last year and they look far better on paper than the Gold Coast despite the Hayne effect

Warriors - Just can't tip Newcastle

Eels - The Eels will be out to impress after last year and Manly have lost a lot of experience and they will need time to adapt to that

 

[Unbreakable]

Ryley Jacks will start at Five-Eighth for the Storm, Munster to Fullback.