Thommo? Purtell.

[sully the finest ever]

Thommo's hands let him down when he comes off the bench. He gets so excited when he's on the bench that he can't contain himself and knocks on first, second and often third touch.

Pretty much every forward that comes off the bench knocks on with their early touches.

Last season, for about 12 weeks before his injury, he was the starting prop. He didn't drop the ball at all. He also gave masses of go forward and hard hitting tackles. Not glamorous stuff, but the stuff that gave Campo the space to do his thing against back peddling defences.

As for Purtell, combinations take time to develop. Communication takes time to develop. Knowing where your centre/wing partner will be takes time. You cannot train in game conditions. Game time together is the only way communication, combination and anticipation can develop.

Chopping and changing week in week out screws this up entirely. Purtell's defensive errors were just as much Croker's errors, but no-one's calling for his head because he's young and 2nd game and toyota cup and hoo-haa.

Give them a chance!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Green Machine]

I don’t think Purtell is 100% the problem. I think out wide, it’s the defensive pattern the coach has implemented that is causing all the problems. Kelly and Carney have been caught out in previous weeks. Carney nearly got caught out late the in the second half when Corvell ran back in field. The problem seems to be that each winger lines up on the 10m line and then they try to use inside slide defence to push the ball carrier out. All of them have been caught in no mans land. Cronulla seemed to go into the game premeditated to going wide as much as possible. I hope the coach fixes it up before next weeks game against the Titians. Prince and Rogers will have a field with wide passes if it is not corrected during the week,

 

[Timbo]

It happened against NQ as well. Our lateral defence is shocking.

 

[shear_joy9]

purtell needs to be dropped asap.

thommo needs a week in reserves but I doubt that will happen.
I really like what I saw in small amount of time fensom was on. He has alot of speed for a forward and could really carve teams up in the second half.

I don't like furner's dummy half tactics. Taking flanagan off for half the match is just wasting interchanges and isn't even effective. Hopefully when buttris is back it changes.

 

[Bobby DIGital]

Purtell out, Vidot in.

Wadell also MUST be in the side.

 

[Raidersrawesome]

Besides Vidot there is Graham and Sam Ha Ha at SL.

What I like about Ha Ha , he is a winger and knows the position , he's not a centre pretending to be a winger.

1st things 1st we need to fix our sliding defence and trust the player inside to make the tackle.

 

[Proud2BeCanberran]

I really want to se Sam Huihahau.

For the people who have seen the QLD Cup games what is he like?
First Grade Quality?

We bought him here so Raiders Management must've seen something in him.

 

[Timbo]

Someone said it, and I agree, our dummy half tactics are lacking.

As good a player as Tonguey is, he is wasted at dummy half. He's an 80 minute player at lock and should only go to lock in case of an injury.

 

[Macko8]

Waddell should be at least on our interchange bench.
Huihahau looks like his a good runner of the ball,i watched a sths logan game on fox sports few weeks back,looks to have pace too,only a small fella but is built like Justin carney.

 

[mongoose]

He is the player we missed most at the backend of last season.

I dont think he has always had bad hands no more than any other player.

Thompson had terrible hands in his first few seasons 02-03. He is lucky elliot persisted with him because he has been great for us the last few seasons but he definitely has the occasional drop ball in him.

 

[nzwarriors60]

What about Phil Graham some people on your other Raiders forum last year were saying he was better than Vatuvei so he can't be worse than Purtell can he?

 

[Timbo]

That's a good point. Phil's due back any week now.

 

[Green Machine]

What about Phil Graham some people on your other Raiders forum last year were saying he was better than Vatuvei so he can't be worse than Purtell can he?

We’ll take Vatuvei and you can have Purtell and Graham. I’ll throw Kelly in to seal the deal,

 

[Macko8]

pritty sure graham made his comeback on the weekend with sths logan?
id give him or milne the wing spot

 

[Raidersrawesome]

Graham has played the last 2 weeks for SL , not sure how he has gone though

 

[aussies1st]

From what I've read from reports he hasn't been that impressive, neither has Sam H.

 

[Macko8]

Vidot in for purtell.
dugan
vidot
croker
monaghan
carney

 

[nzwarriors60]

We’ll take Vatuvei and you can have Purtell and Graham. I’ll throw Kelly in to seal the deal,

Haha no way would never trade him for any winger in the comp. Falou would be the only winger better than him atm.

 

[gorilla with a shotgun]

Never rated Thompson or Purtell.
Our problem is that we dont play wingers on the wing... They are normally players who are more comfortable in the centres. Either way we have too many centres and not enough wingers

 

[schnitzel]

one word... MILNE

Can't believe this guy has fallen so far from grace... he was one of our best and a major contributor to our 2008 run. Ok, he had one poor game at fullback and has lost his spot to Dugan but he is an experienced winger and should be streets ahead of Purtell or Graham.