General Discussion Thread

[OldPanther]

Here is what I think the forwards should (will) be.

Front Row: Fafita & Klemmer
Hooker: Cook
2nd Row: Cordner (will concede that he will be picked) and Frizell
Lock: Jake T

Bench: RCG, DeBelin, Vaughn and Peach

not bad picjs but how I think of Fifi:

 

[PANTHERMIKE]

not bad picjs but how I think of Fifi:

Reading the Play is the biggest disease to pop up for league in the last 12 months.

He knows sweet f**k all, takes stabs in the dark hoping to land something and is an overall wank-stain

 

[martielang]

Mez & Tamou both playing better football than RCG at the moment in my opinion.

I agree re; Yeo. Have no idea how he's not in the conversation at all.

 

[Fangs]

Gould's team has a few lols. Tamou would be on next to no chance and Merrin just doesn't seem to cut the mustard atm.

His Ponga thing is scarcely believable. You lose Smith, Cronk and Thurston in the space of a year and drop Slater? Its SOO suicide. Hopefully they buy into his bullshit.

 

[franklin2323]

Mez & Tamou both playing better football than RCG at the moment in my opinion.

I agree re; Yeo. Have no idea how he's not in the conversation at all.

Stats and form say RCG shouldn't even be mentioned even Woods has better numbers

Gus' team follows the way he picked when he was coach use the top 2 teams 1st

 

[Luke Bowden]

Gould's team has a few lols. Tamou would be on next to no chance and Merrin just doesn't seem to cut the mustard atm.

His Ponga thing is scarcely believable. You lose Smith, Cronk and Thurston in the space of a year and drop Slater? Its SOO suicide. Hopefully they buy into his bullshit.

I think Merrin’s last month of footy has been better than RCG. I definitely think he should be in the mix.

 

[OldPanther]

Reading the Play is the biggest disease to pop up for league in the last 12 months.

He knows sweet f**k all, takes stabs in the dark hoping to land something and is an overall wank-stain

He is right about this though.

 

[martielang]

Stats and form say RCG shouldn't even be mentioned even Woods has better numbers

Gus' team follows the way he picked when he was coach use the top 2 teams 1st

Yep, it does surprise me how highly people seem to rate RCG every week without him ever actually doing much (lately). He plays an important part in our forward pack & i think he's a terrific player but I think Mez & Tamou deserve a lot more credit than they get.

 

[franklin2323]

Yep, it does surprise me how highly people seem to rate RCG every week without him ever actually doing much (lately). He plays an important part in our forward pack & i think he's a terrific player but I think Mez & Tamou deserve a lot more credit than they get.

Tackle efficiency is low. 100m game gain is good but not great. Post contact metres is lower than Merrin and Tamou. That said we have the best pack they work well together

 

[superpanther]

Tackle efficiency is low. 100m game gain is good but not great. Post contact metres is lower than Merrin and Tamou. That said we have the best pack they work well together

not what someone said on another forum, stated that souths pack and st merge pack was way better

 

[Fangs]

I think Merrin’s last month of footy has been better than RCG. I definitely think he should be in the mix.

The numbers for once certainly favour Merrin and Tamou. The latter in particular is playing better football than last year. When I stack up the front rowers I find it hard to see how Merrin makes the team.

If NSW want a fresh start and a high impact team that will score points then RCG is the answer. He'll blow QLD off the park from the bench. Merrin isn't capable of playing the same role IMO but could potentially fill another spot in the team.

 

[Aliceinwonderland]

Reading the Play is the biggest disease to pop up for league in the last 12 months.

He knows sweet f**k all, takes stabs in the dark hoping to land something and is an overall wank-stain

I agree. On this issue I think he's nailed it.

 

[MrBlack]

Tackle efficiency is low. 100m game gain is good but not great. Post contact metres is lower than Merrin and Tamou. That said we have the best pack they work well together

The stats can be pretty misleading though.

In an under performing team RCG would be expected to take the brunt of the workload. Our pack is in top form and share the workload around. We have the luxury of resting top line props for long periods of the game to keep them fresh. The downside to that would be their stats suffer, but who really cares if we are wining.

Also - with the amount of stoppages the refs are inflicting on the game we have way less actual game time.

 

[umina panther]

Whilst I agree that RCGs form is down a bit he brings aggression that others simply can't. Opposition props are legit scared to run the ball at him, they look up and change direction all the time.

 

[age.s]

His Ponga thing is scarcely believable. You lose Smith, Cronk and Thurston in the space of a year and drop Slater? Its SOO suicide. Hopefully they buy into his bullshit.

I'm not so sure about this. Ponga is the future of that team and having a better year than Slater anyway. He's one of the legitimately game breaking options QLD can pick. Slater's experience is a big plus, but this time next year QLD will likely be wishing Ponga had 3 Origins under his belt instead of 0. They won't do it (for sentimental reasons if nothing else) but you can at the very least make a case for it.

 

[betcats]

Does anyone think that Tamou has been playing better footy than RCG this year? Because the stats suggest he has been lol. RCG brings so much more to a team than stats, honestly you guys watch every week, neither merrin or tamou impact our games like RCG has been.

The article yesterday about woods stats is the first suggestion from anyone anywhere that ive seen that RCG isn't easily the first prop picked.

 

[mxlegend99]

Yep, it does surprise me how highly people seem to rate RCG every week without him ever actually doing much (lately). He plays an important part in our forward pack & i think he's a terrific player but I think Mez & Tamou deserve a lot more credit than they get.

RCGs form is well down on last year. But he and JFH are the key to setting the tempo our forwards play at. He needs to pick up his workrate without doubt though. He wont keep an Origin jersey for long if he pumps out less than 100 metres and misses a few tackles

Im not sure RCG would even be picked had Fifita chosen NSW over Tonga and McLean been fit. Hell we may still pick Fifita fir 2 games. Although I hope we dont. The guy replacing him in Game 2 would know hes only there for one game.

 

[mxlegend99]

Does anyone think that Tamou has been playing better footy than RCG this year? Because the stats suggest he has been lol. RCG brings so much more to a team than stats, honestly you guys watch every week, neither merrin or tamou impact our games like RCG has been.

Realistically both Tamou and RCG have pathetic stats among that class of front rower. Klemmer gets through nearly as much as them combined.

The upside for RCG is he is likely coming off the bench for NSW and he fires up in rep games. Fittler will want him coming on bending the line with every run and hitting Queensland aggressively in every tackle.

If he doesnt do that I imagine his rep career could be shorter than Merrin and Tamous were.

 

[Fangs]

I'm not so sure about this. Ponga is the future of that team and having a better year than Slater anyway. He's one of the legitimately game breaking options QLD can pick. Slater's experience is a big plus, but this time next year QLD will likely be wishing Ponga had 3 Origins under his belt instead of 0. They won't do it (for sentimental reasons if nothing else) but you can at the very least make a case for it.

He certainly is the future. And I'd find a place for Ponga in the team. But not at the expense of the last member of the big 4.

They did it last year. Backfired massively and they got trounced in game 1. Cronk/Thurston/Smith is enough damage. I don't think they will make the same mistake again.

I also think its a slight disservice to Slater to say that Ponga is simply playing better. If he is then Slater isn't far behind, I think he has been outstanding this year.

 

[Luke Bowden]

The numbers for once certainly favour Merrin and Tamou. The latter in particular is playing better football than last year. When I stack up the front rowers I find it hard to see how Merrin makes the team.

If NSW want a fresh start and a high impact team that will score points then RCG is the answer. He'll blow QLD off the park from the bench. Merrin isn't capable of playing the same role IMO but could potentially fill another spot in the team.

I’m not saying he should be picked. I’m just not surprised he’s being mentioned.