Personally, I do not think our club needs to buy any premier player on the market. We need to develop the players we have and upgrade the contracts because our current squad already have the potential to win a competition. Players like Papali'i, Roache & Carty would be worth more and want contract upgrades.
Penisini will be NRL ready next year. His potential looks endless. Every game he has been improving in the reggies. He was a bit shaky at the start of the year, understandbly since COVID last year and his very young age. He is our strike center moving forward. We do not need to buy one. It is up to BA whether that means Opacic or Blake are not in the NRL side or Blake moves to the wing and Dunster is our first choice back up. I wish he got a crack against the dogs.
I really hope we unlock the potential for Roache to be our number 14. He is like a B Smith. He can be our permanent 14 moving foward as he can play hooker or lock. Mahoney is definitely an 80 minute hooker. So, he would most likely be a lock or play when we have already won the game to Mahoney a spell. If all things go well, he should be upgraded to our top 30 next year.
I expect D Brown and Moses to unleash at the back end of this year. D Brown is showing glimpses of instinct and threats in games. Against the tigers he was really good in the first halve with his kicking game espicially. He was quite in the second half except for the line break which caused the Tigers sin bin. Nonetheless, he is a great defender for us. Moses just needs to continue to run. His explosive speed breaks tackles.
Our starting 13 can win the compeition this year. Our foward back is great. Only thing is that our new edge combinations have not been tested against top teams yet.
Our bench was a big let down last year. But, we have great depth this year, and who BA selects on the bench will be critical for our games. Carty, Lane, Niukore, Kaufusi, Roache, Hipgrave, Stone & Smith will all be fightning for spots on the bench. I would like to add Makatoa to that list. His stats in attack and defense in reggies have been very good. Possible could earn a contract next year IMO. Niukore and Lane seem to be definites on the bench. Roache and Smith will fight for the utility spot (possibly Carty & Perham as well). Kaufusi, Hipgrave, Carty and Stone would fight for the last bench spot.
Next year I hope to see Roache and Makatoa upgraded to our top 30. I doubt think Sam Hughes would be resigned in the top 30. Maybe as a development player since he has gone a couple year without top level footy. I doubt Rankin will resign with us given how low down the pecking order he is. If players join the club next year, it will probabaly just be journey men or players on little money trying to save their NRL career.
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I agree about a back, as we need mree speed there, but I do not believe we need anymore forwards, even allowing for the fact that Lane',s form has slipped somewhat, and, with all due respect, Matto doesn't do a great deal for me. I will be interested to see how Penesini goes in reggies tomorrow
Do you think our players believe they are good enough to win the competition? I think we are a bit frail mentally.
I enjoyed Gus’s commentary last night on Nathan Cleary. He said the big change in Nathan has been his calmness and composure. He can still go full throttle when he has to but he reads the game much better now and is less panicked. He always has time no matter the game situation.
I saw this in Mitchell when we played the storm but too often when the pressure gets applied he goes into frantic mode (the swearing at Gutho last week was evidence of this).
The frustrating thing with Mitchell is we all know he has got all the skills, it just in his mind where the improvement is needed.
I'm surprised it took Mitch that long to yell at him. I love the way Gutho plays like a hyper kid on red cordial but finds it hard to change gears and a lot of our frantic play stems from him.
It's a halfbacks job to not only direct play but to set the tempo. When Gutho steps back and let's Moses run the show (like against the Storm) the team looks calm but when Gutho is in his go go hog mood, that's when the whole team looks erratic.
Love gutho, but agree at times.
I think we need a better orgastrater in the halfs. Dylan's improving slowly and Mitch is to unreliable his stats look good until you break them down. Against the top sides he goes missing. Guthoctrys hard but his not that X factor in attack
We definitetly need an x factor back to compliment Mitch and Dylan. Mitch's stats you say are not as good when going up against the good teams. I dare say that 99% of players stats are worse off when they play a good team, thats what makes them a good team i thought. Further i see a major reason Mitchs stats decline or as you say goes missing " which i dont believe", is because the good teams know that our 1 and only viable point of attack that can worry them starts with and involves Mitch Moses. The good teams target him and shut him down. If we had an x player back added to our team, all of a sudden we have attacking options, and choices, teams can target one point of attack but with an x factor back we would have a real alternative. All the good teams that win comps have at least 2 sometimes 3 xfactor backs in the their team. We dont have that yet. Mitch can take us towards a premeirship, Our forwards can take us towards a premeirship, Guthos passion and attitude can take us towards a premiership, Our forwards can take us towards a premiership, Dylans defence and cover can take us towards a premiership, we just need an x factor back added to win a premiership.
BE, the # 7 is usually the pivotal player in any team especially in regards to attacking, MM does tend to try too hard at times and he can also go MIA. Variation in his kicks also is often very pedestrian like. In saying that he is a vital player for the eels, and can at times take the game as his own but also as if its on hire purchase.
I would like to see Reed being a bit more involved in the kick areas, likewise his darts from DH which takes the opposition by surprise I would like to see more of. The same goes for DB as well. Having 3 players who have the abilities in kicking as well as working together in attack plays is needed a bit more.
Lets not forget also the role that Gutho often takes with his kicks either.
Cant disagree with that Col
Iv said this for ages put gutho at 6 and buy a X factor fullback
Gutho is 10 times the fullback of Dylan Edwards yet Panthers are a top 2 team by light years. So cleary Gutho is not our problem. He saves to many tries in big games and statistically one of the best fullbacks despite not having the 'X-Factor' of a Ponga, Turbo, Ted, etc.
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