OldDogFan said:

I don't want the refs "on our side" I just want them to do their job and fairly officiate the game. I want V'Landys to fuck off and take his antiproductive 6 again rule the betting agencies with him.

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Yeah it was a joke, they will never be on our sude

Both the Dogs and the Sharka deserve a fair ref.

Readon is now reserve, not sure if he can be pmomoted into the 19.

Must win for us and important for the Sharks. Not as critical for them, not sure if that is an advantage.

Centres are very important in defence, especially with this year's rules.

Definitely a must win for both teams . Other day was reported players had a bonding session . That brings back memories to the 1995 team that had a bonding session after the super league fall out .. Team went on to win one of the great Grand Finals victory.
With King , Mann and Burto back looks a better lineup : Critter may fire up for his origin spot as talk in the media has him not making it in his current form . Plenty to play for particular the season : Lose this game will be an uphill battle ..

Cirro's presser was positive. We have talked to the refs about how to give away fewer penalties and 6-agains. Perhaps we should have done that a month ago?

I think that the inclusion of Readon and Underhill is a positive, both are close to ready, and both might play.

If Hughes and Curran have niggling injuries, the resting them was definately the right call.

I still have a lot of doubts about Tracey, Xerri and Sua, but if they play, i expect a better performance.

We might do everyting right and still lose.

If the effort is there and we still lose, i'm only going to blame players who make multiple mistakes.

I'm sure the players, coaches and club are doing all they can to get a win.

I still think our season reminds me a bit of the Panthers last season.

Wow season getting worse what is happening with the defence ? Making Sharks look like world beaters :.

Well that was a disaster.
We definately need to make a lot of changes.

Playing Tracey, Xerri and Sua didn't pay off.

The whole team seem down on confidence and out if form.

We need to look at a few new players.

Probably time to overhaul the team and the playing style, in preparation for 2027.

What is the solution still got Kicks Kiraz to come back but weather they can make a difference:
Confidence is definitely one off the issues .

Honestly were we are now, drop any under performing players.

Try a few experiments and don't worry about results.

We need to find a combination that is going to work in attack and defence.

Every indication we are almost no chance to win the comp this season, i would be more worried about avoiding the spoon.

This sometimes happens in sport, you don't need to be far off to be off.

Cirro has to learn a few lessons, what we are doing isn't working.

Beating the Broncos well in 2024 was the only time I csn remember us playing well at Suncorp.

We beat the Titans last year in magic round the only magic round win we have had.

I trust Cirro when he says the team is working hard, but so far that doesn't seem to be enough.

I think we are playing the same as last season, but the game has changed.

The coach and players need to adapt, there is no quick fix.

Galvin and Burton are out best halves options.

We need a proper hooker on the bench who can give Hayward a rest or even start.

Hughes and Thompson dominated a good Phins pack and should start each game. If we want to start King, play him at lock.

The following players seem to be the problem, Salmon, Mann, Tracey, Xerri, Sua.

Hopefully Kiraz comes back.

I would have 1. Tuala 2. KIraz. 3. Critter 4. Readon, 5. Rinakama
13 King
14. Gordon CKT
15. Salmon / Mann

If Cirro keeps picking the same xide, i don't think we will see rapid improvement.

I understand why Cirro is trying to improve players rather thsn change the team, but the process is slow and risky,

After 5 losses in a row looks like it's time for some players to go to NSW cup . Might get their confidence back . The more they try probably the worse will get .
Season starting to look a Barrett coached one .

I still think Cirro and Gus basically know what they are doing, but we are slow to adapt. And Cirro might learn a few lessons the hard way this year.

When players are trying hard and doing everything right at training, but it isn't getting results on game day, we need to change something.

In relation to what we did last year we are doing much the same stuff and getting it 90% right. When we do the same stuff and get it 99% right we dominate matches for 20-30 mins.

We got it 99% right against Penrith for 80 mins, but they struggled to put decent spells of 90% footy together.

We only managed 2-3 games with 80 mins of 99% footy last season, occasionally 40-50 mins was enougn to win.

I'm not sure that 80 mins of 99% footy will beat all sides, but it should still win enough games.

We need new players and we need to change how we play, in attack and defence, but mostly in attack.

Team selection and bench rotation has to be right.

This season seems like a season where we learn what we should be doing, the easy way, or the hard way.

We can't make 80 mins of 99% the requirement, we need to be able to win with 60 mins of 95% and 20 mins of 90%.

So we need to be more dangerous in attack and we need to get better players and more consistent performers in the backline.

I think now it's emerging on the players and the sides which are handling the new rules . Teams are going to start to drop off. The Rabbitts seem to now struggle a bit. I think the team that is the dark horse and which I'll put my money onto winning the comp is probably the Dolphins those guys have really adapted now to the new rules and have got the right type of players especially physically.. injuries will play a big part .
We definitely need some young energetic players ready to step in .

IMO the biggest problem for us this year is the new rules.

Our line speed us down, the opposition are getting quick play the balls and a roll on.

We seem afraid of giving 6-agains or we give 6-agains, lack of confidence means our scamble isn't there.

Our second biggest problem is passing from dummy-half, with the fast paced game it isn't fair to ask Hayward to play 80 mins at hooker. I don't like Mann at hooker and lots of our players threw abysmal passes from dummy half,

Underhill was good on debut, Chricton, Tuala, Galvin, Burton and Preston played well and we showed aome creativity and variety in attack in the second half that was missing in the first half.

We were inches or a lucky bounce off another try or 2. But perhaps the Sharks intensity dropped off.

Some of the trys we conceded in the first half were 2023 level defence. Worst if the lot was the try by the hooker, the Hynes and Kennedy tries were bad,

We need to win 10 out of 14 to be a chance to make the 8. I don't think we are back to 2023 levels but we have lapses where we are and that has to be confidence.

I think we will win 8-11 games from here, provided we can win next week.

Preston and Chricton played well and deserved to be picked for origin. We need them to try to get a win, but they deserve to be there.

If we just scape into the 8, we might be able to win a semi. Normally i would be confident that Cirro can fix the defence, but we need to work on making fewer errors.

Hopefully the slightly better effort in the second half gave the guys a bit of confidence. For a team that was well beaten, a few of our players eventually played well.

Basically the 10% improvenent we are looking for starts with passing from dummy half.

Passing from dummy half is the one area where we have gone backwards compared to last season which is completely under our control.

Last season we had Marhoney and Hayward, we need 2 specalist hookers in the 19.

I am not sure we can afford to have Mann and Salmon in the 17 each week, we can have them in the 19 most weeks.

If Preston and Chricton are picked for SOO, I would replace them with Spinks and Readon.

The fact that Thompson, King, Underhill and AJ can play big minutes means that we could go for a big pack.

My side for the next game.

1. Tuala
2. Kiraz
3. Xerri
4. Crichton/Readon
5. Rinakama
6. Burton
7. Galvin
8. Hughes
9. Hayward
10. Thompson
11. Preston/Spinks/Hayes
12. Toups
13. King
14. Gordon CKT
15. Salmon/Hayes
16. AJ
17. Underhill
18. Mann/Salmon
19. Tracey

Winning the ruck and the game usually starts with the big boys in the middle,. We missed Hughes against the Sharks.

Big guys win the collision and leave defenders on the ground, you need smaller high, mobile, high work rate defenders liike Hayward, Gordon, Salmon and Hayes to balance the defence.

Looks like Gus is talking to unwanted Titans Hooker. Maybe realising now that Hayward may not be the answer.. .
Storm finding bit of form now . Next week they will be without Munster and Grant but will be a formidable team .

I was impressed with the Storm, Bellamy is picking some good young players with size.

For us this season I think making the semis will be harder than winning a few semis.

Add Kikau, Woods and Young to my team above i am confident the right team selection in form and fully fit can beat any team in any game.

We may never see that team, or we may see it in 2027, not 2026.

If Cirro doesn't get the team selection and bench roation right, we will not beat the Storm. And if we don't beat the Storm our chances of making the 8 are very remote.

If we miss the 8 it doesn't matter how good the side is,

Many coaches are stubborn and slow to change, and I don't have confidence that Cirro will make enough changes.

We need the fans to trun up, i have some doubts about that. The players need to start well or the fans will quickly change from a net postive to a net negative. Hughes has to start this game even if he plays with a minor injury.

If we lose, concede 30 or more points abd the fans boo the team, that is the season done. I can't see a way back from that.