Feeling pretty excited about having Simon Woolford, gun player.
Are you being serious?? I don't like him but the Raiders could of really done with him this year. This is the first year i have not been optimistic about the coming year for the raiders. We have the youngest squad with i think only 3 players with only more than 100 matches experience under their belts. It will be good in the long run but not in the next 1-3 years, any win will be a bonus. When we have players like Todd Carney, Terry Campese, Michael Dobson in the Junior ranks who will all play first grade this year and if we could just hold onto them for at least 5 years we would be in good hands. Another worry to me is the Leadership Group we have in place. hen you think of good leaders i'm not sure how Lincoln Withers and Troy Thompson will handle the responsibility. Alan Tongue will talk it in his stride hopefully, he's one of he nicest guy's i've met let alone in the competition.
To me i think Melbourne Storm will win this year and Brisbane will come close. I'm not sure why but i think Broncos will be just a little bit weaker without Webcke in their side. Melbourne Storm have lost a couple of good players but i think they have depth in their young guns, eg; Billy Slater and Matt Inglis plus more, who can cover for them if needed.
This is just a hunch but i think Newcastle can be a force this year, i have no reason to think that just that there younger player's eg Matt Gidley will stand up and get noticed. It will all depend on if Johns can play for at least 3 quaters of the Knight matches.
Everyone has been saying Gold Coast will be a big force this year but tbh i can't see it happening. While they have several good players eg Luke Bailey and Preston Campbell, a couple of injuries could see them fail pretty miserably as they don't have the depth in there Junior ranks.
I can't wait to see how South Sydney will go this year though. They have brought several players and have been training really hard during the pre season, and it may see them sneak into the finals, which would be good too see. I remember when Joe Williams came home(Wagga) for Christmas he was training really hard, and was really upbeat about the Rabbitohs chances this year.
I'm not sure about Golden Point/Try whatever yet. After seeing the Raiders win i think it was 3 or 4 games last year under golden point i wouldn't mind it being around but now the debate has came up about Golden Try i would prefer it as it is guarrenteed with Golden Point that a field goal would be the first choice and the defending team doesn't have a large chance when the Attacking team are in 40 m's of the goals. I wouldn't mind it either if there was no golden anything as draw's are ok as both team's get one point, which they both deserve as they both played good football(or bad football).