News Betting Markets and where do you think the Bulldogs will finish?

[King Gus]

So Storm v Panthers 2020 Storm finished on top of the ladder 2021...

Did panthers win the GF?
Don’t be a smart us, every GF Penrith won the opposition failed to make the 8 the following year.

 

[2ndphase]

Did panthers win the GF?
Don’t be a smart us, every GF Penrith won the opposition failed to make the 8 the following year.

You didn't stipulate win you just said play the Panthers in the Gf.

 

[King Gus]

You didn't stipulate win you just said play the Panthers in the Gf.

You know what I was trying to say.
You just wanted to be cheeky.

 

[Raikkonen]

How does your last year's prediction stand up;


Still fixated on us buying middles and alpha props I see,

Personally I see a huge step up next season being possible;
A full preseason with the spine players a lock, something that we didn't have last season.

Many players that started off last season having played only a handful of NRL games that now have full season of experience.

Some solid recruitment with Amone, Montoya and particularly Tupouniua, who whilst not currently considered elite is a quality NRL player.

Aside from JAC, no true NRL level players lost.

Speaking of which, the 17 that played in the first trial this year had Taaffe, Clark, Hutchison, Faamausili, Kautoga, Knight and Samrani of whom most will not be in the 17 for next preseason trial. With the players that replace them being of a higher quality.

The coaching staff now have had a full preseason and a full season to learn their roles, where they fit and most of all the players that they will be coaching.

Adding it up, I'm expecting a step up in performance again this year.



Team First

Where do you see us finishing on the ladder, Turbo?

 

[Helmut Dog Wizard]

Looks like TAB and Sports Bet have pretty similar opinions on the top 4. Outside of that it's a lil' different. I'm guessing the Sea Eagles are outside chances because Turbo only ever plays half a season...

Interesting to see how the Panthers go if Cleary spends time on the sidelines and through rep duty again. They will be missing Yeo, Edwards and Martin over origin time too so I'm expecting them to drop down the ladder to 5th or 6th. Oh and that's not even to mention the huge loss of JFH.

Brisbane look like a problem at full strength but like Turbo, can Reynolds actually stay on the field? Plus Hunt and Reynolds would be the oldest halves pairing in the NRL and every team is gonna be sending big edge forwards at them every week... They will be heavily affected by the origin period too so top 4 might be a little ambitious...

I've got Sharks, Cows, Storm and Dogs as my top 4.

 

[Heckler]

I reckon we will definitely be in the top 4, maybe 3rd or 4th. They say defense wins comps and we had the 2nd best defense in the comp. I can't see that changing and in fact improving.

I think we will definitely be a better side having more experience and filling a couple of gaps we had. We have some good prospects coming into the mix with Karl and Woods. Sexton will only get better. I think we should improve in attack. Hughes should have a breakout season. He has been brought along just right.

But defense wins comps and CC has got us near the top in defense. I can't see him slackening off this mentality. I don't think it matters too much how teams have improved. Our defense is good enough to resist the best teams on the day and we proved that for a decent stretch this year. Its a matter of consistency and I think we will only get more consistent.

Defence wins comps for sure...HOWEVER..... We lost the plot in the last 3 games for various reasons. We ran out of back up players. Unsettled with suspension. JAC..

The formula is there..the hunger is there. We just need to stay healthy and add a couple more players to the roster to avoid the terrible end of what was a very good season.

Lastly..FFS Ciraldo fix up our Lapses when we defend the scrums on our line. We leaked stupid tries like that last year..illegal or not.

4 to 6 for mine

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[stevesonthebay]

Defence wins comps for sure...HOWEVER..... We lost the plot in the last 3 games for various reasons. We ran out of back up players. Unsettled with suspension. JAC..

The formula is there..the hunger is there. We just need to stay healthy and add a couple more players to the roster to avoid the terrible end of what was a very good season.

Lastly..FFS Ciraldo fix up our Lapses when we defend the scrums on our line. We leaked stupid tries like that last year..illegal or not.

4 to 6 for mine

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I heard Gus mention something about our timing was out and we peaked too early. Its all part of transforming the team and club and if it goes to plan because it is a plan and not just trying hard we should fix some of those issues we had. The Fox was something that can happen to any club and thats life sometimes.

But we had a slow start and I think we gradually worked our way into consistency through getting the basics right like defense. So I think we start from a better position this season.

I think we were also still transitioning and we had a fair few positions not yet established especially for backup. Patolo, Knight and Sutton and a couple of others did not really add much backup. But we have refined that even more and filled those spots with better options like Sitilli and Amone and Fifita who should be ready. As well as promoting players internally like Haywood, Todd and Hayes who will only get better next year.

They may not be big name players but they are exactly the right players that are buying in and filling the roles. Who would have thought Hayward was going to play such a big role out of all the halves touted. We also have Karl coming back who will add to the team no matter where he plays.

I look at our side and don't see too many weaknesses. Maybe another decent mid may help. But we can still get one if needed later when they come available. There's always some player who changes clud before the June deadline lol.

But maybe one of our own stands up like Todd or Fifita. If Hughes has a breakout season and Fifita plays to his potential suddenly we have two dominant mids rolling us forward. Along with Amone, Sitilli and Kikau thats a pretty powerful pack. Add King, Curran, Mann and Preston and we are beginning to build a good pack. If we can jag 1 or 2 decent players as backups who would fit into our play we will do ok. I think we are pretty close.

Its year 3 and I think we are at least on par to getting into the top 2 and a shot at the GF by year 5.

 

[Bullfrog2]

I heard Gus mention something about our timing was out and we peaked too early. Its all part of transforming the team and club and if it goes to plan because it is a plan and not just trying hard we should fix some of those issues we had. The Fox was something that can happen to any club and thats life sometimes.

But we had a slow start and I think we gradually worked our way into consistency through getting the basics right like defense. So I think we start from a better position this season.

I think we were also still transitioning and we had a fair few positions not yet established especially for backup. Patolo, Knight and Sutton and a couple of others did not really add much backup. But we have refined that even more and filled those spots with better options like Sitilli and Amone and Fifita who should be ready. As well as promoting players internally like Haywood, Todd and Hayes who will only get better next year.

They may not be big name players but they are exactly the right players that are buying in and filling the roles. Who would have thought Hayward was going to play such a big role out of all the halves touted. We also have Karl coming back who will add to the team no matter where he plays.

I look at our side and don't see too many weaknesses. Maybe another decent mid may help. But we can still get one if needed later when they come available. There's always some player who changes clud before the June deadline lol.

But maybe one of our own stands up like Todd or Fifita. If Hughes has a breakout season and Fifita plays to his potential suddenly we have two dominant mids rolling us forward. Along with Amone, Sitilli and Kikau thats a pretty powerful pack. Add King, Curran, Mann and Preston and we are beginning to build a good pack. If we can jag 1 or 2 decent players as backups who would fit into our play we will do ok. I think we are pretty close.

Its year 3 and I think we are at least on par to getting into the top 2 and a shot at the GF by year 5.

We need to be able to beat the gun teams, like panthers Melbourne! Competing against them is OK but not as good as winning!
I think our record against the roosters and the sharks was 1 a piece, and I think it would be fair to say that we had our fair share of luck in winning those games!

 

[lovemachine]

Top 4 fo sho

 

[stevesonthebay]

We need to be able to beat the gun teams, like panthers Melbourne! Competing against them is OK but not as good as winning!
I think our record against the roosters and the sharks was 1 a piece, and I think it would be fair to say that we had our fair share of luck in winning those games!

Yeah I know. But I think we were more than competitive with say the Storm down in Melbourne. From memory I think we blew soime chances and made a couple of silly errors with the Sharks and should have won.

I think we have the defense and thats what kept us in the games for the most part. We only saw glimpses of our attack and it got better as the year went one. I think our losses in the last games were more psychological. We had given 110% and it took its toll. But that's a timing thing.

I don't expect that we will be 100% consistent this season only that we will be more consistent than last season which got us into 5th and knocking on the top 4's door and we will improve a bit more with the new additions which should get us close again if not into the 4.

If we don't it will be disappointing but we will learn from it I hope. Otherwise get rid of the coach lol. We will be back to bad old days.