Bit of inside gossip for you.

[Different kind of Rabbit]

A relation of mine has a bit to do with retention and recruitment at the Bears.

Sat down and had a chat with John Lang a couple of days ago. Reports back the following.

Lang thinks Sutton is too slow to play in the halves and is considering moving him back to lock. The two starting backrowers will probably be Dave Taylor and Mick Crocker with Burgess off the bench.

Hasn't decided who will be starting 5/8 as yet. Not the greatest of fans of Capewell in that position. Big possibility that Paea may find himself there but nothing settled right now and probably won't be until the trials.

 

[slammingsam]

Lang musnt have watched Sutton play last year..
It would be ludicrous to move him out of the halves.

He must be our number 6.

 

[Appin Rabbit]

Lang musnt have watched Sutton play last year..
It would be ludicrous to move him out of the halves.

He must be our number 6.

Sutton has to be 6 Taylor & Burgess will run off him all day and create havoc for the opposition I cannot see Lang moving a match winner for his natural position. To play Paea at 5/8 would be suicide!

 

[boo_boo]

This was always going to be a problem.
There is divided opinion on where Sutto's best position is but who at the club is a better 5/8 anyway.
It's crucial that we sort it out now as it does have the potential to ruin our season before it starts.

 

[Sonic Star]

Can't see this happening.

Sutton is our best 6

But he could be out for at most 4 rounds of the NRL season.

 

[Newcastlerabbit]

I dont like the look of this,I know Capewell has been training at 5/8.If he does go ahead and play Capewell 5/8 it could be absolute carnage for us.We will have the smallest pairing of halves in the history of the game.I too was undecided on Sutto's best postion this time last year,but at the end of 2009 I had no doubt,5/8 at the minute is his best postion.

 

[Robbie 12]

I think that sutton needs to stand up for himself and say coach last year was the best year of footy I have had and I think ...no I want to play 5/8 for the team and I know I will Play well

......any way you have your Number 7 who is fast... sutton is different he has size and strength other players can be fast ,,,,He has the size and strength to make holes and put faster man in them....I think that lang needs to be proven wrong or else the problem with the halfs will start again .....I think that sutton needs to have another blinder in the trials like last year ......

 

[Dave Q]

Very interesting development.

Moving Sutto out of the halves would be extremely brave or extremely....

 

[watatank]

Lock is Sutton's best position IMO. Problem is there's no one really ready to step up to play in the halves now Wing is gone. I have heard that your NYC halfback is quite good though and if he's ready to play first grade I think he'd be worth trying at halfback with Sandow to five eighth...

 

[BPS]

Oh great we'll have Sandow and Paea letting tries in with regular monotony. Sutton killed it at 5/8th last year and it is his best position

 

[Paul Hewson]

Sutton is a 5/8th. He is the best 5/8th in this club. He is not a lock and doesn't have the workrate of a lock. With Pettybourne, Burgess and Taylor we have enough players to run out wide. Sutton is the perfect guy to put them in the gaps.

Capewell, Paea, Mundine are not the answers for the 5/8th position. With Sandow at halfback we can't afford to have a weak defender in the 5/8th position. We have a wealth of talent in the forwards and don't need to weaken our backs for the forwards.

 

[Fein]

Sutton is a 5/8th. He is the best 5/8th in this club. He is not a lock and doesn't have the workrate of a lock. With Pettybourne, Burgess and Taylor we have enough players to run out wide. Sutton is the perfect guy to put them in the gaps.

Capewell, Paea, Mundine are not the answers for the 5/8th position. With Sandow at halfback we can't afford to have a weak defender in the 5/8th position. We have a wealth of talent in the forwards and don't need to weaken our backs for the forwards.

Absolutely spot on.

Capewell may offer some additional speed at 5/8 but it is the gap creation that Sutto does so well that we MUST exploit with these very big and fast wide runners.

I'd be playing Burgess at lock.

 

[JetRider]

What about clarke at 5/8?

 

[Sugar]

Sutton is our best player
Topped the try assist stats
Has settled in at 5/8
To move him into the pack when we are bursting with class forwards is a huge mistake
Sandow/Paea pairing would be woeful and a genuine weakness that would cost us games

I can cop Capewell to fill in but not a fulltime 5/8 at the expense of our best player.

Dave and I worked too hard with the SFB to have it taken away now after so much success

 

[Dave Q]

Sutton is our best player
Topped the try assist stats
Has settled in at 5/8
To move him into the pack when we are bursting with class forwards is a huge mistake
Sandow/Paea pairing would be woeful and a genuine weakness that would cost us games

I can cop Capewell to fill in but not a fulltime 5/8 at the expense of our best player.

Dave and I worked too hard with the SFB to have it taken away now after so much success

So true and our campaign extended to the after-match functions, emails, the whole works.

Finally they listened and we got the Sutto we deserved.

He didnt like it at first, then he came to the realisation that this was his natural calling.

If he moves back to the forwards, thats burning membership material.

 

[Appin Rabbit]

Everyone is going on with to much bullsh*t Sutton will be 5/8 unless he gets injured then someone else will step in probably Simpson.Capewell is crap so is Mundine & Paea so forget about it,it will never happen Lang is a coach not a Goose he is there to win not lose!

 

[Newcastlerabbit]

Everyone is going on with to much bullsh*t Sutton will be 5/8 unless he gets injured then someone else will step in probably Simpson.Capewell is crap so is Mundine & Paea so forget about it,it will never happen Lang is a coach not a Goose he is there to win not lose!

Appin, Sutto had a recent operation.Word is he could miss one or two (at the most) of the opening games.

 

[boo_boo]

John Lang would be a fool not to have a back-up plan for the loss of such an important position.
At this stage the cupboard is bare with even Dave Taylor's name mentioned as a possible replacement.
Funny that we had a perfect replacement but we let him go.

 

[Appin Rabbit]

Appin, Sutto had a recent operation.Word is he could miss one or two (at the most) of the opening games.

NR if so Simpson will slot in nicely he's built like a 5/8 and moves like one so would Ben Lowe he could be the surprise selection.

 

[Newcastlerabbit]

NR if so Simpson will slot in nicely he's built like a 5/8 and moves like one so would Ben Lowe he could be the surprise selection.

Yeah I could live with that,as long as Jamie never ever plays dummy half again.