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Revisiting my five fearless predictions for the 2015 NRL season

12th October, 2015
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Mitchell Pearce (AAP Image/Paul Miller)
Expert
12th October, 2015
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With arguably the greatest NRL grand final of all time signifying the end of the 2015 season, it’s time to revisit my annual predictions, and ascertain exactly just how much egg should be applied to my face this year.

As the saying goes, hindsight is a wonderful thing, and it also ensures that one of my predictions now looks a little embarrassing, but that’s the nature of the beast when one attempts to guess the future.

So how exactly did I fare?

1. The Bulldogs will win the premiership
I like to tell myself that this prediction was an objective selection, and in no way related to the fact I support the Doggies, but it’s difficult to ever truly know if you’re being biased or not.

However, I firmly believed that the additions of Brett Morris and Michael Lichaa would provide the Bulldogs with some of the elements – variety and explosiveness – that the team lacked in attack, thus putting them “over the top” in 2015.

Yet it simply wasn’t to be the Dogs’ year.

The season consisted of a number of frustrations for the team and their fans, as the Dogs battled injuries, suspensions and dramas, but it were the consistent themes of horrible decision-making, and poor execution in attack, that really defined the Dogs’ year.

Despite a persistent sense that Canterbury were always close to turning a corner and being a serious premiership threat, it never really eventuated, and the Dogs were bundled out in week two of the finals, which represented a fair summary of their 2015 campaign: close, but still pretty far away.

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Verdict: Wrong

2. Mitchell Pearce will win the Dally M
Mitchell Pearce? The Mitchell Pearce? From the Sydney Roosters? To win the Dally M?

Perhaps it’s time The Roar implemented a booze ban on their writers before they submit their articles. I’m not sure how else to explain picking Mitchell freaking Pearce to win the Dally M, other than blaming the impairing effects alcohol has on the brain.

Just for the record, Pearce didn’t win the Dally M. In fact, he didn’t even finish in the top 10. Damaging my Nostradamus credentials even further, three of his own Roosters teammates finished above him.

The winner of the best player award in the NRL actually went to Johnathan Thurston. How ironic, that the best player in the NRL… was nominated as the best player in the NRL.

Let’s just jog along, shall we?

Verdict: Wrong. Horribly wrong.

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3. Queensland will win the State of Origin series 3-0
Such was the absolute belting that New South Wales copped in Game 3 of the series, you could make a strong case for this prediction being right, even though the Blues won Game 2.

Losing 52-6 is almost worth two losses, and Queensland were so dominant – and NSW so poor – that I will go ahead and cheekily give myself a tick for this prediction, even though it’s technically incorrect.

It was the type of game that Blues fans have feared for a while; the moment when the Maroons’ astonishing array of talent all fires at once and simply destroys NSW. It also provided a terrifying glimpse of the gap that exists between the two states at present.

No Jarryd Hayne, a fit Cooper Cronk, and a motivated Queensland. It was always going to be a recipe for disaster for NSW, and so it proved by the final game.

Verdict: Correct. Kind of.

4. The Penrith Panthers won’t make the eight
Coming off an impressive 2014 – in which the Panthers were just one game from the grand final – Penrith entered 2015 with plenty of optimism and excitement.

However, I wasn’t buying into it.

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I thought the Mountain Men overachieved greatly in 2014, and therefore had unrealistic expectations placed upon themselves for the following season. I simply didn’t think they were a finals team.

To be fair, it was a lack of health and some bad luck that really cruelled Penrith’s hopes this year, as no club was more affected by injuries.

But be that as it may, the Panthers still didn’t make the top eight, which gives me my first legitimate correct prognostication.

Verdict: Correct.

5. A first-grade coach will get the sack for a sex scandal
Either my source was horribly wrong with the scandalous information I was supplied on this matter, or Geoff Toovey and Rick Stone have some awkward questions to answer.

I’m safely assuming it’s the former, rather than the latter.

Verdict: Wrong. And I should stick to the actual footy next season.

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So that lands me with a score of two out of five for 2015; and even that’s a little generous. It’s not great, but it’s not horrible either, and I look forward to once again making a fool of myself next year.

Hopefully next season will be just as enjoyable as this one, which I thought was outstanding, entertaining and immensely enjoyable.

Roar away with laughter and scorn, Roarers.

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