Looking at teams on the ladder ahead of us and there are 7 who have already had the Bye and also a number who will be effected once State of Origin comes round.
There are also 6 teams ahead of us with negative point for and against
I feel the eels are in a pretty comfortable position at present with a Bye round still ahead of them and a positive points differential
The next 8 weeks is going to be telling on the ladder after representative rounds
Go the eels
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Chatting to a Sharkies mate of mine at about Rnd 3. He suggested this year, no need to look at the ladder until about Round 14. He was spot on. This is a strange year with results but the bye adds another dimension with a gift 2 points for some. Not to mention the eels playing 3 top teams off a bye and coming off the bye has proven a big help for almost all sides.
Forget the ladder for now. Just gotta rack up those wins.
The betting odds show that the ladder is out of whack with teams lower in the pack routinely having shorter odds than those higher on the ladder.
Because the first few rounds had so few blowout scores the ladder simply isn't meaningful yet. So yep, basically ignore ladder position for at least another 6 or so weeks.
I think it will start evening out soon, it is slowly starting now. Usually the first 4 or so rounds of the competition are back and forth in results, then hit around round 6 then the better teams start becoming clearer. This year with byes added, extra team, more players playing in first grade due to the Dolphins meaning squads are more spread out with talent and coming off a World Cup after two COVID years which weren't as long as previous years so players were more fatigued.
It will take longer but eventually the 8 will start to make sense with who should be there or not, the top 6 will be set and the remaining two spots will be fought between 3-4 teams.
I think quite a few people expected a slow start to the year when you saw our draw and the fact that we would be without Lane and Matterson in that period. I remember posting pre season that I'd be happy with 2 wins from our first 5. Well we actually only got one win but we are 4 wins from our past 6 games and moving up the ladder slowly that's all that matters.
Lane in particular is a very important player to us, he's that big body threat who sucks in defenders and opens up attacking channels for Brown.
I would suggest some of you who are such harsh markers of Brown have a look at how Luai is attacking without the presence of Kikau this season
Just gotta keep winning but yes
1 - the early bye has made some teams look like they were going better than they were, eg manly.
2 - unless we get injuries (fingers crossed) we should be good for our spine to stay intact through the rep period.
The for and against is a better indication of where teams are at.
Yes agreed
Next few rounds are important. It's Titans then Raiders in Canberra and then South's at Alliance. None of those games will be a walk in the park. Shame RCG is out for an extended time. All 3 away games. Great if they could win 2 of those games.