Your 2016 Rnd 1 team

[abpanther]

Smith is not FG material

I don't agree with elevating an average footballer to such an important position to minimise disruption elsewhere

If DWZ is being groomed for FB, it makes no sense at all not putting him in there

 

[umina panther]

Yeo is also a better centre than Smith a NRL fullback

 

[betcats]

Devils Advocate here:
I don't see us having any choice but to play Smith at FB this game if Whare is injured.

If DWZ moves from Wing to FB, who plays on the Wing? From our top 25, we have Gennings (injured) and Rennings (hasn't trialed with the NRL team, and does not play Wing).

If Hiku moves from Centre to FB, we either move DWZ into Centre (and see above for consequences), or put Yeo as a stop gap.

The other alternative is to look outside our Top 25, however I think it's a bad idea to start eating into your second tier cap in Rnd 1.

Notwithstanding a man of the match performance from Smith this weekend, when Whare comes back in, Smith will be gone. The decision to play Smith says much more about our injured backline than it does about Smith's standing.


IMO Smith has played his best footy in the NRL at fullback, and finished last season extremely strong. He may have been underwhelming in the trials, but he was playing in the halves/hooker, which is not his strong suit.

For mine, Hook has made the right call in this case. Hopefully he has a blinder, and we get the win, regardless of which 17 are named.

That makes a bit of sense but its still disappointing we are in this situation.

 

[betcats]

Yeo is also a better centre than Smith a NRL fullback

I don't know based off their recent games in those positions it is atleast a wash. That being said I trust Yeo not to f**k up more so than Smith so I would rather that option.

 

[mxlegend99]

Devils Advocate here:
I don't see us having any choice but to play Smith at FB this game if Whare is injured.

If DWZ moves from Wing to FB, who plays on the Wing? From our top 25, we have Gennings (injured) and Rennings (hasn't trialed with the NRL team, and does not play Wing).

If Hiku moves from Centre to FB, we either move DWZ into Centre (and see above for consequences), or put Yeo as a stop gap.

The other alternative is to look outside our Top 25, however I think it's a bad idea to start eating into your second tier cap in Rnd 1.

Notwithstanding a man of the match performance from Smith this weekend, when Whare comes back in, Smith will be gone. The decision to play Smith says much more about our injured backline than it does about Smith's standing.


IMO Smith has played his best footy in the NRL at fullback, and finished last season extremely strong. He may have been underwhelming in the trials, but he was playing in the halves/hooker, which is not his strong suit.

For mine, Hook has made the right call in this case. Hopefully he has a blinder, and we get the win, regardless of which 17 are named.

No Whare or Moylan?

1. DWZ / Hiku
2. Hiku / DWZ
3. Yeo (will be solid in defence, make decent metres in attack and even at his worst shouldn't cost us too much. At his best he is pretty dangerous out wide though)
4. Blake
5. Mansour

Will Smith isn't even a "safe option" at fullback. He's very poor under the high ball and almost never in sight when the opposition make a linebreak. So many times last year they made a break and I thought oh yeah, Will Smith is pretty quick he should have it covered easy and he doesn't even enter the frame to stop the try.

He's a solid ball runner in broken field play as he is quick and has a decent step. He would be the fastest fullback option at the club. But that's the only area that he is first grade quality in.

If he could fix his handling and positioning at the back he might be a worthwhile choice ahead of DWZ and Hiku. But out of those 3 players, he's the last one I would want contesting a bomb, he's the last one I would want trying to stop a linebreak and he's the last one I would back to make a one on one tackle. Dropping a bomb and missing a tackle at fullback usually result in points. A terrible game from a fullback is probably going to hurt more on the scoreboard then any other position.

 

[hindy111]

I will give an un - biased view.
Will smith was garbage last year up untill the last 4 weeks. He looked dangerous everytime he carried the ball. His problem at fullback for me thou is - Defense. I prefer a big bodied fullback .Parra have a young guy in Bevan french and also your guy Moss. No matter how good they are in attack they will never be able to stop those one on one tries that guys like Inglis or Slater are able to do (not that slaters big but sure is strong upper body)
If i was selecting a fullback id want a guy who is great under the bomb and also position play. Who can cart the ball up strong and wont get pushed back if get the ball 2-3 meters out. This also my issue with Moylan playing origin thou he is still a lot stronger and bigger then Smith.

So DWZ - He is to good to just be on the wing IMO but what do you do with him?. Blake has perhaps the highest ceiling. If either of the Jennings boys are fit id go with this when all is fit-

1 HIKU
2 DWZ ( just too ease him back in after the injury last year)
3 Blake
4 Whare
5 Mansour
6 Moylan
7 Soward

First in would be the Jennings boys and wallace when Moylan is out. It will take Moylan atleast half the season to be a good 5/8 but if he does then problem solved for 8 years. A problem you are going to have next year!!
The other problem is fitting the jennings boys in. This helps a little as free's up a backline spot. And can move Whare or Mansour on if demand too much $$$

 

[betcats]

Will Smith didn't play outside the last four rounds last season Hindy. He wasn't very good 2014 when he got thrown into the halves for the last round or two and the finals.

 

[mxlegend99]

You have to wonder how much a new contract inspired his few decent games at the end of the season. He hasn't even shown so much as a glimpse of decent form throughout the 9's, the All Stars match and the game against the Eels.

He stood out in the 9's and our last trial, but only for the sets he absolutely killed with either horrible decisions being made, or terrible skill at executing what he was trying to do. Or dropping a ball cold. His form in those games was exactly the same as it was in his first few games at fullback for us in 2015.

Maybe he's just incredibly slow to find his feet in first grade. But even if that's the case, we can't afford to pick someone who is probably going to make the game impossible to win. Especially if it's only for one or two games until Moylan is fit. Last year we had no choice but to pick him... and after about 5 games he was solid for us. But we have a few other choices right now, including the guy who should have been our fullback anyway. It's hard to believe we were thinking 1. DWZ 6. Moylan was a possibility not so long ago, then the Moylan to 6 thing is off the cards completely and DWZ is now behind Will Smith for fullback.

If he had good trial form I would be happy for him. I want to see our best players picked. A bit like Nathan Brown is doing for the Knights. But I doubt anyone would argue that he was our worst through the trials. Which is why this annoys me so much. No way Ivan Cleary would have made that decision. We would probably be stuck with Soward and Wallace another season, but Smith would be well and truly down the pecking order after his trial form.

 

[mxlegend99]

Will Smith didn't play outside the last four rounds last season Hindy. He wasn't very good 2014 when he got thrown into the halves for the last round or two and the finals.

He has played:

2014 - 8 games at 5/8th (Round 21 onwards)
2015 - 1 game at 5/8th (Round 8), 8 games at fullback (Round 19 onwards)

Win ratio at 5/8th = 6 wins / 3 losses (5 from 8 in 2014, 1 from 1 in 2015)
Win ratio at fullback = 2 wins / 6 losses

He's up to 17 games now. Hence me expecting more from him in the trials and the 9's. Against lower quality opposition you would expect him to thrive and put pressure on first grade players due to his form. Not get picked despite how poor it is.