2022 starting 17? and BAs tenure

[Poupou Escobar]

Whats the run down on Loizou? Any good?

His carries were pretty strong. But if NRL doesn't work out he can fall back on his astrophysics degree:

 

[Joshuatheeel]

Yeah but we had veteran winger Fergo helping in out in that department. If we are going to maintain that improvement without Fergo, we need Sivo to come back better than ever or we need someone else to step up.

Dunster made more metres in each finals game then what Sivo/Fergo averaged this year.

Additionally, can centres he factored into a sides ability to “ruck” it out? As Penisini looks to be doing a decent job at it and so has Blake.

 

[yy_cheng]

Yeah, dunster has improved 3 fold and I for one applaud him.

And his improvement was against the better teams in the comp

 

[Gazzamatta]

Id like them to get that Fabri sprint coach involved. Since we lost The AFL Guy all our running mechanics are fu*ked up.

 

[TheParraboy]

If i am being brutally honest we didnt miss sivo when he was out. We improved

We had more speed out wide better lateral movement defensively and had better yardage coming out of our end.

And Penisini for Opacic has been huge as well (Opacic has been a solid centre)

All of a sudden , from a so so backline. To one of the fastest and most potent. Considering Dunster, DBrown and Penisin are still very young and best ahead of them

 

[lingard]

Things change very fast in rugby league.

6 weeks ago we needed a new backline basicaly. Most bar myself wanted Waqa punted. All of a sudden he is the form centre of the comp and id argue on consitency he has been one of our best 5 players in the last 6 games. I always rated him and new he had it in him of stays focused.

Penisini has been a revelation and solves a huge problem.

Dunster I seen as a good back up. Or an ok winger if had nobody else. Even thomI don't see rep quality now I am thinking he might perhaps be slightly better then average and a certain starter.

Then there is Ray Stone. I'll be honest I raved on about this kid and he let me down.I pretty much gave up on him and put him down as a guy who ranks 19-21 in your squad. Plays 10 games a year due to injuries with low minutes. I am not yet convinced he is a starter or a certain top 17 player but the signs now suggest he is NRL quality. And if named in the 17 would wouldn't be dissapointed.

In the last month it feels like we found 4 x new players or atleast filled 4 roles.

I'd start the year as follows

1 Guth
2 Dunster
3 Waqa
4 Penisini
5 Sivo
6 Brown
7 Moses
8 Rcg
9 Mahoney
10 Jnr
11 Papa
12 Marata
13 Matterson

14 Stone
15 N.Brown
16 Cartwright
17 Kafusi

18 Lane

That is my best 17. The middle is a little light but our 2nd rowers are like props. N.Brown and Stone would bring a nice fast defensive line.

Sivo spot will be questioned.

I'd be confident that guys like Russel, Hollis,Rodwell, Greig are potential NRL players. Arthurs if called upon will be more reliable also.

I'm a bit worried about the wingers. I hate Sivo, but he's a great finisher close to the line (better than Dunster). And without Ferguson, are we going to have much in the way of fair dinkum yardage makers on kick returns?

 

[lingard]

Maybe

1. Drown
2. Russell
3. Blake
4. Will
5. Dunster
6. Gutho
7. Moses
8. RCG
9. Mahoney
10. Paulo
11. Matterson
12 Cartwright
13. Nrown

14. Perham
15. Marata
16. Papa
17. Kafusi

18. Stone
19. Lane
20. Maka

backline has speed, use the skills of the edge players more. Bench has “power”. Perham is potentially a better /bigger version of Smith.

Sorry, but I've seen nothing that would suggest to me that Drown could be a fullback.

 

[lingard]

What?! he’s still not a play maker. His passing game is garbage and his running game is average. Barely ever breaks the line and never puts anyone into gaps.

And I reckon he's not as fast as some think either.

 

[lingard]

Id like them to get that Fabri sprint coach involved. Since we lost The AFL Guy all our running mechanics are fu*ked up.

Maybe give them all acl injuries so they come back faster and more agile?

 

[Gary Gutful]

Sorry, but I've seen nothing that would suggest to me that Drown could be a fullback.

Yep. Shit attacking 6 = Shit attacking 1.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

Sorry, but I've seen nothing that would suggest to me that Drown could be a fullback.

What would you need to see? Speed? Power? Work rate? What else?

 

[Poupou Escobar]

Yep. Shit attacking 6 = Shit attacking 1.

Except if your running game is your best trait you'll get a lot more opportunity to use it at fullback.

I reckon the main reason not to play Drown at fullback is that his defence is too good.

 

[Gary Gutful]

Except if your running game is your best trait you'll get a lot more opportunity to use it at fullback.

I reckon the main reason not to play Drown at fullback is that his defence is too good.

The running game of our current 1 and 6 is definitely not their best trait.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

Best attacking trait

But yes, one of the reasons to get Drown to fullback is so we can stop watching Gutherson fail to beat the first defender and get driven back ten metres. His defence at the back is awesome though. It's a conundrum. Hopefully next year we'll have wingers who work harder to give him someone to pass to on kick returns.

 

[Gary Gutful]

Swapping Brown and Gutho is akin to shuffling deck chairs on an old wooden ship.

 

[the phantom menace]

Is anyone old enough to remember how Jack Gibson swapped Sterlo for Taylor during parts of a game? We could maybe try the same with Brown and Gutherson at times in a game, to suit Brown's running game and Gutho's ball handling in attack - and be less predictable to opposition defensive plans.

 

[yy_cheng]

Is anyone old enough to remember how Jack Gibson swapped Sterlo for Taylor during parts of a game? We could maybe try the same with Brown and Gutherson at times in a game, to suit Brown's running game and Gutho's ball handling in attack - and be less predictable to opposition defensive plans.

Taylor was a great defender in the front line.. actually Dylan tackles like him..
There were times Taylor also played halfback in attack.

It would be interesting to do that in attack switch Brown and Gutho on occasions. But Not for defense.

BUt I think that would be too complicated for BA

 

[Poupou Escobar]

Swapping Brown and Gutho is akin to shuffling deck chairs on an old wooden ship.

I'm sure it would make our defence worse but I just want to see more tries. Defence is only, like, 10% of the game ffs

 

[hineyrulz]

Except if your running game is your best trait you'll get a lot more opportunity to use it at fullback.

I reckon the main reason not to play Drown at fullback is that his defence is too good.

If Drown isn't defending in the front line he's being wasted, he's the best defensive half in the comp.

 

[Twizzle]

And I reckon he's not as fast as some think either.

there is a post here (Eels in the Media I think) with an image of 6 NRL players and the speed they have been clocked at,

JAC is obviously the quickest, Dylbags 4th quickest in the NRL

It doesn't allege that all players have been clocked, but he is not slow and speed is why he is such a good cover defender imo