na. at full strength or close to it with our best lineup we're easily a shot to take like 7th or 8th. assuming we pick the right lineup too.
Perfect example of why I've written Canberra off. There's no good reason why the Raiders, if they're a real threat should lose a game like this given the disparity in quality across the two teams. I know it was at Campbelltown but ffs.
I thought you said it was ridiculous to take anything out of games during origin with key players out?
No. As you well know that was in the context of the Roosters/Dogs game in which both sides had key players missing. I didn't say it as a general and broad statement applicable to any and all games played during Origin. This is obviously quite different because Canberra were not ravaged by injury or Origin, as Wests more or less were. An appropriate analog to this would be the Roosters at full strength or thereabouts losing to the Dogs side we saw the other night without Morris and Reynolds.
Morris & Reynolds are really no more important to the dogs than Fergusson & Papalii to the Raiders. I think you're just making it up as you go tbh.
And I think you're looking for an argument by taking the comment out of it's context. Even if you think the comparison is legitimate, I clearly don't so you can't fashion a crude non sequitur to imply impropriety on my part.
I think Canberra can cover Papalii and Ferguson better than the Dogs can Morris and Reynolds. And I think Easts can cover Pearce, Maloney, Jennings and JWH much better than Wests can Farah, Woods, Tedesco, Anasta and partly Iosefa who went off with a broken arm. Even if the sum of these players is roughly equivalent, who you have to replace them is quite another matter. The Dogs probably should've beaten Easts but Canberra absolutely should've beaten Wests. In fact they should've beaten them well. Wests are fucking abysmal.
I think it's largely a mental problem with Canberra though. And in the end, your ability to get yourself up for games against rubbish teams when both sides are without Origin players is going to be pretty irrelevant in the finals. That's why I don't worry about it too much; they're not inconsistent because their structure lends to it, so they'll lift for finals footy.
It's suggestive and symptomatic of a real problem though when you're teetering on the very edge of the 8 with a log jam behind you, and you can't get up for a game against wooden spoon material because Josh Papalii is off with the QLD team. They got Shillo back which is a totally unexpected surprise bonus. They're erratic and they suck away from home. You can't downplay that because this isn't perfectly analogous to what they'll experience in finals footy. Give up on them, EWS. You know you want to
