Friend V Verrills

[Bgoodorgoodatit]

Who are we better off with coming into the finals run?

Have been watching Verrills closely and his service appears to be light years ahead of Jakes in both speed and quality.

Throws nice spirals left and right and doesn't throw the inevitable brain dead forward passes that Jake seems to get pulled up on multiple times each game.

Defensively Jake would be ahead but not by much.

Kicking Jake takes a few more but can be rocks and diamonds, cant recall Verrills taking any. However when we have Cronk and Keary do we really want Jake inserting himself as the preferred option?

Tough choice given Jake is co captain but i would be leaning towards young Sam.

Thoughts?

 

[adamkungl]

I don't think we can leave Jake out but Verrills has been excellent. Would like to see him coming off the bench for 10-15 mins either side of half time

 

[Captain Apollo]

Jake is one of the team's captains. As such I dare Trent Robinson values him and will use him as first option. However due to his time out and lack of match fitness, I can see Verrills being on the bench as I somehow doubt Jake will be able to last the full 80 minutes.

 

[Babyface O'reilly]

We’ll need Jake’s experience and as the Captain mentioned, he won’t have match fitness so we’ll see both playing at various times

 

[Headless Chook]

Not fussed either way, but if Jake plays Verrills is an absolute must for the bench. Radley has found a permanent home at lock now and it’d be silly if we used him as the 9 when Jake has a spell.

Looks like we’ve got a good one in Sam.

 

[Tommy Smith]

If Verrills is on the bench then who gets left out, Tetevano or Butcher?

I can't imagine either being left out of our top 17.

 

[Headless Chook]

If Verrills is on the bench then who gets left out, Tetevano or Butcher?

I can't imagine either being left out of our top 17.

Friend’s luck surely has to change, he can’t get injured again, can he? Rethinking this, yeah I can’t see us going with an extra no9. It’s either Friend or Verrills.

 

[Captain Apollo]

If Verrills is on the bench then who gets left out, Tetevano or Butcher?

I can't imagine either being left out of our top 17.

I'd suggest our bench will look something like this in the coming weeks (injuries permitting):

14. Nat Butcher
15. Siosiua Taukeiaho or Isaac Lui (depending on which one starts in the front row with Jarred)
16. Zane Tetevano
17. Sam Verrills.

I doubt either Tetevano nor Butcher will be left out of the 17 somehow. Tetevano is at worst our 4th choice prop forward behind JWH, SST and Lui, and Tetevano can cover second row also. Lui can cover lock as well as play prop. I mean you could at a pinch play Verills at hooker and move Jake to lock if injury occurs.

No offence to any of them but I don't see Collins, Tupounia nor Faamausili displacing the above mentioned 4.

 

[Tommy Smith]

I'd suggest our bench will look something like this in the coming weeks (injuries permitting):

14. Nat Butcher
15. Siosiua Taukeiaho or Isaac Lui (depending on which one starts in the front row with Jarred)
16. Zane Tetevano
17. Sam Verrills.

I doubt either Tetevano nor Butcher will be left out of the 17 somehow. Tetevano is at worst our 4th choice prop forward behind JWH, SST and Lui, and Tetevano can cover second row also. Lui can cover lock as well as play prop. I mean you could at a pinch play Verills at hooker and move Jake to lock if injury occurs.

No offence to any of them but I don't see Collins, Tupounia nor Faamausili displacing the above mentioned 4.

But then you've got Crichton/Aubusson.

We really do have tremendous depth and you can see it's been Robbo's plan to ensure we have 21 or so players ready to rock and roll at any moment.

If Friend plays week 1 of finals we'd have...

8. JWH
9. Friend
10. SST
11. Cordner
12. Aubusson
13. Radley

14. Liu
15 Crichton
16. Butcher
17. Tetevano

18. Verrills
19. Tupouniua
20. Collins
21. Farmer

22. Hall
23. Ikuvalu
24. Smith

All bases are covered and I feel as though only season ending injuries to Teddy, Keary, Cronk, Radley or JWH would be catastrophic.

 

[H.H]

You only have to look at Friend's GF performance last year to understand his importance to the team.

He will be there...I'm just glad it's Robbo and not me that'll have to work out the bench rotation.

 

[Captain Apollo]

But then you've got Crichton/Aubusson.

We really do have tremendous depth and you can see it's been Robbo's plan to ensure we have 21 or so players ready to rock and roll at any moment.

If Friend plays week 1 of finals we'd have...

8. JWH
9. Friend
10. SST
11. Cordner
12. Aubusson
13. Radley

14. Liu
15 Crichton
16. Butcher
17. Tetevano

18. Verrills
19. Tupouniua
20. Collins
21. Farmer

22. Hall
23. Ikuvalu
24. Smith

All bases are covered and I feel as though only season ending injuries to Teddy, Keary, Cronk, Radley or JWH would be catastrophic.

Oops. Yes overlooking Crichton/Cordner/Aubusson. My bad

 

[Bgoodorgoodatit]

Interesting to see the amount of support for Friend. Hes been a great servant to the club and is as tough as nails but to me his technical deficiencies outweigh his contribution as a leader.

With the strike we have in the spine and outside backs, Cronk and Keary just need fast accurate service and to me Verrills is far better than Jake in this regard.

Will be interested to revisit this thread after Jake's first game back and obviously i hope i'm wrong. As above not sure with the depth of forwards we want to wast a bench spot on a Hooker so i imagine it will be one or the other. Think what Tommy has here is our strongest pack/bench

8. JWH
9. Friend
10. SST
11. Cordner
12. Aubusson
13. Radley

14. Liu
15 Crichton
16. Butcher
17. Tetevano

 

[jiorl]

Verills has fantastic service, arguably better than Jake. He also has some pace, made 50 tackles against the panthers and already has scored two tries from dummy half deception. I still think Jake will be chosen over Verills, because he has more reliability in defence and also invaluable finals experience. Hopefully he also has the fitness when he returns.