Can the force threaten?

[Lock]

Can the force cause some boilovers and be on the verge of a finals spot next year?
WIth the recruits and not as many injuries, a mid tableor better assessment for the end of the season is not unrealistic is it?

[Shaun]

Lock I like to think so to; but high expectations in only the second season are maybe a bit too much. But I believe they can have a finals birth for sure with a bit of luck.

[Darren]

We look pretty damned good on paper, but I think we may still need a season for te players to get to know each other well enough to be competitive for a finals berth. We certainly have the goods - its just getting them together. I have no doubt we'll play a big part ion a few upsets though!

[frontrow]

I reckon there is every possibility we will make a good go of it this year, i reckon 6th or better

[Sagerian]

Nup. I'd like to think I did a pretty acurate analysis and picked them to finish about 9th, it'd be great to see them go higher though..


Bit of patience, they'll get there.

[James]

Something to me seems missing from the forward pack. If you look back at the couldda beens from last year you'd imagine that the top half is quite possible, but making the finals is still a pretty big call. If you don't remember we were all talking about how well the Force would do in the APC and they didn't really live up to that.

[Lock]

James, going one step further from your comment.

What are the Force deficiencies that stand out to everyone?
Where could we get exposed that may halt our run up the ladder?

[The Lone Hydrangea]

James, going one step further from your comment.

What are the Force deficiencies that stand out to everyone?
Where could we get exposed that may halt our run up the ladder?

Q1 Not sure im, happy with 1 to 22
Q2 Injuries, SA refs and the rub of the green

Sorry James.

[James]

I am confident the Force forwards will make a solid(ish) attacking platform. There is enough talent in the backs to get some great running play happening. I think the main possiblity of let down there is handling or perhaps communication. I am most concerned with defensive patterns. It was pretty clear from last season defence was lacking most. Once again though thats a problem that rectified by A) experience as a team B) experience in general and C) quality coaching. Each of those is covered (in my opinion) but to what extent?

[Burgs]

I would beg to differ on the defensive patterns comment James.
I assume your implication is that because we lost we have bad defence?
My observation of the season is that it was in fact ball control/retention that resulted in our last place, not defence.
We were probably playing defence for more minutes than any other team yet we rarely had a blow out scoreline.
If you are continually defending then it is inevitable that teams will eventually get through, but for the most part the Force defended their try line admirably.
Our biggest glaring fault for '06 was our inability to retain the ball through multi phases to build our own pressure on the oppossition try line.
If you look at Coach's Force Tries package, the majority of our tries came from three or less phases and several from extreme defensive pressure to create the turnover.
Every aspect of '06 needs to improve for '07 however I don't believe that our defensive work was the main factor in winning the wooden spoon.
Following the strong showing in our inaugural year, the performances by our Rep players during the winter and the excellent recruitments in the off season, I am confident of a far better result at the end of '07 and believe that anything less than mid field would be considered a failure by the team themselves. Due to fixturing etc I would think that up to ten of next years matches are winnable however, as the Crusaders match this season showed, anything is possible on the day.

[Happy]

Something to me seems missing from the forward pack. If you look back at the couldda beens from last year you'd imagine that the top half is quite possible, but making the finals is still a pretty big call. If you don't remember we were all talking about how well the Force would do in the APC and they didn't really live up to that.

I'll agree I doubt we will make finals but our pack has bulked up an aweful lot in the off season!!!

[James]

I certainly think that turnovers and handling errors were a big issue, but think about the games against the Reds/Cats/Highlanders they were "won" in the first 30 minutes and then easy tries were let through. Against the Blues/Chiefs/Sharks/Hurricanes a lot of tries were also let through. I don't know, I am sure many people would disagree. To me its just as important to stop tries as it is to score them.

[Dramoth]

It was the handling errors on the whole that were our biggest problems last year.

That and the fact that there was no real team experience in the squad that allows the players to know who is running where and when. I think that after 12 months of training together and playing together as a squad, we are going to be a lot better and the players will trust in their team mates to be where they are expecting them to be.

We saw the start of the cohesion in the crusaders match and it was slowly building up from there. This year, while we are not going to explode and take the world by storm, we are going to shock a few of the better sides and you can bet that the Crusaders will be bringing their full game face to the next match.

I reckon that we will finish in the top 8 teams this year. Next year, I reckon that we will be pushing for a finals berth.

[popgun]

quick look at next years draw gives me great hope,win the first two drop to the bulls,return to beat the 4th sa team,lose in sydney draw with hurricanes ( I'm originally from wellington so hard to walk away from them completely!!).Smash the reds at home have the bye return with a win over sharks,drop the next two in NZ snatch a win in canberra,beat the cheetahs at home and take another win over a very tired blues outfit.8 wins,1 draw and 4 losses result home semi final awaits!!!

[JediKnight]

quick look at next years draw gives me great hope,win the first two drop to the bulls,return to beat the 4th sa team,lose in sydney draw with hurricanes ( I'm originally from wellington so hard to walk away from them completely!!).Smash the reds at home have the bye return with a win over sharks,drop the next two in NZ snatch a win in canberra,beat the cheetahs at home and take another win over a very tired blues outfit.8 wins,1 draw and 4 losses result home semi final awaits!!!

Right, that's the rugby tipping done for next year!!! Wonder if any bookie will give us odds for these results at this early stage!