Gidley into halves / Thaiday to return?

[Johns Magic]

Yes but he also brings inconsistant form and poor defence which both can lose premierships.

Well when we're in a position to "lose" a premiership, let me know.

 

[perverse]

Yes but he also brings inconsistant form and poor defence which both can lose premierships.

yep.

JM, you keep harping on about his form at the end of 05/start of 06... but aside from that he showed pretty much nothing but a lack of confidence and poor defense. it's been a long time since then and he's not made any waves anywhere. if he's so damn good, why hasn't another club thrown some cash at him? hell even reyno managed to get a contract.

he was exciting in attack, and could create something out of nothing.. but i get the feeling there's a lot more that went on with thaiday off the field. even with his defense and lack of confidence AND off field issues (if any) factored out of the equation, i STILL don't think he's worth moving gidley from fullback. if i were to have him back on the team.. for any reason.. it would be on the wing, playing a nathan blacklock type role.

 

[Johns Magic]

yep.

JM, you keep harping on about his form at the end of 05/start of 06... but aside from that he showed pretty much nothing but a lack of confidence and poor defense. it's been a long time since then and he's not made any waves anywhere. if he's so damn good, why hasn't another club thrown some cash at him? hell even reyno managed to get a contract.

How many games has he played since then? 5?

When he was fit he got a big offer from the Roosters which he turned down.

he was exciting in attack, and could create something out of nothing.. but i get the feeling there's a lot more that went on with thaiday off the field. even with his defense and lack of confidence AND off field issues (if any) factored out of the equation, i STILL don't think he's worth moving gidley from fullback. if i were to have him back on the team.. for any reason.. it would be on the wing, playing a nathan blacklock type role.

If Kidley was half-decent at 5/8 I'd slot him there and Thaiday in at fullback.

Regardless, I'm not going to be making claims he should be in the first-grade side until he starts showing anything in PL(and I doubt his commitment nowadays).

Kurt is much more reliable, but when both are at their best, Thaiday was the better fullback.

 

[League_God]

yep.

JM, you keep harping on about his form at the end of 05/start of 06... but aside from that he showed pretty much nothing but a lack of confidence and poor defense. it's been a long time since then and he's not made any waves anywhere. if he's so damn good, why hasn't another club thrown some cash at him? hell even reyno managed to get a contract.

he was exciting in attack, and could create something out of nothing.. but i get the feeling there's a lot more that went on with thaiday off the field. even with his defense and lack of confidence AND off field issues (if any) factored out of the equation, i STILL don't think he's worth moving gidley from fullback. if i were to have him back on the team.. for any reason.. it would be on the wing, playing a nathan blacklock type role.

im with jm.
thaiday has soo much potential as noted by his form in 05/06.
the reason for his slump was simply injuries. ankle injuries if i am correct?
actually i would go as far as saying put him back training with FG, then if all is going well Thaiday to the starting 17, whether it is at wing, fullback, or perhaps halfback.
he can simply win us games.
even if he were to go on the wing.

 

[League_God]

and we could consider kidley to centre
and thaiday to fullback for those who disagree with his playmaking skills.

 

[perverse]

gidley at centre is a waste in attack. he needs the freedom to roam about and sniff out opportunities. his fitness would be totally wasted there too.

 

[League_God]

1.Milton Thaiday(assuming he gets into good form)
2.Cooper Vuna
3.Wes Naquima
4.Kurt Gidley
5.Aku Uate
6.Jarred Mullen
7.Scott Dureau

perverse tell me that isnt a good backline??

 

[Johns Magic]

gidley at centre is a waste in attack. he needs the freedom to roam about and sniff out opportunities.

He would be a better attacker than McManus at centre, and Thaiday would be a better attacker at fullback than Kidley.

his fitness would be totally wasted there too.

I don't see how. He could lead the kick-chase from centre, which was always his best asset.

 

[perverse]

1.Milton Thaiday(assuming he gets into good form)
2.Cooper Vuna
3.Wes Naquima
4.Kurt Gidley
5.Aku Uate
6.Jarred Mullen
7.Scott Dureau

perverse tell me that isnt a good backline??

it's a fine attacking backline. it would have about 10 tries run over it per match though. dureau, vuna, thaiday, uate, all poor defenders. and once again our best player last year is totally under utilized in the centres.

 

[perverse]

I don't see how. He could lead the kick-chase from centre, which was always his best asset.

his kick chase was his best asset from 5/8th. his best asset from fullback was picking gaps and creating opportunities for himself (particularly close to the line). also safe as houses under the bomb (which thaiday simply is not.. even in his best form he was still suspect under the high ball.. although not as much as when his confidence went to sh*t).

it's also bloody hard to chase a kick on the right side of the field when you're playing left centre, and vice versa.

 

[League_God]

vuna's defence has improved imo, ive been watching last seasons games on nrl.com and his defence improved by miles, in the space of what.. 4-5 games. wes isnt a bad defender, kurt gidley in the centres with uate will help uates game in both attack and defence. kurt being one of our best defenders and most expeirienced players in the side, i see no better person to guide uate into first grade. could easily turn out to be just as good or perhaps even better then his brother there.
kids + uate combo could well be the best centre wing pairing in the comp by midway this season.....that is if melbourne doesnt play inglis and falou on the same wing lol

 

[NthKnight]

Well when we're in a position to "lose" a premiership, let me know.

Ok, that make no sence whatsoever.....

 

[League_God]

his kick chase was his best asset from 5/8th. his best asset from fullback was picking gaps and creating opportunities for himself (particularly close to the line). also safe as houses under the bomb (which thaiday simply is not.. even in his best form he was still suspect under the high ball.. although not as much as when his confidence went to sh*t).

it's also bloody hard to chase a kick on the right side of the field when you're playing left centre, and vice versa.

its also bloody hard to chase kicks when your playing fullback.

 

[keeney]

Thaiday's ankle injuries didn't account for the two major deficencies in his game, defence and the inability to field the high ball. I've said this so many times it hurts. When Thaiday was on fire in the other parts of the game, it didn't mean these two major flaws weren't still there. They were, very much so, its just we disregarded them because he was a fantastic runner. Fact is, the guy opts for a shoulder charge instead of a tackle 4 times out of 5, and lets a bomb bounce instead of contesting it just as often. So what if he can break the line? Those two problems should discount him from FG let alone usurping the position of our best player, are we that starved for a little excitement that Milton Thaiday qualifies as a good player?

 

[perverse]

vuna's defence has improved imo, ive been watching last seasons games on nrl.com and his defence improved by miles, in the space of what.. 4-5 games. wes isnt a bad defender, kurt gidley in the centres with uate will help uates game in both attack and defence. kurt being one of our best defenders and most expeirienced players in the side, i see no better person to guide uate into first grade. could easily turn out to be just as good or perhaps even better then his brother there.
kids + uate combo could well be the best centre wing pairing in the comp by midway this season.....that is if melbourne doesnt play inglis and falou on the same wing lol

it's a pipe dream mate, if smith moves gidley anywhere it will be to 5/8th (and i'll f**king spew).

and theres so much speculation in that post. there's no proof that having kidley inside uate would help anything. it might. vuna's defence did improve.. a bit.. but was still a long way off tbh - we'll have to see what the pre-season has done for him in that regard. and then you've still got dureau and thaiday to worry about.

a team can carry and/or hide 1.. and at a stretch 2 poor defenders in the modern game.. but we would seriously be turnstiles in defence if we were to play that backline at this stage.

 

[perverse]

its also bloody hard to chase kicks when your playing fullback.

why? it's not like he sits 15 metres back while we're attacking. he's up in the line with the rest of the boys.

 

[Johns Magic]

Ok, that make no sence whatsoever.....

Clearly it was too complex for you.

 

[antonius]

Thaiday was bloody brilliant at fullback when at his top at the club, and he was still learning, his defence (that everyone seemed to hone in on when being critical) was improving every game. If he'd have maintained that progress he would've been one of the top players in the NRL. The problem with Thaiday were injuries, and I strongly suspect other off field problems.

 

[Johns Magic]

why? it's not like he sits 15 metres back while we're attacking. he's up in the line with the rest of the boys.

Because as soon as we kick the ball we become the defenders.

Imagine if Matt Bowen caught a kick, saw there was no one home because Kidley was leading the kick-chase, so booted the ball down the field and won the race to score.

 

[Johns Magic]

Thaiday's ankle injuries didn't account for the two major deficencies in his game, defence and the inability to field the high ball. I've said this so many times it hurts.

You keep repeating it, and it's quite frankly a massive beat-up.

If you go back and read the threads from the time when he was ripping it up, you'll see alot of people conceding that they were wrong about Thaiday, and that his safety had improved out of sight.

You seem to remember his first few games and little else.