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What will Maguire do to the roster?

Fordy20

Juniors
Messages
2,162
You named them (The best 3), not me Vic. They were better than Brooks at every stage of their careers. Johns' first game was better than every single game Brooks has played.

Name one 2018 #7 who is worse than Brooks? Apart from that gutless spastic Moses, Matt Frawley and maybe whomever The Raiders have there.

Chad Townsend, Kodi Nikorima, Brodie Croft and any half other than Munster at the Storm. I'd argue Brooks is probably at the same level as Ash Taylor.
 

macnaz

Moderator
Staff member
Messages
8,331
Id take him over Ben Hunt any day.
By the way i think this is the first year Brooks hasnt been plagued with hammy injuries.
 

Wizardman

First Grade
Messages
8,504
Talent-wise, I'd take Ash Taylor anyday over Brooks. Brooks has a much better attitude towards the game. Ash needs a kick up the ass.
 

Vic Mackey

Referee
Messages
24,496
Talent-wise, I'd take Ash Taylor anyday over Brooks. Brooks has a much better attitude towards the game. Ash needs a kick up the ass.

Personally I think Taylor’s the most over rated player on the game. He always has high TAs but most of them are bombs to the wingers and I read somewhere that he gets a heap in the last 10 mins after the Titans are well behind.

Agree he seems soft as shit. He is also remoured to be on $1mil a year which is almost double Brooks.
 
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Tiger05

First Grade
Messages
9,162
You named them (The best 3), not me Vic. They were better than Brooks at every stage of their careers. Johns' first game was better than every single game Brooks has played.

Name one 2018 #7 who is worse than Brooks? Apart from that gutless spastic Moses, Matt Frawley and maybe whomever The Raiders have there.

I'd swap him in a heartbeat for any of the other 12.

You're expecting way too much of Brooks. If he didn't have it in any of his first 6 seasons, I don't see why he'll' have it in #7.

Having said that I hope that he makes me eat my words and I'll happily tell everyone at the end of next season if he does come good. Hell, if he gets us to a GF, I'll offer to take out my false teeth and blow him.

Yep Johns is a better player than Brooks. He is also probably the best player to ever play the game. He won 2 premierships in I think about 14 years of playing in the NRL.

I think that every other halfback in the game and probably 6 were worse than Brooks last year. That is why he got the Dally M for best halfback. Thurston didn't play to the level that Brooks did. Neither did Cleary. Maloney was better at times but he has a lot of mistakes in his game.

Name a better halfback. Cronk was decent last year but he wasn't great and he had a team of stars alongside him.

If you don't like Brooks that is cool but he appears to be one of the top 5 play makers already in the game. I suspect he can continue in that form for a number of seasons. We need to put a decent team around him.
 
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Messages
42,632
Chad Townsend, Kodi Nikorima, Brodie Croft and any half other than Munster at the Storm. I'd argue Brooks is probably at the same level as Ash Taylor.

I stand by my comment. I'd have any of them for Brooks right now. Nikorima was mainly on the bench until this year and he played in the semis. Townsend may not be flashy but that premiership ring on his finger and regular semis say that his value is there. Croft played a GF in his first season as starting 7 and he wasn't even first choice for a good part of it.

Taylor is much, much better than Brooks. I dunno what argument you'd have for Brooks being as good as Taylor, I don't think there is one. Both are in average teams, Taylor's kicking game is miles better, had 50% more try assists this year and can kick goals.
 
Messages
42,632
Yep Johns is a better player than Brooks. He is also probably the best player to ever play the game. He won 2 premierships in I think about 14 years of playing in the NRL.

I think that every other halfback in the game and probably 6 were worse than Brooks last year. That is why he got the Dally M for best halfback. Thurston didn't play to the level that Brooks did. Neither did Cleary. Maloney was better at times but he has a lot of mistakes in his game.

Name a better halfback. Cronk was decent last year but he wasn't great and he had a team of stars alongside him.

If you don't like Brooks that is cool but he appears to be one of the top 5 play makers already in the game. I suspect he can continue in that form for a number of seasons. We need to put a decent team around him.

As I said, I didn't mention Johns first. Johns and Brooks aren't comparable at all.

Better halfbacks?

I've already said who I think isn't better, the rest are better.

If he goes to the Roosters when Cronk hangs up his boots, they will go south. Cronk runs a team better than anyone. Brooks has a neat haircut,
 

BrotherJim05

Bench
Messages
3,401
Alright gents, lets talk forwards. I for one am fine with our current backs for 2019. Yes I would love an experienced centre to take up that left side spot, but its not gonna happen. Let Momo and Fonua fight it out for that spot.

Farah will cover 9 until Liddle is ready. If Liddle can't take the reigns in 2019, well I doubt he will get much of a contract extension then and Tigers will go into the market.

A lot of criticism regarding 2nd row but I think we are actually good here. Lawrence was a gun last season, he will take left edge. Matterson will likely make the right edge his own. Then we have MCK and Aloai putting pressure on them, with Garner still developing his game.
McQueen is also a wild card. Highly unlikely he will get back to regular FG, but would be crazy stroke of luck if Madge got him back to his bunny days.

Middle forwards - we are f**ked. Seriously, we are completely f**ked here. Packer, Matulino, Twal are the only established props, and while I like all 3 of them, they are not impact middle forwards. We have some juniors coming through but you can't just throw them in and expect them to shine. ET will likely play lock with Eseinhuth playing off the bench, but I just don't see it working. ET should re-develop as an 80 minute 2nd rower, not a middle forward.
Eseinhuth is a bit of a wildcard though. My prediction is that he will either excel under Madge and find his career best form, or won't be up to it and ship off to Super League.

We need an experienced Prop (not back rower) before Christmas
 

Vic Mackey

Referee
Messages
24,496
Alright gents, lets talk forwards. I for one am fine with our current backs for 2019. Yes I would love an experienced centre to take up that left side spot, but its not gonna happen. Let Momo and Fonua fight it out for that spot.

Farah will cover 9 until Liddle is ready. If Liddle can't take the reigns in 2019, well I doubt he will get much of a contract extension then and Tigers will go into the market.

A lot of criticism regarding 2nd row but I think we are actually good here. Lawrence was a gun last season, he will take left edge. Matterson will likely make the right edge his own. Then we have MCK and Aloai putting pressure on them, with Garner still developing his game.
McQueen is also a wild card. Highly unlikely he will get back to regular FG, but would be crazy stroke of luck if Madge got him back to his bunny days.

Middle forwards - we are f**ked. Seriously, we are completely f**ked here. Packer, Matulino, Twal are the only established props, and while I like all 3 of them, they are not impact middle forwards. We have some juniors coming through but you can't just throw them in and expect them to shine. ET will likely play lock with Eseinhuth playing off the bench, but I just don't see it working. ET should re-develop as an 80 minute 2nd rower, not a middle forward.
Eseinhuth is a bit of a wildcard though. My prediction is that he will either excel under Madge and find his career best form, or won't be up to it and ship off to Super League.

We need an experienced Prop (not back rower) before Christmas


I’m still concerned about our backs. Currently I’m guessing we’ll be:

1. Mbye
2. Nofoaluma
3. Marsters
4. Momirovski
5. Thompson

Then the backups are Fonua, Dylan Smith who’s only ever played fullback and Sam McIntyre who’s more of a back rower but can play center. We still need either a winger/center imo.

Agree back row is ok but yes prop is a worry.

8. Packer
10. Matulino
14. Twal

Is all good. The other prop bench spot will be between Eisenhuth, Aloiai (I think he’ll move to prop), Mikaele (looks very good but untested) or Oliver Clarke (looked ordinary to me). Another first grade standard meat head is definitely needed.
 

WT2K

Juniors
Messages
164
This is how I'd line it up as of now. But yes we do need another middle forward. I'd like to see Twal at lock.

8. Packer
9. Farah
10. Matulino
11. Lawrence
12. Matterson
13. Twal
 
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Tiger05

First Grade
Messages
9,162
This is how I'd line it up as of now. But yes we do need another middle forward. I'd like to see Twal at lock.

8. Packer
9. Farah
10. Matulino
11. Lawrence
12. Matterson
13. Twal

I think that the starting pack should look like this and it's pretty good excluding Robbie. ET might play lock but because our props aren't great we probably need a guy who can have an impact both defensively and offensively at lock. Twal could do the job there. So could Eisenhuth.

The first problem is Robbie. He was a massive improvement on our options last season but geez he stunk it up at times. We can't lose games again because Robbie goes into I'll win it for the team mode. Liddle needs to get that spot over the course of the season if we are going to perform. I think realistically though we will need Liddle on the bench unless we want to run with ET playing there for 20 odd minutes and just not play Robbie.

ET is the next concern. He is a great player in that he does so many things right and his defence is great. He also doesn't get metres up the middle and he isn't a threat on the edge.

Mikaele and Aloiai are impact middles. I hope one of them at least will do a good job for us in that impact role. Ideally both of them come on.

I think Chee-Kam has to get a spot. His running game is really good and he could easily come on in the middle and play an impact running role.

So the bench will be something like:-

14. Liddle - assuming he can't play 80 which to me seems impossible and Robbie gets a spot in the run on side at least at the start of the season.
15. MCK - he will give us impact off the bench.
16. Mikaele - we need an impact prop.
17. Eisenhuth - prop rotation. He will do the job.

That leaves ET and Aloiai out of the team.

Our edge backrowers look to be a strength especially with MCK and Garner as back-ups.
 

Tiger05

First Grade
Messages
9,162
I’m still concerned about our backs. Currently I’m guessing we’ll be:

1. Mbye
2. Nofoaluma
3. Marsters
4. Momirovski
5. Thompson

That backline is pretty good excluding Momirovski. He might be good but who knows. Fonua is an attacking option when we have the ball but he is too slow and is going to get caught out defensively. I'd probably still start with him there though and see how Momirovski develops.

We don't have much depth though and there will be injuries.

I assume Reynolds and Brooks are in the halves with Benji replacing them when they are injured.

Overall it's a decent team. We are more well rounded compared to last year with Matterson filling one problem position for us and Momirovski adding some depth in another problem position. Mbye and Robbie also improve the team a lot compared to where we were at the start of last season.

We really need the spine to kick on. Brooks, Reynolds, Mbye and Liddle are quick and can score points. Our middle is average and we really need Mikaele or Aloiai or both to become middle players that have an impact.
 

simmo05

Bench
Messages
3,785
My thoughts

Packer was great until he busted his knee. Stats wernt great, but when he was on the field we were great, when he was off the field we leaked points. We started our run of losses while he was injured.

I dont care if liddle takes another couple of years to come on. What would cook me is if we let him go, and then he becomes an origin player the next year. Has the talent, the team looks better when he is on the park.

As i have stated before, if reynolds plays this year we were in the 8. His enthusiasm and experience would have got us over the line in a few of the close games we blew. Benji was a last minute call up after he got injured and it showed as the season went on.

Matterson is a fantastic signing, as was mbye, and momorovski(?) showed he had some class this year. Aloiai needs to prove he can hold the pill next year of he will be gone. Im happy with the team so far, bad luck cruelled us this year, but if madge can jag 2 half decent signings to fill the squad, we will be there in september*

* As long as the cleary signings dont drop their lip and sook all year!
 

super_coach

First Grade
Messages
5,061
The way I see it, if we can offload two players, so we than have four places free to introduce some quality new faces, we could have a very handy squad. Okay we would not end up with four SOO quality players, but if we got a player like Whighton,Musgrove and two others of similar standard, I would be happy
 

Mario chalmers

Juniors
Messages
581
The way I see it, if we can offload two players, so we than have four places free to introduce some quality new faces, we could have a very handy squad. Okay we would not end up with four SOO quality players, but if we got a player like Whighton,Musgrove and two others of similar standard, I would be happy
Agree that we need to move players on.

If McQueen and Rochow were the two taped on the shoulder that would leave 4 spots
2 backs
1 prop
1 edge back rower
 

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