I know it isn't over til the fat lady sings, but unfortunately, I don't have much confidence in the team to secure a top 8 finals place considering our run home and how we've been palying.
It really got me thinking about our season and how we've actually put ourselves in this position. Before the loss to the Warriors, believe it or not, I actually thought we'd been playing better football than we did in 2022. With a strong finish to the season, I truly thought we could end up being actual contendors. So much has changed in the space of 2 weeks so what went wrong?
These are the three games that completley cost us from having a good year:
- Round 2 loss to Sharks when we were up 10-0 after 5 minutes. Gutho went off for that HIA which brought Sharks back into the game however we should've never lost that game.
- Round 3 against Manly where we scored the same amount of tries as Manly but Moses missed 3 conversions. Convert 2 of those, and it goes to golden point at least.
- Round 10 loss to the Titans in Magic Round. Again, would've won but we only converted 2 out of 5 tries. Convert 2 more and we win.
I can live with all our other losses because they were either very difficult away games or just against better teams, but these are 6 points we should of secured. If we had these 6 points, we would be sitting very comfortably in the top 4 or 5 and we'd all be singing a different tune.
Costly 3 rounds.
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I'd also add R1 where we were the better team and if not for the incompetance of the bunker, we would of won that game.
Definitely should've won that game too, but I can live with losing to Melbourne in round 1. Losing to Melbourne shouldn't be a reason your season derails. No shame in losing to them.
3 or 4 losses that were winnable.
Dropping to many points at home and just overall being Shit
Who do you think we should recruit what position, I'm thinking a centre and maybe a second rower
Winger and or Centre. But not sure on back-rower as Carty and Lane are the two starters and good ones at that.
I would say losing the opening three games of the year by four points set the tone for the year. It was one of those "What if" moments, two of them came down to bad goal kicking, the one against Melbourne, it was poor game management at the end, I also remember Moses had a field goal attempt which was going over for all money but Wishart just got his pinky to it and knocked it away. That loss against the Gold Coast at Magic Round was also another game we threw away.
To be fair we've also won a few by conversions only and at least one where we probably had luck on our side.
More costly to us this season were injuries and suspensions (plus the Origin period without byes).
Our most potent attacking weapon last year was Lane and he's been out basically all season.
Then just as we started to get a roll on we had Dylan Brown do his thing, RCG out followed closely by Greig, Hodgson medically retire, and Gutho and then Moses both pulled into Origin. Basically all of our experience gone and a whole bunch of new combos on the park.
In any season you need a level of luck. This season we just haven't had it. Plain and simple. And given our big turnover in the offseason we were always going to need some luck.
Injuries can't be helped, and form comes and goes throughout a career, and I can't begrudge our guys getting an Origin callup.
But what I can blame:
The Matto decision to take the suspension over a small fine set the tone for this season and has to rank as the most selfish me first team second decision I have ever seen. Everyone defending him initially saying it was a decision made in the heat of the moment were kidding themselves. The fact we had just lost the grandfinal should make you more determined to do everything you can to win the following season!
Good blog, and fair analyses of those games, the first 3 rounds all felt very winnable but agree the Sharks game felt like such a missed opportunity.
Like you, I feel we have actually been a better team this year than last year, and not just in attack, across the board. Which sounds ridiculous when we are a strong chance of not making the 8.
Prior to the Storm game, felt there were a heap of improvements from 2022:
* We hadnt been beaten easily (I dont personally count the Warriors game as you cant win missing your entire spine + key forwards).
* We had continued to fight in every game regardless of the scoreline / momentum. Feel Hopgood has a bit to do with that but its speculation.
* We didnt lose games to the Tigers & Dogs.
* We beat the Rabbitohs, on indigenous round.
* Our attack has looked leagues ahead of '22 imo. The shape, lines, use of players strengths, has been great to watch.
* Hopgood, Cartwright, Greig & Simo have stepped up & made a huge difference to areas we really needed.
* Moses & Gutho have been in career form, felt Dylan was also, before the suspension.
* Depsite never shutting up about it, also feel our defense has been better than '22 in general. We were no longer being torn apart down the edge by quicker teams, but we still do seem to have system issues & our middle at times has looked very poor.
Which all sounds ridiculous considering the circumstances.
A lot of positives for this squad to take in '24 if thats to be the case, it'll just be a hard pill to swollow.
We know better than any fan base how hard premierships are to win, and we've tried to do it the hardest possible way.
Lets hope there are some lessons learned, and this season shapes us & only adds fuel to the fire.
NOS I agree with your points and if we can somehow crack the 8 and have our full team I truly believe we are a hope of going deep into the finals and think we are the only team that can trouble the panthers in the GF with the experience of the flogging we got last year.
I hope we are still alive when we play the panthers in round 26 and show what we can do and put the fear of God into them.
Don't forget we beat then already this year
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