2019 team line up

[RufusRex]

If these two wingers can come through the pre-season as the choice wingers, we will at last have a backline capable of scoring and defending on both sides of the field. Tall and sokid wingers with speed is exactly what we need.

Doesnt hurt that Pearson is a left side specialist and Ravalawa right either.

 

[dragonssamy61]

whos the quicker mate ravalawa or pearson they say jonus is approx 93 kgs and ravalawa is 93 kgs so not featherweights ......

OD
I have only seen pearson have sprints with dufty and field
Over 100m pearson.
Over 20 dufty
Over 40 dufty just.
I have not seen ravalawa do flat out prints.
But have been told very quick over first 30 meters.

 

[dragonssamy61]

Doesnt hurt that Pearson is a left side specialist and Ravalawa right either.

Exactly Rex
If both play well.
They can both make it.
I think pearson to me.
As JP might get first crack.
He played well in semis last year.

 

[Overseas dragon]

Exactly Rex
If both play well.
They can both make it.
I think pearson to me.
As JP might get first crack.
He played well in semis last year.

im looking forward to coming back to sydney and watching the first few games should be very interesting to see the team for the first game against the cowboys .........not sure that marys not going to play ducks and drakes in the charity shield me thinks

 

[dragonssamy61]

im looking forward to coming back to sydney and watching the first few games should be very interesting to see the team for the first game against the cowboys .........not sure that marys not going to play ducks and drakes in the charity shield me thinks

OD l think(and hope) that Mary uses the charity shield as a real trail.
Gives all contenders a run in a trail match.
Any rate lets hope

 

[RufusRex]

Mary's use of trial form is pretty filthy historically ...

Robson, Lomax and Mann all showed plenty in the trials only to be overlooked.
Nightingale missed out 3 easy opportunities that anyone with speed would have capitalised on and was picked ...

The season played out and Lomax showed he was ready and Nighty showed he was not.

Maybe Mary has learned .. i really doubt it. He hasnt shown any ability to learn.


Perira, Pearson, Ravalawa all deserve at least one full trial and one half. A shoot out for the 2 spots.

 

[Overseas dragon]

OD l think(and hope) that Mary uses the charity shield as a real trail.
Gives all contenders a run in a teail match.
Any rate lets hope

not likely remember the 9s he took no notice he will see exactly what he wants to see ,no more no less im afraid ....mission impossible for some i believe. marys rose coloured glasses

 

[Overseas dragon]

Exactly Rex
If both play well.
They can both make it.
I think pearson to me.
As JP might get first crack.
He played well in semis last year.

yes and periera plays right .........

 

[RufusRex]

yes and periera plays right .........

Didnt last year for us .. Bumped Nene over to the right and our scoring on both flanks evaporated.

 

[Dragonslayer]

Didnt last year for us .. Bumped Nene over to the right and our scoring on both flanks evaporated.

It remains one (of many) mysteries of McGregor's selection philosophy. A specialist left winger in Nene, and he plays him on the right. A player who has played most of his football on the right, he plays him on the left.

My only explanation is that Aitken being so poor under the high ball and Nene was there as his cover. Whilst it proved to be somewhat a good theory, to persist with it when Lomax came into the side was confusing. Again, the only guess would be 2 rookies as centre and winger wasn't ideal, but Lomax showed enough to hold his own. Again it remains a great mystery

Funny enough, that it appears to be shaping up as the combo for 2019 (at this stage) shame it wasn't given a chance in 2018, then selection headache wouldn't be so.

 

[Overseas dragon]

Didnt last year for us .. Bumped Nene over to the right and our scoring on both flanks evaporated.

you obviously have no idea ..........periera is very obviously more comfortable on the right .....as for mary well his selections are always a mystery to everyone except mary

 

[aquiin]

It makes no sense putting Lomax outside of Aitken; it would set him up for failure. Even the great Nightingale could not get any traction outside Aitken.

I can only imagine that each day you reset like an inconsequential character in Groundhog Day and go about your usual business. This point of viewpoint has already been queried a number of times by different people and directly by me recently.

How about adding something new. See if you can find a 19 year old from the last 10-15 years who started off in the centres and finished the season strong. I can’t think of one.

I don’t really get how someone becomes so frustrated with a player that they dismiss them completely, and send themselves into some sort of vicious feedback loop, just because the next best thing is around the corner. Next you’ll be advocating for Max Feagai or Aaron Schoupp. Why isn’t Jason Saab in the lineup already?

Surely you see the potential in starting off one way and letting a player ease into a position over a season. If Lomax breaks down at any point, I can see the whole counter argument gaining favour. I don’t think the coach would be overly cautious, when the coach was criticised for pushing players to hard over recent years.

Some will try nonetheless.

 

[GC Dragon]

OD
I have only seen pearson have sprints with dufty and field
Over 100m pearson.
Over 20 dufty
Over 40 dufty just.
I have not seen ravalawa do flat out prints.
But have been told very quick over first 30 meters.

That's interesting . I have seen Pearson doing sprint sessions at the Bronco's and he had everybody covered over the 100 he is very very fast and been told Ravalawa is just as fast . I hope these 2 get a fair go . They are both close to 100kg and run like the wind . I wonder if our coaching staff can turn two big , fast young wingers in first grade stars ? .

 

[nontime111]

That's interesting . I have seen Pearson doing sprint sessions at the Bronco's and he had everybody covered over the 100 he is very very fast and been told Ravalawa is just as fast . I hope these 2 get a fair go . They are both close to 100kg and run like the wind . I wonder if our coaching staff can turn two big , fast young wingers in first grade stars ? .

I agree, get em both in there!

 

[Frank Facer]

That's interesting . I have seen Pearson doing sprint sessions at the Bronco's and he had everybody covered over the 100 he is very very fast and been told Ravalawa is just as fast . I hope these 2 get a fair go . They are both close to 100kg and run like the wind . I wonder if our coaching staff can turn two big , fast young wingers in first grade stars ? .

Having 2 good wingers, often young, for a bargain price, has been a winning formula for many recent Premiership winning teams. I just had a look back at the last 9 grand final winning teams and most teams had at least one good young winger, who would have been on low money in their sides, some had two, such as when we won with B Morris and Nightingale. Easts had RTS and Tupou. Melbourne had Vunivulu and Addo Carr. Cronulla had Holmes and Feki. Manly had Hopoate and Robinson, Souths had Johnson and Lote Tuqiri. None of the above mentioned players would have been on big money. With the salary cap, I am not keen on spending big money on wingers. Here's hoping we strike gold with Ravalawa and Pearson.

Premiership winning teams often also have some other good youngsters in the team who are still on low money. We have the likes of Lomax, Lucky and Dufty who would still be on low money, but could play a big part in winning a comp next year. We also have the likes of Lawrie, Host, Robson and Field, who could play a part too. I actually think Millward is doing a fine job of managing the salary cap, with limited TPA's. I certainly wasn't talking about us have any chance of winning a comp, before Millward took over.

 

[BLM01]

Now Widdop debacle settled. Widdop to 14. Yes sounds crazy but he is gone soon and so will his head be.Let our future spine from 2020 and beyond run the team

 

[possm]

Mary's use of trial form is pretty filthy historically ...

Robson, Lomax and Mann all showed plenty in the trials only to be overlooked.
Nightingale missed out 3 easy opportunities that anyone with speed would have capitalised on and was picked ...

The season played out and Lomax showed he was ready and Nighty showed he was not.

Maybe Mary has learned .. i really doubt it. He hasnt shown any ability to learn.


Perira, Pearson, Ravalawa all deserve at least one full trial and one half. A shoot out for the 2 spots.

Cultural standards are set by top club officials and unfortunately after winning the 2010 grand final and losing Bennett out Board and CEO dropped the ball and set very low standards as the norm.

To me there is a sense of try your best but it is no big deal if we lose; can't win every game. Like the old days of professional wrestling where a good performance was all that was necessary; the result did not matter.

I'm hoping our new CEO sets a new standard; belief and respect for the past high standards of achievement of our great club and to strive very hard for a win because to lose is not good enough.

 

[Drag Queen]

Now Widdop debacle settled. Widdop to 14. Yes sounds crazy but he is gone soon and so will his head be.Let our future spine from 2020 and beyond run the team

14? Totally disagree with you there. He has one season left with us so we need to make the most of it. No need to punish him to the detriment of the team. 2019 could be our year.

 

[dragonssamy61]

That's interesting . I have seen Pearson doing sprint sessions at the Bronco's and he had everybody covered over the 100 he is very very fast and been told Ravalawa is just as fast . I hope these 2 get a fair go . They are both close to 100kg and run like the wind . I wonder if our coaching staff can turn two big , fast young wingers in first grade stars ? .

Let hope so G C Dragon.
I like the look of pearson .

 

[RufusRex]

Apologies for the two posts. There's a paragraph I can't seem to upload due to an internal server error. This is part of the rest.

I think an interesting way to think about it is this: Lomax has the skills that we would like to see in all centres, but the role for centres has changed and much of what is needed from the position is what Lomax is still learning. Aitken was lauded for his play early and I don’t see why that shouldn’t be an aim to be repeated. Lomax should still get his shot to work into that spot over the season.

There’s little doubt Lomax is the better prospect, that’s not really to the point, and if we were talking about rep level wingers, we would need to make a decision. That’s not what we are looking at.

The other point I made previously is that I would like to see how Aitken would do as a left centre. There have been a few people saying he’d be better off there and I think it should happen in the trial.

Oh and Blayke Brailey and Sean Mullany have outplayed Robson on occasion. Dangerous to just regurgitate what is hot at the moment.

Aitken has played 80 NRL games .. he is no rookie anymore and three seasons of his 4 has played 22 games or more .. That is not quite a full season but near enough.

He burst onto the scene with strength and vigor in his running but obvious areas of weakness - the prime two areas being ability to set up his wing man and decision making in defence. Now Coops never really had the ball playing but his decision making was spot on .. You would have hoped that in 80 games of NRL these deficiencies would have been addressed but whilst there is minimal improvement in them they remain problems in his game. 80 games is more than enough to make a decision on. We are certainly well down the Mitch Rein path with him. For all the talk of Aitken and origin, every time Freddy talks about him he talks about these issues and Nene destroyed him with a single tweet.

Now left centre may be an option but i fail to see how this will address the two holes in his game.

Lomax has played 3 games (4 if you include his 5 minute stint) ... That is nothing in comparision to 80. There are centres in the past 15 years though who have either debuted straight at centre or served a very short apprentiship on the wing and been effective. Jamie Lyon debuted as a centre and played in the grand final qualifier, Gas played centre in his 3rd game, then a couple more on the wing before centre again. More recently Croker played 1 game on wing before every other at centre. Lomax is not the finished product by any stretch .. But if the club is willing to give 80 to aitken flaws and all then it is not a stretch to so the same with a better prospect. His defensive decision making and ball playing are already superiour to Aitkens - he obviously doenst have the running game though.

The question to pose is this: Why after 80 games and no seemingly apparent improvement in the areas of weakness is Aitken a must have in the team? What is wrong with making a brutal decision that improves the team? It took how many seasons of Rein before the club woke up to his weaknesses?