My pick for the year, the Dragons, have now been bundled out so instead of giving a winner I will discuss the remaining teams chances;
Melbourne - Have proven to be the most consistent team all year, and having 3 of the worlds best 5 players helps. They have good strike on their edges in Manu and Proctor that provides enough of a distraction for the big 3 to work their magic.
Danger - Can be susceptible against a fast powerful offence playing through the middle.
New Zealand - A real success story. Have always been their own worst enemy and seem to have the right personnel to get the side into the penultimate game of the season. Rely on second phase play and when on their game are the best in this area.
Danger - Manu The Beast. Rocks or Diamonds with the big fellah. Needs to get off to a positive start.
Manly - You can sense this team is steeled for some success this season. One of the toughest teams in the competition, they epitomise what playing for your mate is all about. Watch them to tackle the opposition out of the game and with a partisan home crowd behind them this weekend, don't expect too many penalties against them for off side.
Danger - Been up for a long time this year with rookie halves.
Brisbane - This young side has proven to be a revelation North of the border and considering the early season coaching furore have managed to find their feet quickly and get into a youthful enthusiastic rhythm.
Danger - With Lockyer missing it puts a lot of pressure on the team to find that settling influence at key moments of the match. Enter Peter Wallace.
In relation to Darren Lockyer's broken cheek bone, I find it interesting that he is not fit enough to compete this week after surgery to repair the injury. Darren Lockyer is a super tough competitor and he is fully aware of his influence on this team and it would be easy to guess that his decision to not play was based on advise of the actual potential damage that would happen after another knock on the same cheek.
I know for a fact that these injuries take more than six days to repair as I have suffered a similar injury.
What I want to know is if Lockyer's face isn't considered strong enough to play 6 days after titanium plates have been screwed in, due to potential serious injury, then who was responsible for him staying on the field against St George for the final part of the game when a hit on that same cheek could have caused permanent eye damage after his entire orbital structure collapsed?
No comments:
Post a Comment