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What to do with Greg Bird

ucantseeme

Juniors
Messages
1,729
T-Rex didn't play many minutes and when he was on he just ran straight at Thurston. He didn't do anything wrong, however I did see him run to the line and pass a couple times. He is not there to ball play. He is the biggest and strongest player on the field and he is there to wreak havoc.

If the plan is limited minutes, maximum impact then Jamal Idris is a better option off the bench.

Greg Bird can play 5/8 if Reynolds is suspended. The kicking game off Hodkinson, Farah & Hayne should be sufficient.
 

Tweed Titan

Bench
Messages
3,205
Cos Tupou was crap. Richards is good under the high ball.

And Richards can kick goals a shitload better than Hodkinson

He dropped like one catch on debut and was otherwise good all game. FMD let's change the whole team for my teams player in the same position. :sarcasm:
 

Tommy Smith

Referee
Messages
21,344
Yeah let's drop a debutant from a winning side.

Tupou made a couple of errors but was solid. He'll be much better for the run in Game II.
 

Mr48Volts

Juniors
Messages
145
Scott missed 2 tackles on slater and then was a monster, just watched the game again, his defence in the 2nd half especially when QLD hammered our line again and again was Herculean, he shutdown Greg Inglis
 

madunit

Super Moderator
Staff member
Messages
62,358
He dropped like one catch on debut and was otherwise good all game. FMD let's change the whole team for my teams player in the same position. :sarcasm:

Got nothing to do with my team. We're running low on backs and our depth is pathetic. We can't afford to lose any backs to Origin.

But 2 missed goals and an ineffective Tupou.

Richards would have fixed at least one of those issues.

It makes sense for the team.

Just my opinion, some will agree with it, others won't. No need to have a bunch of kittens over it.
 

big hit!

Bench
Messages
3,452
Scott shut down a ton of QLD opportunities, mainly Inglis. If we drop players because of 'they can be traced to a try' then we drop a lot of players, particularly Brett Morris.

spot on. a couple of breaks went through him early in the game, but he and the entire right-side defence got their act together for most of the 2nd half and repelled the waves of attacks orchestrated by Thurston down the QLD left-side. This was the dangerous side all night. Once they went down the right through DCE, then QLD looked timid. He was a bit lost and resorted to kicks easily defended by Tupou without much pressure.

Bird and Fifita have to be selected for Game 2. Not changing a winning team nonsense is just that. It's not like they dominated and won by 2-3 tries. It was 2-a-piece with couple of penalty conversions the difference.

You can't leave out two high calibre players merely because they snagged the win in this one. players of their ilk could've been extremely effective at running the ball out of the NSW defensive red zone which the blues continually failed to do last night in the 2nd half.

With Watmough injured and Reynolds likely to be suspended, two spots open up anyway.

Daley remaining idle simply because the score at the end of the game favoured NSW will lead to a shock in Game 2. They need to improve on this.
 

Sime_11

Juniors
Messages
1,471
am I missing something here? I swear Fifita is gone for the series maybe game 3 at best. has he made a miraculous recovery???

sounds like Watmough may not play for rest of season, Bird will start with Hoffman reverting to Watmough spot on the bench.
 
Messages
3,994
am I missing something here? I swear Fifita is gone for the series maybe game 3 at best. has he made a miraculous recovery???

sounds like Watmough may not play for rest of season, Bird will start with Hoffman reverting to Watmough spot on the bench.

He's set to return next week
 

big hit!

Bench
Messages
3,452
am I missing something here? I swear Fifita is gone for the series maybe game 3 at best. has he made a miraculous recovery???

sounds like Watmough may not play for rest of season, Bird will start with Hoffman reverting to Watmough spot on the bench.

players like Hoffman & Scott are in the squad as starters or not at all.

They are near 80-minute and solid edge forwards who are on the field because of their left (Hoff) & right (Scott) side specialisation. pointless to have guys with minimal impact and who are there primarily for their organisation of defence on their side of the field sitting on the bench waiting to enter the game.
 

mxlegend99

Referee
Messages
23,004
Bird is easy to fit in the team when Watmough is injured, T-Rex was ineffective at using his frame, Hoffman is deadset shit and Scott as an enforcer was shown up early on. Take your pick at who he replaces.

Need to start with Bird, Lewis and Gallen IMO. Throw Fifita on the bench with Merrin and decide which of those other guys are the least shit options to finish the bench off.
 

Mr Angry

Not a Referee
Messages
51,764
When you have a fullback who kicks 200m in a game, you can use a running 5/8.

With Hayne Fullback, I can go with Bird 5/8. But if it was Dugan, would want a different player.
 

betcats

Referee
Messages
23,441
I agree re Hayne and a running 5/8 but I'd rather have Sutton at 5/8 and Birdy in his usual backrow spot.
 

WaznTheGreat

Referee
Messages
24,263
Put your house on Queensland in game 2 if Greg Bird is 5/8,he is the biggest ball hog ever,Jarryd Hayne will never see the ball with him in that position
 

ucantseeme

Juniors
Messages
1,729
You don't want to mess around with a team that got the win in enemy territory unless you have to. With the exception of T-Rex who promises so much but delivers so little, SOO II will hopefully be almost identical to last night as far as selections for NSW.
 
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