After 4 rounds we've seen enough to make a realistic judgement of our top 4 or even top 8 chances. The answer is simple......injuries. As soon as I heard we had lost Snake, Wolf & Georgie for the Souths game I thought we would struggle. If you look at the Newcastle game the week before, Snake & Wolf were involved in every scoring opportunity we had. So my assessment is, if we have speed in the backs we will make the top 4, if we don't we won't make the 8. As an aside, assuming Snake, Wolf & Rose are available for next week, with Matai back we will be at full strength for the first time since GF 2008. I know Rodney is still out, but I don't think he is in the top 17 now. If I'm right we will belt the gummies
Damn, when will we field a full strength team. In 2008 we were full strength for the bulk of the season. I for one am fed up with the steady stream of injuries. I know it's part of the game. I know it's luck, but gee we have had a bad run. Next time we are at full strength, I will run naked through the Brookie Maccas car park. It won't be pretty!!!!!
It's bad but there's nothing we can do. The major ones are Snake & Lyon. If they're fit, we have the depth to cover everyone else. Those two are just so important to everything we do.
Very few teams play at full strength. Look at The Tigers. Easts were at full strength when our ' reserve' teams smashed them. Having injures will determine the top four but it does unearth some talent. Didn't Robinson, Harrison and Buhrer prove that?
That's true, but look at the recent comp winners. St George were largely at full strength last year. The filthy cheating scum were in 2009 as were we in 2008. It's all about injuries. The first thing I look for in a game is what injuries did we incur.
Injuries to your 1, 6 ,7 and 9 really hurt as well as players that give a team alot of direction like Killer does. Snake, Killer, Foran and DCE need to stay fit to be a hope of a top 4 team.
the positive from all these injuries is that Des has been able to see all players get a good run in different positions. i like many thought Hoppa was a wing/fullback, but he has probably been our best centre so far. Also, because of our depth in the outside backs, Foran now has no need to play centre and himn and Cherry can build their combination in the middle. Jeez, even Buhrer didnt look out of place the other night!
I see this year as a re-building, we have a new halves combination and have seen some very good young talent unrearthed. We will still make the 8 but how far we go from then is the big question. Will the new halves be a long term success? Will injuries to key players be an issue? Can our young guns keep performing in the top grade consistantly? Nothing is won in April and all these factors make for an exciting year.
