PLAYER REVIEWS:
Talagi
A call a good junior when I see one, but he exceeded my expectations tonight. He was rocks and diamonds. Was luck with the dropped bombed that resulted in a disallowed try. Should have done a better job on tackling Mariner and he slipped for Mam’s try. Also made a couple of other errors. But jeez he was good in many other parts. Was good under the high ball after the drop, with one being a great kick return. Two solid tackles on Cobbo to save tries. Couple of line breaks. And of course his try.
Just honestly imagine, if the club did the right thing and played him more games at fullback in cup this year. Perhaps those errors would have not been there. Dumb by the club.
He has the fullback spot till Gutho returns. It will be interesting how he goes. I expect more off the same. Rocks and diamonds. Talagi has showed he has a future at fullback and is a very raw talent there. He just needs time to fine tune his skills and develop the understanding of a fullback. He has showed us what we lack when Gutho is at fullback. That is simply a genuine running threat with the ball. If I was the club, I would be putting as much work as possible into him so he is ready to be fullback rd 1 next year. That needs to be the goal. Do whatever you can to get him ready for it.
Lussick:
He only had a good 2 weeks and then been awful since. His kicking game was awful. If you can rewatch Mariners long range try of Lane’s knock on. Lussick was a good chance on getting him but he gives up after a couple steps. I know Hands is not much better, but start Hands and bring MA off the bench next week. Lussick needs a stint in reggies. Hearing that MA debut is seriously on as he can debut from rd 11.
Lane:
He has returned as a shadow of himself. Error in him every game without doing anything good with the ball or defence. He needs reserve grade now. Cannot believe he was in the squad this week.
Sivo:
Yes, you can say the only bad thing was the drop ball. But no. His yardage was horrible. Not good enough. FUCK HIM OFF! Had the chance to run over Rogers in the first half but chose to cut back in like a pussy.
THERE IS PROMISE:
We played a better game than the broncos and deserved to win. We bombed 8 tries. We lacked the polish, luck and simple groundings to score tries. It was just one of those nights. We outplayed them. Broncos scored 5 tries. 2 tries were us dropping the ball and them running the field. 1 was a decent try where our defence should have been better. 2 tries of kicks where Talagi fell over for one. Broncos were lucky and not that impressive. The way we attacked tonight should be our future. Just need to get rid of a couple of duds. Even Walter admitted they were lucky, and eels were causing them to struggle. Carty should be fit if he was named to play this week.
Next week:
- Talagi
- Russel
- Harper
- Penisini
- Simmo
- DB
- Moses
- RCG
- Hands
- Joe O
- Matto
- Carty
- Hopgood
- MA
- Paulo
- Makatoa
- Tualagi
When Gutho returns, he takes Talagi spot or Harper spot. DON’T play Talagi at centre. Put him back into cup to continue his fullback development.
Next year:
- Talagi
- Lomax
- Gutho
- Penisni
- Simmo
- DB
- Moses
- MA
Replies
This is probably stupid. But is there any world that Gutho and MA alternate between 9 and 14 next year. Talagi showed we need to invest him at fullbacl for next year. Gutho does not have the speed to play centre IMO. So could we just find a speedy winger and play Gutho at 9 or 14. He is very versatile and the fittest player in the club so he wouldbe great at 9 to lead the line speed. How would his service be? Can play at 13 when MA is on the field with him.
9. Gutho
14. MA
Gutho's legs are gone yet expect him to defend in the front line? Like i respect your opinion EA, but others have said in the past this exact thing of Gutho at 9. To go from playing Fullback to then defending in front line in the middle is difficult. Can Gutho make 30-40+ tackles?
It is similar when there is a half that is a good runner of the ball they say put him at Fullback, but can he catch a high ball? Think that is very important. Sandow was put there, in attack he looked incredible, under the high ball was terrible and led to too many points.
Same with Hooker, many think if they can set up play and pass they can play Hooker, where they also need to not only defend well but consistently too for long periods of time. Please do not take it as me completely knocking just you EA as plenty have said similar but worse than that with Gutho being full 80 Hooker, even mentioning Bevan French as a Hooker back in the day.
Definitely not taking it as you knocking me lol. But the reason you say is why I say he can even just play 14 off the bench. I am just not a fan of him as a centre and definitely not a winger
EA there's some good stuff there with regards to Gutho no chance in hell he plays hooker no chance reason being his left to right pass isn't good enough.
Secondly if we choose to move him it's left centre for me.hes already got a combination with Sivo and this will be whomever the next coaches quandry will be.
Talagi again I'm with you if fullbacks his go I to would be giving him as much game time there as possible and this ties into the MA discussion just leave him alone.Let him develop leave the stop gap we have in place and let him get mileage in cup.
Lane and Cartwright we actually need to get more athletic and physical in this spot.Much like this squad it's built for one more year and it buys us time to look for replacements.
Next year we could possibly see the end of Lane Cartwright and RCG.Theres a fair chunk of cap and you have to hope something else from the junior side emerges.
If talagi is the future fullback, lomax coming to play presumably right centre does gutho play left centre and if so what do we do with penisini?, he seems to be left out of all these discussions as if he is as safe as houses. Can penisini play left centre?, can he play wing?. I think there needs to be more discussion around penisini, I don't think he should be considered a certainty.
He won't play wing - he's a certain starter at Centre. I reckon lomax will play fullback next year. I'm unsure what they'll do with Gutherson and Talagi - probably they'll start the year with Gutho at Centre possibly Talagi 14 but then you might see Talagi move into the starting side Gutho at 14
I recon MA will be ready for sure next year. He has been great at cup and maturing rapidly with his decision making.At the start of the year he was overplaying his hand a bit and choosing short side raids poorly. Now he has picked his moments much better.
I really like the idea of Gutho at 14 but I doubt they would do that to the captain and someone on big money. I prefer Lomax at centre because he lacks a bit of pace on the wing. So it is a tough decision on how they fit Talagi, Lomax, Peninisi and Gutho into the team. The only thing people need to realise is that none of those 4 players will solve the issues we have around speed in our backline. Simmo is quick and deserves a wing spot next year. AKP from titans cannot make the team anymore. Perhaps we look at that for the other wing spot.
Yep. I would keep Carty on the bench but find backrowers with more athleticism and lateral movement than Lane and Matto. It suits DB and Moses game too as I have said before. Dylan is great at squaring defences up and allowed his backrowers to poke their head through for an offload. Moses is great at the latter too as well as using his backrowers to generate quick play the balls for short side raids which he is the best in the comp at.
I think when Guymer develops, he will suit Moses really well as he is similar to Liam Martin. Hopefully, Guymer just gets a bit more explosive as he gets older. Tualagi has real potential to suit DB however, he has not be able to take that next step like we have been waiting for despite dominating cup last week. Maybe give Tualagi a proper chance next week and drop Lane out the side. Another player that would suit both is Angus Crichton but whether he chooses union or NRL is one question. Plus Roosters players never leave if the club wants them with all those brown paper bags.
We are in desperate need of some speed on the edges. If you're going to stick with Penisni and Lomax/ Gutho centres next year the speed needs to come from the edge back rowers. You can't survive with plodders out there anymore.
Lane is a disgrace. With all the criticism of Matto only firing up in contract years Lane flys under the radar. I remember 2021 he was looking so slow and pedestrian he got moved into the middle and only made his way back out wide due to necessity and absolutely dominated back end of 2022. Yes 2023 he had a bad run with injuries but he's gone back to his pre 2022 form . To make matters worse his ass is hanging out the back of his shorts after 15 mins every week and our bald flop of a coach insists on him being the 80 min forward in the pack.
Hard to argue too much with your other ratings.
Blaize is playing fullback before his time. He's probably a year off being an NRL player . Hopefully BA doesn't botch his development and has the balls to make some big decisions around the future make up of our spine. Gutho has been a great servant and is easily our best fullback option at the moment but he's a guy who seems like he is going to get old quickly. His game was never really based on quickness or speed and he's having constant Lower leg issues . The problem for us is BA will ride with him to the death . It's why his core players do the same for him but eventually tough decisons have to be made and where that leaves Gutho in this side I don't know.
Sivo needs to show us his real birth certificate. He plays like he just turned 45. He is going to be the worst value for buck outside back in the game and it doesn't look like getting better.
Simonsson is rocks and diamonds and I don't think he has the most going on between the ears but his effort and giving us a little speed job the edge is invaluable. We should re-sign him but we'll probably have people at the club who still think Russell will grow into a footballer.
Lussick isn't an 80 min hooker . He never has been, not even in super league . He was backing up a 50 year old bloke at st Helen's last year .. he would probably be fine with a 40 min role but buying when you prefer to play one hooker wasn't smart.
BA footy is done . Finished. The game has moved past it in the last few years . He has such realiance on Moses kicking game to keep us in the grind and control where we turn over the ball to mask the flaws in his system .everyone with a brain can see it - it's not some big revelation.. but he and our board seem to think rather than exposing how week and flawed we are it's exposed how unlucky we have been to lose Mitch to injury . No foresight , no ability to see us slipping against the trends and developments within the game .:.. effort was great and there was some promising signs from a couple of players but it's just more of the same cycle we're in . That was our locked in week , heaven help us when our flat week comes coz we'll get belted.
Has the bald potato got us up to play more then about 2 away games in the last 2 years ? It's easy for our guys to play with a good attitude at commbank but I can already see BA with his dumb look on his face post game next week flabbergasted we played with no effort after a step forward this week . Like I said , same cycle , same shit .. it's not improving until he's gone.
Can't tackle can't catch. He needs 18 months in NSW CUP
The worst thing is if you hold the kid back from first grade for 18months, the current crop of Gen Z type players agitate and move to a new club. Its bonkers how clubs buy your talent at such an early age with the promise of first grade, when we all know they should be in NSw cup learning their trade. Its now like we are supposed to accept youngsters in first grade at an early age and we are supposed to forgive their constant mistakes while they learn their craft. Bloody Bonkers.
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