Land of the Giants
Premiership Player
This week's preview is brought to you by the number 10, for our ladder position, and the letter "u", for uncertainty, because for us there's plenty of it.
How are we positioned for the second half of the season? Until the away win to Adelaide, you'd probably say we were in free fall, destined to finish well down the ladder, with all sorts of questions about the list and coaching staff needing to be sorted out.
But when we beat the Crows, and thrashed Gold Coast, we looked very much like the team of 2016. Has our mojo returned? We'll find out in the next few weeks, starting with the Lions on Saturday.
Back in Round 6 we accounted for Brisbane without looking too interested. That kind of attitude would almost certainly be fatal this time, because they've played some pretty good football against quality opposition, notably against Port away from home and some other close calls. In what mood both teams will return from the bye is unknown.
Of course, there's still a bit of uncertainty with all the injuries, with Lobb now rumoured to be out for a month, and no real clarity on Toby. Our other major outs - Deledio, Scully, Williams - won't be back until the last few weeks of the season. We've sort of learned to live without Toby, but if Lobb is out Patton will have to go back to the ruck and just get used to it.
There's not much else to say at the moment. This is one of the ten remaining games we must win if we're to have any chance of making the eight, and perhaps one of the last chances to make up a bit of percentage.
I don't think we'll lose but it's probably going to be much tougher than we think.
How are we positioned for the second half of the season? Until the away win to Adelaide, you'd probably say we were in free fall, destined to finish well down the ladder, with all sorts of questions about the list and coaching staff needing to be sorted out.
But when we beat the Crows, and thrashed Gold Coast, we looked very much like the team of 2016. Has our mojo returned? We'll find out in the next few weeks, starting with the Lions on Saturday.
Back in Round 6 we accounted for Brisbane without looking too interested. That kind of attitude would almost certainly be fatal this time, because they've played some pretty good football against quality opposition, notably against Port away from home and some other close calls. In what mood both teams will return from the bye is unknown.
Of course, there's still a bit of uncertainty with all the injuries, with Lobb now rumoured to be out for a month, and no real clarity on Toby. Our other major outs - Deledio, Scully, Williams - won't be back until the last few weeks of the season. We've sort of learned to live without Toby, but if Lobb is out Patton will have to go back to the ruck and just get used to it.
There's not much else to say at the moment. This is one of the ten remaining games we must win if we're to have any chance of making the eight, and perhaps one of the last chances to make up a bit of percentage.
I don't think we'll lose but it's probably going to be much tougher than we think.
