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Rumoured and Confirmed signings - Part 4

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Dave's mate

Juniors
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1,783
Kiks has been a weapon on the edge for the last 3 years, I wouldn’t be moving him. Limits his ability to get 1 v 1 & takes away 1/1 game plans we currently have.

Did Welch officially re-sign? I thought it was hinted but never formalised.
Issue is teams are spending the whole week preparing for him on that one edge. He should be popping up all over the field
 

Fangs

Coach
Messages
11,182
AFB had some success in the backrow for Manly the other night. No reason why Bill can't move either. Ivan has attempted moving him during games this season.
 

Tronald Crump

Juniors
Messages
1,083
He might have more value as a battering ram tho....you say it like it’s a bad thing but premierships are built on battering rams.

I have no problems with teams using battering rams but I think someone with Kikau's skill set this early in his career would be a waste.
Move him later when he has lost a bit of his pace.

I think he is at his best on the edge isolating and terrorizing one on one defenders.
He is our best attacking threat. Some would say our only threat.
The middle is a lot more physical and tiring. I know he played there in the lower grades but fg is different.
I don't trust Ivan to use him properly in the middle.
I have no doubt if moved Ivan would tell him to keep hitting the defensive wall either till it breaks down or he tires out.

When used correctly Kikau creates so many chances for us that others cannot.
I don't want to move him yet.
I would either start him off the bench or spell him to get the best out of him.
 

martielang

Bench
Messages
3,375
I don't think we're keeping a hold of Kikau for long if we're playing him off the bench. He's one of the most destructive players in the comp, one of the best back rowers in the comp (imo), within a month you'd have 15 other teams offering him a starting spot & more $$$.

In regards to AFB & him playing wider, that's what I love to see from a coach. I don't think we use Tamou well enough in that capacity. Let him run 2 passes off the ruck, try & isolate him against 1 or 2 defenders. No ones stopping his offload if 1 v 1. He might not have the lateral movement to be a back rower but there's no reason why we can't use him wider rather than one off the ruck.
 

OldPanther

Coach
Messages
13,404
I don't think we're keeping a hold of Kikau for long if we're playing him off the bench. He's one of the most destructive players in the comp, one of the best back rowers in the comp (imo), within a month you'd have 15 other teams offering him a starting spot & more $$$.

In regards to AFB & him playing wider, that's what I love to see from a coach. I don't think we use Tamou well enough in that capacity. Let him run 2 passes off the ruck, try & isolate him against 1 or 2 defenders. No ones stopping his offload if 1 v 1. He might not have the lateral movement to be a back rower but there's no reason why we can't use him wider rather than one off the ruck.

His career is over in 2 years if he stays an 80 minute back rower. He can't physically handle it particularly his knees.
 

Exsilium

First Grade
Messages
9,517
The issue with Kiks is that they don’t use him as an effective decoy runner.

He typically ends up with the ball and given he attracts several defenders, he’d get the longevity in the game if he wasn’t being constantly short balled.

Smarter football plans and halves play would keep him effective all game long.
 

OldPanther

Coach
Messages
13,404
The issue with Kiks is that they don’t use him as an effective decoy runner.

He typically ends up with the ball and given he attracts several defenders, he’d get the longevity in the game if he wasn’t being constantly short balled.

Smarter football plans and halves play would keep him effective all game long.

The problem is his big frame is too much for his knees to handle the 80 minutes regardless of the halves passing to him. Even the defensive load will get him in the end having to move so much in the line etc.
 

mxlegend99

Referee
Messages
23,004
Kikau needs to play ~60 minutes. I'd be trying to get him to play a bit of a roaming role. Do some tough carries up the middle randomly through the game but still spend most of his time on the edge.

We had him move around doing something similar earlier in the year and it looked a good tactic. Makes it a lot harder to contain him if the opposition cant plan and practice to stack their defence on him through the week. If Yeo/Martin start they can swap between middle and edge backrow through the game.
 

Pomoz

Bench
Messages
2,856
His career is over in 2 years if he stays an 80 minute back rower. He can't physically handle it particularly his knees.
This will be a problem for all our players if Dave’s mate doesn’t change the fitness staff. There is a reason we had a massive injury toll when he was here before. He is too soft and out players aren’t strong enough. Players like Blake, Yeo and RCG look a shadow of themselves with Ivan’s pie face routine. We have to address this if we want to reduce errors. Fatigue is killing us. Kikau looks terrible after 10 minutes and he needs to be trained hard to get the best out of that massive frame, lest he turns into Dave Taylor.

A decent sprint coach may also help our pedestrian back line create more tries. Pace buys space and space creates opportunities. I still cringe remembering Wighton mowing down Blake, our fastest player at the time, with minimal effort. The whole Raiders team had us beaten for pace in every position. Under Hook, the last thing Wighton would have seen was Blake bending down to place the ball under the sticks.
 

betcats

Referee
Messages
23,441
He looked good didn’t he, nice step, good turn of speed, even a bit of early ball for the winger.

He has the skills for sure he pulled off those tip ons a couple times, I'm keen to see him in the back row a bit though I think he could be very dangerous(as he has been throughout the lower grades).

Im with Franklin I want to see more of Luai and centre if he doesn't win the 6 jersey nest season.
 

kinghippo

Juniors
Messages
1,597
He has the skills for sure he pulled off those tip ons a couple times, I'm keen to see him in the back row a bit though I think he could be very dangerous(as he has been throughout the lower grades).

Im with Franklin I want to see more of Luai and centre if he doesn't win the 6 jersey nest season.
Yeah, luai definitely needs to be in the team. I thought he did ok out out of position. He has so much potential, just need to figure out how best to use it.
 
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