2025 Season

They morphed from a “dominate everyone every week” team to a “time their run” team without missing a beat.

The Dogs small pack of all these utilities - great when it’s working, they have gas in the tank, they rush up, they swarm.

But vs a team that does the same thing with more athletic, stronger forwards, they start losing contact, they get gassed… against a team which has somehow yet again made ZERO errors in a half of footy… the line speed starts to go. And all of a sudden you’ve got a bunch of small flat-footed forwards. It’s like running through tissue paper.
 
HarVeeGee13 said:
They morphed from a “dominate everyone every week” team to a “time their run” team without missing a beat.

The Dogs small pack of all these utilities - great when it’s working, they have gas in the tank, they rush up, they swarm.

But vs a team that does the same thing with more athletic, stronger forwards, they start losing contact, they get gassed… against a team which has somehow yet again made ZERO errors in a half of footy… the line speed starts to go. And all of a sudden you’ve got a bunch of small flat-footed forwards. It’s like running through tissue paper.
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Ive been thinking for a few months that smaller forward pack was going to bite them. Theres only so long they could play with the intensity they started the season with. And the total **** up with Sexton and Mahoney have paid a price.
 
Sarge said:
Might be us one day . We can dream😳
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My sister and brother-in-law are 75 and have been attending Knights home games since the 90’s and they don’t think the Knights will win another premiership in their lifetimes.

I’m 61 and I would be happy with 1 more premiership before I die, anything more would be wonderful.
 
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Beatell said:
Ive been thinking for a few months that smaller forward pack was going to bite them. Theres only so long they could play with the intensity they started the season with. And the total **** up with Sexton and Mahoney have paid a price.
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My brother-in-law is a massive Dogs fan.
Therefore, I for one am thoroughly enjoying Phil Gould's fcukery killing off the Temu Panthers season.
 
Shaping up to be some good semi finals.

Sharks deciding to try and win some finals games this year. I can see a world where they could beat the Storm if they bring their best and the Storm are having one of their off games we have seen a bit this year. Storm have the potential and firepower to win.

Brisbane and Panthers will be a good game. Walters has been great the last few weeks, big out. But really, it’s coming down to Reece Walsh - is he capable of yet another great performance? He’s the X factor for Brisbane. Carrigan will be a big loss and Haas may need to play some big minutes to ensure there’s no drop off.
Have a bit of interest in Penrith after living out there for a number of years. Coincided with the start of this run, so always have an eye on them. I think they have come good. I was worried in previous years that they would run out of puff, always thought they needed to ease into the season and start to peak at the end. This year I think they’ve let a few bad habits creep into their game and they are definitely beatable. But, they haven’t been “up” the whole year and they have also escaped a lot of the “hype”. They absolutely destroyed a weakened Bulldogs yesterday. They pulled back into 2nd gear in the second half. Martin will be a big out if he’s out. But if they can match that first half, I think they’ll come good.
Maybe don’t burn your challenge in the opening 2 minutes though.

That golden point game really hurt Canberra both physically and mentally. Shame. I can’t see them backing it up again next year without Fogarty week to week.

And finally, after the whole Galvin drama, it was nice to see the Dogs season implode. He did some good things yesterday. But also was on a different page for a lot. They really butchered a promising start. From the outside, Mahoney and Sexton looked to complement this team beautifully, and both being pushed out seemed to throw off their balance and it’s been too hard to balance the scales again now they’ve upset them.
 
I reckon Galvin is going to be a hard player to fit into a team concept the more I watch him. Notable that he played his best footy last year when they didn’t have a lot else going on in attack and Sezer just set him up and let him cook a lot.

Will never understand blowing everything up the way they did mid season. Mitch Woods has been hyped for years. Sexton is the perfect “guy until the real guy is ready” to hold the jersey for the next couple of years. Reed Mahoney was so important to them coming good, as much as I don’t like him, and Bailey Hayward makes Phoenix look like Cameron Smith. They were set.
 
HarVeeGee13 said:
I reckon Galvin is going to be a hard player to fit into a team concept the more I watch him. Notable that he played his best footy last year when they didn’t have a lot else going on in attack and Sezer just set him up and let him cook a lot.

Will never understand blowing everything up the way they did mid season. Mitch Woods has been hyped for years. Sexton is the perfect “guy until the real guy is ready” to hold the jersey for the next couple of years. Reed Mahoney was so important to them coming good, as much as I don’t like him, and Bailey Hayward makes Phoenix look like Cameron Smith. They were set.
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100% looks like they were trying to plan 2026' team in 2025 and they chit the bed.
 
So happy for the Dogs and Gus, couldn’t happen to a better lot.

Looking at how poor they were yesterday (yes Penrith were insanely good in that first half) the Dogs probably are probably further away from a GF than they’d hoped.

Look at the teams they beat early in the year when they were going well (mostly cellar dwellers) Then Gus being Gus can’t help himself and buys a teenager to play 7 who’s really a 6 and still struggles defensively.

Maybe the end goal is 7. Woods 6. Galvin 9. Haywood and Burton gone. However if they are intent on copying the Panthers KP is not the fullback to replicate Edward’s game. Tracey is actually a more like for like copy.

Wouldn’t be surprised if they fall back a bit next year. They’ve been really up for the last two years and it’s ultimately resulted in no finals wins.

I’ll be interested to see how long Ciraldo is willing to put up with Gould’s tinkering. At some point they need to settle on a team and that’s something he could never do a Penrith and why Cleary wouldn’t return without him gone.

Anyway, hopefully they never figure it out because I dislike them as much as the Roosters.
 
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