Match Discussion: Round 1 vs Sea Eagles @ McDonald Jones Stadium

[alexwilliams_66692007]

Brown confirms Levi is OUT

 

[alexwilliams_66692007]

SQUAD

1. Kalyn Ponga
2. Shaun Kenny-Dowall
3. Sione Mata’utia
4. Tautau Moga
5. Nathan Ross
6. Connor Watson
7. Mitchell Pearce (c)
8. Herman Ese’ese
9. Slade Griffin
10. Jacob Lillyman
11. Lachlan Fitzgibbon
12. Aidan Guerra
13. Mitch Barnett

14. Brock Lamb
15. Chris Heighington
16. Jamie Buhrer (c)
17. Daniel Saifit

18. Ken Sio
19. Jacob Saifiti
20. Danny Levi
21. Luke Yates

 

[PhilGould]

Brown confirms Levi is OUT

Nothing says "balanced team" like having one geniune prop on the bench, alongside a specialist half and a small edge backrower/utility.

 

[Burns]

Don’t know about that bench at all.

 

[Knight76]

Unless the plan is for Daniel to sub on with lamb and use lamb as a battering RAM for hitups I don't have any idea why Lamb would be on the bench.

 

[Burwood]

That bench is terrible- not the quality of the players, but the general make up of it.

And the reasoning behind Lamb’s selection is to cover a possible injury? What happens if there are no injuries? It means that he either sits on the bench for 80 minutes, or part of Brown’s game plan is for him to come on at 5/8 and Watson either gets a rest or covers hooker.

I hope it’s not the latter- I hate when coaches fiddle with a team’s spine during the match. Fullback, half and 5/8 needs to remain untouched.

 

[alexwilliams_66692007]

I think he's covering possible concussion tests too.

 

[slotmachine]

I hate when coaches fiddle with a team’s spine during the match. Fullback, half and 5/8 needs to remain untouched.

That type of dumb got Rick Stone sacked.

Like everyone else I think that bench is going to struggle big time, but who knows, brownie might look like a genius come 8pm friday.

 

[Burwood]

If that’s the case then Brown needs to pick Lamb at #6 and let him play the entire match. You’d think a utility player (i.e Watson) would be the natural choice to cover 1-9 on the bench, not a player like Lamb who can only play in the halves.

I also think it hurts that our two centres can only really cover their own position in the backline. If 1,2 or 5 go down injured, you can’t really shift Sione or Moga to cover them.

Lol I think it all boils down to me not liking Griffin. I see him as nothing more than a solid part timer who is able to take the sting out of the opposition’s attack in the opening stanza of the game. Hopefully he proves me wrong like Ross and Fitzgibbon have recently.

 

[alexwilliams_66692007]

We'll be wearing our heritage jersey too:

 

[PhilGould]

Hopefully they bring back the yellow numbers.

 

[Old dog]

If that’s the case then Brown needs to pick Lamb at #6 and let him play the entire match. You’d think a utility player (i.e Watson) would be the natural choice to cover 1-9 on the bench, not a player like Lamb who can only play in the halves.

I also think it hurts that our two centres can only really cover their own position in the backline. If 1,2 or 5 go down injured, you can’t really shift Sione or Moga to cover them.

Lol I think it all boils down to me not liking Griffin. I see him as nothing more than a solid part timer who is able to take the sting out of the opposition’s attack in the opening stanza of the game. Hopefully he proves me wrong like Ross and Fitzgibbon have recently.

Doesn't matter, Lamb or Watson, bench or 5/8 is the same,mWatson covers everything 1-5 & 9 Lamb covers 6-7 other 3 bench cover 8-13 minus 9

 

[Knight Vision]

Nothing says "balanced team" like having one geniune prop on the bench, alongside a specialist half and a small edge backrower/utility.

I was just thinking that bench is woeful.

 

[Knight Vision]

That bench is terrible- not the quality of the players, but the general make up of it.

And the reasoning behind Lamb’s selection is to cover a possible injury? What happens if there are no injuries? It means that he either sits on the bench for 80 minutes, or part of Brown’s game plan is for him to come on at 5/8 and Watson either gets a rest or covers hooker.

I hope it’s not the latter- I hate when coaches fiddle with a team’s spine during the match. Fullback, half and 5/8 needs to remain untouched.

Could not agree more with this.

It'll be interesting to see how Brown uses the interchange. Nowhere near the grunt we need on that bench.

 

[slotmachine]

Buhrer spells Barnett and fitz, Dan and heighno the props

Lamb gets 15 minutes at 5/8, Watson to hooker when Griffin has a rest.

 

[PhilGould]

Sucks that we have to move our spine around like that mid-game. If only we had another NRL-quality specialist hooker.

 

[Noname36]

That’s a terrible bench. Seems like Brown is trying to accommodate Lamb and Burher even if it means weakening the whole squad.

So where does Lamb play? Is Brown planning on giving Watson time at hooker to relieve Griffin? That will just completely stuff around the entire flow of the team (when we’re already trying to build combinations) and also Levi is a better hooker than Watson, Burher and IMO Griffin too so it really boggles the mind that he’s left out. You really don’t need to carry an extra half just for injury cover. There are plenty of ways we could cover and adding Lamb to the mix just makes the squad even smaller when size was clearly an issue against the Eels.

I’m usually right on board with Brown’s decisions but this one I just can’t get my head around. If Lamb isn’t the best choice half then he shouldn’t be in the squad - trying to include him from the bench just weakens the entire side.

 

[Noname36]

Sucks that we have to move our spine around like that mid-game. If only we had another NRL-quality specialist hooker.

It’s madness, especially when we’re already trying to develop combinations.

 

[Hardcore_Fan]

Levi is shit. Buhrer should be our permanent hooker. Run 4 forwards off the bench. Release lamb to negotiate with other clubs.

 

[macavity]

That bench is balls

Seems we have stuffed our balance to keep Lamb happy and shoehorn Griffin in