Congrats to Jake on his test debut this morning .
He was solid but unspectacular. Pretty much mistake free but could've been more involved. What a great year he's had coming from Massey Cup.
An ex player of ours also made his starting debut and his defensive inadequacies were on full display . Boy do Penrith have some work to do before that good player comes out. Would be stunned if he walks into their 6 jersey.
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He got pulled out late for Izack, shit go.
Nope , he played . Scored a try cleaning up some scraps too . Should've had another but Shawn Blore decided not to pass and completely bombed it.
The big difference between the 2 sides aside from Samoas shitty discipline was easy points through Blaize . Same thing that happened to us many times in games.
Lol NRL app has him out for Izack and has Izack scoring.
Great work NRL.
Blaise was absolute garbage, good luck to them.
I never understood the hype around Blaise when we were trying to sign him long term. I also don't understand why Penrith signed him to potentially replace Luai.
Besides the misguided potential, what am I missing here?
Blaize clearly has huge upside when the team has the ball. He is a huge threat and scored more tries then any other eel over the period he played regardless of which position he played.
Defensively many young players struggle and most teams back their systems and ability to fix defensive deficiencies as they develop. Penrith will definitely help him here as will locking down 1 position most likely 5/8 and left side like Luai. Penrith left side defence was the best this year only letting 29% of tries against Penrith so Blaize will be supported by strong defensive players. He will still be a liability but not as bad as he was at Parra or in Rep side where he doesn't have support of strong defensive system.
I don't think they fix his defence between now and Feburary. Especially with players around him also off until the new year and some different combos there. I doubt he starts the year as their 6 and if the other guy goes well he might not get it for a while.
This isn't a knock on Blaize , the previous coaching staff completely mismanged his development the last 12 months. He's leaving as a guy thats played almost a full season of NRL in various positions well before his time. Can't blame him for seeking out a club that would teach him to become an NRL player. Hopefully with Ryles on board this shit doesnt happen again.
Nice blog, Snottie. Good to recognize Tago's international debut.
In a recent podcast, Matt Cameron mentioned he told Blaize (with words to the effect): "Let's teach you how to become a first-grader first before we worry about what position we'll play you."
So, I think they're under no illusions he's a work in progress despite his talent with the ball in hand (except for his dropseys).
In hindsight, it's a win-win all round - for us, Blaize and maybe the Panthers. Whether he becomes that superstar many seem to think he will be, I don't know. Time will tell.
One thing with Talagi, I think he has potential as a play maker, his attacking skills as a try scorer are good because he runs good lines "hole runner" but if you stop and think for one minute he actually did not make a break in any of his tries.
Pops, I think you're onto something. He's got good "instincts".
You notice it more when you watch him from the defensive line's perspective: The way he uses his body to intuitively deceive, his step and swerve countering the sliding defence reads. He's also got an offload in him. Apparantly, he's working hard on his kicking game too. Dunno.
But as Snottie points out, he has plenty of deficiences that the Panthers and he will need to work on.
His edge became a target. Towards the end of the year some in the army of commentators and experts waxing lyrical about his talents were starting to notice what many of us fanatics were moaning about week in, week out.
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