I agree re LoLo as I don’t believe he has the necessary ingredients to b a star in any spinal position.Hence id b quite surprised if he were to hold onto the fullback position for much of the season.Keen to see how Lolohea goes at 1 but admit I’m not totally convinced he’ll be a success.
I think our halves will surprise and be good along with Liddle who will own the 9. Brooks hasn’t lived up to expectations however if you look at the stats I’m fairly confident he’s been in the top 5 when you combine try’s, TAs, line breaks and LBAs generally every year he’s played first grade.
When Ivan coached Penrith he dropped Kevin Kingston who was the captain for a young James Segeyaro, if Brooks or JRey aren’t performing and Benji/Gamble look a better option I have faith Ivan will make the big call.
TigerM I cant remember him playing 80 mins - has he with us or was that with his other clubs?
There arent that many 80 min hookers left in the modern game though.........
The game has got so fast that it makes more sense to use two hookers, unless of course you have a Cameron Smith on your roster.
There arent that many 80 min hookers left in the modern game though.........
The game has got so fast that it makes more sense to use two hookers, unless of course you have a Cameron Smith on your roster.
Early last year when he was the only hooker standingTigerM I cant remember him playing 80 mins - has he with us or was that with his other clubs?
IMHO Liddles game time will be pretty limited to start off with. Can easily see ET starting the first 20-25 mins at hooker with Liddle coming in to finish off the game. That would also allow Einsenhuth to start at lock and once Liddle comes on Aloiai can come off for a breather & move into the prop rotation
8. Packer
9. Taylor
10. Grant
11. Lawrence
12. Aloiai ( ET moves here when Liddle comes on, Aloiai off)
13. Einsenhuth
14. Liddle
15. Matulino
16. McQueen
17. Twal
This is also assuming Marsters starts in centres...atm with Suli recovering from injury I’m pretty confident he will. Otherwise I’d swap Marsters for McQueens bench spot
8. Packer
9. Taylor
10. Grant
11. Lawrence
12. Aloiai ( ET moves here when Liddle comes on, Aloiai off)
13. Einsenhuth
14. Liddle
15. Matulino
16. McQueen
17. Twal
Nice to see our forward pack being strong enough where we look for the plodders as opposed to all the years where we had to search for forwards that weren't.
We’ve had guys like Lovett and Edwards making full strength teams for the last 3 years. This year we’ll have guys in reserve grade better then them. Exciting times
We just need to recruit the superstar son of our humble coach to catapult the team into the realm of premiership contenders !I think we will have slow success with recruiting big name players as we don't have a big money behind us but hopefully success will bring a bunch of new bigger sponsors and that will be enough,