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I’m scared. It’s not just because I’m a Broncos supporter at heart and they’ve lost two straight, but it’s the way other sides around them are picking up the pace moving into the NRL finals series.
Souths, Manly, and to some degree the Roosters have been meandering along all year, playing well below the potential we know they have.
Manly, in particular, sat rooted to the bottom of the table for far too long while off-field squabbles, injuries and contract negotiations took their toll on the team’s performance.
It even gave the board a great excuse to sack club legend Geoff Toovey.
In the two weeks since that decision, though, you’d think Trent Barrett had already arrived at the club. The team is playing with the reinvigorated energy of a side with a clean, shiny new coach.
Two consecutive demolitions of top four sides sees them lurking in ninth spot, and with the Raiders, Sharks, Eels and Roosters still to play, I’m backing them to make a Parramatta of 2009-esque run through the finals.
They mightn’t get all the way to the grand final, but if they’re in the top eight at the end of the regular season, I have little doubt they’re going to be one of the form sides.
But it’s a different feel to Parramatta. This is not a team of underdogs who are out to prove they can play with the big boys. This is a team of established superstars, likely playing their last season as a hyper-competitive outfit.
Kieran Foran and Matt Ballin are heading off, Anthony Watmough’s already gone, and Jamie Lyon, Steve Matai and Brett Stewart are nearing the end of their careers.
This is a year they should have made a tilt at the premiership. For much of 2015 they were inconceivably terrible. Now they’re hot.
South Sydney, despite a drubbing from Manly, are another side that scares me. Lurking in the top four, and I’m really not quite sure how they’re there, similar to how I have no idea how Cronulla are in fifth spot, the Bunnies have arguably the toughest draw of any side in the run to the finals.
They could find themselves out of contention completely, or near the top two, depending on how they perform.
In my view it all depends on Greg Inglis. If he can make himself into the force he was at the end of last year, they’ll go close to making it two in a row.
The scary bit, really, is that I don’t think they will. Running into the Broncos, Roosters, Cowboys and Bulldogs could see them drop four straight on the way to the playoffs.
Something tells me they’re cooked. But saying that is scary.
Everyone’s scared of the Roosters. They’re a side that’s threatened greatness all year, but have dropped crucial games when it really mattered.
The course of two sides’ fortunes this year, in my view, hinged on a critical game early in the season between the Broncos and the Roosters.
It was Round 6, and the Broncos were starting to look in ominous form while the Roosters were clearly teetering.
Win, and you could see them going on a roll. Lose, and they put themselves back in the pack.
Many of you would know that that game went to golden point, and Ben Hunt strolled through the Roosters defence after faking an attempt at field goal.
That victory made the Broncos believe in 2015. They still lead the competition now, even though they’ve lost their last two matches.
The Cowboys’ first victory of the season, after losing four straight, was similarly inspiring.
But have the Queensland teams lost their spark, and peaked too early?
And did the Warriors give the dangerous Roosters their inspiration in Round 14? They’ve won eight straight since that point, and games against South Sydney and Manly, as well as their chance for redemption against the Broncos, will determine their premiership credentials this year.
My sense is they’ll win two of those games, and falter against Manly.
I think one of these NSW clubs is primed to take the trophy this year for the simple reason they’re scarier than all the other sides at the moment.
And that’s not even mentioning Cronulla or the Bulldogs. Excuse me while I go quake in the corner.
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