2012 NSW soo side..

[timka4]

Scott, Civo, Gallen, Shillo in no particular order, when fit, are the 4 best props in the game

 

[sputneek]

Gallen would tear any of them apart besides Scott.

 

[Big Pete]

Wouldn't see me if Civoniceiva calls time on his rep. career and if he does, what a note to go out on. His performance in the decider silenced all that media talk about the role of modern props becoming redundant.

Taylor isn't really a prop these days either.

But you are forgetting both Kennedy and McGuire who appear to be bright prospects.

 

[Murf]

This is the year we get them. I love our backs compared to QLD. Here would be my backs:

1. Stewart
2. Uate
3. Jennings
4. Lawrence
5. Hayne

That backline has everything. Speed, size, defense and creativity. Michael Gordon extremely unlucky. QLD only have the advantage with Slater and Inglis.

Halves are OK. I'm not a huge fan of them, but we have no one better.

6. Soward
7. Pearce

Pearce would be on a short leash. We cannot afford to have new halves all over again, it is basically gifting QLD a free win.

The forwards we have are better than QLD's. I would have a pack of:

8. Gallen
9. Farah
10. Mannah
11. Stewart
12. Bird
13. Lewis

That pack is tough in attack and defense. Stewart, Bird and Lewis excel at everything they do and Stuart can use their passing abilities to shred the QLD defense. Can easily outmatch the QLD pack in terms of metres gained.

14. Williams
15. Scott
16. TLL
17. Galloway

I don't like wasting a bench spot on a back. Tony Williams is a impact player that would go well in Origin. Scott provides solid defense from the bench, while TLL and Galloway can get the forwards moving if nothing is going on.

Agree with your side other than a few things. For me Gordon and Jennings are interchangable. Obviously whoever of the the two plays would also dictate what position Hayne is in, but this is the best backline we have. Stewart is the closest fullback in the comp to Slater and anyone on this website who disagrees is just kidding themselves.

Also I would start Scott. His defense is something NSW really missed in game 3, also he has little impact value off the bench as he is not as explosive as some of the other options NSW have.

Unfortunately in my opinion this means that Bird drops not only to the bench but off the side completely as Watmough is the best impact second rower in the game.

Also get rid of Soward and have Carney there, he is an absolute gun if he pulls his head in and the combination with Pearce got them 40 minutes from a premiership. Has to count for something right?

 

[sputneek]

Also get rid of Soward and have Carney there, he is an absolute gun if he pulls his head in and the combination with Pearce got them 40 minutes from a premiership. Has to count for something right?

No cause Soward actually won the premiership... not that I want him there.

 

[Murf]

Yeah but look who Soward had guiding him and what he was surrounded with. Im not having a dig at your team but in my honest opinion I thought it was a miracle you got there to begin with and it can almost single handedly be attributed to the brilliance of Carney.

 

[RHCP]

Anybody picking Glenn Stewart over Watmough, Bird, Lewis or Scott has got to be kidding.

 

[RWB]

Origin is different though RWB, both teams are packed with the best players in the state who are good defensively and offensively (most of the time anyway). So you want players that can do both efficiently. Regarding the Dragons, club level is completely different.
Players like Jennings, Lawrence, Hayne and Gordon can defend and attack so no real point in putting in a pure defensive player. Inglis was no trouble from memory last year (he only played like 1 or 2 games though). Hodges will be selected next year and imo he is not the threat he use to be in the rep arena, even though he still came into origin underdone this year.
I'd consider Lawrence the best all round centre in NSW, he is solid, fast, good with the ball and defends well.
Jennings played awesome game 1 and Hayne played good in game 3, to me he (Hayne) is the best man to match and beat Inglis.

Inglis was no trouble yet in 2 games he still managed to score 2 tries. If an out of form Inglis is still scoring tries freely it just shows you 1) how important their left hand side attack is to them and 2) how poor our defence has been in recent times on our right hand fringe.

Gasnier was no weaker defensively than Lawrence or Jennings and yet he really struggled to contain him. As for Hayne well he's played 1 game at centre and was only required to make 7 tackles in that performance. He's got a lot more to prove before we should be matching him up against arguably the most potent player in the world.

It's not like Lewis or Aubusson are poor in attack anyway. Only last year Aubusson had more linebreaks than any other backrower in the game and no need to talk up Lewis's attacking ability.

 

[RWB]

You make some very good points there. I know how hard it is to stop Inglis and we do need someone there who can hold their own in D. I don't value attack more than defence, I would just rather a centre that can attack, as well as defend. As for stopping Inglis, if he gets enough room to move, not even a backrower will stop him. It's more about putting pressure on Thurston/Cronk/Slater and stopping them from getting good ball to Inglis. But you're right in that we need a decent defender to go up against Inglis. I don't mind Hayne or Jennings to be honest. I don't think Hayne would get pushed off that easily and Jennings defence has improved a lot IMO.I thought he did well in Origin this year.

As for Lewis, he has been a bit ordinary for NSW. I think he's a very good backrowr though. Apologies on Aubusson, I wasn't really sure what's been up with him after seeing him have a brilliant year in 2010.

Both Jennings and Hayne were very impressive in their games at centre although Hayne only had to make 6 tackles, Jennings 7. Gasnier on the other hand averaged nearly 22 tackles per game for the series on the right hand side. An increase in tackles and thus fatigue is bound to take an impact on their effectiveness in attack and their decision making in defence, not to mention Inglis is a far superior attacking player than Tonga & Hodges.

Given it was Hayne's first and only game in the centres (from memory) I think he needs to show a lot more over a longer period of time. His defence has always been suspect whether on the wing, fullback or defending in the line as a 5/8. He's a definite no for me despite his great performance in game 3.

I can hack Jennings or Lawrence, I just think Lewis & Aubusson would be better choices. Both have great defensive techniques and are very capable in attack, as ball players and hole runners.

 

[Joker's Wild]

Im sick of rep teams picking backrowers in the centres to try and "contain" the likes of Inglis and Hodges. It has failed for both NSW and NZ in the past and I have no faith that it will suddenly start being effective this year

"You'll always get what you've always got if you always do what you've always done"

 

[Walt Flanigan]

I agree. It's a defeatist attitude IMO.

We should be picking players that "they" are worried about.

It looks as though (barring injury) Lawrence and Jennings will be our centres, which will be great.

 

[timka4]

Anybody picking Glenn Stewart over Watmough, Bird, Lewis or Scott has got to be kidding.

I have never been overly impressed by Glenn Stewart's origin performances, but if both Stewart's have at least a solid start to 2012 they will both be in the side.

 

[hutch]

surprised mateo wasnt included in the emerging squad

he was awesome for the warriors for the warriors in 2011.

He isn't eligible until he switches his allegiance to Australia. With the world cup next year, let's hope he doesn't for the good of the game. Tonga need him more than nsw do!

 

[Gippsy]

Not a bad team Gypsy, but I think Hayne needs to be in the team somewhere, he is just too good to leave out, never let NSW down.
Also I think we are too short on good props to put Gallen in the backrow. Just my opinion.

I just think Hayne's positional play at fullback is not the best and we have better fullbacks ahead of him, ie Dugan & prob Stewart next. As for having him somewhere I just think at the moment we have better specialist centres and better specialist wingers. So, first he would need to play more regularly in another position to challenge for that spot,IMO.

As for Gallen, yes we need a couple of front rowers to step up and if they can I just think the side would be a lot stronger with Gallen in the backrow. With the likes of Douglas, Tolman, Galloway, Snowden, Mannah all playin pretty well last year we should be able to get two quality starting frontrowers out of them, plus some quality on the bench. That would also take a bit of pressure of Gallen & it would be like hitting QLD with 3 front rowers at the one time.

I guess I'm also pretty big on picking players in their proper positions. IMO playing them out of position has failed big time in the past for NSW.

 

[Gippsy]

Anybody picking Glenn Stewart over Watmough, Bird, Lewis or Scott has got to be kidding.

I'm not an overly big Stewart fan, but he has got a bit of mongrel about him with some ball skills as well so I think he would be great in SOO, especially if we can find some props so Gallen can play backrow as well. He offers more than Bird and Watmough who have been there and gone missing too many times for my liking. I love Beau Scott & he hasn't let NSW down but just think the other 3 are in front of him.

Lewis is just an outstanding footballer and should be the 13, so for me the backrow would be Gallen, Stewart & Lewis. A fair bit of mongrel, top work ethic and some ball skills. Perfect.

But, that depends on NSW finding some quality props and that is the main area NSW need to fix. I'm hoping the likes of Tolman, Snowden, Douglas, Mannah, Galloway will step up this year.

 

[watatank]

Just wondering, if people are so against the idea of "defensive" centres why does the number one reason people are against Hayne at fullback is his defence/positional play?

 

[timka4]

He offers more than Bird and Watmough who have been there and gone missing too many times for my liking.

Like when? I thought out back rowers have been the only players in our team that have never gone missing. Watmough always gets over 100m even off the bench and Bird has always played good. Adds a bit of ball playing at the line, has created some chances before.

 

[Pazza]

Anybody picking Glenn Stewart over Watmough, Bird, Lewis or Scott has got to be kidding.

The duel grand final winning, 2008 Dally M second rower of the year and 2011 Clive Churchill medalist????

 

[Pazza]

But, that depends on NSW finding some quality props and that is the main area NSW need to fix. I'm hoping the likes of Tolman, Snowden, Douglas, Mannah, Galloway will step up this year.

I think we only need a three prop rotation of Gallen, TLL and Mannah. When the game opens up we can have two backrowers playing tight with one prop on the field for 10 or so mins. Tony Williams is a guy who could go tight at the drop of a hat, he has the size and strength for it.

 

[Joker's Wild]

I just think Hayne's positional play at fullback is not the best and we have better fullbacks ahead of him, ie Dugan & prob Stewart next. As for having him somewhere I just think at the moment we have better specialist centres and better specialist wingers. So, first he would need to play more regularly in another position to challenge for that spot,IMO.

As for Gallen, yes we need a couple of front rowers to step up and if they can I just think the side would be a lot stronger with Gallen in the backrow. With the likes of Douglas, Tolman, Galloway, Snowden, Mannah all playin pretty well last year we should be able to get two quality starting frontrowers out of them, plus some quality on the bench. That would also take a bit of pressure of Gallen & it would be like hitting QLD with 3 front rowers at the one time.

I guess I'm also pretty big on picking players in their proper positions. IMO playing them out of position has failed big time in the past for NSW.

Dude, Hayne and Gallen have been NSW best 2 players over this shitty 6 year period. It is madness to not have Jarrod in the side at all, even Sticky came to understand that after game 1 last series.

If you wait for either of their clubs to play them in their best positions then we will continue to lose and lose badly. In Haynes case its a matter of the Eels having to get him involved in everything and that cant be done from the centres or wing. Gal plays like a prop even when wearing the 13, its simply the way the Sharks structure works and given they had 2 excellent props in Douglas and Snowden over the last few years it made sence to leave him at lock. It will be interesting to see what they do with him this year now that they have lost both of those guys.