Sharks

[Matabele]

Fox Sports are running an off-season report on each club at the moment. I caught the back-end of the Sharks one and was struck by a few things.

Stuart was quite open about the fact he is giving them a relatively light off season so they could go the distance in the reguar season. I'm no psychologist but I personally thought it questionable that there is a need to put people in cotton wool because of psychosematic concerns that the season is "so hard".

The other thing that struck me is that for 5 months the Sharks have been trotting out like a mantra the fact they lost so many close games in 2007 and they are smokies to win a few of those and storm the competition in 2008. Stuart and many of the players made mention of it and I couldn't help but wonder if they somehow think everything is going to fall into place for them.

Put the two together and I question whether they'll have the fitness base and mental toughness to do much in 2008. I've quietly struck them off the list of potential top 8 candidates.

 

[Nutzcraw]

The sharks deserved to be top 8 last year.

If they play to potential they'll be in with a real show in 2008.

I'll put them in the bottom half of my top 8 but wouldn't be surprised if they finished as high up as 4th.

I think the broncos are a decent bet for the spoon.

 

[Guest]

Perennial losers like Norths and should be playing in the JB cup.

 

[Ryan]

Hmmmmmmmm.............

 

[Guest]

Hmmmmmmmm.............

As much as I liked norths and the local derbys with Manly were the best games of the year they always fell short in the semis each year. Thanks to the NRL we will now never see them win a comp.

Still I doubt that I will see the sharks win one in my lifetime either. They are world beaters at home but can be terrible playing away.