2021 Rnd 25 V Parramatta

[Smug Panther]

Question is, do we want the minor premiership? Better to play souths or manly week one?

We are far better than both and the thought of who to play shouldn't even enter the sides minds

 

[The_Frog]

Parra have rested
Gutherson,Pensini,Blake,D.Brown,Moses,Jnr,N.Brown,Marata,
Papali and have RCG,Matterson and Sivo injured. So 12/17 not playing.
I think it's ok to rest 3 or maybe 4 players. I feel this is taking the piss and taking it to far.

Junior Paulo is suspended. N Brown should have asked for a suspension too and saved himself a few bob. Quite obviously Arthur has decided that there is no chance of Manly losing in Townsville and even if they did they wouldn't catch the Storm with their pants down again in a final.

 

[MTNPanther]

A lot easier if the young guys cop the loss to the panthers and the players that beat Melbourne take that momentum into the finals against a bottom 8 team. Might give them a better chance if they make week 2.

 

[hindy111]

Junior Paulo is suspended. N Brown should have asked for a suspension too and saved himself a few bob. Quite obviously Arthur has decided that there is no chance of Manly losing in Townsville and even if they did they wouldn't catch the Storm with their pants down again in a final.

Beaten them twice this year. Hope you guys can do the same

 

[John Hamblin]

The other point of not resting players this week is if we win in week one of the finals we get week two off!!

 

[Girds89]

Really struggling to see any positives to this week.

The reality is if we dont rack up a cricket score against their b team it probably does more harm than good in terms of confidence. Add in the fact you are risking players of injury and suspension for essentially no reason.

Just seems crazy to me.

 

[chrisD]

Resting wouldn't have been an option, this is the best team (Spencer is obviously better than Sorensen but he's underdone and it's too late now) but we are underdone all over the park through injuries and new combinations. Sorensen could be rested to give Spencer some kind of fitness as good chance he will be called on in case of injury.

Unfortunate that Parra are not playing full strength, real opposition would have been much more beneficial.

 

[Smug Panther]

Really struggling to see any positives to this week.

The reality is if we dont rack up a cricket score against their b team it probably does more harm than good in terms of confidence. Add in the fact you are risking players of injury and suspension for essentially no reason.

Just seems crazy to me.

Almost our whole side has had forced rests due to injury. They need time together now

 

[TheRiff]

Really struggling to see any positives to this week.

The reality is if we dont rack up a cricket score against their b team it probably does more harm than good in terms of confidence. Add in the fact you are risking players of injury and suspension for essentially no reason.

Just seems crazy to me.

When was the last time we had a full strength side? We need time together before the big games start

 

[TheRiff]

Pretty strong assumption here that injuries, HIAs, etc won't be a factor. In finals, particularly once its sudden death, you need to have contingencies for loss of key players. Api & Yeo are 2 of those and, IMO, Kenny covers these better than May - hooker undoubtedly and lock as a budget-version Cam Murray (basic functionality but no bells-and-whistles) focusing on speed around the ruck & in the PTB and middle defence.

May's ball-playing is talked up on here but it suffers from him being so slow. His service from dummy half is slack and when he's on as a ball-playing lock, he seems to forget about the lock part and wanders around trying to be a 3rd half. Comparing him to other team's 14s, he doesn't provide any spark but "he's versatile!" despite the fact he wouldn't be 2nd or 3rd choice for any of the starting 13 positions. But we'll settle for a safe hole-plugger instead of our 2nd-choice dummy half on the bench during the finals.

Ahh now I found this discussion.

You are right for those 2 positions, Though May can play those positions if needed.

What if fullback, Wing, Centre, Half etc go off?

Kenny can only play middle, So you then move forwards around to get the 80 mins. With May even if Capewell gets moved to centres, May can cover for Capewell and allow the forward rotation to be normal.

If the plan is to play Kikau 60 mins, and the side gets a HIA say after 5 mins. The bench is Kenny, Kikau, Sorensen, TPJ?

You have no option but to play Kiks or someone for longer then planned, Personally I don't see Kikau as an 80 min player. As such his performance will taper off if he is on for longer.

Having May on the bench. He can come on, Do a job in the side then can bring on Kikau as planned and the performance shouldn't drop. That said if Tago could play more positions he would be my preference

 

[WestyLife]

Resting this week would be the worst possible option. We were average against Souths and garbage Vs Tigers. They need time on field before the important games.

Also the minor premiership is irrelevant.

 

[Fangs]

Our performance on the weekend was not worthy of a finals team. This team is big on confidence and they need to build on confident performances.

I prefer the team full strength, heavy use of the bench and get the 18th man in if possible.

 

[Girds89]

If nathan goes down our season is over on a meaningless game.

Yet we beat souths underdone without any of the main 17 being able to train consistently together or play together. We were also without too and jfh.

And souths are now without there best player.

Id back us to get the job done even if they all had a week off and just trained the house down together.

But weve seen how our team goes without nathan. At the very very least id be resting him. Just dont see the need as if he gets injured you can honestly kiss our season goodbye.

Not trying to be negative, just a fact, if he goes down our attack isnt good enough without him. And the fact is he is much higher risk to reinjure his shoulder than other players. I know you can get injured any time but id be trying mitigate the risk with nath as much as possible.

Ivans made his decision. Going to be a nervous 80mins this weekend.

 

[TheRiff]

If nathan goes down our season is over on a meaningless game.

Yet we beat souths underdone without any of the main 17 being able to train consistently together or play together. We were also without too and jfh.

And souths are now without there best player.

Id back us to get the job done even if they all had a week off and just trained the house down together.

But weve seen how our team goes without nathan. At the very very least id be resting him. Just dont see the need as if he gets injured you can honestly kiss our season goodbye.

Not trying to be negative, just a fact, if he goes down our attack isnt good enough without him. And the fact is he is much higher risk to reinjure his shoulder than other players. I know you can get injured any time but id be trying mitigate the risk with nath as much as possible.

Ivans made his decision. Going to be a nervous 80mins this weekend.

We win next week, Then we get the week off.

That would be going into a Preliminary Final with a few guys with a handful of games under their belt. Throw in not being full strength since Round 12

 

[maple_69]

I get us just running plays on the Tigers because we just didn’t have to worry about earning it and picking moments but that should be our last training run in game conditions.

What I want to see on Friday is a patient and methodical game. Cut the globetrotting, cut the errors, smash them with line speed, pin point kicking, repeat sets and pounce when there are openings. This is how we will win finals games against good sides and it’s the type of footy we need to switch onto.

 

[DinkyDi]

 

[martielang]

I think we'll just cruise through this week much like last week. We'll be sloppy but get the job done. It would be almost impossible to get the players up for a game like this IMO, especially with the risk of injury and missing the finals.

 

[chrisD]

Crichton's strengths is his strength, size and speed, and maybe his hands. It's not his footwork or passing. Seeing how he goes on the wing makes every sense.

 

[Girds89]

I think we'll just cruise through this week much like last week. We'll be sloppy but get the job done. It would be almost impossible to get the players up for a game like this IMO, especially with the risk of injury and missing the finals.

Which is exactly why its risky. Its not a real finals experience/proper preparation against a nsw cup team.

If theyd played there full strength team amd it would be a proper finals like hit out and good practice id get it.

Not sure how anyone could think the reward outweighs the risk.

We are most likely to play the buns. They were close to their best two weeks ago. We werent and we were missing too and fish and still got the job done quiet easily and they are now without latrell.

I understand why ivans doing it. In my opinion its just not worth the risk.

 

[TheRiff]

Which is exactly why its risky. Its not a real finals experience/proper preparation against a nsw cup team.

If theyd played there full strength team amd it would be a proper finals like hit out and good practice id get it.

Not sure how anyone could think the reward outweighs the risk.

We are most likely to play the buns. They were close to their best two weeks ago. We werent and we were missing too and fish and still got the job done quiet easily and they are now without latrell.

I understand why ivans doing it. In my opinion its just not worth the risk.

Agreed we would beat them but would we the others?

The spine has barely played together, JFH just had 3 weeks off, To'o 4, Cleary 6 weeks, Luai missed a slab of footy.

The only 2 that I would consider resting is Leota and Martin, That would purely be to give Spencer and TPJ more minutes