Where have you boys found the stash of anti-depressants.
1. I still rate Harris and think he will come back to bite us. We only let him go because we are saddled with the Moanaghan fool.
2. Burns is untried, has been playing half back and didn't impress when he did play 5/8th.
3. When the whips were cracking in the 2nd half of the season, against quality sides, we have been found badly wanting.
4. We won without BK - against Souths woohoo, and they didn't have Fletcher and it was Walker's first game for them.
5. Our defence has been a joke and we will go close to registering the 751 points that we did last year.
All I hear from you boys is \"if this happens, if that happens\". All I hear is \"**** happens\".
Reality check - the only improvement in the side is Orford and Bell and we've lost depth to achieve it.
If we have a bad run of injuries next year (say just Orford and BK out for most of the season) we will be wooden spooners.
\"I'm so glad you came, I'm so glad you remembered, to see how it ended, this last dance together\".
(Ryan - don't forget that e-mail you sent me today. On the money)
I am not on anti-depressants - I can just remember where we have come from and the fact that at this time last year we were breathing a sigh of relief for avoiding the spoon.
1. Harris is a bitter disappointment and has not reproduced consistent form since being resigned last year. He has been inconsistent and mostly mediocre. He has wonderful skills but hasn't lived up to the hype. For what we are paying him he has been a bitter disappointment.
2. Burns is untried but you could hardly argue that Beaver and Willo at 5/8 has been a raging success. Orford will certainly add creativity though this position much be fixed for 2006.
3. Apart from Cronulla (who I don't rate) our form against the good teams has been okay. It is our form againt the lower ranked teams that has worried me. Our inability to play well away from Brookie has also been of concern. A year under the belt of many of our team will assist in winning away. We did not recover well from Origin but nor did Brisbane or the Cowboys. Parra only had one Origin rep and they have a lot more that can cover him.
4. We do struggle without BK but so did Newcastle and Canberra. Look how long the Knights took to adjust to life without him. Take any two star players our of a team and they may struggle. Souths - who cares!!!
5. Our defence has been improved this year and will go nowhere near 754. It still needs to be better but what has worried me more is the attack, which had degenerated rather than developed. If you don't get repeat seats and good field position you end up having less than 50% of the ball, meaning that you usually lose. That is where we need to pick up our game as possession creates pressure!
6. There is no point 6.
Re depth I am expecting players like Brett Stewart, Watmough, Alberts etc to develop, for young players such as Ballin, Cuthbertson and Glenn Stewart to come through. We have dispensed with some disappointments and I am hoping that there is more good news on the signing front to come. If we are going to spend to our cap, the cash freed up by Harris, Randall, Hill, Hoppa etc has to be worth a few good players. Hopefully the end of the season will unearth a few surprises.
We do have to hope that Orford and BK stay fit but most teams have the same prayer with their star players.
I don't think things are as bad as painted and hopefully a year older and more experience will make us at least competitive in most games we play. i would love to give players semi experience as that would help (forlorn hope now) but surely this season is better than 2004 with some promise for next year.
