Are Melbourne lucky and over rated so far?

[cf2 is back]

Melb v top 5 team so far:
Manly - home WIN; no away yet
Saints - no game yet!
Bris - no home yet; away WIN (but origin affected)
Cows - no home yet; away LOSS
TOTAL: Played 3 matches against top 5 teams for 2-1; and of top 3 rivals played Manly at home and no Saints

Manly v top 5 team so far:
Melb - no home yet; away LOSS
Saints - no home; away LOSS
Bris - home WIN (at Suncorp!); no away yet
Cows - home WIN ; away LOSS (the rip off one)
TOTAL: Played 5 matches against top 5 teams for 2-3; and of top 3 rivals played Melb away and Saints away

On those stats are Melb really a true no 1 team or are they just having a very soft draw to date?

Time will tell of course.

 

[The Eagle]

They have hardly left bleak city

 

[Ralphie]

They have had a dream run this year all the way through and it's pretty soft all the way in.

 

[Rambo1987]

Still in front of us and you have to give it to them so far - hate saying that.

 

[lsz]

Smith

Slater

Cronk

No myths around with those 3

 

[Jatz Crackers]

They simply deserve to be smashed by us in the finals.

 

[The Eagle]

Slater is a myth

 

[lsz]

I am not saying he is a nice person or not a grub but you are letting hatred blind you if you think he is a myth

Also I think the comp is pretty weak overall - the top 5 can grind out results against all the "lower" teams.

Melbourne, with those 3, have enough to roll over most teams

 

[torana355]

I thought they were pretenders a month ago but im afraid they are the real deal. That said, Stgeorge have showed against us and the Sharks just how perfect they can play in the first 40 mins of a game, imo they are the side to beat with the Scum, us and Broncos all fighting for the second spot in the GF.

 

[bazeagle]

I believe Melbourne are by a long way the strongest team after us in the NRL this year. As others have pointed out Smith, Cronk & Slater are classy. Plus their pack isn't all that bad. Add to that the siege mentality Bellamy will be drilling them about being done over last year etc etc etc.
Plus motivation to beat us.
Interesting days & games ahead.

 

[Ralphie]

I don't agree that it's a 4 team race. 5th to 8th will be pretty strong this year. I reckon they will be Nth Qld, Kiwis, Tigpies & Penriff. If those teams get their full strength team on the park at the right time any of them are capable of an upset and a run.

 

[The Eagle]

No im saying Slater is just as good as Inglis

 

[WAMF]

I hope they make the GF so I can swap my ticket for a business class air fare to Europe.

 

[SeaEagleRock8]

The main players Storm lost from last year are Finch, Inglis, Hoffman, Tolman, and White. They kept 3 of the big 4, but that is still quite a big hole to fill.

The fact Bellamy has done it with players like Jaiman Lowe and Woolnough is weird really. Maybe he coaches by join-the-dots or something, and granted they wrestle like hell in every tackle, but frankly (in the absence of a major steroid scandal) I find his success startling. And very very annoying.

 

[cf2 is back]

I believe Melbourne are by a long way the strongest team after us in the NRL this year. As others have pointed out Smith, Cronk & Slater are classy. Plus their pack isn't all that bad. Add to that the siege mentality Bellamy will be drilling them about being done over last year etc etc etc.
Plus motivation to beat us.
Interesting days & games ahead.

Melb might have all that seige stuff going - but they can't be called the strongest team behind us when they haven't played Saints.

As I pointed out the top 3 stats are:
Melb - Manly home win, Saints not played - played 1 of top 3
Manly - Melb away loss, Saints away loss - played 2 of top 3
Saints - Manly home win, Saints not played - played 1 of top 3

 

[bazeagle]

Well stats aren't everything. The mental/motivation/revenge factor in elite sport is massive and very hard to measure in a statistical way.
I know they're current premiers, but I don't rate Saints this year. Bet they won't make the GF.

 

[stoodamire]

We haven't beaten the Storm nor the Dragons.

We lost to Nth Qld when they fielded a full strength squad.

We beat Nth Qld minus Thurston and Scott.

We beat Broncos minus Lockyer and Thaiday.

Nothing to write home about neither.

Same could be said about us.

 

[The Eagle]

Stoolsample,we got rorted against NQL,We got rorted against the storm (King penalised for running) and we were off on execution when we played the faggons,The boncos without Lockyer are actually more of a threat,they dont have to carry some retiring hag around the park and Thaiday is good for tackling after 2 of his best chums start tackling

 

[codewana]

Eagle, I think you're seeing this through maroon coloured glasses. if we're throwing stats around, we have to look at them honestly or there's no point (if there is a point at all).

 

[stoodamire]

Stoolsample,we got rorted against NQL,We got rorted against the storm (King penalised for running) and we were off on execution when we played the faggons,The boncos without Lockyer are actually more of a threat,they dont have to carry some retiring hag around the park and Thaiday is good for tackling after 2 of his best chums start tackling

Yeah righto pelican