Blake Austin

[Vic Mackey]

His performance with extra time and space is vital. If he can't succeed in the 9's environment in attack, then there's little chance he will with 4 more defenders to deal with.

The 9's can show you plenty about the attacking prowess of players, especially backs.
.

I disagree with this.

Look at the 7s in 2004. Fitzhenry was our best player by a mile, then look at what attacking prowess the spastic had in the 13 man game.

The regular season will be much more structured and will suit Austin. Some halves play well in structured footy, some play better off the cusp. Even DCE was quiet poor, but come round 1 in Manly's structure he will dominate.

Austin was extremely poor, however he was the only half in our team. The teams that did well all had 2 genuine halves. We were directionless and unstructured, playing no centers was a huge fail. Picking Moses and having him parked on the wing, seriously WTF?

The worst part about Austin (and the team in general) was the defence. I don't care if there's more space, when you have a one on one shot with someone you don't get brushed off as easily as he (and they) did.

 

[madunit]

And Lui ended up being a big part of 2 straight finals appearances. All the while you kept focusing on how "rubbish" he was.

To say that Fulton is a better option in the halves than Austin just makes you look like an absolute goose.

If we were picking the first team based on form in the 9's Farah wouldn't be anywhere near the starting line up.

Lui took 20 odd games to start being useful, a fact which you have intentionally ignored. It was abundantly clear to all that Lui was very poor in his first 20 games, rarely showing anything of quality, but he did improve. I've said it many times.

Fulton can tackle, catch and pass. Three things Austin has struggled with this weekend.

The thread is about Austin, not Farah. I have said in another thread that Farah has been quiet.

You call me a fool for comparing Fulton and Austin and then you go and compare the value to our club of Farah and Austin.

:crazy:

 

[Tiger05]

If we were picking the first team based on form in the 9's Farah wouldn't be anywhere near the starting line up.

This is true but Robbie is also a concern. Is he going to be a gun player or a dud? He can be both. He is a lot like Benji - fantastic on his day but less than ordinary when he is off his game.

I have said in another thread that Farah has been quiet.

Lets be honest. He looked terrible which is exactly the way he has in several games over the last couple of seasons, He could be the best no 9 in the game but at times he is also close to the worst.

As for this thread Moses looks good. Moltzen may also slot into the 6 role with no issues and its way too early to write off Austin. Anasta may also slot in and do the job until we have another option.

I would play Moses there based on current form without a doubt.

 

[chrisD]

Farah suffocated everything.

 

[TiggaPlease]

Lui took 20 odd games to start being useful, a fact which you have intentionally ignored. It was abundantly clear to all that Lui was very poor in his first 20 games, rarely showing anything of quality, but he did improve. I've said it many times.

Fulton can tackle, catch and pass. Three things Austin has struggled with this weekend.

The thread is about Austin, not Farah. I have said in another thread that Farah has been quiet.

You call me a fool for comparing Fulton and Austin and then you go and compare the value to our club of Farah and Austin.

:crazy:

I'm comparing Farah to Austin because they were there playing next to each other, in PLAYMAKING positions, and if anything Farah looked worse. Austin definitely looked more dangerous ball in hand than Farah did.

Fulton might be able to tackle, catch and pass, but playmaker he aint.

 

[madunit]

And neither was Austin.

Everytime he drifted sideways he'd go too far and the backs would have to stop, thus killing any momentum or any chance the backs had to score.

It was Benji 2013 all over again.

 

[bellyache]

Watching this bloke at the 9's, he is deadset f**king awful. As I type this he drops a sitter of a catch. He is a f**king dud.

They call him a half, but he couldn't organise a root in a brothel. If they call him a rangy lock well look at the bloke, he falls off every tackle he attempts to make. If he is in the first-grade team this year we are in for it.

Absolute dud. Sickening to think other teams make good buys but we get a reject.

Kreary is souffs version...

 

[TiggaPlease]

Fair enough MU. I'd just rather us give potential a go than have Anasta or a backrower in the 6 all year. I think it's too early to write Austin off. If he comes good this season then we're laughing, and it's no big loss if he doesn't because Moses should be close to ready in 2015.

 

[gronkathon]

And neither was Austin.

Everytime he drifted sideways he'd go too far and the backs would have to stop, thus killing any momentum or any chance the backs had to score.

It was Benji 2013 all over again.

He is a running 5/8 with a good kicking game. Not an organiser.

That is my read anyway

 

[innsaneink]

And neither was Austin.

Everytime he drifted sideways he'd go too far and the backs would have to stop, thus killing any momentum or any chance the backs had to score.

It was Benji 2013 all over again.

Because....yet again...we had no one going forward.

 

[madunit]

Fair enough MU. I'd just rather us give potential a go than have Anasta or a backrower in the 6 all year. I think it's too early to write Austin off. If he comes good this season then we're laughing, and it's no big loss if he doesn't because Moses should be close to ready in 2015.

I do not want Anasta in the first grade team at any point in time this year.

I was hoping to see someone who could do what Anasta does, but take on the line once or twice.

Austin hasn't filled me with hope. And now I'm worried. I'm hoping it is a case of him trying to be a #7 when he's a natural #6, but even his decisions in attack were poor and his defence is a massive concern for mine.

 

[madunit]

Because....yet again...we had no one going forward.

I thought it was an issue with ball control and giving away dumb penalties and back to back penalties more than go forward.

We cannot continue to put our defence under pressure with dopey penalties. Our defence cannot deal with that shit.

 

[innsaneink]

We concede dopey penalties because we cannot compete defensively, we resort to spoiling slowing down tactics...this gives the opposition more possesion, and us more defense to deal with, thus more fatigue, which leads to more errors when we do get the pill on the rare occasion...

 

[magpie4ever]

Just don't judge Austin or any other player from the form shown in a "mickey mouse" tournament like the 9's.

Lets hope Potter makes decisions based on the form shown in the actual trials.

 

[madunit]

I don't get how people can just write off everything they see in tge nines. They were still playing Rugby League.

 

[Front-Rower]

I don't get how people can just write off everything they see in tge nines. They were still playing Rugby League.

Sorry, I disagree.

If you pick a test specialist in T20 and they fail because they take a swipe at a ball they would normally leave can you say they were still only just playing cricket?

What it does highlight though in this case is his one on one defence needs to be worked on.

 

[DanOz]

Sorry, I disagree.

If you pick a test specialist in T20 and they fail because they take a swipe at a ball they would normally leave can you say they were still only just playing cricket?

What it does highlight though in this case is his one on one defence needs to be worked on.

Even his one on one defence wont be half as much an issue when he plays 13 a side and is assigned a good defender to back him up. Plenty of halves have bad one on one defence.

 

[The Rosco]

I was one of those who talked up our team after the Camden trial.
Make no mistake, Austin was playing superbly that day. Our defence was also on song.
We defended against Penrith with a resolve of keeping them from bending our line. . . . and achieved it, too !!!. We were offloading . . . Paterson and Gavet were carving them up . . . and we were crunching them in defence.

And then there was Sunday's 9s game . . . . . . :roll:
If we won the bloody tourny, our detractors would say that it's only a 9s tournament.
We played like crap, and it's still only a 9s tournament.

Our first 13v13 trial had positive things bulging out of every orifice.
Let's see how we play out the real game . . .

 

[madunit]

Sorry, I disagree.

If you pick a test specialist in T20 and they fail because they take a swipe at a ball they would normally leave can you say they were still only just playing cricket?

What it does highlight though in this case is his one on one defence needs to be worked on.

that's an abysmal comparison

 

[Front-Rower]

that's an abysmal comparison

Why? Because you say so?

The nines was all about forcing your hand and playing what was in front you. No time to set up for structures and gaining repeat sets from line drop outs.

Kinda sounds like T20 cricket to me....