Fark me, the excuses are already coming out

[ROC181]

The Thracian is right its embarrassing , we need to play the best to be the best . If we win it will be all the more sweeter , if we don't well 2018/2019 is a bloody great effort.

Thracian is never right! He was a big supporter of having Tedesco and Cronk in the club, and see how that went!

[Rooster_Nomad_#111]

At the end of the day Trent chose Flanno. He must see something special in the kid. Give Flanno a break. Playing certain teams twice is no different to the normal season because cream rises to the top. Pressures on the current top 4 teams not us

Despite my doubts this is the only thing that gives me any faith in Flanagan. At the moment I think he can't kick goals, is an average to below average half and his father is a drug cheat.

[Johnny73]

Regarding Flanagan Jr, I'll remind everyone that it was Luke Keary who had the ball knocked out of his hands by Tom Mxyzptlk when he was nonchalantly trying to put it down in the Manly game. I've watched football for a long time and I've seen players drop the ball, have it pulled out of their hands, and even knocked silly and drop the ball but I've never seen a player have it knocked out of their hands with a gentle swat.

[zac]

yeah, if we're expecting flanno to win games of his own bat well, that might take some time. fortunately we've got some superstars and flanno just needs to be solid - passing, kicking and defending well.

[Rooster_Nomad_#111]

yeah, if we're expecting flanno to win games of his own bat well, that might take some time. fortunately we've got some superstars and flanno just needs to be solid - passing, kicking and defending well.

I agree about Flanno. We can't expect a superstar but I think we need him to kick goals at 75% or better, kick strategically and organise well. His chances have been limited thus far but I don't think he has delivered that yet in a game.

[007]

I agree about Flanno. We can't expect a superstar but I think we need him to kick goals at 75% or better, kick strategically and organise well. His chances have been limited thus far but I don't think he has delivered that yet in a game.

I think we should give Flanagan a bit of leeway. Many on here bagged Manu when he started out and look at him now. I think Flanagan will go OK but will no doubt make many mistakes but give him time.

Also, some on here last year were bagging Cronk for playing one season too many (yes you know who you are) but how did that turn out?

[Mickie Lane]

Flanno hasn’t been bought to the club to play 6 or 7 games & then get dropped because he is not playing well according to the fans. Trust me Robbo highly rates this guy & it eventually will be his team. Flanno is going to challenge Nathan Cleary in a couple of years. He is of the same mould as Cleary & the Roosters believe he will be better than Cleary. It takes a little time to be able to dominate & he is brand new to the club so he will be given all of this year unless he gets injured.

[Jacks Fur Coat]

Flanno hasn’t been bought to the club to play 6 or 7 games & then get dropped because he is not playing well according to the fans. Trust me Robbo highly rates this guy & it eventually will be his team. Flanno is going to challenge Nathan Cleary in a couple of years. He is of the same mould as Cleary & the Roosters believe he will be better than Cleary. It takes a little time to be able to dominate & he is brand new to the club so he will be given all of this year unless he gets injured.

I don't think any of our players would be afforded that much time and patience in first grade mate, Flanagan or anyone.

You rate him a lot higher than I do, hope you are right.

[ism22]

Exactly this. No excuses and take a look at the competition. Can Flanagan make the grade though?

I thought he did well... his conversion kicking was my only question. That seems to be Robbo's style though? Rightly or wrongly we never seem to have a great deal of options for conversion kicking. Whereas other clubs will have 5 or 6 capable kickers.

I suspect Robbo gets halves to spend more time passing the ball around, communicating and doing in-game kicking rather than sitting around perfecting their conversion kicking skills. It's frustrating but it seems to win us more games than it loses us.

My guess is that all kickers are gonna nail at least say 60% of their kicks. To nail 80% of your kicks takes a loooot of work for maybe 2-6 more points per game. Maybe we over-emphasise the importance of conversions?

I don't think any of our players would be afforded that much time and patience in first grade mate, Flanagan or anyone.

You rate him a lot higher than I do, hope you are right.

We've played 2 games and been within 6 points or less of winning both. IMO like those 'Cronk does nothing' and 'Teddy does nothing' threads... it's hard to impress after 2 games.

I get that people are worried about us losing to Souffs and Brisbane and being last after 4 rounds with a mountain to climb in 16 rounds (fark... hate to say but it could realistically happen). BUT... you can't blame Flanno for Keary stuffing up the grounding of a try.

Thus far Flanno's scored a pass grade IMO. He has Cronk + Robbo's endorsement. So long as he keeps it up and shows the right attitude + signs of improvement, he will not be dropped. If he does a Jacko Hastings and spits the dummy at Friend + Cordner (then later DCE) in the changerooms then it doesn't matter if he's good enough to be the Man of Steel in Europe. He's toast. IMO Flanno hasn't shown such signs and like Cronk, he'll know that so long as he keeps his head screwed on, the feather's in his court.

2020 might not be our season. There's more to being in favour than dominating on the field. Sometimes you can't and it's your attitude you'll be judged on. The guy he's replacing never 'dominated', his skill was always being a cool head + a safe set of hands. Under-rated IMO. Every team needs somebody who you can peg the ball at when everybody's stressed and has jittery hands. Somebody who will just run straight, make the right kick/pass...etc and get the job done. IMO we'll be teaching him to shut up and do this, reduce his errors and build a bit of confidence/momentum... if he's willing to develop gradually and be a selfless team player them IMO he's secure.

[Andrew Walker]

Of course the excuses or comments are being made. Tnis is a fceking conspiracy and a clear attempt to sabotage our chances of winning 3 straight. Wait till the refs satrt reaming us up the ass during matches

[Bondicigar]

This anti rooster agenda run by the NRL and the refs needs a review. They have had zero success the last 2 years and counting

[Teddy]

Of course the excuses or comments are being made. Tnis is a fceking conspiracy and a clear attempt to sabotage our chances of winning 3 straight. Wait till the refs satrt reaming us up the ass during matches

This will happen more so as nobody apart from the supporters want Easts to win, however the sheer resilience of our defence will win us more games then not, we keep sides to between 8-10 points and play the battle of attrition game bring them into mud put opposition players where they don’t want to be in the fuggen trenches we score enough to win and break opposition teams. This is how you win back2back titles. No other side has that character.

[zac]

do we know how the draw was decided? was it purely the nrl, or did the tv channels have a say (officially or unofficially)?

[bondi.boy]

I'll have to check the tape, but as I remember it Flanno threw some great passes that led to try/tries in the WCC.

[Bmw06i]

No excuses for this year

BUT

This season shouldn’t be counted as a normal season because certain teams remain having home town advantage, yes there are no crowds but surely playing on the field the clubs are used to are an advantage.

The single ref and rule changes are also different from the first 2 rounds.

If crowds and home grounds aren’t back to normal towards the end of season the teams advantaged and likely to be in the GF are

- Cowboys
- Broncos
- Eels
- Storm


The rest of the teams are disadvantaged.

Thoughts ?