**Official** NRL 2009 Thread

[pinchy81]

Folau is gone

 

[Mister Wright]

I know it's only preseason and the Roosters were far from full strength, but a 54-6 thrashing by the Dragons, showed they could be real contenders this year.

 

[Simon]

Love how he has described Ryan Hoffman as "underrated"

 

[luffy]

Dragons usually show thery are real contendors every year, only to falter where it matters.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Dragons usually show thery are real contendors every year, only to falter where it matters.

Having a proper coach should hopefully help get some consistency.

 

[morgieb]

Too true.
Is anyone running a tipping comp this year?

 

[Simon]

Too true.
Is anyone running a tipping comp this year?

I'm sure there will be one.

 

[Ausage]

Penrith Panthers.

2001 - Wooden Spoon
2002 - 12th
2003 - Premiers!!!

2007 - Wooden Spoon
2008 - 12th
2009 - ???

 

[Burgey]

Penrith Panthers.

2001 - Wooden Spoon
2002 - 12th
2003 - Premiers!!!

2007 - Wooden Spoon
2008 - 12th
2009 - ???

10th

 

[Ausage]

10th

Considering we're one of the favorites for the spoon at this stage I guess I should thank you for your optimism.

 

[Simon]

10th

i'd go more with 14th or 15th or 16th

 

[Jakester1288]

Too true.
Is anyone running a tipping comp this year?

I will make one later today if there is enough interest.

What should I do it through? NRL.com, BCU?

Penrith Panthers.

2001 - Wooden Spoon
2002 - 12th
2003 - Premiers!!!

2007 - Wooden Spoon
2008 - 12th
2009 - ???

Interesting. Hoping their young guns can fire.

 

[Simon]

Just run the tipping comp on the forum, probably in this thread, thats how we did it last year. If we have to go to other sites like Oztips people always forget and it becomes a waste of time.

 

[Jakester1288]

Just run the tipping comp on the forum, probably in this thread, thats how we did it last year. If we have to go to other sites like Oztips people always forget and it becomes a waste of time.

Too much effort.

 

[Simon]

Too much effort.

Oh dear, Clapo did a good job last year, he can run it, if he doesnt want to then I'll spare 10 minutes a week to do it.

 

[Johnners]

I'll do it again this year if everyone's fine with it. Using oztips etc. just ruins the fun of it because everybody forgets after about the first 5/6 weeks.

EDIT: Takes about 5-10 minutes a week, hardly any effort involved.

 

[Simon]

I'll do it again this year if everyone's fine with it. Using oztips etc. just ruins the fun of it because everybody forgets after about the first 5/6 weeks.

EDIT: Takes about 5-10 minutes a week, hardly any effort involved.

yep fine with me.

 

[luffy]

Too much effort.

I'd say the same for having an Tipping Comp on NRL.com, just too much effort getting into the site.

 

[Ausage]

Interesting. Hoping their young guns can fire.

Yep. We have a fair few players that will play SOO one day, the question is whether they'll be ready this season.

I tell you one thing, I'd feel more confident if we had seen the back of Matt Elliott.

 

[morgieb]

1 Manly Sea Eagles
2 Cronulla Sharks
3 Canberra Raiders
4 St George Illawarra Dragons
5 Melbourne Storm
6 New Zealand Warriors
7 Newcastle Knights
8 Brisbane Broncos
9 Canterbury Bulldogs
10 North Queensland Cowboys
11 Parramatta Eels
12 South Sydney Rabbitohs
13 Gold Coast Titans
14 Sydney Roosters
15 Penrith Panthers
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: Luke Covell
Leading Try Scorer: Brett Stewart
Origin Debuts: NSW Terry Campese, Michael Jennings, Glenn Stewart, David Williams Qld - David Shillington
State of Origin - Queensland 2-1
Rookie of the Year: Donald Malone or Ben Barba
Buy of the year: Michael Ennis or Trent Barrett

Other
* Todd Carney will sign for the Wests Tigers
* Greg Bird will sign with the Canterbury Bulldogs - they respect guys who glass chicks.
* Matthew Elliott will get sacked as Panthers coach
* Craig Bellamay will quit as NSW coach after the Origin series
* NSW to play a lot of new players because of their general direness
* Melbourne to struggle a little with the depletion of their squad and fail to make the Top 4
* Canberra to exceed all expectations and make the Top 4
* Karmichael Hunt will leave Brisbane and sign with Union (either Reds or France)
* Gold Coast to struggle again with injuries
* Injuries hit Parramatta again exposing their lack of depth
* Craig Fitzgibbon & Darren Lockyer will retire from the NRL
* Cameron Smith will leave the Storm
* Nathan Friend will return to the Broncos
* Tigers & Panthers to battle it out for the spoon
* Roosters to have an injury crisis so big that it'll put the ****s back where they belong.