Stan Dabovetherest
Juniors
- Messages
- 203
I would like to clarify my position on the developing young talent at our Mighty Club. I realise as a new poster on here some may not have picked up the satire in my first post (It was very subtle).
First the forwards
Crichton is an absolute gun. I think all are agreed we need to sign him up to a long term Taumololo like deal ASAP. With Sam out on Friday, he really stepped it up a couple of notches, he is a natural leader and will play a massive part in our future successes.
Fuimaono and Musgrove are both developing very nicely in what has been a difficult season for us. It is very hard to learn your trade in a side down on form and IMO this has contributed somewhat to Musgrove's inconsistency, but overall I see these 2 as core members of the side for years to come.
Murray IMO will develop into a gun, and I firmly believe Madge should be developing him in First Grade now.
Gosiewski and Greinke I would just love to see them both get an extended run on the paddock. Both are very talented but need injury free stints to develop further.
I've been unable to get to any live games this year, and I've only seen the 20's once on FOX. However, from what I have seen (and read) I'm optimistically confident that out of Johnstone, Fuimaono, Hamlin, Mailata, Hunt & co. that we should end up with at least a couple of keepers.
Next, the backs. This is where our depth is a little bit thinner, especially in the ready to go now category. There have been plenty of words posted on here about the often maligned trio of Burns, Jennings and Talakai. I believe some of this has been fair, some a tad harsh, and some downright ludicrous. All three had their development hindered by the fact they were thrust into first grade at the same time with a handful of first grade games between them, IMO all three were playing out of their best position and each of their mistakes/defensive misreads was impacting on those around them leading to more mistakes/misreads and eroding confidence. This was not fair on any of them, but in a fair world we wouldn't have been going into Round 4 with Inglis, Gray and Burns all out for extended periods.
Talakai is not a centre and we persisted with him there way too long. I think this was detrimental to Burns' confidence too. He looked much more assured outside Hunt previously. To clarify, I am in no way calling him a dud (I would never call anyone who has played NYC level or above that, except in jest). I'm saying I would love to see him develop into a hard running back rower.
Jennings I'm not sure about. At this stage I think he could possibly be tried on the wing, but I don't think he is a Centre yet and I'm not sure he ever will be. I've paid a fair bit of interest to the Panthers 20's in the previous 2 seasons and quite a few fans there seem to think he's a bit light on in the chest muscle department. Again, he undoubtedly has talent and I am hopeful he will develop into a decent winger for us.
Burns IMO will develop into a gun centre. When 3/4 of our three-quarter line (that's 9/16 for those not so good at Maths) were out or in AJ's case moved to fullback we had a massive dilemma. Apart from AJ we have no wingers of first grade standard. Some on here seem to think Burns has had a lot of experience on the wing. From my understanding he had only played a handful of games there before making his first grade debut there. This IMO was exacerbated when Hunt got himself suspended and Burns was trying to gain confidence in a new position outside an inexperienced centre who was also making mistakes, so on and so on. In summary I see Burns as a long term centre for us and we need to get him there sooner rather than later.
Not sure about anyone else at the Bears, maybe Douehi or Miski, but I think they need further development.
Sketchy on 20's too, but from what I hear Graham, Cordtz and Shiach-Wise are developing nicely. There's also a highly rated LU talent scouts who has big wraps on Hiroti (not sarcasm this time CM1, appreciate your input, especially the post match reviews).
All in all, I believe the future of this Mighty Club looks bright. With the present refreshing of the roster(including an astute signing or 2), further development of these young guns and a bit better luck with injuries, IMO we're not that far away from contending again.
Glory Glory
First the forwards
Crichton is an absolute gun. I think all are agreed we need to sign him up to a long term Taumololo like deal ASAP. With Sam out on Friday, he really stepped it up a couple of notches, he is a natural leader and will play a massive part in our future successes.
Fuimaono and Musgrove are both developing very nicely in what has been a difficult season for us. It is very hard to learn your trade in a side down on form and IMO this has contributed somewhat to Musgrove's inconsistency, but overall I see these 2 as core members of the side for years to come.
Murray IMO will develop into a gun, and I firmly believe Madge should be developing him in First Grade now.
Gosiewski and Greinke I would just love to see them both get an extended run on the paddock. Both are very talented but need injury free stints to develop further.
I've been unable to get to any live games this year, and I've only seen the 20's once on FOX. However, from what I have seen (and read) I'm optimistically confident that out of Johnstone, Fuimaono, Hamlin, Mailata, Hunt & co. that we should end up with at least a couple of keepers.
Next, the backs. This is where our depth is a little bit thinner, especially in the ready to go now category. There have been plenty of words posted on here about the often maligned trio of Burns, Jennings and Talakai. I believe some of this has been fair, some a tad harsh, and some downright ludicrous. All three had their development hindered by the fact they were thrust into first grade at the same time with a handful of first grade games between them, IMO all three were playing out of their best position and each of their mistakes/defensive misreads was impacting on those around them leading to more mistakes/misreads and eroding confidence. This was not fair on any of them, but in a fair world we wouldn't have been going into Round 4 with Inglis, Gray and Burns all out for extended periods.
Talakai is not a centre and we persisted with him there way too long. I think this was detrimental to Burns' confidence too. He looked much more assured outside Hunt previously. To clarify, I am in no way calling him a dud (I would never call anyone who has played NYC level or above that, except in jest). I'm saying I would love to see him develop into a hard running back rower.
Jennings I'm not sure about. At this stage I think he could possibly be tried on the wing, but I don't think he is a Centre yet and I'm not sure he ever will be. I've paid a fair bit of interest to the Panthers 20's in the previous 2 seasons and quite a few fans there seem to think he's a bit light on in the chest muscle department. Again, he undoubtedly has talent and I am hopeful he will develop into a decent winger for us.
Burns IMO will develop into a gun centre. When 3/4 of our three-quarter line (that's 9/16 for those not so good at Maths) were out or in AJ's case moved to fullback we had a massive dilemma. Apart from AJ we have no wingers of first grade standard. Some on here seem to think Burns has had a lot of experience on the wing. From my understanding he had only played a handful of games there before making his first grade debut there. This IMO was exacerbated when Hunt got himself suspended and Burns was trying to gain confidence in a new position outside an inexperienced centre who was also making mistakes, so on and so on. In summary I see Burns as a long term centre for us and we need to get him there sooner rather than later.
Not sure about anyone else at the Bears, maybe Douehi or Miski, but I think they need further development.
Sketchy on 20's too, but from what I hear Graham, Cordtz and Shiach-Wise are developing nicely. There's also a highly rated LU talent scouts who has big wraps on Hiroti (not sarcasm this time CM1, appreciate your input, especially the post match reviews).
All in all, I believe the future of this Mighty Club looks bright. With the present refreshing of the roster(including an astute signing or 2), further development of these young guns and a bit better luck with injuries, IMO we're not that far away from contending again.
Glory Glory
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