NRL Round Discussion NRL Round 1, 2025 Discussion

[Matiunz]

Definitely a bit of a gulf instantly appearing;

Top tier
Melbourne
Brisbane
Manly
Penrith
Sharks

Ok Tier
Canberra
Bulldogs

Shit tier
The rest

Guess our goal is to move out of shit tier and into ok tier

 

[snake77]

Definitely a bit of a gulf instantly appearing;

Top tier
Melbourne
Brisbane
Manly
Penrith
Sharks

Ok Tier
Canberra
Bulldogs

Shit tier
The rest

Guess our goal is to move out of shit tier and into ok tier

Pretty fair assesment of round 1. Our problem is this week we more from an opponent in the OK tier to the Top Tier.

If I was going to try and find positives out of it. Maybe our game being on a bigger stage (stadium, Vegas), faster game we may not be as bad as shown in that game. However, the flip side to that is a repeat of last week I could see the confidence eroding like last year.

Last season we started as a favoured side. As the season went on we got worse.

The Dragons got a lot of calls against the Bulldogs. The score was closer than some of the other games but that was due to a few late tries. The Friday games were pretty poor.

Teams form will fluctuate during the season. Mainly the lower sides. Let's hope we sort ourselves out quicker than the others.

 

[Canonball]

Pretty fair assesment of round 1. Our problem is this week we more from an opponent in the OK tier to the Top Tier.

If I was going to try and find positives out of it. Maybe our game being on a bigger stage (stadium, Vegas), faster game we may not be as bad as shown in that game. However, the flip side to that is a repeat of last week I could see the confidence eroding like last year.

Last season we started as a favoured side. As the season went on we got worse.

The Dragons got a lot of calls against the Bulldogs. The score was closer than some of the other games but that was due to a few late tries. The Friday games were pretty poor.

Teams form will fluctuate during the season. Mainly the lower sides. Let's hope we sort ourselves out quicker than the others.

I saw enough to know that the chooks without Walker (and less so the other injured) are very much in the shit tier, same goes for the eels w/o Moses... god knows what's happening at the Cows, they shouldn't be that bad ... but I refuse to see us at that level - we can't be in with those 'baddies', surely?

 

[Christchurch_Warrior]

I saw enough to know that the chooks without Walker (and less so the other injured) are very much in the shit tier, same goes for the eels w/o Moses... god knows what's happening at the Cows, they shouldn't be that bad ... but I refuse to see us at that level - we can't be in with those 'baddies', surely?

That Cowboy's squad is way to good to keep playing like that. I can see them getting played back to form in round 9.

 

[Tookey 2.0]

I saw enough to know that the chooks without Walker (and less so the other injured) are very much in the shit tier, same goes for the eels w/o Moses... god knows what's happening at the Cows, they shouldn't be that bad ... but I refuse to see us at that level - we can't be in with those 'baddies', surely?

Unpopular opinion - but game wise I didn't think we were terrible.

Look at the majority of the stats from the game, and both us and the Raiders were fairly even across the board.

There were about 3 or 4 key moments by individual players that resulted in tries for Canberra, you iron out some of that and the game was much closer than the scoreline suggested.

Our attack was mud, as was our punch through the middle.
We fix the individual errors that lead to tries, we tweek the attack so we're 10% better and I think already, were going to be creeping up to a mid range team.

Year of the ambush baby

 

[snake77]

I saw enough to know that the chooks without Walker (and less so the other injured) are very much in the shit tier, same goes for the eels w/o Moses... god knows what's happening at the Cows, they shouldn't be that bad ... but I refuse to see us at that level - we can't be in with those 'baddies', surely?

I was going to write the other day what the journalists would say the reasons were for Eels, Roosters and Cowboys. I could think of something they'd argue for the Eels and Roosters.

The Cowboys were a bit of a struggle. They have started slowly in the past and got better as the season went on. But you have to wonder if Payten would be one of those intense coaches where the relationship breaks down.

 

[Canonball]

Unpopular opinion - but game wise I didn't think we were terrible.

Look at the majority of the stats from the game, and both us and the Raiders were fairly even across the board.

There were about 3 or 4 key moments by individual players that resulted in tries for Canberra, you iron out some of that and the game was much closer than the scoreline suggested.

Our attack was mud, as was our punch through the middle.
We fix the individual errors that lead to tries, we tweek the attack so we're 10% better and I think already, were going to be creeping up to a mid range team.

Year of the ambush baby

F'ing A.... I'm a believer - don't make fool of us, please webby

 

[Canonball]

I was going to write the other day what the journalists would say the reasons were for Eels, Roosters and Cowboys. I could think of something they'd argue for the Eels and Roosters.

The Cowboys were a bit of a struggle. They have started slowly in the past and got better as the season went on. But you have to wonder if Payten would be one of those intense coaches where the relationship breaks down.

I saw something about them resetting their feeder club arrangements, which demonstrated a managerial split or drift - I reckon the broader organisational stuff has a massive impact - I mean that squad is stellar, they shouldn't be so meager, and yet there it is - so shit

 

[juju]

Two teams being ruled out of serious contention by conceding 50 week one... not good for the comp.

Theres an obvious yawning gulf between the elite teams and the field.
Might be better to start slow and build into the season - the NRL is a long season and form fluctuates eventually.