Manly Have to Win This Weekend

[Canteen Worker]

My view is that this Friday night playoff against the Storm is a sudden death game.

The two bottom losers from the weekend are eliminated.

I can see the Broncos beating the Titans and the Dogs are very vulnerable - either the Knights or Parra could do them comfortably. In that scenario, it would eliminate the loser of the Manly-Melbourne game.

This exact scenario happened to the Dragons a number of years ago, when defeated by the Panthers in a game of touch footy on the Fri night. They were gone by Sat night.

Should be a good final series but I reckon that we are playing for our survival at Etihad this Friday evening. I am glad it is not Olympic Park, meaning that it will be indoors so no dew or wind etc.

 

[Dan]

I have to agree. I can't see the bulldogs winning and the titans are obviously bearable. We have to be the masters of our own destiny and win then we don't have to worry about any other team. We play like we did last week and there is no team in the comp that can beat us

 

[ads]

Titans are pretty good at home though, so they may well get up.

But regardless, I agree. Anyway we need to win from now on in to keep the momentum to win the whole thing.

 

[DSM5]

From now on momentum is all.

 

[ssar]

Oh wow it's at Docklands instead of Olympic Park (the Storm's actual home ground) eh..  That's really interesting I reckon.

And that sounds good for the Sea Eagles!
Better environment to put in a great performance on the field!

 

[The Wheel]

Hmmm - could be long weekend waiting on results

 

[Berkeley_Eagle]

Hmmm - could be long weekend waiting on results

not if we win, I have the feeling that we will

 

[The Wheel]

So if results go as above, we win & 2 & 3 lose then we are through to the 3rd week of the finals?

 

[Rex]

My view is that this Friday night playoff against the Storm is a sudden death game.

If you are right and the other results make our game sudden death, then the winner is top 2 and wins a week off.

 

[Cletus]

So if results go as above, we win & 2 & 3 lose then we are through to the 3rd week of the finals?

Yes, if we win and 2 of St George, Bulldogs and Titans lose we get a week off. Could see that happening (as long as we win, which I'm not that confident about).

 

[Pittwater Legend]

I would hate to lose a finals match even if you could survive with a loss. A premiership victory wouldn't be as sweet if you dropped the first game. Last year was as good a finals campaign as you can have.

No doubt the Storm are our fiercest rivals at the moment. The way I see it we're playing on a Friday night on a dry surface. The boys can afford to play hard ball as we will have at least a weeks break until our next finals fixture. On top of that the Storm will give us a good contest and keep our team on their toes.

 

[Chip and Chase]

I think Saints will have the mental edge on Eels after Friday night and will win.
Bulldogs should probably beat the Knights I reckon.
The Broncos are a big show against the Titans though, especially if Rogers is out.

So we might be able to survive if we lose, but we are better off just beating the Storm to take all chance out of the equation. Hopefully we are about to embark on a finals run like last year. How sweet would that be.

 

[Ian Martin tragic]

I think CW et al are right; next week is likely sudden death. titans and bulldogs minus kimmorely are passengers. knights are unpredictable, and broncos are ominous lurkers with lockyer playing.

would be a major bummer to get knocked out by the storm. but they will find this very enticing prospect indeed, plus having the same pressure as above on them if they lose.

At this stage we've done great to get here after the season start and stewart injury and other tribulations. BUT, that mini slump and esp. the loss to the rabbits could now come back to punish us. here's hoping the finals series sparks our very best form that has eluded us for most of the year. It's not impossible.

 

[ManlyBacker]

I think Saints will have the mental edge on Eels after Friday night and will win.
Bulldogs should probably beat the Knights I reckon.
The Broncos are a big show against the Titans though, especially if Rogers is out.

So we might be able to survive if we lose, but we are better off just beating the Storm to take all chance out of the equation. Hopefully we are about to embark on a finals run like last year. How sweet would that be.

I agree 100%. The reality is that we need to win to stamp our authority on the premiership march. Broncos showed a few years ago that it can be turned around from a loss but a win is seriously the only option.

 

[vidmar]

Obviously a win and all is good however there may be a get out of jail card if we lose and some of the other results go our way.
I seem to remember this link may have been posted before but just in case here is a finals calculator to have play with...

http://www.footy.com.au/fts/finals_nrl.htm

 

[OneEyedEagle]

That’s a great tool VID.

I'm still predicting that we will beat the storm this Friday and even if we don't I think we can still scrape through to play them in the grand final.

The storm and sea eagles have had the better preparation (harder game - mentally prepared for the grind of finals football) where the dragons and the dogs have just been winning to easily.

Well I am One Eyed and in my books only one team counts – Go the Sea Eagles

 

[Crusher_Cleal]

I wouldn't read too much into the Bulldogs loss. Yes, they aren't as good without Kimmorely, but there wasn't much for them to play for. I doubt they cared too much whether they finished 1 or 2.