Warriors 2021 bandwagon

[nswarrior]

I am All In on the Warriors bandwagon for next year given the signings and the way the new owners manage the club

Haven’t been this optimistic about a season ever

bring on 2021 and the top4

 

[Rich102]

Welcome along nswarrior.
The wagon is gaining momentum.

 

[nswarrior]

Welcome along nswarrior.
The wagon is gaining momentum.

Thank you - the wagon could get quite full so I wanted to be in early.

I am amazed at the recruitment we pulled off considering 2019 when the phones were running hot and we got noone

 

[Beavers Headgear]

Danger Danger Danger

Every time the Warriors enter a season with optimism it ends up going horridly pear shaped !! Have a bit more confidence now though with the new admin having a bit more nouse about them

 

[TheDMC]

Beaver, I think its time you changed your avatar to a Warriors one.

 

[nswarrior]

Danger Danger Danger

Every time the Warriors enter a season with optimism it ends up going horridly pear shaped !! Have a bit more confidence now though with the new admin having a bit more nouse about them

That’s the fun part of being a Warriors fan - lots of ups and downs although more down recently

 

[Tongue]

I'm side-saddling.
Christmas break and a new coach kind of blunts the momentum a little.
Plus some uncertainties on signings namely Kane Evans - although we seem to have some decent depth at prop.
If we can make one more super signing at hooker, I might get aboard.

Had Payten been retained, I would have been more optimistic.

 

[JJ]

I'm side-saddling.
Christmas break and a new coach kind of blunts the momentum a little.
Plus some uncertainties on signings namely Kane Evans - although we seem to have some decent depth at prop.
If we can make one more super signing at hooker, I might get aboard.

Had Payten been retained, I would have been more optimistic.

Yep 100%

Evans is strange and BMM has a lot to prove in the NRL, not saying he won’t be good, but he was unremarkable previously

Brown... meh, rather have Payten, but a step up from Kearney

 

[Beavers Headgear]

Beaver, I think its time you changed your avatar to a Warriors one.

Have a few Warriors jerseys and hats around from the Northern Eagles years !!

 

[Grizzman]

Yes, sign me up for the 26th straight year of saying "next year could be our year"

 

[Matua]

Yes, sign me up for the 26th straight year of saying "next year could be our year"

I think I stopped saying that about 4 years in ....

 

[JJ]

Top 4 might be a stretch, but we should be well in contention for top 8... I'm hopeful, but the skeptic in me only sees two decent upgrades - AFB, and the lack of Kearney...

I'm not remotely sold in the likes of Brown, Evans, BMM, Aitken being anything other than league average replacements for league average replacements...

I do hope we change our game though - I imagine Brown an Gould watch Penrith, Canberra etc - the future is now, and it's not a static limited attack, and it's not wings doing the job of middle forwards...

 

[nswarrior]

Top 4 might be a stretch, but we should be well in contention for top 8... I'm hopeful, but the skeptic in me only sees two decent upgrades - AFB, and the lack of Kearney...

I'm not remotely sold in the likes of Brown, Evans, BMM, Aitken being anything other than league average replacements for league average replacements...

I do hope we change our game though - I imagine Brown an Gould watch Penrith, Canberra etc - the future is now, and it's not a static limited attack, and it's not wings doing the job of middle forwards...

If we have the toughest pre season Eva - top4 for sure

a couple of solid first graders (Evans, Aitkens) plus AFB plus the development of a couple of our players (CHT, Katoa, Turner) plus the return of a couple of players who had to return to NZ - big upgrade next year

 

[KeepingTheFaith]

Evans, Aitken and BMM might not be an upgrade on Bunty, Herbert and Papa as far as overall stats/production goes but IMO they can provide far more moments of impact that can swing a game.

On a couple of occasions this year Evans came on and bowled through 2-3 players at close range to score a try. Bunty doesn't do that.

Aitken has shown the ability to threaten the tryline from 30+ metres out. None of our centres/wings do that.

BMM is known for his aggression both sides of the ball. Papa is consistently "steady as she goes".

Not on the bandwagon, but I'm happier with players who "could" do something to swing the game versus safe players who you know won't even if like for like it may not be an upgrade.

 

[Big Marn]

I think the key to our success will be having threats across the park, making it harder for opposing teams to gameplan against us.
I've just been rewatching the 2017 World Cup games featuring Tonga. BMM was used predominantly as an attacking weapon inside the red zone when they played the Kiwis. The kiwis had enough on their plate having to deal with JT, SST and Fifita and at the end of the game BMM got a mismatch against Kodi which ultimately won the game. In the NRL, its can be one or 2 moments in the game that decide who gets the 2 points when all the teams are evenly matched. Having someone like BMM may give us those extra moments in a game that most of our current players dont provide. We are starting to see growth in that area with Katoa, and having someone like Evans and AFB on the park will also help create those "moments".

I think we still need a hooker with X factor. We won a lot of games on the back of Luke splitting defenses when we made the playoffs a couple of years back. Im not sure Egan is upto the task. Roache in the small sample size we got from him seemed to have that ability to split a defence, but unfortunately he was made of glass. Our 6 and 7 still have a lot to do to be on a par with the top teams, so a decent attacking 9 is critical.

Also our offloading needs to improve in quality. Too often the offloads come when the play is almost dead and it rarely threatens the defence. Its just a pass back to a stationary player. Tevaga is a classic example of someone who extends the play with an offload but rarely creates an attacking opportunity. Even Tohu rarely gets the ball away in the tackle when the defence is backpedalling. We need to get that back in our game so people like RTS and Kodi can reap the rewards. Think of the success support players like Jones, PJ Marsh, Lance and Webb had receiving quality offloads from the likes of Ali, Swann and others. Thats what we need to find again in our game.

 

[JJ]

Think I am the Lone Ranger in the view that Egan is pretty good...

While BMM has been good at international level, at this point in time he's been a mediocre to poor NRL forward... hopefully he can rectify that, as talent has never been an issue - then again, that's not really an issue for anyone who makes first grade

 

[SmashEmBro]

Sad to see Paasi go if this does happen, but I think that the new guys coming in are 100% upgrades over the ones leaving. Can't remember the last time this has been the case for us.

Big Marn is spot on, in the first half of the year we struggled with points big time as RTS, Hiku and Cody were really the only ones who could create something. RTS has been heavily covered for almost 2 years now, so he hasn't been able to do much, but as the year got better, other players were able to offer more in attack which means RTS, Kodi and Hiku were able to impost their attacking on our last 10 games or so.

This is going to improve 10 fold with the new guys... If we can create more offloads and have RTS, Kodi etc running on to the ball, we're gunna be away laughing.

I think at the moment I'd have us pegged for 7th to 9th next year, depending on how things go (injuries, draw, covid etc), but if we were to snag a player like Brandon Smith, I reckon we'd improve to around 5th or 6th.

Anyways, I think it's looking really good, bring on 2021!

 

[spear tackle]

The way things are shaping up with the new owners , coach and new look roster you would hope there will be a few more wins on the park on the bright side we have hit rock bottom so now its time to rebound , right?

 

[nswarrior]

The way things are shaping up with the new owners , coach and new look roster you would hope there will be a few more wins on the park on the bright side we have hit rock bottom so now its time to rebound , right?

sure is - all the way to the top 4

 

[soc123_au]

BMM was pretty good in his stint at Penrith. I think you guys could be pleasantly surprised.
I'm also keen to watch what Brown can do with Egan. He was a weapon in the lower grades, having an ex 9 as a coach could be the key to finding some of that potential translate to the NRL.