Ash Taylor

[Warabrook saint]

What's wrong with that? It's important to look stylish just in case you make a line break.

Hahaha, that's if he's got time to make a break, or a tackle ,or back up, or chase a kick, or dive on a loose ball.....he's got his hands full already

 

[Warabrook saint]

I’m sure there is but what about when he went missing last year

Family issues

 

[Warabrook saint]

Without going into too much detail...there are things happening behind the scenes....Hunt has had family issues the last few weeks....there is more to this....

The good ol family issues when a player wants out of the cesspool

 

[Coffs dragon]

Not interested in anymore over priced & over rated players from QLD. If they were any good then their clubs would have kept them. Until we get a real coach then it's a pointless exercise. Hunt & Norman are well on the downward spiral under McAnchor and the damage repair will be extensive.

 

[Forbes Creek Dragons]

Not interested in anymore over priced & over rated players from QLD. If they were any good then their clubs would have kept them. Until we get a real coach then it's a pointless exercise. Hunt & Norman are well on the downward spiral under McAnchor and the damage repair will be extensive.

Norman looks ok to me, I wouldn’t say you can be on a downward spiral from perennial wooden spooners Parra. He’s just moved from one shit team to a worse one.

 

[Coffs dragon]

Norman looks ok to me, I wouldn’t say you can be on a downward spiral from perennial wooden spooners Parra. He’s just moved from one shit team to a worse one.

Sorry I disagree, I feel Norman is completely overrated and a poor recruitment decision. Just my opinion in that consecutive years his teams have come 16th & 15th and he was extremely lucky to have played origin caused by injuries.

 

[getsmarty]

The good ol family issues when a player wants out of the cesspool

that's a pretty poor comment...Talk about kicking a guy when he's down. We wait for decades for a proper 7 anyway..not in the mood to argue.

 

[Forbes Creek Dragons]

Sorry I disagree, I feel Norman is completely overrated and a poor recruitment decision. Just my opinion in that consecutive years his teams have come 16th & 15th and he was extremely lucky to have played origin caused by injuries.

I don’t mean he’s a gun I probably worded it badly I just mean I don’t think he’s gone backwards just stayed consistently inconsistent. He’s had some good games though and does have an excellent passing game. His all round game is nowhere near Widdop but I love his early ball to the centres he was doing pre injury.

 

[slippery5]

How do you work that out from my post about Hunt?
In fairness I said early on that IMO Frizz didn't deserve to be in SOO on this years performance and I still stick by that.
His form has gone down hill from his previous very high standards and much of that may be due to fatigue, injury, coach, disheartened for a number of years etc etc but Frizz has hits some heights on a constant basis in recent years and has always played with determination, heart, and busted his arse despite losing.
IMO Hunt has not hit many heights in his entire career and those that he did hit were not sustained and IMO at times he chucks the towel in and doesn't bust his arse like Frizz.
So your interpretation of my logic is flawed IMO but that is only my opinion of course.

Yes, Frizz has gone down hill because the coach is a DUD & it has a domino effect.
If Hunt was mentored under Bellamy I'll bet your bottom dollar he wouldn't be a dud.

 

[Forbes Creek Dragons]

Yes, Frizz has gone down hill because the coach is a DUD & it has a domino effect.
If Hunt was mentored under Bellamy I'll bet your bottom dollar he wouldn't be a dud.

The Friz situation is a difficult one. He’s been used at lock because we have a fair few second rowers but very few good locks, and it could be argued that he is our best available lock. Issue is that he may be our best lock but lock is far from his best position, and playing him there limits the impact of one of main attacking weapons at the same time as burning the bloke out. They should have just thrown Korbin in there or Graham and Lawrie rotation just as a stop gap as tackling machines so Hunt And Friz can get a combo going over that side.

 

[Frank Facer]

Sorry I disagree, I feel Norman is completely overrated and a poor recruitment decision. Just my opinion in that consecutive years his teams have come 16th & 15th and he was extremely lucky to have played origin caused by injuries.

Our team has been a complete wreak this year. I also don't think Mary knows how to play Norman and Hunt correctly. It is difficult to think of any Saints players who have looked good this year. Lucky has shown a lot of promise this year.

 

[Frank Facer]

I will also add that I was never a fan of Norman until I saw him play halfback for Parra. He was one of the form players in the comp when he was playing halfback for Parra with Gutherson at 5/8. Norman was controlling the game beautifully. He was playing so well that he was being touted as Qld's next halfback. Then Parra signed Moses and played him halfback, with Moses taking on the dominate playmaker role. I hear there were issues between Noman and Moses, they both wanted to be the dominate playermaker and one had to go.

 

[Old Timer]

Yes, Frizz has gone down hill because the coach is a DUD & it has a domino effect.
If Hunt was mentored under Bellamy I'll bet your bottom dollar he wouldn't be a dud.

C’mon Slippery you have to bet your own bottom dollar not mine.
I actually think Hunt isn’t in Melbourne’s roster for a very good reason.
Hunt at his best is very good but he is way to inconsistent for my money.
The signs were evident prior to him leaving the Broncos and is probably the very reason he was let go.
Signs were strong that our coach was a dud long before Hunt came.
IMO signs were also strong Hunt had some deficiencies before he left the Broncos and it was patently obvious those deficiencies would never improve in our system.
Blame the coach all you like but in fairness to him Hunt was not the complete package when he arrived he was just a substantially better package then what we had endured after Hornby retired.

 

[Forbes Creek Dragons]

I will also add that I was never a fan of Norman until I saw him play halfback for Parra. He was one of the form players in the comp when he was playing halfback for Parra with Gutherson at 5/8. Norman was controlling the game beautifully. He was playing so well that he was being touted as Qld's next halfback. Then Parra signed Moses and played him halfback, with Moses taking on the dominate playmaker role. I hear there were issues between Noman and Moses, they both wanted to be the dominate playermaker and one had to go.

I have heard on a few NRL programs on Fox this same issue discussed in that Norman is a dominant playmaker and never really gelled with Moses. Hunt is not though, so I think they can work well together maybe he would be better at 6 but these days it doesn’t really matter the number so long as one is the dominant one and one is more opportunistic I guess. Hunt is sort of good at 7 though because he has a sharp step and good speed off the mark so with the slightly less time he has there he can just distribute most times but now and again can dummy and go which he does quite well.

 

[slippery5]

C’mon Slippery you have to bet your own bottom dollar not mine.
I actually think Hunt isn’t in Melbourne’s roster for a very good reason.
Hunt at his best is very good but he is way to inconsistent for my money.
The signs were evident prior to him leaving the Broncos and is probably the very reason he was let go.
Signs were strong that our coach was a dud long before Hunt came.
IMO signs were also strong Hunt had some deficiencies before he left the Broncos and it was patently obvious those deficiencies would never improve in our system.
Blame the coach all you like but in fairness to him Hunt was not the complete package when he arrived he was just a substantially better package then what we had endured after Hornby retired.

Let's hope all is forgotten next year. (under a new coach).

 

[Warabrook saint]

that's a pretty poor comment...Talk about kicking a guy when he's down. We wait for decades for a proper 7 anyway..not in the mood to argue.

I'm not having a go at him, he didn't know he was coming to a cesspool when mary greeted him on the jetski and he signed

 

[Jersey No 14]

Hell no

 

[possm]

If we had Norman and Sailor as our halves, who would you rather we keep to play hooker, disregarding salary, Hunt or McInness?

I would keep Hunt. I think he adds more variety, flair and attack from dummy half. He also provides a kicking game from dummy half. When the play the ball is near the sideline he can also be a link man in attack or be an extra running half. (He did that for Qld this year).

I think Norman would thrive taking on the dominate playmaker role and steering the team around the paddock, I would even consider making him captain. Hunt would give us X factor at dummy half, maybe similar to Cook for Souths and Sailor would give us X factor in the halves. Maybe Hunt would become more consistent at hooker? I see a lot of attack in that 6,7 and 9. Playing behind a dominate pack, they could really excel. We would then need a top line fullback to top the spine off, Valentine Holmes is the one I would have in mind. Hopefully we can get Flanno and Holmes and then if young Flanno lives up to wraps, we can get him to replace Norman is 2 or 3 years time. Imagine a spine of

1 Holmes
6 Sailor
7 Norman
9 Hunt.

That could be a premiership winning spine. There is certainly a lot of attack there. Lomax and Scott as centres sounds good to me too. Then we would a pair of up and coming wingers on low money,(they can be up and coming centres or fullbacks starting their careers on the wings too) someone such as Billy Smith would be an example, but it sounds as if he rejected us. Simonsson from Canberra is another example of a cheap young up and coming winger we could target? (he has Rapana and Cotric ahead him) I wouldn't be looking at spending big money on wingers. Maybe the Matt or Max Feagai or Ramsey could step up and be those wingers in the next 2 or 3 years?

I think McInnes would perform even better under a good coach and with an actual game plan. Letting Hunt go back to QLD would give us much needed cap to sign a good fullback. We could never get say Holmes, Scott and a good replacement for JDB with Hunt taking up approx. 1m in cap.

Saab, Ravalawa, Pereira are all good backup wingers - maybe we only need two of the four.

Aitken, Lafai and Maranta should be let go. Lomax and Scott are good centres and maybe a couple of youngsters who on the verge of first grade would be handy as well.

In the halves we have Norman and Sailor with Ash Taylor being a good buy right now.

I'd like to see either RCG/Fifita/Arrow be added to the forwards. Latimore, Allgood, and possibly a couple of reserve grade forwards should be let go. Rumours have it that Timm will be moving on. So a 17 that looks like this:

Coach
Brown, Griffin, Toovey or Flannigan

Backline
1. Holmes/Ponga
2. Saab
3. Lomax
4. Scott
5. Pereira/Pearson/Ravalawa
6. Sailor/Norman
7. Taylor/Norman

Forwards
8. RCG/Fifita/Arrow
9. McInnes
10. Vaughan
11. T Sims
12. Ford
13. Frizell

Bench
14. Leilua
15. Kerr
16. K Sims
17. Lawrie

Yes 4 Forwards on the bench

Graham to retire