V Panthers

[possm]

Yeah, real smart of Mary to push Demetriou out the door. Please don't tell me you believe James was wanting to return for 'personal' reasons.

Straight Shooter

The team is not at peak form because:
The forwards have been flogged to death.
The bench management has been poor.
The so called depth is very poor.
The coaching staff and fitness gurus don't have a clue.

All who say Millward has done a great job need to look more closely:
The depth is not ready, too many juniors with potential but now where near ready to replace current first graders. Look what Penrith and Souths have done

 

[getsmarty]

He is a leviathan in attack and gets way too much ball in critical positions.
Yes he does help the line speed in defence but that is not the reason he should be selected.
His non playing contribution is without a doubt his greatest asset and is much needed by our club which in itself is a sad indictment of the coaching staff, captaincy and senior playing group that was so inept that it needed Graham to help rectify it.

Every club needs senior players like Graham...think back to 2010 (Costigan/J.Smith etc ) according to people at the club he has been enormous for us...on and off the field...when Graham and Vaughan usually go off the ruck starts to look vulnerable...go have a look at the games...Graham is towards the end of his career no doubt, but we don't have the depth and Mary hasn't given guys like Lawrie/Host/Sele/Lomax etc the minutes necessary to get used to the speed of 1st grade.

 

[2010Dragons]

Does anyone know why McGregor doesn’t pick any junior players from the ISP comp?
Well I’ve watched many ISP games and just can’t see any juniors up to the NRL LEVEL. They are poorly coached, they look like they are all hung over from a night before every game. Stumbling and bumbling ever play.

 

[Saints Forever]

Does anyone know why McGregor doesn’t pick any junior players from the ISP comp?
Well I’ve watched many ISP games and just can’t see any juniors up to the NRL LEVEL. They are poorly coached, they look like they are all hung over from a night before every game. Stumbling and bumbling ever play.

Could it be that they have lost interest because no matter how well they play they have a snow balls chance in hell of being given a proper shot at FG

 

[Old Timer]

Every club needs senior players like Graham...think back to 2010 (Costigan/J.Smith etc ) according to people at the club he has been enormous for us...on and off the field...when Graham and Vaughan usually go off the ruck starts to look vulnerable...go have a look at the games...Graham is towards the end of his career no doubt, but we don't have the depth and Mary hasn't given guys like Lawrie/Host/Sele/Lomax etc the minutes necessary to get used to the speed of 1dt grade.

Until players are given a chance you will never know if we have the depth or not
Classic Catch 22
We have a plethora of clueless people involved in our coaching ranks and that is not the fault of the players

 

[getsmarty]

Until players are given a chance you will never know if we have the depth or not
Classic Catch 22
We have a plethora of clueless people involved in our coaching ranks and that is not the fault of the players

Kerr is not ready...have you watched any ISP..probably not...

 

[Bests Golden Boots]

The sense of déjà vu is concerning. I can cop a loss, heck I can cop us getting a belting if it will bring change. I’m afraid history under Mary shows it doesn’t. Again, that’s either a f*ck you, I know what I’m doing or he simply has no idea or both.

A little from column A and little from column B........wait, we all know there’s no column B

 

[Life's Good]

Jesus everyone needs to calm down. The only sides we've lost to are 2nd, 3rd and 4th which are obviously gonna be tough games. And remember we did also beat one of those teams. We haven't let any games that we were 'supposed' to win slip away and we've won games which we weren't supposed to win. Yeah we've played quite terribly the past few weeks but I think we're just a bit burnt out. This bye is gonna be great for the team and they're gonna hit back this second half of the year.

The flip side to that is we aren’t muscling up to the better sides, the ones who we would play in the finals.
Beating the weaker sides has a touch of ‘flat track bullies’ about it. We need to be competitive in the big games to have any chance. Taking injured players into games, not using our bench, poor game tactics etc. isn’t how you do it.

 

[Old Timer]

Kerr is not ready...have you watched any ISP..probably not...

Kerr was purchased to be a contender for 1st grade and has been stuck in reserve grade with shit coaches and like many if his piers plays to the standard they are dragged down to
Some bench time in the 1st grade squad would have at least found out if he is a shitter or a keeper but as I’ve said many times we never bother to find out
Happy for everyone to be in love with Graham but IMO he brings nothing to our attack and is very much on his last legs as a player
If it is imperative he plays every game then at least get some youth around him to mentor rather than plodded like Latimore who should be mentoring and guiding our ISP team
Not oblivious to other attributes Graham has in leadership etc but sad we didn’t already have that.

 

[Saint_JimmyG]

Just on point 4 yeah I thought Cam's passes weren't fast and crisp. Kudos though for tackling his backside off which is his strength!

So was Ben Ellis back-in-the-day.

McInnes's passes were all over the shop last night: forward, slow, head high etc.

Awful.

He was sluggish in defence too.

 

[Bests Golden Boots]

Kerr is not ready...have you watched any ISP..probably not...

But how do we know that, as I’ve said before, sure the ISP is a second grade comp, but what other teams do is see a young kid has potential, say has played at Origin or internationals as a junior, and throw him into the starting line up.

The Two 18/19 kids playing for Broncos at the moment, we’re they treated to extended runs sitting on the bench for games on end without playing?
They throw them into the team and see how they go.

Form in ISP playing against second rate opposition in front of 20 people at the local park will tell you bugger all.
If you think a kid has potential, throw him on the park and let him play.
Lomax, Lawrie, Host, Kerr, Robson, Garrick, Herbert, Feild.
77 minutes sitting on a bench will not tell you if they are “ready” 80 minutes in first grade might.
Lawrie, I thought, showed enough in his limited minutes last night to suggest he could get there, but will proberbly not play against the Eels.

The club, as a whole, has no friggin idea how to bring a player into first grade.
Latimore, who I admit has played well the last few weeks, was signed as an ISP depth player, but even before the start of the season had leap frogged all the local juniors coming through.
Now people are suggesting Pierra be bought into first grade.
What do these selections tell the young guys coming through.
What it tells they is if they want to play regular first grade they should make like a Bird and fly away.

 

[Old Kogarah Boy 1]

Sorry OKB1.
They were shit.
Simply shit.

Thanks mate for clearing that up.
I wasn’t sure of your comments!

 

[Saint_JimmyG]

Kerr was purchased to be a contender for 1st grade and has been stuck in reserve grade with shit coaches and like many if his piers plays to the standard they are dragged down to
Some bench time in the 1st grade squad would have at least found out if he is a shitter or a keeper but as I’ve said many times we never bother to find out
Happy for everyone to be in love with Graham but IMO he brings nothing to our attack and is very much on his last legs as a player
If it is imperative he plays every game then at least get some youth around him to mentor rather than plodded like Latimore who should be mentoring and guiding our ISP team
Not oblivious to other attributes Graham has in leadership etc but sad we didn’t already have that.

Graham is (was?) very much s short-term solution for Millward stuffing up Packer's departure.

But, of course, he's doing a 'fantastic' job with the retention of players.

 

[Bests Golden Boots]

He is a leviathan in attack and gets way too much ball in critical positions.
Yes he does help the line speed in defence but that is not the reason he should be selected.
His non playing contribution is without a doubt his greatest asset and is much needed by our club which in itself is a sad indictment of the coaching staff, captaincy and senior playing group that was so inept that it needed Graham to help rectify it.

Jeez how many times does Graham get in the way and stifle our attack, mind you that’s most of our forwards, you will see the ball go from Hunt to Widdop and start to think “of here we go” and then it goes to Jack, Graham, Tyson or Latimore and the play dies.
Just get out of the fricken way.

 

[Bests Golden Boots]

Thanks mate for clearing that up.
I wasn’t sure of your comments!

But was it a nice firm satisfying one or an explosive splattering of the bowl that leaves you feeling unfulfilled.
I suggest it was the latter.

 

[Old Timer]

Jeez how many times does Graham get in the way and stifle our attack, mind you that’s most of our forwards, you will see the ball go from Hunt to Widdop and start to think “of here we go” and then it goes to Jack, Graham, Tyson or Latimore and the play dies.
Just get out of the fricken way.

Did at the Dogs and now doing it here
just like Gallen does at the Sharks
Attack is far better without him and several others in the road

 

[Saint_JimmyG]

Jeez how many times does Graham get in the way and stifle our attack, mind you that’s most of our forwards, you will see the ball go from Hunt to Widdop and start to think “of here we go” and then it goes to Jack, Graham, Tyson or Latimore and the play dies.
Just get out of the fricken way.

I don't use the word 'fricken'.

 

[Lovemedragons]

Well contrary to most I congratulate all our players who were previously in contention for SOO because last night they put the club first and all played so crap they could never be picked for SOO...Oh and a couple of them took one for the team by going down injured last night. So disappointing, am convinced now we ain't got the ticker or brains to go deep yet.

 

[2010]

Hunt came out for the second half with his leg strapped. Why do we risk our playmaker. He needed a week off to get over the injury. JDB needs injections to play.
If we keep doing this we risk these players not getting over their injuries.
Plenty supporters keep on saying we are top of the table and sit back and enjoy it.
There are plenty of us were concerned about what happened last year when the power game started to falter.
McIdiot has said on many occasions regarding SOO that we have it covered when we loose players to SOO.
I want to know his plan because he has not identified what his plan is, nor has he given any decent game time to players who will need to step up from the bench.
My glass is half empty on all of this

 

[Pomoz]

But how do we know that, as I’ve said before, sure the ISP is a second grade comp, but what other teams do is see a young kid has potential, say has played at Origin or internationals as a junior, and throw him into the starting line up.

The Two 18/19 kids playing for Broncos at the moment, we’re they treated to extended runs sitting on the bench for games on end without playing?
They throw them into the team and see how they go.

Form in ISP playing against second rate opposition in front of 20 people at the local park will tell you bugger all.
If you think a kid has potential, throw him on the park and let him play.
Lomax, Lawrie, Host, Kerr, Robson, Garrick, Herbert, Feild.
77 minutes sitting on a bench will not tell you if they are “ready” 80 minutes in first grade might.
Lawrie, I thought, showed enough in his limited minutes last night to suggest he could get there, but will proberbly not play against the Eels.

The club, as a whole, has no friggin idea how to bring a player into first grade.
Latimore, who I admit has played well the last few weeks, was signed as an ISP depth player, but even before the start of the season had leap frogged all the local juniors coming through.
Now people are suggesting Pierra be bought into first grade.
What do these selections tell the young guys coming through.
What it tells they is if they want to play regular first grade they should make like a Bird and fly away.

Can't argue with any of this. The Broncos have this formula down pat. Admittedly, it was forced on them by having so many players picked for SOO, but in any case they worked it out. Throw in a junior for a few games, let them get a feel for what they need to do to be first grader, both on match day and during training. Once they start to tire and they will, their bodies aren't used to it yet, spell them back in reggies. Rinse and repeat. The Broncos produce new first graders all the time and its not just because they have a large nursery to choose from. The Eels and Panthers have also had a large nursery for years and have produced less quality players over the last 30 years than the Broncos.

The Panthers broke loads of juniors by not doing the spell back down again. Rookies need time to adapt physically especially if they are a forward. Now with Gus they do it at all levels. U16 to U18's a few games and back down. U18's to u20's a few games and back down and so on. By the time they get to first grade they are ready for a step up because they have experienced it before.

You can't leave a player in reserve grade and hope one day a magic sign will appear saying "this player is ready", you have to invest in them and see if they can grow. They need somebody to give them a chance.