De Gois

[knights_86]

im very happy with de gois, he young enough (23) make the knights jersey his own for 5+ years, but also experienced enough to bring stability. also wouldnt have cost as much as ennis/flanagan too. hes a hardworker in defence, very quick and makes a few linebreaks, similar qualities to bedsy i think (but obviously not in his class). hes been impressive at the sharks.. glad we took him over ennis.

flanagan wouldve been good too, hes super talented but still a bit raw and he was always gonna go to canberra since hes from there. good to see the raiders signing and hanging on to some decent players finally though.

on the topic of next years squad, we should still have enough money to sign a quality outside back hopefully. i hope we are able to resign dureau too cos someone else will snap him up otherwise. i like still like the look of knights 09':

1. gids
6. mullo
7. dureau / walsh
9. de gois
13. simmo / bailey
14. hilder

 

[knights_86]

oh and forgot to mention, hes a decent build for a hooker too;

179cm and 88kgs (and will likely fill out a bit more as he gets older like bedsy and joey did)

(bedsy is 178cm and 91kgs i think)

 

[Whats Doing]

I haven';t taken any notice of De Gois but reports are good. No one is ever going to replace Bedsy as in all honesty, he is the best hooker forward we have seen. For the likes of me, I don't know why he was not the hoojer of the century.

A real positive is that Smithy is able to attract top talent to the club which is something Hages failed to do.

I also think we need to put pressure on De Gois for the hooking role and I was real impressed with that George Ngaime??? from Souths. He can play.

 

[Johns Magic]

I also think we need to put pressure on De Gois for the hooking role and I was real impressed with that George Ngaime??? from Souths. He can play.

George Ndaira

 

[K-Man]

I really think Bailey has to be turned into the long term bench utility (next year can he spend about 20 minutes at dummy half with De Gois having a rest).

Even this season, my thoughts about a 'top 17' always come back to one question: who would you want to run out on grand final day? and the answer in my opinion simply has to include the extra class and skill of Bailey.

Don't get me wrong, I'm a fan of Hilder and I really rate his work this year. But Bailey just oozes class, and I don't see him getting a permanent starting spot in the halves, centre or backrow.

As handy as Hilder is, it wouldn't take much to get Bailey up to speed at dummy half (loved seeing him jump in there in the Broncos match and immediately firing a bullet out to Paterson who went straight over for the try).

Then in the back end of each half, with some of the intensity taken out of the forward battle, he could slot into lock and jink around/ballplay in mid field.

Scoring 2 individual tries in the last 10 minutes against Roosters is enough to convince me. Not to mention the extremely crisp and deadly passing game. If he could kick like Dureau we'd have one of the best 5-8ths in the comp.

1.Kidley
6. Mullen
7. Dureau
9. De Gois
13. Simpson

14. Bailey

18. Hilder (with inevitable injuries he would still play a big part).

 

[Johns Magic]

Bailey does not have the defence for hooker.

 

[knights_86]

yeah i can see where youre coming from k-man, but im not sold on bailey as utility/hooker either. its tough to find a spot for both hilder and bails at full strength, not sure if we could have them both on the bench, i wouldnt mind seeing that to see how we'd handle it though.

alternatively, one of them could start at lock (with simo and patto in the 2nd row) and the other on the bench. anyway only time will tell. i really hope we resign bailey for a few years though.

 

[K-Man]

I think for 20 minutes a game he does have the defence. He's not a great defender I admit, but neither is every player who spends time filling that role in the NRL. He certainly has the size and mobility to do the job for a small amount of time each game, which frees up a spot in the 17 that would otherwise be taken by Hilder.

It's the only way I can see him getting game time and a chance to pop up in attack late in the match as a backrower.

 

[BG]

Bailey does not have the defence for hooker.

Agree. You picked up last yr that he can be guilty of slipping off tackles and even on Sunday I reckon he could have made a better effort to stop the Amos Roberts try. He really is dynamic in attack though. (Yes, even last season when we were getting thumped.)

 

[K-Man]

Bailey's defensive stats:

Round 5:
13 tackles, 1 missed tackle, 0 ineffective tackles, 2 one-on-one tackles
Round 6:
15 tackles, 1 missed tackle, 0 ineffective tackles, 2 one-on-one tackles

So that's 28 tackles for only 2 missed and 0 ineffective.

I'm not trying to suggest he's a strong defender, but he's not a speed hump either and he wouldn't even be one of the worst defenders out of all the players in the hooker rotation in the NRL.

Just because it's not a strong suit, doesn't make it a liability either. As far as I'm concerned, the pros outweigh the cons if it means Bailey ends up getting quality game time in the top grade.

IF another position can be found for him that works, then I'm all for that. But I don't see it happening. Dureau's organisation and kicking game is too important to go without in my opinion.

 

[Johns Magic]

Bailey's defensive stats:

Round 5:
13 tackles, 1 missed tackle, 0 ineffective tackles, 2 one-on-one tackles
Round 6:
15 tackles, 1 missed tackle, 0 ineffective tackles, 2 one-on-one tackles

So that's 28 tackles for only 2 missed and 0 ineffective.

I'm not trying to suggest he's a strong defender, but he's not a speed hump either and he wouldn't even be one of the worst defenders out of all the players in the hooker rotation in the NRL.

Just because it's not a strong suit, doesn't make it a liability either. As far as I'm concerned, the pros outweigh the cons if it means Bailey ends up getting quality game time in the top grade.

IF another position can be found for him that works, then I'm all for that. But I don't see it happening. Dureau's organisation and kicking game is too important to go without in my opinion.

Bailey's best attribute is his step, and he can't use that from hooker.

I can see where you're coming from, but I just don't think it'll work.

 

[Yosh]

I totally agree with JM, put him at centre. Can give nice early ball, has footwork and I dont have a problem with his defense either really. Not a small bloke either, drop Lulia already...

 

[BG]

I doubt it will happen, but I think that if Bailey comes into consideration for a bench spot he should possibly be in competition with Wicks not Hilder. We can probably afford to carry one low-workrate impact guy. I could imagine Smith using Bailey (in his own way) as an attacking weapon like he used Widders off the bench at Parra. With Cross back and Simmo hopefully back soon and starting at lock we have a massive starting pack, and with two bench possies to be filled from Tolar/Faaoso/Taia/Taufua/White/Sargeant, and then Hilder reliable to do lots of work and play above his weight, I'm not sure whether it matters if the final impact spot is filled by a big rampager like Wicks or a smaller skilled guy like Bailey. Just whoever proves they can come on and turn a game when we need it.

 

[keeney]

My vision of Bailey as a centre was based on this year only, if we signa quality centre, Bailey wouldn't fit in. He wouldn't be a centre in a team of specialists, nor a half, nor a lock, nor a hooker, nor a second rower. That's what counts against him so badly. He is excellent in some aspects of the game, but not suited to any position. It's been his problem for 3 years now.

 

[BG]

He wouldn't be a centre in a team of specialists, nor a half, nor a lock, nor a hooker, nor a second rower. That's what counts against him so badly. He is excellent in some aspects of the game, but not suited to any position. It's been his problem for 3 years now.

You know, this sounds somewhat similar to what was being said about Kurt Gidley prior to last year. I'm not saying Bailey's anywhere as good as Gids but I'm sure we all agree that he is plentifully talented, and maybe we need to trust Smith to find a way to best utilise Bailey's attributes as he has done with Gidley's skill set.

 

[Johns Magic]

I still think lock would suit Bailey best

 

[Magpie Nick]

Very good signing is De Gois.

Much of De Gois' ball playing ability comes from being a Lock. In Ball and Flegg he pushed Fulton into the Second Row. From what I remember, Flegg in '03 was a 12 or so week competition. Dean Collis scored something like nine tries, De Gois throwing the last pass for about six of them. So he's certainly got the attacking ability to be one of the better Hooker's in the game and I still believe he'd be a better Lock, but that won't happen.

He's probably the last bloke in the NRL I'd run at. He's always willing to be the first bloke into a tackle and I bet he puts atleast one bloke on their arse every game. The only reason he was taken off the field in Premier League for the Magpies was after being knocked out, four times I think it was before he was finally hooked. He's definitely got the motor to go for a full game.

 

[Tommax25]

I'm sorry to nitpick but does the phrase enfant terrible apply to Jason Ryles really? I didn't think that sounded right and I couldn't get it out of my head when I was reading it (I'm a grammar/ appropriate spelling junkie for some reason). I looked it up to make sure and I don't think he is perceived by dragons fans as a child who is terrifyingly candid by saying embarrassing things, or an extremely successful person who is strikingly orthodox or innovative.

 

[Johns Magic]

I'm sorry to nitpick but does the phrase enfant terrible apply to Jason Ryles really? I didn't think that sounded right and I couldn't get it out of my head when I was reading it (I'm a grammar/ appropriate spelling junkie for some reason). I looked it up to make sure and I don't think he is perceived by dragons fans as a child who is terrifyingly candid by saying embarrassing things, or an extremely successful person who is strikingly orthodox or innovative.

What the f**k...

 

[KempoKnight]

What the f**k...

seconded....