Have watched last nights game v Knights twice now and for whatever reason since last season, Cameron King is now a poor 9. If we had a 9 like Hodgson or Smith we would have easily won last nights game and probably quite a few other games this season. close or not. So many pivotal moments where our attack and defence turned to crap last night was due to the extenuating domino effect caused by our 9.
With Norman and Moses not having any composure and with Guth still recovering from last seasons ACL recon, our spine is 100% spineless and it showed with Hayne maintaining composure and focus out wide throughout the game and this had Hayne stand out as our best player, daylight second.
Cameron King does not know how to control a game, both in attack and defence, and is now basically a headless chook running around the yard until it drops dead, reliant on other players to provide the brain trust in slowing down or speeding up, or setting formation patterns for particular block or expansion plays, etc, and this leads to so much confusion appearing last night and with it, crap passes, kicks and all types of mumble-jumbles in attack and defence.
We need a damn good 9 to be our CPU, otherwise, we need to completely rip apart our current spine to make sure we have a 2019 CPU in our spine.
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I've never seen any real brains trust in Kaysa and we don't have it in the rest of our current spine either, so all we will get in our spine are Peacocks strutting around the yard displaying their skill strengths, but nothing cohesive coming from the directive management of an 80 minute game plan and we will continue to get beaten in spite of our spines colourful or non colourful displays. In the big picture, Kaysa is not the answer either.
Choc, Kaysa brings energy to the position, sometimes his passes are not great but he is non stop, that has rubbed off on his team mates in the past, when he came back into the side before his last injury we lost the first game but then won two with him before injury.
Sure he and others in other teams have injury concerns but I don't believe they go out and get injured on purpose. Its too late to sign anyone for this year, Mahoney only got NRL approval to play NRL when we had injury issues so he's back in ISP or Flegg.
The choice for the rest of this year is King or Pritchard as 9, the only other option may be Gutho to 9 and a backline reshuffle.
Colin, now is the time, though the time to experiment started weeks ago, to either find a player amongst our lot who can become our 2019 general in the spine or to find through a reshuffle after a reshuffle, a mix in the spine that collectively will provide the brains trust and clear directives for our 2019 season, something on par to what happened mid-late 2017 season - the later would suit Kaysa but not the aforementioned. Or we buy that player, but who is out there in RL, Super League and Rugby worldwide????
Choc, in many ways we are hamstrung for the choice of who to have in the crucial 9 spot as its now past the time where we should have the empty spots filled for the 3 vacant spots in the top 30, why nothing has come from it is beyond me, we had only one spot open until Edwards was punted and Beau retired creating 2 more openings, the NRL has said clubs must abide that ruling but nothing has come out from them or the club regarding it.
I would say that we are basically left only with the choices of King, Pritchard, or Smith unless one of the other players can fill the 9 spot, and why I suggested Gutho, who had been going in to that role last year. Therefore we have 3 players to choose from, I nominate Pritchard over King and Smith and he needs to stay in the spot till the season finally finishes.
Next year Mahoney will likely be added to the top squad, but will King or Pritchard get an extension as both are off contract end of this year. The options are sign someone from outside but out of those who may be available, I certainly see no value in Segeyaro, but Nikorima could be a fair option, and I think Luke is really only a one year option owing to him being 32 next year.
If we go with those from the club and not someone outside, then I believe there is a need to bring in someone who can be mentoring the player/s who will play as our 9. Mahoney has promise but a lot to learn before he can really take up the full time 9 spot.
Leadership, composure and game management are essential in the spine and Kaysa, Cameron and Will don't have it. Kieran Foran showed great promise before the demise of his "head-space" and we've not had another player like this since, and we need it if we want to go places next season, particularly deep into the finals. If he gets really fit and is no longer plagued by injuries, and he passionately wants to leave the game on a high standard, then Jarryd Hayne may be the only player we've got on our books capable of taking on this leadership role and being successful at it. Its that or we need to buy such a player for next season. Our squad is floundering without it and BA is responsible to make this happen. Currently in the spine, BA does not have such a player able to carry out what they practice at training for 80 minutes.
Some good points there Mathew. BA has to make some tough calls regarding recruitment & retention for 2019. I just hope he makes decisions that are truly in the best interest of our top squad moving forward. How many other players have been given as many chances as Kaysa?
Mathew, even if BA put strict conditions on Kaysas' style of play & makes him concentrate more on his attack & minimize the amount of energy he spends defending, rival coaches would instruct all their forwards to run at him & nullify his attack that way.
All coaches identify the weak points in attack when playing their opponents. Why they target our right side so much with kicks and fast plays by their backs. Certainly when a team has smaller forwards they are also targeted by their big men, thing is some are better at it than others, and we are in the others atm.
What do you mean now? Our 9 has been crap for many years..
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