Cowboys trial

[jenninga]

i will agree with the above *IF* Price persists with moving Merrin into the backrow/lock and playing longer minutes. but we wont struggle as you say... just lose some impact
Merrin is a key cog in the prop rotation and gives us the impact we need, if he is taken out of the rotation then i agree we lose a lot of the impact we expect from the front row, but still got some depth there.

please Mr Price DO NOT play merrin at lock with longer minutes...

This is funny,like Price reads what is on the forum.Don't think he does otherwise he would have necked himself already.
I agree with you that Merrin should be coming on giving us impact,i don't mind him playing a little longer if he could though.Also remember Hunt almost playing an entire game last year which is pleasing .

 

[Breathingfire]

Well I don't think we need to worry about having ordinary halves because when we get dominated around the ruck week in week out its not going to matter who is wearing the 6 and 7.

I know a number of you will disagree but I actually think we are in strife all across the park.

Beale (Will go OK but not up to the standard of the current top crop of fullbacks).
Morris
Vidot/Stanley (Vidot untried/Stanley too slow)
Cooper (Old and slow)
Nightingale
Soward (One dimentional and useless at times)
Fien (Old and useless)
Hunt (Average)
Rein
Weyman (Slowed down by injury)
Frizell (Unknown entity)
Creagh
Merrin

Prior (shit)
King (Unkown entity)
De Belin
Harrison (Slowed down by injury)

This is not a squad that is going to trouble too many this year. Apart from Moz, Nighty, Creagh and Merrin, the rest are either average, out of date or rookies that could be anything or nothing. We need an overhaul of the playing roster IMO. Keep the rookies but its time for Cooper and Fien to retire and cut Prior, Stanley and Hunt from the club. Beale is an average first grade winger and I will be surprised if he develops into much more.

 

[Godz Illa]

Jesus. Within 6 days we've gone from what was a fairly positive first hit out to the deepest pits of doom. I'm not enthusiastic about our chances this year either, but ffs

 

[Mr Red]

right centre and halves big concerns , and well documented by most on this forum
a BIG question mark over Beale... i havent seen anything from him in 2 seasons that gives me any confidence he is up to the job.
i think the forward pack is not spectacular but will do the job.

insert a quality half and right centre, and all of a sudden a team that looks like finishing 9th or 10th on paper could easliy be a top 4 contender.
thats how close the premiership could be this year, and hence how dissapointed i am with the overall recruitment.. we are only 1 or 2 players from being a force..so close...

 

[Old_Timer]

The first two quarters of tonights match will give us some guidance as to where we are at for the coming season. For mine, with the exception of Merrin, our forwards are a real concern. The old adage that forwards with games has never been truer. Still maybe we might see some spark tonight. Some glimpse of hope that we will not be absolutely smashed by the Storm in round one.

 

[Old_Timer]

Jesus. Within 6 days we've gone from what was a fairly positive first hit out to the deepest pits of doom. I'm not enthusiastic about our chances this year either, but ffs

Fair comment Godz Illa, glad you are feeling positive. Several of us (particularly me) need a good pick me up.

You are the peachier and we are the congregation, go ahead and tell us why we are going to be saved? I am ready to believe, honest.

 

[Elias1983]

right centre and halves big concerns , and well documented by most on this forum
a BIG question mark over Beale... i havent seen anything from him in 2 seasons that gives me any confidence he is up to the job.
i think the forward pack is not spectacular but will do the job.

insert a quality half and right centre, and all of a sudden a team that looks like finishing 9th or 10th on paper could easliy be a top 4 contender.
thats how close the premiership could be this year, and hence how dissapointed i am with the overall recruitment.. we are only 1 or 2 players from being a force..so close...

Insert a quality player or if every current player plays 15-20% better than last year and I think we can challenge for top 4.

Apart from Merrin, Rein and Morris, no-one can honestly say they played to their full potential last year. Even Nighty had a below par year, I know he was moved around but so was Morris.

Our forwards held their own last year and I expect nothing less this year (more if Weyman stays fit).

 

[Johnny-b-Goode]

For mine.... It all depends on the unknown factor ! While i don't agree with his full assessment Breathing fire made it clear that the positions that most of us worry about are in the "unknown factor" pile...

Right centre, I believe that we have depth here and any player that gets a chance will need to take it, hence I think it will not be a weak point for us!

Half, I believe that drinkwater will be given a chance sooner rather than later and will perform!

 

[Minh]

The Storm and to an extent Manly have proven that you only need your front rowers to do a job for you. Rolling over teams and completely dominating is nice of course... but getting quick play the balls and winning the wrestle is just as effective. Best example is the 2010 GF, after Weyman got injured Saffy was the only real prop.

The props are not our greatest concern by any stretch. It's the halves.

Good point. Although I think last year revealed a couple of big boppers in Tamou and Kasiano being quite dominant especially Tamou. So long as you don't get dominated you're still gonna be ok not being a massive pack. Guys like Sam Burgess, T Rex, Tamou and even Taylor on a good day can be a real handful. You can definately see in Des Hasler that he believes in having a big massive pack.

 

[Minh]

anyone who says Hunt is too small is just plain crazy..
IMO the best prop in the game at the moment is Matt Scott.

Matt Scott - Height 185cm, Weight 106kg
Dan Hunt - Height 188cm, Weight 106kg

so i dont get this "he's too small" rubbish...

its all about;
a) Hunt often runs from a standing start, Scott hits the ball at pace
b) Hunt's running style is not effective, often too upright making him an easy target, Scott has a better running style making him a harder target to stop

its not Hunt's physical attributes holding him back its simply he's not a good footballer..

Maybe it's just a perception that he is small because against the bigger packs he can get dominated and smashed sometimes.

 

[redbreed]

I have to agree with Old_Timer. I think our front row is going to struggle this year. I am not too sure why people get overly excited about it to be honest. Hunt is very small for a front rower and although he works very hard he does not steamroll opposition defences. Weyman is coming back from major surgery and will be a yard slower. Prior is Prior. Merrin is really the only enforcer up the middle and he can't do it all on his own.

I've mentioned this on previous posts. This needs to be addressed sooner rather then later. Doesn't matter who plays in the halves if we don't get a roll on with a good front row even Jesus couldn't work any miracles.

In our long history we always had great forwards, I can't recall us being this light on in years. Most of the reasons halves find themselves in top form is due to the forward pack. Look at the teams ahead of us, and look how the tigers went last year with there forward pack.

 

[64 Dragon]

Someone else's opinion.

http://au.sports.yahoo.com/league/news/article/-/16209084/nrl-season-preview-13th-place/

 

[West coast dragon]

Someone else's opinion.

http://au.sports.yahoo.com/league/news/article/-/16209084/nrl-season-preview-13th-place/

Pfft!!!!!! Like I said in a previous post,if Beale Harrison and vidot can click and price backs drinkwater instead of fein we have enough talent across the park to make the eight,we missed by a game last year and our list is better this year IMO!!! Go the dragons!!!!!!!

 

[Dezziedc]

I don't know, I just finished watching the first trial against the cowboys and I thought there were some promising signs there. There was some good ball movement and attack there that showed potential - especially good that Soward was running a little more. There was still the telegraphed sweep that everybody expects to come, but it wasn't as prominent as usual. Must admit though, the forwards looked small compared to the cowboys - they just didn't have the punch that you need to get things rolling - maybe it was just the trial mentality. On the up side, some of those young players were showing some serious potential for future years - or even maybe this year.

Tonight should give us a better indication I would think.

 

[tumbidragon]

I don't know, I just finished watching the first trial against the cowboys and I thought there were some promising signs there. There was some good ball movement and attack there that showed potential - especially good that Soward was running a little more. There was still the telegraphed sweep that everybody expects to come, but it wasn't as prominent as usual. Must admit though, the forwards looked small compared to the cowboys - they just didn't have the punch that you need to get things rolling - maybe it was just the trial mentality. On the up side, some of those young players were showing some serious potential for future years - or even maybe this year.

Tonight should give us a better indication I would think.

I hope not.:lol:

 

[64 Dragon]

Bunnies 28 - Dragons 10

Injuries to King, Rein, Nighty and Coops. Not good.

 

[Mr Red]

Maybe it's just a perception that he is small because against the bigger packs he can get dominated and smashed sometimes.

agree he does get dominated, but this is due to the lack of intensity and aggression he plays with. kinda the same problems is see with Prior. they simply dont use their size effectively and play with little intensity..
the general lack of intensity is across the park... sluggish displays from a lot of players, we have picked up where we left last season... off the pace