Cordner and O'Donnell passed fit Stewart pings hamstring again

[mightyrooster]

If Boyd and LOD are both fit they must play.

[Guest]

Lol who would have thought this time last year we'd be arguing whether or not Luke O Donnell would be playing in a sydney roosters grand final.

[davos]

If Boyd and LOD are both fit they must play.

Cords is a "lock" in

O'donnell is the tough Irishman we need off the bench and hitting the ball up in the middle part of the game.

Napa misses out, but the way our club has been over the last ten years, he will certainly play in one soon enough along with Liu.

[Spanner in the works]

Out of the contenders pick whoever is going to give away the least number of penalties and will make the fewest number of errors.

[Guest]

Out of the contenders pick whoever is going to give away the least number of penalties and will make the fewest number of errors.

You'd probably say Liu going on your criteria.
In reality, he'd be the last that I'd pick out of Napa, MK and Liu.

[milanja]

Out of the contenders pick whoever is going to give away the least number of penalties and will make the fewest number of errors.

Who is the most likely to knock someone's head off. Lod, napa and jwh, maybe even sbw if it's his last game. Noth8ng to lose except for a few matches next yr, with trials taking care of some of those games too.

[Spanner in the works]

We lose if we give away too many penalties and present opportunities for Manly. Their halves and backline are too good not to take advantage of that.

[Thirteen]

i know a certain big prop who is absolutly filthy missing out on his last game in rwb!

We don't care.
Your man love for Kennedy cause he dated your daughter is sickening.

[Thirteen]

Geez I think we need LOD. If he's not there a prop rotation of JWH, Moa, FPN and Napa looks a little weak considering it's hard to tell how FPN will go in this slightly different role. One thing is sure, he will take more runs and I think that's a very good thing for us. We won't be as strong in defence without O'Donnell. He can stop the momentum of a set with the way he tackles. And I feel while Napa has been great and could easily have a cracker (and sounds like Manly fans certainly don't want him playing), he can be a bit sloppy in D and has a loose carry in him.

But in saying all that, we will still have a better rotation than Manly in that area. And while we probably look light with that extra true backrower, it's noteworthy that all 3 of our starting backrowers have played significant game time in the middle third (as well as Maubs who has had some useful time at lock) versus the Manly backrow of Watmough, Stewart and Horo out of which Watmough is the only player with any significant experience playing tight this year. With Tom Symonds and Buhrer on their bench (both can play tight) I think this effectively evens out. This is why TR has been so keen on playing blokes in different positions throughout the year, so that when the time came, we could play our best and most in-form 17 seemingly regardless of their position.

Since when does FPN play prop?

[Johnny.]

Lol who would have thought this time last year we'd be arguing whether or not Luke O Donnell would be playing in a sydney roosters grand final.

Much like in early 2002 when Brett Mullins lined up...people were thinking "why the hell did we get this has been?"

[davos]

Much like in early 2002 when Brett Mullins lined up...people were thinking "why the hell did we get this has been?"

Last year we were querulous over who would help pack Bwian and Bwaiff's bags and drop them off at bondi jnction train station. I think that alfredo won that argument. And he was never seen again on this forum

[Guest]

In 2010 we were ALMOST full-strength. We lost Graham in the Penrith final. But the big mistake we made, IMO, was NOT that we moved our bench utility Leilua onto the wing to replace Phil. It was that we brought in a horribly underdone Lopini Paea, who hadn't featured in the first grade team since Round 10 of that season, instead of bringing in a proper bench utility to give Friend the bench spell he needed (like James Aubusson, or even the much-maligned Kouparitsas).

Having Paea on the bench that day gave us a general lack of mobility, and an excess prop that ended up being an ineffectual selection. People underestimate the value that flying Phil had in 2010 - I would go in so far as to say that he was our 'Mullins' signing of 2010 along with Conn.

2010 as it should have been: JWH, Friend, Ryles, Anasta, Myles, FPN, BENCH: Leilua (Jorbs), Aubusson, Kennedy, Conn (reserve forwards: Guerra, Paea, Masoe)

2013 as it should be named: JWH, Friend, O'Donnell, SBW, Cordner, FPN, BENCH: Mortimer, Aubusson, Guerra, Moa (reserve forwards: Kennedy, Liu, Napa)

[Guest]

This weather is going to add to the game.
I think a tough 30-odd minutes with minimal scoring. After half-time when the big boys are really tiring, the tries will start to flow. Whatever happens, it will be a fantastic game to watch, with a bit of everything... two tough teams that also have top class backs.

[Guest]

Certainly helps that Cordner and O'Donnell are fresh so to speak and the rest of the boys had the week off. Just wonder if this game will get too physical for manly towards the end of the game. They showed no signs of tiring against Rabbits but they didn't push them physically.

[Spanner in the works]

I'm half-predicting a blow out to us as long as we turn up to play, remain disciplined, and handle the initial blows. I have doubts over Manly's fitness and although they are a tough and experienced side, you have to wonder about how long they can continue that run after some tough games. Top-class side though so it's hard for me to say that with any certainty.