Eels Blogs

Replies

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  Bourbon Man October 14, 2009 at 12:37pm

  To be honest, he's ideally suited to 5/8th as he possesses a good kicking and passing game, and has the vision to put players into space. Unfortunately, as would be the case at hooker, if he played that close to the action, he'd be monstered in defence and would be forced to make so many tackles such that it would blunt any effectiveness in attack.
  
  I think you'll find DA and the conditioning staff will attempt to convert Reddy into a rangy, free running interchange lock forward in the mould of a Steve Menzies. Whether it works or not remains to be seen.
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    1Eyed Eel > Bourbon Man October 14, 2009 at 2:47pm

    I personally don't think Joel will work in the forwards. I think its a string that he should add to his bow as he is your absolutely ideal utility but he is not an aggressive defender, he's a technical defender.
    
    If you compare to Ben Smith, who was always a get up in your face and monster the opposition defender - which is why I was always very confident he would make the transition to forward. A lot of Joel's tackles he looks like he's missed but he does enough to bring them down.
    
    Also if I remember rightly, Joel put down his injury-free year to not trying to bulk up. He said he tried to add bulk the previous year and his body didn't copy very well with it.
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      Will > 1Eyed Eel October 16, 2009 at 7:56am

      Completely agree... while at times he doesnt look like it reddy knows exactly what he needs to do and he knows how to finish better than anyone else in the game
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  Paul Flynn October 14, 2009 at 12:56pm

  I think he could be hidden in defence and maybe push k keating into 9 for defence as he is a bit tougher and more robust then Burty. Your idea has merit as well but i think that what he has done with Ben Smith already and they will be very similar. It is killing me already bring on the next footy season. My team for round 1 next season would be. Not sure about the rotation of props as we could make a case for any of those starting, it is a very good luxury to have.
  1 Hayne
  2 Inu
  3 Reddy
  4 Tahu
  5 Grothe
  6 Mortimer
  7 K keating
  13 Mateo
  12 Ben Smith
  11 Hindy
  10 Moi Moi
  9 M keating
  8 Poore
  
  14 Burt
  15 Cayless
  16 Shackleton
  17 Mannah
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    Djl > Paul Flynn October 14, 2009 at 1:00pm

    we cant have our captain on the bench
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      jamesy > Djl October 14, 2009 at 3:11pm

      yes you can when they are a front rower, whats the difference with having him come on after 20 mins as opposed to have him come off after 20 mins? caylo never plays 80mins anyway.
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        1Eyed Eel > jamesy October 14, 2009 at 3:43pm

        The more I think about it, the more I think he'll start in the second row. This is how I would rotate them. 8. Poore 10. Moimoi 11. Hindmarsh 12. Cayless. I think you take Moimoi off after 15-20 mins and replace him with say Ben Smith/Feleti and Cayless moves up into front row. You don't have to make anymore replacements in the backrow. Mannah replaces Poore at about 25-30 mins and then you bring Fuifui back on for a final 10 minutes in place of Cayless and you're starting the second half with him as well. Hook him after 15 and replace him with Poore and then bring him back for the final 10-12 minutes. Cayless replaces Mannah after 15 mins and finishes the match.
        
        Means you get a good 55 to 60 minutes out of Fuifui but he only has to do around 15 minutes at any one time to keep him fresh. I've only made 6 interchanges there as well.
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  Djl October 14, 2009 at 1:06pm

  id really like to see tom humble at 14 his pace out of dummy half will be very dangerous and he has all the skills of jarryd hayne , the question is can he pull it off in first grade u never know if u dont try.
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  Paul Flynn October 14, 2009 at 1:41pm

  i think it is a very big call on humble, Burt is a very experienced first grader and humble is very unproven, Will like to see him suceed but i think comparing him to Burt (a guy with 10 years experience in grade) and Hayne (Australian rep).
  Teams hide players in defence every week ie Lockyer for Brisbane, he has had a "protector" for a lot of his career since he has moved to 5/8 and we could do the same with someone like Ben Smith, Hindy or Shackleton for Luke Burt when he comes on.
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    Bourbon Man > Paul Flynn October 14, 2009 at 2:06pm

    You can't hide a hooker - they're in the middle of the ruck and are expected to defend the ruck stoutly!