We might have won that

[Bruce Pickett]

That's because they gave 100% the whole season unlike us who only went max in the final third. Hence they were able to rest their key players in r25 whilst ours were getting bashed. Also their bye in finals aided avoiding injuries. Collins was suspended, not injured..

Yep. There is not a bludger in their team. Every one of them, in every game, in every moment and every minute compete at 100%. All their players would get a minimum of 8/10 in every match.

Even our 18-19 team would range from 5.5/10 to 9.5/10.

[ism22]

We left our run too late. Losing games at the start of the season put too much pressure on us and we needed to win the last 8 straight just to make the 8. This meant too much hard finals style footy at the end making us more susceptible to injury. This is what ultimately killed us as we only ended up in sixth spot after all that exerted effort at the end with too many injured and battered bodies. It was not sustainable. You need to finish in the top 4 mostly injury free.

Exactly.

Next year!!! IMO with basically the same squad, more maturity from the likes of Walker/Sua-ali'i and the Cheese joining us, we're a good chance of finally cracking the Riff.

This was their year though (buy far, no matter who they played) and I'm just glad Souffs imploded before the GF. Respect where due... it took more than 5 years but the Riff's plan to conquer the NRL has worked. Will never support them but to me their dominance makes way more sense than Melbourne's.

[trewhella]

As per my previous post before the south’s game……..your optimism on this team is not shared by myself.
The good is very good but the bad is not semi final quality at all.

When we have won comps we were so strong all around the park…particularly in defence.
Contrary to many, I believe the chooks need to cut loose a few players and recruit some quality.
JWH is nearing his end. Toops ditto.
I’m not sold on the talent of our younger brigade.

[Eggspert]

As per my previous post before the south’s game……..your optimism on this team is not shared by myself.
The good is very good but the bad is not semi final quality at all.

When we have won comps we were so strong all around the park…particularly in defence.
Contrary to many, I believe the chooks need to cut loose a few players and recruit some quality.
JWH is nearing his end. Toops ditto.
I’m not sold on the talent of our younger brigade.

I really hope next year's problems won't be the same as this year with JWH & Radley doing dumb stuff & letting the team down & Momo with his rubbish defence & Break Down Billy Smith only managing at Max 3 games in a row & Robbo not having them winning early season games.

Your wrong about Toops though, he is still great for us & has at least 2 good years in him.

[Eggspert]

Yep. There is not a bludger in their team. Every one of them, in every game, in every moment and every minute compete at 100%. All their players would get a minimum of 8/10 in every match.

Even our 18-19 team would range from 5.5/10 to 9.5/10.

Their coach doesn't worry about playing them into a season.

It's foot on the gas from the get go which has won them 2 GF's out of 3.

[Rocky Rhodes]

Yep. There is not a bludger in their team. Every one of them, in every game, in every moment and every minute compete at 100%. All their players would get a minimum of 8/10 in every match.

Even our 18-19 team would range from 5.5/10 to 9.5/10.

That's not my point at all. My point is the team (as a whole) only lifted intensity from Rd 18 when we played St Merge. Panthers on the other hand had intensity throughout the yr....none of this let's build throughout the yr Trobbo BS. Rd 1 was a 2 or 3/10 team effort when a 6 or 7/10 was required to beat the knights.

Everybody said the Knights, saints and dogs loses was gonna come back to bite....now most want to jump on the injuries / tough draw excuses.

Top 4 is/was a must.

[King Salvo]

Yep. There is not a bludger in their team. Every one of them, in every game, in every moment and every minute compete at 100%. All their players would get a minimum of 8/10 in every match.

Even our 18-19 team would range from 5.5/10 to 9.5/10.

100% - they play 80 minute games week in week out and are relentless - how many 80 minute games did the Roosters play this season discounting the Tigers game as they packed it in- I would say none.

For some reason there is always a drop off in games and that is when the errors happen and ill discipline begins - Is it a fitness reason this happens with players becoming fatigued?

[Tommy Smith]

100% - they play 80 minute games week in week out and are relentless - how many 80 minute games did the Roosters play this season discounting the Tigers game as they packed it in- I would say none.

For some reason there is always a drop off in games and that is when the errors happen and ill discipline begins - Is it a fitness reason this happen with players becoming fatigued?

So your theory is that, if we discount all the games where we played for 80 min, we didn't play for 80 min?

[trewhella]

Toops won’t recover from Origin.
Loyal servant. Been an asset……wing is a young mans game. Look at the riff …….their wingers run massive meters and play like they are possessed. Toops looks like he is on Valium

[Roosterfarian]

I'm with piper on this one. I honestly think this has been a huge opportunity missed. I reckon we would have come close to beating Penrith in the major semi and then would have shoed it in against Parra.

[dice]

That's not my point at all. My point is the team (as a whole) only lifted intensity from Rd 18 when we played St Merge. Panthers on the other hand had intensity throughout the yr....none of this let's build throughout the yr Trobbo BS. Rd 1 was a 2 or 3/10 team effort when a 6 or 7/10 was required to beat the knights.

Everybody said the Knights, saints and dogs loses was gonna come back to bite....now most want to jump on the injuries / tough draw excuses.

Top 4 is/was a must.

Let's just completely ignore the three premierships Robbo has won with extended off-season and slow build up tactics. Let's also ignore the players that were injured, the experiment with the halves, and the signing of Lodge which may have not happened if we were at the top of the ladder with no injured forwards.

PS: If I was going to be critical of Robbo it is with the decision to play Keary at halfback. There was a hint of exceptionalism about that decision in Robbo believing he could turn someone who has never been a halfback into a premiership winning halfback.

[King Salvo]

Let's just completely ignore the three premierships Robbo has won with extended off-season and slow build up tactics. Let's also ignore the players that were injured, the experiment with the halves, and the signing of Lodge which may have not happened if we were at the top of the ladder with no injured forwards.

PS: If I was going to be critical of Robbo it is with the decision to play Keary at halfback. There was a hint of exceptionalism about that decision in Robbo believing he could turn someone who has never been a halfback into a premiership winning halfback.

The slow build up is all well and good but you still need to play a consistent 80 minutes of footy week in week out when dong this as well as winning games. You can leave yourself with too much to do if you are not getting the results earlier on which was the case this season.

[Inflictor]

If Teddy doesn't get knocked out, Crichton get his concussion and Toups' groin was ok we would have won the comp. We would have been Penrith's Daddys in the prelim. Manu would have played, JWH wouldn't have rammed the weak gutted dog's head into the ground.

Everything else that happened during the year would be written on toilet paper.

Losing to shit team, resting players in R25, Keary at half back is all just trying to find a scapegoat for the end result.

We were at peak at the right time of the year but the injury gods took the piss out of us again and slapped us with the injuries in the last game.

[dice]

The slow build up is all well and good but you still need to play a consistent 80 minutes of footy week in week out when dong this as well as winning games. You can leave yourself with too much to do if you are not getting the results earlier on which was the case this season.

By that definition Robbo also got it wrong in 2018. Had we started strong, somehow managed to avoid injuries and not feel the need to sign Lodge, we would have fizzled out of the finals anyway and the experts in hindsight would have come up with different reasons to criticise Robbo.

The reality is, Robbo signed Cheese and got rid of Verrills and SST because he believes we are lacking in the middle. It was only the fortunate signing of Lodge which turned us into a formidable team this year. We unfortunately threw away our forwards advantage with the suspension of Collins, and JWH and Radley losing their marbles. You can't pin the actions of those 3 players on Robbo.

[Steakface]

Toops won’t recover from Origin.
Loyal servant. Been an asset……wing is a young mans game. Look at the riff …….their wingers run massive meters and play like they are possessed. Toops looks like he is on Valium

Toops is fine - has has always looked like he is on Valium. Thats just his standard look. He has never had to play like he is possessed because 1 Toops stride is equivalent to 4 To'o strides. And you can't teach height.
He is 31, and I think he could still squeeze 3 more good years out.

Concerns for me are:

1. Radley. Hot-headedness aside, he has not progressed as a player compared to the likes of Cameron Murray. Just a couple of years ago they were neck and neck for the best no.13 in the game, however Radley is no longer in that conversation. With the way the game is adjudicated now he is also becoming a liability to the team.

2. Sitili. Runs a good line, but atrocious in defence and poor decision making. He is a big heavy body, and that acl recovery will take a while and will be very prone to happening again. It will impact his agility in attack. I'm not sure he brings enough.

3. Keary. The concern is more our prospects if he has to retire. Not concerned re his n field form and is still my fave half in the NRL..not his best year, but a tonne of great moments. It's more the psycological. I hope he can come back strong next year mentally and avoid head knocks. If we lose him there is sweet fk all on the market....in the event Keary has to retire that leaves gaping hole... whoever we get to replace in that scenario will be a big step down in quality. We would not be making top 4.

4. Collins. Maybe it's just me, but I do not get the hype. He is not a bad prop, but he is down the pecking order against plenty of others in the NRL. In our own team I have JWH, SST and Lodge all clearly ahead of him. Manages to squeeze into Origin regularly due to short troop numbers north of the border...but isn't a patch on the other maroon bookend Tino Fa'asuamaleau. Has he hit his ceiling?

5. Depth generally speaking. We do not have the quality outside the top17 that a lot of other clubs do.