The first 8 rounds

[Mark from Brisbane]

I’ve seen a few predictions out there in InstaTwitFace land that has us at 2 points after 8 rounds ( the bye only ) , that’s 7 straight losses.

Which would then be 14 straight losses if you count the last 7 from 2022.

Remember it’s only predictions , and most journos / “ supposed experts “ hate us with a passion so this is unsurprising.

HOWEVER

We on ST are going to have to hold on to our mettle as it is a very tough draw to kick off and whilst I don’t think we will lose all , it’s possible that we might might only win 1 or 2, although I have a few more.

Of course they might surprise us ( and we hope they do ) but we do need to brace ourselves a bit whilst the new players , and coaching set ups take time to bed down.

Round 1 Bulldogs at home
Round 2 Bye
Round 3 Eels at home
Round 4 Rabbits away
Round 5 Knights at home
Round 6 Panthers away
Round 7 Storm at home
Round 8 Tigers away

I hoping for 3 home wins and 1 away ( plus the Bye for 10 points).

What do you think ???

 

[Woodsie]

I’ve seen a few predictions out there in InstaTwitFace land that has us at 2 points after 8 rounds ( the bye only ) , that’s 7 straight losses.

Which would then be 14 straight losses if you count the last 7 from 2022.

Remember it’s only predictions , and most journos / “ supposed experts “ hate us with a passion so this is unsurprising.

HOWEVER

We on ST are going to have to hold on to our mettle as it is a very tough draw to kick off and whilst I don’t think we will lose all , it’s possible that we might might only win 1 or 2, although I have a few more.

Of course they might surprise us ( and we hope they do ) but we do need to brace ourselves a bit whilst the new players , and coaching set ups take time to bed down.

Round 1 Bulldogs at home
Round 2 Bye
Round 3 Eels at home
Round 4 Rabbits away
Round 5 Knights at home
Round 6 Panthers away
Round 7 Storm at home
Round 8 Tigers away

I hoping for 3 home wins and 1 away ( plus the Bye for 10 points).

What do you think ???

Psychologically, the first 8 weeks will be the making of us ... or the destruction ..

 

[SeaEagleRock8]

Yep it looks tough but within a short time most of those teams could be looking at Manly and thinking they have a very tough match coming up.
NRL is highly competitive every week. I reckon Souths and Panthers away will be tough but I can see us winning our home games, hopefully also jag an away win vs Tigpies.
Obviously this assumes we will play very well!
But why wouldn't we? We have good players and coaches, and morale and motivation should be really high after last year.

 

[Rocky]

I'm bullish. Think we can win 4 or 5 of those and be well entrenched in the top 8.

 

[Eagle 1]

I’ve seen a few predictions out there in InstaTwitFace land that has us at 2 points after 8 rounds ( the bye only ) , that’s 7 straight losses.

Which would then be 14 straight losses if you count the last 7 from 2022.

Remember it’s only predictions , and most journos / “ supposed experts “ hate us with a passion so this is unsurprising.

HOWEVER

We on ST are going to have to hold on to our mettle as it is a very tough draw to kick off and whilst I don’t think we will lose all , it’s possible that we might might only win 1 or 2, although I have a few more.

Of course they might surprise us ( and we hope they do ) but we do need to brace ourselves a bit whilst the new players , and coaching set ups take time to bed down.

Round 1 Bulldogs at home
Round 2 Bye
Round 3 Eels at home
Round 4 Rabbits away
Round 5 Knights at home
Round 6 Panthers away
Round 7 Storm at home
Round 8 Tigers away

I hoping for 3 home wins and 1 away ( plus the Bye for 10 points).

What do you think ???

I've got us at (wins) v Bulldogs, Parra, Knights, Storm and Tigers. 12pts with the bye. Souths could have one of their usual off days. Panthers virtually impossible atm. Storm have a lot of injuries, and we've beaten them a lot in recent times at Aami Park.

 

[Mark from Brisbane]

Yep it looks tough but within a short time most of those teams could be looking at Manly and thinking they have a very tough match coming up.
NRL is highly competitive every week. I reckon Souths and Panthers away will be tough but I can see us winning our home games, hopefully also jag an away win vs Tigpies.
Obviously this assumes we will play very well!
But why wouldn't we? We have good players and coaches, and morale and motivation should be really high after last year.

The tough draw could do one of two things,

Really galvanise us as a team and see us do much much better than we did last year , even against some tougher opposition.

Or

Destroy us before we get started with each loss adding to the pressure and finding it almost impossible to get a win largely through being mentally on the back foot.

We haven’t won round 1 for over a decade ( or about that) but if ever we need to win one of these it’s 2023.

Jag a win over the Bulldogs and it will do our mental state the world of good.

 

[mickqld]

4 wins plus the bye so we'll be on 10 points after Round 8. That'll have us sitting at 7th I reckon.

 

[SeaEagleRock8]

We haven’t won round 1 for over a decade ( or about that) but if ever we need to win one of these it’s 2023.

Yep, 2013.
We beat Brisbane 22-14 at Suncorp.
That's a long time ago!

 

[Seagles68]

The tough draw could do one of two things,

Really galvanise us as a team and see us do much much better than we did last year , even against some tougher opposition.

Or

Destroy us before we get started with each loss adding to the pressure and finding it almost impossible to get a win largely through being mentally on the back foot.

We haven’t won round 1 for over a decade ( or about that) but if ever we need to win one of these it’s 2023.

Jag a win over the Bulldogs and it will do our mental state the world of good.

That 1st game against the Bulldogs is pretty big, I reckon. If we can knock them over, have the stupid break and come back with some confidence up, anything can happen from there. It's not like we're a completely new team where a lot haven't played together before. Sure there are a few newbies and position changes but it really comes down to how the forwards perform. If they hold their own or better, then I have no doubt the backs can score us the points. Tonight will give us some insight into what the forwards have got. I don't think it's just the heat that has me sweating.

 

[Will on the hill]

1st round will be key. A win could see us brimming with confidence and a chance at 14 points from 8 games. A loss could see us reeling and demons from last year popping up, resulting in 4-6 points. With new coaches and new systems that early positive reinforcement will be crucial.
Reality will probably be somewhere in the middle.

 

[Pete W]

If Turbo doesn't break down, and other key players fit, no reason why we can't win 4 or 5 of those games...provided our pack does their job of course!

 

[jbb/james]

so who are we this year, time will tell

des looked to pace his sides through a season where the new coaches probably need some early confidence on and off the field. Im sure a win for them and marketing is being pushed

I hate the round 2 bye , however it does allow an ambush style approach against the dogs , so they could kick back after the game and reset a course on 4 points. . Coaches and footy sides are generally pretty good at getting up for inspirational matches.

our fringe players look stronger than we have had since salary caps came in , good strong games by some of them adds pressure seemingly absent in the desmond years

just a committed defence tonight would be nice. A win would also be nice but id hate to see us get complacent if we took it out.

Some posession to allow us to get some rythm early before mass changes take affect would in-still a belief in the new process

with no foz, dce, walker, tom and croaks, jake in 8 id presume tonight is about effort and drills . Nothing will be familiar so it will probably be razzle dazzle after the early exchanges

**** wrong thread , should have been in trial thread.aah well

 

[Eagles4Life]

I'm staying very positive at this stage, and have us winning five, losing two and picking up the two points from the bye obviously. So 12 points out of a possible 16 after Round eight (3rd position on the ladder)
Round 1 Bulldogs at home (W)
Round 2 Bye
Round 3 Eels at home (W)
Round 4 Rabbits away (L)
Round 5 Knights at home (W)
Round 6 Panthers away (L)
Round 7 Storm at home (W)
Round 8 Tigers away (W)

 

[Will on the hill]

That 1st game against the Bulldogs is pretty big, I reckon. If we can knock them over, have the stupid break and come back with some confidence up, anything can happen from there. It's not like we're a completely new team where a lot haven't played together before. Sure there are a few newbies and position changes but it really comes down to how the forwards perform. If they hold their own or better, then I have no doubt the backs can score us the points. Tonight will give us some insight into what the forwards have got. I don't think it's just the heat that has me sweating.

Great minds...

 

[bob dylan]

I think we can beat Dogs, Eels, Knights and Tigers on paper. We never win in round 1 so i will discount that match and then maybe win 2 of the other 3 mentioned. So 6 points after Round 8 will be a par effort.

If we play to our end of season 2022 form we wont win a single match, maybe all season. Clearly the worst team in the comp for 2 months, although our effort vs Roosters was good.

If we are on 2 points after round 8 DCE and Seibold better not come around these parts. Seriously Penn will have to sack Seibold at that stage and appoint either Dymock or Flanagan.

Overall if we avoid a bottom 4 finish it will be a fair season.

 

[Budgie]

Five wins. All the home games plus the Tigers. If you can't be hopeful when a premiership ball hasn't been kicked, what hope have you got? Get on board people!

 

[Will on the hill]

I think we can beat Dogs, Eels, Knights and Tigers on paper. We never win in round 1 so i will discount that match and then maybe win 2 of the other 3 mentioned. So 6 points after Round 8 will be a par effort.

If we play to our end of season 2022 form we wont win a single match, maybe all season. Clearly the worst team in the comp for 2 months, although our effort vs Roosters was good.

If we are on 2 points after round 8 DCE and Seibold better not come around these parts. Seriously Penn will have to sack Seibold at that stage and appoint either Dymock or Flanagan.

Overall if we avoid a bottom 4 finish it will be a fair season.

The round 1 thing was under Des, so was the trial thing. New coach bounce is real and it tends to continue until it doesn't. The boys have an opportunity to ride a wave of enthusiasm through the early stages of the season. If we can't ride the wave then we will be caught in a rip and will be looking for someone to save us.

 

[jbb/james]

Five wins. All the home games plus the Tigers. If you can't be hopeful when a premiership ball hasn't been kicked, what hope have you got? Get on board people!

i want to believe @Budgie but to do that i have to accept that the 'jersey against jesus' was the only reason we bombed out and that it wasnt in them, waiting for an excuse.

Manlys mental toughness had been suspect for some time, probably died with the tooves sacrifice and ive seen nothing that suggests we have been working on it since.
we have been dead set grindless

Seibs has some runs on the board as an excuse so is pretty vulnerable .
barrett had to go, not up to it, but he was a convenient excuse used as well by the group to underperform IMO.

the players loved Baz, loved des but loved themselves way more when **** got real

i am excited for footy though and a good season would be competitive until the 70th minute in all games.SO, im a pessimist but i certainly wasnt through des MK1 and tooves eras.

something changed and could change again
40 nil, 40 nil 40 nil and my garden shed were 2 of the first songs my son learnt, with rock a bye my bear of course. im not a monster

FOOOOODY

 

[Rafferty]

I’m feeling a little bullish and think we can surprise a few, winning is definitely a cultural thing and builds off itself, it would be nice if we can upset the chooks tonight, start that winning momentum, then.
R1 W, Roll the dogs. start positively.
R2 B, Good start leading the comp.
R3 W, Still on top, building nicely, cause we hate the slime and will do a demo on them at home.
Rd 4? Souths could be a little battered from an even tougher start, possible to keep on a roll!
Rd 5 W, Danger game, should win, so long as we turn up and just don’t expect we’ll win.
R6 L, Not expected to win, can’t say we can snatch one especially at Blue bet.
R7 ?, Our tough run could be catching up with us but still a possible win.
R8 W, Tuff one away after a hard run, but it’s a must win game if we want be serious.
I expect 10 points with a possible upside of 1 or 2 extra wins (South’s and Melbourne) we’ll that’s how I’d like to see it anyway, giving us 12 to 14 points, however it’s a week by week assignment.
Even with our tough early draw, I’m hopping we develop a winning culture and find ourselves entrenched in the top four all season, that’s what we should be aiming for, now I’ll come hack down to earth for a while! At least till kick off.

 

[Rocky]

I'm bullish. Think we can win 4 or 5 of those and be well entrenched in the top 8.

Im even more bullish now. Drinking the kool aid.

Never seen these guys so fit.