Gidley into halves / Thaiday to return?

[NthKnight]

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

Jeez mate you are making some massive calls there. Gids would be good at centre there is no doubt but replacing him with Thaiday would be a disaster. Also leaving McManus out of the side would be crazy given his form last year.

1. Gidley
2. Vuna
3. Naquama
4. McManus
5. Uate

This would be my backline, I feel it has a good balance of speed and defence.

 

[perverse]

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.

lol, yeah you're right.. sorry i had a blonde moment.

look it's obvious that we're not going to convince each other. every time the topic comes up we go through the same paces and have never, and will never come to a conclusion. if you feel so strongly about thaiday then i guess you should just give smithy a call and tell him to get him back into first grade.

the only way i'm ever going to be convinced of thaiday is if he can make it big in the NRL, plain and simple. the debate is pretty moot unless thaiday can crack first grade again.

 

[perverse]

Jeez mate you are making some massive calls there. Gids would be good at centre there is no doubt but replacing him with Thaiday would be a disaster. Also leaving McManus out of the side would be crazy given his form last year.

1. Gidley
2. Vuna
3. Naquama
4. McManus
5. Uate

This would be my backline, I feel it has a good balance of speed and defence.

by mid year i too hope this backline eventuates... although i'd probably consider switching those centres around.

 

[NthKnight]

Clearly it was too complex for you.

No it was just a silly thing to say. Our defence in the past 2 seasons is what has held us back from being a true premiership contender (need I remind you of the 50-6 thumping we copped from the Broncos in 06).

Tone down the arrogant attitude mate, it really isnt necessary

 

[perverse]

Tone down the arrogant attitude mate, it really isnt necessary

lol, it is a staple of JM's posts. took me a while to get used to it too.

 

[Karmawave]

Why are so many people leaving Adam McDougall out of their backlines?

Is it just me or if he is 100% fit, he will be the first centre chosen.

On another note, if 100% fit and playing well, Adams brother Luke McDougall will be the best winger we have in the team.

I wouldn't be concerned at all if a fit Newcastle first five looked this way:-

GIDLEY
L. McDOUGALL
K. LULIA
A. McDOUGALL
J. McMANUS

It would certainly be much stronger defensively than any other combination, especially the bad reads in defense Cooper Vuna is prone to have.

 

[League_God]

Why are so many people leaving Adam McDougall out of their backlines?

Is it just me or if he is 100% fit, he will be the first centre chosen.

On another note, if 100% fit and playing well, Adams brother Luke McDougall will be the best winger we have in the team.

I wouldn't be concerned at all if a fit Newcastle first five looked this way:-

GIDLEY
L. McDOUGALL
K. LULIA
A. McDOUGALL
J. McMANUS

It would certainly be much stronger defensively than any other combination, especially the bad reads in defense Cooper Vuna is prone to have.

with the exception of luke....that would be the slowest, most boring backline in the comp at the same time that backline is probably our best defensive backline we have to offer.

 

[Bring it home Knights]

I'm not saying he was a talentless hack. He just caused more problems than he sovled.

When he was playing injured he was sh!t. When he was fit he was unstoppable. If you've got some tapes of the games he played when he wasn't playing on 2 busted ankles, then you would no what I mean!!!

 

[Karmawave]

with the exception of luke....that would be the slowest, most boring backline in the comp at the same time that backline is probably our best defensive backline we have to offer.

Absolutely slow. But I'd like to get our defense in order first and foremost , especially when our team is going to win by grinding out close games as opposed to blowing teams away.

With such mobility in our backrowers who have good speed, it could compensate.

The option of throwing in a player like Cooper Vuna can lead to alot more chances for 70 metre tries, but the jury is out whether Cooper lets in more tries than he scores himself.

 

[League_God]

No it was just a silly thing to say. Our defence in the past 2 seasons is what has held us back from being a true premiership contender (need I remind you of the 50-6 thumping we copped from the Broncos in 06).

Tone down the arrogant attitude mate, it really isnt necessary

oh well it definately wasnt our attack that let us down last year, what with the attacking likes of george carmont, reagan tanner, and not to mention the slowest winger in the comp (jimmy), mate we had a backrower playing five-eight....defence isnt our greates issue. our slow, sh*tty, bland backline is.
vuna and kids were easily our best backs last year.
jimmy i have to say was our best, actually probs tied with kids defensive back.
but overall i would say kids and vuna.

 

[Johns Magic]

No it was just a silly thing to say. Our defence in the past 2 seasons is what has held us back from being a true premiership contender (need I remind you of the 50-6 thumping we copped from the Broncos in 06).

Tone down the arrogant attitude mate, it really isnt necessary

We have only ever looked like premiership contenders in the last few years when Thaiday has been on board. Even with Johns in the side.

25-6 win over Eels
70-32 win over Raiders
46-22 win over Bulldogs
54-6 win over the Dragons

Those were the scorelines in the first four matches Johns and Thaiday played together in 2006.

Thaiday was then injured for 14 weeks, and our biggest winning margin was 14 points.
The game he returned, we won by 14 points again.

Last year we averaged less than 18 points per game.

Defence is far from our only issue.

At the moment we are not in a position to "lose" a premiership, because that would of course imply that we are a chance of winning it.

 

[NthKnight]

oh well it definately wasnt our attack that let us down last year, what with the attacking likes of george carmont, reagan tanner, and not to mention the slowest winger in the comp (jimmy), mate we had a backrower playing five-eight....defence isnt our greates issue. our slow, sh*tty, bland backline is.
vuna and kids were easily our best backs last year.
jimmy i have to say was our best, actually probs tied with kids defensive back.
but overall i would say kids and vuna.

Gotta disagree mate. While out attack was not setting the world on fire in 06/07 our defence was definantly the worst in the comp, just look at our for and aginst last season and there should be no doubt. Our tackling around the ruck was aweful at stages and I lost count at the number of misreads and rush ups that our outside backs were guilty of.

 

[League_God]

everyone who seems to be such a big fan of "defence wins games" attitude.
open your eyes.
manly last year was the best team defensively.
it got them to where they were (aswell as the fact they had speed stewart, hicks, bell, robertson) but their main asset was there defence. they had the attitude "defence wins games"
had manly played the eels in the GF qualifier.
the grand final last year would of been melbourne v parra.
both the sides had great attacking backlines.
there were no "slowpoke jimmy", "87 yr old mad dog" and certainly no 2nd rower playing centre.
this year we need speed, power and atheletic ability in our backs. we are going to find exactly that in aku, cooper, wes
and fit, workhorse forwards.
basically all im saying is..we are never going to be a contender with
adam mac
jimmy
and keith playing in our backline

just have a look at last years top 4 backline.
then youll understand where im coming from

 

[Karmawave]

Gotta disagree mate. While out attack was not setting the world on fire in 06/07 our defence was definantly the worst in the comp, just look at our for and aginst last season and there should be no doubt. Our tackling around the ruck was aweful at stages and I lost count at the number of misreads and rush ups that our outside backs were guilty of.

Yes our centre/winger misreads were atrocious weren't they?

I think thats the outcome of when rugby league started to become a game for athletes and not footballers.

 

[Karmawave]

everyone who seems to be such a big fan of "defence wins games" attitude.
open your eyes.
manly last year was the best team defensively.
it got them to where they were (aswell as the fact they had speed stewart, hicks, bell, robertson) but their main asset was there defence. they had the attitude "defence wins games"

Give me GF runner up anyday than 15th or 16th on the ladder with some exciting tries and the games worst for and against record.

 

[macavity]

Why are so many people leaving Adam McDougall out of their backlines?

Is it just me or if he is 100% fit, he will be the first centre chosen.

its just you. he is atrocious at reading the defence and has lost a hell of a lot of pace.

he is in the squad for experience and depth, not to play 25 games.

im a doogs fan too.

On another note, if 100% fit and playing well, Adams brother Luke McDougall will be the best winger we have in the team.

he will be there or thereabouts. as long as he isn't at centre. terrible passer.

I wouldn't be concerned at all if a fit Newcastle first five looked this way:-

GIDLEY
L. McDOUGALL
K. LULIA
A. McDOUGALL
J. McMANUS

although not objectively "bad", that is one of the worst back 5s we could put on the park. says something for our depth this year.

It would certainly be much stronger defensively than any other combination, especially the bad reads in defense Cooper Vuna is prone to have.

Cooper reads better than mad dog.

 

[League_God]

Yes our centre/winger misreads were atrocious weren't they?

I think thats the outcome of when rugby league started to become a game for athletes and not footballers.

i agree in both points.
but i would say 98% of those misreads were from george, adam, tighe
cooper is not that bad defensively people!
he is improving with every game!
and hes only going to continue to improve!

 

[NthKnight]

We have only ever looked like premiership contenders in the last few years when Thaiday has been on board. Even with Johns in the side.

25-6 win over Eels
70-32 win over Raiders
46-22 win over Bulldogs
54-6 win over the Dragons

Those were the scorelines in the first four matches Johns and Thaiday played together in 2006.

Thaiday was then injured for 14 weeks, and our biggest winning margin was 14 points.
The game he returned, we won by 14 points again.

Last year we averaged less than 18 points per game.

Defence is far from our only issue.

At the moment we are not in a position to "lose" a premiership, because that would of course imply that we are a chance of winning it.

Yes and our biggest loses last year were:

Rd 3 48-18 Canberra (A game where Thiaday played I believe)
Rd 11 71-6 Brisbane
Rd 18 44-0 Melbourne
Rd 20 52-10 NZ
Rd 21 20-4 Dragons
Rd 22 50-16 Manly
Rd 23 46-12 Penrith (the wooden spooners)

Over all for and against of -290 which was by a massive margin the worst in the comp.

So YES, defence was or biggest problem, I never once said it was our only problem

 

[Karmawave]

Cooper reads better than mad dog.

Maybe the newspaper...

Nah seriously though, I think alot of Adam McDougalls bad defensive reads stems from his concern in the players defensive ability playing on the wing outside of him!

I think he feels he needs to make a move ending tackle on every occasion because of the lack of confidence he has in the players outside of him.

As a fan I'd love to watch Vuna on the wing in attack any day of the week. Its great to watch. His defense just needs some major work, and hopefully being only 20 years old, he is willing to improve.

 

[League_God]

he will be there or thereabouts. as long as he isn't at centre. terrible passer.



although not objectively "bad", that is one of the worst back 5s we could put on the park. says something for our depth this year.




Cooper reads better than mad dog.

agree with it all