2012 NSW soo side..

[Raider_69]

Mrs McCrone, with all due respect to your son. He is not SOO standard and the only reason he played CvC is because about 3 Country halves/hookers/utilities were out injured.
His name will not be mentioned at the selection table, and nor should it be.

Please stop this nonsense, Josh must be terribly embarrassed by it all, given he's flat out retaining his spot in a poor raiders side. Let him focus on club football, he doesnt need mummy pumping his tyres up for origin selection.

 

[Pete Cash]

McCrone must seriously have the worst kicking game for a half in the NRL. I can sum up his skills with three bullet points

*decent short passing game
*very fast off the mark
* works hard

Probably not going to get you into SOO.

 

[Raiders_Premiers]

On a serious note the only Raider who should be playing origin is Shillington for Queensland. Dugan always gets the job done but he is crippled and Fensom is probably just on the cusp. Ferguson probably has to prove he is not a complete mentalist by playing out the year like he has played most of the games so far. He was fairly poor against the Sharks tho.

I think the 3 I listed should be in the side. NSW desperately need a guy like Fensom, I know it's cliche but I believe he's made or Origin.

TLL is the 2nd best prop in NSW. Couldn't give a shit what kind of form he's in, he has the talent. I'm sick of these flavour of the month type players being picked; just pick the most talented team and stick to it.

I have not once said I personally would pick him FFS! His form for the Raiders has been very good the past 12 months, and with Stuart's desire to pick a utility in #14, it wouldn't surprise me to see him there considering he was the Country's #14 (obviously at the suggestion of the NSW coach), was in the Blues Emerging squad and considering Ricky's comments regarding his admiration of McCrone recently.

Not that hard to fathom.

I can see where you're coming from, and it wouldn't be the biggest surprise to myself if he's picked considering dog average halves like Soward have been given a run, but yeah he doesn't belong in Origin especially considering the fact that he's never actually played hooker.

 

[Raiders_Premiers]

McCrone must seriously have the worst kicking game for a half in the NRL. I can sum up his skills with three bullet points

*decent short passing game
*very fast off the mark
* works hard

Probably not going to get you into SOO.

You can add very good ball runner close to the line.

 

[Raiders_Premiers]

It's more a reflection of the current standard of NRL halves when you start talking about guys like McCrone for selection tbh

 

[Pete Cash]

I think thats more to do with his speed. His acceleration is top notch. He is a tricky customer if he can spot a gap because he is so explosive. He does have decent enough footwork I will give him that.

Also TLL has been absolute balls lately. He had a few good games earlier in the year but he needs a rocket up him and bad. He gets dominated all the time. I know he likes his big collisions but he just bounces off the defender and that allows the other defenders to just swarm him. I would struggle to think of a prop who gets put on his back as often. Plus he is lazy as hell in defence.

 

[Allstar Knights]

Yeah, TLL runs with more gusto than any NSW prop and can put blokes on their asses, but his leg speed when being tackled is very average compared to guys like Woods, Mannah and Merrin. He's always played well for NSW so he's worth considering, but on form he'd be nowhere near the side

 

[Tweed Titan]

Based on injuries and form so far, I'd love to see:

1. Brett Stewart - IMO he's the best of the players with limited game time this season and would be the safest option
2. Blake Ferguson - A risky selection, but he is a freakish player who can come up with some big plays. He and Michael Jennings would be extremely hard to handle down the left side IMO.
3. Michael Jennings - In great form this season, and was our most dangerous attacking player last year in Game 1
4. Jarryd Hayne - We haven't got any decent specialist right centres available, and IMO Hayne would do a far better job at right centre then Morris or Lawrence. He's a must pick player, and this is the hardest position to fill with a decent quality player
5. Akuila Uate - Easiest selection of the backline.
6. Todd Carney - Easily the best #6 available for NSW. If he had any smarts off the footy field he would probably have 10+ Origin jerseys under his belt and be an automatic selection by now
7. Mitchell Pearce - No standout halves for NSW. Has a combination with Carney, and looked good in patches in City vs Country. Halfback is our biggest weakness.
8. Paul Gallen (c) - IMO he's just perfectly suited to the front row. His workrate, attitude, strength and way he plays the game just do more for his team as a front rower then a lock. Plus he's our only player that can be relied on to make good metres up the middle.
9. Ryan Hinchcliffe - Bedsy and Ennis are carrying injuries, and IMO both would be a mistake to select if fully fit as neither has much of a future in Origin. Bedsy being too old, and Ennis is just shit. Hinchcliffe is tough and plays for the only undefeated team in the competition. He also plays alongside the majority of the QLD spine and would know their games better then anyone.
10. James Tamou - Was good for Australia and that pretty much puts him ahead of the other front row candidates for Origin. Except of course for Paul Gallen.
11. Greg Bird - I don't care what his club form is like... he always lifts for NSW and running down the left side of the field with Jennings and Ferguson they would be genuinely dangerous in attack even with a dodgy halfback like Pearce.
12. Anthony Watmough - Like Greg Bird and Jarryd Hayne, he is one of the few players we can ignore club and select for NSW. He has been a beast for us many times in the past and the combination of Watmough, Hayne and Uate gives us a strong and aggressive right side IMO.
13. Luke Lewis - Has really started to show his worth in rep games and ontop of being one of the best (if not the best) lock forwards in the game, he has the added bonus of being able to play almost anywhere and still doing a great job.

14. Tom Learoyd-Lahrs - Has been good for NSW in the past. I think he can be relied upon to lift his game for us. Can play in the front row or second row, and hopefully rewarding him for his previous form for NSW gives him the confidence to fire for us again.
15. Tariq Sims - He's an absolute beast and I can't wait to see what he can do if he fires up in the sky blue jersey. He's still only young and will have a long Origin career.
16. Tony Williams - One of the best players in the game at breaking tackles, and assuming he has kept up his fitness would be an amazing impact player for NSW.
17. Robbie Farah - His form at the moment isn't the best, but he's a quality player and if we give him a decent chance he can no doubt prove that to us. I've got him on the bench in the hopes of him being able to come on and have a Craig Wing effect. Depending on how Hinchcliffe is playing, we either sub him off or shift him to lock. I would like to see us with both on the field for atleast a little bit.

IMO a very well thought out team. No club bias just a good, balanced team. If this team was picked I would be very happy. I might drop Ferguson though and put Hayne on the wing, and move Lawrence into right centre.

Trying to pick a team with game, talent and some proven performance, not the flavour of the month types. Also Stewart has always been one of our best performers, despite what was mentioned previously. That game Bellache dropped him to the bench for Gidley was a travesty.

 

[timka4]

Ferguson is not such a crazy choice if you aren't picking Hayne on the wing.
He'd do better than Morris.
Why have all of Morris' inept displays suddenly been forgotten by everyone.
A winger with 5 games for 0 tries isn't good by any standard.

Wouldnt have Ferguson or Morris in my team.

 

[T.T]

since when did this become a raiders thread. canberra should have 0 players in the nsw side, yet alone 3. geez

 

[Dragon2010]

Canberra : Dugan (If it and shoulder is okay) he should be our only Raider for 2012.

 

[Spanner in the works]

Considering the injuries, I'll do an update before I go to bed:

1. Stewart - at the back, I had to decide which three players I wanted getting the ball on kick returns the most. It was Stewart, Hayne and Uate. Dugan and Morris miss out.
2. Hayne
3. Jennings - a genuine tryscorer. For too long we have picked players to contain Inglis and Hodges. f**k em. Let's beat them this time.
4. Lawrence - not in great touch but did enough in CvC. He's played and excelled at the top level before.
5. Uate
6. Carney - easy pick. He's got the skills to beat Thurston and Cronk.
7. Pearce - another easy pick. Playing better since Anasta has announced he is leaving. Starting to show what he is capable of.
8. Gallen - the easiest pick of all.
9. Wallace - yes, he has played hooker at first grade level. He's tough, his defence is excellent, he has great service out of dummy half and provides another option in attack. He's in good touch - at one point people were saying pick him over Pearce at halfback. Now that Pearce is starting to show some good touches, why can't have our cake and eat it too? We get the Pearce/Carney combo, plus we get the form of Wallace. Farah isn't playing well enough and Buderus was risky even when he wasn't injured. Wallace can be our next Toovey.
10. Mannah - loyalty.
11. Bird - almost always lifts in Origin.
12. Lewis - can't leave him out.
13. Fensom - a true Queensland style player - tough, boring, no frills but will keep you in the game through his workrate and ability to keep the ruck tight. Every year I come away thinking we need a player like him. Every single year. We had one once. His name was Hindmarsh.

14. Merrin - The experience of last year should hold him in good stead, and he is in pretty good form.
15. Tamou - Australian rep. One of our few. Looked pretty good against NZ.
16. Sims/Williams/Watmough/Stewart - whoever performs here gets it.
17. Hinchcliffe - I like his toughness and the fact he has come through the Melbourne coaching system. Rare to see those guys make mistakes. I'd nearly start him for the first 20-25 to take the sting out of the attack, and then use him as a backrower for short stints.

 

[Spanner in the works]

double

 

[Joe's Magpies]

HE was man of the match in City-Country and his form in recent weeks has been stellar - but we are hearing Robbie Farah will be overlooked for NSW even if Danny Buderus is out injured.

The late mail suggests NSW will stick with Canterbury's Michael Ennis for Origin I if Buderus cannot overcome an achilles issue. Last night, the Knights named Buderus for this weekend's match against the Roosters.

Privately, Farah believes there is a set against him although he does have Origin support from coach Tim Sheens, skipper Benji Marshall and former Tigers hooker Benny Elias.

Ennis, though, is respected in the right circles and can enhance his chances with a big game for Canterbury against Parramatta this Friday night at ANZ Stadium.

 

[hellteam]

Considering the injuries, I'll do an update before I go to bed:

1. Stewart - at the back, I had to decide which three players I wanted getting the ball on kick returns the most. It was Stewart, Hayne and Uate. Dugan and Morris miss out.
2. Hayne
3. Jennings - a genuine tryscorer. For too long we have picked players to contain Inglis and Hodges. f**k em. Let's beat them this time.
4. Lawrence - not in great touch but did enough in CvC. He's played and excelled at the top level before.
5. Uate
6. Carney - easy pick. He's got the skills to beat Thurston and Cronk.
7. Pearce - another easy pick. Playing better since Anasta has announced he is leaving. Starting to show what he is capable of.
8. Gallen - the easiest pick of all.
9. Wallace - yes, he has played hooker at first grade level. He's tough, his defence is excellent, he has great service out of dummy half and provides another option in attack. He's in good touch - at one point people were saying pick him over Pearce at halfback. Now that Pearce is starting to show some good touches, why can't have our cake and eat it too? We get the Pearce/Carney combo, plus we get the form of Wallace. Farah isn't playing well enough and Buderus was risky even when he wasn't injured. Wallace can be our next Toovey.
10. Mannah - loyalty.
11. Bird - almost always lifts in Origin.
12. Lewis - can't leave him out.
13. Fensom - a true Queensland style player - tough, boring, no frills but will keep you in the game through his workrate and ability to keep the ruck tight. Every year I come away thinking we need a player like him. Every single year. We had one once. His name was Hindmarsh.

14. Merrin - The experience of last year should hold him in good stead, and he is in pretty good form.
15. Tamou - Australian rep. One of our few. Looked pretty good against NZ.
16. Sims/Williams/Watmough/Stewart - whoever performs here gets it.
17. Hinchcliffe - I like his toughness and the fact he has come through the Melbourne coaching system. Rare to see those guys make mistakes. I'd nearly start him for the first 20-25 to take the sting out of the attack, and then use him as a backrower for short stints.

Can't remember Wallace ever playing hooker, at the Broncos anyway

 

[Dragon2010]

We will never win a series with that sped Ennis at hooker!

 

[Jason Maher]

It's ludicrous if Ennis gets selected over Farah (again).

 

[Frailty]

For everyone choosing Hayne at centre - Do you really want to see him attempt to defend against Inglis and Hodges? Really?

 

[Spanner in the works]

Can't remember Wallace ever playing hooker, at the Broncos anyway

Did it at the Panthers.

 

[Frailty]

Degois should be hooker, with Hinchcliffe on the bench.