Rate our chances in 2015

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Mark from Brisbane

“ Boomer still Booming”
Premium Member
Tipping Member
Ok, I know not a tackle has been made (in earnest), and most of you will be somewhat biased anyway BUT taking your Maroon & White Goggles off how do you rate our chances for the 2015 Premiership, and which team(s) are the biggest threat.

I'll start by saying,

I like our depth for 2015, despite no big name purchase we have filled many of the gaps that started to show at the end of 2014. We have a metre gainer big Prop, we lost a ball playing forward but gained another, we have some young guns champing at the bit and we still have the best 1/6/7/9 combination in the League (although I do admit there are better players in each of those roles but not all at one club). Add to that a very good backline with Skivvy / Killer and some good wingers (and a number of them which will ensure some competition for the spots).

Regardless of what anyone says (about form), we lost last years finals because we ran out of troops just at the wrong time of the year, and I'm sure you'll have to agree that the loss of both Ballin & Ferris in Round 26 really hurt our cause, we did not have the forwards to go all the way but still managed to "almost" get there in the qualifier.

And for the first time in as long as I can remember we actually have players coming through seriously challenging for positions with players like Gutho, Jake & Tom Turbo (although maybe not Tom this year) really pushing for spots in the top 17, and add to them Leary / MCK and others.

The negatives (without wanting to start another thread that just rehashes what's already being said) that I can see are the re-signing drama's, and how that might affect our on field performance, and the coaching performance of 2V........not that I am bringing this into question BUT the perception is he's had some great teams and hasn't won much as yet, and the constant (albeit paper talk) discussion about him not getting on with the players, how these two issues affect us is as yet unknown.

Overall I think we are in with a decent shot, whilst we have lost some players overall we look better than last year, how the new rule changes affect us (or mores the point how we adapt to them compared to other teams) we don't as yet know, hopefully its positive as far as we are concerned.

Souths are still the team to beat, Bulldogs and Panthers will be up there as well, and I think Brisbane under Bennett will be much stronger.

I still reckon top 4, but possibly not equal first (on points), my prediction 3rd or 4th.
 
As always Mark, unfortunately the title won't necessarily be won by the best team. Injuries, the bounce of the ball and worst of all, referees will have a say in a lot of games this year.
Realistically, I have the Bulldogs on top. I also have Souths, Cows & Roosters in front of us.
On the next rung I have us, Broncos and Penrith.
As always NZ will be rocks and diamonds. If Johnson realises his potential, consistently, they could easily be top 4.
Cronulla could surprise and sneak into the 8.
Storm on the slide. They'll be somewhere 6-9.
 
Our chances this year are very good. I still see us as around that 4th/5th spot.

Our depth this year is quite amazing. My backline is:

Snake, Gutho, Killer, Skivvy, Blair, Foz and DCE. Which means Jorge, Wolf, Turbo, Hiku aren't there.....a great dilemma. Mason, Mateo and Leary will add plenty and I think JSL and Lui are about to show their worth. Then we've also got Jake Turbo in the wings.

I agree with the big negative could be the contracts again.

If I was to summarise (very simplistically) one thing that will sum up our chances it's Snakes general demeanour. If he is happy and smiling, we are a massive chance. And this depends on 2things, 1) his fitness 2) his mental outlook. If both those things are in order........big things this year.
 
I agree with Clint insofar as the best team doesn't always win. I also agree that we are stronger this year than we were last year. I give us a shot only if the Foran & DCE contracts are sorted soon and in the positive. If that isn't sorted then we are stuffed and may finished somewhere 7-10th place.
I don't agree that souffs are the team to beat. They have lost Sam, Teo, Auva'va and have a lot less depth. they will be the hunted this year and they are still a mentally weak team in many respects and I don't think they will handle it well.
I think this year will see a North Qld team right up there as Minor Premiers and beyond that we are as good a chance as anyone else.
 
We are better than we were last season.
Yeah, Watmough, Glen and King are gone but Glen played six games last year (around that I think) and the recruitment has covered the losses of Watmough and King.
I know our forwards needed a bit more mongrel last season but they were all young and forwards are hardly dominant very early in their career (Jake Trbojevic may be an exception).
Starling, Lui, JSL and Symmonds should all improve greatly this season.
There's good depth in the forward pack and once he's fully fit and recovered Buhrer will have his best season yet.
The only major problem I fear is the halves contracts not sorted early.
 
We are going to miss Choc,s tackles & metres big time.Saying that we won't miss his 2 penalties or mistakes a week.
Saying that ,I don't see us dropping below top4.
 
At the moment our premiership hopes are resting with the "potential" of our new look forward pack. Will Mason, Mateo, Burgess, Vave etc deliver ?? If they play to their potential and we mix them with what we already have then we should have a very solid pack that can compete and give our world class backline every opportunity. Top 4, then it is injury and luck from that point more or less. If these new recruits are only so so, then I think we are still probably top 8 but might struggle to compete at the really pointy end of the season, pretty much like last year really where we looked just off the pace in the intensity stakes.

Of the other teams I think that the Cowboys are due for some luck but they have to overcome that mental hurdle of finals footy. They have a good team ( a couple of good recruits in Hannant and Granville). and Thurston can take them all the way, but their spine at 7 and 9 lets them down a touch.

Roosters will be up there again, Ferguson could be a very canny signing for them if they keep him off the grog, he has the potential to be another Inglis IMO if he applies himself.

Souths will miss Burgess a lot I think, so they might struggle to find a go to man in the pack to provide all the impact Sam did. History has shown it is very very hard to go back to back and I can't see the Rabbits doing it.

Bulldogs were the surprise packet last year....surprised they got to the GF to be honest. Overachieved big time. They'll probably be top 8, but can't see them winning it. Lafai is very good and BMoz might solve their post Barba fullback dilemmas, but I don't know if Hodkison and Reynolds can take them all the way. Quicker ruck speed might hurt their big pack too.

Panthers have some great young talent and they might take some confidence from last year and continue on their winning ways. All the way ?? who knows
 
We did not win a game in the 9's, I predict we will struggle to win a game all season as a result!!!!

Now seriously, with our roster we should be top 4. Yes we have lost some talent but we have replaced quite well. The loss of Choc could really hurt as he really got through a large amount of work and did the tough stuff. His workload needs to be shared around the pack. The loss of Stewart I do not think is as concerning considering he was injured so much in the last 2 years and we still went well. Hopefully there is no back of office stuff to distract the team but I think that may be a pipe dream with all the issues we have seen recently, they will still be lingering imo.

As we saw last year if our forwards hold their own we will be up there as our backs are class. Lets hope the forwards improve on last year and we get some luck with injuries. If that happens we will be a contender.
 
Top 6 with luck with injuries.

Agree totally with C and C.Ferguson is a superstar if he keeps his head.With Jennings and him out wide and TVS at the back expect big trouble for opposition sides. Luck with injury and they probably win it.Their pack is strong and they have the best 9 in the game..Cant have the cowboys-they simply don't win away. Souths good again,they have great depth but will miss Sam.Dogs up there. Warriors have the ability to win it.Knights a smokey.Panthers to disappoint.
 
I agree with the sentiment of virtually all the earlier posters. If we rewind our minds to the latter stages of the minor premiership race last year, we had the bookies paying out on us because we "were across the line". Then we fell in a hole, due to player unrest and injuries to key players we couldn't replace. Souffs were lucky to regain a full squad for the critical part of season's end, and winning became a habit for them.
Most grand final winners in recent history have been lucky with having the majority of their key players available leading into the finals. Despite missing key players we were desperately unlucky to be cheated out of our chance to play in the Grand Final last year.
This is my convoluted way of saying that there are probably 5-6 teams capable of winning the 2015 comp, and luck plays a far bigger part in the ultimate success than most people imagine.
 
Top 4. Why?

Well why didn't we win the minor premiership? Choc kicked up a stink, pack size down the stretch and injuries. So we are much better off this year for injury cover, we've upsized our pack and we've lost the sook - who admittedly had been great in the past but was so so last year and sucked the life out of team morale at the back end.

Who in the final 4 has gotten better?

- Souths are all over the shop. Team to beat sure, but they can just as easily go Manly 2009 at this point.
- Rorters lost Sonny Bill - huge loss. Back line is strong but pack has taken a hit.
- Dogs - please. They got very lucky at the back end of the year. They played like a bottom of the 8 team all year and got to the GF on nothing more than luck, which is why they got pumped.

And then you have us. Bigger, hopefully happier, hopefully with our halves resigned and with a squad that is focused and locked in.
 
Depends which home and away moment(s) we have at the club. If Joe Kelly can morph into Alf( the you tube Alf@:mad:) and keep everyone in line we're a red-hot chance.
 
BTW - to keep to the sites official ratings systems, I give us 9 Russian Singles out of 10 in 2015
 
Team P W L PD Pts
3 3 0 48 6
4 3 1 28 6
3 2 1 10 6
4 2 2 39 4
3 2 1 28 4
3 2 1 15 4
3 2 1 14 4
2 1 1 13 4
2 1 1 6 4
3 2 1 -3 4
3 1 2 0 2
3 1 2 -5 2
3 1 2 -15 2
3 1 2 -22 2
3 1 2 -36 2
2 0 2 -56 2
3 0 3 -64 0
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