Self-belief will drive young Tigers to a finals spot

Yeah, JT will perform the miracles of 'pigs fly'. The Wests/Tigers were very lucky to have had the chance of getting anywhere near the 8 in 2016. In 2017 Souths with Robbie Farah and the boys will show them the lesson that they deserve and they wont win one game against us. My prediction is that the Wests/Tigers will be 'at best' 10th. lol up the Rabbitohs!!!

Thanks, mate, I hope not, I do try to respect everyone's views. Yes, I see it now! We all fly off a bit, I have been guilty of it myself in the past so I now try to show the proper restraint. BUT... If someone gives it to me then I give them BOTH Barrels, lol. My apologies to Officer 57.

Don't think he was replying to you... My guess is he's a Manly fan and was responding to Doug's numpty coach comment.

There is NO NEED to be RUDE you uneducated so and so! WHO do you follow? The Tigers? Souths will put 30 points on you in Round 1. I will come back on here and give it to you. At least I have the guts to let everyone know exactly where my allegiances are.

I think you're the numpty!!!!

The Rabbitohs will win at least 16 games mate despite the difficult draw. Souths also had the worst draw in 2014 but that didn't stop them. The big question is will the Burgess Twins reach top form? Many NON-Souths fans may not know this but both Twins were struggling with injuries in 2016 Tom- ankle, arm George- hip, shoulder and had groin surgery. They are both injury free at the moment.

Def think they will make it this year

2017 ladder: 1) Panthers: 17W-7L (Quality team + Tamou addition + middling draw should get them here) 2) Raiders: 16W-8L (Look hard to beat but tough draw will put the kibosh on a minor premiership) 3) Storm: 16W-8L (4th easiest draw and still got the quality but surely age will begin to weary them a little?) 4) Eels: 15W-9L (Were good last season despite chaos and 2nd easiest draw should help big time) 5) Broncos 15W-9L (Another year another rigged draw props them up, again) 6) Tigers: 14W-10L (5th easiest draw helps big time, could be dark horses if they can learn to put teams away) 7) Sharks: 13W-11L (5th toughest draw + Old Gallen + loss of Ennis and Barba = Premiership hangover) 8) Rabbitohs: 13W-11L (Toughest draw but should have enough quality to get here if Farah follows the script) 9) Cowboys: 12W-12L (2nd Toughest draw + loss of Tamou + old JT = mediocrity) 10) Roosters: 11W-13L (Hate saying it but they're right in the mix if Pearce doesn't play Origin) 11) Titans: 10W-14L (Hayne plane won't be reaching new heights, should have landed in Parra.) 12) Warriors: 9W-15L (Plodders. Also not buying the Kearney hype this season with equal 5th toughest draw) 13) Bulldogs: 9W 15L (Hasler will be gone by Origin and they'll implode further from there) 14) Manly: 8W-16L (Awful club. Also a crap team and numpty coach) 15) Dragons: 5W-19L (If they can't "Oust Doust" after this....) 16) Knights: 1W-23L (Look like they'd be Holden Cup wooden spooners! Gave them 1 win out of pity but wouldn't be surprised if they're the first team to go winless in NRL era.)

And with Jamal playing hooker it will be a slow old pass

yes.

They won't be playing finals while Jason Taylor is at the helm.

Would you honestly put your house on it not happening?

Finals certainty this year the tigers. You look through the squad and its improvment in every player they are a team on the up where as quiet a few sides are on a downward run

The old saying is that the forwards win matches and I doubt that the Tigers have the forward strength to make the Finals. I don't follow them all that closely their backline looks pretty good on paper with only Woods and Taylor of any note in the forwards, the Tigers will struggle. I expect Idris will spend plenty of time in the back row. Grant needs to lift his effort. Will Matt Balin finally finish a season? Their young halves and centres look pretty good so their season will be decided in the middle. I am sure everyone expects the Rabbitohs, Eels and Warriors to improve on last season's effort. The usual suspects of the Storm, Cowboys, Broncos, Raiders and Panthers to be there again. I expect the Titans will improve on last seasons 8th position. The Sharks are heading down the ladder as they don't have a decent dummy half and it is extremely difficult to back it up 2 years in a row. I doubt that the Sea Eagles or the Roosters will challenge for a spot in the finals. Most of us think that the Dragons and Knights will struggle again. The Dogs need an attacking reality check otherwise a bottom 4 spot awaits them also. A 13th or 14th position awaits the Tigers.

It's an obvious comment but consistency will be the Tigers challenge. No doubt at their best they'll pump a few teams but they'll also cop a few. 2016 is already getting hazy but I don't remember too many games where they won in the middle against top 8 teams. Moses stood up last year - now it's Brooks' turn to show whether he'll be a plodder who plays the odd good game or a very good player who can consistently guide them round the park and win games.

Huge seasons for Taylor and Brooks, but I don't think the Tigers have the depth yet. Still paying whatshisname 3/4 million. Realistically there's like 12 teams with better squads for 2017.

As a Tigers fan I am very familiar with the words, potential, talent and confidence. Would have liked to see the club purchase some additional players with size and experience in the off season. While there were some good moments in 2016 there were also some worrying signs. The two thrashings at the hands of Canberra for instance. Not sure that will suddenly change with Farah not at the club.

Lawrence on the bench? Lawrence was fantastic in 2016 and he gives a lot of confidence to Brooks through his defence. Don't really see why you'd drop him, better to introduce young forwards from the bench anyway...

Yep, I think there are a few teams who finished out of the 8 who will do much better than the Tigers next year. Souths with Robbie will be interesting. An injury free Manly with a couple of proper number 6's to complement DCE and Walker out to the centres plus the T brothers now a season older. A fully firing Easts and Parra on full points. Of the current top 8 maybe Titans will be the likely team to drop out but the way they played last year it might be they actually go up on the ladder. Tough to see the Tigers going far with their leaky defence.

It's a funny old game , with a range of unpredictable results almost every year . With the halves unshackled and a bit of luck , ya just never know . In 2016 Cronulla won , the Broncos underachieved , the Roosters fell to bits , so who can tell what were going to get served up in 2017 .