A recent blog from Poppa regarding Sandow has prompted me to write this blog.
Now let me say I have always defended Sandow from day one. Not everything he has done has come off, sometimes he has off days but that is probably because he is trying too hard and his defence has flaws but not as bad as some people make out.
The determining factor on how good Sandow plays is directly linked with the forwards. It is their performance, or lack of it, that has contributed most to Chris' performance. Even if you have two million dollar halves, as Manly do, if your forwards don't fire neither do your halfs.
If you look back at this year where we have lost, its not because of Sandow, but because BA picked small forwards and bench for most games but also picked in two games the slowest backline in NRL history against two teams with quick backlines!
Its only in the last three games that BA has started including bigger forwards and the teams performance has greatly improved. In two of those losses Sandow was either not present or at fullback. Again the haters criticised Sandow's performance at fb, give me a break, BA should have been criticised for putting him there! Honestly I believe we would have won one if not both of those games if Sandow played halfback.
Now it is with some concern that we only have two large forwards, Junior and Pauli (not re-signed for next year yet). This year, after the Dogs game, we had lost Junior, Pauli, Tepai (injured) and Edwards and suddenly the cupboard was bare. We were left with a small pack and the season went downhill very quickly. Wenty was performing poorly so no forwards were promoted from there.
What concerns me is that we have not signed any large forwards for next year and do not even know if we have any plans to. What happens if we have a heavy injury toll as we have had last two years? Are there plans to promote Wenty forwards? How will Foran perform behind an average pack? The backline is average so imo a good forward pack is even more important.
The major point I'm making here is that a pack of big forwards will nearly always beat a pack of small forwards. Look thru history, go back to an era when no replacements were allowed, and it has always been the same. So what will next year bring?
Replies
I agree with you Glen we should buy big front rows forwards make matters worse I heard a Pauli Pauli mite be going to the Roosters my mate told me and 8 time out of 10 its true j
just think Pauli playing for the roosters F##k me lookout
100% agree about the sandow comment, when he has that extra bit of room he is outstanding. Yes the big forward are helping the opposition hold there line and not rush up giving sandow extra time. But along with big forwards when need versatility because if this interchange rule comes in the big boys wont be so effective. Parra's future in the front row is looking promising they just need the right development, motivation, and our senior players need to lead by example for these young kids. I do understand some players tend to be lazy because they are bigger all the way through to 20's and NSW cup but our coaches need to stamp that out of them at a young age and we will have the next best forward pack
Agreed. Just as a side not I think the forwards that have been marked as future first grade players in our 20's system aren't lazy at all.
Unfortunately we need bigger forwards now, not two or three years hence. Don't think interchange rule will change role of large forward, didn't in the past when there wasn't any interchange, same as next year and beyond.
Foran played pretty well behind a below average pack going up against one of the best in the competition on Saturday night after coming back from an injury.
The big forwards may become more of a hinderence next year if the interchange drops down to 8. Big forwards are awesome in attack and would be extremely hard to handle, especially at the end of games but compared to smaller forwards aren't as good defensively. Our best defenders this year have been Choc and Peats. Choc is smaller than most of our backline.
I reckon the best thing to have in a forward pack is to have variety so the opposition isn't only tackling one body type. I don't think you can have a pack that's full of 190cm 115kg monsters because not only would they tire more easily they would be a worse defending pack than their smaller counterparts, just like you can't have a pack full of 180cm 100kg forwards because they won't have much impact in attack. I think next year we'll have this good mix and most of our forwards are good on both sides of football. We'll still have our monsters in Junior Paulo, Tepai Moeroa, and Danny Wicks but we'll also have more mobile forwards like Anthony Watmough, Josh Aloiai, and Dave Gower.
^^ All of the above ^^ and also agree with Wile. E too on the linespeed comment.
Our forwards have at least split the points all year. If you look at the stats we're best in the comp in terms of limiting opposition metres. Our linespeed has been sensational, and when I made the comment recently about Choc being a big reason behind that and I think it was Fong who said: "Is that all he brings", well, that is a massive part of winning football games these days.
All of this said, I would like to see one more big bopper in our team to make a first-choice rotation of Junior, Mannah and Wicks. Now, Tamou's future has yet to be decided and we were linked with him earlier this year. It appears to me we have at least one rep-level signing left if Sandow leaves and given the dearth of quality in both the outside backs and at fullback where we probably need to strengthen, I'm still a fan of bringing Tamou into the team, particularly if it keeps Pauli and Moeroa out on the edges.
Hang on Ham, don't Dogs and Storm have pack full of monsters? Both not doing too bad on table.
What i was referring to is players like Loko or Tanginoa that type of player that is physically bigger and stronger but turn into a lazy trainers and make stupid mistakes. I do agree watching some of these young kids coming through are working the ass off to make it
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