After last year Luai will never be picked for Origin ever again you can bet on that.

Don’t worry Tedesco is already locked in at fullback for NSW he has the support of those that matter.

Turuva won’t be playing fullback at the Tigers as Bula has that position locked down.

As Edwards won’t be picked for origin this year same as he hasn’t been in previous years, I’m not sure we will see anyone else at fullback at the Panthers unless he gets injured. Tedesco is already locked in at fullback, the only wingers being mentioned are Ado-Carr To’o and Lomax and they won’t pick a fullback on the bench. The fact is while he’s great on the statistics front, he’s not as highly regarded as other NSW fullbacks such as Tedesco Mitchell and Trbojevic. In fact, a list i saw last year didn’t rate him in the top 5 with Ponga and the current most highly rated fullback in the NRL in Walsh all rated above him due to Edwards being considered not dangerous enough in attack. So don’t go expecting him to play Origin any time soon.

No Cleary No Fisher-Harris No Sorenson no Panthers, Roosters easily to cement them as favorites for this year’s Premiership.

I think they really need to be careful of adding too many teams too early before they have the depth to handle it. Parramatta who are the worst team in the NRLW comp and who will most likely run last again this year, were not very competitive last year after losing a number of players to new teams. These two new teams will most likely be taking even more players off other teams like Parramatta next year, such as Parramatta’s two best Cherrington and Church who both played for the Bulldogs NSW Cup team in the NSW Cup Grand Final. The NRL really need to make steps to ensure all the existing teams are more competitive instead of taking the risk of creating even more uncompetitive teams like Parramatta or more games will become a bit one sided, like most of Parramatta’s efforts last year when they only managed one win and a lucky one at that. The rest of the games they were completely outclassed losing by 50 in one game and 30 in another.

100% agree Harper is useless both in attack and particularly in defense which is why Manly couldn’t wait to get rid of him. As you said Sanders is a primarily a half back and should have gone into the role leaving Brown at 5/8 and Talagi at center where they both excelled against Manly.

Penrith won’t beat the Roosters tonight or Manly at Brookvale next week. Their form even with Cleary has been ordinary. The let Parramatta score two tries without a hand placed on them. They couldn’t score a point against an undermanned Storm. The won well against the Broncos but the Broncos are not going as well this year so far with only a win over the worst team in the comp the Rabbitohs. Also, Broncos didn’t have their two most important players Haas and Reynolds and lost Walsh after 4 mins and had to totally change their backline as a result and quickly became a rabble as Cleary picked their backline apart. Never heard of Schneider and Cleary won’t be there to save them this time. Roosters are red hot at the moment and have the best team lineup in the NRL and should be too good for the Panthers.

If you mean Dylan Brown, then he’s not eligible as he’s a Kiwi.

Luai will never be selected to play 5/8 again the press hate him.

Brooks will never play for NSW ever. Luai is gone as they wont touch him now or the press will destroy them. Cody Walker is a certainty for 5/8 as he has the backing of the press.

The NRL really shouldn’t be getting involved in this. The Wests Tigers can easily play at both their actual home ground at Campbelltown, where their leagues club is based or for big crowds at CommBank Stadium who they already have a contractual agreement with to play some games there. They don’t need Leichardt. They seem to forget they are now the Wests Tigers and are no longer the Balmain Tigers. They also lose money by playing at Leichardt.

The NRL can’t spend 30 million dollars to refurbish Leichardt as it makes no economic sense and if they did, they would then no justification not to do the same for Belmore Brookvale Shark Park and Kogarah which are not much better than Leichardt. The “Wests” Tigers should have been pressing the State Government to improve Campbelltown to a decent NRL ground for an area as important to the state and the NRL as the Macarthur.

This also highlights why the West Tigers have no real home anyway as they have never fully committed to the Macarthur region and have never been accepted there as a result. Instead of asking for more money for Leichardt they should have asked for more money to be spent on their actual home ground at Campbelltown Stadium. The Macarthur is the largest most quickly growing region in greater Sydney which has been basically ignored by the NRL and State Government. The Macarthur has no modern sports grounds. Rugy League is massive in the Macarthur and the region is rapidly growing but the only sport that has recognized that is Football who have admitted the Macarthur Rams to Football Australia league to give the region its only truly representative sporting team. If you lived in the Macarthur, you would find not many people support the West Tigers instead supporting teams like Parramatta and Penrith who “spiritual” home is closer. There are also more Souths supporters here as well. My team are The Oaks Tigers who are a part of the Group 6 CRL competition whose teams are mostly based in the Macarthur region. Until such time as the West Tigers finally commit to the Macarthur and the NRL and State Government give their support to decent sporting facilities in the Macarthur i won’t be supporting the “Balmain” Tigers.

The NSW government doesn’t own Leichardt its owned by the local council. So, the NRL can’t hand it over to the Tigers for their “spiritual” home ground. Also, the NRL couldn’t afford to buy it as the land it is on is worth a fortune, so the council cannot just give to give it the NRL.

It’s funny how the Eels NRLW team has mirrored the Eels NRL team. Both made the grand final last year from fourth before being outclassed in the Grand Final. Both lost several quality players in the off season who weren’t really replaced this year. Both lost their first five games of the new season before they won a game. Both failed to make the finals this year after making the grand final last year. While i admire your optimism they should struggle against the Roosters, who are the form team of the competition while the Eels are at the other end of the scale. It would be a much bigger upset this year than last year when the Eels beat them. I will be cheering the Eels on but feel they will probably be outclassed by the Roosters just like their NRL team was recently.

If i was Matt Arthur i would be looking a new club after the way his brother was treated by Eels fans.

The signing of Joey Lussick smacks of desperation, he will be 28 this year and prior to joining the Eels this year had played only 10 NRL games in his entire NRL career to date. He wasn’t considered good enough previously to be retained by either Manly or the Eels and has spent large stints playing 100 games in Super League. Not sure how he solves the Eels problem at hooker as he’s been basically a bench player at best in the NRL. Brendan Hands at 23 and still on the improve, is I think their only viable option at hooker even though he also is basically a utility bench player. Lussick on his record is arguably the worst performed hooker in the NRL and at his age has no room for improvement.

Let’s all hope that the Eels see sense and let Blake go as i believe his overpriced contract ends this year. I have never understood the faith put in Blake by the coaching staff despite him continually letting them down. I understand they have yet to offer him a contract for next year and hope that situation continues, and he leaves the club.

I have nothing but admiration for the Panthers and their coach Ivan Cleary for the way they have managed to keep such a great team together over the last few years as much as has been possible under the salary cap and stay the team to beat despite the loss of players such as Burton Kikau and Korisau. But cracks are starting to show in their attack as they haven’t really been able to replace Kikau and Korisau. Their commitment, defense and discipline is the best in the NRL but their attack is becoming more predictable without the likes of Kikau and Korisau this year. And things can only get worse next year with the loss of Stephen Crichton who they will miss even more than any of the others they have lost over the last year or so. I am unreserved fan of Crichton who i rate the best centre in the NRL. You only have to look at how many times he has saved the Panthers with his defense, his speed and intercepts to know that the Panthers will not be able to replace him. And if they can’t resign Luai then the writing will be on the wall. As Parramatta found in the eighties when they had one of the best team to ever play Rugby League it can’t really last beyond those players. It must come to an end. While the Panthers have been able to keep going and have great depth, they can’t keep plugging the gaps with players of comparable ability and won’t be able to find anyone capable of taking Crichton’s place as he is the best centre in the NRL and same goes for Luai. I am not totally sure if they can win the grand final this year and the Broncos look far more dangerous in attack than Penrith. But i am sure they will give their all as they do every time they play. But i can’t see their dominance continuing for much longer with the loss of a player like Cricton and potentially Luai.

Couldn’t agree more, the Eels recent roster management has been a disaster for them this year. Losing the likes of forwards Oregon Kaufusi, Ray Stone, Isaia Papaili, Marata Niokure and Reed Mahoney last year has affected both their attack and their defense. Signing a 33 yold hooker with bad knees was always going to be a gamble, one that i feel has failed dismally espec now as he won’t play again after neck surgery. I also don’t understand the signing of Joey Lussick who at 27 hasn’t yet played more than 13 NRL games in his career to date with most of his time spent in England and in the NSW Cup. Brendan Hands while young and inexperienced is the only real option the Eels have going forward as a hooker and with no realistic backup for Brown and Moses after they released Jake Arthur. I also don’t understand why Lussick is being selected ahead of Hands as Lussick just doesn’t look like he’s up to the standard required of a starting NRL hooker.

The Eels are gone for this year and for the foreseeable future. I cannot see them making finals this year or next year either with the players they currently have and with no sign of them having the cap space to sign some decent forwards to bolster their back row stocks and their bench, especially a top-class hooker after the loss of Reed Mahoney. Paulo and Campbell-Gilliard are now into their 30s and its showing. They also need to get rid of a number of questionable forwards like Lussick Matterson Davey etc. who aren’t very young either and most of their bench forwards who are better off playing NSW Cup. I feel the Eels now face a few years in the wilderness with little hope of making the finals. No premierships now seem likely and their 38 years without a premiership will become a lot longer as they don’t seem capable of developing anyone from within their junior ranks and have relied on signing players off Penrith to stay competitive. They seem destined to join the ranks of the NRL also rans like the Tigers Bulldogs and Dragons.

Can we stop expecting the Eels to be competitive this year just because they made the grand final
last year. This a completely different and much weaker side for the Eels than last year. They have now lost all three games this year comprehensively with no sign of improvement, losing by a net margin of 88 points. So it’s hard to see them being able to match it with one of the stronger NRLW teams in the Broncos. This should be more of the same with them losing by a lot more than 6 points. Especially without their captain and probably best player in Cherrington.

I think it’s the fear factor as on recent form Souths could struggle to even make the eight but any team that contains players such as Cameron Murray Cody Walker Latrell Mitchell Alex Johnston Campbell Graham and one the best forward packs in the NRIL scares the bejeeus out of oppositions as they did earlier in the year but like the Roosters until they perform consistently as a team it’s still just a nightmare waiting to happen. The big concern in last week’s game was the shocker Walker had early in the game, making a series of errors and falling off tackles. They desperately need him back playing to his absolute best over the next weeks as their attack revolves around him. With Walker its often a matter of rocks or diamonds and Souths need his diamond best to succeed in their battle to make the eight over the next few weeks.

The reality is that the Eels are by far and away the worst and weakest team in the NRLW and i suspect Newcastle will win by a lot more than 6 points. The Eels have been severely weakened losing most of the players from last year’s grand final team to the new teams and now have undeniably the weakest roster in the NRLW. Going on their first two games when they were easily beaten in both games it’s quite possible that they won’t win a game this year as it’s hard to see a team currently they could actually beat. Even when they get back to full strength it hard to see them being competitive with the better teams. They only won one game last year to finish fourth. And made the grand final in a huge upset over a very disappointing Roosters team before being beaten easily by Newcastle in the grand final. With more teams now and a drastically weaker roster this year it is hard to see finishing anywhere but last.