It's an interesting start to the year for sure. Realistically we shouldn't be dropping any of the Brookie games with Melbourne being the biggest test, but we have beaten them the last 3 years in a row at home. Dragons on Easter Thursday could be more challenging than expected due to playing in Perth only 5 days earlier but we should be able to handle that and are a better side than them. Sharks and Penrith away are the obvious tough games but even then those aren't at their regular home grounds.
It's the period after the bye until the end of Origin that concerns me. DCE likes to take the couple of games before Origin off to conserve himself, Tom likely doesn't back up in Round 13 vs Brisbane, and we have to play all 3 Origin weeks without them, possibly Haumole and (less likely this year) Jake. So in a way I'd agree those first 8 weeks are the most important to bank as many wins as possible before Origin effectively shuts down the NRL for those couple of months. If we can win say 6/8 to start then snatch a few during that part of the year, we could definitely push for top 4 with the draw we have to finish.
