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Great news.

Ciro's trying to win every game but also trying to improve the team over time to make it sustainable. He's starting with defence and not trying to overcomplicate the other parts of our game. We're playing what's in front of us pretty well and I think were better off playing the percentages and...

I'm guessing he reads TK. Why else would pick Salmon over Preston other than to wind us up?

Yeah, when Salmon was 12.

Your first paragraph sounds right to me. Last weeks form would have beaten Parra in that game IMO. Kikau found big form a couple of weeks later (and ever since), Critta's found his feet beautifully, Tracey, Xerri and Mann have really improved us, Burton is daylight ahead of that game, and...

Playing at Suncorp instead of Canberra is a big plus for us. Finishing somewhere 5th to 8th starts to look possible if we win this one. With Turbo gone I can't see Critta not playing centre for NSW. Best seems like the new golden child, but Critta should get the other spot.

Nice win against Panthers in Flegg today.

Great call jake. Penrith have the best defence in the comp. They got momentum a few times but we always re-grouped, never let them get away and even wrestled it back a bit towards the end. We lost, but didn't go backwards.

Definitely. With smaller forwards it's just part of the game-plan to disrupt the other teams attack at all costs, even if we fall off more tackles. Great if we improve our effective tackle %, but if anything the scramble is part of a strength and far from a major problem. Ball control and...

Who would've thought with all the utilities we bought! Great effort from him and Ciraldo to keep backing him.

Why is Nathan doing all the talking? No excuses tonight. We have close to our best team, especially if Preston and Tracey play. We've had a good run up to the game, with a bye to freshen up and 2 points against Wests, even though we underperformed in that game (we can't possibly have any...

We don't need to compare Ciro and Webster. We tried Barrett remember! Webster's a good coach, but he'll have to work out some different options. Other teams are targeting Johnson in defence, he's making near 20 tackles a game and missing heaps as well. For someone who's never liked defence...

Recruiting smaller utility forwards for mobility is one thing, but making it happen on the field is another. Ciraldo had to design a game plan around those players, but the buy-in from the players is the key. It's a genuine transformation with quality recruitment, coaching and player effort all...

Cleary would make him look like a superstar. He's mad if he doesn't go there.

So are Mahoney and Hughes both going to be unavailable this week? Desserts

I don’t think Tracey will move. Ciro’s showing a lot of love for him at FB. I think the drop in intensity in the first half against the Tigers had a lot to do with Tracey not being there.

Wilson did look under-done in cup last week. Didn't shirk his work and was safe, but had no zip. He's defended well in the system though so I'd say he's in now with that game under his belt. Hope I'm wrong in a way though, cause if Skelton got a go though and handled the defensive side, he'd...

If we stay in it for 60 mins we’re fit enough to win. We need another big body in the 17 for this one.

To be fair, there would be some blokes who are piling on because she's a woman, but any objective assessment is that she (or he, or whoever was ref) just had a bad game. We know Klemmer for example treats male refs the same way, or worse, when he loses it, so surely no problem there unless he...

Exactly. The broadcasters showed an angle that only showed Reed, but he was just one of many who rushed in and was definitely not 3rd man.

Sutton dudded Badger by not saying to bin Sezer for classic hip drop. He should be dropped for a month for that changer.

I bet at some time during the drink, there'll be some analysis.

Tradesman like in the 2nd half. Our attack was pretty boring in the first half but we've got to learn how to win in different situations. Tigers came to play so it was a good lead up to Penrith.

Can't see Preston coming off the bench. Surely his general fitness is fine and if he's still injured he shouldn't be playing at all. I'm surprised to see Wilson still in the reserves. Hope another outside back isn't doubtful. I'll be interested in how Mann goes starting cause he's been great...

In defence and under the high ball Tracey is way better than Taaffe. We don't lose a lot in attack. Tracey is safer and more relentless, but Taaffe's can spark big moments for us. I much prefer Tracey like most, but it's good to have a decent back up. Api's loss is massive for them. I've been...

Is there a go fund me to help keep Gus off the streets? Hope he’s ok for a feed.

Hearing Kikau say in the pre game interview that he's the fittest he's ever been, was like music to my ears. Hutcho said his job was just to feed the ball to the backs, so lets hope he does a lot more of it.

We haven’t had any big problems handling other teams stars this year. The Tigers can be dangerous on their day, but our game plans have been very good and I expect the same this week.

That, plus he picked a side early and is sticking to it.

I don't think they've seen us. They talk about our supposed limitations in attack, and whinge about Benji's focus on defence without knowing our improvement is 100% on the back of defence. Watch and learn Tigers fans.

Very true. Skelton's still a player I'd like to keep if we can afford him. I doubt we can though if he's playing wing in NSW Cup and making 200m a game. Unless he can gets a bit of time in the backrow and can handle the defence, he'll be picked up as a back by another team, or rugby. I'd have...

which site? sportsbet was $23 yesterday when I checked.

I saw we've come in from $61 to $23 to make the top 4! Every result went our way this round and we went from 12th to 8th after beating the bye. Given the bye is usually a tougher test than the Tigers, we look good to keep climbing the ladder next week.

Not hard to read between the lines there. It's just a matter of when, if he holds form and stays fit. Hopefully the way Hayward's handled the step up's given Ciro more confidence to try young blokes. O'neill looks confident and determined like Hayward.

They've also got Latrell as their spiritual leader, who always puts in at least 40% effort, sometimes even 50! Pity we have to put up with Crichton only putting in a lousy 110.

Ilias wouldn’t improve us. He’s just more of the same.

Turvey/Baa, Polla-Mounter/Baa, and Shifty/Braith, were all way ahead of Hutch/Burto. Those other backlines were great but if we get a half who can really unlock them, this lot will be better IMO. Burto is starting to find something but we're short of a half to see how good they can really be...

The defensive turn-around is even more outstanding with our thin set of front rowers. Whether it's a lack of experience, or size, or a decent track record, they came into the season as one of the weakest front rows, but are lifting and playing way above themselves. Kikau leading the kick-chase...

Reed does plenty of disturbing the opponents attack, even if he drops off of some tackles because he's small. He's doing a ton of work and his defence is among the least of his, or our, problems. His little sideways darts from DH where he gets caught are getting stale (like Hutch dying on he...

Makes up for speed with evasiveness. He looks like he's got a few different positions in him.

Great player. Very sad loss and thoughts to his loved ones.

It's hard to apportion credit to this or that for our big improvement, but Crichton as leader has been much better. He's grown into it in 2 months, with plenty of support from Kikau, Mann and a few others.. The other players never see him not going hard as, and I love watching him. Meanwhile...

Forget it Reni. You found a home and some great mates for life and helped win us a GF. You played with some other teams but you're a Bulldog mate.

Sounds to me like the people advising him are thinking of themselves and not Jackson. He came to a fork in the road where he could have cried like a baby or sucked it up like an adult. Good advice was all he needed! Even if he gets money it’s a very bad choice to chase victimhood like that...

I like your optimism and hope you're right.

I saw Knight interviewed after NSW Cup on the weekend and he was asked what was keeping him out of FG. He was pretty honest and said his defensive movements are costing him. I doubt he can deliver in Ciro's system and is a 3rd stringer now even with our lack of props. Morrin's now our No. 3...

He was the same last week. Even with a needle he was flat out being 75%. Not a very smart way to manage a $million plus player. Cronk in a GF I get, but that was plain dumb. Almost as if the coach was thinking more about himself, or got really bad medical advice.

I noticed Kikau and salmon defending closer in on the weekend. Our players also did a great job finding their front when tackled and getting quick play the balls, while getting Knights onto their backs. Our kick-chase is as good as anyone’s, and the backs are taking a greater share of the...

Rightly or wrongly the bunker is making a distinction between a ‘tap-on’ that goes forward and a ‘catch-and-pass’ that goes forward. Apparently their eyes only work in one of those scenarios, and even then, only in Bulldogs games.

Would be good mates with Elliott. He likes pot plants.

13+, how good!

Yee Haa!

We don't die in the arse when things go wrong anymore.

Gus said it was some sort of pneumonia.

I feel your pain but Sexton's not the answer. Hopefully one of the young blokes is special enough to be fast-tracked, or Taaffe gets some time there and surprises us!

You've been watching Gus. The way Ciraldo's been talking up Taaffe, I can't see him dropping out for King, although that's what I'd do. I'd say Ciro leaves out Hayward or Patolo.

Agree he’s not a yardage winger, but his post contact meters have improved a lot since he started only eating meat!!

What's Max King doing in the reserves? I wonder if he's a genuine possibility.

F..k me. Remember when NAS and Kaufusi were dropping elbows from 3 feet and not getting charged? It was only a few years ago.

There's always been a narrative on TK that halves have to be top tier defenders.

Solomon Haumono preferred the British Love Machine to the Bulldogs back in the day.

Xerri will be the best value-for-money centre in the comp this year. Good one Gus.

True, but if the Titans game is anything to go by we should be ok. The Storm loss should have us hungry, especially with the with chance to go into the bye on a high. The alternative (two weeks to think about a home loss to Newcastle), would be torture.

Surprisingly our front row has held up really well, our backrow is a weapon, and injuries and rotations in the outside backs hasn't bothered us with our great depth. Even Burto is showing glimpses and starting to combine with the outside quality (his kicks are still a lottery). Still need more...

I'd go Hayward at half. Showed he belongs in FG tonight, gives 100%, and hasn't forgotten how to play half. Maybe give Taaffe a go in NSW Cup first, but not straight into FG. Otherwise keep Hayward at 14 till Mann gets back and try Sexton at half. At least he knows how to give early ball.

Yep. Just cause Taaffe was improving doesn't put him close to Tracey.

It's an odd swap but I reckon Turpin will bring more than Knight would have.

I think when Gus labels someone ‘a project’, he means they are gonna take a while. He’s not as impatient as some of us to see Skelton in 1st grade, but still reckons he’ll get there. I just hope it’s with us!

Agree he does a pretty good job of tightening up the middle and doesn’t shirk the hard work.

What's the bet NAS comes in for them. It's gonna take a superhuman effort to get the this one now King's out.

Move it to guess's, or dreams, or better still, nightmares.

We've got a decent enough team this week if they all end up playing. I had a chuckle when I saw Xerri'e sponsor on our website.

Would be good to see Skelton get a few games in the forwards in NSW Cup to see if he can be a genuine bench utility option for NRL. He can run like a good lock or edge forward but can he defend there?

They are winnable for sure. We've got some guts this year, even if we can't do it for 80 yet. Let's see if our depth can step up and show the same guts. We should be fine in the backs at least. Mann's been our most important player IMO and will be hard to replace.

He's like a crying Confucius wannabe.

Kikau 3 King 2 Burto 1

We got plenty of breaks and only just won against 12 men, so it was shit from that point of view. But we had one terrible 20 minute period (like every other game - usually the one before half time) and banked 2 points against a team no one expected us to beat. We tried some new combinations and...

A fit King makes a big difference. Patolo stood his ground well and so has Hughes. Mann's a mini wrecking ball tonight. Is JWH playing?

Mann's like a ball playing McCinnes.

Trying to find the balance between freedom of choice and addiction is hard. Addiction is a choice too, at least to start off with. I'd love to see people not gamble their life away, but even opening a small business is a gamble. Plenty of things are, and it's part of being free.

I thought Ryan Sutton was back when I glanced at the thread title. Ended up to be the lesser of two evils. Whether he picks on us or not, Gerard is a shit ref, but Ryan is a shitter prop.

Great to see us in the NRLW. I don't mind watching it. The quality is getting better and it's usually decent open footy. Much better than Union or AFL if there's no NRL on. The product needs to pay for itself but I reckon it will and is worth investing in, even if it's not for everyone.

Pound for pound, he's one of the best one on one defenders in the comp. I've seen him drive bigger blokes plenty of times. His work-rate and ball play is getting better all the time.

We can improve on that, but we're never going to be right up there. We won't get too many PCMs out of our props for starters, and we haven't got those strong barging wingers like other teams. We need to lift in other areas, like our kick chase, which was great on the weekend. Also the high...

The best thing about the game was the way our forwards stood up against their bigger pack. The quality and work rate's of Mann and Curran is helping to balance the lack of size in the middle, and King and Mahoney are toiling great. But lets face it, the Titan's are a team out of form and they...

3. Kiraz 2. Kikau 1. Curran Max king not far off. Great performance doing the hard stuff in the middle.

I'd say Curran doesn't start at lock because we need him for the front row rotation unfortunately. Ciro seems to rate Salmon but the main reason is surely our weak front row ATM. I'd love to start him at lock too if we had the luxury of a couple more decent front rowers. He's a bit different to...

My favourite player as a kid after Garry Dowling left.

He does a lot of nothing usually.

Curran with big PCMs and only 1 offload is a lost opportunity. Needs more support. Hughes made a tackle a minute so he's working hard while he's out there. We only need 40 odd mins out of him, so he should get up around that soon.

instead of the 4 hopefully.

He can run at centre. Yes we need halves who can run and create doubt, but if they can't organise at all, it's pointless having them there.

We don't need a running 5/8 right now. We need 2 halves who can unlock the outside backs and bring the edge backrowers into the game. We don't have that, but we've got to try something different soon. I wonder what Burto shows at training that he can't do on the field?

I've never seen someone wait for bombs with their arms so stiff. It's not natural. He's got no timing or confidence. Its a no-brainer for Tracey to come in.

Couple of nice touches by Edwards too so far.

He was a depth signing for them, not the next big thing!

Any young player with a healing ACL would surely want to give back big time to a club that gave him a go! Hope he's got the fitness and ability to back it, but motivation shouldn't be a problem.

Yeah I agree he was probably there sus out possible corporate partnerships or opportunities for future, just not to scout unknown players.

Sounds like a bullshit beat-up to me. Surely we aren't sending Warburton and a Director out now to recruit players.

I wouldn't be surprised if Turpin got the 14. Mahoney needs a rest during games and we don't need a part time dummy half like Mann or Hayward filling in. Recovering from a broken finger and playing no trials might have affect things, but Mahoney isn't a 80 minute player at the moment and...