Sterlo can't see Dogs or Broncos in eight

[Unbreakable]

http://wwos.nine.com.au/2017/02/26/12/01/sterlo-can-t-see-dogs-or-broncos-in-eight

Rugby league legend Peter Sterling believes NRL heavyweights Brisbane and Canterbury will miss the finals together for just the second time in 25 years.

Usually two of the most consistently performing teams, only the 1991 and 2010 playoffs have been devoid of both clubs since Brisbane's introduction into the competition in 1988.

But Sterling hasn't been won over by how either squad is shaping up heading into the 2017 season.

The Broncos have been dealt with one of the toughest starts to the season, facing each of last year's top four in the opening month.

"I think they'll be giving a head start," Sterling told Triple M. "I don't think they'll make the eight this year."

With a number of departures over the off-season, Sterling believes the only way they will fire is if halves Anthony Milford and Ben Hunt are at their absolute best.

"I think that Corey Parker will be a big loss," Sterling said.

"That will see them rely on a lot of young forwards coming through - Pangai Junior, Jai Arrow - these kinds of players like Herman Ese'ese."

Conversely, the Bulldogs haven't missed the finals since Des Hasler arrived at the club in 2012, but Sterling is becoming weary of a stale attack.

Canterbury were knocked out by Penrith in the opening week of last year's finals series when they finished the season with four losses.

"I don't think they'll be playing finals football for the first time under Des Hasler," Sterling said.

"I just think their style of play hasn't improved in the last couple of years well enough to stay with some of the sides that have improved their style of play.

"I still think there's a question mark in the combination between (Moses) Mbye and Josh Reynolds in the halves."

Meanwhile, Sterling labelled Penrith as his favourites for the minor premiership while suggesting last year's champions, Cronulla, could be left fighting for a spot at the bottom of the eight.

 

[holdzy]

Quality speculation, Kojak.

 

[broncos4life]

Do we need to start a new thread for each negative article? Can't we just start a 'RL hates the Broncos thread' and dump them all in there?

 

[Jason Simmons]

In un-related news, it has been reported that Sterlo's eyesight has declined remarkably over the last 12 months...

 

[Brent81]

He thought we sucked before 2015 as well.

 

[Super Freak]

He was right about us last year.

 

[broncos4life]

He was right about us last year.

Negative Nancy's usually are. If you spend every year deathriding a club you are bound to be right every now and then.

 

[Rally Towel]

His assessment is fair enough. Not exactly outrageous form an objective point of view. We've got a tough opening draw and we need some younger players to step up in pretty short order.

Most would agree that those two factors combined could make it hard for us to get off to a good start, and by extension, harder to qualify and go deep into the finals.

I think we can give this year a shake but it's crucial we bank some wins early to get us rolling.

Similarly, he's right about the Dogs. They haven't really improved since 2012 and rule/roster changes have blunted the style that Des laid out. Short of Mbye or Reynolds really stepping it up, I can't see them being much of a threat.

 

[Accept]

The punters have the Broncos as equal premiership favorites but most RL analysts are predicting a playoff free zone for the boys this season. Anything can happen in RL which makes it so hard to predict which is why I seldom pay attention to all these preseason forecasts. The Broncos will be in the thick of it come Sept.

 

[Mightybroncs2k17]

Everyone's entitled to an opinion I guess, at the end of the day only 8 teams can make the finals so there's every chance we miss out. There's every chance we have a horror injury run and flop but also every chance we unearth a super star and win the flag. The only thing we have to go on at the moment are the teams top 25 roster. As Wayne said we will no a hell of a lot more in a month Take everything else with a grain of salt

 

[winslow_wong]

Sterlo hates the broncos and doesn't rate Ben hunt at all. Although next year he'll say we won't make the 8 without Ben hunt. Meh.

 

[Sproj]

I agree with his assessment. If the halves don't fire, the Broncs won't make the 8. This team has a lot more weaknesses than the last two seasons. The young guys will hopefully step up but there is no guarantee they will.

 

[Brent81]

He was right about us last year.

He had us winning it at the start of 2016.

 

[_noosh]

Sterlo hates the broncos and doesn't rate Ben hunt at all. Although next year he'll say we won't make the 8 without Ben hunt. Meh.

I have not seen any indication of this in the past. Not saying you're wrong, but I'm not sure it's as blatant as your making it out to be.

I'm actually happy we're getting written off this early. I felt like there was too much pressure on the boys last season after that GF loss. People were expecting us to take it home last season at the beginning, and it resulted in some initial overconfidence and then the team buckling under the increased pressure IMO.

Being the underdogs and fighting to prove something will hopefully make this season more like 2015. The guys should be more hungry and less arrogant.

 

[holdzy]

Corey wasn't great for us last year. I think the halves have to show the leadership this year, and hopefully the forwards will follow. It can't always be the other way around. We saw plenty of leadership from the 6 and 7 in '15. We need the forwards to feed off of the backs and vice versa.

 

[Mightybroncs2k17]

I've never made a point of saying it because I love what Corey did for us through his career but I do agree Corey wasn't brilliant for us towards the end of last year. I really found he lost a lot of his impact, his runs weren't as strong, his offload was put away and he seeemd to be really tiring a lot more then usual. I think it will be more his general presence and leadership that will be missed as opposed to his performance.

 

[Stix]

I have not seen any indication of this in the past. Not saying your wrong, but I'm not sure it's as blatant as your making it out to be.

I'm actually happy we're getting written off this early. I felt like there was too much pressure on the boys last season after that GF loss. People were expecting us to take it home last season at the beginning, and it resulted in some initial overconfidence and then the team buckling under the increased pressure IMO.

Being the underdogs and fighting to prove something will hopefully make this season more like 2015. The guys should be more hungry and less arrogant.

Watching Broncos games when Sterlo is commentating is pretty shit... Has hatred for the Broncos comes out pretty clearly. I'm sure I've heard him sigh when we score and keeps pretty quiet if we're winning only to go on about how good the other team is and loves it when we get points put on us... always looks deflated in the after game stuff after a Broncos win and gets all happy when we go down, I reckon the guys a tool.

 

[holdzy]

Watching Broncos games when Sterlo is commentating is pretty shit... Has hatred for the Broncos comes out pretty clearly. I'm sure I've heard him sigh when we score and keeps pretty quiet if we're winning only to go on about how good the other team is and loves it when we get points out on us... always looks deflated in the after game stuff after a Broncos win and gets all happy when we go down, I reckon the guys a tool.

Makes the Broncos wins he is forced to commentate all the sweeter. Same goes for QLD.

*Same goes for Gould, too.