2021 R7 Sat - North Qld 26-24 Canberra @ QCBS

[League Unlimited News]

NRL 2021 - Round 7
North Queensland Cowboys v Canberra Raiders
Queensland Country Bank Stadium, South Townsville (TICKETS)
Saturday 24 April 2021

NRL 7:35pm

1. Valentine Holmes 2. Kyle Feldt 3. Justin O'Neill 4. Connelly Lemuelu 5. Murray Taulagi 6. Scott Drinkwater 7. Ben Hampton 8. Coen Hess 9. Reece Robson 10. Jordan McLean 11. Shane Wright 12. Ben Condon 13. Lachlan Burr
Interchange: 14. Jake Granville 15. Mitchell Dunn 16. Francis Molo 17. Corey Jensen 18. Esan Marsters 19. Peter Hola 20. Jake Clifford 21. Tom Gilbert

1. Caleb Aekins 2. Sebastian Kris 3. Jarrod Croker 4. Curtis Scott 5. Jordan Rapana 6. Jack Wighton 7. George Williams 8. Ryan James 9. Tom Starling 10. Emre Guler 11. Hudson Young 12. Elliott Whitehead 13. Ryan Sutton
Interchange: 14. Siliva Havili 15. Corey Harawira-Naera 16. Corey Horsburgh 17. Josh Papali'i 18. Matthew Timoko 19. Iosia Soliola 20. Matt Frawley 21. Joseph Tapine

Referees: Peter Gough
Sideline Officials: David Munro, Nick Morel
Video Referees: Matt Noyen

QLD Cup
Pride (NQL) v Norths @ Barlow Park, Sat 5:30pm
Mackay (NQL) v Souths Logan @ BB Print Stadium, Sat 6pm
Townsville (NQL) v SC Falcons @ Jack Manski Oval, Sun 4pm
NSW Cup - Canberra BYE​

 

[GongPanther]

Canberra should win this by 28.

 

[Rhino_NQ]

Might be a hangover after winning the spoonbowl. The raiders whackyness knows no limits though

 

[legend]

Hodgson and Simonnson out this week. Kris in somewhere and Starling starting I would think, which would leave Soliola, Havilii, Guler and CHN/James on the bench...maybe.

Croker should thank his lucky stars. Scott too!

 

[skeepe]

I’m pretty happy with the team, I would swap Croker and Kris though - Croker’s best game this season came on the wing and I think he can still contribute there but he’s dreadfully out of form as a centre.

Papalii dropped is good, he needs a kick up the arse, as does Tapine.

 

[bileduct]

So is Hodgson injured or is he "injured."

How bad must Tapine and Soliola feel, getting dumped while the shitstain Croker stays in the run on squad.

 

[Pete Cash]

I'm absolutely not a fan of dropping Tapine. I actually just looked up how our forwards are going for that post i made in the sticky thread and he's been one of our better ones.

The guy could look for more work but that's just the way he plays.

I think he's too good not to play when available

 

[skeepe]

I'm absolutely not a fan of dropping Tapine. I actually just looked up how our forwards are going for that post i made in the sticky thread and he's been one of our better ones.

The guy could look for more work but that's just the way he plays.

I think he's too good not to play when available

Generally I agree but I think his intensity has been way off, particularly in defence.

My gut feeling is that Sticky wanted to send a message to the entire squad by dropping one of the stars, and a game against the embattled Cowboys is the safest way to do it with Souths, the Storm and the Roosters coming up.

Either that or he’s lost his mind. Which is entirely possible too.

 

[footy75]

Absolute must win for Canberra.

 

[Rhyno]

Raiders by 20

 

[shear_joy9]

Hopefully starling kills it for the rest of the season and Hodgson’s “injury” becomes a season ender.

I’d like to see how bad Croker has to play for him to be dropped. I think the stubborn prick ricky will pick him regardless.

 

[baselinepanther]

So is Hodgson injured or is he "injured."

his form is .... injured

 

[baselinepanther]

Scott has been as handy as a hemorrhoid in a butthole , ever since he signed with us.
He is on borrowed time & I hope hes been told.

 

[Pete Cash]

Generally I agree but I think his intensity has been way off, particularly in defence.

My gut feeling is that Sticky wanted to send a message to the entire squad by dropping one of the stars, and a game against the embattled Cowboys is the safest way to do it with Souths, the Storm and the Roosters coming up.

Either that or he’s lost his mind. Which is entirely possible too.

I can certainly see an argument for it. Its a team we are "in theory" better than, Tapine might have returned underdone since returning from injury and we are terrible in North Qld.

Here is my issue though. We are already losing the metres battle every week. We have only beaten the tigers in metres gained. This isn't entirely down to our forward pack. We are off the ball way too much we have not won possession against anyone . Our kicks are finding the fullbacks/wingers too often. That is a combination of teams feeling comfortable putting their wings back early because we are so slow and fairly average long kicking this year.

Tapine is consistently our forward who makes the highest metres gained post contact and is normally up there for ptb speed. When we are struggling to actually win yardage I feel its counter productive to drop the guy who tends to bend the line every run. I think a lot of the perception of Tapine comes from him looking kind of sleepy. People on the GH were arguing he doesn't hit the line hard. What difference does it make if he doesn't winds up from the fence if he is gaining a really good % of his yards from post contact and by far the best in the side. This strikes me as looks over reality

Again, I am not blaming the forwards per se for our lack of go forward. I think the fact we are constantly rucking the ball out after our outside backs get smashed because the opposition put a kick that found grass and the opposition is always on the front foot because we are kicking straight to the man is a much bigger issue

But i also dont see why weakening our go forward is productive either.

Hopefully its a swift kick up the arse/concerns about him defending in north qld after coming back a little under done

 

[I Bleed Maroon]

If Canberra lose this, they are in real trouble. Luckily for them the weather in the north is becoming very mild, so I'm thinking it will be rather close.

 

[Sparkles 2001]

Surely you'd drop Croker, sticky needs to stop playing nice and make the tough decision. Good kicker but have a look at how many points he leaks through his defence

 

[mongoose]

Scott has been as handy as a hemorrhoid in a butthole , ever since he signed with us.
He is on borrowed time & I hope hes been told.

willing to give scott a couple more games. He was looking alright before he got injured against the Warriors. He really needs to show something fast though.

 

[BadnMean]

There's a bit of an injury crisis among our younger/lower grade backs. There's not much more Ricky could bring up into FG the next few weeks.

HSS has been going the best- but he's out until round 20 at least.
Semi Valemi- out for a couple of weeks.
Young Hoppa- was playing fairly well, wasn't available until round 10 but also now injured regardless.

Aekins & Kris already promoted, so there is really only Timoko available and whilst he did ok in his FG game last year, he's just been ok in reggies so far.

 

[bileduct]

Surely you'd drop Croker, sticky needs to stop playing nice and make the tough decision. Good kicker but have a look at how many points he leaks through his defence

This is the most sensible thing you have ever said.

 

[Max_Cady]

Scott and Croker to make a combined 13 metres in their hit-ups coming out of their end.
I am being very generous.