Absolutely agree. Bond has depth, but Easts and Brothers have GREAT depth. Whilst Bond appear to be the darlings of the 2023 season, Easts are a team that has for the past few seasons, shown heart, talent and depth across the board. They are the template/exemplar for other clubs to follow.
There's a list? UQ have been less underdog and more U-boat this season. Whilst I might appear to advocate for Bond, I advocate more for heads up end to end, and last gasp effort rugby - which Bond has consistently delivered this season. They give the fans something more than run-of-the-mill robotic gameplay, and they challenge other clubs to do the same. Easts have been the template for this (in fact Eli Pilz and Max Craig are my two favourite QPR players by far - and I reckon Craig would be leading the try scoring if not for his U20s stint)). Bond are flying a similar banner to Easts and seem to love scoring from anywhere on the field. I get that the old guard want to discount or discredit them by labelling them ' mercenaries' and a ' cash club' - but I know for a fact that there are multiple players who have turned down paid playing gigs so they can play for Bond for free. They just love their footie.
haha fair enough.
Assuming everyone else is still available I feel like the ideal would be to play O'Connor and Stewart for half each at 12. Alternatively you could push Flook to the wing and run O'Connor at 13, but it's been a while since O'Connor has played at 13.
Backing this point up, every senior men's and colts team at Brothers are in the Finals and Easts are in a similar position, missing two I believe.
Bond don't compete well in the Doughty Shield because they don't field teams in all Grades or all Colts.
Souths as a whole club have been super impressive in my opinion.
Don't think it's quite like that. And Aus A selections will likely give them their chance to play semi finals and finals anyway.
