**Official** NRL 2009 Thread

[Blewy]

Think its time for my season predictions, these are usually horribly way off so basically just tip the opposite and you'll do just fine.

1 Cronulla Sharks
2 Manly Sea Eagles
3 Canberra Raiders
4 Melbourne Storm
5 St George Illawarra Dragons
6 New Zealand Warriors
7 Newcastle Knights
8 Canterbury Bulldogs
9 Brisbane Broncos
10 North Queensland Cowboys
11 Parramatta Eels
12 Gold Coast Titans
13 Penrith Panthers
14 Sydney Roosters
15 South Sydney Rabbitohs
16 Wests Tigers

Premiers: Manly Sea Eagles
Runners Up: St George Illawarra Dragons
Prelim Finals: Canberra Raiders and Cronulla Sharks
Dally M Medal: Terry Campese
Clive Churchill Medal: Matt Orford
Leading Point Scorer: Terry Campese
Leading Try Scorer: Brett Stewart
Origin Debuts: NSW Terry Campese, Michael Jennings, Glenn Stewart Qld - David Shillington
State of Origin - Queensland 2-1
Rookie of the Year: Ryan Williamson, Josh Dugan or Wayde Dunley
Buy of the year: Michael Ennis or Trent Barrett

Other
* Todd Carney will sign for the Wests Tigers
* Matthew Elliott will get sacked as Panthers coach
* Craig Bellamay will quit as NSW coach after the Origin series
* Cronulla will lose less than three games before Origin 1
* Melbourne will have one of the best defences but will struggle to score points
* An injury crisis will hit the Broncos seeing them crash out of the 8
* Karmichael Hunt will leave Brisbane and sign with Union (either Reds or France)
* Cory Paterson will emerge as a star early in the season and be unlucky to miss Origin selection
* Injuries hit Parramatta again exposing their lack of depth
* The bottom four clubs all finish within three wins of each other.
* Craig Fitzgibbon will retire from the NRL
* Robbie Farah will leave the Wests Tigers
* Nathan Friend will return to the Broncos

Oh Simon how nothing changes

As for Carney joining the Tigers, i would LOVE it, but unfortunatley i have pretty good mail that its going to be the Dragons...

 

[Mister Wright]

Oh Simon how nothing changes

As for Carney joining the Tigers, i would LOVE it, but unfortunatley i have pretty good mail that its going to be the Dragons...

Welcome back!

 

[Simon]

Oh Simon how nothing changes

As for Carney joining the Tigers, i would LOVE it, but unfortunatley i have pretty good mail that its going to be the Dragons...

Haha to be fair in 2007 I tipped them to come top 4.

 

[Craig]

Oh Simon how nothing changes

As for Carney joining the Tigers, i would LOVE it, but unfortunatley i have pretty good mail that its going to be the Dragons...

They always come back

 

[nibbs]

raiduhs 3rd? lol
warriors 3rd, just imo

 

[alternative]

Anyway, Clapo will you be monitoring the tipping comp again this year? Or is it Brumby?

 

[Simon]

raiduhs 3rd? lol
warriors 3rd, just imo

Clapo already mentioned he would.

 

[Simon]

raiduhs 3rd? lol
warriors 3rd, just imo

Forgetting the finals, Raiders finished 6th last year, Warriors 8th. Both with (imo) improved squads its not impossible the Raiders could come third.

 

[NUFAN]

1 Manly Sea Eagles
2 New Zealand Warriors
3 Melbourne Storm
4 St George Illawarra Dragons
5 Canterbury Bulldogs
6 Souths Rabbitohs
7 Brisbane Broncos
8 Sydney Roosters
9 Cronulla Sharks
10 Canberra Raiders
11 Parramatta Eels
12 Gold Coast Titans
13 North Queensland Cowboys
14 Penrith Panthers
15 Newcastle Knights
16 Wests Tigers

* Love Warriors lineup, reckon they'll win always at home and will do good away this year.
* Kimmorley is going to help the Dogs and they have recruited very well.
* Souths on paper is a quality team, I don't think it'll be a huge surprise if they make the 8.
* Sharks are a little overrated, Barrett does not scream winner for mine. Bird/Anderson/Kimmorley loss is bigger then the gains of Barrett/Tupou/Maitua.

 

[99*]

15 Newcastle Knights

 

[NUFAN]

Premiers: New Zealand Warriors
Runners Up: Manly Sea Eagles
Dally M Medal: Jamie Soward
Clive Churchill Medal: Steve Price
Leading Point Scorer: Luke Covell
Leading Try Scorer: Denan Kemp
Origin Debuts: NSW - Michael Jennings, Glenn Stewart, John Sutton Qld - Michael Luck
State of Origin - Queensland 2-1
Rookie of the Year: Tim Mannah or Alex Glenn.
Buy of the year: Joel Moon or Colin Best

 

[NUFAN]

Sorry mate, to be honest the competition is very tough and I would only be surprised if either Manly or the Warriors missed out on the top 8.

Knights have a good forward pack with Simpson,De Gois,Paterson, Cross and Houston plus Gidley and Mullen in the backs are good.

 

[99*]

But you put them below Penrith, there's no excuse for that.

Na, I know it's really close this year, wouldn't be surprised at all if the Knights fail this year.

 

[kingdamo]

Warriors are looking good, I hope our halves continue their good form.

The real thing I'm interested in is what the makeup of our second row will look like. It could be any combination of Lillyman, Luck, Mannering, Matulino, and maybe even Greg Eastwood if we sign him.

Personally I hope Matulino starts, he is an awesome young player who really stepped up last year.

 

[luffy]

1 Manly Sea Eagles
2 Melbourne Storm
3 Brisbane Broncos
4 Cronulla Sharks
5 Canberra Raiders
6 New Zealand Warriors
7 Sydney Roosters
8 North Queensland Cowboys
9 St George Illawarra Dragons
10 Newcastle Knights
11 South Sydney Rabbitohs
12 West Tigers
13 Gold Coast Titans
14 Parramatta Eels
15 Canterbury Bullogs
16 Penrith Panthers

 

[Craig]

Let's see if the Titans can actually win away from home this time...

 

[chaminda_00]

Best team in the world (Y)

Some decent trail form in both games in England.

 

[Burgey]

Congrats to Campbelltown by the Sea on winning the Who Cares International Trophy, and to Manly-in-the-City (Souths) on winning the domestic Who Cares Cup v Saints.

 

[luffy]

Raiders already hit by injuries.

4 and counting.

 

[Burgey]

Sharks not helped either. I'm sure all our posters on here shared Paul Gallen's pain when the noble warrior and ambassador for fair play injured his knee. **** he is.