There's been a lot of discussion on 1eeyed site regarding player movements, some leaving & who to buy, especially in regard to forwards.
One of the hardest things is to find players who readily fit into the areas that we need, go for experience with size & hopefully power & ball skills, can tackle hard etc etc etc. I guess the ideal would be human clone of a terminator who can brush aside all & any opposing team, so much so the opposing players just get out of the way as they run towards them.
There has been some interesting names come up, Moa, Tamou, Solomona Lawrence along with others. Watching a few of the recent games, Storms Solomona looks the goods but looking at staying with them, Tamou is also out, sure there are names of some big boys out there, & some come with either youth or age attached to them.
With Junior now gone, young Daniel Alvaro gets a good shot at grabbing a spot in the top side, when Tim Mannah returns he is fighting for the starting 10 shirt along with others, some mainly up in the age bracket.
I see our back 3 positions as being very steady & able to keep us happy for a few years to come. Hooker is also seemingly covered even now with Peats gone & possible retirement of De Gois at years end, with Pritchard taking the 9 spot with perhaps King & Nelson being the bench spot.
The prop position is still the main area that has technically been weakened with Juniors departure only because he has more to give than he has shown realistically for each of the games he has played for us this year.
I am personally ok with the depth of our backs at the moment but who knows what the train or plane may bring to us in the future so where to for the future back up spot for the 8 & 10 positions, do we go for experience or youth. Experience brings in Moa who is off contract, while youth comes with Solomona or perhaps another storm player in Francis Tualau. His storm profile shows some potential & size is fair. However I then profiled one of our own, who is contracted to end of 2017, he's represented Australia & NSW frequently & for me he is along with Alvaro our future starting props.
Alex Twal in just about to turn 20, a spring chicken but when one looks at the eels profile of him, his overall size fits in very well with most of the other names I mention, with a couple of exceptions. As we are seeing what may be the first of some new faces come into the top side, in Bevan French tonight, I would seriously love to see Alex Twall also given the chance in a top spot, even off the bench.
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Getting experienced props is not easy, especially one that give us good years, although one like Moa or Lawrence could give 2 years. Much depends on which of our forwards that are off contract at years end are on the keep list.
Twal is young & has time, but I would like to see him tried & see how he goes in the top squad, & see a good role in the 25 as well. He needs to be kept beyond 2017, too good to lose.
I think the physique of the next gen prop is just a bigger backrower.
They are taller and have an offload.
Look at some in the Raiders and Storm, the Tamou type of build.
Thats what we need.
Moa
This guy will be the best prop in a few years guaranteed.
don't know this Asofa Solomona. who he play for? frank
He ain't leaving Melbourne, not without some serious cash. Same for that Solomona, forget it. What about Rory O'Brien does someone in the know have any feedback on how he is going?
What about the Raiders and Panthers, they seem to have forwards coming out their ears. There would have to be a good young prop at one of those two clubs who could be convinced that their career progression to first grade would be better at Parramatta rather than sticking around.
Looking at zero tackle, Sam Tagatese, Jarrod Wallace and James Gavet might be worth looking into. We definitely need to strengthen our front row stocks.
I like the look of Wallace Adam, he rips it up.
It's all about identifying the player you need, some clubs can see immediately, while others ponder.
Have a look at young players that have come out of nowhere to make you look twice,like the 10 and 16 for the Knights.
Daniel Saifiti and Josh King, and they're playing for peanuts.
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