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Hodkinson and Reynolds NSW Halves

Fat Krion

Juniors
Messages
470
Mullen and Carney are obviously the best and always have been. Neither one of them will get a look in though. They'll keep picking halves that have the hype due to their club's performances...halves that benefit from having massive forward packs and good structures at club level but don't have the skills or vision to perform away from that. Happens year after year.

Remind me where their respective sides are coming.....?

Carney is not the player he was seems to have lost his speed, Mullen will luck out because of no club combination.

Roosters are struggling, the Bulldogs pair are on fire.

Hodkinson is solid in defence and a great goal kicker, Reynolds such a competitor.

Whoever is picked won't matter anyway as QLD are morals so why not disrupt the Dogs season.
 

Fordy20

Juniors
Messages
2,325
The dogs halves only look good behind the dogs pack. Throw them behind the NSW pack and they will be shown up. If the selectors aren't going with Pearce then they need someone who's been there before. Wallace is the obvious candidate and he needs to be pair with a quality 5/8. That man is Jarrod Mullen.
 

Fat Krion

Juniors
Messages
470
The dogs halves only look good behind the dogs pack. Throw them behind the NSW pack and they will be shown up. If the selectors aren't going with Pearce then they need someone who's been there before. Wallace is the obvious candidate and he needs to be pair with a quality 5/8. That man is Jarrod Mullen.

The NSW pack aren't powder puffs and will more than hold their own.

What NSW need is a good kicking game and composure in attack .

With Bird, Fifita and Cordner missing reckon Tolman may also get a start.

Bet the Bulldogs weren't expecting up to five players in the NSW squad...:sarcasm::crazy:
 

big hit!

Bench
Messages
3,452
Fat Krion said:
A strong showing against the warriors will see Hodkinson, Reynolds and Williams all get picked for the blues.. There in form and deserve a shot...

same old NSW selection mistakes. just go for the halves that are looking good behind winning teams. then you probably won't see them in a series time.

Hodkinson is solid in defence and a great goal kicker, Reynolds such a competitor.

the most important attributes you need from representative halves. :sarcasm:
 

big hit!

Bench
Messages
3,452
The simple fact is that there is dearth of talent available. Mullen and Carney are the only two established halves NSW have available who are proper talented footballers. I also rate the Titans pair, but they are much less experienced and both currently struggling with injury anyway. I said months ago our halves should be 6. Mullen and 7. Carney (doesn't really matter about numbers), and I'm sticking to that.

Carney has the goods in attack but he is the biggest defensive liability of all halves in contention. this is the major X against him, particularly as he is a right-side half (you're right, the numbers mean nothing - it's all about sides) and opposing thurston & inglis. furthermore, both Mullen and Carney play predominantly on the right. Sure, they can change this but a week is not much time to get comfortable from doing something different to the norm.
 

typicalfan

Coach
Messages
15,589
Carney has the goods in attack but he is the biggest defensive liability of all halves in contention. this is the major X against him, particularly as he is a right-side half (you're right, the numbers mean nothing - it's all about sides) and opposing thurston & inglis. furthermore, both Mullen and Carney play predominantly on the right. Sure, they can change this but a week is not much time to get comfortable from doing something different to the norm.

Plus he is playing busted and badly out of form. Can't afford to carry him.
 

Fat Krion

Juniors
Messages
470
Carney has the goods in attack but he is the biggest defensive liability of all halves in contention. this is the major X against him, particularly as he is a right-side half (you're right, the numbers mean nothing - it's all about sides) and opposing thurston & inglis. furthermore, both Mullen and Carney play predominantly on the right. Sure, they can change this but a week is not much time to get comfortable from doing something different to the norm.

Massive splinters in your backside......!!!

Who is your choice then guru....

As I said NSW are on a hiding to nothing especially without Fifita and Bird who QLD fear and Cordner who is so dangerous on the edge.
 

big hit!

Bench
Messages
3,452
Massive splinters in your backside......!!!

Who is your choice then guru....

As I said NSW are on a hiding to nothing especially without Fifita and Bird who QLD fear and Cordner who is so dangerous on the edge.

Mullen is one.

I'm as f**ked as anyone for the other one. NSW really have no other half at the moment who brings the required attributes at the level that a quality half needs to possess for origin.

considering Mullen is a right side player, you have to look at the predominantly left-side players first. Hodkinson, Wallace, Maloney, Sutton. You can think about right-side guys like Carney, A Reynolds J Reynolds & Kelly too, but Todd has massive concerns over him about his defence, Kelly's season has been interrupted by injury, and J Rey and A Rey are one-trick ponys heavily reliant on forwards and structure in their club teams.

Ultimately, the players need to be comfortable in defence and attack and throwing halves who don't have the complete game on opposite sides of the field that they're used to can unsettle them. They're used to stepping off the same foot, sliding a certain way and tackling in a style for their side of the field and i think the risk of asking them to do it another way in one-off games is too big.

Of the left-siders think, Wallace could be overlooked by Daley because of the requirement for a goal kicker, Sutton is also a one-trick pony and does well because of club support. so it's going to come down to the other two.

so the NSW halves situation at the moment is dire, and one of the guys I reckon should be picked probably won't be.

Hodkinson and Reynolds may very well be the halves as Mullen seems to be out of favour, and the talk about Pearce being dropped for his booze indiscretion. It's a severe drop in class to what QLD have though and would really need the NSW forwards to absolutely dominate from opening whistle in game 1 to full-time siren in game 3, and then again QLD are still dangerous when their forwards are playing badly. Our forwards play poorly and it'll be a flogging.
 
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Noname36

First Grade
Messages
7,067
Remind me where their respective sides are coming.....?

Carney is not the player he was seems to have lost his speed, Mullen will luck out because of no club combination.

Roosters are struggling, the Bulldogs pair are on fire.

Hodkinson is solid in defence and a great goal kicker, Reynolds such a competitor.

Whoever is picked won't matter anyway as QLD are morals so why not disrupt the Dogs season.

I would LOVE to see Reynolds and Hodkinson behind the Knights "forward pack" for a game without the bulldogs structures to see how they go. I think that could be very informative actually.
 
Messages
2,303
Although it hasn't been announced yet, odds-on favourites are still Pearce and Maloney. Not one statement from Daley or Bozo have actually said that Pearce is being jettisoned. There's lots of "may not"s and "might not"s and "not necessarily"s but its all bluff and posturing. If anything it says "Nothing is going to change".
 
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Abz

Juniors
Messages
2,057
Remind me where their respective sides are coming.....?

Carney is not the player he was seems to have lost his speed, Mullen will luck out because of no club combination.

Roosters are struggling, the Bulldogs pair are on fire.

Hodkinson is solid in defence and a great goal kicker, Reynolds such a competitor.

Whoever is picked won't matter anyway as QLD are morals so why not disrupt the Dogs season.
Hold on... you want these guys picked as NSW halves so it disrupts the Bulldogs season?
 

Pierced Soul

First Grade
Messages
9,202
He is better then most of them and I would go close to picking him... Every logical part of me said no he is too young but then I see the name Pearce and think f*ck it

but mullen got picked too early and greatly suffered for it. I have no doubts that if brooks keeps developing he'll be in the australian 7 jersey down the track, but having him destroyed in origin will make that difficult.

mullen and carney dont seem 100%, josh reynolds has to be in the team, i do think he needs to be 5/8 which means you need someone to control the game around him. hodkinsons isnt as crap as i always thought he was but i dont think he's a rep 7 either. you could either try putting mullen at 7 and hoping eh doesnt have to chase anyone, or look at adam reynolds - at elast you'd get your kicking game right. or i suspect if they'll go pearce/j. reynolds
 

timka4

Bench
Messages
2,505
Agree, leave Brooks for a later date, he isn't better than NSW best halves at the moment anyway.
 

Fat Krion

Juniors
Messages
470
Hold on... you want these guys picked as NSW halves so it disrupts the Bulldogs season?

Bait not required when fishing for Bulldogs fans, just throw in a line...

Seriously, Maloney and Pearce last series were ok, they improved greatly after origin however their form this season is below par.

Reynolds and Hodkinson are as worthy of an opportunity as the incumbents.

T Rex seems to be getting deep and actually running onto the ball while injuries to key forwards should grant Tolman a deserved chance.
 
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