Five key matchups for Bulldogs in 2020

Psycho Doggie

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https://www.nrl.com/news/2019/10/29/five-key-match-ups-of-the-bulldogs-2020-draw/

They have the games against Parra (R1, 6), Souffs (R5, 15), Seagles (R10, 14), Pantsers (R23), and Storm (R18) as key match ups. Do you agree?

I agree with the first three, but not the last two. In terms of looking for a finish in the 5th to 8th region, Parra, Souffs, Seagles can reasonably be considered competition for those spots. Storm are surely still a top 4 contender, and at this stage I doubt anyone is rating Pantsers.

I'd pick Tigers and Knights as key matchups instead. Tigers are R3 and 24, so two wins against them will go towards a good start and a good finish to the season. Knights are R20 and 25 and many will expect them to do better than last season, so wins against them may be the difference between top 8 finish or not.

Those five opponents represent 10 games, snagging 7 or 8 wins from them would be massive.
 

Spoonman84

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It’s the first 5 games that are key to our whole season for mine. If we shit the bed and only have one or two wins I can’t see us recovering enough to the make the finals. A good conference building start is crucial.
 

vegny

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https://www.nrl.com/news/2019/10/29/five-key-match-ups-of-the-bulldogs-2020-draw/

They have the games against Parra (R1, 6), Souffs (R5, 15), Seagles (R10, 14), Pantsers (R23), and Storm (R18) as key match ups. Do you agree?

I agree with the first three, but not the last two. In terms of looking for a finish in the 5th to 8th region, Parra, Souffs, Seagles can reasonably be considered competition for those spots. Storm are surely still a top 4 contender, and at this stage I doubt anyone is rating Pantsers.

I'd pick Tigers and Knights as key matchups instead. Tigers are R3 and 24, so two wins against them will go towards a good start and a good finish to the season. Knights are R20 and 25 and many will expect them to do better than last season, so wins against them may be the difference between top 8 finish or not.

Those five opponents represent 10 games, snagging 7 or 8 wins from them would be massive.
May be not a key match up for comp point/standing but there will be lots of feelings in the game vs penrith considering we have a few former panthers.
 

Scoooby

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The first 6 games will very much determine how well we will do this season for mine.. it’s that simple really..!! Looking forward to see if we can kick on from those last 6 from last year.
 

Alan79

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May be not a key match up for comp point/standing but there will be lots of feelings in the game vs penrith considering we have a few former panthers.
Hopefully we are on the right side of the curse of players that have been let go. Too many times in the past I've seen our former players play at twice their usual ability when they face us after leaving the club. Hopefully DWZ and CHN replicate this phenomenon and are wrecking balls against their old club.
 
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