Houston is he a big loss?

[Jono078]

He'll be a big loss when and if the likes of Simpson, Paterson, Taia etc are injured.

He is a fine defender and can run well too.

I'm sure most clubs would like him on their roster.

 

[Alex28]

So...with no Gidley and Mullen, and no Cross, who else would you suggest to captain the team? If it was to happen now...I have no idea. I see no leaders amongst them.

You honestly think they will have lower morale from losing Wicks (nothing player lost 3 months ago) than losing Houston? Seriously?

We had more than two second rowers play last year. Agree Taia was probably the best forward we had last year. That isn't the question. Was Houston important to us last year? Yes. Particularly with the absence of Pato.

We've won games without Gids and I have no doubt we will this time around. I think we will initially miss him (Houston), however we have the stock to cover for him and long term (hopefully with some astute recruiting) we'll be fine. But to lose a player this close to the start of the season who was more often than not in the starting 13 last year and you would expect would have been this year - yes he will be a big loss. In particular given we are without Gidley.

You also have to remember we are essentially playing with a squad of 23 now because we have lost these 2 and now we have to bring up players from either NYC or the Newcastle comp to cover for them until (or if) we can recruit someone mid-season. In this respect Wicks was big enough a loss. We didn't need Houston to go in similar circumstances.

I appreciate you didn't think much of him. Others did. The poll indicates that as well. There are many reasons why his loss will be big to the team. Doesn't always have to be around the quality of the player.

 

[Johns Magic]

So...with no Gidley and Mullen, and no Cross, who else would you suggest to captain the team? If it was to happen now...I have no idea. I see no leaders amongst them.

So what you're saying is that Houston got it by default rather than because he was a good leader.

You honestly think they will have lower morale from losing Wicks (nothing player lost 3 months ago) than losing Houston? Seriously?

What the hell are you talking about? Do you really think if we go badly in our first few games it will be purely because Houston isn't on the field? Because that's what you're saying.

We had more than two second rowers play last year. Agree Taia was probably the best forward we had last year. That isn't the question. Was Houston important to us last year? Yes. Particularly with the absence of Pato.

Yes he was important to us last year, in a team that didn't achieve a whole lot. He was a big part of why we were only middle of the road.

We've won games without Gids and I have no doubt we will this time around. I think we will initially miss him (Houston), however we have the stock to cover for him and long term (hopefully with some astute recruiting) we'll be fine.

Sounds exactly like my point

You also have to remember we are essentially playing with a squad of 23 now because we have lost these 2 and now we have to bring up players from either NYC or the Newcastle comp to cover for them until (or if) we can recruit someone mid-season. In this respect Wicks was big enough a loss. We didn't need Houston to go in similar circumstances.

Obviously any player leaving a week before the season will be a big loss in the short-term. You'd have to assume this question is in regards to the long-term though, given that it's plain as day otherwise.

 

[Whats Doing]

Houston will be a big loss. He was a great hole runner, good defender, versatile and had minutes in him. His positives far outweigh his deficiencies.

The best was still to come and he loss will weaken the overall squad and his replacement won't be in the same class of cattle.

 

[Drzoidberg]

Do I hear Tom Petty - Free Falling playing in this forum?

Feel sorry for you guys over this one so close to start of season.

 

[Newie is God's Country]

Feel sorry for you guys over this one so close to start of season.

Really! Keep your condescending bulls### to yourself. We lost Joey to more or less season long knee injuries twice, a broken jaw and injured shoulder/neck. I think we can handle the setback. What cracks me up most about all of this is that Simmo, Tolar and Cross were out for most of last season and we finshed 7th. This is the same frigging side. All of the aformentioned are now available. Wicksy did nothing all last season. House is a loss but we can cover it.

 

[Big Tim]

So...with no Gidley and Mullen, and no Cross, who else would you suggest to captain the team? If it was to happen now...I have no idea. I see no leaders amongst them.

You honestly think they will have lower morale from losing Wicks (nothing player lost 3 months ago) than losing Houston? Seriously?

We had more than two second rowers play last year. Agree Taia was probably the best forward we had last year. That isn't the question. Was Houston important to us last year? Yes. Particularly with the absence of Pato.

We've won games without Gids and I have no doubt we will this time around. I think we will initially miss him (Houston), however we have the stock to cover for him and long term (hopefully with some astute recruiting) we'll be fine. But to lose a player this close to the start of the season who was more often than not in the starting 13 last year and you would expect would have been this year - yes he will be a big loss. In particular given we are without Gidley.

You also have to remember we are essentially playing with a squad of 23 now because we have lost these 2 and now we have to bring up players from either NYC or the Newcastle comp to cover for them until (or if) we can recruit someone mid-season. In this respect Wicks was big enough a loss. We didn't need Houston to go in similar circumstances.

I appreciate you didn't think much of him. Others did. The poll indicates that as well. There are many reasons why his loss will be big to the team. Doesn't always have to be around the quality of the player.

Vuna is about the only one I can see with any real leadership qualities, but I think he probably isnt in the mould of a "captain"

I guess Doogs would get the nod.

This is all assuming Simmo is also unavailable with the other 3 mentioned in the first line.

 

[Rolla]

I think we can cover him on the field, but as a clubman he is a huge loss.
This year we have lost Timmy Natusch and House - which leaves Doogs as our only Uni graduate.
We want these guys to act as mature adults, and having a couple of smart guys leading the way would be a good thing.
Simmo and Gids will do the job i suppose.

To be honest, given the circumstances i wouldn't be calling house a 'smart' guy, or a leader of any sorts (least not by example). I sure hope he wasn't as good a leader as some of you guys think.

Believe me being smart and going to uni are two veeeeery different things.... particularly a teaching degree. Their are a lot of smart teachers around, don't get me wrong, however intelligence is far from a prerequisit! It is one of the easiest degrees to do and one of the easiest to get into.

Will we miss him? yes. But only in terms of depth. He did not strengthen our strongest side (assuming he was even in our top 17). And i am sick of people saying that he had ball skills because he threw one cut out pass. Or that they were looking forward to seeing him running out wide.....WHY? he is slow, struggles to beat a tackle, has no footwork, an average offload, doesnt bend the line back. Ok he can run into a hole close to the line.....hoooorah, future rep?

 

[Rolla]

Vuna is about the only one I can see with any real leadership qualities, but I think he probably isnt in the mould of a "captain"

I guess Doogs would get the nod.

This is all assuming Simmo is also unavailable with the other 3 mentioned in the first line.

Agreed doogs would be the fifth in line. But take the top 4 leaders from any club Alex and see if they have an experienced campaigner like doogs at number 5. After that your looking at zeb or coop i guess but who cares if it gets to that situation we will be in a lot of trouble anyway, Captain america wouldn't get us over the line.

 

[Bring it home Knights]

So what you're saying is that Houston got it by default rather than because he was a good leader.



What the hell are you talking about? Do you really think if we go badly in our first few games it will be purely because Houston isn't on the field? Because that's what you're saying.



Yes he was important to us last year, in a team that didn't achieve a whole lot. He was a big part of why we were only middle of the road.



Sounds exactly like my point



Obviously any player leaving a week before the season will be a big loss in the short-term. You'd have to assume this question is in regards to the long-term though, given that it's plain as day otherwise.

I'm interested in Alex's comeback to this post. TBH I think there is not much that he can say.

 

[Bring it home Knights]

Houston will be a big loss. He was a great hole runner, good defender, versatile and had minutes in him. His positives far outweigh his deficiencies.

The best was still to come and he loss will weaken the overall squad and his replacement won't be in the same class of cattle.

Was he? Does anyone have the stats for line breaks from 09? I'd be curious to see if this is correct

 

[roopy]

Believe me being smart and going to uni are two veeeeery different things.... particularly a teaching degree. Their are a lot of smart teachers around, don't get me wrong, however intelligence is far from a prerequisit! It is one of the easiest degrees to do and one of the easiest to get into.

Both House and Timmy Natusch did a degree full time while also training to be professional sportsmen.
All our guys have the money and most probably have the brains to do a degree, but very few do, because the discipline required to put 50 hours a week into footy and 50 hours a week into study is not something many people have.
Doogs is the only other one we have with a degree, and he got his while sitting on the sidelines and getting 200k a season while 'injured' - and even then it took him years longer than Timmy for the same degree (don't think he did honors like Timmy though).
I did my degree while holding down a fulltime job, and even though i did it over twice the normal time, it still nearly killed me - and my job didn't take as much out of me as serious football training would.

The bottom line - it takes a pretty mature and motivated young guy to do full time Uni and work their way up to firstgrade at the same time.

 

[Johns Magic]

7 linebreaks for the season from Houston which is quite good

 

[Johns Magic]

Both House and Timmy Natusch did a degree full time while also training to be professional sportsmen.
All our guys have the money and most probably have the brains to do a degree, but very few do, because the discipline required to put 50 hours a week into footy and 50 hours a week into study is not something many people have.

We obviously go to different uni's :lol:

 

[antonius]

No great loss IMO. Cross back (Hopefully for a full season) and Tolar, more than compensate for him. It's more the mental thing on the team that he has affected. His money, and Wicks money might give us enough to buy a quality player, I much prefer that scenario.

 

[Rolla]

Both House and Timmy Natusch did a degree full time while also training to be professional sportsmen.
All our guys have the money and most probably have the brains to do a degree, but very few do, because the discipline required to put 50 hours a week into footy and 50 hours a week into study is not something many people have.
Doogs is the only other one we have with a degree, and he got his while sitting on the sidelines and getting 200k a season while 'injured' - and even then it took him years longer than Timmy for the same degree (don't think he did honors like Timmy though).
I did my degree while holding down a fulltime job, and even though i did it over twice the normal time, it still nearly killed me - and my job didn't take as much out of me as serious football training would.

The bottom line - it takes a pretty mature and motivated young guy to do full time Uni and work their way up to firstgrade at the same time.

Im not trying to take anything away from these guys, i don't know them so i would never claim to know how smart/motivated they are. I don't know what degree timmy and doogs completed but the workload for teaching is closer to half of 50 hours at MOST. but thats irrellivant its good to see the guys doing a bit extra to set themselves for life after footy, more players should because they DO have time to during their carreers (particularly in the lower/younger grades), whilst training full time.

My point however is it would be hard right now to say housten is a smart guy. intelligent? perhaps? il leave that to those who know him. And hard to see him as a 'smart positive influence' on the team (all assuming the alledged charges are found to be true). So in that area i disagree, i don't think he will be a loss. With that said ive never met him (only times ive seen him were at Fanny's ...once getting dragged out but that was a while ago) and this is just speculation based on recent events, so if you know the contrary to be true then i will accept that.

Also i just read that yo wrote they train 50hrs per week.... is this true for non firstgraders? i wouldnt have a clue, but if so it makes this more of an accomplishment.

 

[Serc]

Believe me being smart and going to uni are two veeeeery different things.... particularly a teaching degree. Their are a lot of smart teachers around, don't get me wrong, however intelligence is far from a prerequisit! It is one of the easiest degrees to do and one of the easiest to get into.

While a teaching degree is certainly not hardest thing you can do at uni, its not exactly easy either...certainly harder than Arts or Science (which is what I've been doing ). My family is full of teachers and I have shared accomodation with a number of soon-to-be-teachers who had to put quite a fair effort into what they have done! Part of the reason why it appears the entry scores are low is because they probably try to keep as many places open for teachers, as we're starting to need a lot more of them now that all the baby boomer teachers (now in their 50's) are all retiring.

But thats for another thread of course, and doesn't take away from how dumb Houston is and how he is a loss for us

 

[Bring it home Knights]

7 linebreaks for the season from Houston which is quite good

Yeah not a bad stat that one. Out of curiosity, how many did Taia make? I know he was leading the comp for a forward for ages.

 

[Serc]

Taia 12
Mullo 11
Sau 10
McManus 7
Uate 7
Houston 7
Fa'aoso 7

Inspired me to spam a few more as well

House came 3rd on tries with 6 (equal with Fa'aoso and Sau)

He and Fa'aoso had the most try assists out of the forwards too (3 each)

 

[Bring it home Knights]

3 try assists sounds low, even for forwards. Hopefully that is an area where Stone can improve on so our 1,6,7,9 don't have to be involved in all our centre ground trys.