Teams Rankings - Semi Finals Week 1

[delz]

These are my Team's rankings for week 1.

1. Melbourne Storm - Professional, Enthusiastic, Disciplined. They are the benchmark and while Manly offered nothing showed what a champion team is all about.
2. South Sydney - Great performance, tough, uncompromising & smart throughout.
3. Panthers - Even though they lost to a better team, and looked well below their best they still hung in there with great defense and willingness to get in the grind. Looked tired in the end but I'm sure they will bounce back this week.
4. Easts - Even allowing for all their injuries, showed up and played as a team against spirited opposition. Resolute, determined & well-coached.
5. Titans - Impressed with their overall attitude, tried their guts out and in the end, should have won it!
6. Parramatta - Just did enough to win against probably the less credentialed & in-form side in the semis.
7. Newcastle - They at least had a go but you always felt they would not have enough class in to win. Defense on the edges was a big worry all game.
8. Manly - Without a doubt the worse team over the weekend. Where do you start! Poor discipline ( with & without the ball), lack of enthusiasm, lazy, No game plan, No line speed in defense. A great disappointment and unfortunately I have no confidence on the weekend they can bounce back!

 

[Marto1970]

Agree, but we will bounce back this week, a hard game but roster is healthy and they will be hurting from the performance against Storm,Alot more intensity this week

 

[maxta]

Pretty fair summary overall....I actually felt as flat as Manly were on Friday....the big picture from this weekends games was how clearly Melbourne are ahead of the rest.
Apart from a gritty performance from the Bunnies, I also thought Penrith were poor and the rest are not worth a mention.
Looking back - I feel no different than I did this time last week - Storm the team to beat with Penrith, Souths and Manly the only chance to meet them in the GF....and lastly will take a miracle for anyone to beat Storm, not impossible, but not far off.

 

[deanm]

So you're saying we are worse than the 2 teams that got knocked out? And there is the small point that we were playing Melbourne, pretty sure they did all right throughout the year. Whilst I agree Manly was poor, You can only play as good as the other team lets You. Just my opinion of course. Go Manly !!!!

 

[The Who]

The salient point that Deiz makes is that all of the teams on the weekend showed a fighting spirit, whereas Manly didn't.
We should expect a much better effort this Friday night.

 

[delz]

The salient point that Deiz makes is that all of the teams on the weekend showed a fighting spirit, whereas Manly didn't.
We should expect a much better effort this Friday night.

Yes exactly what I meant. I understand losing to a team like Melbourne is no disgrace but to lose so easily without showing any fight or enthusiasm is what I was most disappointed about.

 

[SeaEagleRock8]

I saw it a little differently, I must admit. We were blown off the park with 3 tries in the first 13 minutes and the possession turnovers and shock were probably bigger factors than not playing with spirit. However I do agree we'll be better focussed this week, at least I certainly hope so.

 

[Rosko]

These are my Team's rankings for week 1.

1. Melbourne Storm - Professional, Enthusiastic, Disciplined. They are the benchmark and while Manly offered nothing showed what a champion team is all about.
2. South Sydney - Great performance, tough, uncompromising & smart throughout.
3. Panthers - Even though they lost to a better team, and looked well below their best they still hung in there with great defense and willingness to get in the grind. Looked tired in the end but I'm sure they will bounce back this week.
4. Easts - Even allowing for all their injuries, showed up and played as a team against spirited opposition. Resolute, determined & well-coached.
5. Titans - Impressed with their overall attitude, tried their guts out and in the end, should have won it!
6. Parramatta - Just did enough to win against probably the less credentialed & in-form side in the semis.
7. Newcastle - They at least had a go but you always felt they would not have enough class in to win. Defense on the edges was a big worry all game.
8. Manly - Without a doubt the worse team over the weekend. Where do you start! Poor discipline ( with & without the ball), lack of enthusiasm, lazy, No game plan, No line speed in defense. A great disappointment and unfortunately I have no confidence on the weekend they can bounce back!

Spot on analysis @delz - unfortunately.

 

[Mark from Brisbane]

Well , at least we have , “ the only way is up “ scenario.

We’ll be better this weekend , but mainly because the Roosters don’t have the troops to “ blow us off the park “ like the Storm do, so I think we’ll be a least more competitive.

But I really fear both the mental scarring and also these top sides really know how to play finals football , sadly we are yet to learn that.

 

[deanm]

Well , at least we have , “ the only way is up “ scenario.

We’ll be better this weekend , but mainly because the Roosters don’t have the troops to “ blow us off the park “ like the Storm do, so I think we’ll be a least more competitive.

But I really fear both the mental scarring and also these top sides really know how to play finals football , sadly we are yet to learn that.

As long as we cut out the unforced errors , play direct and up the middle before attacking wide we will be a big chance. We made too many errors early which made our Middles keep tackling, with no energy to attack.

 

[Snake]

Jamie Soward still has Manly at 3 on his power rankings. He thinks we can make the GF and simply needed a loss to bring us back down to earth. I kinda feel like Souths should be too strong in the prelim. The Bennett factor, it being his last season and all, along with Reynolds leaving, should see them get home off the back of superior desire and experience.

 

[SeaEagleRock8]

Jamie Soward still has Manly at 3 on his power rankings. He thinks we can make the GF and simply needed a loss to bring us back down to earth. I kinda feel like Souths should be too strong in the prelim. The Bennett factor, it being his last season and all, along with Reynolds leaving, should see them get home off the back of superior desire and experience.

I don't disagree with Soward. Souths advantage will be they are coming into their 4th Prelim final in a row! Which is a pretty big achievement, and yet will also almost certainly be playing on their minds.
If we make it through this week, which I absolutely expect we will, then the Souths game might come down to who we lose to injury or suspension in the meantime. If we're at near full strength I don't think we'd be intimidated by coming up against them.

 

[Snake]

I don't disagree with Soward. Souths advantage will be they are coming into their 4th Prelim final in a row! Which is a pretty big achievement, and yet will also almost certainly be playing on their minds.
If we make it through this week, which I absolutely expect we will, then the Souths game might come down to who we lose to injury or suspension in the meantime. If we're at near full strength I don't think we'd be intimidated by coming up against them.

I'd love for you to be right...making a GF after last Friday night's disaster would be pretty incredible. I think the week off certainly plays into the Bunnies hands though...we are looking a bit tired imo.

 

[Remy]

Jamie Soward still has Manly at 3 on his power rankings. He thinks we can make the GF and simply needed a loss to bring us back down to earth. I kinda feel like Souths should be too strong in the prelim. The Bennett factor, it being his last season and all, along with Reynolds leaving, should see them get home off the back of superior desire and experience.

I saw that, Sowwie absolutely loves us, been frothing us since 2019. But in reality, we were the worst team this weekend, the only team that didn't show up at all. But Sowwie has a point, we needed that harsh reality check, and that embarrassment to fuel us to bounce back. Don't know if we can make the GF, Rabbitohs made the path a little bit easier but Rabbits are no pushover, this is their 4th prelim, last year with Wayne and Reyno, they're going to be sooo desperate.

 

[Mark from Brisbane]

Well one thing is for certain , they’d certainly be embarrassed, I know I was and I didn’t even play!!

 

[Hotspur2014]

So you're saying we are worse than the 2 teams that got knocked out? And there is the small point that we were playing Melbourne, pretty sure they did all right throughout the year. Whilst I agree Manly was poor, You can only play as good as the other team lets You. Just my opinion of course. Go Manly !!!!

I was at the game and honestly we were ****e from the first minute !!! No plan, no leadership, no direction , no confidence, no go forward from the forwards ... I could go on and on. I know Melbourne were good but we just didn’t turn up. The easy last few games did nothing for us to be ready for the arm wrestle you need in finals football. NOBODY WILL BEAT STORM IF YOU GIVE THEM 60% POSSESSION !!
Saying all that if we can orchestrate at least 50% possession , and our forwards are prepared for a real arm wrestle against the Roosters , and put pressure on Tedesco and Radley we should win and win well !