Hard.
That team should of at the least got one more title.
Painful memories, that basic team should have won in;
2002 - us winning 17 matches in row. The Chooks stealing a Premiership that everyone knew was ours.
2003 - I can still remember the semi final were we smashed Melbourne 30 to 0 and in the Prelim Final that blatant forward pass (miles forward) from Fittler that put the Grand Final out of our reach. I was convinced at the time that NRL wanted the Chooks to prevail to support their false premiership in 2002.
2004 - the GF set up for the Chooks to win 3 premierships in a row, and they didn't. That season they never played one game in Qld, and we talk about getting a favourable draw these days. We sent Fittler out a loser, that alone made my day.
I prefer to look on the bright side, they took pay cuts to stay together for 2004 and reaped the rewards with team spirit and never give up attitudes.
Go Dogs