1. Clint Gutherson
2. Maika Sivo
3. Tom Opacic
4. Waqa Blake
5. Blake Ferguson
6. Dylan Brown
7. Jakob Arthur
8. Reagan Campbell-Gillard
9. Reed Mahoney
10. Junior Paulo
11. Isaiah Papali'i
12. Ryan Matterson
13. Nathan Brown
Interchange:
14. Bryce Cartwright
15. Shaun Lane
16. Oregon Kaufusi
17. Will Smith
Reserves:
18. Haze Dunster
19. Ray Stone
20. Will Penisini
21. Joey Lussick
IN: Tom Opacic, Bryce Cartwright
OUT: Will Penisini, Marata Niukore
Referee: Grant Atkins
Replies
Question Wiz-
Why does BA re-sign Will year after year if he has no faith in him?
We are usually on the same page mate, but I have to disagree on this one.
Nepotism is the only reason young JA is any where near a first grade side at the moment.
Side note- Young Penisini showed 1000 times more ability and athleticism than JA, actually won the players, player and fans MOM but got dropped. Made more metres and post contact metres than Blake & Opicic have averaged all year.... must feel a bit hard done by seeing JA run out again after 3 poor/average performances in a row.
Maybe he makes a good coffee ? Or he's good around training and gets the witches hats out ? Maybe his mum washes the jerseys , mate I really don't know . I'd have fucked him off yonks ago . But if he's cheap who knows what he brings to the squad behind the scenes .
I've said I don't agree with everything BA does , mate he has many weakness's I see and stubbornness will likely be his downfall. But he's known for picking and sticking and unless I'm wrong he only has two options yeah ? WS or JA ? Two poo players , one has been there for 5 years , played less than 50 out of a possible 120ish games , and isnt getting any better and the others shown his willingness to learn and improve and realisticly when you have a look at his games without the BA hate , the kid hasn't been any worse than you'd get from WS . He probably created more in attack last week than some of our " stars" . He ain't coughing balls up , he ain't giving penalties away , he missed a cricual tackle albeit a storming monster who would've ran over Moses in the same situation and the other one was missed by Sivo who was grabbing air amd really JA shoudnt have been in that situation . .
let's just say JA wasn't BAs kid , wouid we be shocked if he was sticking with him week after week until Moses came back ? Whether it's the right or wrong choice , the stubborn prick sticks with players all the time . .
To answer your last paragraph mate- True.
Luke Kelly rings a bell.
Oh fuck I forgot about that pretender .
To answer your last question yes I definitely would be shocked regardless but it does look worse when he's the donkeys son, if that's not a conflict of interest him picking his son ahead of other players who supposed to be ahead of him then what is?
Brad's pick and stick philosophy is to be admired and has proven to be a winner often. But that is not the problem here Wiz. Imo the problem began the first time he picked his son JA. Having watched nearly all the reggies games this year and last year before Covid, my observations were Rankin ran the side, not JA and he had just come off a very successful stint in the old Dart plus he had heaps of NRL experience prior to that. Regardless of what many say on here Will Smith is an experienced NRL player whom I have seen improve year by year, he is also a very strong defender. Then we have Bryce Cartwright who has many games experience in the halves at 5/8. Why could none of these been given a shot when JA had 3 ordinary under par performances?
I would rather see Cartwright play in the halves I agree .
This is the exact argument I've been trying to make too. JA simply doesn't have the right to be first drop half at our club when there are better, more experienced options.
Will Smith is a 70 gamer. Apparently we're about to re-sign him again. Why, if we're not going to use him?
Rankin is another highly experienced veteran who basically runs the Reggies team around the park and kicks all the goals. Sure he isn't our future and was signed to mentor younger Reggies players but to help us get wins in 2021, he's a very decent resource and would undoubtedly provide a steady hand.
Cartwright is a regular in our 17 (albeit for about 10 minutes a game) has extensive experience in the halves and extensive NRL experience.
The investment we're making in JA is extremely disproportionate. And we're risking the 2021 season to do it. JA is a possibility for a future NRL halves spot, he's been given a taste of NRL footy this year which as stated by BA was not expected for this year. His performances in his 4 NRL games simply do not warrant further game time in 2021. And also based on his performances his future as an Eels NRL halfback is still not assured. He's very obviously not ready.
I don't buy the argument that JA is the future therefore should be given preference today. We still don't know if he's the future. We have games to win in 2021 and the focus should be on getting our strongest line up on the field today. Anything less is unacceptable and would indicate there are other agendas at play.
I would say atleast 95% of fans are on the same page or of the same opinion.
JA was parachuted into the NRL at break neck speeds... something that is reserved for the likes of Joseph Suaalii, Reece Walsh, Sam Walker to name a few.
If BA thinks JA currently falls into this category and of equal talent I am missing something.
I thought Penisini showed great potential in his game, yet he is dropped next game, JA has shown very little, maybe 2 good kicks in 4 games, yet keeps his spot with better options available.
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