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.
Please BE, don't think i am giving them a pass. 2021 off season alone is enough to dispise them as that set the club back years. Losing Mahoney and Papali'i including a few depth players, then having Paulo, RCG and Matto have us over a barrel for extensions and pay rises with Dolphins lurking and options in contracts.
If someone asks me, which nobody does as who cares haha, would i keep Russell or let him walk, i would say keep him. But at the same time when you have a club offer 4 years on top of an over pay of salary, he is crazy not to take it and we are crazy to match it.
But just over that being used as some sort of receipt to bash R&R more when if they gave him 4 years at that salary and how he played yesterday this place erupts with how bad R&R are. Not everything is their fault is all i am saying.
where do you want the bullet ? Lol
i can't see Bamblet being given a chance there. Already been arguing if we develop him as a 1 or 6. Adding another position will hurt his development I believe. Needs consistency in a position to develop
Square in the temple might do haha.
Though i see it as a slight possibility to get him into FG via either Wing or Centre if they feel he can play it. Who knows, he could find his way into Cup in those spots later in the year and see how he handles it.
Or Ryles and co. could just see him as a Fullback/Five-Eighth only and that's the way it is. He out of all the juniors is quite possibly the most fascinating to see how he gets to FG, if he does.
Again, it is all forecasting with no clue of the future.
There should be a competition where a) the 1EE R&R Experts pick a player who they believe we should pay overs for, then they b) critique "the club" (like they're stuck in Dylan Brown World) for NOT paying overs, and then we watch c) that player play bog average, whereupon we d) rank the 1EE R&R Experts by their degree of silence about it.
It would be better if 1EE members just critiqued or praised players without adding their half baked "sack the club" plan as a very much cherry picked topping.
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.
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