We without a doubt have the worst centre pairing in the comp . You can look through every other side - neither of our centres would get a start in any of them . It's an area we have neglected in both recruitment and development. We have a rep level halfback and his strike on his side is battering ram Pensini who lets in 3+ try's a week and runs the 100m in about 22 seconds. He doesn't have the ability to compete for high balls , can't beat a guy with footwork , has errors in his game , can't draw and pass , can't catch and pass , defends on his heals , stops and comes in when the defence is sliding out , lacks attention to finer details .. he's just an out and out battering ram . His carries were pivotal in us beating the Dogs last week but they were needed because he invited the Dogs to score 3 try's.
Rusell isn't any better . Just no class about him at all . On his good days he competes hard and has a crack . He is a bog average player who has no clsss or finesse and worryingly still has more of both then Penisni .
Nanva showed more defensively in 2 games than either of the above 2 have in their first grade career. He has a bit of height and smarts about him and may be one to go with moving forward . We desperately need to recruit a strike centre who can compete athletically . It's an absolute must . If we want to keep Will for his tough carries going forward he needs a new position . He can't play back row because he doesn't have the motor or work ethic - he's gassed after ever carry . It's a dead set massive problem for us moving forward if the club fhinks he's a centre we can build around .
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Adam it is a fair point. The fact that 2 home teams had 40 put on them and 5 teams in 8 weeks have had 50 put on them. Can be an outlier.
Our defence is still rubbish though.
ohhhh so sorry you feel that way Adam and your entitled to your opinion. Can you show me any other Eels team since1947 that has been worse up to round 6 I havnt checked since then . I'n not speaking bullshit, but happy to be prove wrong . For the record I don't accept our team being rooted to the bottom of the ladder, other teams are able to perform better then is. Isn't the point to be champions not just making up the numbers for champion teams to play against us.
I'm not saying the criticism towards R&R are not justified. I'm saying using Russell as an example for their ineptness is not. Remember when we extended him for 2 years and many here said we are inept for keeping him? Now he's gone as a club way over valued him with 4 years and now we are inept for letting him go?
R&R criticism is more than justified, but for certain examples. Russell was an example at the start of the week, now he's rubbish. It is an example of how reactionary a lot of us can be and I'm guilty of that too.
In terms of Penisini, just going off what he said in a presser.
Good points , Different opinions by different people I guess about who should stay who should go.
Centres, a winger today and a new one in a year's time, a 5/8, Props
Until we get some go forward in the middle, doesn't matter what we do on the edges. The only way we even compete at the moment is off the back of Mitch's kicks down field. Ryles obviously recognises that by going after KK, and now Sua. The Dog's have Crichton, the best centre in the game, but he doesn't help if the middles don't dominate.
Like the Storm, our forwards are completely dominated by the bigger packs. As a side note, my partner (Storm fan) said Stephano is even being called out on the Storm forums as built like Tarzan, plays like Jane.
This is what concerns me about Parra development how many of these players are able to make the jump and make a fist of it right a way from what I'm seeing our development outside of DB aren't ready made good to go from the jump they feel under done IMO.
What I don't want the club to come out and say is we are blooding plenty but the FG side still running bottom 6.From what I'm seeing vs alot of the other clubs in the comp our developmental guys coming through are just looking soso there not blowing me away.
I'm not seeing any real athletes or freaks of nature in what's been presented thus far so I guess that's another wait and see much like everything with regards to the club.
With Will when he came onto the scene he looked every bit a future star unfortunately he hasn't kicked on maybe this is his ceiling or maybe hes complacent as he has never had competition for his spot.
Nanva and Samrani both have showed that they need to be considered as contenders for that spot.
Unless we actually recruit someone
See this is the thing if we are going to replace either for Penisini the ceiling is like for like.Both of the mentioned are decent but I see them as depth type players this can't be the ceiling we are looking for.
You'd be better off recruiting Tago from Penrith whose much better than all 3 of the mentioned or swing for the fence and pay Farnworth I mean at this point in time we have to improve the talent in the back 5 not go like for like when replacing or backwards in replacing Lomax.That's the issue as I see it with our side 1 step forward 2 back and so on.
I agree although I feel with Tago you take him away from that Penrith team hes not as good he was a 2nd rower converted to centre over the years you see teams signing players from the Storm,Roosters and Panthers that those teams are willing to realise those players very rarly kick on or look the same because the system they are in suites them
Always exceptions to that statement
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