Bye Bye Konnie

[KeepingTheFaith]

What source?

I was responding to the line of thought that Konnie being denied had anything to do with us being scared or sending bad messages to our current players.

Of course you "heard" from the Titans, he was named to play yesterday.

 

[ZEROMISSTACKLES]

What source?

I was responding to the line of thought that Konnie being denied had anything to do with us being scared or sending bad messages to our current players.

Of course you "heard" from the Titans, he was named to play yesterday.

I thought you got it from a source regarding Konnie not being able to play against us while were paying for him. You keep mentioning that.

I might check my post youre responding to because I might have not made that clear that Im discussing the 'were not paying him to play against us'. Your above post is totally off track and Ill see if it was my fault.

 

[ZEROMISSTACKLES]

Keepthefaith you totally went off track.

In your post I responded to, it was about us not paying him to play against us. Now above, you've gone from that to us being scared or sending bad messages to our players??? WTF??..you lost me there..

To hear the Titans team list this week, who should I hear it from? you probably wont answer that question either..

Anyway questions for me, feel free..

 

[KeepingTheFaith]

Read the posts above that post and you'll see what I was responding to, the notion that if Konnie was kept from playing us it would have anything to do with fear/sending our players the wrong message.

 

[SpaceMonkey]

Understandable I guess that they don't want him playing against them, but tbh I find it extremely gutless as well

If you think he is only a reserve grade standard player then he isn't a guy you should be scared of playing against if you're a decent coach

It's not necessarily that we think he's "reserve grade standard" though- I suspect we actually still rate him pretty highly but he was let go because we suddenly found ourselves in a position where we have too many NRL quality centres. Koni is far from poor, but he's not better than Fus, Kata or Ayshford on current form. And the jury is still out on whether he will be. Kata is a very similar player (junior phenomenon, hard straight runner) but his progress since coming into first grade (in 1/3 of the time) has been light years ahead of Koni's. Fus is a better all round athlete and Ayshford has a maturity that Koni has yet to learn.

 

[Beavers Headgear]

Blake Ayshford has been decent for you guys, but if we are truly honest about it, he will never be more than an average NRL level centre. If you asked the other 15 clubs who they'd prefer to come up against I reckon 100% of them would rather have Ayshford lining up against them each week.

I've just found the whole scapegoating use of Koni by McFadden extremely poor tbh, the guy by all accounts put in a big off season, and all he could get was a few mins off the bench in 4 games playing in the forwards, when the entire team was struggling. Surely he could have gotten at least 1 run in the outside backs at the expense of Jono Wright

I know a lot is said of the guy about how he didn't care etc, I'm not so sure that was the case. 1 game I recall he hit the ball up and spilt it and he was absolutely gutted and looked like the weight of the world was on his shoulders and you aren't gonna get the best out of a guy in that scenario

Obviously the relationship between he and the coach wasn't a good one, and would be blame on both parties, but I'll always feel he was extremely poorly treated by McFadden and it is a massive waste of talent on his behalf

 

[JJ]

This is a hard one - to be honest I think both Hurrell and McFadden handled it poorly.

Hurrell seemed to embrace the man-child larrikin bullshit, and it did clearly interfere with his performance. McFadden though did seem to treat him as the scapegoat - there are a few peripheral players that seem to come and go in the 17 on the basis of nothing more than a whim.

He's a poor coach and in some cases a poor man-manager - can't help but look at his treatment of Kata (and to a degree Gubb), and contrast it with how he's (outwardly anyway) dealt with Lolohea, Hurrell, and Tevaga.

Hurrell was left with no option but to leave, we don't know the full story but it was clear he wasn't going to get a shot in the first team as he wasn't seen as a wing, and Kata/Ayshford were settled and performing... which brings me to the whimsical dropping of Ayshford for Fusitua...

 

[VillaTheGorilla]

Agree times a thousand Beaver. I remember that dropped ball and he looked absolutelty gutted. Yes, he had stuff to work on (who doesn't with Cappy) but I didn't think he was given a fair go this year - came back fit and strong, did everything that was asked of him and he still was mucked about. Limited game time in the forwards....
And also re Ayshford...people keep going on about him having had a great year....really? He has been solid at best, and in all honesty I think he's had atleast as many poor one on one misses as Konnie has, although Konnie has the massive upside of being great on attack.
IMO with Konnie there instead of Ayshford, I think we would have won more games then we have. I can't remember him losing us many games off the back of his defence.

 

[JJ]

Ayshford has been better than expected and solid - don't think anyone has argued he's been great.

But as he was given the jersey from the start of the season, kept Hurrell out consistently (I agree, Hurrell wasn't give a chance) it's a shock that late in the season he would be ditched essentially to keep fans and or Lolohea happy by putting Lolohea at fullback - that from the outside looks like a gutless move

 

[Leber]

Hurrell trained hard in the off season, but based on trial form, ayshford outplayed him.

Instead of dropping him completely, McFadden attempted to utilise him off the bench and in his first game, he was bog average. Didn't settlements slight playing reserves either.

McFadden has made some did decisions but the hurrell saga was not one of them.

 

[Fufu Andronez]

I don't think its fair to put the blame on McFadden, just because he put in one good off season it doesn't mean that all indiscretions are then forgiven.

It was fun while it lasted, we gave him his shot, we helped build his brand and now its up to him to get himself in the top echelon of players.

One thing we can all agree on is that Koni was a genuine bloke and it was pretty nice of us to release him to a rival team while he is still on contract with us to further his career and not keep him buried in NSW Cup. Would have loved to have got a Titans player out of it though, or maybe we got store credit?

 

[Meth]

Its hard to know where to place the blame.

I think Hurrell has been harshly treated by McFadden.

I have been disappointed with Hurrell's attitude and application.

Lets move on.

 

[Wheeled Warrior]

Blake Ayshford has been decent for you guys, but if we are truly honest about it, he will never be more than an average NRL level centre. If you asked the other 15 clubs who they'd prefer to come up against I reckon 100% of them would rather have Ayshford lining up against them each week.

I've just found the whole scapegoating use of Koni by McFadden extremely poor tbh, the guy by all accounts put in a big off season, and all he could get was a few mins off the bench in 4 games playing in the forwards, when the entire team was struggling. Surely he could have gotten at least 1 run in the outside backs at the expense of Jono Wright

I know a lot is said of the guy about how he didn't care etc, I'm not so sure that was the case. 1 game I recall he hit the ball up and spilt it and he was absolutely gutted and looked like the weight of the world was on his shoulders and you aren't gonna get the best out of a guy in that scenario

Obviously the relationship between he and the coach wasn't a good one, and would be blame on both parties, but I'll always feel he was extremely poorly treated by McFadden and it is a massive waste of talent on his behalf

Koni has no ears or brains to make it to elite or even reasonably good status as a footballer. I also know as much of a clown he can be with his smiles and joking around the idiot has temperament problems and I predict he will go downhill in the GC in due time and escape to the ESL as a last paycheck.

McFadden baffles us with a lot of things trust me we know lol but he got it right severing ties with Koni. The club is way better and shaping into the mould McFadden and co are after.

 

[Wheeled Warrior]

Agree times a thousand Beaver. I remember that dropped ball and he looked absolutelty gutted. Yes, he had stuff to work on (who doesn't with Cappy) but I didn't think he was given a fair go this year - came back fit and strong, did everything that was asked of him and he still was mucked about. Limited game time in the forwards....
And also re Ayshford...people keep going on about him having had a great year....really? He has been solid at best, and in all honesty I think he's had at-least as many poor one on one misses as Konrad has, although Konrad has the massive upside of being great on attack.
IMO with Kon there instead of Ayshford, I think we would have won more games then we have. I can't remember him losing us many games off the back of his defense.

Ayshford may not have the attack or running high Tongan knees but he by far the better defender (his side has leaked very few points this season club record actually) Place Konrad back in there we get more chances of scoring but defense is his let down he cannot read a school yard play let alone an NRL one. You will find out one day if u are lucky enough to sign him to your club.

 

[Wheeled Warrior]

I don't think its fair to put the blame on McFadden, just because he put in one good off season it doesn't mean that all indiscretions are then forgiven.

It was fun while it lasted, we gave him his shot, we helped build his brand and now its up to him to get himself in the top echelon of players.

One thing we can all agree on is that Koni was a genuine bloke and it was pretty nice of us to release him to a rival team while he is still on contract with us to further his career and not keep him buried in NSW Cup. Would have loved to have got a Titans player out of it though, or maybe we got store credit?

I'm still happy we got Bodene tho it may not been for a swap of Konrad we got a good one here and sent out a potentially good one there

 

[SpaceMonkey]

I think the Ayshford comparisons are off too, Aydhford is a cut price journeyman pro, with or without Koni there's a place for him on the squad. Hurrell's competition were really Kata, Fusitua and Lolohea, and out of the four he's probably the weakest like, despite probably also being on the most coin.

 

[Meth]

I think the Ayshford comparisons are off too, Aydhford is a cut price journeyman pro, with or without Koni there's a place for him on the squad. Hurrell's competition were really Kata, Fusitua and Lolohea, and out of the four he's probably the weakest like, despite probably also being on the most coin.

I think you play your best two options at centre, so comparing Ayshford and Hurrell is fair enough. At the start of the year, I wanted Lolohea and Hurrell and saw Kata, Ayshford and Fusitua battling for a wing spot. How wrong I was.

 

[Leber]

I think you play your best two options at centre, so comparing Ayshford and Hurrell is fair enough. At the start of the year, I wanted Lolohea and Hurrell and saw Kata, Ayshford and Fusitua battling for a wing spot. How wrong I was.

I wanted Kata nowhere near first grade because his defence was shit. Now hes much better.

 

[SpaceMonkey]

Today didn't change my mind about Konrad. He went ok but still has too many mistakes in him.

 

[SpaceMonkey]

I think you play your best two options at centre, so comparing Ayshford and Hurrell is fair enough. At the start of the year, I wanted Lolohea and Hurrell and saw Kata, Ayshford and Fusitua battling for a wing spot. How wrong I was.

Right now I'm happy with Fus and Kata. Huge long term potential there.