KOE (ex Canterbury Cup) and Jersey Flegg

[Auntie.Gerald]

Vs the Warriors

R Couchman was once again the Dragons’ biggest workhorse in the loss with 269 running metres — 114 post-contact — as well as four tackle busts and 37 tackles, five misses.

19-year-old five-eighth Lyhkan King-Togia also had some nice moments with two linebreak assists, 148 running metres and 21 tackles, one miss. Kyng-Togia graduated from the Illawarra Steelers’ SG Ball side earlier this year.

 

[Saints Forever]

Ryan C should be in our top 21 each week

He and his brother are ready

Would prefer both ahead of Blocka/Michael Molo

will be very disappointed if they are not extended

Flanno probably calculating when to replace JDB as well with these blokes

 

[TheRev]

LKT had a long run where he scored (well he was in touch but there was no bunker to disprove it), that must be where those metres came from. He still has a long way to go though, I dont want people to get too excited.. I'm very interesed to see where he is in 12mths time, but hes still findind his feet in reserve grade.

I know we have previously played him at halfback, but he seems purely a ball-running 5/8.. like purely..so he needs a good halfback and/or hooker too.

 

[Desperate Dragon]

Ben Rumble has been extended to 2025.

 

[TheRev]

Damn, some bunniestv channel has our flegg game (edit: 100% better on mute).. im catching up on the first half currently, 2nd half is on now.

 

[Desperate Dragon]

Jersey Flegg half time Souths 14-10.
Nick T in the sin bin 4 minutes before before the break.

 

[Desperate Dragon]

Full time JF.
Souths 20-18.

 

[TheRev]

Really gutted to lose that 18-20, ref rly blew every 50/50 for Souths without even a blink.. including calling a forward pass with a few minutes left that was totally fine.. im twice as cranky because he had 2 blokes to pass it too and he picked ward instead of williams who would have floored that last 10m to seal the match.

On top of that Ward kicked 1 from 4 which was the difference in the end.. they werent all hard kicks either.

Some game notes:
o Rumble was ok, he is very slender and seems to find injuries, he has his moments but hes not doing a great job of getting our of his end.. tbf souths were very good at kick chase today.
o Williams still finding his way in flegg.. needs to probably chase the game a bit or they need to use his speed in plays
o Stanley-Traill played in the centres, he went ok but got burnt badly 1 or 2 times, he did score 1 himself and had some strong carries.. hes a year younger and will play SG next year.. so imagine him in 12mths.
o Latu was huge
o NickT was also huge hes rly filling out.. big powerful body.. got sinbinned and gave away some penalties.. the sinbin I thought was rly ordinary.. and certainly the other bloke did something far worse and escaped punishment.. I found it ridiculous hometown stuff.
o TPH I thought was rly good for finding his feet @ 5/8, loved watching him get involved in the pusha nd shove.. if he was a few yards faster he would be dynamite.. definitely not out of place at this level tbh, but I would like to see him at fullback at some point.
o Ward was ok, goalkicking aside..

Noone else rly stood out, Tonga got promoted to cup so that also would have been a big in, but its good hes moving up.

 

[TheRev]

Moving onto NSW Cup at 3pm, very keen to see 2 things:

1) King-Togia get a crack at fullback (rly keen to see this.. could be a game changer)
2) Pasifika Tonga off the bench for his first reserve grade game

Ryan Couchman is 18th man atm for first grade.. so thats a lot of missing metres... Fifita is starting prop and needs to shape up quickly... Brown is playing 5/8.

Update, ok bunnies TV covering this game also, again though please mute:

 

[Drewbrees]

King-Togia looks good again.

 

[Dragon set in stone.]

Moving onto NSW Cup at 3pm, very keen to see 2 things:

1) King-Togia get a crack at fullback (rly keen to see this.. could be a game changer)
2) Pasifika Tonga off the bench for his first reserve grade game

Ryan Couchman is 18th man atm for first grade.. so thats a lot of missing metres... Fifita is starting prop and needs to shape up quickly... Brown is playing 5/8.

Update, ok bunnies TV covering this game also, again though please mute:

Thanks for the link Rev.

 

[hewi]

Big thanks

 

[BlackDuckSaint]

King-Togia looks good again.

His defence in two of bunnies tries was pretty average. He defends really strongly when in the frontline so I suspect this was about the first time he has ever played fullback. Positioning an issue.

But... 3 try assists. All on the right which is amazing since he normally dominates on the left. If he can swing both sides and create space the way he does, what a prospect.

 

[TheRev]

We looked a class above today, or maybe the bunnies were just bad, but there was rly only a couple of moments at the end they scored all their points.. we had them to 0.. cant rly explain why we were so solid given we heaps of players out... I was quite worried but some individual comments:

o LKT had a big game from the back, maybe 3 try assists.. cracking right side passing, Glover > Togia > Buchanan/Roberts.. nothing that Togia plays on the left usually.. as does Buchanan. He did miss a 1on1 tackle or 2, but otherwise a rly good debut.. I think he helps the team more than Tamale did.

o Tonga on his first cup game in ages.. hes bigger than the other forwards.. a bit slower to move still, a bit like a big kid.. when he gets the ball and a head of steam hes a handful.. but very early days.. only had a few runs, did make 1 error trying to play the ball quickly.. does a lot of talking which I find interesting.. and good down the line.

o Fifita not a lot of carries but they were all good ones.. he has pace.

o Stewart is on report twice for what I thought were absolute copybook aggressive tackles.. I thought it was ridiculous.. but nonetheless hes coming along, but again another one that needs 12mths.

o Buchanan was busy, 1 mistake, did a few good things, hes always probing, its harder to break tackles at this level though.. hes a proper centre though.. and we dont have many of them.. Tamale has ended up a winger, and Shereb is rly just filling in.. even Flegg only had 1 centre today..

o Glover/Brown as a halves pairing wasnt bad.. and LKT chiming as a 3rd half..

o Freebairn had some epic runs, barnstorming down the field.. good on him..

o The Souths #3 was an absolute c*** all day, faking injuries, trashtalking, facetapping, looked up who he was.. hes Brandon Mansfield-Webster (BMW) the bloke who was temporarily with us earlier this year..

o Noone else rly stood out.. missing Finau and CTui and 2xCouchmans r big outs, but they did well.. but perhaps not the best of teams to judge.. but I liked our defence right up until the end there.. Cooper Roberts although ive gone off him he did have a big 60m charge to stop a try.. there is definitely a potential winger in him.. its just that we had better option...

 

[KogarahWarrior]

We looked a class above today, or maybe the bunnies were just bad, but there was rly only a couple of moments at the end they scored all their points.. we had them to 0.. cant rly explain why we were so solid given we heaps of players out... I was quite worried but some individual comments:

o LKT had a big game from the back, maybe 3 try assists.. cracking right side passing, Glover > Togia > Buchanan/Roberts.. nothing that Togia plays on the left usually.. as does Buchanan. He did miss a 1on1 tackle or 2, but otherwise a rly good debut.. I think he helps the team more than Tamale did.

o Tonga on his first cup game in ages.. hes bigger than the other forwards.. a bit slower to move still, a bit like a big kid.. when he gets the ball and a head of steam hes a handful.. but very early days.. only had a few runs, did make 1 error trying to play the ball quickly.. does a lot of talking which I find interesting.. and good down the line.

o Fifita not a lot of carries but they were all good ones.. he has pace.

o Stewart is on report twice for what I thought were absolute copybook aggressive tackles.. I thought it was ridiculous.. but nonetheless hes coming along, but again another one that needs 12mths.

o Buchanan was busy, 1 mistake, did a few good things, hes always probing, its harder to break tackles at this level though.. hes a proper centre though.. and we dont have many of them.. Tamale has ended up a winger, and Shereb is rly just filling in.. even Flegg only had 1 centre today..

o Glover/Brown as a halves pairing wasnt bad.. and LKT chiming as a 3rd half..

o Freebairn had some epic runs, barnstorming down the field.. good on him..

o The Souths #3 was an absolute c*** all day, faking injuries, trashtalking, facetapping, looked up who he was.. hes Brandon Mansfield-Webster (BMW) the bloke who was temporarily with us earlier this year..

o Noone else rly stood out.. missing Finau and CTui and 2xCouchmans r big outs, but they did well.. but perhaps not the best of teams to judge.. but I liked our defence right up until the end there.. Cooper Roberts although ive gone off him he did have a big 60m charge to stop a try.. there is definitely a potential winger in him.. its just that we had better option...

Great post Rev. Good on you for watching the whole game. Re Pasifiki Tonga, wdym by he does a lot of talking? As in trash talking or communicating with his teammates?

Also good to see a shit talking centre get shown up hahahaha. No clue who BMW is but it reminds me of when Will Chambers used to grub it up just to lose

 

[TheRev]

Re Pasifiki Tonga, wdym by he does a lot of talking? As in trash talking or communicating with his teammates?

Oh I meant in a positive way, I think he was doing it in U19 origin also, hes very tall he stands there and sends a rallying cry over the top of the troops..... I mean I dont know if its his natural personality coming out... hopefully.

 

[BlackDuckSaint]

We looked a class above today, or maybe the bunnies were just bad, but there was rly only a couple of moments at the end they scored all their points.. we had them to 0.. cant rly explain why we were so solid given we heaps of players out... I was quite worried but some individual comments:

o LKT had a big game from the back, maybe 3 try assists.. cracking right side passing, Glover > Togia > Buchanan/Roberts.. nothing that Togia plays on the left usually.. as does Buchanan. He did miss a 1on1 tackle or 2, but otherwise a rly good debut.. I think he helps the team more than Tamale did.

o Tonga on his first cup game in ages.. hes bigger than the other forwards.. a bit slower to move still, a bit like a big kid.. when he gets the ball and a head of steam hes a handful.. but very early days.. only had a few runs, did make 1 error trying to play the ball quickly.. does a lot of talking which I find interesting.. and good down the line.

o Fifita not a lot of carries but they were all good ones.. he has pace.

o Stewart is on report twice for what I thought were absolute copybook aggressive tackles.. I thought it was ridiculous.. but nonetheless hes coming along, but again another one that needs 12mths.

o Buchanan was busy, 1 mistake, did a few good things, hes always probing, its harder to break tackles at this level though.. hes a proper centre though.. and we dont have many of them.. Tamale has ended up a winger, and Shereb is rly just filling in.. even Flegg only had 1 centre today..

o Glover/Brown as a halves pairing wasnt bad.. and LKT chiming as a 3rd half..

o Freebairn had some epic runs, barnstorming down the field.. good on him..

o The Souths #3 was an absolute c*** all day, faking injuries, trashtalking, facetapping, looked up who he was.. hes Brandon Mansfield-Webster (BMW) the bloke who was temporarily with us earlier this year..

o Noone else rly stood out.. missing Finau and CTui and 2xCouchmans r big outs, but they did well.. but perhaps not the best of teams to judge.. but I liked our defence right up until the end there.. Cooper Roberts although ive gone off him he did have a big 60m charge to stop a try.. there is definitely a potential winger in him.. its just that we had better option...

Tonga will also benefit from a hooker that plays at/over the advantage. He was caught by the marker shooting for his legs on a couple of occasions.

He needs a hooker that draws and isolates defenders. Mulheisen passes almost exclusively from the ground without moving which puts all the onus on the runners to get over the advantage line.

 

[baggygreen man]

3 try assists

The first two tries were the result of quick hands and drawing the man. Am not giving the assist to any one of the three involved.

LKT does not look a natural full back, was at sea a bit, more clinical when he plays closer to the ruck. Defense needs work.

 

[baggygreen man]

Fifita not a lot of carries but they were all good ones.. he has pace.

Yes they were, as was his defense with a few big hits. If he can work on his stamina and be given more mins, we should keep him.

 

[baggygreen man]

Brown

He should be our Firsts utility. Has some ball skills, good pace and footwork. Agree with you on Rumble. Has trouble getting away because he is not that fast or elusive, a long stride gets him most metres. Yes looks injury prone, could use some extra kilos.