5/8 options

[age.s]

I think signing Talagi makes sense in the context of Luai leaving. I love our hard-working team but you need just a touch of unpredictability with the ball. Talagi has a bit of that flair that we'll be losing with Luai and I think the club has recognised that as valuable in the right doseage.

Imo we get him much improved in D before long. Give him a position to focus on, improve his fitness and learning from the best defensive half in the best defensive system in the game. It'll be a whole different story than Parra, where he was shuffled around positionally, worked under Barrett in a basket case of a team/club. We've seen our club turn around players with defensive issues over and over this decade, no reason to think he'll be any different. Whether that's round 1 or a bit later is the only question for me.

 

[Chins get the wins]

Laurie is a terrible 14. Ivan has no idea how to get him into a game

 

[This Year?]

Ben Hunt...please?

 

[MugaB]

If Laurie is the 14, and a Winger goes down, you shift Alamoti to Wing, Talagi/Cole to Centre, and bring Laurie on at 6.

Defeats the purpose of a no.14 shifting 3 spots, even then talagi/cole might not be the 5/8th

 

[Girds89]

All the ppl saying talagi is a terrible defender id be extremley suprised if theyve even seen all his nrl games.... let alone his junior games.

Most on here dont see any of nsw cup. Let alone flegg, ball or matts..

Not sure where this terrible defence narrative comes from. Hes numbers aremt to disimilar to tago and Alamonti tbh.

When you consider hes a rookie..in the team that almost got the spoon whose defence was absolutely horrible this year.

He avg- 80% tackle efficiency
Tago- 88
Alamonti 83.

Even without training you throw him in our great defensive team and hes numbers would improve.

Give him a full off season and learning yhe structures he will improve significantly.

Also, defending at centre is the most difficult spot on the field which is where he spemt most of this year..

Hes a big 6. Not as big as burto but i just dont see his defence being an issue next year.

 

[Chins get the wins]

All the ppl saying talagi is a terrible defender id be extremley suprised if theyve even seen all his nrl games.... let alone his junior games.

Most on here dont see any of nsw cup. Let alone flegg, ball or matts..

Not sure where this terrible defence narrative comes from. Hes numbers aremt to disimilar to tago and Alamonti tbh.

When you consider hes a rookie..in the team that almost got the spoon whose defence was absolutely horrible this year.

He avg- 80% tackle efficiency
Tago- 88
Alamonti 83.

Even without training you throw him in our great defensive team and hes numbers would improve.

Give him a full off season and learning yhe structures he will improve significantly.

Also, defending at centre is the most difficult spot on the field which is where he spemt most of this year..

Hes a big 6. Not as big as burto but i just dont see his defence being an issue next year.

Of course I want every player to earn their spot but the club haven't signed him to play anywhere but 6

 

[WestyLife]

All the ppl saying talagi is a terrible defender id be extremley suprised if theyve even seen all his nrl games.... let alone his junior games.

Most on here dont see any of nsw cup. Let alone flegg, ball or matts..

Not sure where this terrible defence narrative comes from. Hes numbers aremt to disimilar to tago and Alamonti tbh.

When you consider hes a rookie..in the team that almost got the spoon whose defence was absolutely horrible this year.

He avg- 80% tackle efficiency
Tago- 88
Alamonti 83.

Even without training you throw him in our great defensive team and hes numbers would improve.

Give him a full off season and learning yhe structures he will improve significantly.

Also, defending at centre is the most difficult spot on the field which is where he spemt most of this year..

Hes a big 6. Not as big as burto but i just dont see his defence being an issue next year.

Yeah the odds are in his favour coming across. Just gotta see it first to comment on it. Much like Alamoti looking pretty this year vs last.

 

[Kilkenny]

There are huge wraps on Talagi, I can’t really say I took much notice of him prior to his signing for us, given I never really expected him to sign for us. If the hype is correct he should be a very good signing, he is still developing, still growing so you would think we should be able to address any defensive issues he may have had. The kicking game maybe a seperate issue if we are expecting him to play in the halves.

 

[kinghippo]

Yeah the odds are in his favour coming across. Just gotta see it first to comment on it. Much like Alamoti looking pretty this year vs last.

The Alamoti can’t defend narrative was very loud when we signed him.
It feels very similar with Blaize.
He will be fine and will bring a lot of different shape to our attack.
He looks very direct and confident in breaking the line which could be just what we need to adapt a little.

 

[The yak]

Blaize is a rookie teenager who debuted in a loser team. With a bum coach. Next to unprofessional teammates around him. Who lets be honest, phoned in a lot of performances this year.

Put him in a great team, with a winning mentality, next to hard-working professional players. With a great coach and great structures. There will be immeasurable improvement

It might take a bit of time to rid the Eels stink. But I think he will be fine.

 

[WestyLife]

The Alamoti can’t defend narrative was very loud when we signed him.
It feels very similar with Blaize.
He will be fine and will bring a lot of different shape to our attack.
He looks very direct and confident in breaking the line which could be just what we need to adapt a little.

Yeah it's very comparable. Eels were so bad it's not fair to judge individual performance like that.

 

[chrisD]

Can take a bad defender at 6 (or 7) so long as he is a willing defender, and a young willing defender will improve.

 

[betcats]

Hes a big half, as long as hes getting his body in front and not making terrible reads we can fix him up in terms of technique

 

[Munky]

Luai is (was?) such a great defender due to his ability to skip across field from attacker to attacker with great acceleration.

It'll be interesting if Blaize has the same agility.

 

[Luke Bowden]

Blaize is a gun, there is no doubt in my mind he’ll be a super star.

But,

He can’t be rushed, he needs to be given the opportunity to find his feet, don’t expect great stuff from him until the back end of the season, at the very earliest.

That’s why I’d love an option to play 6 until he’s ready, without costing us wins.

 

[Chins get the wins]

Blaize is a gun, there is no doubt in my mind he’ll be a super star.

But,

He can’t be rushed, he needs to be given the opportunity to find his feet, don’t expect great stuff from him until the back end of the season, at the very earliest.

That’s why I’d love an option to play 6 until he’s ready, without costing us wins.

If Nathan is fit week 1 then Blaize has to play. Need to build the combination

 

[Luke Bowden]

If Nathan is fit week 1 then Blaize has to play. Need to build the combination

That’s fine, as long as he doesn’t get bagged for “Not showing anything” or “He’s playing like a centre”

Some of the comments about Coley were absolutely ridiculous.

 

[Chins get the wins]

That’s fine, as long as he doesn’t get bagged for “Not showing anything” or “He’s playing like a centre”

Some of the comments about Coley were absolutely ridiculous.

Cole's kicking was my issue. Showed some good ballplaying

 

[betcats]

Well at this stage we have no idea about Blaize kicking either. I think there is a good chance Cole starts the season their though dont think that garauntees he finished there. Coles the better defender and Blaize is young and we play a system that demands high fitness and solid defence. It took Garner a good 12 months to get up to speed with how we play. Blaize just coming into the system at 19/20 they might let him find his feet off the bench or in cup

 

[Fangs]

It'll be Talagi in the 6 for round one. Unless someone has an outrageous off-season.

I'm more interested to see if he can keep his spot after 5-6 rounds. We will have Vegas and then probably a host of other big games. We had a stacked draw in 2024 to start the season (Storm, Eels, Broncos, Roosters, Sea Eagles).

Talagi is going to get the bunsen burner to start the year.