Jersey Flegg team for match against Tigers

[Spike]

Knights v Tigers Jersey Flegg Round 10



Thursday, May 12, 2005 - Newcastle Knights



NEWCASTLE v TIGERS AT ENERGYAUSTRALIA STADIUM

10.50AM SUNDAY, 15 MAY 2005

JERSEY FLEGG

Coach: Rip Taylor

1. Stephen Gordon
2. Aaron Hartmann
3. James McManus
4. Leigh Abel
5. Matthew Cooper
6. Scott Dureau ©
7. Luke Walsh
8. Tim Natusch
9. Nathan Berry
10. Larry Taufua
11. Luke Grant
12. Brendan Hlad
13. Mitchell Steel

INTERCHANGE

1. Brendan Hunt
2. Hayden Jeans
3. Jacob Ling
4. Nic Andriessen
5. Sam Wooden
6. Matthew Keating
7. Matthew Jarrett

Luke Walsh coming into the starting side for Hunt is a suprise but considering the heavy defeat last weekend changes needed to be made.

McManus is back from a game in premier league

Gordon shifts from the wing to fullback with Wooden going to the bench

Perrin must be injured however I rate Grant a little higher than Perrin anyway so there is no loss there.

 

[roopy]

We have dropped from first to fourth with the big loss last week.
The tigers are in tenth place, but had a good win over Manly last week, so they are hitting a bit of form.
We are starting to look short of quality second rowers with Laban, Frize and Perrin still out, but having Grant back is a bonus. He is probably our best second rower.
Walsh and Dureau in the Halves give us two genuine playmakers - but I'm a bit worried about the defence with Walsh being a small guy and Dureau hiding in defence to protect his shoulder. Hunt wasn't much of a playmaker, but he is a big and hardrunning 5/8 with great defence.
Wooden is one of my favourite players to watch because of his wonderful broken field running, but his cover defence has been a bit ordinary at fullback - basically because he is too slow to catch anyone who gets in the open. I'd like to see him get a run at lock (his other position) during the game.
Cooper had to get a spot after his form in Ball and in his game of Flegg the other week.
Jeans on the bench will get heaps of game time, and i'm really keen to see how he goes in the higher grade.

 

[roopy]

Walsh was the best player in the SG Ball side this year, and would probably be favourite for the Carlsen medal at this stage of the season - so he had to come into the side at some stage. It would be very harsh to drop Dureau, because he has been playing very well despite his dickie shoulder.
I think they could have given Hunt a run at lock. He has been looking better each game, and he is big enough to be a forward.

 

[Spike]

How is Steel going? I haven't seen much of him but he seems to be holding onto that lock position despite the rest of the talent surrounding him that could quite easily play there.

 

[Rex Banner]

The Flegg selectors have nearly got the halves right. Walsh 1/2 back but Abel should be 5/8. Dureau has not performed in 8 games so far and I feel Hunt is the fall guy for him not doing his job. But maybe Hunt should be lock.

 

[Whats Doing]

Where is Ryan Dickson playing these days

 

[roopy]

Where is Ryan Dickson playing these days

Good question - he hasn't had a game for us this year, and he is still on the player list - but so is Luke Mercer, and I think he will make his firstgrade debut for Saints when SOO is on and they lose their centres.

 

[Spike]

Ryan Dickson is playing for Kurri Kurri in the real NRL and with the way they are travelling, I don't like his chances of getting back in the side.

 

[Whats Doing]

Thanks Spike. He was regarded as one of the better up and coming players in Flegg last year and with the trouble we are having with the halves at the club at the moment, I thought he would have got a shot in the Flegg side this year.

 

[Rex Banner]

I don't know who reguarded Dickson so highly last year because as the year went on he spent more time on the bench. In saying that he is still better than Dureau, at least Dickson would try to tackle.

 

[roopy]

A good win by the Flegg boys.
Dureau and Walsh were fantastic together.
Dureau especially had a blinder, but Walsh set up at least two tries as well with very clever work.

McManus and Hartman didn't start.

Wooden played fullback and scored one try that was a Wooden special where he danced straight through the middle of their defnce to score from about 30 out, and he made one great kick return of about 60 metres, and would have scored if he wasn't so slow.

Gordon played on the wing and scored a few good wingers tries. He is certainly improving rapidly.

Hunt lined up at centre. He had a few good runs and was solid in defence. A good, honest performance.

Abel did nothing wrong, but it wasn't his most involved game ever.

Cooper went looking for the ball and did a lot of straight and hard hit ups. He almost scored from a clever kick and chase move. It takes three guys to bring him down every time when he runs the ball up.

Dureau was in everything for the first 20 or 30 minutes, then Walsh took over the playmaking a bit, and the two of them were just on fire.

Walsh fitted into the team like he has been with them all season. The team was already good, but Walsh really adds a new spark.

Tuafua - it wasn't really a game for hardrunning props, but he did his job well.

Berry - went off at one stage with what looked a bad leg injury, but he came back on. He looked a bit lost for something to do with Dureau and Walsh calling all the shots.

Natush - see Tuafua.

Hlad - a great game. He is one of our best forwards now. His defence is punishing. On a bad note, he went off with a leg injury a few minutes before the end.

Grant - revelled in the room created by the halves. Made several breaks and scored a brilliant try set up by an inside flick pass from Walsh.

Steel - A very good game. He worked a play with Walsh where Walsh called for him to pick up the ball from the back of the scrum and Walsh took it on the burst and set up a try for the winger. He also did a mountain of work in defence.

Jeans - didn't get much game time. Didn't do a lot when he was on.

Ling - a good performance in the higher grade. He looks like he will handle the step up from Ball easily.

Andriessen - enthusiastic when on, but didn't have much of an impact.

 

[Johns Magic]

Fantastic. What was the end score?

 

[roopy]

Fantastic. What was the end score?

Something like 32 -18 - but i'm not sure.
I would have been a much bigger score to us, but the ref blew us off the park in the second half - the penalty count must have been about 8-2 in the second half.