When you pull defeat out of your arse that question posed is all you need to know..... we have been fortunate 4 winning games and probably all pulled out of our arses. No right to win any of them!
We have been playing busted all year.....next week if we can beat Storm this season is not the write off we all may have thought.
No boring Poppa Philosophy lesson today ......just some aknowledgements for some players who probably should not be in the team in a normal course of events;
That may change now, what do you think?
Brian Kelly....a mistake free game and when he hits it up, face it there is not much of him....he has learnt don't do it from a standing start.
Volkman..... just the surname, he has risen to a level that could get a title in a Marvel Movie.
Samrani..... he maybe more than a fill in centre.....has a knack of finishing what he starts whilst filling in!
TDS............fcuk I thought Rylie Smith was special but this kid put his ears back last night and showed he could be anything, his passing from dummy half will go unnoticed but it was bloody good as well.
Those 4 players would not be in our starting side normally....others did good as well, but those 4 deserve the praise, they won it for us!
Going to bed last night with all those positive things was so good, when I woke during the night..... I thought FCUK am I dreaming?
Sometimes little fish are sweet, being a fisherman of no note, I cannot be sure of that, but whilst I might throw back Parra regularly, I still love the bite and the fight!!
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There is a couple of players that rightly or wrongly have been put on notice after last nights game.
Rylie Smith should be worried when I never thought he should be. With the signing of Edward's who can fill in across the pack including dummy half, from a bench spot and the way Tallyn has stood up poses some questions for Ryles. Well done Tallyn.
Will Penisini should be very worried. Samaraninis areiving to take his spot and probably rightly so.
Matale , wow welcome your about to oust someone from the bench.
I was on the Da Silva bandwagon and reactionarily went off him after the pre-season I felt he hadn't improved. I regret that now as he has improved. He is 21, just turned a few weeks ago. His vision to catch the markers split and the speed to take off. His other aspects like passing and kicking will come with more game time. His defence too has improved.
But yeah Smith has a lot of heart and effort but in attack. only offers a good pass to be fair. Im interested if Ryles goes into 2027 with Smith still starting. His 2026 hasn't been great but also busted for most of it. He at least has next week and the bye to rest up. But competition is good as Smith is free to negotiate in November.
Nice post. Samrani I felt showed what an athlete he is with his size. He is just a steady hand. Caught out Clifford's laziness with his try then was able to run the straight for Papali'i try.
Da Silva and Mataele had a coming of age game. That last portion hopefully kicks Moses' season off and hope he does go to Origin. Being in camp can rub off on players and take it back to their team. Moses could find some nice form from Origin.
Samrani has come of age this season and has gone from fringe first grader to earning a starting centre spot, i told my mate to take hom as a try scorer in his multi because he had a knack of finding the line and he delivered.
TDS is a more talented hooker than smith and will eventually win the starting spot over smith, my concern though is his style doesn't really suit moses whereas smith's does. Moses likes quick wide passes off the ground from dummy half whereas tds is a stand up ball playing dummy half, that's something they are going to have to work around.
Mataele has been a stand out in the middle when he has played this season, he should be in the 17 every week.
Agree, Samrani just seems to be in the right place at the right time and can find the line, he is not the quickest or have flashy footwork so eventually see him moving to second row but he is just reliable.
TDS was great last night and is damn quick which can create opportunities. Let's hope he keeps developing
Mataele has always impressed, can't understand how he hasn't been getting more time but hopefully that changes. I thought Moretti was going to be great after last year but he has stagnated or even gone backwards and doesn't seem to have the motor for first grade. Will need interesting to see what happens with big Sam coming back soon.
also really like what I'm seeing from Joash and the Volk. Their efforts and energy are infectious and they deserve to be in the mix every week, again like Samrani and even Nanva, they just don't let you down
TDS's ball distribution was my #1 bugger bare of him I don't know how long ago.
But guess what it's improved I think there's some obvious work that's taken place on that front.
Volkman is a hit or miss for me he's had his moments but he feels like a mistake just taking his opportunity now was never really on the radar but is making every post a winner not by design.
Samrani has edge backrower written all over him that's where he'll end up is it with us I don't know but that's where he's headed.
Brian Kelly has had a solid month of football simon s joining us he's not much of a player but he's the type you want as depth he's not a starting quality anything in my eyes.But on the positive side he brings physicality to the spot his strength.
For me outside of TDS those other 3 are ideal top 30 type players guys who can step in and do a job for a month or 2 in Joash's case and cover up holes but I'm not winning premierships or consistently playing finals footy with all of these guys in the starting lineup at once.
Da Silva just turned 21. What he is showing now is pretty good for a 21 year old. Out of all you just mentioned he has the most upside. Does he meet the potential? Who knows.
Thanks everyone, I notice none of the lynching panel have come out on this blog, but I am sure there will be a loss around the corner to revive their spirits.
On a more positive note the comments being made on the 4 outlined reinforce those performances.
I deliberately left the forwards off the list and agree that Mataele could have been added to that list.
The forwards are so hard to judge, it seems that one week Moretti is the future, then its Mataele and of course adding to that group from the world of inconsistency is Talaiga who has not got near to that form that helped destroy Bronco's, Jack Williams is regaining the consistency that he had seemed to have lost and Kautiga is still a mystery. The love hate for Guymer is strange because he put's in every week and yes missed tackles spoil his stats, but a lot of the time he is the one there when others arn't.
I am going to put my old fashioned hat on and say /ask, what the difference today with second rowers being edge forwards.... my guess is its a little like a lock, say Yeo being a middle but someone like a Murray from Souths is an old fashed edge forward, i.e. in my day a Ron Coote was an edge forward, Johnny Raper and Poppa Clay played as 5/8's.Clay was as tough as any 5/8 you have ever seen. Don't forget in our first grandfinal win we had "Stumpy Stevens" a premiershipwinning 5/8 for Easts playing Prop.
My idea of 5/8's are the robust type, Dyllan Brown being a perfect example, he can handle any size player and also a brilliant cover defender..... I feel we brand players to a perception they have been indocrinated with. Corey Oats is an interesting example, he wanted to be a back row (there's another name for it) but turned out to be a top class winger. Why would not a Kautoga be a centre or a winger. Joash Papilli is not quiet a full back (yes probably the best he has been last match) and he is not quiet a 5/8 (not robust enough). Guymer was a centre coming through the grades, he looks like a middle and not an edge, but goes to all 3 including centre and again is not really quiet any of them.
Interesting discussions can take place in this sense of positionals, I personally think its a reason we got cut up so badly in the Cowboys game, the gaps happened in the edge because our backs could not close the gaps or was it the edge forwards?. You could have driven a truck through those holes but then I could put up an argument to say we "scrambled" well.
I think I will go along with Hoey's dead zone as the best tool and be interested to ask, how do you counter it?
Just reflected on Josh Shuster, perfect build for an old fashioned 5/8....I will leave that to Jason Ryles to judge, that judgement being the man not the player. We could get and have him before the 30th June....???
Intersting article in todays paper, Wayne Bennett that Shuster will be a safe and beneficial pickup for the right club? We could get him now, judge him for the rest of the season and have a "club" option on his retention.
Stress the people that know and are in a position to make that decision not the gooses on here that could not judge a pie eating contest without being prediposed!
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