Forward pack

[Dragsters]

I think everyone missed the point of my initial post which is that a forward pack with 4 Origin players in it should not be in wooden spoon contention. Or that McGregor is a shit coach.

 

[redandwhite4evr]

You make some interesting comparisons.
IMO Lui is playing phenomenal football for the Raiders and makes the Raiders' prop rotation very potent.
Whatever Stuart is doing, he is getting the best out of him for sure.
I can't agree that Vaughn and Papalii are on the same level. Papali is probably the best prop in the world now and his transition from back row to prop has been seamless.
Hodgson is a class above McInnes for lots of reasons and Soliola is a much more damaging runner than Graham.
Bateman/Frizz - hmmmm - On this years form, Bateman is streets ahead.
Their whole pack has a level of mongrel that we just don't have.
I think our pack peaked two years ago and has been poorly coached together with our bench rotation.[/QUOT

On the subject of Bateman, if the press rumours are true and he is unhappy with his K$400 deal at Canberra, I'd have no problem if SG made him an offer and I nudged that to 1/2 a million- he's that good. He'd be a huge help with getting our leaky defence sorted out and can pinch hit in the centres.

 

[Dragonslayer]

Our forward pack. Difficult one this one.

IMO, its hard to judge what our forward pack is and what it could be. The cold truth is however, that whilst:

A. our game plan is the "power" play and our forwards used as battering rams,
B. players are playing whilst injured
C. players are not encouraged to pass the ball
D. playing journeymen forwards just because they have had some NRL experience, and
E. not playing young and promising forwards to get experience (see point D)

Our forwards will always start to weaken and hit the wall around, or just after, SOO time.
Sims playing injured,
Friz used as a battering ram,
Playing Lats consistently, even when he had more tape on than an Egyptian Mummy, followed soon after by Kaufusi, whilst youngsters, such as Timm and to a lesser extent Kerr, wallow in CC.
Starting Graham is also a major error as far as I'm concerned.

In saying that, we arguably have one of the best edge forwards going around. Vaughan, is now a consistent rep player. McInnes, defensively one of the best hookers around. Young Lawrie needs more education to run straight rather than running to the right on each carry. K. Sims has been disappointing tbh, hopefully itb was his broken arm which set him back. Leilua, once moved to the middle was showing lots of promise as an attacking forward, in the Papalii mold.

Yes, we have the makings of a great forward pack, alas we are poorly coached and game managed to utilize them correctly. Maybe, a change in assistant coach may help, maybe!!!

 

[BLM01]

F. for fail. Mcfailgor plays people out of position on field

 

[2010]

Sad to say this but Graham should retire now. Mary has not used him correctly. Watching him come off at half time he is busted. I don’t think we can play him off the bench as that stops our young forwards getting time on the field.
But Graham has a big heart and gives it his all but Father Time is taping him on the shoulder

 

[Frank Facer]

Our pack on paper is one of the best in the comp, and potentially even better than the Roosters. This year Tariq and Friz played busted all year, and Jack was out. Next season the two mentioned should be back at 100% and we have unearthed Ford, plus Lawrie is rock solid and Leilua is getting better each week. JDB is probably a 50/50 chance to come back. If he’s back our forwards could look like this. 8.Lawrie 9. McInnes 10. Vaughan 11.Friz 12.Sims 13. JDB 14.Ford 15.Graham 16.Sims 17.Leilua
I would play Vaughan and Lawrie for the master and apprentice setup. Same with Graham and K.Sims so Graham can rip into Sims if he stuffs up. Ford can be a utility and replace the second rowers on occasion and Leilua can fill in at lock once the opposition runs out of steam. Its a pack that could win a comp.

I don't think Larwie is good enough and I think Graham is past his used by date. I think Leilua should be starting at prop with Vaughan. We missed JDB to the max this year. I too think that Friz and Tariq were both playing injured this year.

 

[Dragon Revival]

I believe that our forwards have been pulling their weight. However the belief by the coach that Latimore, Allgood and Kafusi are NRL standard is a joke especially given that they are also injury prone. Our forwards are also poorly rotated. Our backline is the worst ever and can not attack or defend. We have lost 7 representative players being Wendell Sailor, Gasnier, Ben Hornby, Cooper, Brett Morris, Nightingale and MacDonald and our best hopes are Lomax and Saab both local juniors so we are down a fullback, centre and winger and wonder why we cannot score points or defend. What a shambles?

 

[BLM01]

I believe that our forwards have been pulling their weight. However the belief by the coach that Latimore, Allgood and Kafusi are NRL standard is a joke especially given that they are also injury prone. Our forwards are also poorly rotated. Our backline is the worst ever and can not attack or defend. We have lost 7 representative players being Wendell Sailor, Gasnier, Ben Hornby, Cooper, Brett Morris, Nightingale and MacDonald and our best hopes are Lomax and Saab both local juniors so we are down a fullback, centre and winger and wonder why we cannot score points or defend. What a shambles?

Mcdonald?..in the same league as those names. Cmon. Id rather Lomax & Saab

 

[jak]

Mcdonald?..in the same league as those names. Cmon. Id rather Lomax & Saab

as far as Mcdonald goes all I think he needs is a strong SMART coach

 

[qld redvee]

scary thing is all the potential forwards leaving some should be keepers and we lose some experience and probably replace with untried rejects or old plodders
currently - Latimore + Robson gone Timm + Kerr possible Host + Lucky told okay to go or being shopped around JDB - huge question mark over him ALLgood should go and kaufusi off contract
so thats potentially 9 out of current top 30 that coach doesnt think are worthy.. How many can we really afford to discard ( keep kerr host lucky jdb try to talk timm into staying ) and then only latimore allgood kaufusi and robson which allows youth to be given a go.. all reliant on new game plan strategies from Flanno and gang..
Eddie Blacker could go to CC with an eye to putting pressure on the top 17
main thing we need to move from our sh*t one out ineffective settlers and utilise a passing game and have Frizz hitting holes wide like simms does and get vaughan to slip some offloads god how good would it be to throw dragons footy out the window !!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[BLM01]

as far as Mcdonald goes all I think he needs is a strong SMART coach

I think being a bit smarter woiuld help himself too

 

[getsmarty]

I think being a bit smarter woiuld help himself too

Correct. Could be his last chance.

 

[Wittenberg]

Good assessment.
Far too many supporters lulled into believing our pack is almost invincible.
A few years ago we were dominant for most of the season but that game plan was worked out by others and we never evolved past that point.
Our lack of speed, offloads and back up is alarming.
Graham is yesterdays man and I believe if he goes around again people will be very disappointed in his results as it is clearly evident that he is being dominated by bigger, faster, stronger players and in the end passion alone will not be enough to carry his old legs.
Our pack is reliable and serviceable but IMO comes up a bit short and will never achieve great heights especially under this coach.

Good call OT. You hit it on the head regarding Graham. We admire his passion but he is getting to the point where he has little else to offer. While he has much to offer our club, most of that is off the field not on it.