R1 Team V Canberra

[billypilgrimnz]

Soward and Wallace are not good enough. Period. Signing Wallace was our biggest mistake since Gould came back, in my opinion.

 

[mxlegend99]

One year would have been alright. But Moylan will become a better half if he ever gets a shot. Without Wallace it may have happened already. We just seem to have coaches who don't want our best playmaker in the halves even though everyone seems to agree that's where his future is.

Between TMM and Moylan you would hope a few bad games gets him dropped. Although I am getting the impression that Griffin would rather sit back and wait for his top 17 to come good rather than tinker with it. How many bad games will he let a player have without being dropped?

 

[Karnivayne]

Smiths form in the trials and 9s should've ensured he is nowhere near the NRL squad..

Disappointed with the squad, apart from Merrin we have basically the same issues as last year.

 

[TheFrog]

Such blood letting before the team even takes the field. Let it cease!

The issues last year was that the team could not stay healthy. We haven't got that issue just yet but with Moylan and Whare out, its not looking terribly promising.

Still, as was said earlier, lets support our team. They might surprise a lot of people.

 

[Karnivayne]

Moylan, Whare, Gennings, Katoa and Latu in the pre season.

One most likely, 2 yeah probably, 3 maybe but unlikely, 5... come one

Would have preferred Robert either fullback or Wing and Dallin fullback than Smith.

Hopefully we dont concede too many....

 

[ACTPanthers]

Not what I was hoping, but kind of what I was suspecting.... Although, ET on the bench has me puzzled.

 

[Nugget10]

Just got 2 questions. Is RCG injured and is Garth Brennan still our Reggies coach?

 

[Blues Riff]

Smith was a weapon in our last NRL game. Hoping to see a repeat.

Also good luck to our old halves. May they play well and get through the season unscathed. I hope to be winning games and have the luxury of resting them.

 

[Thirsty Panther]

Just got 2 questions. Is RCG injured and is Garth Brennan still our Reggies coach?

He is the assistant coach. Lets hope his golden touch continues.

 

[umina panther]

Smith was a weapon in our last NRL game. Hoping to see a repeat.

Also good luck to our old halves. May they play well and get through the season unscathed. I hope to be winning games and have the luxury of resting them.

Can people please stop using having a ok game against the wooden spooners to justify Smith being in the team. We shouldn't be settling for bog average players.

 

[betcats]

Besides the two tries he scored in the last two games of last year he has not much at this level.

 

[Blues Riff]

Can people please stop using having a ok game against the wooden spooners to justify Smith being in the team. We shouldn't be settling for bog average players.

Can people please allow others to have an opinion?

 

[betcats]

The main problem with Smith is even in his good games last year he was liable to get driven back 10 metres and tackled in goal. It even happened on the second tackle a couple of times when he was playing fb. It is such a momentum killer. Offensively he is fine as long as he keeps it simple and plays to his strengths but it terms of defence and starting our sets it is hard to ever see him being adequate.

 

[mxlegend99]

From the sounds of a recent article about DWZ he is still struggling with fitness. He has no feeling in his side and is very uncomfortable at the moment. So probably better off getting back into it on the wing. H

But in that case Hiku should be at fullback and Yeo at centre. Hopefully Smith has a great game. We're going to need it.

 

[betcats]

Yep Hiku should be above Smith in the pecking order for FB imo. Sopoaga was good at the back end of last year and very good through the trials but is on the bench in nsw cup meanwhile McKendry plays about one decent game every 3 months and was poor through the trials and is starting in FG.

The other concern is Waqa and Dallin when paired together last season were pretty poor defensively. If we shift Dallin instead of bringing in Will Smith becomes a stronger defensive backline imo.

 

[martielang]

IMO I'd take a Smith FB Hiku C over Hiku FB Yeo C any day of the week. I think Yeo needs the time in the back row. I think he has the ability to be a major asset in the back row if we stop changing him between Centre & Backrow. He is a BIG unit now after packing on some size, and his line running should improve even further this year.

Smith may not be the worlds greatest FB but its absolutely ridiculous the way people are going on. He had a very solid back end of last year, no matter who we were versing.

 

[mxlegend99]

There's more to fullback then a few good runs though. He's a non existent last line of defense. He has poor positioning and gets driven backwards very easily. He is also very poor under the high ball at times.

Yeo has never been a liability for us. He might have average games at times. But he doesn't have games where he can single handedly kill your chances at winning. He would probably also be the best option at marking BJ Leilua.

Hopefully everyone rips in and kills it. I would much rather Smith and Mckendry play awesome for us and be our best players then to have them play poorly. I've got no issue giving a player credit for a good game or becoming a fan of an acerage playing turning his career around. If Smith could force his way into our team with good form I would be pumped.

 

[Pomoz]

It's crazy to think that Matt Elliott developed two of the best young props in the game between Sam McKendry and Tim Grant. Yet their careers went backwards under Ivan Cleary. They should be two of the best forwards in the game today. But there's atleast half a dozen teams where they couldn't get a run at full strength.

Tim Grant didn't improve under a new coach at South's either. Cleary made mistakes but he didn't hinder the development of McKendry or Grant. They only have themselves to blames for their form. I think we were guilty as Penrith fans of overrating them because of the mediocrity we endured prior to their arrival. We head awful props after Clinton, Ross and Lang left.

 

[GongPanther]

I'm prepared to wait & see for at least a month.This squad needs at least that much time to find it's feet.I think we will get a win,which I think we really will do being that we weren't all that bad against a Parra side that were highly impressive.

Anyone remember the impressive 1st half until the dropsies absolutely killed us off?

Parra have a squad that everyone is lauding,yet this thread is talking our own down like we haven't got a hope in hell.

Lets see how we go against the Raiders before going the usual "hate our own team just for the sake of it " routine.

I'm confident of getting all 5 grades this Saturday...jump on board if you want.

 

[betcats]

Tim Grant didn't improve under a new coach at South's either. Cleary made mistakes but he didn't hinder the development of McKendry or Grant. They only have themselves to blames for their form. I think we were guilty as Penrith fans of overrating them because of the mediocrity we endured prior to their arrival. We head awful props after Clinton, Ross and Lang left.

Mckendry was never the same after his neck injury. Grant I don't know, it seemed more like a personality clash with Cleary.