So with 2018 best left to the annals of history and our side clearly unsettled leading into the 2019 season, where do our strengths lie?
You'd have to say our backline is far from the potent, try scoring threat it was in 2017. That was a combination of size, strength and speed the envy of many of our opponents, not least due to the beast of a man called Semi Radradra.
2018's backline was small, struggled in defence and lacked potency. That being said we have made some headway on that front. Clint Gutherson should be back to near full fitness (research suggests it can take up to 12 months after return from injury for an ACL patient to fully return to peak performance), Blake Ferguson has been recruited along with Maika Sivo who could provide plenty of punch out of the backfield.
For me, the backline is very much a question of what if? Ferguson and Sivo could instantly find themselves at home in the blue and gold, while Michael Jennings could show us the form of 2017 and we've got a potent backline that's threatening on both sides of the field. But right now, it's not our strength.
The halves are our biggest issue. In 2018 they didn't gel and now with the departure of Corey Norman it's up to Mitchell Moses to lead the side around the park without a single senior player in the spine to help him. The Eels will likely look to one of Jaeman Salmon or Dylan Brown but both are rookies with Brown yet to make his NRL debut.
Personally the halves are my biggest worry. We're relying on Moses having a near-representative season in order for us to have a chance at the top eight. He's talented, he's highly regarded by Brad Fittler who has included him in the NSW set up over the summer and let's hope he's learnt a thing or two from Freddy and Andrew Johns.
Onto the backrow and lock. I see this as being our strength. Nathan Brown had a poor season by his standards in 2018, that was likely due to the several injuries he played with as well as being part of a forward pack that was bashed from pillar to post. At his best Brown is up there with the best locks in the game. The Eels were hit hard with injury in the backrow last year. Manu Ma'u sat out a large part of the season due to a broken face, Tepai Moeroa had his own struggles with injury while we had the debut of Marata Niukore who was one of the few bright spots in a terrible season.
Shaun Lane has been added to bolster our second row stocks and he poses a genuine try-scoring threat on the edge, while Andrew Davey has arrived from Townsville Blackhawks (Cowboys feeder side) to provide depth and injury cover if needed. I don't see Davey as an essential part of the team.
The props are where we really struggled last year alongside multiple injuries to our hookers. Kane Evans has so far been a bust while Tim Mannah struggled to get consistent game time. The only forward who could hold his head high last year was Daniel Alvaro who has shown plenty of improvement since his debut.
Parramatta lacked an impact prop and have addressed that by recruiting Junior Paulo from Canberra. I don't think the addition of Paulo can be overstated. He was nearing Origin contention when he left for the nation's capital and is a talented forward with the ability to break the line and supply a late offload.
Breakdown:
Backs - Neither here nor there. Weren't our strength last season but the addition of Ferguson and Sivo could see the backline flourish again.
Halves - Likely a weakness if Moses doesn't play at his best. His worst game will have to be a 7/10 if we want to play finals.
Backrow - Our biggest strength. At full fitness Moeroa, Ma'u, Brown, Lane and Niukore can terrorise their opposite numbers.
Front row - Were this still last year's pack I'd say it's a glaring weakness but the addition of Paulo has me a little more optimistic. Neither Mannah or Evans are necessarily pack leaders but Mannah has always been at his best following a big charge from a teammate where his quick ruck speed makes a difference.
Hooker - It will be interesting which hooker gets the nod to start this season between Pritchard or Mahoney. Kaysa is all heart but lacks the incisiveness of a top line dummy-half. Mahoney is young, relatively small but he's a threat close to the line and showed a willingness to run last season.
Comments
Mentioned this in another blog.moving Niukore back to his preferred position of centre and perhaps Taka to the bench fills a gap as long as Maratas defense out wide is as good as his jnr days.Running wide at speed is his biggest asset and was the reason we bought him in the first place i thought.
Marata is a big guy, I don't think moving him into the centres is the best decision given we aren't flush with back rower depth. Our depth chart would be Ma'u, Moeroa, Niukore, Taka, Davey plus if a junior like Faingaa got promoted or Ray Stone had to be a make shift edge player for a match.
How many second rowers do you think we need to be flush with depth in the position? You've named 5 there which can cover 2 teams and you've missed out on Lane and possibly Gower who can also fill in there. 6 possibly 7 players. One in 5 players in our squad can be classed as second-rowers and you have 3 in first grade. It's probably the one position we are flushed with depth in.
So if you throw in Lane and Gower, although Gower mostly plays in the middle when he comes on, you've really only got four front line NRL proven players at second row. Niukore has only played 14 games.
So your starting back row is Ma'u and Moeroa with Lane and Niukore off the bench. Any injuries hit and you're trying to plug the gap with a Taka, Gower, Davey or a junior. And none of them are heavily experienced at NRL level in the backrow.
So your top four backrowers is basically all the serious depth you have. Beyond that, you're looking at rookies or utilities.
Go 5 deep at any club and you won't find a player that isn't a utility or inexperienced. Who's the roosters #5 second rower? Sitili Tupouniua? Josh Curran? Unless you're a fan of the club anyone would be struggling to name the #5 second rower
Actually the Roosters depth chart for the backrow would look like this:
Angus Crichton
Boyd Cordner
Mitch Aubusson
Isaac Liu
Sio Siua Taukeiaho
Victor Radley
Nat Butcher
The Roosters have a lot of utility value in their forwards with those utilities very experienced in the back-row either as a junior or at NRL and international level. That's the difference for us. We'd be trying to use someone like a Takairangi whereas the Roosters can use someone like Taukeiaho as a stop-gap in the back-row.
We have zero strengths.
# our spine will have to be the most unsettled & inexperienced in the competition with moses the only player out of the four who we can rubber stamp.
# Our front row situation isn't top 8 standard. We are still lacking in the dominating prop department.
# we're unsettled in the centres, with Jennings reportedly being shopped around and Takairangi looking as slow as ever.
The only thing I'm looking forward to is our junior situation with Brown, Faainga, Utoikamanu, Kahfusi, Parry, Dunster and Salmon coming through along with Mahoney - but I'm not exactly filled with confidence as we've seen previously with our previous bunch of hopefuls such as Twal, Matto, Aloia, Dargan and co. who were also touted as future stars.
For mine Arthur gets a 3/10 when it comes down to recruitment, junior success rate and results, which should mean we should be looking at cutting him at years end without any doubt.
I actually think our outside backs are potentially quite decent and could be our strength. But it will involve Arthur making some brave selection decisions and not trying to play it safe. I’d go;
1. French
2. Ferguson
3. Gutherson
4. Jennings
5. Sivo
I think we have to throw caution to the wind a bit this season. If Sivo is a little raw, so be it. No one is expecting us to perform so we could surprise a few sides.
I have no doubt Sivo is a bit raw otherwise, with his other attributes Gus Gould would have retained him. If you listen to Gus he loves big athletic backs. However we don’t have the abundance of talent Penrith seen to have at the moment and as others have pointed out Semi was deemed a bit raw too. These Fijian flyers going back to players like Nadruku for Canberra seem to thrive on big games.