Greetings all!
I havent posted since our defeat to the Cows last week. I was angry and devastated at the same time not so much in the loss but the below par performance we came up with in the most important game of the season with 40K of our fans present. I'm not going to go into the details of that game as I think it's pointless.
Next season we will be without Semi. Arguably the world's best winger. I thought the Guru was great until I saw the freaky things Semi has done for us over the years. Strong, fast, skillful and very fit. Tries out of nothing and easily brushing off one on one defenders. This is devastating for us because Semi won us games this year on his own freakish account when we could have easily lost them. He is simply irreplaceable.
Semi leaving and us not knowing if he will return, together with the single singing of Kane Evans leaves us in a much weaker position. It can't take the Meehan gamble seriously and who knows if the Guth will return as good as he was when he went down injured.
We do have some cap space but both Brown and Guth need to be upgraded. Will Corey reach consistent form he showed last year which had him running for the Dally M?
We definitely need beefier forwards to match teams like Storm, Roosters, Cows and Sharks. It's ok to have a lighter pack against certain teams who have unfit big forwards but the guys that play for the teams I mentioned are not overweight plodders like we had in Vave and Fritchard.
I'm very worried that if we don't make 2-3 signings for starting positions, we will regress and struggle to make the 8.
Here is a big question. Would Cooper Cronk be able to make things happen for us? Is it worth the gamble to tell Corey to move on? We would need to give Cronk at least a 2 year contract. Mitch Moses would have a master player who's proven himself at every level to learn from.
I'd love to hear your thought people!
Parra 'til I die!
Replies
Cheat!
LOL. Drugs - lots and lots of serious drugs.
Agree Slugg,
And two hard boiled eggs.
And one duck egg.
Agree Slugg.
The truly great clubs move on players once their time has come - Parra notoriously don't.
We need to make some tough decisions, primarily around Mannah and Taka but I don't think BA will.
I guess we will wait and see what he comes up with.
We need a wise leader
We need a better reputation with the refs so we get the 50:50s
We don’t need Cooper
We need a Cam Smith and a JWH and. Vaughn/ Latu/ /Junior
The chopping and changing in the spine is a hard one to combat.I thought we did exceptionally well in that regard this year.
Losing Semi is what it is we just aren't replacing that guy so the team is going to have to make it up in other areas.
Experience and staying in the fight under pressure is a thing I'd like to see this team improve in don't look for the easy option.I think this comes with experience.To me that's where we lost our way in the finals.
Talent upgrades well I too would like to see us get another yardage prop a different body type in what we have.I know they have signed Evans but I think we need another guy like that.Hooker I'm on the King train here and I'd roll with Kaysa as the backup.I like the latters toughness you can't coach that.
Backs I'd love to see French and Gutho go at it for the f/back spot next year and let the best man win.Wingers Im not normally a throw a young guy in there but the GL kid from the 20s I can put an off season together and he can prove to BA and co he can handle defensive duties throw him in there.
A lot can be said for keeping a team together. Combinations mature, set plays become slicker, defensive plays are stronger. BA has managed to keep nearly all of the team together.
Don't forget we made Top 4 with a 3rd string hooked, a 3rd string fullback and a set of halves who had played a few months of footy together ever. There's a heap of growth potential there.
Throw in two guys who can bend and bust the line and make a quick play of the ball and we're suddenly able to win those games when we got stuck in our own 20 and lacked the size to punch out.
The only other thing I'd add is brains. We need more calm heads. You hear how Cronk spoke after the game last night, "I just try to stay clinical and cold hearted and do my job. Emotion can make you play badly." - we need that attitude from our spine. Clinical and cold. I think Moses has the ability to get there, I'm 50/50 with Norman.
So in short, brains and muscle. A bit more of both and we're in with a real shot next year. Oh, and some luck, everyone needs a bit of that.
We need a leader and a potent prop, Cronk would be a great buy and would help control the game and would be a huge influence on Moses development on and off the field unlike Corey. I would move Cory to fullback, guth to centre and bevan to wing, along with jenko and GL that is a lethal backline with great control and patience. Prop is the problem, it is size but more so players with strong and fast leg speed who make post contact metres, look at kenny and a couple of roosters back rowers, not the biggest but potent and always make yards. We should be looking at this stat and targeting the right players. I'm really not sold on evans, I don't know his stats, I know he is tall but there have been plenty of tall dud players, they need to be strong runners. Sorry for the long response I don't get on offten, like you been in recovery :-)
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