***Official*** NRL 2008 Thread

[Simon]

I'm pretty confident that if White was a Queenslander he'd be at worst on the bench.

 

[chaminda_00]

I'm pretty confident that if White was a Queenslander he'd be at worst on the bench.

I did mean starting pack.

 

[Simon]

Lockyer out of origin. Hopefully he takes this chance to rest for four or five weeks and give up on the miracle comebacks every two games.

 

[Craig]

Lockyer out of origin. Hopefully he takes this chance to rest for four or five weeks and give up on the miracle comebacks every two games.

A good thing IMO. I mean missing Lockyer isn't good, but I would rather know now and Prince and Thurston can get to understand each other. That and it would be more of a disaster in Game II that if he went early on the game or can only last 40 minutes or so.

 

[Prince EWS]

I'm pretty confident that if White was a Queenslander he'd be at worst on the bench.

Nah DWTA. He's rank.

 

[Simon]

He's better than Lillyman, Kaufusi, Webb, etc... that we have tried in the past few years. Only Petero and Price are better imo.

 

[Prince EWS]

He's better than Lillyman, Kaufusi, Webb, etc... that we have tried in the past few years. Only Petero and Price are better imo.

Well he's better than Kaufusi, but that in itself was a horrible selection. He's a better prop than Lillyman but Lillyman was selected as a back rower - Lillyman's a better back rower than White and IMO a better player than White overall.

Webb may have had a poor first game this year and has generally been myth-like in Origin, but I'd still much rather have him than Brett White.

Needless to say, I don't think much of White.

 

[vic_orthdox]

Needless to say, I don't think much of *insert Storm player here*.

...

 

[Prince EWS]

...

Haha. Well I rate Smith, Inglis, Slater and Crocker all very highly if that helps. Dallas Johnson, Ryan Hoffman and Anthony Quinn are good players as well although I think they're slightly over-rated. I do have issues with Cronk, Folau and White, but aside from Folau I don't think there's actually much bias there.

 

[Johnners]

Cribbages favourite past-time is writing hate mail to Cronk I hear.

 

[Craig]

Haha. Well I rate Smith, Inglis, Slater and Crocker all very highly if that helps. Dallas Johnson, Ryan Hoffman and Anthony Quinn are good players as well although I think they're slightly over-rated. I do have issues with Cronk, Folau and White, but aside from Folau I don't think there's actually much bias there.

What about Steve Turner then?

 

[Prince EWS]

What about Steve Turner then?

No-one legitimately rates Steve Turner anymore do they?

 

[Mister Wright]

Prince MOTM in Game 2.

 

[Craig]

No-one legitimately rates Steve Turner anymore do they?

Craig Bellamy evidently does.

 

[Son Of Coco]

Prince MOTM in Game 2.

He'll do well to get it in a losing side

 

[Mister Wright]

He'll do well to get it in a losing side

Lovin' the confidence. Keep it up.

 

[Simon]

No-one legitimately rates Steve Turner anymore do they?

I wouldn't think so.

 

[howardj]

Tragedy that Lockyer is out for tomorrow.

Hope Hunt plays at fullback, with Slats from the bench.

 

[morgieb]

Season prediction time? I think so

Table at end of season

1 Parramatta Eels - LOL! Next
2 Brisbane Broncos - Top 8, but won't finish this high
3 Melbourne Storm - higher than that
4 North Queensland Cowboys - see Parra
5 Manly Sea Eagles - higher than that
6 New Zealand Warriors - maybe but need to pick up game
7 Canberra Raiders - see Parra & Cowboys
8 Sydney Roosters - will finish higher than this
9 Penrith Panthers - about right
10 Cronulla Sharks - see Manly & the Storm
11 Wests Tigers - probably finish a little higher than this
12 South Sydney Rabbitohs - try 16th
13 Canterbury Bulldogs - about right
14 Newcastle Knights - higher, a good chance to make the Top 8
15 Gold Coast Titans - um yeah good call
16 St George/Illawarra Dragons - see Newcastle

Premiers: Brisbane Broncos - bias?
Runners Up: North Queensland Cowboys - very funny
Top Tryscorer: Michael Jennings (Penrith Panthers) - I don't think so!
Top Pointscorer: Luke Burt (Parramatta Eels) - possible
Rookie of the Year: Matt Keating (Parramatta Eels) - likely, but hasn't been a standout or Josh McCrone (Penrith Panthers) - lol, hasn't even played yet.
Origin Debuts: Qld - Michael Jennings, Israel Folau and David Taylor - Jennings is NSW, Folau yes, Taylor not yet NSW - Todd Carney, Dean Collis and Anthony Laffranchi - Laffranchi yes, other two no
Origin Series - Queensland 2-1 - still time yet
Dally M Winner: Johnathon Thurston - possible, but is playing for a **** team
Best Buys: Travis Burns (North Queensland Cowboys) and Joel Monaghan (Canberra Raiders) - Burns no, Monaghan yes, but best buy has been Wallace
Worst Buys: Wes Naiqama (Newcastle Knights) and Mark O'Meley (Sydney Roosters) - can't really say that either have been dire.
Coaches Not to See out 2008 - Brian Smith (Newcastle Knights) and Nathan Brown (St George/Illawarra Dragons) - nope, Muzza didn't see out 2008, however

Other Predictions
Hazem El Masri to see out the season in Premier League - the odd prediction
Parramatta to finish first in the Under 20's comp as well as first grade - doubt it
St George's injury curse to hit again - still time yet
One team will be winless after 8 weeks - nope....
Melbourne will suffer a premiership hangover and be midtable come middle of the season - they're still high up
Willie Mason will be dropped from the NSW side mid Origin series - hasn't been dropped yet....
At Least one Raiders player will be selected in Origin - could happen, Monaghan was a backup but Turner was preferred....
Sonny Bill Williams will suffer another serious injury - he did suffer an injury, but it isn't serious
Anthony Minichiello will regain his NSW #1 Jersey but not make the Australian team - nope, I doubt he will be the Rorters fullback for much longer.

Here are how it panned out so far.

 

[Simon]

Have been pretty close with some of them. At least I'm not afraid to stick my neck out and have a go. Broncos call's may be some bias but given we are still one of the premiership favourites not so unreasonable.