Robbie Farah

[Rabbits20]

As Souths til I die has said like me many times it's simple to understand (well it seems not for some on here) we were on a losing streak last season and Cam was giving poor service. We then put Cook in and looked much sharper and everything flowed. It wasn't a coincidence.

I'm not wrong at all R95. I'm right!!!!!

Cam is a defensive hooker!!!!

We as a team don't make as many metres as the Dragons either. Their backs make big metres and their back rowers run more than ours. Any hooker would go well under that Dragons side currently. Cam is being made to look better than he is.

Cook has the skills for the tougher role at Souths in where he needs to dart more and make metres plus get us going forwards like Issac did. If Cam was still with us we wouldn't be looking as sharp. That's just plain obvious.

I guess he suits the Dragons game plan in that he sits back and doesn't do that much apart from passing and tackling. As I repeat that isn't what Souths needed.

I know alien knows what I mean but it's too hard for some to comprehend on here.

I believe Cook is playing better than McInnes. The last 2 weeks Cook has had better stats and last week he played 55mins but did more than what Cam did in the 80.

Cam got Cook earlier in the season but this last fortnight Cook has really come of age and imo is better than Cam. Cook was on the bench in the early rounds too so he didn't have as much chance to show his form.

If McTurtle was still with us it'd be for the Bears most likely. At best McTurtle would get a bench spot but I can guarantee you McTurtle wouldn't have started with us, that's why he moved on. He was given many chances and wasn't doing it for us. I believe the Dragons are just making it simple for him with tackle and pass. They are kind of hiding his liabilities which is smart coaching by them. We went to lots of effort with him but it didn't turn out and Madge and Richo base recruitment around performance!!!! I believe Richo made the right call on this one.

Thoughts Shadow???

Thoughts alien????

 

[Rabbit toes]

Exhibit A

Impressive that a "reserve grade hooker" is a starting hooker in a team at the top of the ladder.

Coincidence? I think not

 

[greg jay]

Shadow .....Sunbeam... Why are you so down on Aaron Gray? Did Gray not finish strongly last season? Gray has plenty of ability rather its his continual lack of availability that is of major concern. I dont see Gray as a dud whatsoever its his injury history that sets him back. Gray knows his way to the line and is a TD machine when he is healthy. Pointe.

 

[greg jay]

Has anyone seen the North Queensland line up this week? They have many duds in that frame, many of them. Ben Hampton at # 7 and Blake Leary at # 9??? Seriously??

 

[Pablooo]

Has anyone seen the North Queensland line up this week? They have many duds in that frame, many of them. Ben Hampton at # 7 and Blake Leary at # 9??? Seriously??

As Souths til I die has said like me many times it's simple to understand (well it seems not for some on here) we were on a losing streak last season and Cam was giving poor service. We then put Cook in and looked much sharper and everything flowed. It wasn't a coincidence.

I'm not wrong at all R95. I'm right!!!!!

Cam is a defensive hooker!!!!

We as a team don't make as many metres as the Dragons either. Their backs make big metres and their back rowers run more than ours. Any hooker would go well under that Dragons side currently. Cam is being made to look better than he is.

Cook has the skills for the tougher role at Souths in where he needs to dart more and make metres plus get us going forwards like Issac did. If Cam was still with us we wouldn't be looking as sharp. That's just plain obvious.

I guess he suits the Dragons game plan in that he sits back and doesn't do that much apart from passing and tackling. As I repeat that isn't what Souths needed.

I know alien knows what I mean but it's too hard for some to comprehend on here.

I believe Cook is playing better than McInnes. The last 2 weeks Cook has had better stats and last week he played 55mins but did more than what Cam did in the 80.

Cam got Cook earlier in the season but this last fortnight Cook has really come of age and imo is better than Cam. Cook was on the bench in the early rounds too so he didn't have as much chance to show his form.

If McTurtle was still with us it'd be for the Bears most likely. At best McTurtle would get a bench spot but I can guarantee you McTurtle wouldn't have started with us, that's why he moved on. He was given many chances and wasn't doing it for us. I believe the Dragons are just making it simple for him with tackle and pass. They are kind of hiding his liabilities which is smart coaching by them. We went to lots of effort with him but it didn't turn out and Madge and Richo base recruitment around performance!!!! I believe Richo made the right call on this one.

Thoughts Shadow???

Thoughts alien????

I tend to agree with your assessment on Mcinness. He is a good solid hooker that will do the job he's asked to do as long as it's a basic no thrills role. He is a strong defender, a good ball runner and can play big minutes which seems to suit his role with the Merge. But at Souths we needed a general like hooker like Farah who was chosen by our brains trusts because he has the "smarts". He is a main contributor to our game plan and very much building a strong combo with Reyno and our spine. His role is to choose when to run or pass, which side of the ruck to pass and to whom to pass. This may seem very elementary to most but it's the most important role on the field outside of the halfbacks role. As for Cook, he is the opposite to Farah, he provides us the punch around the ruck and is integral in getting our forwards moving forward and exposing lazy defenders with incisive runs throughout the game. With both hookers in our seventeen, we have the best one- two punch in the NRL and I wouldn't swap them for any other two hookers.

 

[Rsag85]

Shadow .....Sunbeam... Why are you so down on Aaron Gray? Did Gray not finish strongly last season? Gray has plenty of ability rather its his continual lack of availability that is of major concern. I dont see Gray as a dud whatsoever its his injury history that sets him back. Gray knows his way to the line and is a TD machine when he is healthy. Pointe.

Got 4 try's in the city v country game last year. Any player who gets 4 try's for a rep side is no dud.

 

[Souths Till I Die]

As Souths til I die has said like me many times it's simple to understand (well it seems not for some on here) we were on a losing streak last season and Cam was giving poor service. We then put Cook in and looked much sharper and everything flowed. It wasn't a coincidence.

I'm not wrong at all R95. I'm right!!!!!

Cam is a defensive hooker!!!!

We as a team don't make as many metres as the Dragons either. Their backs make big metres and their back rowers run more than ours. Any hooker would go well under that Dragons side currently. Cam is being made to look better than he is.

Cook has the skills for the tougher role at Souths in where he needs to dart more and make metres plus get us going forwards like Issac did. If Cam was still with us we wouldn't be looking as sharp. That's just plain obvious.

I guess he suits the Dragons game plan in that he sits back and doesn't do that much apart from passing and tackling. As I repeat that isn't what Souths needed.

I know alien knows what I mean but it's too hard for some to comprehend on here.

I believe Cook is playing better than McInnes. The last 2 weeks Cook has had better stats and last week he played 55mins but did more than what Cam did in the 80.

Cam got Cook earlier in the season but this last fortnight Cook has really come of age and imo is better than Cam. Cook was on the bench in the early rounds too so he didn't have as much chance to show his form.

If McTurtle was still with us it'd be for the Bears most likely. At best McTurtle would get a bench spot but I can guarantee you McTurtle wouldn't have started with us, that's why he moved on. He was given many chances and wasn't doing it for us. I believe the Dragons are just making it simple for him with tackle and pass. They are kind of hiding his liabilities which is smart coaching by them. We went to lots of effort with him but it didn't turn out and Madge and Richo base recruitment around performance!!!! I believe Richo made the right call on this one.

Thoughts Shadow???

Thoughts alien????

Agreed mate. I still think cook and Farah are better hookers than McInnes in contrary to popular belief on these forums. McInnes didn't show any of the form last year that he has shown this year as well. At the end of the day though everyone is gonna have their opinions on players and they're always gonna be different. We retained cook over McInnes and that was a step in the right direction for our club. The hooking role isn't even a problem for us this year I don't know why it's such a hot topic anyway. Our backline has been decimated. Even with McInnes we would of still lost all the games we have lost.

 

[doyen]

Lol why can't you ever just admit that for once in your precious little life you might be wrong about something?

It's a FACT that McInnes is doing better this year than he was last year, and he's the form NSW hooker at the moment. He's doing better than Cook and Farah.

We did not retain Cook over McInnes!! We signed Farah----McInnes then decided to jump to greener pastures--Cook therefore had no option but to remain & play second fiddle to Farah!!
Farah has not gone all that well so we are stuck with these two that have us languishing in the bottom half of the ladder & struggling from week to week against very weakened sides!!

St George have improved greatly this season & McInnes has played a significant part in this improvement!!
Sorry R95--this was meant to be a reply to #67; STID!!!

 

[Rabbits20]

Agreed mate. I still think cook and Farah are better hookers than McInnes in contrary to popular belief on these forums. McInnes didn't show any of the form last year that he has shown this year as well. At the end of the day though everyone is gonna have their opinions on players and they're always gonna be different. We retained cook over McInnes and that was a step in the right direction for our club. The hooking role isn't even a problem for us this year I don't know why it's such a hot topic anyway. Our backline has been decimated. Even with McInnes we would of still lost all the games we have lost.

Oi mate R95 had a little go at my intelligence on this matter lol, no harm done but I thought he'd have replied by now considering he's liked a post of someone else in here. Obviously I stunned him with my analysis lol, I don't think he though I had that in me.

Spot on in that it was a step in the right direction. I'm glad we see eye to eye.

Spot on re hooker not being a problem.

Yep that's my concern this week again, the backs could get caught out.

 

[Rabbits20]

We did not retain Cook over McInnes!! We signed Farah----McInnes then decided to jump to greener pastures--Cook therefore had no option but to remain & play second fiddle to Farah!!
Farah has not gone all that well so we are stuck with these two that have us languishing in the bottom half of the ladder & struggling from week to week against very weakened sides!!

St George have improved greatly this season & McInnes has played a significant part in this improvement!!
Sorry R95--this was meant to be a reply to #67; STID!!!

I believe Madge signed Farah so Cook can learn more and Madge sees Cook as our long term hooker.

Madge put his foot down too and wouldn't let the Sharks have Cook.

Imo McInnes chose to leave as after Cook helped us turn around our form at the back end of the season he realised he'd be 3rd choice hooker and Madge would opt for the sharp Cook over him in the 17.

Even if we didn't sign Farah I think McInnes would have still gone as Cook would've got the starting spot.

If you think hooker is our problem Doyen, well then I'm lost for words!!!

Imo we are better off with these 2. Surely you don't think Cam would have won us more games????

McInnes has been given a simple role at the Dragons Doyen and he has a forward pack making lots of metres and second rowers making strong charges. It's not hard at all to play off the back of that!!!!!

At Souths McInnes couldn't get things rolling and yes you could blame the forwards partly but as soon as Cook finally got a go the forwards didn't really run more metres and look how much better we looked. We look really good with Cook at 9 now too. Madge knows what he's doing Doyen and Cook is going great guns.

Our problem Doyen is in the backs!!!!!!!

More often our forwards need to be more consistent in helping Sam out too.

Our halves get clean and faster service with Cook too over Cam and giving Cody more time is important!!!!

Farah imo also has added a new dimension and is a bit of an upgrade over Cam.

 

[Rabbits20]

http://wwos.nine.com.au/2017/04/11/...-wests-tigers-cant-blame-him-for-current-mess


Farah says the Tigers can't blame him anymore!!!!!

 

[Travitoh]

I enjoy how a 22 year old underage rep player is deemed a dud, while a 26 year old with limited first grade experience is described as our future.
Cook currently fits the way we play better than Cam did but he is a poor mans Isaac Luke and i don't believe he will get much better than he is now. I would've liked to have seen Cam get a chance to learn from Farah but unfortunately it won't be. I feel Cam would've learnt a lot more than Cook will.
To discount Cam's influence on a side that is top of the league after 6 rounds is ignorant. He has started the season well and deserves all the plaudits he is recieving.

 

[southsport]

But everyone says it's our outside backs that are the problem atm and how well our forwards are playing, Cook is part of the forward pack that is playing well.

 

[Souths Till I Die]

I'm honestly starting to feel as if you guys are just looking for excuses to blame cook/Farah for our losses.

McInnes is playing great yes no one can take that from him. But let's look at the teams the dragons have played.

Round 1: Penrith 2 Wins 4 losses
Round 2: Lost to eels who are 2 wins to 4 losses
Round 3: Beat a depleted Sharks squad who are 4 wins to 2 losses
Round 4: beat the warriors who are 3 for 3 and a pretty unconvincing 3.
Round 5: they beat the tigers who are at the bottom of the ladder
Round 6: they beat a manly side who did not turn up. It was the exact same side that we demolished.

If you are going to say that McInnes is a NSW origin player because the dragons are doing well it's nuts. The dragons performances are on the back of their halves. I haven't seen Gareth Widdop play as well as he has in a long time. I urge you to watch Widdop's last tackle options compared to Reynolds this year. You will see that Widdop is playing extremely better than Reynolds. They also have a future NSW player in aitken and tim lafai is in top form. If the dragons end up in the top 4 by the end of the season I'll be extremely surprised. They play a depleted cowboys pack next week too.

 

[Souths Till I Die]

I'm not discounting his effort at all. He's one of the best defensive hookers in the game.

 

[souths_reborn]

The whole hooking debate has been going on for the best part of 18 months to 2 years and we keep going over the same ground. However, I guess there is cause for re-examination given the Dragons recent 'success'. Those who are signing the praises of McInnes after the Dragons' recent performances are parochial in their outlook and after often those South Sydney fans who blame Michael Maguire for everything wrong at the club. I've watched most of the Dragons games this season and I can tell you that very little of their success can be attributed to the performances of McInnes. If you watch the Dragons most of their wins have come on the back of a) good defence and resilience, b) high completion rates and c) the last tackle options and overall form of Gareth Widdop. The Dragons are more of a grafting sort of team who play a simple brand of attacking of attacking football that is aimed at wearing down the opposition rather than ripping them apart; they lack an Anthony Milford or a Cody Walker type of player who can create something out of nothing. This has brought them a lot of success because such a style enables them to get to their kick and ultimately complete their sets. I know it sounds cynical by I feel that a lot of teams beat themselves when playing against the Dragons by trying to do too much against them; teams are better off keeping things simple and going with the Dragons set for set. Eventually they will capitulate simply because they don't have the talent that a lot of other teams have. McInnes' role in proceedings has been satisfactory. Credit where it is due - the guy has been solid but there is no I'd say that he is the reason why the Dragons are winning nor would I even contemplate picking him for Origin. McInnes' distribution and creativity is no better or worse than when he was at Souths nor would I say that the way he controls the speed of the ruck has improved either; if you look at the way the Dragons play you'd hardly call them a fast moving team. Instead, McInnes has kept things simple by keeping the ball close the ruck (that is why he has 4 try assists) and letting Widdop control things.

Many people on here will be thinking "Well why couldn't he do that at Souths?" The simple answer is that the way we play is completely different to the way the Dragons play. For starters, we need to be a fast moving team in order to maximise the size of the Burgess brothers - neither one of them has good acceleration so we need to prevent defences from moving up quickly on them in order to take advantage of their enormous size and power. Damien Cook fits the bill perfectly for this because one of his strengths is speeding up the ruck and catching out markers from dummy half. Secondly, we lack a commanding half who can control a game through creativity and guile; Adam Reynolds is a good player but he's best suited to winning repeat sets and field position. Similarly, Cody Walker is a flair player who can create scoring opportunities but I wouldn't say that he can control a game and manage it in the same way that a Thurston can. Hence, we need a hooker with those attributes to help out our halves. McInnes wasn't and still isn't that type of player but Robbie Farah does offer that and that was why he was brought in.

In summary, McInnes is a technically limited footballer who is making the most of his ability. More importantly, he is right man in the right job at the right club - that is why the illusion is being created that he is an outstanding hooker. At Souths he simply didn't fit in with the way we were trying to play and that is why he struggled - it was unfortunate because the guy tried his guts out but it just wasn't working out. Rugby League is a lot like a puzzle and McInnes was a square peg in a round hole and him changing clubs was best for all concerned. Lastly, I think it is important to realise that it is only Round 6; we've got a long way to go in the season and at present, everyone is going to be dropping games here and there. The reason for this is that every team has something to play for and has aspirations of making the top 8; it during the middle and business end of the season that you start getting a few "gimme" games as teams start falling out of finals contention.

 

[DiegoNT]

If you don't think mcinnes has had a huge effect on dragons current form then you haven't been watching many dragons games. Go into the dragons forums, they have a bucket load of different user's, quite a few who seem knowledgable, and every one of them will tell you mcinnes has made a difference

 

[Rabbits20]

The whole hooking debate has been going on for the best part of 18 months to 2 years and we keep going over the same ground. However, I guess there is cause for re-examination given the Dragons recent 'success'. Those who are signing the praises of McInnes after the Dragons' recent performances are parochial in their outlook and after often those South Sydney fans who blame Michael Maguire for everything wrong at the club. I've watched most of the Dragons games this season and I can tell you that very little of their success can be attributed to the performances of McInnes. If you watch the Dragons most of their wins have come on the back of a) good defence and resilience, b) high completion rates and c) the last tackle options and overall form of Gareth Widdop. The Dragons are more of a grafting sort of team who play a simple brand of attacking of attacking football that is aimed at wearing down the opposition rather than ripping them apart; they lack an Anthony Milford or a Cody Walker type of player who can create something out of nothing. This has brought them a lot of success because such a style enables them to get to their kick and ultimately complete their sets. I know it sounds cynical by I feel that a lot of teams beat themselves when playing against the Dragons by trying to do too much against them; teams are better off keeping things simple and going with the Dragons set for set. Eventually they will capitulate simply because they don't have the talent that a lot of other teams have. McInnes' role in proceedings has been satisfactory. Credit where it is due - the guy has been solid but there is no I'd say that he is the reason why the Dragons are winning nor would I even contemplate picking him for Origin. McInnes' distribution and creativity is no better or worse than when he was at Souths nor would I say that the way he controls the speed of the ruck has improved either; if you look at the way the Dragons play you'd hardly call them a fast moving team. Instead, McInnes has kept things simple by keeping the ball close the ruck (that is why he has 4 try assists) and letting Widdop control things.

Many people on here will be thinking "Well why couldn't he do that at Souths?" The simple answer is that the way we play is completely different to the way the Dragons play. For starters, we need to be a fast moving team in order to maximise the size of the Burgess brothers - neither one of them has good acceleration so we need to prevent defences from moving up quickly on them in order to take advantage of their enormous size and power. Damien Cook fits the bill perfectly for this because one of his strengths is speeding up the ruck and catching out markers from dummy half. Secondly, we lack a commanding half who can control a game through creativity and guile; Adam Reynolds is a good player but he's best suited to winning repeat sets and field position. Similarly, Cody Walker is a flair player who can create scoring opportunities but I wouldn't say that he can control a game and manage it in the same way that a Thurston can. Hence, we need a hooker with those attributes to help out our halves. McInnes wasn't and still isn't that type of player but Robbie Farah does offer that and that was why he was brought in.

In summary, McInnes is a technically limited footballer who is making the most of his ability. More importantly, he is right man in the right job at the right club - that is why the illusion is being created that he is an outstanding hooker. At Souths he simply didn't fit in with the way we were trying to play and that is why he struggled - it was unfortunate because the guy tried his guts out but it just wasn't working out. Rugby League is a lot like a puzzle and McInnes was a square peg in a round hole and him changing clubs was best for all concerned. Lastly, I think it is important to realise that it is only Round 6; we've got a long way to go in the season and at present, everyone is going to be dropping games here and there. The reason for this is that every team has something to play for and has aspirations of making the top 8; it during the middle and business end of the season that you start getting a few "gimme" games as teams start falling out of finals contention.

Great post!!!! Best in the thread.

Your knowledge is way out of the trolls league of comprehension though!!!!!!

 

[DiegoNT]

Actually watch a dragons game. Mcinnes controls that team just as much as widdop. It all comes back to the fact that dragons targeted mcinnes as someone they saw they could build a team around. They wanted him in 2015, and even though he backflipped on a deal with them they still wanted him the next time he became available. How often do team chase a player that's backflipped on them in the past? The situation at south's was different. In 2015 he was Luke's understudy, in the 2016 pre-season he was told he wasn't worth paying buy Crowe. Dragons have obviously made him feel more appreciated.
Look at the way he leads that team. He is constantly instructing forwards when he wants them to run and where. He is moving that team into the position on the field where they can be dangerous. He is giving great crisp passes right to the chest of the forwards so that when they get the ball they are already over the advantage line. He is making the right choices from dummy half. If they are getting good roll on he'll give widdop the ball with room to move, if not he'll get another forward to punch it up, if mcrone is the better option he'll get it. As a hooker you'd be tempted to favour widdop over mcrone almost 99 times out if 100, but he is making sure that when mcrone can do good he'll get the ball. It's making mcrone look good and it's taking pressure of widdop. Widdop is only getting the ball when he can cause some damage, which is in huge contrast to last year when the gameplan seemed to be pass to widdop and hope he'll make something out of nothing. He's creativity close to the line is not only taking pressure of widdop he's actually creating tries or near tries just on his own. His neen given a bigger controlling role at yhe dragons and he is thriving. Unlike last year when he was copping the blame for the failure of the Burgess bros running game falling off a cliff. We were to afraid to talk about it last year, no blame could be put at the Burgii's feet unlike this year were the twins can now be dropped and sam criticized. Mcinnes running game is still strong, when he runs he runs with a purpose and his defence is one of the best of any hooker. He is starting to become a smith/hodgson/ennis type player for the dragons and our it's great to see commentators make notice of his talent and guys like ennis and buderus push his case.

 

[doyen]

If you don't think mcinnes has had a huge effect on dragons current form then you haven't been watching many dragons games. Go into the dragons forums, they have a bucket load of different user's, quite a few who seem knowledgable, and every one of them will tell you mcinnes has made a difference

Our key position players haven't exactly set us alight--in fact we've struggled in almost every game against very weakened teams in a lot of cases--even the Knights!!!

Hence,we are running 9th with a differential of minus17------Saints are a 100 points better off than us in this area with McInnes,McCrone & Widdop at the helm----100 pts!!!!???

We beat Saints 32-14 in the CS but basically it has been pretty ordinary since that match!!