Preferred Opponent

[pathologicalpete]

I know we are two weeks out but I wonder who people would rather the boys play in that first semi.

I'd put in order of preference Broncos, Parra , Wests , St George.

I'm getting a funny feeling we are heading to Lang Park which would be good on two fronts. One the Broncos are on the slide and two I live in Bris.

[Stido]

I would prefer Broncs, Tiggers, Eels, Dragoons.

[#CowboyDavid]

I'm getting a funny feeling we are heading to Lang Park which would be good on two fronts. One the Broncos are on the slide and two I live in Bris.

I'm with you there Pete. That would probably give us a Cowboys vs Broncos final one week and the following week the Guns vs whoever in the Qld Cup Grand Final (hopefully).

There may be a dilemma there if the Cowboys win in week one. Do I go to the Guns Grand Final or travel to the Cowboys semi final?

Then again, if the Cowboys play and beat someone else in week 1, they might play the Broncos at Lang Park in week 2 & we could have a Guns/Cowboys double header at Lang Park on the same weekend.

Am I getting ahead of myself? I hope not.

[Bomber]

I'd probably prefer to play the Wests Tigers, or St George Illawarra in the first week of the finals, assuming we finish sixth.

The main reason is that I wouldn't want to play these teams any further into the finals.

Although the Wests Tigers are 'doing a Cowboys' in 2005 and will do well in the finals, unlike the Cowboys last year they don't have a core of finals-hardened and representative players as we did last year (Sing, Norton, Bowen, Bowman, Rauhihi etc etc etc)......although they certainly have a good shot at the finals.

Additionally, whilst the Dragons are in great form, I fear they are emotionally buggered after all the travel and high-intensity games of the past few weeks and despite the bye will be ripe for the plucking in the finals.

Just for the record, I ran my predicitions for the rest of the year on the NRL website (Finals Calculator) and came up with these match-ups for the finals (winners in bold)

4 v 5 - Tigers v Cowboys
3 v 6 - Broncos v Storm
2 v 7 - Dragons v Sharks
1 v 8 - Eels v Sea Eagles

SF1 - Storm v Tigers
SF2 - Cowboys v Broncos

PF1 - Dragons v Cowboys
PF2 - Eels v Tigers

2005 Grand Final - North Qld v Parramatta ;-)

[BURGE]

Wests, Parra, Broncos, St. George

[cphil83]

I hope we play the Broncs so we can smash em ;-)

[nq_gurl]

not the broncos - that would mean that we finish in either the 7th or 8th position ... id rather not be sitting there thank you.

[Bomber]

The Broncos could finish as low as fourth - it would take quite a lot of results to against them however:

- Broncos to lose to Roosters and Eels
- Tigers to beat Storm and Panthers
- Eels to beat Raiders
- Dragons to beat Knights (and get the bye)

And could the Cowboys finish in fifth? Absolutely:

- Cowboys to beat Rabbitohs and Storm
- Tigers to beat Storm

Table - Eels 36, Dragons 36, Tigers 36, Broncos 34, Cowboys 32, Sharks 30, Sea Eagles 30, Storm 28

Leaving us with a Friday Night blockbuster in Week One......4th v 5th

After we beat the Broncos, we easily knock off the Sharks, who are on life support after having several shades of **** beaten out of them by Wests....then we face off against a green and softened Eels side....and win in extra time......and then sit back whilst the Dragons struggle with six players ruled out due to injury and suspension.....and I'm getting ahead of myself again

It must almost be September

[TonyP]

I'd go for the tiggers first primarliy because they look like finishing 4th and hopefully we'll finish 5th. PLus the Tiggers have committed to play their finals at Telstra stadium, where we have a fairly good record.

In the end as long as we play well it shouldn't matter.

[godhelpus]

can anyone work out a finals progression that allows for a Bris/NQ GF? I can't get Bris to finish the regular season worse than 3rd on finals calculator and am stuffed if I can avoid us meeting them during the games leading up to the finals unless they finish in first and we finish 8th and beat them in week one (they get a second shot and we stay in) then both teams win every game. Is there another way?

[fossie]

going by tonights result i'd say the broncos will finish fourth.when we beat the rabbits then the storm to finish fifth we'll play the fillies in the first week and flog the **** out of them.

[Bomber]

Godhelpus, a Brisbane/North Qld final is certainly a possibility:

Week One:
Eels v Sea Eagles
Dragons v Sharks
Tigers v Storm
Broncos v Cowboys

Week Two:
Broncos v Tigers
Cowboys v Storm

Week Three:
Eels v Cowboys
Dragons v Broncos

[Jordan]

Well..we're not travelling that much better than the Broncos at the moment. I'm not going into any game with the same confidence I had earlier in the season when I thought we could beat anybody. I'm not even confident of us beating Souths this week.

[georgemladenov]

After the Storm beating Wests tonight we could easily finish in 6th unless we beat Souths and the Storm next week. We are still a long shot for 4th, all we need to do is beat Souths by 20-40, Storm by 20-30 and hope Penrith beats Wests by 15-30.

By the looks of it Im guessing we'll come 5th and vs Wests or come 6th and vs Brisbane.

[Genghis Chan]

What about 6th and 4 Wests?

Brisbane get done by Eels - very real possibility
Melbourne do over Cowboys (hey, I'm biased!)
Wests knock off Penrith. Very real chance.

The odds are favouring a Wests v Cowboys final on Saturday in 3 v 6 and Storm v Broncos final in 4 v 5.