Match Discussion: Round 2 vs Titans @ McDonald Jones Stadium

[perverse]

Townsend?


https://www.qt.com.au/news/hunt-deal-a-game-changer-for-sharks-half/3150844/

Yeah nah thanks.

Jesus, surely his tongue was firmly in cheek when saying that.

The player market is pretty bonkers for halves these days. We may have to wait until we can grow our own. Ponga may end up a 5/8th someday in the future when he loses a yard or two of pace. I'm not sure if Brock Lamb or Jack Cogger are the answer - might have to look a bit deeper and younger into our juniors, or start poaching kids.

The real question is - when are we legitimately looking to compete for Top 8/Top 4 and the premiership itself? We're in year two of Browns plan right now. How long do we give? To be honest, by year 3 I don't think it's unreasonable to expect a competitive outfit. If we can answer the question of when we expect to compete, we can then take a look at how patient we can be for a viable halves pairing, I guess. Hodko won't be in it - that I know.

Lamb... eh, I dunno. I would like to see a bit more from him, soon. People say give him time and whatnot... but Scotty Dureau and Tyrone Roberts both hit the scene harder than this kid. They were probably a bit older too, although my memory is a bit pants. Honestly I just don't know what I'm supposed to see in Lamb - I'd love for him to show me.

 

[Hardcore_Fan]

Yeah I struggle to see anything in lamb. Doubt he will be anything other than a decent reserve grade standard half.

 

[Mr_Knightside]

Haha everyone here was raving about Lamb last year and saying how impressive he had been in his limited games to date and now that he has a poor round 1 game he's terrible. How fickle we are sometimes.

 

[slotmachine]

f**king lol, Townsend is such a good organiser he got hooked during a semi last year. Maybe he was organising the bench.

Downgrade on what Brown already has.

 

[Johns Magic]

Brooks and Moses are overrated, Brooks hasn't dominated a game in a couple of years and Moses looks great in attack but can't tackle to save himself, neither can Brooks for that matter. Neither of them is the answer to our problems in the halves and we would have to pay massive overs to get them anyway. I hear they're asking for somewhere in the vicinity of $800k+ and for a couple of guys who can't tackle that's silly.

If we were going to get rid of Hodko and replace him with another half I'd be going for someone with a solid all round game like Aiden Sezer or Chad Townsend, both very consistent and don't have any major weaknesses in their game.

Yeah I don't think they are overrated. They play in a crap team and go pretty well, I just think they work better as individuals rather than a duo. Partnering one with Bird would be ideal IMO, with Ponga out the back.

As for the bold? That is a paraphrase of what people were saying about Hodkinson before we signed him. Which is great until you realise those type of players don't work unless they are just hole-fillers rather than the go-to guy. Otherwise you get in a position like us where you can't actually put on points.

 

[Knight76]

This week, with Pythian gone, Hodkinson has no choice but to step up and take a bigger role in our attack. He has to take more of a role with kicking on 5th tackle, and getting balls in to the in goal.

Leaving it all on Lamb is bullshit!

If he can't do that we lose the game this week. Lamb is not up to taking that role entirely, especially getting balls in to the in goal to attempt to get repeat sets.

 

[Caped Crusader]

Hes never stepped up before, even when Mullos went down last year

Honestly the only time I remember Hodko taking control was the back end of the game in Canberra last year. Kicked an important 40/20 and a field goal from memory

I also remember still losing that one too

 

[Frederick]

According to Toohey, Elliott will play FB

 

[perverse]

That doesn't make much sense given that Pete was supposed to be competing with Phythian for the job. Pete isn't exciting, but he has some size and isn't totally incompetent at the back - just extremely unexciting and one dimensional.

The idea of Elliott playing fullback for us all year makes me miss Junior Burger. You are flat out conceding another season with that.

 

[Frederick]

That doesn't make much sense given that Pete was supposed to be competing with Phythian for the job. Pete isn't exciting, but he has some size and isn't totally incompetent at the back - just extremely unexciting and one dimensional.

The idea of Elliott playing fullback for us all year makes me miss Junior Burger. You are flat out conceding another season with that.

Brown apparently doesn't want to break up the combo between Pete and Ross dawg

 

[slotmachine]

What combo? Pete sucks.

 

[knightsarmy]

interesting if Elliott is fullback , just watching replay it was great having a specialised fullback that could also kick as well

 

[9701]

Bring Gids back as the returning hero ala Bedsy

 

[Glendale]

I reckon when Wardle is back Pete will go to fullback and Wardle will play centre.

 

[Rudderriffic]

Wow, I was hoping to scrape through the season seeing as little as possible of Elliot on the wing. This is not what I meant...

He barely looked serviceable in the time he had against Canberra.

 

[alexwilliams_66692007]

Knights Team vs Titans

1. Brendan Elliott
2. Ken Sio
3. Dane Gagai
4. Peter Mata'utia
5. Nathan Ross
6. Brock Lamb
7. Trent Hodkinson
8. Daniel Saifiti
9. Danny Levi
10. Josh Starling
11. Sione Mata'utia
12. Jamie Buhrer
13. Mitchell Barnett

14. Luke Yates
15. Jack Stockwell
16. Sam Stone
17. Jacob Saifiti
18. Tyler Randell
19. Sione Mata'utia
20. Josh King
21. Anthony Tupou

 

[Rudderriffic]

Sione named twice, I assume that is Chanel/Pat in 19

 

[slotmachine]

Chanel

 

[Hardcore_Fan]

Would rather gagan than Elliot.

 

[slotmachine]

The guy who can't even make it on the extended bench?