Jacob Host

[Old Timer]

Still lacks grunt.

Not the only one in our pack.
Time for people too be brutally honest when assessing our forwards.
Who actually has real grunt and mongrel in our pack?
Graham is tough but no longer a real impact nor able to run over the top of people consistently, Lawrie makes no big metres and behind Host IMO, Leilua starting to get better but hardly has grunt or mongrel, Tyson is tough and runs hard but not dominating nor providing grunt or mongrel, Vuaghan is big and mobile but hardly provides mongrel but does provide grunt, Tariq well below his best but is the only real enforcer we have in our team.
We are where we are on the ladder for a number of reasons and lack of forward domination is one of them.
We are not exactly intimidating anyone despite all the rhetoric in this place.

 

[muzby]

We need a jerk in our pack.

 

[Crush]

Not the only one in our pack.
Time for people too be brutally honest when assessing our forwards.
Who actually has real grunt and mongrel in our pack?
Graham is tough but no longer a real impact nor able to run over the top of people consistently, Lawrie makes no big metres and behind Host IMO, Leilua starting to get better but hardly has grunt or mongrel, Tyson is tough and runs hard but not dominating nor providing grunt or mongrel, Vuaghan is big and mobile but hardly provides mongrel but does provide grunt, Tariq well below his best but is the only real enforcer we have in our team.
We are where we are on the ladder for a number of reasons and lack of forward domination is one of them.
We are not exactly intimidating anyone despite all the rhetoric in this place.

There is no doubt that our whole pack is playing without grunt and aggression this season for the most part.
However we know the Sims bros, Frizzell and Vaughany are capable of it.
Not so sure about Host.

 

[Dragonslayer]

Our forwards are definitely not as effective as they were last year, in fact they are well behind the pace. Pinpointing reasons, well there can be many but playing while not 100% fit appears to be my biggest observation and yes others may have a differing reason, but to me this is the main one.

We are also not dominating in defense, the grunt or aggression is missing we rarely force back a player. Now it appears they are either tackled on the spot or make extra pcm with ease.Was this all on JDB to provide the catalyst in seasons past? One has to ask the question.

Now, I'm a Dufty fan but realization of his deficiencies has taken over. His lack of line speed on kick returns has meant we start a set dep in our half. This of course adds extra pressure on our forwards to get back, firstly on side and secondly to take the next hit up, this responsibility has been dealt to our wingers. If you watch the Knights game last week, Dufty would "jog" to the 30m line only to be forced back to the 20 on several occasions.

Only Vaughan (146) T. Sims (106) and Graham (100) are averaging over 100m per game. Proof our forwards are not getting either early ball or are running without purpose, or are they injured? My guess is a mixture of the 3.
Some may debate the effectiveness of stats, however, they do paint the picture, so our forwards, after 10 games stats are:

Vaughan - 146m, 12 TB, 458 PCM, 14 hit ups, 90.2% tackle efficiency
Graham - 100m, 8 TB, 240 PCM, 7.6 hit ups, 93.2% tackle efficiency
Lawrie - 95m, 6 TB, 279 PCM, 10 hit ups, 92.6% tackle efficiency
Latimore - 49m, NR TB, 114 PCM, 5 hit ups, 90.9% tackle efficiency
Host - 67m, NR TB, NR PCM, NR hit ups, 84.9% tackle efficiency
Leilua - 58m, NR TB, NR PCM, NR hit ups, 91% tackle efficiency
T. Sims - 106m, NR TB, NR PCM, NR hit ups, 89.6% tackle efficiency
Frizell - 86m, NR TB, NR PCM, NR hit ups, 87.8% tackle efficiency

*The NR's maybe because they are not props and considered edge forwards.

It's obvious from these stats alone that other than Vaughan, our forwards are really struggling this year in areas we had domination last year.

Any wonder why we have fallen into such a slump, and really we were lucky to away with 2 or 3 wins, where we would now be wooden spoon contenders.

As I said injuries appear to be the culprit with, imo, Graham, Latimore, Host, Sims and Friz all playing under duress.

 

[rednwhites]

Thought this was his year and he really stuffed things up tonight on numerous occasions. Needs to be dropped if the coach has any standards whatsoever. He has missed that many important tackles this year, it's just not on.

 

[Mickthedragon]

^^^Agreed, needs to be dropped after tonights game. Not his best effort.

 

[barry]

Built like tarzan, plays like Jane.

Never rated him, dont think i ever will. Dont know how this guy still plays grade

 

[j0nesy]

Host had been up and down this season but all in all I feel he’s gone backwards from where he was a couple of seasons ago.

 

[st.phil]

Should be Jacob Post... as in thick as aaaaaa........

 

[rasaint]

Look Blake Lawrie is courageous but fringe 1grader. Have said it since his first appearance. Trys his heart out but no impact. No offload, lacks size, hits the defence line and falls over( does grab a few post contact metres on occasion to be fair ) .Then we resign him.

 

[Belta]

Thought Host and Lawrie played well. They were missing Friz, Vaughan, Graham, Simms (JDB) and managed to more than match a strong forward pack including Asofasolamona, Jesse Bromwich, Smith and some other giants.

With a fair adjudicator and better game management we could very well of toppled the outright leaders.

 

[slippery5]

Host had been up and down this season but all in all I feel he’s gone backwards from where he was a couple of seasons ago.

Easy to look good in lower grades, which he did....I've said it b4, he is a powder puff.

 

[BLM01]

Look Blake Lawrie is courageous but fringe 1grader. Have said it since his first appearance. Trys his heart out but no impact. No offload, lacks size, hits the defence line and falls over( does grab a few post contact metres on occasion to be fair ) .Then we resign him.

He is young FFS and plays and runs in the middle, give him time to mature and grow a bit more .and he is following coach instructions dying with the ball
His heart and hit ups and leg drive are what the Dragons need. He is learning and improving for a young middle player just fine
Host is a fringe 1st grade edge player at best and not needed in our squad with who we have available at full strength and as i said many times whilst he can run good lines at times his impact and strength in both attack and defence is not there esepecially compared to who we have in Luc, Frizz & Tariq.
Who taught him to think he is like Norman or Hunt in a backline move in a try scoring out numbered situation.

 

[TomRedVRiver]

Don't be surprised to see him moved on next year.

 

[R&WTILLIDIE]

Don't be surprised to see him moved on next year.

Actually I would be surprised. Our team has the tendency to contract and keep hold of plodders like host, latimore, Aitken, Pearson, Lafai, etc.

 

[giboz71]

Host has all the tools to be a an excellent edge back rower. But for some reason, he just can't hit the next level,

Same story with the rest of our young guys coming through, none have really kicked on. He'll probably have to move elsewhere to progress, like Sele, Herbert, Garrick etc and get away from the stench of our current coaching staff.

 

[grouch]

Host has all the tools to be a an excellent edge back rower. But for some reason, he just can't hit the next level,

Same story with the rest of our young guys coming through, none have really kicked on. He'll probably have to move elsewhere to progress, like Sele, Herbert, Garrick etc and get away from the stench of our current coaching staff.

This is the thing. You don't need much imagination to picture how good Lawrie and Host would be under a proper coach. Lawrie could be another Dale Finucane

 

[Belta]

Host and Lawrie are both good forwards. Agree with needing patience. (And The whole pack can’t be SOO level) I kind of think as well different players play different roles.

Lawrie who we can all see is not a wrecking ball, last night playing lock made 169 metres and 42 tackles (8 less than McInnes) in 60 minutes.
To me he is running hard, tackling hard, playing the ball quickly and has a high work rate. I think you need impact players and high work rate players. Just my thoughts.

 

[Forster Dragon]

^^^Agreed, needs to be dropped after tonights game. Not his best effort.

Give the kid a break.I consider him one of our better prospects.

 

[JohnnoMcJohnno]

Host was just one of many who did some good things last night only to make critical errors of judgement at crucial times. Probably deserves to be dropped but I still think he is worth perservering with.