This game is potentially huge for our season.
Thanks to Roosters and Bunnies choking this week, a win here would give us 2nd place outright and put a 2 and 4 pt gap on 3rd (Roosters) and 4th (Manly/Souths). With our superior f/a, that amounts to a 4 and 6pt gap on 3rd, 4th and safely entrenched inside the top 2 and perhaps battling it out with penrith for the minor premiership.
Lose this however and we are dragged back into the shitfight for the edge of the 4 alongside roosters, rabbits and possibly manly. So winning this puts us in pole position to finish top 2 this year and have 2 home finals with the favorable origin period coming up.
As others have said, the gameplan is simple. Recreate the Melbourne defensive effort and win the middle, bash Walsh and Mam. out of this game and kick the young fella Coates to death. The AKP/Coates matchup could work in our favor. With Mariner out, I think we have the edge in backline speed today.
The start is super important today: almost all magic round games have been decided in the first 20-30 minutes when one side just didn't turn up. Control the start, and we will grind them down over the course of the 80 minutes.
Wahs 36 Broncs 18.