2025 vs 2026

[what's that pong]

Sitting at work thinking, was last year the outlier or was it this year ?

Did we overachieve this year or underachieve last year?

Personally I think 2025 is the outlier lots of injuries which I guess was rhe same this year, not to mention we played AOB ball last year.

After making the finals most years for the last 6 years I feel this year wasn't a big of a shock as first thought, we just had a coach that coached the players he has and brought fun and excitement to the team.

With that said success isn't a guarantee for next, but I feel the disappointment will drive the boys even harder for especially Ponga.

 

[bremsstrahlung]

They look like a team that enjoys playing footy together.

They look like they enjoy being in eachother’s company off the field, and I think that shows on the field with their defence, how they celebrate the small victories and how they work hard for eachother.

Holbrook seems to be having the time of his life.

The adversity they have faced this year - and still to make the GF and lose by a point is a brilliant achievement.

There’s no reason why 2027 can’t be better.

I do think 2027 will be interesting. Losing Frizz and Gagai is a lot of experience, kind of feels like a lot of “aura” leaving the dressing room.

I think we start 2027 with a bit of a target on our back, we had a bit of a free hit this year. I think we are a team that others would do some tape on and figure out a way to stop us - the Roosters did a good job of limiting us - but they executed that pretty much perfectly, and only just got the job done with the help of Tedesco setting records, Marky Mark doing some incredible things and Whyte/Leniu going to work against an understrength middle.

I think it comes down to how motivated the players are. I don’t think AOB was able to motivate and inspire in the end of his time here. Holbrook brought in something fresh, seemingly trusts their instincts a little and has got them playing some nice footy that looks fun to play.

If they come back determined to start their dynasty - sky is the limit.
If they come back expecting things to fall into place, without the work, it could be disappointing.

At the start of this season, I think most of us would have been stoked with making the 8. I think top 8 was a realistic “good season”.
I think we’d pencil in top 8 as an expectation in 2027. Top 4 would be a “good season”, and hopefully Top 4 becomes the expectation thereafter.

 

[RedBlue]

I would think both. If I had to pick, outlier was last year. Wooden spoon was unfair and hugely overachieved GF, but not 7th position, I think 7th was our real measure. I was hoping top 8 with our main players back on deck but after Manly I instantly thought we are for sure a top 8 team. I was so impressed, some serious flair.

While I understand key losses in Gags and Friz, but with the amount of improvements in Manu, McEwen, Crouch, Hopwood (hell, everyone did!) etc, we are 2 times better. I’m expecting top 6 and ‘hope’ for top 4 and/or prem final. But as per usual, we get 42 injuries like yesterday. So we’ll see

I think Sharks annd cowboys are done (and Souths if I had to pick another, Roosters massive losses), we take Warriors spot, broncos and storm back in.

 

[Billy]

Our 2015 reserve grade side had a similar season.
Limped into 7th with a very young squad and then went on to win the GF.
Lot's of young players from that side had wonderful careers - Jake Saifiti, Lachlan Fitzgibbon, Danny Levi, Jake Mamo, Luke Yates, Carlos Tuimavae, Kerrod Holland.
That was at a lower level though.
I imagine the young guys who played their arses off this year will mostly kick on and have a much higher ceiling.

 

[HarVeeGee13]

A handful of key starters in the team are all yet to have played a complete season of first grade yet, it would be flabbergasting if this is as good as Cody Hopwood or Lachlan Crouch ever gets for example.

 

[R_A]

Sitting at work thinking, was last year the outlier or was it this year ?

Did we overachieve this year or underachieve last year?

Definitely underachieved this year. They were well within the reach of the 8 when everyone was healthy when you think about it. No surprise the boost of guys like Brown etc has also contributed to the winning. Seeing improvements in others (Dom, Bradman etc) also helping.

It does feel like this is the best team and window we've had since those 95-2004 days too.

 

[MullosLefttoRight]

Top 4 minimum for the foreseeable future. Many will say we come "back to the pack" but our performance this season was closer to our worst-case than our best-case - anyone else missing a quarter of their salary cap doesn't make a Grand Final, let alone lose by 1 point. Short of another disastrous injury toll, we're a top 4 side - even with significant injuries, the squad is built with the depth necessary to remain competitive.

A few genuine issues we will need to contend with:

Playstyle - our attack this year was genuinely unique and tailored to the strengths of our team. From next season this style will no longer be novel, teams will have studied us, there are weaknesses to our attacking disposition, teams will have a plan to make this as hard as possible. Positive is that our forward pack should be much stronger, which will open different opportunities for the side.

Gagai - A crucial element of our attacking strength, to the extent that he enabled the early shifts to reach Dom so consistently and effectively. I don't see any of his replacements emulating Gags' ability to put Dom away but they will bring their own strengths - attacking (and defensive) structures will need to be adapted accordingly.

Backrow depth - Embarrassment of riches, no wrong answer but there is probably a right one. For mine, Manuleleua on the left as his combination with Sharpe was brilliant almost immediately, Lucas on the right as he can take the extra defensive responsibility/workload of defending on the right edge, McEwen as a middle-edge hybrid.

Minutes in the Middle - Tough decisions to be forced by the emergence of Hopwood and Crouch. Graham/Smith/Hagan all competing for Phoenix's break. Injuries happen but key characters from the fairytale will inevitably be required to compete for their spot again. Real "iron sharpens iron", which is good for the squad but will create recruitment and retention conundrums fairly quickly.

 

[HarVeeGee13]

Backrow depth - Embarrassment of riches, no wrong answer but there is probably a right one. For mine, Manuleleua on the left as his combination with Sharpe was brilliant almost immediately, Lucas on the right as he can take the extra defensive responsibility/workload of defending on the right edge, McEwen as a middle-edge hybrid.

Minutes in the Middle - Tough decisions to be forced by the emergence of Hopwood and Crouch. Graham/Smith/Hagan all competing for Phoenix's break. Injuries happen but key characters from the fairytale will inevitably be required to compete for their spot again. Real "iron sharpens iron", which is good for the squad but will create recruitment and retention conundrums fairly quickly.

When you look at the Roosters, this year they had Siua Wong, Salesi Foketi, Angus Crichton, Nat Butcher, Egan Butcher & Victor Radley on the books, all capable of playing second row, lock or as interchange middles (side note: How are they cap compliant and how is this their first premiership this year?) and you can't really say it's done them any harm or caused friction. In fact it seems to have helped them be the freshest team at the end of the season. Hell of a luxury to start the season with Crichton in the back row with Foketi as a 20 minute impact forward, and then be able to swap those players in those roles in the grand final after Angus has a bit of a rough run with injury.

I think we should just think of it as a squad & us having the ability to rest guys when they get niggles or pull up tight rather than have them push through it.

Bradman Best has hamstring tightness? 4. Dylan Lucas 11. Jermaine McEwen 12. Francis Manuleleua.

Mat Croker's starting to look a bit too beaten up and needs a week off to refresh himself? 13. Phoenix Crossland 9. Harrison Graham 14. Sandon Smith.

Phoenix needs a week off, and we're worried about a lack of starch without him in the middle as a starter? 13. Marata Niukore (hey look I found a role) 9. Harrison Graham 14. Sandon Smith 15. Mat Croker.

Dylan Lucas is wearing down a bit? Get in jersey 17 this week mate and come on for 20-30 minutes at the end of the game if we need you.

It's a long season. We should be able to put a good team on the park through the dog days of June and July now, rather than sweating on getting our "best 19" back. That's huge.